School board considers future of pool 
by Mark Berglund
The Star News
November 26, 2009 —  The Medford School Board received a state of swimming pool report Thursday night at its regular meeting and it now must decide how future pool resources will best be used. The report was prepared by Water Technology Inc. of Beaver Dam. Dean Mueller, a senior design manager with the company, did the inspection on October 19 and was at the board meeting to present the study.
The biggest concerns with the pool rest in the original design of the 40-year-old facility. Cast iron pipes, the standard of the day, are built into the walls of the pool, making repair or replacement a problem. The possible failure of the pipes would also cause a concern. "The weakest link for the pool right now is the cast iron pipes," Mueller said.
Board member Brandon Brunner asked how many functional years the pool had left. Mueller said the pool has no signs of settling or cracking, but is nearing the design time when problems could occur.
Board member Mark Reuter pointed to large concerns like ADA compliance and functional issues like the lack of a diving well when he said, "It's a nice pool — for 1969."
The needs and usage of the school and community were discussed. "Throw a number at me, how many use it?" board member Denny Gebert asked. School administrators said in addition to high school usage, more than 300 kids use the pool for summer school and CLC events as well as a few dozen adults in swimming or water aerobic classes.
The board hopes to spend district funds wisely and members asked if money spent now would be money well spent in future years. "In five to 10 years from now are we going to be looking at it again," board member Jeff Peterson said.
Brunner stated it by saying, "do we waste any money if we do part of the work now and part of it later?"
The board directed Mueller to bring cost estimates for various parts of the pool plan back to the December meeting.
The current pool opened in 1969. It is a 132,000 gallon rectangular pool (about five times the capacity of a standard hotel pool) with a depth ranging from 3-feet to 8-feet-9-inches. It can be divided into six lanes for competition swimming. The pool has no diving well and the shallow end is currently more shallow than recommended for competition swimming.
The report lists general observations made by Mueller. The report reads, "The overall maintenance of the pool appears to be very good. The pool is certainly upgradeable for extended life for recreational use. However, there are other considerations such as reviewing the projected school uses for swimming competitions and community needs for the next 30 years. Given the age and condition of the below grade pool piping, is this pool a good candidate for the future programmatic uses qualifying it to be renovated?"
Outside of the pool area, the changing areas were addressed in the report. The report said the lockers are new and functioning well, but the ceiling is painted plaster and cracking and the ventilation fans are in need of replacement. The shower rooms and restrooms are not ADA accessible and there are Wisconsin Department of Commerce code issues related to bathroom fixtures and drains. Mueller said the ADA problems with the facility are a side issue from the pool. "You could probably be called on it now," he said.
The report also addressed limited deck space, pool office space and spectator seating limitations.
The conclusion of the report reads, "The Medford High School pool facility is in its 40th year of operation in 2009. There has been ongoing maintenance of the main body of the pool. The pool filtration system and much of its original exposed cast iron pipe has been replaced.
There are some items with the pool structure that need to be addressed at this time: clean corroded deck equipment, replace misc. pool equipment, relocate chemical systems, replace mechanical room steel hangers, replace roof top exhaust fans and replace cast iron piping.
The pool vessel and associated mechanical systems will continue to require maintenance and repairs. The physical condition of the pool structure does not suggest that a total replacement would be necessary at this time unless competitive diving, upgraded competitive swimming or other programs are desired.
The natatorium mechanical system will soon be in need of a major overhaul.
The locker rooms and change spaces do not meet the requirements of the existing programs and are in need of ADA upgrades.
Medford voters turned down a referendum question in April which would have built a modern pool facility to replace the current one. The new pool was part of a larger proposal which included adding a fieldhouse to the school.

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