ML school board talks pool options

MOSES LAKE - The Moses Lake School board could decide what to do with the deteriorating cover on the high school pool as early as Dec. 13.

District officials discussed options at a workshop prior to the regular board meeting Thursday.

Mark Johnson, the district's executive director for business and operations, detailed six options, ranging from doing nothing to building a permanent cinder block building over the pool. A permanent building was one of the projects included in a construction bond rejected by voters earlier this year.

The pool cover is made of fabric and is supported with an air blower system. But the system doesn't provide proper air circulation, and as a result everything metal inside the building, including the air blower system itself, is getting corroded, according to a study commissioned by the district. The fabric cover is getting moldy and tearing at the seams.

In addition, the corrosion damaged the heating-cooling system, and the repairs, which used five furnaces intended for home use, probably will be subject to the same kind of damage, the report said. It recommended placing carbon monoxide detectors in the pool as a precautionary measure.

Johnson said the district has the option of replacing the fabric cover but not the heating system, or replacing the fabric cover and the heating system. The fourth option was building a new fabric building. Those would all be considered temporary structures, but the new fabric building could last as long as 30 years, the report said.

The permanent options include a steel building or a cinder block structure, Johnson said. The steel building would cost less than the cinder block, but the steel building "may be less effective for the pool environment" than the cinder block, the report said. Johnson said he wouldn't recommend it. "Water and steel don't mix," he said.

"It's pretty clear we have a decision to make," said board member Vicki Groff.

"Pretty clear we have problem," said board member Alan Burritt.

Currently "we have a Cadillac sitting on a carport," Johnson said. Board members have to decide if they want a temporary or permanent solution, and how much they want to spend, he said.

Board member Lew Mason said he was leaning toward either a new fabric building or a cinder block structure. The new cinder block building would cost about $1.7 million, Johnson said. A new fabric building would be about $1.5 million.

The district does have about $4.1 million in capital project funds left from an earlier construction bond, and that money must be spent on new building projects. In addition, the project would qualify for state construction funds, but Johnson said that space, about 12,000 square feet, would be subtracted from any subsequent project at the high school that qualified for building funds.

Burritt said the permanent cinder block building was in his opinion the best option. But board chair Kevin Donovan said the district is one of the entities that could be required to pay back money to Grant County, depending on the outcome of property tax appeals. Before deciding how much to spend on the pool, Donovan said, he wanted to know if the district would be required to pay back money, and if so, if some of it would come from the capital projects fund.

District officials don't know if addressing the overcrowding at the high school and middle schools would require buying portable classrooms, he said. Replacing the existing pool cover and the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system would cost about $300,000. It's not the option he favored and it's not the ideal answer, Donovan said, but if it was necessary that would solve the problem in the short term.

Groff said she thought that whatever the decision, the board needed to do something quickly. She asked if the board would be ready at the first December board meeting. Johnson said he would try to find out the status of the property tax appeal, and if the district would be liable for any of the money.