PORT TOWNSEND — After a longer than expected closure, the Mountain View Pool was scheduled to open for swimmers at 6 a.m. today.
The pool at Mountain View Commons at 1925 Blaine St., which is the only public pool in Port Townsend, was closed Nov. 14 for what was expected to be a one-month period to replace the boiler system but the closure was extended when a pump failed.
Both the boiler and the pump have been replaced.
City Manager David Timmons said when the extended closure was announced that when new systems are installed along with older systems, the older systems often fail.
A similar situation on Friday almost extended the closure after the failure of another part, a flow solenoid, which automatically adjusts the flow of chlorine into the pool.
Pool Manager Anji Scalf said the part has been in place for at least 15 years and controls the pool’s chemical balance but its function can be accomplished manually until a new part is found.
“The automatic chorine feeder is now the pool employees,” she said.
There are no estimates as to when the part will be installed or how much it will cost according to Alex Wisniewski, city Parks and Facilities manager.
“We are confident we can maintain the chlorination in the pool at appropriate levels, and safe levels, manually,” Wisniewski said.
Scalf said she thought the part failed because it was off for a month. She thought it possibly could be rebuilt.
Regualr users of the pool were furstrated by the long closure.
On Dec. 15, Timmons received a letter from Earll Murman, president of the JeffCo Aquatic Coalition, a citizen advocacy group with 2,300 supporters, expressing “strong dismay” about the pool closure and asked the city to reopen earlier.
Murman also asked the city to analyze the situation and then “implement engineering and project management improvements so that similar schedule slippages do not occur on future Mountain View or other city repairs.”
City officials have placed on the Feb. 10 special election ballot a bond measure to repair the aging Mountain View Commons, which houses not only the city pool and city police department, but also a number of nonprofits.
If passed, the measure would authorize raising up to $3.6 million in bond sales to go toward the estimated $4.1 million needed to complete repairs at Mountain View.
Among work planned: installation of a new heating system, roof repairs, city pool maintenance and fixing other structural issues.
A bond requires a 60 percent majority of voters for passage.
Tenants along with the pool and the Port Townsend Police Department are the Port Townsend Food Bank, Jefferson County YMCA, the ReCyclery, the KPTZ 91.9 FM nonprofit radio station, Working Image and an office of the Olympic Peninsula chapter of the American Red Cross.
For more information about the Mountain View Pool go to cityofpt.us/pool.htm or call 360-385-7665.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.