SIBLEY, Iowa — With overwhelming voter approval, the community of Sibley can now move closer to completing an outdoor aquatic center project to ensure Osceola County’s only swimming pool remains a viable structure to facilitate summer fun for years to come.
During last week’s election, 85 percent of voters said they would support a $1.6 million bond to reconstruct the city’s outdoor pool, which is in need of an extensive facelift.
Sibley Mayor Jerry Johnson said he always believed the bond issue would surpass the 60 percent minimum approval needed to move forward with the approximately $2 million project.
“But 85 (percent) is just unbelievable,” he added.
The city hopes to complete the project and have the pool open to the public by August 2018, weather permitting.
The facelift
Sibley’s new outdoor aquatic center is being designed as the same size —and at the same location — as the city’s current pool on 11th Avenue in Sam Robinson Memorial Park.
The approximately 11-foot maximum depth and 285,000-gallon pool will include added features such as water slides, a low diving board, zero-depth toys and a nearby splash pad.
The physical pool is not the only facility that will experience upgrades as part of the project. The parking lot and sidewalks will be improved along with the pool’s filter facility and bathhouse, which will become American with Disabilities Act compliant.
Beyond its life expectancy
Built in the 1950s, the current Sibley pool is operating between 35 and 40 years beyond its life expectancy, said Sibley City Administrator and Economic Development Director Glenn Anderson.
Anderson said discussions to improve the pool surfaced nearly five years ago, when it became increasingly clear the pool was nearing its end. He added that the poor state of the pool gained much attention when it took over one million gallons of water to fill the 285,000-gallon vessel.
“The common question is, where did the water go,” Anderson asked. “We don’t know.”
That will be one mystery for engineers to solve during site demolition and reconstruction.
At the end of this season, the water heaters also gave up.
“That was the last gasp of the pool saying, ‘I’m done,’” Anderson said.
Anderson gave credit to a community of dedicated individuals that put their heads together to design the new pool and get fundraising efforts off and running. In the past three years, the committee was able to raise approximately $500,000 through various events and donations from area businesses and individuals.
What’s next
Now that funds are secured, the hard part begins, Anderson said.
The challenge, he said, will be to complete the project on time — and at or under budget, which the city is taking very seriously.
The public’s confidence in the city is depending on it, he added.
“Now it’s about (being) under budget and on time,” Anderson said. “That’s the reality, because by doing that, the trust will be there when another project comes about for this community to support and get behind because their trust was fulfilled rather than denied.”
Over the course of the winter, project engineers Beck Engineering of Spirit Lake, Iowa and Rose Engineering of Atlantic, Iowa will begin getting bids for each component of the project. Those bids will be brought to the Sibley City Council for approval, and alterations from the original plan may be made if necessary to stay within the budget constraints, Anderson said. Plans will be mapped out for construction to begin once the spring weather allows.
Johnson is excited the community approved the bond, as a rejection would have pushed the project back at least six months until the city could issue another election.
“That would have been terrible for the kids,” he said. “The aquatic center is so important in keeping kids off the street and from doing something they shouldn’t.”
