Charles City Parks & Rec Board narrows potential companies for pool project

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

The Charles City Parks and Recreation Board will invite two companies to send representatives to a future meeting to present their ideas on coming up with a plan to repair or replace the community swimming pool.

The companies are JEO Consulting Group of Ankeny and Burbach Aquatics of Platteville, Wisconsin, and according to materials those companies provided, they have designed more than 1,100 aquatic projects between them.

The Parks & Rec Board had approved a request for qualifications (RFQ) packet at its last meeting, in April, and received five responses to that request.

The  RFQ was sent to various pool design and construction firms, asking them to submit information about their project approach; staff qualifications; potential study, planning and design processes; previous projects; and follow-through experience.

The goal is to help the Parks & Rec Board decide if the existing 31-year-old pool at Lions Field Park can or should be repaired or replaced, and then to help come up with a plan and a design to make it happen.

The RFQ also asked the companies how they would evaluate the needed size, location and amenities of a new aquatic center if it is decided that is the best option, as well as whether the companies would be able to help with fundraising and potentially a bond campaign to finance the project.

At its meeting Wednesday, the members of the Parks & Rec Board went through each of the five companies’ proposals then quickly whittled them down to their favorite two, with near unanimous agreement.

Tyler Mitchell, city Parks and Recreation Department director, said the two chosen companies had been “my No. 1 and No. 2” based on their proposals, even before the board had discussed them and decided.

In addition to the experience of both companies – JEO having designed more than 500 aquatic projects and Burbach more than 600 – Parks & Rec Board members liked that both companies discussed their successes helping communities raise funds for pool projects.

The JEO proposal said, “We understand the importance of a thoughtful, focused planning effort to create community support for the future of aquatics in Charles City.”

It continued, “With the recent county-wide tax increases and local construction projects, the community support of significant expenditures and tax levies will be complex. We know your most significant obstacle is ensuring a facility that can be built and operated within your budget. This is common in many communities, so we provide free grant writing services that have successfully provided over $500 million in community betterment initiatives.”

Burbach Aquatics said it will work directly with community representatives throughout the project, and the company “has successfully helped several small communities raise over $28,096,000 in project contributions during the last 68 months,” and “has successfully helped our clients achieve 47 referendum victories out of 48 or 98% success.”

Burbach said it had designed five pools in Cedar Rapids as well as pools in Grinnell, Adel, Davenport, Independence, Traer, Inwood, Sheldon, Sanborn, West Burlington, Bettendorf, Humboldt, Williamsburg, Carlisle, Independence, Tama-Toledo, Belle Plaine, Missouri Valley, Monona, Grundy Center, LaPorte City, Logan, Hull, Decorah, Dysart, Eagle Grove, Estherville, Fairfield, DeWitt, Correctionville, Mediapolis, Monticello, Cascade, Chariton and Avoca in Iowa, “plus hundreds more” throughout the Midwest.

JEO said it has designed pools for Red Oak, Holstein, Manning and Glenwood in Iowa, and others in neighboring states.

Mitchell said JEO representatives had visited the community, and one intriguing idea they had was combining the pool project with a needed new clubhouse at Wildwood Golf Course, building a new pool where the current baseball diamonds are located near the entrance to the golf course and building a combination bathhouse and clubhouse building to serve both.

Board member Diane Meyer said she had previously expressed her opinion that she wouldn’t favor a new pool being built anywhere other than at or near where the current pool is at Lions Field Park, but the golf course idea could persuade her.

The other companies that submitted proposals were Waters Edge Aquatic Design of Lenexa, Kansas; Counsilman-Hunsaker and MSA Professional Services of St. Louis; and Confluence of Cedar Rapids.

Also at the Parks & Rec Board meeting, the members continued discussing the potential for a new skating park in the city. The latest developments were a suggestion by board President Jeff Otto to locate the park east of the swimming pool, in a triangular area between Lions Drive and Chautauqua Drive, and a suggestion by Cory Mutch that the park be located in an area by the Cedar River east of Brantingham St., bordered by Riverside Drive on the South and Clark Street on the North.

Mitchell said he had talked with a concrete contractor and a 65-foot-by-40-foot pad of the type of seamless concrete required would cost about $20,000. The board is discussing purchasing individual pieces of skating structure that could be installed at a park, but is also still considering other options.

The board agreed to invite some skating enthusiasts to the next board meeting to get their opinions on some of the options being discussed.