Moundsville’s Four Seasons Pool Fixture Comes in Over Budget
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MOUNDSVILLE -- The Four Seasons Pool's up-and-coming splash pad came in at higher cost than expected, but by reshuffling some projects the city still plans to have the pool fixture operating by the end of summer, and complete by next year.
The splash pad, an above-ground water feature to be added to the city's Four Seasons Pool, was put out to bid in February. At Tuesday evening's meeting, city manager Rick Healy said two companies had bid for the project, both coming in significantly over budget.
After some negotiations with Follansbee-based Lombardi Construction to delay some of the extraneous features, Lombardi was awarded the bid of $325,000. While Healy said this amount was around $20,000 more than the city budgeted, the original bid returned was $70,000 more than was budgeted. The other bidder, which Healy did not name at the meeting, came in with nearly double what the city had initially estimated.
"What we ended up doing, we took the additions at the end of the project, which included some picnic tables and additional shade structures," Healy said. "We took those out of the contract and that took us down to $325,000, which was $20,000 over the budget. We have the funds available in the (recreation) fund to cover that $20,000, and director (John) White is willing to put one of his projects for next year on hold if need be to cover this."
Healy said the splash pad hopefully will be completed by late summer, with at least a month left of outdoor pool operation, with the additional work being done before next summer, using funding generated through the city's 1% sales tax.
The sales tax, Healy added, generates all the funding for the parks and recreation department's budget, and thus Moundsville's taxpayers would not shoulder an additional burden to cover the unexpected cost.
"For the most part, this will be the largest project since the development of the pool in the '70s," Healy said, "and will be a real exciting project for the city."
Mayor David Wood pointed out that with other locales in Marshall County, such as Grand Vue Park, redesigning their pool areas, Four Seasons becomes one of only a few places in the immediate area to feature a splash pad, which serves as a draw to the city.
In other business, the city voted 6-1 -- with councilman Gene Saunders voting against — to draft an ordinance moving the meeting time back an hour, to begin at 6 p.m. Wood said the purpose of the move was because the meeting is only scheduled from 7 to 9 p.m., and meetings frequently run past the designated end time.
The ordinance will be brought to a vote at May's meetings.