FRACKVILLE — The Frackville pool project was the focus of the recreation committee report at the borough council meeting last week and included the naming of the logo contest winner.
Councilwoman Karen L. Domalakes, committee chairwoman, delivered the report and announced that Denise McGurl, Germanville, had designed the winning logo for the Frackville Pool Committee that will be used on letterheads, advertising and signs.
“The pool committee, since we started to raise money, has used a picture of the broken-down pool on our Facebook page,” Domalakes said. “We’re trucking along and we’re raising money, and it’s time to change the face of what our fundraising effort looks like and to have an actual logo. We ran a logo contest for a couple of months and we got some very beautiful logos.”
Domalakes called McGurl to the council table and presented her with a family pool pass voucher to be used in the year when the new pool opens.
“It’s one family pool pass for the next operating year of the community pool,” Domalakes said.
The community pool did not open in 2015 due to deterioration along the walls. Three of the six pool walls had pulled away, and the south and west walls had cracks large enough to fit a hand into them. All of the filtration buckets were also cracked.
While repairs could have led to the opening of the pool, the underlying problems would still exist and could reappear in 2016.
The problems were discovered after the snow melted. After an inspection by Boyer Swimming Pool, which was originally called in to investigate the cause of a leak, the decision was made to keep the pool closed and begin to look into options to replace it. The pool is 38 years old and was constructed in 1978. It is the second community pool — the first was constructed in the 1950s and lasted for more than 20 years.
The pool committee first met in May 2015 and that allowed a look at a proposed pool design by Aquatic Facility Design Inc., Millersburg.
“The pool committee met (recently) with Aquatic Design for them to discuss with us what we wanted out of the pool and what we were thinking,” Domalakes said. “John Chuma was at the meeting. He was part of the last time we put in a pool. It was great for him to talk to the person from Aquatic Design about what was up there, what was there in the past and what we were looking for in the future. And that was part of going forward with the feasibility study that is underway.”
Domalakes said that Aquatic Design is studying the current and future pool uses and needs, and as part of that study, a planning and needs survey was created to receive recommendations for prospective improvements based on the community’s needs and wishes.
“One of the things that came out of the meeting is Aquatic asked for everyone there to fill out a questionnaire,” Domalakes said. “It’s not required for the grant or the feasibility study to have the entire town to fill out the questionnaire, but it is an option for us. The questionnaire asks the people if you use the pool, what do you want out of the pool, how much do you think the pool should cost, do you like the food, things like that.”
Since a mass mailing of the survey to all borough households would be costly, Domalakes recommended the survey be posted on the Internet.
The survey is available for download at the Frackville Pool Facebook page. The survey will also be available at the municipal building. Completed surveys should be mailed or dropped off at the borough office, 42 S. Center St., by Sept. 30.
“I really do want to hear from the people in town what they want out of the pool,” Domalakes said.
Domalakes said fundraisers continue to be held and more than $8,000 has been raised since July. Upcoming fundraisers included a Valentine’s Day cupcake sale in February, a ham and bean/cabbage dinner for St. Patrick’s Day on March 17 and a Lithuanian egg art workshop on March 22. Details and order forms are available on the pool’s Facebook page.