Last night, the Seal Beach City Council Chambers were packed with a crowd anxious about the fate of the McGaugh pools. Since it was just one meeting ago that the city council seriously considered demolishing the much loved pools, and determining what to do about the old and badly leaking pools was again on the City Council’s agenda, the swimmers came out in force. They were not disappointed by their city government.

It was as recent as three weeks ago, that a motion was made and seconded, to demolish the pools because of massive leaks and a $1.3 million repair bill. See our related article below. But, the council stepped back from that drastic action and asked for more study by city staff.

One of the major questions was how much retro fitting would be required to bring the fifty year old pools up to current codes. The answer depends on how much refurbishment work is done. Complicating matters further is the requirement to install new anti-entrapment drains. This safety modification will be required by July 1, 2010, regardless of the extent of any other work.
All this, on top of pools leaking about 10,000 gallons of water per day, and a rapidly approaching summer swim season—caused increasing concern among both council members and residents.

Enter the hero of the moment--Commercial Aquatics Services, Inc., who was hired by the city to test the pool’s systems and find out as much as possible about exactly where the leaks were. The good news was that even though at the last meeting, city staff was recommending replacing all the old cast iron pipes under the deck and pools, the pressurized leak testing indicated the pipes were able to hold pressure and thus their replacement can be deferred. The leaking parts were identified as a variety of other components.

Not needing to replace the pipes, changes everything. In response to questions from Councilmember Gary Miller, who was asking about the dramatic difference between the recommendation presented by city staff last night and their recommendation of three weeks ago, Tim Kelsey, Community Services, Supervisor for Seal Beach said “If we did a major pipe replacement, we were going to be required to separate the two systems.”
Separating the two systems for the two pools was one of the drivers of the much higher project cost presented at the last meeting.

Thus, when city staff reported the new repair cost had come down to a manageable $100,000, that issue became noncontroversial. The remaining concern was timing. Nobody wanted to see the pools closed for repairs during the summer season. But with permits to be obtained, contracts to be let, parts to be ordered, completion of the work before the July 1 deadline for the new safety drains, meant that a prolonged shutdown of the pool during the summer was looming.

Then, up to the mic stepped the representative (we didn’t catch her name) of Commercial Aquatics Services, Inc. She said “To do everything, I would say a month to be conservative. I think it could be done sooner as far as the total time that the pool needs to be closed.” Not only that, but she said her company could start almost immediately, would handle the permits, which she said could be done in about 7 days, and would order the equipment with the longest lead time—the new filtration equipment—while the rest of the work was progressing. The spokesperson said the filters would be the last component to go in, so the three week lead time would not need to slow down the completion date. She said if the council approved the motion last night, the pool could be opened before the end of June.

When she said her company could do everything in a month, she brought the house down with approving applause. With that, there was no turning back and the emergency motion was approved a few minutes later.

Not only did the city council give City Manager David Carmany authorization to let the repair contract without the benefit of advertising for bids, he was directed to hire Commercial Aquatics Services, Inc. forthwith. Earlier yesterday, Mr. Carmany told www.OC180NEWS.com “What we’re asking for is $100,000 that wouldn’t follow the normal bid process, but we still plan to get two or three bids from separate companies. We’re just trying to expedite the timing because we’re up against summer swim season.”

Last night, at the potential expense of not having competitive bids, the City Council gave an extra push to get the work done ASAP. While on previous occasions the council and city manager have received substantial public criticism for not putting contracts out to bid, last night, judging from the mood in the chambers, nobody was complaining and it seems safe to conclude that at least for one night, the residents of Seal Beach were happy with their city government.