Sink or swim? Hawthorne Pool to be discussed Monday at Galesburg City Council work session

GALESBURG — The fate of the public Hawthorne Pool will be discussed by Galesburg City Council members during a Monday, March 28, work session.

Mayor Peter Schwartzman said the city enlisted an engineering firm that re-examined the structure last month. On Monday, the council will discuss what the assessment found, if it is necessary to close the building due to safety concerns, what it would cost to repair the public pool and what that repair schedule could look like.

“I think this is still very much an undecided area of pursuit,” Schwartzman said. “And so in that sense, I think it's still very appropriate for people to speak up and first get informed, which is what's going to happen on Monday, and then share their thoughts with the council.”

Previously: Hawthorne pool to close in May unless council intervenes

As Monday’s meeting is just a work session, the council will not yet vote on whether to close or repair the pool. But Schwartzman said that the new engineering assessment should confirm or retract projections made by Klingner & Associates in 2016 and 2019 that determined the Hawthorne building would become unsafe to the public if the steel beams and concrete that line its outer walls are not soon replaced.

Schwartzman said the council will also look at repairing the building in stages, a possibility that has not previously been discussed. This could give the council the opportunity to keep the pool open while not spending the estimated millions needed for repairs or upgrades all at once.

The mayor said if the city does decide to invest in the pool, he believes that just repairing it is not sufficient. In order to increase the center’s foot-traffic, he would like to see modifications such as a zero-depth entry, a spongier pool-floor for exercise, an altered diving board and more programming.

“If an investment of this magnitude, multiple million dollars, is to be made, it's going to have to be something that more people than have in the past are taking advantage of, or wanting to be a part of,” Schwartzman said.

Previous estimations show that repairing the pool could cost the city at least $2.5 million. Upgrading the pool could bump up the cost to $5 million.

The pool has seen a decline in attendance in recent years, which Schwartzman attributed to COVID and a lack of programming in the center. But representatives from the local organization Save Hawthorne Pool have attended a number of recent city council meetings, vocal about the importance of the pool to the community and the need for more staffing.

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Schwartzman affirmed that Hawthorne Pool is an amenity which can increase the likelihood that people move to Galesburg.

The pool, which was first erected in 1941 is not up to current code for its electrical, plumbing, ventilation and Americans With Disabilities Act.

The Register-Mail previously reported that Tony Oligney-Estill, director of parks and recreation, said engineering studies have shown that even if the city invests the max amount of money needed to update Hawthorne Pool, a history of unaddressed “significant maintenance issues” may only guarantee the facility to stay open another 20 more years.

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Schwartzman said updating the pool in stages would allow the city to determine, over time, whether investing in the pool to keep it open past 20 years would be wise, depending on the number of people that take advantage of the facility.

“So that's where the stepped approach comes into play, it allows us to keep the pool open — in the sense that it may have to be closed temporarily for some repairs — but keep it open, drive more traffic and basically people vote with their feet,” Schwartzman said.

In the past, the mayor has acknowledged that members of city council have historically brushed aside rehabilitating the public pool. Yet left out of recent council meetings, the pool is the only item on Monday's agenda.

“If you were to ask the seven members how many of them made up their mind, I think many of them are still awaiting further input,” Schwartzman said.

This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: Future of Hawthorne Pool up for discussion by Galesburg City Council