CLARION BOROUGH, Pa. (EYT) — Clarion Borough residents will unfortunately have to pass another year without the borough pool.

Borough council members, however, say they are securing funding to make much-needed renovations to the pool.

The Clarion Borough Municipal Pool, located along Liberty Street besides Clarion Area High School, has not been opened since 2019. It direly needs major repairs, including a complete remodeling of the bathhouse, repairs to the pump house and chemical storage, repairs to cracks and holes on the surface of the pool, improvements to the kid’s section of the pool and playground, and a host of ADA compliance issues.

Currently, the borough is pursuing a Department of Conservation and Natural Resources grant to the tune of around half a million dollars to make these repairs.

“What we’re trying to do is to make a new facility that will last 20 years,” said borough council member Ben Aaron, who is part of the council’s recreation committee.

Aaron explained the deadline for the DCNR grant is in April; then, it will take six months for it to be awarded. Pool renovations could then begin in the spring of 2023.

“It’s unfortunate, but in the long run, it will be better that way,” he added.

The borough has completed a feasibility study for the project and has worked with The EADS Group and Delta Contractors & Design Inc on the technical specifications of the work.

Aaron has high hopes that the pool can be opened in 2023; however, Rachel Roberts, also on the borough council and the chairperson of the recreation committee, believes it might take longer.

“Realistically, it’s going to be in the ’24 season,” she said.

When the pool does open back up, Clarion Borough will need to look for new managers. Early last year, the YMCA, which had managed the Clarion pool for some years past, informed the council they could not provide that service due to staffing issues.

Roberts said the borough council looked at soliciting a pool management company, USA Pool Management, at the time. However, because the pool was not up to code and needed many repairs, USA Pool Management could not manage the pool. She said it was her opinion they could contract USA Pool Management in the future to manage the Clarion pool.

According to Aaron, many borough residents had talked to him about wanting to have the pool in good shape. He stated previous councils initiated small repairs to the pool, here and there; he called them “band-aid fixes.”

“It’s been a fight the last eight years. It was just time to step in and look at the bigger picture and do a long-term fix,” he said.

One problem was council members were not willing to pay back grants if the pool closed within a certain amount of time.

“In 2016, we were presented with a grant to fix the roof of the pool,” said Roberts. “Council members thought the pool would not live that long.”

Both Roberts and Aaron said the pool is a priority for the council, with Aaron stating that “the whole goal of it is to give an extra recreational opportunity to draw people into our community and make it the best it can be.”

“I want everybody to know we want the pool to be open,” said Roberts, although she noted the project is large and will take time to complete.

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