It's hot outside, and Kerrville residents are out of luck when it comes to poolside accommodations this summer.
Olympic Pool, the sole city-owned swimming facility, is closed for the 2025 season, and city leaders are scrambling to get their hands on an additional $750,000 to attract additional bids before next year, as department leaders attempt to double down with an aggressive construction schedule.
At a May 13 city council meeting, staff with the parks and recreation department recommended that leaders reject all the bids they had received through April 17 to start construction on the aging 50-year old pool, effectively starting from scratch and potentially setting back its reopening date beyond summer 2026.
Rosa Ledesma, the city's assistant Parks and Rec director, told council members that staff is now working with design contractors to revise the project's scope to focus on covering engineering costs and reopen the bidding process to entice more competitive offers when submissions reopen on May 28.
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"The Olympic Pool is one of the great amenities we have within our 100-acre Singing Wind Park, here in Kerrville," assistant city manager Michael Hornes told MySA.
The Olympic-sized pool has been the subject of renovation efforts in recent years, with city leaders including the Kerrville Olympic Pool Renovation and Expansion project in one form or another in the 2018 Comprehensive Plan and the 2022 Parks and Recreation Master Plan.
"This project has been talked about for quite some time," Hornes said.
Renovation efforts became more focused in the fall of 2023, according to Hornes, when City Council and Kerrville's Economic Improvement District (EIC) teamed up on a bond project to fund $20 million into "quality of life" projects, including the renovations at Olympic Pool, infrastructure upgrades at the Peterson Medical Center Campus, a downtown trails area, the Scott Schreiner Golf Course and improvements at the Cailloux Theater.
The pool project was allocated $7 million of that bond, according to Hornes, but now, administrators on the project are asking the city for more money to clear key hurdles stalling construction. At last week's city council meeting, Hornes informed council members that the two bids they had received were well in excess of that estimated $7 million price tag.
"We had hoped that would be sufficient, based on our design, but the initial bids came in too high," he said. "At that point, staff, along with our architect, looked at areas that we could make changes without affecting the amenities or programming we are providing. We have put those amended plans back out to bid and are hopeful, not only for lower bids, but for additional bidders to the project."
Hornes and Parks and Rec staff are asking the EIC and the City Council to increase the project's budget by an additional $750,000 to help cover any potential increase.
The assistant city manager said the increase will be offset by savings in the other remaining bond projects.
"While we would always like to keep it open, each and every year, the schedule will not allow it," Hornes said. "Our plan is to be back open by the summer of 2026."