EMMETT — The city of Emmett spent the entire summer without a community pool.
Now, they are raising funds to make sure that doesn't happen again next summer.
The Gem County Recreation District closed the pool after discovering the pool house had extensive structural damage.
“The pool house had just been made with plywood and two-by-fours,” said Gem County Recreation District Director Abra Dodson. “So, after four contractors came in we found out it was a complete loss.”
But that wasn’t all.
“We found out that we had so many issues with our wading pool that we're having to tear it out and re-do it, after 30 years,” Dodson said.
Crews also found the big pool wasn't up to code.
“The big pool, all we have to do is tear out some of the plaster along the main drain and make sure our two main drains feed into two instead of one drain,” Dodson said.
The closure forced people, like Stephanie Crays' aquatics class, to make other summer plans.
“The ladies really, really miss it,” said Crays, who teaches aquatics at the community pool. “I mean, sure there's walking and stuff, but this gets them cooled off, plus if they have a knee problem or back problem, the aquatic part is the best thing for them to do, and it's not here for them.”
They're not the only ones affected.
“We can’t train as much as we would like to,” said Chief Deputy Donnie Wunder of the Gem County Sheriff’s Office. “Last year, we had to go to the YMCA in Boise.”
Wunder says the closure affected the Gem County dive team and prevented some students from getting hands-on canoe and kayak training.
“Anytime you lose a pool, or I’m assuming they have 100 to 200 kids swimming here, they're going to go somewhere else to swim, which is going to put them in the canals and that's an extremely dangerous place to go swimming and we don’t encourage anyone to go swimming in the canals,” Wunder said.
The community has raised about $30,000 in about six months to go toward the project.
“We are in the final architectural phase, final engineering so once that all comes together we'll be able to get cost estimates, but we are estimating at least a million dollars,” Dodson said.
Crews will demolish the wading pool in the next couple of weeks.
The Gem County Recreation District hopes to begin construction in the spring.