COVINGTON, Ky. — Goebel Pool is officially closed for good.
The Covington Board of Commissioners voted to accept a service agreement with Swimsafe Pool Management, Inc. to manage aquatic facilities at Randolph Park Pool and the Covington Water Park in Latonia for the 2024 summer season at their meeting Tuesday night.
Swimsafe provides various operational services for the city’s aquatic facilities, and the new contract explicitly excuses operations for Goebel Park Pool.
The commissioners had discussed the potential closing of the pool at the caucus meeting last week, where city staff members informed the commission that repair and maintenance costs for the pool were too steep to justify, given the pool was already scheduled to close in 2025 due its proximity to the Brent Spence project.
The city told WCPO 9 News the pool is leaking about 50,000 gallons of water every week, and the price to fix it was between $400,000 and $1 million. For city officials, it didn't make financial sense when it was already going to close next year anyway.
"We were very disappointed that we had to make this decision but in light of the condition of the pool and the cost of repair it's the only realistic decision that we could make," said Mayor Joseph Meyer, city of Covington. "So we know it's got a very short lifespan, with the circumstances today where because of the deterioration of the pool...on top of that, the other facilities are past their replacement age, you know, the shelter is in rough shape, the roof needs to be replaced, the decking, we're operating on waivers because the decking is out of compliance."
On Wednesday, WCPO spoke to some neighbors who said news of the closure wasn't sitting well with them.
"It's always packed, so it's a shame," said Michelle Kersting. "It's been very good for the whole community, so that's a shame. I feel bad for them, so I don't know what the kids will do now."
"Kids are forced to turn to the street to find out the entertainment, they want to put on themselves and most of the time, it's for the bad, not for the good," said David Ledesma.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has agreed to give $1.3 million to the city to offset the loss of the pool and $100,000 to update the city’s master parks plan, but it’s unclear if this will be enough to outright replace the pool. Conversations LINKnky had with engineering firms who specialize in pool construction put the typical minimum cost of a full-size pool between $4 million and $4.5 million.
"One of those short-term pains that we'll experience," Meyer said.
The commissioners did not engage in discussion on the matter at the meeting.
The next meeting of the Covington Board of Commissioners will take place on Tuesday, April 16 at 6 p.m. at Covington City Hall on Pike Street.
This story originally appeared on linknky.com.
