NEVERSINK — The Town Board of Neversink called a Special Meeting to discuss progress on the Grahamsville Fairgrounds Pool on May 1 with signs showing a need for repairs.

According to Town Supervisor Chris Mathews, a diver came in to inspect the leak situation. The diver placed a listening device into the pool and didn’t hear anything. 

Following this, he placed a listening device into the ‘Pit’ which is a small wooden access hole.

“Down in the pit, it’s about eight and a half by eleven and a half feet,” described Mathews. “It’s filled with some drain pipes that we didn’t expect. There are two drains for the gutter system.”

The diver came back the next day and he brought a wetsuit. He reportedly didn’t use tanks. He had a small compressor just like what one would use to run a finish gun.

He hooked this up and jumped in with a video camera and lights. He also had a dye kit in which he injected dye into the water.

This dye then found its way out of the leak. Mathews then said that Town Officials decided to drain the pool.

“We talked about draining the pool so we could get in there and take a look,” explained Mathews. “We came back this week and I think [Town Maintenance] Joe  [Bagley] and I went in there Monday. We videoed everything and sent you guys [the Board] the videos of what we saw. There was still about two feet of water in there at that point.”

They came to the conclusion that this was going to be a concrete repair.

Mathews said Bagley worked diligently to clean out the Pit as there was reportedly a lot of slime.

“We believe at this time, the best course of action is probably to chip out around the two drain pipes. The one coming in and the one coming out,” said Mathews. “[And we would] use a hydro-lock or something to that effect patch it around.”

He also said that the idea of foundation sealant was discussed.

Bagley stated that he went in that day and got the pool completely empty, removing pieces of debris out, such as leaves and silt.

“With the pool, I went in there with the pressure washer and cleaned around that pipe coming in and also the one going out,” explained Bagley, “I figured if that’s all we were gonna do, I didn’t see the point in pressure-washing the whole room. Not easy doing that in there, stuff flies all over.”

The second half Mathews described was the de-lamination of the surface of the pool. This removes the fairly new coating that was applied roughly five years ago, as estimated by him.

He said that in the deep section they have the material that flipped right off and fell into the pool.

“If we fix the leak as soon as we can, we can fill the pool and hold it for now,” suggested Bagley. Mathews shared the sentiment and added that they should probably fill it back up again, anyway.

“I think in the future, we should be planning better,” suggested Mathews. “Maybe sealing that room somehow or something to that effect.”

Pool operators 

share concerns

Operator of the Neversink Pool, Patty Mullen, said that swimming lessons are very important to them.

“We’re also looking to open up earlier this year. It’s a huge expense for us for six weeks,” Mullen said.

Janet Carey of the Grahamsville Pool said that roughly seventeen years ago there was a leak prior and they were trying to fix it.

She said they coordinated and did all the swimming lessons for a while until they were operational.

Mathews re-affirmed that they don’t know how far this fix is going to go or if this proposal is going to work or not.

“We just don’t know [if the fix will work in the long term], but I think we have a good shot of making it work.”

Carey added that in the past couple summers, they’ve employed about twenty-five lifeguards part-time. 

She said that not everybody is full-time because the parents “take them away for extended vacations and things during the summer.”

“We have that program which encompasses all of our early morning lessons which we do at both pools so we have the payroll for both pools for the morning swim,” explained Carey, “Then in the afternoons we do separately.”

“Right now is when the training starts for all of these positions. All the lifeguard re-certification and renewals I do for free for everybody that works for the Town. I have [done this] for the last thirty to forty years.”

She laughed that she reportedly gets inquiries from her staff saying, “Mrs. Carey, would you please be a reference for me so I can get a job elsewhere. I hear the pool is leaking.”

“So I’m like ‘Yes but please wait a little while before you sign on someplace’,” described Carey. “My fear is that we could get everything up and running and then have nobody left to work for the summer. We do need quite a few people because we are open 70 hours a week.”

“I don’t want to lose the well-trained staff that we have that we’ve worked on for so long.”

She told the Board that any help that could be given with that would be “great” because she’s starting the re-certification classes shortly.

Mullen responded that, as far as the swimming lesson and morning people, “it’s definitely a go. Because if you guys can’t pull it off, we’re more than willing to change our hours and do whatever it takes. We’d rather have swimming lessons than be called to a rescue call.”

Larry Bracken talks Grant

The Neversink Agricultural Society Board President Larry Bracken updated the Board on the Sullivan 180 matter pertaining to their Golden Feather Award through Sullivan 180.

He said that it has been accepted and there’s going to be a presentation May 16. However, there isn’t a set time yet.

“I’m going to be out of town, but a couple of the Board members are gonna go and present our case to them and see what happens,” stated Bracken.

They submitted for about $550,000 worth of projects and they have reportedly only $100,000.

“We have a lot of letters of support, so I think we’re in pretty good shape. I think we’ll be alright.”