City to hire lifeguards, manager for new pool

The City of Olney will soon hire a pool manager and lifeguards for the new municipal swimming pool, which is expected to open in late May or June, Mayor Rue Rogers said.

The City Council discussed the process for getting bids from a pool manager to run the concession stand and manage the lifeguards at its March 18 meeting. The pool manager candidates would submit bids to the City and would assist in recruiting and hiring lifeguards, Mayor Rogers said.

The City has gone two summers with no swimming pool, after the Public Works Department discovered structural cracks and a possible sinkhole beneath the 1950s-era swimming pool at Tom Griffin Keep Olney Beautiful had intended to replace the pool sometime in the future as part of its upgrades to Tom Griffin Park but had to accelerate those plans and raise about $500,000 from private donors to pay for the new pool complex, which will include a restroom and concession stand.

The Public Works Department will raze the existing poolhouse and fill in the old pool with dirt from the new pool, Mayor Rogers said.

Pools by Jason of Wichita Falls has poured the gunite for the pool and will start work on the bathrooms and concession stands in about a week, Councilmember Thea Sullivan, a KOB member, said.

The Council instructed City Secretary Tammy Hourigan to research the language and procedures for hiring the pool manager and lifeguards.