City Council will hear a presentation on the need to replace the current Love Municipal Pool filtration system at a cost of $262,045. The pool was renovated in 2012 and the city chose a Filtrex filtration system in conjunction with the project coordinator.
The Council background packet states:
The current system is a Filtrex filtration system. It was purchased from a company in New Jersey. It is not a known system to anyone in our area or region, our POC for the Filtrex company from New Jersey has recently passed away. Staff have worked on the current system with no success.
That reads as an odd rationale for spending $262,000. Filtrex has a website with a contact phone number and the ability to submit an online request. It has a page with specifications and downloads.
Filtrex will not be in attendance to identify performance issues with their system. I wonder how they would react to staff's characterization of their company to City Council?
The replacement filtration system is proposed by Progressive Commercial Aquatics. Their motto is "We do not just build pools, we build relationships!"
Our experienced professionals will help guide you through all phases of development from planning to opening day.
The proposed contract is through BuyBoard and was not put out for bids by the City's Purchasing Department.
So who helped the city chose the unknown filtration system vendor a decade ago? Progressive Commercial Aquatics. Yes, the company lists the City of San Angelo in its Statement of Qualifications document as the pool's contractor.
The company designed and constructed the Municipal Pool and afterwards regularly sold the city pool chemicals.
The public values the city's municipal pool and getting it operational is a priority. That said, Council may want more details on Filtrex's failures and how Progressive Commercial Aquatics remained our partner since installation ten years ago. A true relationship would make things clear to decision makers.
Former Development Corporation board member Larry Teague said in 2013 the City of San Angelo does not do maintenance. "They wait until it breaks, then they fix it." The $262,045 was not budgeted so Larry's perspective may apply. It may not. We'll know more after City Council meets next week.
Update 4-18-22: City staff provided detail about filtration system issues to Council's pleasure. They approved the expenditure in today's meeting. Assistant City Manager Rick Weise spoke of a consulting company that designed the pool but did not mention the name.
Update 4-24-22: The architectural firm that designed the pool renovation was Bargmann Hendrie + Archetype Inc. and the pool's building contractor was Mega Contractors. City documents show no design/construction role for Progressive Commercial Aquatics.
Update 4-29-22: The city put out a press release on the delay in opening the Municipal Pool this summer due to the need to replace the filtration system.
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