The indoor pool at the Arnold Recreation Center, 1695 Missouri State Road, will be closed for nine days this month so the roof over the pool can be replaced.
It will be closed from 5:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. between March 21 and March 24 and again from 5:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. between March 27 and March 31. The pool activities and programs will still take place after 3 p.m.
Parks and Recreation Director David Crutchley said any activities or programs customers have paid for that are affected by the closure will be made up at later dates.
He said the closure is necessary because the roof over the pool has to be completely torn off, and dust and debris may fall into the indoor pool area during the work.
“It is very much needed,” Crutchley said. “Most of the roof over the pool is not even secured on anymore. We have leaks throughout the building; there is actually a new leak in the pool area where it is pulling off from a wall.”
City Council agreed in December to pay Shay Roofing of Millstadt, Ill., $809,908 to replace the entire rec center roof. Shay submitted the lowest of three bids for the work, City Administrator Bryan Richison said.
He said the roof replacement has been needed at the rec center, which opened in 2005, for a long time, adding that some structural repairs are needed over the pool area and there are leaks from the roof in some of the offices.
“It has been put off because we were looking for other ways to do it while avoiding financing it,” he said. “It has reached a point where there are enough problems with the building that we needed to do what it took to get it done.”