Ringgold approves flooring bid for city pool house renovation

After approving flooring upgrades at its city pool in September, officials in Ringgold have also approved a plumbing bid as part of the facility’s facelift.

During the Oct. 28 City Council meeting, the board unanimously approved a bid for plumbing upgrades to the more than 50-year-old building.

“The Ringgold pool house, built in 1964 and still having its original plumbing in the building — we need to redo the drain lines like we’ve talked about in there before,” City Manager Dan Wright explained. “Not too awful long ago, you (the council) approved refinishing the floor, making it more modern, up to date, and safer for our patrons.”

The floor resurfacing was indeed approved on Sept. 23 in the amount of $9,275.

At that time of the flooring approval, city staff explained that the plumbing needs would be needed as well and that the preference is to have the projects underway at the same time.

As for the plumbing, Wright says continuous backups in the old lines have become a growing problem over the years.

“This 55-year-old line — we’re having constant backups in it,” Wright said. “It’s undersized and it’s old cast iron that has a lot of fragments along the interior of it. It’s really good for catching those swimming diapers, and of course when that happens, we wind up having to close the pool until the maintenance guys get there and are able to get them out. Sometimes that’s a little harder than you’d think.”

Wright said the city received multiple bids for the work, but that one company offered a significantly lower quote.

“B&R Plumbing and Heating produced the lowest quote by far in the amount of $9,771,” Wright said. “That will not only be improving the drain all the way up to the six inch, but it will also take it all the way to the manhole and tie in there.”

Wright added that the work will include replacement of all the fixtures inside the building and other pipe upgrades.

“It will also be redoing the two-inch copper water main that comes in to the building. It has some seeping going on,” Wright said. “It’s not too terribly bad for a pool building, but we want to go ahead and get it all new (in there).”

The bid was unanimously approved in 5-0 vote, and the nearly $20,000 for both projects has been earmarked for pool upgrades.

“This is a project that is budgeted in our CIP (Capital Improvement Projects) program as well,” Wright said.