Work continued Friday on a rebuild and upgrade of the Southwood Park pool in Parkersburg. Grae-Con Construction is the lead contractor. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

PARKERSBURG — The municipal budget being considered by Parkersburg City Council includes provisions for the Southwood Park pool being closed for most or all of the summer.

Work began before Christmas on an approximately $4.9 million project to reconstruct the 44-year-old pool and add a zero-depth entry area, new water features, a new concrete pool deck, new lighting and audio, a speed slide and expanded kids’ pool area and shaded spaces.

It’s being funded with American Rescue Plan act money, a $673,000 federal Land and Water Conservation Fund grant and capital funds set aside for the project.

The pool will not open at the same time as its counterpart in City Park and may not be ready before the end of the summer swimming season. The parks and recreation fund discussed by city officials at Thursday’s budget hearing before council as the Committee of the Whole includes some adjustments to account for that.

The revenue projection for the Southwood Park pool was decreased from the $20,000 for this fiscal year to $10,000.

Work continued Friday on a rebuild and upgrade of the Southwood Park pool in Parkersburg. Grae-Con Construction is the lead contractor. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

“There’s still an amount in there should the pool open during the season,” Finance Director Eric Jiles said.

Meanwhile, the revenue projection for the City Park pool was placed at $85,000 to account for people who may go there while Southwood is closed, he said. That’s $20,000 higher than the projection for this fiscal year, which ends June 30, but only slightly higher than the actual revenue for fiscal year 2021-22.

The water utility expense for the parks and recreation fund was increased by $11,729 because, if the Southwood pool opens during the season, additional water will be needed to refill the pool and the new features, Jiles said.

“If Southwood pool does not open, the actual expenses would be much lower,” he said.

The proposed parks and recreation subsidy from the general fund was decreased from $250,000 this year to $125,000.

Work continued Friday on a rebuild and upgrade of the Southwood Park pool in Parkersburg. Grae-Con Construction is the lead contractor. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

“We do have recent history of increased revenue over several years ago,” Jiles said. “That’s becoming, not self-sustaining, but closer.”

Councilman Zach Stanley asked about the status of the water slide at Southwood Park. Mayor Tom Joyce said City Engineer Adam Stout has been working with a third party to price remediation for the 40-plus-year-old fiberglass structure.

“I’d like to open the slide again, even if it’s only going to be a Band-Aid for a couple of years,” Joyce said. “My goal is to provide some kind of water recreation resource this year for sure.”

There has been some vandalism to the slide in the last month or so, he said.

With an idea of how the new features at the pool are received and used, officials will have a better idea of what to do with the slide going forward, Joyce said.

Also discussed at Thursday’s budget hearing was the addition of an engineering analyst’s salary in the Engineering Department budget.

Joyce said the individual, Vickie Radabaugh, has worked for the city more than 20 years, most recently as the manager of the Memorial Bridge. She was the only full-time employee of the bridge, and with the city selling the toll bridge to a private owner, the job was no longer needed, but city officials indicated a desire to keep her employed.

In recent months, Radabaugh has assisted code enforcement and other departments with digitizing records and other tasks.

“She’s proved … very effective,” Joyce said.

Her salary will continue to be paid out of the bridge budget through June 30 before shifting to engineering July 1. The $50,479 salary is part of an overall salary increase in the department of $99,200, which includes the half of the assistant engineer’s salary previously paid by the bridge and the 4.2% cost-of-living increase for all municipal workers except elected officials.

The contractual services line item for engineering is proposed to increase by $35,000 to $105,000.

“This is related to the increasing costs and frequencies of emergency demolitions,” Jiles said.

Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.

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Meetings

* 6 p.m. Monday: Minor operating budgets, discretionary agency funding, capital reserve, special revenue funds (coal severance and user fee), capital project funds (demolition, parks and recreation, street infrastructure), street lighting, central garage, street cleaning, stormwater management, parks and recreation

* 7:30 p.m. Tuesday: Regular City Council meeting, which includes a public hearing on the budget and capital plan.

* 6 p.m. Thursday: Finalize budget.

* All meetings will take place in council chambers on the second floor of the Municipal Building.