Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015 Editorial • Authority needs to make good decisions regarding the pool

Publisher’s note: This editorial originally appeared in the Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015 edition of the Lassen County Times.

The upcoming decisions made by the Honey Lake Valley Recreation Authority regarding the design and construction of a new community swimming pool will affect our community for decades to come.

The heavy political lifting to obtain funding to construct and operate the pool has already been completed — the authority has commitments to fund the operation of the pool from both the city and the county for more than a decade, and the city and the county have each contributed $1.2 million to build the pool.

Following the recommendation of Jared Hancock, the authority’s executive officer, the plan is to have the facility designed and built by one firm (and possibly its subcontractors). Hancock says this is the quickest and most cost-effective way to build the pool. He may be right.

But one local contractor declined to bid on the project, and recommended the authority hire a firm to design the pool and then take bids to build that design. The contractor believes that process would lead to a pool that matches the authority’s vision and would result in a level playing field for those who want to place a bid to build it.

There have been snags. Earlier this month the authority rejected three bids it had received and began the bidding process anew due to procedural errors in the original process, delaying the date when construction could begin.

After conferring with its attorney, the authority board approved the new bidding process in which bidders must pre-qualify for the project by next week — Sept. 26, and the authority has announced its intention to award the contract Nov. 1. Despite the local contractor’s concerns, Hancock and the authority board have decided to pursue the design/build concept.

However, in order to ensure the community gets the swimming pool it desires and deserves, the authority board must do its due diligence and make sure the process it follows is correct and will result in a pool that serves the community’s needs.

Since the bid process has yet to be completed, it’s impossible for the authority or the public to assess the suitability of any plan to build the pool. We can only wait until that portion of the process has been completed.

So far the authority has completed a concept design of the pool facility that bidders will use to prepare their proposals.

But as with any construction project, the devil is in the details, and a staggering number of exacting details must be considered when evaluating the bids the authority receives from the contractors.

While the authority’s determination and dedication to building a community swimming pool should not be questioned, everyone working on this project — the board members and staff — needs to recognize the decisions they make in the next few weeks or months can make or break the swimming pool project, and they need to give their decisions all the consideration they deserve.

Our community has been without a pool for more than a decade, and our city and county leaders have found a way to get one built, despite some opposition.

Now our leaders need to finish the job and make sure it gets done correctly.