Pembroke council decides to close 67-year-old Kinsmen Pool citing safety

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In a 6-1 vote during day two of Pembroke’s budget deliberations last week, council decided to close the city’s Kinsmen Pool citing liability and safety concerns as the reasons. As of end of day on Friday, Jan. 5, the doors to the 51-year-old structure, and 67-year-old pool basin were locked to the public. Water will remain in the pool basin for the time being to maintain its integrity.

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According to the city, the pool has 19 staff, 17 of which are immediately affected by the closure. In addition, the pool was in the middle of a series of swim lessons that were scheduled to wrap up in early February which are now cancelled immediately. In a press release, the city said pool users will be contacted directly regarding refunds.

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At a special meeting of council on Dec. 11 to discuss the pool, council heard from Tashi Dwivedi of HP Engineering Inc. who told council the existing Kinsmen Pool has reached its end of life and is no longer safe. According to Dwivedi the biggest concerns are with the structure’s metal roof and walls, particularly under the weight of heavy snow or rain. At the Dec. 19 council meeting, council voted to keep the pool open but implement active monitoring of the structure until the facility’s fate was decided during budget discussions in January. In the interim, for safety, staff checked on the structure daily and an engineer looked at it weekly.

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Towards the end of 2023, council turned away from the idea of developing a new aquatic complex, which has been the plan for a number of years, and decided seek expressions of interest from the private sector to possibly develop a P3 complex for the city that would include a pool. Public-Private Partnerships, commonly known as P3 projects, represent a long-term strategy for acquiring public infrastructure. In this model, the private sector takes on significant risks related to financing and construction, receiving compensation from the government or other beneficiaries in exchange. It is expected to take much of 2024 to see if there is an interested developer and explore whether a P3 project could work for the city. If a developer was interested and could reach a deal with the city, the new facility is likely still five to eight years away.

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During the December meetings, council was told that replacing the existing pool’s walls and roof with a new metal structure would cost about $1.1M, but would extend the pool’s life by 20 to 25 years. Adding an HVAC and dehumidification system for an extra $800,000 could further prolong its lifespan to 40-50 years. However, this only addresses the pool’s exterior, not its internal components. Notably, some internal parts, like the pool pump and a boiler, have recently been replaced.

In summary, for between $1.1M and $1.9M, the Kinsmen Pool could be made safe, have its life extended for decades, barring other failures, and remain open following the replacement of the structure while council decides on how it wants to proceed in developing a new pool or multi-sport complex. Instead, council decided to save the million dollar repair expenses plus the pool’s annual operating costs while it explores P3 possibilities. Should no developer be interested in developing a P3 recreation project in Pembroke or a feasible deal not be reached, council could decide down the road to proceed with the repairs and reopen the Kinsmen Pool.

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Jordan Durocher, Pembroke’s director of Parks and Recreation, warned council if the pool is closed aquatic staff affected by the closure will likely move on to other work leaving the city with a staffing problem should it change direction and repair and reopen the Kinsmen Pool or when it opens a new pool years in the future, in whatever form that takes.

At the budget meeting, Councillor Andrew Plummer made the motion to close the Kinsmen Pool which was seconded by Coun. Troy Purcell. After discussion, Pembroke Mayor Ron Gervais called for a recorded vote. Voting in favour of closing the pool was Deputy Mayor Brian Abdallah, Plummer, Purcell, Coun. Ed Jacyno, Coun. Ian Kuehl, and Coun. Pat Lafreniere. Mayor Gervais was the only member to vote against closure of the pool.

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“I don’t agree with council,” Gervais told the Observer on Monday. “We had a system in place where an engineer was checking it weekly; staff was checking it daily. So it may be near end-of-life, whatever that term references, but was it going to fall down on someone? No. And so my approach was that it stays open; we put funds so that this year we put a new shell on it and then we can continue to explore the P3 aquatics [complex] out at the highway. I’m not totally sold on that and if that fell apart at least then there’s a pool in place. If we decided to proceed forward with a P3, well then for five to seven or eight years at least we have a pool in place while we’re doing whatever it is that we’re doing.”

He added that a new replacement steel structure over the existing pool wasn’t a waste of money should the city proceed with a new aquatic facility in the years to come as that steel structure could be repurposed by the city. The structure could be moved or remain where it was with the basin filled in and a floor added.

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Gervais also noted council has as recently as this fall paid for repairs to the pool.

“We’ve already made investments into this particular facility in terms of pumps, boilers, lifts and so forth and so again, if you’re looking at [asking] are you throwing money away, we’ve already come this far down the road,” the mayor noted also expressing concern for pool staff affected by the closure.

Plummer said in making the closure motion, while there were refurbishing options for the existing pool presented, with council facing other tough budget decisions, he didn’t think that was the best option.

“We know that there are just too many ifs and too many unknowns of how long it’s going to last. We can’t maintain the pool in a safe working order having weekly inspections when something could happen during the week. So for that concern, we just have to say we need to close the pool. I’m not saying that we’re not going to fix the pool, but we need to close it immediately,” he said. Continuing he said council needs to look at different ways of financing a new pool and now was the time to go out looking for expressions of interest in a P3 facility.

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“We see what comes back in the fall. Therefore, we make a decision then if we move forward with the with the new P3 model or do we circle back and look hard now at the pool for repair. I don’t think it prudent to spend $1M today understanding that we’re just going to have that pool for a certain amount of time,” he said.

Purcell echoed Plummer’s comments about safety and about this being the time to look at constructing something new, in a different manner.

“It’s not like we haven’t tried to look at replacing the pool utilizing some of our partners. There’s no interest whatsoever in terms of partnering so far, and that was very clearly communicated at past meetings,” he said.

Jacyno thanked the former Kinsmen Club for its efforts in bringing the Kinsmen Pool to the community decades ago and said it has provided valuable benefits through exercise, swim lessons, and therapy. For those concerned about its closure he said there are two private pools at hotels in the city where they could swim. He hopes people who have contacted him about the closure that are not Pembroke residents, will contact their municipal councils and encourage those councils to step up as financial partners in a new facility.

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While Lafreniere did vote in favour of closing the pool, she was still conflicted going into the vote noting that by repairing it the community would still have a pool during the years of planning and construction of a new facility. She said in closing it now, the community could be without a pool for more than five years.

Kuehl said when looking at the repair of the existing pool, they were only talking about the outer shell and not other existing concerns such as aged changerooms, a lack of staff office space, and the old infrastructure within the building.

“And at some point in time, you just don’t spend money on it. So even if we spent the $1.1M, the treasurer did say there could be other things; there could be mechanical things; there could be electrical things. We could find out two years from now that we are having significant issue and they’re closing it down again because of that other potential issue. So I’m just not convinced that [we should be] spending money on this pool that prior to these discussions has been described as a relic. It’s been described as a piece of junk. It’s been described as something that should be demolished, and this is by some people that use it because they want a new pool. Now, all of a sudden, council made the decision we’re not getting a $42M pool and I find it exceptional that suddenly people are like, ‘well, we better save this wonderful pool’…”

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As a former member of the Kinsmen Club, Abdallah shared how special the Kinsmen Pool was to him, but as an elected member of council representing the citizens of Pembroke, he had to make the difficult decision to close the facility. He emphasized his belief in the P3 concept and that it is worth checking out.

“I’m very confident about it,” he said.

A public budget meeting has been scheduled for Monday, Jan. 15 at 6 p.m. However, because of the intense public interest the meeting will not be held in chambers at city hall but rather at the Clarion Hotel on Pembroke St. East in order to accommodate the expected large crowd.

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