Reinbeck Aquatic Center manager Karyn Morgan cuts the ribbon on the new bathhouse project this past Tuesday afternoon while members of her staff, Reinbeck City Manager Julie Wilkerson (second row, sixth from left), city councilors, and Reinbeck Park Board members pose for a photo. The more than half a million dollar project – which not only replaced the more than 55-year-old bathhouse but also revamped the former G-R baseball concession stand into a RAC staff office/entrance desk – was made possible through park board members’ tireless fundraising efforts. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

REINBECK – The Reinbeck Aquatic Center’s new bath house is officially open for summer fun.

This past Tuesday afternoon, Reinbeck Aquatic Center (RAC) staff including manager Karyn Morgan along with members of Reinbeck’s city council, park board, and community development board cut the ribbon – literally – on the yearslong effort to replace the more than 55-year-old bath house located next to the city pool in Elmwood Park.

The new facility was a long time coming but worth the effort, Morgan, in her eighth year as manager, told the newspaper.

“I’m very happy,” Morgan said. “I want things to be completed, but [I’m] very happy.”

According to Reinbeck City Administrator Julie Wilkerson – who was also present for the ribbon cutting on Tuesday – most of the work is finished save for a few ‘punch list’ items.

The old Reinbeck Aquatic Center (RAC) bath house pictured last August just prior to its demolition. The building was built in either 1969 or 1967, according to RAC manager Karyn Morgan, and lacked a roof over key portions of the facility's amenities including the bathrooms and showers. PHOTO COURTESY OF SUE BUSKOHL

“Once [contractors] get all the tweaks out of it, it will be great,” Wilkerson said. “Just a few small things [remain].”

For roughly the past five years, members of the Reinbeck Park Board have been diligently working to raise funds to replace the aging, too-small, quite ‘smelly’ structure which lacked a roof over key components of the facility including the bathrooms and showers – something that could have spelled a recipe for disaster in this modern age.

“[The bath house] now has a full roof over it,” Morgan explained. “In a world of drones and things that was a problem.”

Demolition of the old bath house began last year in late August, Morgan said. Construction of the new, expanded bath house – spearheaded by Matt Construction of Sumner – began shortly thereafter and only recently wrapped up. The new bath house is located in roughly the same area as the old building on the southeast side of the pool but the footprint has expanded considerably to the west.

The former Gladbrook-Reinbeck baseball concession building – due west of the bath house on the opposite side of the revamped pool entrance – was also part of the construction project and is now being used as the RAC staff office/entrance desk.

The new Reinbeck Aquatic Center bath house facility located in Elmwood Park pictured on June 11. The city pool along with all its new amenities opened to the public on Saturday, June 1, this season, while a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new bath house was held this past Tuesday. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

“The concession [building] was resided and reroofed,” Morgan said. “[Along with] new windows.”

The color scheme of the new bath house – similar to the old building – features gray and ‘Rebel blue’ elements. Along with the new building, the RAC also received an entrance upgrade. Pool visitors now pass under a blue and white ‘Reinbeck Aquatic Center’ sign — made by city councilor Dan Johnson — hanging from a new portico.

The original project bid – not including demolition – totaled $587,000, while the total project cost amounted to $630,326.50, according to Wilkerson.

Revenue for the project included a city share of $253,140.60; $100,000 from the Richard Grimm Trust; $81,288.40 from the Gleo McCommon’s Trust; a Black Hawk County Gaming Commission grant worth $75,000; $20,000 from the R.J. McElroy Trust; an in-kind donation of $20,000 from PCI Inc. for demolition; an LSB Foundation grant worth $10,000; a Grundy County Community Foundation grant worth $7,000; $6,325 from Women Who Care; $3,162.50 from the Richard M Schulze Family Foundation; and close to $75,000 in fundraising.

A little more than $200,000 is still needed, Wilkerson added.

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

Donations for the bath house project can be dropped off at Reinbeck City Hall; with any member of the city’s park board including Kim Dripps, Chris Heasley, Alicia Smiley, Dan Johnson, or Sue Buskohl; or at the RAC front desk.

But in the meantime, the facility is ready and open for business.

Daily admission to the RAC pool is $4; a family pass is $150 for the season; and an individual pass is $75. Only cash or checks are accepted.

Private lessons at the pool are already underway with group lesson (July 8-18) registration set to begin Monday, June 17,

Pool hours include early morning swim for adults from 5:30-7 a.m.; lap swim (ages 18 and up) from 11 a.m.-1 p.m.; open swim (ages 2 and up) from 1 p.m.-5 p.m.; family swim (ages 2 and up with a caregiver) from 5-6 p.m.; and open swim from 6-8 p.m.

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

The pool is closed on Sundays.

For more information including lesson registration and closures due to weather and/or staffing issues, refer to the Reinbeck Aquatic Center Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/reinbeckaquaticcenter