At the last budget meeting town staff revealed the neglected state of the Wingham Community Complex. There have been numerous complaints from the Public regarding getting “red-eye” from the pool due to massive amounts of chemicals, which can be smelled the second you walk into the building. Families are going to Goderich to swim, and not just in the summer when Wingham closes the pool on weekends so staff have the summer weekends off.
The poor water quality has not only driven away pool users, the pool liner has absorbed water/chemicals and folds have formed as the liner expands in a limited space. This absorption destroys seams and “lane lines” as they expand at slightly different rates, causing failure. The lane lines have now been removed from most of the pool due to this failure.
Leaky Roof?
Staff admitted the air quality needs to be addressed immediately as the high humidity is rusting out structural beams and safety railings. Staff admitted there are serious issues with the dehumidifying system, and it needs to be addressed ASAP. It turns out that some of the roof leaks a the Complex many not be roof leaks at all, but now believed to be condensation forming and falling.
Complex Sinking?
Staff also revealed that drains on the pool deck don’t work because they are too high. Staff apparently have been trying to dry the deck with squeegees with limited success, as water rarely runs uphill. There are only a few possible causes of this.
1. The pool is sinking, and the drains have stayed in the same place.
2. The deck drains have risen while the pool deck has stayed in the same place.
3. This condition of “high drains” existed from day one, and no action was taken to make the contractor fix it.
Town staff decided to clean some of the pool deck, the first time in 15 years apparently. Pictures of rusted structural beams, stained deck and liner, and folding liner were also shown to council to justify spending almost $500,000 to fix problems caused by neglect, apathy and improper water and air quality.