A Kansas construction company will be the contractor for Hennessey’s new municipal swimming pool.

Carrothers Construction Co. was given the nod Feb. 11 by the Hennessey board to take on the project, which is not to exceed $2.1 million.

The Paola, Kan., company is responsible for hiring an engineer and architect for the project.

Carrothers was the only company to respond to the town’s Request for Proposals that were due Jan. 15.

An earlier report that 20 responded was in error. There were requests sent to 20 companies.

Pool Will Include

The board will have input on the footprint of the 100 x 200-foot pool and approve the final plans before construction, said Tiffany Tillman, town administrator.

Plans include a 1,660 square foot bathhouse, 6,100 square foot pool deck, and 2,900 square foot grass area inside the fence.

The construction plan calls for these features: six in-desk sprays, an open flume slide, tot slide, play structure, shaded “mother’s bench,” and two diving boards.

Carrothers has also completed pool projects in Medford, Lindsay and Ada. Some board members visited the Medford site. The company has also built pools in Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri, their written proposal shows.

Pool Loan Payments

It’s unknown when construction will start, but estimates last year were that it wouldn’t be ready by this summer.

The town starts paying on a monthly 15-year $2,089 million loan in April with a three-quarter-cent sales tax. Voters approved by 75 percent an added half-cent sales tax Aug. 28 for the project.

The new tax went into effect last month. Voters also OK’d moving a designated quarter-cent tax into the pool fund.

Location

The pool will be located in the town-owned park on Mitchell Road across the street east of the elementary and early education school buildings. That park includes a splash pad, playground equipment, volleyball court, basketball playing area and a lighted parking lot.

The town has been without a pool since 2017 when it gave up its almost 50-year lease on the old pool location, which is the site of the school’s gymnasium/mulit-purpose Dome now under construction on Oklahoma Avenue at Walnut Street.

Town trustees present at the February meeting were Mayor Mike Shaw, Vice Mayor Bert Gritz, Wes Hardin and Clif Vogt. Absent was Keith Meek.

Hoops Academy

The board tabled action on a request they received last month from Tim Perry of Hennessey to use the old gymnasium south of the library for his H-Town Hoops Academy.

They want to come up with a pay schedule and set guidelines for the upkeep of the facility so that if other for-profit companies want to rent the facility they’d have that in place.

Hirings

The board voted to hire Jennifer “Jennie” Moreno of Hennessey at $9 an hour as the children’s librarian.

Moreno is from Lake County, Colo., and regularly volunteered at her local library and coordinated children’s programs through her high school years and after, said Ruth Ann Replogle, library director.

Moreno is also bilingual and has retail experience in youth clothing stores, Replogle said.

The board also hired Brian Henderson (1997 HHS grad) of Hennessey as a public works employee, said Kati Walters, a town hall clerk who served as the board’s recording secretary last week.

Both Moreno and Henderson were at the meeting.

Other Action

The board voted to pay IBTS $38,000 to update the town codes, and also gave Tetra Technologies approval to lay a temporary water line, at their own risk, against the south fence at Bull Foot Park. A Tetra representative was at the meeting.