Leechburg Area Pool Board once again asks public to help keep pool open

The main message from Leechburg Area Pool officials at an emergency meeting Sunday night in Gilpin: We need help.

“That’s what we’re here for, is to ask for help,” board member Dave Safranyos told a crowd of about 25 people who attended the meeting at the Gilpin municipal building. “We can’t continue doing this on the level that we’re doing it.”

Board members will decide during their March 1 meeting if they will dissolve the pool. The board previously said that could happen if new board members and volunteers aren’t found to help run the Gilpin-based pool.

The pool board has nine members, but at least five plan to resign in November. They said they would train the new board members before they step down. Eight new board members would be sufficient to save the pool, the board said.

The current board members in addition to Safranyos are Chad Krawczyk, Lisa Hamm, Dana Aul, Jenn Salsgiver, Christy Henry, Chris Broda, Marcy Broda and Jason Oliver. The members who plan to resign are Chris Broda, Marcy Broda, Aul, Safranyos and Henry.

Aul said she doesn’t want the pool to close, but she can’t continue serving on the board because of time constraints.

“I just don’t have time. I work a full-time job,” she said.

Henry, the board vice president, said she and other board members have missed family gatherings, their children’s sporting events and activities and work commitments because of their pool responsibilities.

“Once you commit to opening the pool, you don’t have the option to say, ‘No.’ You’ve taken people’s money. Your duty is to get that pool open,” Henry said. “We need individuals who are willing to commit to the long, thankless hours ahead in order to ensure the pool is ready.”

New board members and volunteers are still needed, as work to reopen the pool open in time for Memorial Day weekend starts in March or April.

The board shared information at Sunday’s meeting regarding the pool’s finances and needs.

Immediate needs include finding someone to be a certified chemical operator, someone to perform daily handyman duties and people to work as managers and lifeguards. Volunteers also are needed to clean the pool filters, prepare and open the pool, paint the pool, clean the grounds and do landscaping, electrical, plumbing and concrete work.

Future needs include training, fundraising and advertising.

Taylor Whaley used to be a lifeguard at the pool, and was sad to hear that it is in jeopardy of closing.

She wants to do what she can to keep it open.

“I helped volunteer whenever I worked there. I helped … paint the pool,” said Whaley, 25, of Allegheny Township. “I have a full-time job and I have another job, too, but I’m totally willing to help in any way that I can.”

The pool is funded through memberships and fundraising. It has about 100 members, but is open to the public.

It has overcome financial hardships, having managed to pay off an $85,000 loan that was taken out in 2008 to pay off debt.

The board said it made about $7,000 in upgrades to the pool last year with money from its donation account. Those upgrades included having a pump refurbished, fixing a backed-up drain by the diving board and putting a sprinkler fountain in the baby pool.

The board wants to make roughly $18,000 in upgrades this year, including getting a new diving board, new filters and filter covers and new lifeguard equipment.

Safranyos was optimistic following the meeting. He thinks the board will be able to get the help it needs to keep the six-decade-old pool open.

“There had to be 30 people in this room tonight. That’s exciting,” he said.