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Rainelle pool opening hopes running dry

By Christian Giggenbach
Register-Herald Reporter

RAINELLE — If you’re thinking of cooling off by taking a dip in the Western Greenbrier County pool, don’t put on your swimming trunks just yet.

The opening of the pool in Rainelle has been beset with a multitude of problems and nobody has a clue when the pool will open this year, if it opens at all, according to Greenbrier Valley YMCA CEO Gerry Gessie.

“It’s unfortunate that the pool has not opened yet,” Gessie said Monday. “There is no time frame for the pool to open.”

Although the YMCA recently penned an agreement with the Rainelle Board of Parks and Recreation to operate the pool this year, the facility stands idle, waiting for the first splash of the summer.

“There are several mechanical issues with the pool that first must be dealt with,” Gessie said. “It’s a little bit of everything. We have filter issues and pump issues. It’s kind of like when you solve one problem, then two more jump up.”

Gessie said a series of meetings between Rainelle officials and his office will occur this week, and a clearer picture of the pool’s progress will be known then.

One thing that isn’t clear is the pool’s water. Currently, a brown layer of sediment covers the pool’s floor. Apparently, chemicals were put into the pool last week which turned the water shades of pink, purple and brown, and the chemicals have now settled to the bottom.

“That is one of the things that has held us back,” Gessie said.

Just how the chemicals got into the pool is a bit of a mystery, one on which Gessie will not comment. A Greenbrier County newspaper reported that Rainelle Mayor Eugene McKenzie placed the chemicals in the pool, an accusation he flatly denies. McKenzie says he has also written a letter to the Greenbrier County Commission stating he did not tamper with the pool.

“I didn’t put any chemicals into the pool. And no one ever consulted me about the story in the paper,” McKenzie said Monday. “If anybody did it, it was the YMCA who put the chemicals in. And the chemicals they put in are the right chemicals, it turned the water a bit pinkish and purple, but if you keep circulating the water it will work.”

If the pool were operational and the filters and pumps were running daily, the brown sediment would go away, McKenzie said.

“The YMCA has not done anything wrong,” he said. “The pumps aren’t on because there is no one here to run the pool.”

McKenzie said he doesn’t know when the pool will open, but he hopes the YMCA will continue its efforts.

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Hello everyone. I've been debating whether to post this, but think some of you will enjoy it. Many of you know my brother Denny Tincher and his wife, Susan, from high school and their Rainelle radio broadcasting days. Like me, Denny has moved, but loves Rainelle. My brother, Donnie lives in Covington, near Denny and we enjoy getting together, along with my sister, Gail, when we can. We are all looking forward to coming to the Tincher Reunion in Rainelle, August 6th. I am also looking forward to spending a week or so in Rainelle at that time. Denny's daughter, Angela, pitches for VA Tech (softball) and is having a very good career, having been named an All-American, All-Academic and some other honors. Angela is in Taiwan, pitching for the World University Games team representing the USA. She has an interesting blog going from Taiwan that you, your children and/or grandchildren may enjoy - see http://allstars.hokiesports.com/tincher/

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Thu, Jul 13 2006
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Published: July 12, 2006 10:14 pm

Rainelle, YMCA pool deal drowns

Health and safety concerns blamed

Christian Giggenbach
Register-Herald Reporter

LEWISBURG — The swimming pool deal between the town of Rainelle and the Greenbrier Valley YMCA has drowned and there are no lifeguards around to save the day.

During Tuesday night’s county commission meeting, President Betty Crookshanks said she met with Ron Fleshman, chairman of the Rainelle Park Board, and YMCA director Gerry Gessie last Friday to discuss the pool management agreement. The YMCA signed the agreement in June which authorized the organization to take over day-to-day operations of the pool. In May, the county commission pledged $20,000 to the YMCA to help subsidize its costs in running the pool.

“Although the county commission wrote a check for $10,000 on May 30 for the start up of the pool and another $10,000 was in reserve for the operation of the pool, the opening of the pool has not happened,” Crookshanks said.

During the meeting, Gessie gave back the $10,000 check — which had never been deposited — to Crookshanks and withdrew from the management deal, citing health and safety concerns and “due to the current situation at the pool at this time.”

When contacted by phone Wednesday, Gessie said several corrective actions needed to take place before safe operation of the pool could take place. He said the pool needs to be winterized on a yearly basis, there is no indication that the pool has a main drain, cracks in the pool need to be fixed and back debts to pool vendors possibly need to be paid.

Gessie has also asked the county commission to reimburse the YMCA $1,184 for upfront costs such as lifeguard training.

Swimming lesson for ages 4 and up, water exercise classes and lifeguard training courses would have been provided by the YMCA if the deal had not fallen through.

In 2004, the commission allocated nearly $500,000 from the county’s hotel/motel tax to build the pool. The agreement called for the town of Rainelle to pay for its upkeep.

Fleshman said his board will meet today to discuss the pool situation, but it would “take a miracle for the pool to open this year.”

In addition to management of the pool, another major problem is the lack of lifeguards, according to Fleshman. The ones who were scheduled to work in Rainelle have already secured employment elsewhere.

“There were too many roadblocks for the YMCA to open the pool this year,” Fleshman said Wednesday. “The pool leaks incessantly, we had broken pipes over the winter and the vacuum will not sweep the bottom of the pool. If you can’t keep the pool clean, you can’t open the pool.”

A recent controversy over chemicals added to the pool to help clean the muddy, iron water used to fill it, also added to the downfall of the agreement, Fleshman said. Just who added the chemicals to the pool is as murky as the brown layer of sediment which now covers the floor of the pool.

Contrary to published reports, water company officials never advised him to add potassium permanganate to help clear the muddy water and he personally did not witness who did, he said.

“After someone added the chemicals, the water turned a dark purple and eventually it did clear the water up,” he said. “However, the vacuum system does not work and their is a brown layer of sediment on the bottom of the pool.”

And what about the kids of western Greenbrier County dreaming of butterfly strokes and cannonballs?

“It’s a real shame the pool is not open for the kids,” Fleshman said.

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