- For several years, the Shafter Aquatic Center has been dormant and left to wither in the elements. The pools are littered with trash, pool equipment and filled with stagnant water, while the Center's main building has been vandalized with windows smashed and boarded over and graffiti along the walls.
- In early 2020, the Shafter Recreation and Parks District and the City of Shafter terminated the Joint-Use agreement. Recreation and Parks District manager Phillip Jimenez tells 23ABC that change within city staff and the COVID-19 Pandemic stifled the two entities' ability to come to a new agreement.
- Earlier this year, the City of Shafter received Clean California grant funds to work on several projects like the pool at the Aquatic Center, Stringham Park, and the Shafter Skatepark. To take advantage of the grant funding, projects need to be completed by June 30th.
- According to Shafter Public Works director Mike James, though the pool will be completed in the early summer, there are no plans in place to open it up to the public to swim at this point, but he expects the city and other pool stakeholders to come together to work on a plan in the coming months as the pool is under construction.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
The Shafter Aquatic Center is getting a facelift. The project is slated to start on January 8th. A lot of projects across Shafter are getting started at that point in time, but it seems like the pool is the most overdue.
In early 2020, the joint-use agreement between the City of Shafter and the Shafter Recreation and Parks District for the Aquatics Center was terminated and a new deal was never brokered.
“The district ultimately determined that it did not have the financial or staffing resources to maintain their obligations with that agreement,” said Mike James, the Shafter’s Public Works director.
“As the result of covid, there was no renegotiation in regards to that, and at that time there was a switch of city managers as well, so we never got that opportunity to renegotiate as well," said Phillip Jimenez, the Shafter Recreation and Parks District Manager, via phone call. "But we do hope to help and be part of the Aquatic Center.”
Shafter’s City former city manager Scott Hurlbert left his position in August of 2019, Shafter’s current city manager Gabriel Gonzalez entered the role in March of 2020, both of those dates are from their respective LinkedIn profiles.
At a city council meeting in December, the $3 million project to repair the pool was approved. Including resurfacing the pool and making it accessible, a new pool deck, and a new filter and pump system. Shortly thereafter, the council set its sights on replacing the building, which like the pool is in disrepair.
“The council directed staff to focus on replacing the building entirely,” said James.
The city expects the architectural proposal to be done by the end of this year and it will keep a similar footprint to the original one.
Though with the pool non-operational for several years, what has happened to the swimming community in Shafter? Without a home pool, the Shafter High School swim team’s participation has plummeted from 65 swimmers to approximately 20 and the team’s head coach Larissa Davis says it has been a detriment to the program and community.
“Part of the reason the program was able to grow was because of the rec programs around the town. There was a rec program, the Stingrays, that was running, and that has also had to stop. So that really played a role in our swimmers not knowing what to do when they get to that freshman level and I think we’re going to see that ripple effect for a couple of years,” said Davis.
And with the pool slated to be ready by the end of June this year, could the public expect to be taking a dip this summer?
“Between now and when the pool project is completed, staff and council and hopefully pool stakeholders in the community will get together and decide on what the feasibility is on operating the pool again in the near future,” said James.
Again construction on this project is slated to begin on January 8th and as part of a Clean California Grant, construction must be completed by June 30th.
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