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MCISD, city study pool improvements

MCISDlogoMISSION—The Mission CISD Board of Trustees discussed the use of the North Side Swimming Pool at the March regular board meeting.

Issues with heating, drainage and filtration maintenance have left the facility inoperable for student practice.

The board discussed and agreed on a memorandum of understanding with the city of Mission to conduct a feasibility study to correct issues.

“Just to let the community know that we do have a contract with the city of Mission, as far as the swimming pool is concerned, for 50 years,” said trustee James E. Olivarez.

According to Rick Rivera, executive director for maintenance, facilities and construction, in 1986 the school district and the city entered into a 50-year lease agreement to share in the use and maintenance of the North Side Swimming Pool.

Board Secretary Patty Bazaldua said she had received concerns from parents who have children on the swim team who said students could not take advantage of the pool due to a broken pump.

“From my understanding, over the last few years, they have had problems with their filtration system, controlling the algae, the heat pumps have not been in operation,” Rivera said. “Also, the lanes are 100 meter lanes and our teams participate in 50 meter events. So they would have to install a divider to make the pool into 50 meter lanes.”

Rivera said the feasibility study would get the estimate of the cost to fix the multiple issues at the pool.

Superintendent Ricardo Lopez added one option the city and district are eyeing is for a portion of the pool to be enclosed for competitive use.

“The competitive side would be enclosed to allow the competitors to still practice under inclement weather,” Lopez said. “They are also looking at redoing the internal wiring to have a touch pad system for competition style practices. So it’s going to be a full upgrade that we are looking at with this feasibility study.”

The pool is located on the corner of Nicholson Avenue and West 15th Street, partially on the southwest property corner of Mission High School.

The board also accepted the best and final offer from Hellas Construction for the Tom Landry and Veterans Memorial High School Stadium Turf and re-surfacing of the tracks at $2,172,000.

Rivera said the construction company dropped the cost $53,000 from the original price.

Other topics included the feasibility study to build a new central office building for the district. Rivera said the board would need to choose an architect and civil engineer to conduct the study. He added the district could choose a present or past architect that has worked with MCISD.

The board went forward with the feasibility study for a new central office facility and went with staff recommendations of EGV Architects and on-call civil engineer, Javier Hinojosa.

Board members also agreed on a $3.5 million construction project for Mission Jr. High that would renovate the kitchen and dining area. Administration identified the campus’ need for additional space for the serving line, performance state, and preparation area and equipment storage.

Board of Trustee members Patricia O’ Caña-Olivarez and Sonia M. Treviño were not present at the regular meeting.

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