No resolution yet on insurance claim

By Bert Lehman

The issue of repairing the roof of the fire-damaged building at the municipal swimming pool still has not been resolved.

That was the message Clintonville City Administrator Chuck Kell told the council at its meeting, Tuesday, May 10.

Previously the city could not find a company that was willing to do the roof repairs. Kell told the council the city has now met with a company that can cut out the damaged portion of the concrete roof and manufacture a new piece to fit in its place. A rubber roof is then placed over the entire building.

“The issue with that is really how long it’s going to take because the company that makes the roof replacement, the piece that goes in there, is very busy this time of year,” Kell said. “We’re probably not going to be high on their list in terms of when they get to us. The roofing company is ready to go.”

As of the council meeting, Kell said the city hadn’t received a bid yet for the roof project, so costs have not been submitted to the insurance company.

Kell also informed the council that he had spoken to the city’s insurance provider about the pool and learned some new information.

“I expressed concerns about the problems we’re having finding a resolution to this,” Kell said.

Kell said he was also made aware that the city’s insurance policy includes a provision that would have paid for temporary buildings this year for the bath house, bathrooms and office. This rider on the policy is for $250,000.

Unfortunately he said it is probably too late to open the pool this year because there is fear of not finding enough lifeguards. The pool also needs about $7,000 worth of repairs.

Kell said he also found out from the insurance provider that if the city wants to rebuild the damaged building as part of a new pool facility, the city would be able to transfer the money without depreciation and that would go to a new bath house for a new pool.

“There probably will be some limitations as to how long they will allow that to wait,” Kell said. “I had kind of heard 18 months originally. If we were in the process of coming up with a new pool, if we knew where we were going, we could probably work something out with them on that.”

This is different information than what the insurance adjusters had previously told the city.

The insurance provider is now working with the adjusters to help speed up the process, Kell said.

“It’s gone too long,” Kell said. “We’re just really unsatisfied with how the adjusters have dealt with the issue.”

Alderman Chuck Manske said he thought the work of the Ad Hoc Pool Committee would extend into next year’s pool season, so maybe the temporary buildings would be useful next year.

Alderman Brad Rokus, who is a member of the Pool Committee, informed the council that the Pool Committee has been granted funding for a pool study. The study will take about 14 weeks.

Regarding fundraising, Rokus said the committee felt it was important to have something tangible for prospective donors to look at as viable options before fundraising begins.

Later in the discussion Rokus said if the council was committed to using the insurance policy rider of using temporary buildings to opening the pool this year, it could use contingency funds or undesignated fund balance.

“I’m not saying that would necessarily be the best use of our funding, with the condition that it’s (pool) in,” Rokus said.

Hankins said he appreciated the suggestion by Rokus, but he also didn’t think that was the best use of the funds.

“The best job of doing it right is if we give this committee a chance to plan and insure community backing,” Hankins said.

He added, “I think we use the time to make sure whatever we do is the right choice.”