Brownwood City Council awarded an $118,000 bid to All Seasons Foam Coating and Services to resurface the Camp Bowie Family Aquatic Center Pool.

According to City of Brownwood Parks and Recreation Director Davis Withers, the pool has had two major repairs in the last two years, costing the city over $20,000.  The repairs included replacing the expansion joint compounds, repairing many cracks in the plaster that were causing leaks and repair of broken pipe in the skimmer system.

The company that originally built the pool had told city officials that the plaster would usually need replacing every 7 years at a cost of approximately $127,500.  The pool is now in its sixth year.

The option of applying a VersaFlex Polyurea liner over the plaster has been researched by Withers and his department.  This liner is used on many industrial tanks and pools and has a flexible quality which will not crack as plaster does.  The liner is applied like paint, and is a total of 70-75 mils dry film thickness, according to Withers, who explained it can come in any color and has a UV resistant top coat, to keep it from fading.  The estimated life of the liner is approximately 18 years.

A benefit of having this type of liner, Withers explained, is that it will eliminate the need for chemicals and running circulation pumps for the 9 months the pool is not in operation, and will create a savings in expenses and man-power.

The timing of the request to apply the lining now, is due to the fact that the plaster was repaired just a few weeks ago and there are no current leaks.  Withers explained that if the city waited until next year to apply this liner, another plaster repair is likely before the Versaflex Polyurea system could be applied, creating additional cost.

Recoating the pool is not a budgeted expense; however, it was recommended that the city use funds from the new Certificates of Obligation the city is working to secure to reimburse the city for this expense.

Withers explained that both Sea World and Schlitterbaun use the Versaflex Polyruea system in their pools and that he has not found any negative reviews of this liner.

With the approval from the council Tuesday morning, Withers stated that the liner could be applied by May 25th and ready for opening day of the Aquatic Center on May 31st.

In other matters on Tuesday’s agenda:

*Brown County elections administrator Karen Opiela canvassed the results of the May 7, 2016 election where the citizens voted to approve conversion of the type A Economic Development Corporation to a Municipal Development District by more than 80%.

*Council approved the utilization of a licensed real estate broker as a method of sale of surplus city owned real estate, consisting of 31 tracts.

*Council approved a negotiated settlement between the Atmos Cities Steering Committee and Atmos Energy Corporation, Mid-Tex Division regarding the company’s 2016 Rate Review Mechanism Filings.  This results in the average residential customer seeing a $1.26/month or 2.43% increase in their billing.  The average commercial account will experience a $3.81/month or 1.43% increase.  The settlement reduced Atmos’ request by $5.5 million and reflects a $29.9 million increase on a system-wide basis for the Mid-Tex cities, with the exclusion of the City of Dallas.  This agreement is effective for the June 1, 2016 billing period, according to a memorandum explaining the settlement, which was provided to the council by City Attorney Pat Chesser.

*Council approved a resolution revising the city’s organizational chart by moving the Purchasing Department Employees to the Finance Department and eliminating the Department Head Position of Director of Purchasing.  This change was suggested with the May 31, 2016 retirement of longtime Purchasing Director Gaylon Day.  City Manager Emily Crawford explained that the merging of the two departments is a more efficient use of personnel.  Day’s position of Director will be changed to a Purchasing Supervisor position when filled.

*Council approved the city manager to sign an agreement with Molina Healthcare of Texas, Inc. with the City of Brownwood, Brownwood-Brown County Health Department.  According to Crawford, this agreement allows the Brownwood-Brown County Health Department to receive contract pay for administrative cost of immunization services provided to Medicaid, CHIP and Medicare Advantage participants who Molina is the insurance provider, resulting in a higher contracted amount of reimbursement than the city currently receives.