Manitou Springs Pool and Fitness center closed the pool and locker rooms on Aug 19 for renovations and reopened on Jan 2. The weight room remained open while work was done on the locker rooms, with patrons being able to use the public bathrooms if needed.
The pool closed so that they could update the locker rooms to meet ADA requirements. They rebuilt the bathrooms stalls and sinks, along with the showers to accommodate wheelchair accessibility. A gender neutral family changing room was built behind the locker rooms with a bathroom and a shower.
The renovations were originally set to take three and half months to complete, but ended up taking almost five months. The delays were brought on by the HVAC system in the building needing new duct work and inspections on the roof to ensure safety for the public.
Phil Moya, the Aquatics and Fitness Center Manager, believes that while not ideal, the delays were needed. “There was no way we could get around it because we needed to address the upgrades,” he said. “I’m glad we did.”
The closure led to a decrease in hours for the employees. “We tried to retain as many hours as possible for lifeguards, so that we had retention and we didn’t have staff looking for other jobs and leaving us,” Lisa Korbitz, Head Lifeguard said. “But it definitely did affect their time here, as far as how much time they got.”
With the pool being closed employees were no longer lifeguarding and were taking on more of a customer service role. Employees spent their time during shifts keeping the general pool clean and helping out with smaller projects around the facility, along with working the front desk of the gym.
“I wanted the pool to reopen so that I could get back and start doing my actual job as a lifeguard,” Jameson Cunningham, a highschool senior and lifeguard said. “I was only working the weekends during the closure, but they needed less guards because there were no swimmers so I got less hours.”
Cunningham has been enjoying getting more working hours in since the pool reopened, but has found it slightly more stressful than normal as things have changed and can be difficult to keep track of. “It’s great to see that the pool is finally rebuilt and everything looks good,” he said. “But also just dealing with the confusion that the opening has caused, with the prices and fluctuations of different dates that changed and re-changed is a bit hard to keep up with.”
The closure of the pool also affected programs such as the pool’s club team, the high school girls swim team, water aerobics and swim lessons. “The club team I originally swam on got shut down,” Ace Fridman, a high school swimmer said. “So I had to switch clubs, which was definitely sad for me.”
The delay in reopening the pool led to the girls high school swim season being unable to start out the season in their home pool. “We had to practice out of Woodland Park instead of Manitou, which changed our meet schedule,” Fridman said. “It was also really frustrating having to drive to Woodland Park every day.”
The time spent with the pool closed allowed admin to sit down and work on things they wouldn’t otherwise have had time for. “It allowed us to deep clean and kind of restructure and reset a lot of things,” Korbitz said.
Programs were worked on and reset to be more available and enjoyable for patrons. A new summer club team, the Manitou Springs Megalodons, was set up and a new teacher was brought in for Monday and Wednesday water aerobics. Swim lessons were also improved during the closure to work on having a better understanding of the program and the levels.
The rest of the community is very important to the staff of the pool and they want to do what they can to make patrons happy and engage with them. “There are some people that I see every weekend so I got to know them well, and it’s nice,” Cunningham said.
Feedback on the pool reopening has been positive, with patrons happy to be back in the space that they love. “Patrons are happy, they think the bathrooms feel fresh and feel clean,” Korbitz said.
Patrons tried other places while the facility was closed and ultimately decided that the Manitou Pool was where they want to be. “I was told by a person the other day that this pool was a hidden gem, and a wonderful facility to come to,” Moya said. “She said that she was utilizing other facilities, and found that she still loves being here, and is glad that we’re reopened.”
Staff are working hard to listen to what the community has to say and provide it. “A lot of people have provided their input on things that they would like to see improved in the locker room, like coat hooks and towel hooks, that we have listened to and addressed,” Moya said.
Admin and general staff of the pool want to keep it as an enjoyable place for people to be able to come enjoy their time and feel accepted. “My goal is to keep the facility’s historical value but bring it back to its old glory and make it a facility that the community could be proud of,” Moya said.
