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Cuscaden pool reopens but council wants city to crack down on faulty contractors

 
Published June 1, 2017

TAMPA — Repairing a leaky drain in historic Cuscaden Park pool ended up costing the city of Tampa a relatively meager $8,000.

Nonetheless, City Council members on Thursday lambasted city administrators over the problem that came to light less than a year after a $3.2 million refurbishment. It led to the pool in the V.M. Ybor neighborhood being closed for more than a month before it reopened Saturday.

Council members said they want the city to come up with a way to hold contractors more accountable when there are issues with their work. They ordered the city staff to report to them on how the city can use its liability insurance to recoup payments made to at-fault contractors.

Council member Mike Suarez said the pool's closure was a failure of the city's administration and singled out its Contract Administration and Risk Management departments.

"This pool should have been open and not closed and repaired again," he said. "This is not the way that normal course of business is done outside of government."

City officials disputed Suarez's conclusion. The leak was not the result of shoddy work by the contractor, nor was it a failure of management, said Brad Baird, the city's administrator for public works and utility services.

The problem with the pool was detected in April. The leak was traced to one of three main drains that were installed in 2005 and were outside the scope of the refurbishment project, Baird said.

The drains did not show any sign of leaks when a pressure test was conducted during the refurbishment, he said.

City officials initially estimated that repairs would cost $50,000. They were also concerned that they would void the warranty on the pool's surface by having to dig up areas around the drains.

But they avoided that and saved money by hiring a firm that used a mixture of fiberglass and carbon-fire material to rebuild all three drains, Baird said.

The pool at Cuscaden has been a repeated problem for the city.

The city closed it because of leaks in 1997, then spent $2.5 million on repairs in 2005, then closed it again after more leaks in 2009. It remained closed until August.

Contact Christopher O'Donnell at codonnell@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3446. Follow @codonnell_Times.