The typical lifespan of a swimming pool is 50 years. The Winfield community pool is 63 years old according to Winfield Deputy Clerk Lisa Rees. The City of Winfield purchased the pool from Twin Lakes Country Club last fall, and are planning on unveiling a new pool in the summer of 2018. Rees talks about the city taking the pool over from Twin Lakes, “We need a new pool and they don’t have the funding to do that, obviously it’s an extremely large project. So we are going to build a new pool where the current pool sits.” The pool is to be named after former public works director Rick Rodgers, who passed away November 2015.

The city has had fundraising events like their haunted house, some trivia nights over the winter, and their upcoming “Cinco K Mayo” 5K run this Friday. Winfield has also received grants from the Washington Riverboat Foundation and Walmart Distribution Center. Rees says they’ve raised over half of their $1.5 million budget, and now they’re working with the Southeast Iowa Regional Planning Commission (SEIRPC) for a Community Attraction and Tourism (CAT) Grant, which is hoped to fund 18% of the budget.

Rees says it’s time for a new pool, in the interest of improving the community, “The country club has done an amazing job on keeping it up and running, and it just comes to the point where it’s not going to stay running. Our pump is failing, the side of the walls are weakening. The community sees how important it is that we do keep a pool for the youth and for the well-being and the health of our community.”

The city is requesting design proposals for the new pool. Rees says the city plans to keep the old pool open through this summer and start demolition and construction of the new pool this September.