State closes pool

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Gaye Brown de Alvarez
Staff writer

GALLUP —The Harold Runnels Pool on Maloney Avenue is closed for maintenance “until further notice,” says a sign on the door.

Employees from the city electric department were inside “just here fixing a receptacle,” said a worker with a name tag that said “Lucero,” who refused to give his first name.

Outside the pool, Shawn Shorty from Laroc Refrigeration-Metal Division said “we’re replacing duct work. It took about two hours.”

Lifeguard and pool employee Lionel Dawes said the pool was closed for “pump maintenance.”

But Parks and Recreation Director Ben Welch said in an interview that the state of New Mexico Environmental Department came by the pool and “red-tagged it.”

“We’re required to install new flow meters and an audible alarm to the pump system,” Welch said. “This pool has been open for 29 years, and in 2008 there were new requirements for the alarm. The inspector deemed it necessary to red tag me. That’s the language that he used. We’re glad to comply, but I think it is a little excessive to close the place down. He came out of the clear blue sky.

“One red button shuts everything off, that’s the audible alarm, and that is fixed. But now he said we have to stay closed until the flow meters are installed. We’re redirecting swimmers to the Aquatic Center until we get the parts.

Hopefully we will have them by Friday and we can re-open.”
Phone calls to the state health department were not returned.

Information: Runnels Pool (505)-722-7107.