The Powell Aquatic Center will need to close for an extended period of time this spring to allow for repairs to the leisure pool.

On Monday night, the Powell City Council accepted a $351,842 bid from a Denver-based contractor to remove the pool’s leaking liner, repair the underlying concrete, apply a new plaster coating and install some tile along the water line.

Pool & Spa Medics has indicated that it could take as long as eight weeks to complete the work.

“When they start plastering, there’s going to be dust,” Powell Aquatic Center Co-Director Angela Frank said at Monday’s meeting, “so we would be closed completely.”

However, City Administrator Zack Thorington told the council staff will also try to work with Pool & Spa Medics to minimize the length of the closure.

“I think there’s a lot of play in there,” Thorington said of the timeline.

The leisure pool’s surface has basically been a problem since the center opened in 2010. After paint started peeling, the council installed a PVC liner at a cost of $39,775 in 2012. The liner was about a third of the estimated expense of resurfacing the vessel and was supposed to last at least 15 years. However, it immediately started leaking, causing bubbles of water to form between the PVC liner and concrete.

The city planned on removing the liner and resurfacing the pool earlier this year, but when bids were opened in November, they came in well above the $200,000 that had been budgeted.

In response, the council shelved the project, set aside an increased sum of $400,000 in this year’s budget and then sought new bids.

Pool & Spa Medics’ offer of $351,842 was about $22,600 or 6.8% higher than the bid the company submitted last year, but it was the best offer the city received. Mid-America Pool Renovations of Grandview, Missouri, bid $370,000, which was a $20,000 increase from what that firm offered last fall.

Pool & Spa Medics’ work will come with a one-year warranty, but Frank said the company has indicated the plaster should last 10 to 20 years.

“A lot of it’s water chemistry,” Frank said, as maintaining the right levels of chemicals will help preserve the coating.

Thorington added that the concrete repairs should last a lot longer than plaster — all while avoiding the need to install another liner.

“This is making it back to the original vessel and not getting the air bubbles and having to do it all over again,” Thorington said.

The Powell Aquatic Center has not yet announced the start date of the closure, but the annual maintenance typically begins in March. Frank said the city plans to also redo the floors in the lobby and locker rooms during this spring’s closure.

Thorington said the city will extend the center’s memberships to compensate for the extra closure time.