Mayor Hodges Remembers Field House Construction Woes As Commission Passes Next Phase For Tennis Complex

The motions to move the New Salina tennis complex forward kept the Salina City Commission meeting rolling on Monday evening.

Chris Cotton began the discussion on awarding a bid for demolition of the for Salina Municipal Pool, as well as the former Tri-Rivers Stadium.

"The Salina Parks & Rec Department is working in conjunction with the Salina Tennis Alliance to develop a new tennis complex on the grounds of the former Salina Municipal Pool and rodeo arena. Three bids came in, with G&G Dozer having the low bid at $142,400."

The Commission team, as expected, had some questions.

Commissioner Peck got things started.

"Is the pool itself going to be filled in with clean dirt or debris?"

Cotton responded, "The pool basin will be completely removed and filled in with lifts and compacted so that it can support the tennis courts."

Mayor Hodges remembered past experiences. "As you know we had significant problems with the Field House floor cracking. My question is, does the scope of work include any soil analysis? It's one thing if the Field House floor cracks and we can put carpet over it, but we can't do that with a tennis court."

Cotton responded, "The pool basin is required to be done in lifts, so it will be able to withstand the weight of the post tension concrete tennis courts. I don't have concerns on that."

City Manager Mike Schrage confirmed, "There is a testing component to the installation of the lifts by an outside party."

Mayor Hodges replied, "I'm speaking for myself, but I would be comfortable paying for more tests to ensure that the soil compaction is the best. I'm probably gun shy because of the Field House, but whatever we can do to mitigate this, I'd like to deal with it on the front end."

Commissioner Davis asked the question that was probably on a lot of listeners minds. What is a lift?

City Manager Schrage defined it as "Just a layer of dirt. Rather than fill the entire pool in and compact it from the top, they'll put a layer of dirt in, and compact it, put in a layer of dirt in, compact it, put in a layer, test it, and then compact it, put in a layer, and then compact it."

While there was no immediate date given for demolition commencement, it will be exciting to see how this project progresses in the days and months ahead.

The motion passed 5-0.