New pool filter to cost city $18,000

Insurance to cover good portion of replacement, labor expenses

By Anna Jauhola
Earlier in September, a pool supply company visited Hallock to evaluate the city pool and develop a quote to replace the filter.
Utility Superintendent Dan Larson presented that quote to the Hallock City Council during its meeting on Monday, Oct. 7. When the old steel filter blew in August, Larson received an initial quote for replacing just the filter. This quote from Bob LaDuke at Horizon Commercial Pool Supply in Arden Hills, Minn., includes the filter plus 5,000 pounds of sand, all needed piping, valves and fittings, installation labor costs, fees and documents for the department of health, and owner training on the equipment, according to the quote sheet.
“He went way above and beyond what we had last time,” Larson said.
The total cost is $42,450. Larson told the council the city’s insurance company will pay $15,000 plus the labor to replace the filter. Larson said he and his crew put about $1,000 worth of labor into removing the blown filter and hired Weleske Improvements to vacuum out the 5,000 pounds of sand, which cost $450.
So, with this offer, the replacement will cost the city approximately $18,000.
Councilmember Jennifer Peterson asked, should the pool be replaced, whether this filter will work with a new pool.
“This is the most common filter out there, is what I was told,” Larson said in response. “The old steel filters are obsolete. They still use them and sell them, but it only makes sense when you’re working with a corrosive things that you use something that doesn’t corrode, like fiberglass.”
Should the council approve this quote, the installation of the new filter would take about four days and two workers.
Larson added the quote does not include any costs to resurrect the kiddie pool. However, when LaDuke assessed the pool he noted that the price to install new piping would be between $5,000 and $6,000.
“He suggests the kiddie pool has to have a second return on it, which would require us to cut the bottom out of the pool,” Larson said. “Which we can do, but he said from there it’s not so bad because it’s a real short run to the pump house.”
That cost does not include the separate filter needed for the kiddie pool.
The council did not make any decisions regarding the filter.