Budlong Pool: Cranston plays political football while residents sweat out its future

(Updated)

The renovation of the Budlong Pool was the subject of a special City Council meeting, one put together after Mayor Hopkins called for a public meeting to show newly designed plans to interested parties, and to take questions. He invited two aquatics specialists who have provided reports about the pool to also present.

A “slide” presentation led by Mayor Hopkins – included here, below – was followed by one from Weston & Sampson with local Saccocio and Associates. Then the public was given 2 minutes each to ask questions. The meeting adjourned just before midnight.

New times – New regs

One person from the public was Tony Liberatore, the former pool manager who had a lot of familiarity with the inner workings of the pool noted that one pipe, which created a bumpout inside the pool, was used to redirect contaminated water to “the back of the building” – to which the aquatics expert responded that that might have worked, but is completely out of code today, meaning the pool could never be licensed to open the way it is.

At a previous meeting, Liberatore presented to the Cranston City Council and members of the public that the safety drains were in compliance, having been updated many years before.

His presentation on this issue is in this video:

He makes the point that the drains are in compliance as they were installed in 2010.

This document, below, outlines the new changes that need to be made in any system older than 5 years to comply with the 2021 regs: 

https://www.aquamagazine.com/service/article/15279813/the-drain-cover-law-has-changed

This article states: “In simplest terms, what’s happening in drain covers roughly mirrors what’s happening in pumps due to the new DOE regs: As of May 24, 2021, manufacturers stopped making old, VGBA 2008 drain covers…

Old, VGBA 2008 drain cover = old rules. New, VGBA 2017 drain cover = new rules…

“Under federal law, if a drain cover on a public pool is broken or missing or just expired, the pool has to be closed immediately until repairs are complete,” says Barnes. “If it’s a residential pool, there’s no federal oversight, but we would encourage you to tell the property owner, ‘Hey, you got a hazard here. Let me give you a quote on how to fix this. In the meantime, don’t swim with the pump on, or if it’s missing a cover, don’t get in the pool because you can have limb entrapment and things like that.’

“In general, the responsibility for VGBA compliance is on the pool owner/operator. But once you as a service professional get your hands on the project, once you’re doing the installation, you have to follow the instructions and federal law. That’s not new, that’s been the law all along.”

Watch the Special City Council meeting on September 6th, in its entirety:

Mayor Hopkins Plan

Mayor Hopkins’ office provided us with the documents that were presented on the 6th. Key slides are below, along with a link to view the entire presentation:

Read the full presentation of Mayor Hopkins, HERE:

Aquatics experts report:

Read the full report, here:

Misinformation, choices, trends, timing

It is clear after the meeting, that some members of the Cranston City Council have been giving out inaccurate information to the community, either innocently or intentionally, and politics has been at play. Passionate members of the public now have a wealth of information and details to wade through as they come to their own decision on options for the pool.

One member of the audience came up to the microphone to offer an apology to Mayor Hopkins and said, “I was told we had this big, giant pool and we were now going to get a wading pool 2 feet deep. Now that I see this presentation I’m in favor of it – and I bet others here are, too. I apologize to the Mayor.”

A persuasive statement was also made by Barry Fontaine, who has managed pool programs throughout the state for over 30 years. He noted that pool behavior is changing in the country. It’s no longer walking to the neighborhood pool, staying there all day and walking home. People drive to the pool for a set period of time and when they get there they are looking for activities – games to play, places in or near the pool to congregate for teens, some shade, a place to lounge – and certainly, learning how to swim. This pool will have 3 lap lanes and that will be popular to those who swim laps for exercise, regularly. At least two women said how much they were looking forward to the lap lanes. Other presenters talked about implications on the budget each and every year regardless of the type of pool that is done. Costs for new staffing levels that will be required, chemicals, water, maintenance, and that these costs need to be estimated so the Council has a full picture on the implications into the annual budget.

Who is Cranston Forward? What is their agenda?

It was noted by councilor Nicole Renzulli when she spoke at the meeting, while calling for more details on finances, that one of the groups most active against the new pool concept comes from “Cranston Forward”. Renzulli told the audience that the group is “a political action committee masquerading as a community group” and she read the definition of the group – “a political committee organized for the purpose of raising and spending money to elect and defeat candidates”.

The group has been recruiting members from the community and has a website with “Save Budlong Pool” across its opening.

Renzulli ended her presentation with “the longer we make this take, the less likely we’re going to have a pool next year. And that is most convenient for people running for office on that”.

One presenter was Rep. Barbara Fenton-Fung, a Cranston representative who has not come to any of the 19 meetings on the pool, according to sources. She is the wife of former Mayor Fung. She is also thought to be a challenger to Mayor Hopkins in the next mayoral election.

There is a special election this October to replace one city council seat, replacing councilman Matthew Reilly. At least 4 people are running for that office.

Next steps: It is unclear where the Budlong Pool stands now. The City Council will vote on a “Standing Resolution” that asks the Mayor to keep the pool the size that it is:

The resolution does not seem to prevent what the Mayor and the administration can now do, with funds in place. But, as noted at the meeting if the ok was given “tomorrow”, it is unlikely the pool could be opened for the full summer in 2024, with “late August at best” estimated by the aquatics expert familiar with what construction would have to happen. “We could get lucky with a mild winter – but we could not”.