ROCHELLE — According to engineers from construction management firm Ringland Johnson, the foundation for the new Rochelle community recreation center will be poured soon and steel for the structure will be arriving in the next few weeks.

On Monday night, Flagg-Rochelle Community Park District leaders heard a progress report and looked at design features of the building, including wall, floor and other interior colors planned for the facility at the Helms South property next to Walgreens.

Jackie Gommel, who is an independent interior designer hired by Ringland Johnson, showed commissioners several ideas for carpeting, wall colors, door and desk styles and more.

“You have very nice branding with the colors of your new logo and we can use some of those accents throughout the building, but I would like some brighter colors in the main entrance to really make it pop when people come in the building,” Gommel explained.

Gommel said while much of the interior will have a neutral gray foundation color, she and the park district staff are planning to add stylish accent materials and colors at strategic points to give the center a contemporary and welcoming feel.

“I’ve been working with Jackee (Ohlinger) and the staff very closely and it’s been a good relationship,” Gommel said. “We will be talking regularly going forward.”

Ohlinger, park district director, told the board that the staff has scheduled regular meetings set up with Ringland Johnson every two weeks to track the progress of the project and deal with any unforeseen issues as they might arise.

“Should we consider raising Jackee’s spending authority during the building of this project in case something needs to be addressed immediately to keep the project moving,” asked park board president Tim Hayden. “In certain cases, it might be easier to raise her spending limit rather than slow down the project by having to call a special meeting or wait for the next regular board meeting.”

Ohlinger’s current spending authority without board approval is $10,000.

“What amount do you are you thinking,” asked board commissioner Brent Carmichael.

“I’m not sure,” Hayden responded. “What does the rest board think?”

Greg Kladar, of Ringland Johnson, said it is always possible that some unexpected costs arise in a project of this magnitude, but he also didn’t expect to see anything unusual come up that the park district would have to fund immediately in order to keep the project moving.

“We will be seeing you often and I one of us will be at every meeting to make sure we handle any issues that might come up,” he stated.

Following a short discussion on the matter, the board took no action regarding raising the director’s discretionary spending limit at this time.

In related business, the board approved $979,500 for a bid on the steel erection work and also approved a scheduled payment of $583,036 to Ringland Johnson.

Pool revenue up

Ohlinger told the board that Spring Lake Pool revenue was up in 2019 compared to 2018 by 6 percent. This year $83,298 was generated at the operation, which is up from $78,240 last season.

“The staff is pretty proud of the revenue increase,” Ohlinger stated. “The additional money came through programming, lessons and offering open swim hours in the early evening.”

Ohlinger said the district did not see any revenue benefit in running the season a couple of weeks longer all the way through Labor Day, but staff did realize a bump in activity by staying open later in the early evening.

“We will have to reevaluate staying open all the way through Labor Day, but the evening swim hours definitely went over well,” she added.

In another pool-related issue, park district attorney Paul Chadwick said he will reach out to the installers of the new pump system in an effort to get some help in fixing problems with the equipment that was just installed two years ago.

“So, far they have not been responsive,” Chadwick said. “But if the facts are the design specs were in the bid and the vendor bid on it, we need to demand they handle the repairs or we need to file suit for damages.”