Downtown Hanceville

HANCEVILLE — After voting earlier to shut down the municipal swimming pool at C.W. Day Park over concerns that a black mold infiltration had grown to beyond the city’s ability to pay for repairs, the Hanceville City Council decided Thursday to keep the pool open for at least one more season.

Equipped with new information after a recent assessment from Huntsville-based Burleson Pool Co., the council learned that the problem would not be as costly to address — at least in the near term — as previous estimates from other sources had indicated. Burleson Pool offered to remove the material, which a company representative said was mostly superficial, at a cost of $4,800.

The council agreed to have the work done in time for the pool to open again this summer. Mayor Kenneth Nail said the pool should be ready to welcome swimmers in time for this year’s Memorial Day weekend.

Nail said, though, that a local backlash over news the pool might close did not represent interest may had shown in supporting the pool during the years it has remained open. He asked that residents show their commitment to keeping the pool open by turning out to swim this year when the facility opens again.

“We had a pretty good outcry about closing this pool,” he said, “but some of the people hollering the loudest — I didn’t see those people at the pool this past year.

“If you want a community pool, you’ve got to support the pool,” he added. “I really want to stress that to people.”

Last year’s per-person admission fee at the pool was $5 per session, said Nail. The city has made no indication whether it will adjust its pool fee this year, but, he said, any price increase the council might consider would be incremental.

Nail added that the pool’s long-term future remains unclear, and that the council is likely to revisit the matter once this summer’s swimming season has ended.