WEIRTON - The Weirton Park Board regrets to announce that Starvaggi Memorial Pool will remain closed on Wednesday, July 4.
“It’s not a decision you arrive at easily,” said Park Board Executive Director Coty Shingle. “Our goal is to provide safe and quality recreation opportunities and unless that’s what we can provide, we should not be open.”
Starvaggi Pool has been plagued recently by mechanical issues, since its filter room flooded back on June 10.
The Park Board staff worked feverishly to restore the pool to operational status using back up equipment in just five days.
The main filter pump motor at the pool broke down on Monday. The motor is essential to filtering and disinfecting water and must be operational for the pool to be open.
This most recent issue is related to ongoing problems caused by the flooding in June.
“We’ve been running on a backup main pump motor,” said Shingle. “We were hoping it would limp along until we encountered some bad weather days that would afford us an opportunity to change it out without causing undue down time, but that didn’t happen and the motor failed on Monday.
“During the installation process of the new motor, we encountered some mechanical problems that required us to order in some new parts. With the holiday, there was no way to ship those parts in time for the pool to be open today.”
Starvaggi Pool has been the most consistently operating swimming facility in the Ohio Valley area. The pool has opened on time and experienced no in-season operational shutdowns in nearly 25 years, a record unmatched by any public pool in immediate Ohio Valley area.
“We’re very proud of our effort and our record,” Shingle said. “We operate the only pool in this part of the Ohio Valley that has opened on time every year and had no operational interruptions for almost a quarter century. It’s unfortunate, but it’s also unavoidable at this time.
“We’ve had rough go here lately, and we realize our patrons have gone through it with us. We just ask for a little more patience as we work through the problem.”
If everything goes according to plan, the pool could be open on Thursday, but is not expected to re-open any later than Friday.
Due to the holiday, the Weirton Millsop Community Center is closed today, but Starvaggi passes will be honored there on Thursday.
Questions about the pool’s status can be answered by consulting the Starvaggi Pool Facebook page, the Park Board’s website, or by calling the Park Board’s main offices at (304) 797-8520.
