Zipline and slide to replace pool’s diving boards

The diving boards may be history at the Polo City Pool, but two brand new pieces of equipment are slated to take their place by early July.

Thanks to the generosity of a Polo family, a zipline and a slide will be ordered as soon as all the state hurdles are cleared.

Pool manager Kayla Bergstrom said Monday that the William and Beverly Burkardt Family Foundation has donated the money to purchase and install the new pool features.

The cost of the slide is about $10,000 and the zipline will cost $7,500, not including the installation and permitting fees.

The city council found out last November that the 50-year-old, original diving boards were worn out and no longer safe.

Besides that, a pool expert told them the deep end of the pool was not adequate for the boards, making it dangerous for anyone diving in.

The council was all set to purchase a shorter board but found out that wasn’t going to work either.

“The structure of the deep end does not fit the state qualifications of a diving well,” Bergstrom said. “We were hoping for a smaller, shorter board, but the state would not approve it.”

The zipline and slide will be purchased just as soon as the permits for them arrive from the Illinois Department of Public Health, which Bergstrom said she expects will happen this week.

“We have verbal approval,” she said.

Bergstrom said she already has the enthusiastic approval of the kids who have stopped by the pool on their way home from school.

“I’ve showed the pictures [of the zipline and slide] to a bunch of kids and they’re pumped!” she said with a smile. “We’re bummed out about the boards, but safety comes first.”

The zipline will go on east side of the deep end. Users will step on a pad to grab the zipline, which will drop them mid-pool into deep water.

The slide will be positioned on the southwest corner of the pool.

Installation should be complete in about six weeks after purchase.

Bergstrom is also researching a set of ADA-approved steps that can be lowered into the pool when needed to replace the ladder.

Mark and Kathy Scholl and their family, of Polo, have offered to pay for those.

“I’m overwhelmed by the donations,” Bergstrom said.

Lifeguards will also have a new chair when the pool opens in a few weeks.

A new, safer chair is already in place at the pool’s shallow end.