Great Falls neighborhood pool openings have been delayed.

Jaycee and Water Tower pools were scheduled to open June 13.

Both neighborhood splashpads are open.

Jessica Compton, deputy Great Falls Park and Recreation director, told The Electric that staff has been working on the pools, but have more repairs to make before they can safely open to the public.

She said the repair to Jaycee Pool’s liner didn’t hold up as anticipated so it’s currently being repaired.

Slides at Electric City Water Park reopened; neighborhood pools, splash pads open June 13

At Water Tower Pool, staff is waiting on a part for the chemical controller to complete those repairs.

Compton said she doesn’t have new opening dates yet but will keep the community updated.

The splash pads don’t require lifeguards.

Compton said this year, they’re fully staffed with lifeguards for all the outdoor pools once the repairs are completed.

During the June 8 Park and Recreation Advisory Board meeting, Compton told the board that the city has old facilities that need a lot of maintenance and the city “can’t just keep putting Band-Aids on it.”

Electric City Water Park opened June 6, without the Flow Rider and Lazy River, and the big slide was back up and running as of June 11.

Neighborhood pools, splash pad opening pushed to June 13; water park slides being repaired

The splash pad at the water park is operational this summer. In 2024, the city converted the old baby pool, which had a number of issues into the splash pad.

In 2024, according to city data:

• Water Tower pool and spray park served 3,613 people
• Jaycee pool and spray park served 2,695 people
• Electric City Water Park served 22,790 people

During a June 20, 2006 commission work session, Patty Rearden, former deputy Park and Rec director, said the community swimming pools were built and/or renovated in the 1960s.

Since the pools systems and infrastructure had deteriorated over time, the city was faced with significant capital and maintenance issues at the time, she told commissioners, according to the minutes.

During that meeting, she presented commissioners with a proposal for a voted bond for about $2 million in pool improvements.

During that work session, commissioners directed staff to conduct an informal survey to determine if voters would support a general obligation bond and, if so, at what level.

Staff sent the survey in 19,933 June/July utility bills.

City pools open June 6, Flow Rider remains down this summer

Of those, 4,363 surveys were returned, or about 22 percent, according to the staff report, and 38 people completed the survey online.

The results of the survey were as follows, according to the 2006 staff report:

• 2,212 selected Option 1, which included repairing the Mitchell, Water Tower and Jaycee pools
  plus adding a spray park at Meadowlark Park. Of those 110 crossed off the Meadowlark spray park
• 761 selected Option 2, which included repairing the Mitchell Pool and replacing the Water
  Tower and Jaycee pools with spray parks plus a spray park at Meadowlark Park
• 1,074 selected no bond
• 470 offered other ideas and prices, and of those, 146 specifically supported repairing Mitchell,
  Jaycee and Water Tower pools

Survey results were presented to commissioners during an Aug. 1, 2006 work session and they directed staff to prepare the necessary documents to send the bond question to the November 2006 ballot.

In 2006, Park and Rec told commissioners that both Water Tower and Jaycee pools had “deteriorated gutter systems with broken grate tiles, plaster spalling of the pool tank walls, heaving concrete decks, outdated and inefficient pool heaters, re-circulating pumps and systems were at the end of their useful life, restrooms were not ADA accessible, and the dressing rooms needed to be renovated. Improvements to each facility will include new filtration/recirculation system, chemical feed rehabilitation, new concrete deck and fencing, pool floor and wall rehabilitation, deck equipment, electrical work and bathhouse rehabilitation,” according to a city staff report.

The city asked voters whether to issue a $2.27 million bond, financed over 10 years, for improvements to Mitchell, Water Tower and Jaycee pools.

At the time, the estimated tax increase for a residential property assessed at $100,000 would be about $11 annually.

The cost breakout was:

• $998,500 for Mitchell Pool improvements
• $989,000 for the rehabilitation of Jaycee and Water Tower pools, including rehabilitated bathhouses
• $37,200 for amenities
• $40,000 for bond issuance costs
• $202,470 for a 10 percent contingency

Voters approved the bond.

Flowrider remains down this season, repair scheduled for fall [2025]

During a July 2008 commission meeting, City Manager Greg Doyon said that commission priorities that year were: public safety issues, golf course, parking garage, public pools, creating a park master plan, looking at long-term planning and maintaining services at present levels.

This year, commissioners are discussing public safety, parking and pools.

The city completed a park master plan in 2016.

Financials are improving since a private company began managing the city’s two golf courses in 2019.

Doyon told commissioners in 2008 that the community was struggling to stabilize the aquatics program and had a “need to continue economic development and making sure that we are not growing too fast on the residential side without attracting business to the community and providing jobs and stabilizing the tax base with new business, the initiative by the City/County Health Department to support their structure and how they are financing the needs for that entity,” according to the July 15, 2008 minutes.

CCHD is currently restructuring its financing and has asked the city for additional funding.

Health board requesting additional funding from city for CCHD operations

The Flow Rider and Lazy River remain closed this summer due to mechanical and structural issues, according to Park and Rec.

Because of those issues, the facilities don’t meet city safety codes.

City pools closing for the season, lifeguard shortage continues [2025]

City staff are comparing costs of replacing the existing equipment versus replacing the structure entirely.

Mitchell Pool will remain open for the summer.

Outdoor pool operations are weather-dependent.

According to Park and Rec:

• if air temperature is below 65 degrees at 8 a.m., morning lap swim from 9-11 a.m. is canceled
• if air temperature is below 65 degrees at 10 a.m., open swim is canceled for the day
• if it is consistently raining, the outdoor pools will be closed
• thunder and lightning will close the facility but the length of closure depends on the length of the storm and possible cleanup after a high-wind thunderstorm

Fees will not change for the water park and are as follows:

• Youth, 3-17: $7
• Adults, 18+: $10
• Monthly lap swim: $40
• Youth 10-visit pass: $60
• Adult 10-visti pass: $85

Those fees were set by commission resolution in 2024, but have shifted over the last decade.

A 2014 commission resolution set entry fees for Mitchell Pool and slides at $3 for youth and $5 for adults and the Flow Rider package at $10 for youth and $12 for adults.

City approves new recreation fees, including fees for new aquatics facility [2024]

Those fees remained in place through 2022, when a new fee structure was implemented, setting entry fees to the whole park at $5 for youth and $8 for adults.

There doesn’t appear to be a commission resolution associated with that fee change in publicly available city records.

Electric City Water Park opens June 3 [2022]

That rate shifted to $6 for youth and $9 for adults in 2023, again with no commission resolution.

Commissioners reject pool fee increase [2018]

The Flow Rider was closed in 2022 and appears to have remained closed since.

In August 2024, City Commissioners approved a single-source contract to International Foam Pros for $128,900 to resurface the Flow Rider.

The project was delayed due to weather and crews coming from Texas for the repairs, according to city staff.

The crews needed a consistent two weeks of weather above 60 degrees before the facility opened for the summer, Compton, deputy Park and Rec director, told The Electric last summer.

City awards Flow Rider repair contract [2024]

The construction would shut down the entire unit, including the lazy river, so the repair was scheduled for the fall, after the water park closes for the season.

Compton told The Electric earlier this spring that as they prepared for the project, they found significantly greater problems with the Flow Rider.

She said the contractor couldn’t get bonded, as required by the city, rendering the contract null and void.

“Park and Recreation knows how important and popular this piece of equipment is not only to our community but to guests,” Compton told The Electric last summer.

The city’s Flow Rider is one of the originals, so repair and maintenance is available from select companies, she said.

The Flow Rider has been unusable for the past two operating seasons at the water park and the current condition has reached “surface material failure,” Park and Rec said in 2024.

Commissioners approve contract to finish splash pad project at water park [2024]

The top layer should have a smooth glass-like surface but has gone porous, allowing moisture into the sublevel and making the top level rough so surf pads can’t glide across the water correctly, according to the August 2024 staff report.

The Flow Rider was originally installed in 2001 and had major repairs and resurfacing in 2006, 2010, 2013 and 2016, according to Park and Rec.

Once the existing foam is pulled up, the city will address any concrete issues as quickly as possible to keep the project moving and the contractor will not be responsible for the concrete, city staff said while awarding the contract in 2024.

City water park closed for repair project July 29-30 [2024]

Under the now voided contract, International Foam Pros would have torn down the existing foam slides, resurfaced them with a new one-inch foam, foam coating and top coating.

The project includes 1,600-square feet of new foam with 700-square feet of recoating the exit area light blue.

The project was to be funded through the swimming pools cash balance and was included in the budget commissioners approved in July 2024.

Park and Rec is offering classes and programs at the water park, neighborhood pools and Aim High Big Sky Recreation Center this summer. Those listings are available on the Park and Rec website.

Two-week sessions of outdoor swim lessons are available at the water park this summer. Registration is here.

The next sound bowl is June 21 at Electric City Water Park, which includes an hour of floating sound bowl and ice cream. Registration is here.

On July 4, the water park is hosting a grass volleyball tournament and other activities from noon to 6 p.m.