20 years of dreaming ends with new pool

MARENGO — During a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday, Mayor Adam Rabe called the building of a new pool in Marengo “a historic event.”

Nearly 20 years in the making, the new pool is finally under construction at 1275 Marengo Ave., north of the city’s current public works building.

When Rabe was a city councilman in 2005, the council hoped to build a new pool and conducted a feasibility study, Rabe said Thursday. The study showed that Marengo wouldn’t have a debt capacity to build a new pool for 20 years.

In 2015 the council considered a pool addition with the new elementary gymnasium and fitness center, said Rabe. Again, building a new pool was only a dream.

During Rabe’s mayoral campaign in 2017, he told the media that the pool issue had taken a back seat long enough and that the longer the city put off the project, the more expensive it would be.

With the help of a community group, large and small donations and grants, the City of Marengo can now finance the construction. According to Lou McMeen, a pool committee member, the committee had hoped to raise $750,000 in donations and grants for the pool. To date, the committee has received donations and grants totaling $1.3 million.

The city awarded the swimming pool contract Oct. 25 to Portzen Construction of Dubuque. The $4.4 million contract includes construction of a bathhouse pergola, a zip line and rope swing. The city will purchase an additional 153-foot-long, 20-foot-tall slide and a shallow pool play structure.

The initial construction will not include a proposed climbing wall, which would have cost $36,000, but the foundation for it will be put in place so it can be added later.

The pool should be essentially complete by October 2024 and ready to open in the spring of 2025.