NATCHEZ — While some elected officials hope a new public swimming pool would be ready by the end of the summer, most say rushing completion would be a mistake.

The Adams County Board of Supervisors and the City of Natchez Board of Aldermen in January jointly voted to take control of the bidding process of the half-Olympic-size swimming pool from the Natchez-Adams County Recreation Commission. The commission is still involved in the process and will manage the pool upon completion, leaders said.

The vote to remove the recreation commission from the bidding process came following delays and the construction bids for the pool coming in approximately $700,000 over the $1 million budget original estimated.

Following taking over the bidding process, the boards spent a little more than one month attempting to get the deed from the property off Liberty Road from the Natchez-Adams School Board. The school board required a legal description of the land, which cost the city and the county an additional $600 to obtain.

After acquiring the 2.53-acre parcel of property, the two boards began the process to advertise for bids but have yet to complete the process.

Board of Supervisors Attorney Scott Slover said he, City Attorney Bob Latham, community development fund member Kevin Preston, architect Johnny Waycaster and County Purchasing Clerk Frances Bell would meet this week to design the particulars of the advertisement to seek bids.

Waycaster was the architect who designed the pool for the recreation commission, and Slover said he might have additional ideas that could reduce costs. Slover said Waycaster built approximately $400,000 worth of alternatives — including landscaping — that could be removed from the bid.

What leaders hope will reduce cost is separating the pool construction bids into two projects — one for the pool and another for the support building. Separating the projects could enable pool contractors not capable of taking on a support building to bid on just the pool portion of the project.

Natchez Mayor Darryl Grennell said more competition could mean reduced costs for the city and county.

“We are carving it out instead of it all being in one package,” Grennell said. “That way we can get a pool contractor to submit bids on the pool instead of a single contractor that will have to subcontract. That way we will get a better price.”

Though Grennell said he is hopeful about better prices, he does not anticipate a pool being open by this summer, which was one of the hopes of several community leaders cited in taking the pool over from the recreation commission in January.

“I don’t know if we will reach a deadline for the summer,” Grennell said. “When you build a pool, you want to make sure it is done right. If it is not constructed right, you will have problems for years to come, according to the (pool professionals) I have spoken to.

“I am not pushing to have a pool up and running by the summer. When we get it, we get it, but it just needs to be done right.”

Supervisors President Mike Lazarus said he is ready to get the pool project in the rear-view mirror because it is holding up other aspects of recreation, such as making a decision on the baseball complex. However, Lazarus said he was not sure whether having the pool complete by the summer was realistic.

“I would think you could get a lot of it done before the end of the summer, but I don’t know how long it takes to build a pool,” Lazarus said. “I am not a pool contractor.”

Latham said summer is approaching fast, and based on the normal length of getting through a bid process and contractors beginning construction, completing the pool before the end of summer would be a difficult ask.

“Most of the people I’ve talked to who understand building pools have indicated it could not be built by summer regardless of who gets the bid,” Latham said.

District 5 Supervisor Calvin Butler said it would likely be May before bids were received. While Butler said he hopes the pool would be complete by the end of the summer, he admitted that is difficult  to envision.

“Maybe it could be open by the fall or early next summer,” Butler said. “I wouldn’t push for this summer because then you get into potential defects and faults being in the pool.

“If we are going to spend that much money on the pool, you need to take your time and make sure there aren’t any issues that could lead to a crack or a leak that could cause something major to go wrong. I don’t want to rush it and end up in a situation where we are constantly doing repairs.”

District 2 Supervisor David Carter said if a pool cannot be built by this summer, he thinks leaders should put the project off until next summer.

“There’s a lot of pressure to build the pool, but there’s also a lot of pressure against a pool,” he said.

Carter said he’s never been a proponent for the pool because he would rather see leaders put money into roads, but since the pool is being built, he is glad leaders are trying to save on costs.

One potential saving, Grennell said, is looking to community organizations to help with the landscaping, which is an alternative that could be removed from a contractor’s duties.

“If planting flowers and trees is going to run the price up, maybe we can have different organizations adopt different sections to do those little landscaping extras,” Grennell said. “We have people out there — organizations — and they want to help. That’s an option.”

Lazarus said another option could be, instead of spending money on constructing a support building, a prefab modular building could be designed and shipped for significantly less money

Slover said some stakeholders have proposed the idea of purchasing a modular building, but that idea has not been approved by either board yet.

“We have a group of people working really hard to make sure the pool is built,” Slover said. “We want to build a quality pool, not something rinky dink, but at the same time, keeping the project within the budget both boards set.”