Camden City Pool closed for summer, community distressed

CAMDEN, Tenn. — Cracked concrete, murky water and scattered debris.

It’s a situation Camden City Park manager Dennis Westin calls upsetting.

“It’s kind of disappointing because this is all the kids had to do around here other than the playground,” Westin said.

After 17 years of opening every Memorial Day for the summer, Camden Mayor Roger Pafford says their only outdoor community pool will be closed this year.

“It’s pretty obvious looking at it that there was no way we could get it back to how it was before,” Pafford said.

Mayor Pafford says the pool was drained last August for renovations. He says the city hired a contractor to get it ready for this summer.

“We were having some structural problems with our strainers and concrete,” he said.

After the pool was drained, new concrete was poured and new skimmers were installed, a project costing the city around $30,000.

But just as the new concrete was poured, Mayor Pafford says heavy days of rain set them back thousands of dollars in completing the project.

“Our crew came in that Monday morning and the pool had actually just floated out of the concrete,” he said.

Westin, a grandfather of five, says the pool is a popular attraction for kids.

“I’ve seen about 200 people here at one time,” Westin said.

While it will take a lot of time and repairs, Westin says the pool is not a lost cause.

“I don’t know how long it will be, probably a year two, but they will build it back,” he said.

Mayor Pafford says their insurance company went out to look at the damage, but he has not heard back from them yet.

He says he plans for a new pool to be built to replace the damaged one, but he does not know when.