Sedalia Parks Board Approves $3.3 Million Bid for Aquatics Center

On a cold, wintry Tuesday in January, the Sedalia Park Board approved a bid to construct an aquatics center at the future Heckart Community Center.

The Board was able to assemble a five-member quorum at Convention Hall for a special 15-minute meeting at noon Jan. 28. There were four members present, plus one (Christy Woolery) listening in and voting from a remote location by speaker phone through Amy Epple's cell phone.

Parks and Rec Recreation Director Epple pointed out the reason for the Tuesday meeting was to be able to quickly forward the Park Board's recommendation on to Sedalia City Council when they meet next Monday night (Feb. 3).

The winning bidder was K.C. Gunite, Inc., (Belton) with a bid of $3,323,900. They were the lowest bidder of three, with the other two firms being Westport Pools, Inc., ($3,845,622) and Capri Pools and Aquatics ($3,664,500).

“So today we're moving forward with the Heckart Community Center, and the big decision today was who's going to build the pool. We had some really good businesses reach out to us, and they bid on it, and we're very confident with all three of them. But we did select K.C. Gunite out of Belton,” Epple said. “They're done lots of projects in this area and surrounding states. They just recently did one in Arkansas that's very similar to our community center. They were the lowest bidder, and I they're going to give us the best product.”

The Heckart Community Center will be located on the former Jennie Jaynes Site in Liberty Park.

The City of Sedalia officially declared its intent to finance the cost of the Heckart Community Center at a maximum amount of $29 million.

On Nov. 18, the Sedalia City Council passed a resolution to finance the cost of acquiring, constructing, furnishing and equipping the community and recreation center that will be built on Highway 65.

Sedalia voters approved the 78,000-square foot community center in a special election Aug. 6 by an 80 percent margin.

The Park Board meets again on Thursday, Feb. 6. On the agenda will be discussion about future projects, and the Parks budget, among other topics.