(File Photo/Shelley Hanson) Paden City officials plan to get the city’s swimming pool ready for Summer 2026. It will remain closed this summer.

Paden City Mayor Clyde Hochstrasser believes he has a handle on what all needs to be done to have the city’s swimming pool ready next summer.

During a regular City Council meeting on June 2, Hochstrasser said he recently discovered through some inquiries that a former pool employee was not testing the facility’s water properly or frequently enough, leading to some false positives regarding E coli bacteria.

He also said that one of the pool’s skimmers needs replaced, in addition to having the pool surface cleaned and repainted.

“It seems we had some mis-documentation going on. That was the main problem from what I’m understanding,” he said.

He added that the chlorine levels apparently were not being checked properly. However, one of the pumps also had gone out, which did not allow the water to circulate properly.

“We had a pump go bad previously when we painted the pool, and some of the paint peeled off and got into one of the pumps. We’ve replaced that now so it should be good,” he said.

Hochstrasser said the pool’s bathroom plumbing still needs to be fixed before it can reopen next year. A faulty hot water tank also needs remedied.

Hochstrasser said previously that he was trying to get a list of items that needed remedied at the pool from the Wetzel Tyler Health Department. He claimed such a list was denied. He added a councilman did a FOIA request for the information and it was then given to the city.

“They determined chlorine was the issue,” he said.

In response to Hochstrasser’s claim, health department Administrator Ashley Guiler said previously there was no list to give the city. The health department is required to inspect certain aspects of the pool to make sure it is safe for people to use, to make sure it is up to state code. The city was already made aware of those items. However, the health department does not inspect the inner workings of the pool house. A speciality pool company would need to do that, she said in May.

Hochstrasser said he does not foresee any problems getting the pool fixed and ready to be used in Summer 2026.

The health department is charged with inspecting and issuing permits for public swimming pools.