UNTIL NEXT TIME — The Mingo Junction Pool at Aracoma Park closed for the season Sept. 22, a week later than anticipated due to warm weather and appeals from the local senior community. -- Christopher Dacanay

MINGO JUNCTION — Temperatures are beginning to dip in the Ohio Valley, which denotes the end of this year’s pool season, one that the Mingo Junction village administrator believes was a success.

Darrin Corrigan — a retired Jefferson County Water Department general foreman, who’s now about 10 months into his first year as Mingo’s administrator — said the season “went very well” for the village’s pool at Aracoma Park.

The 278,000-gallon pool opened for the season on May 31, accepting swimmers seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. It closed Sept. 22, a week later than originally planned, due to unexpectedly warm weather and a request from seniors for more time.

Corrigan estimated that between 20 and 25 individuals would swim at a time, on any given day — barring instances of bad weather.

Even more popular were the pool’s morning hours, which were reserved for the senior swim program. That 8 a.m. to noon period would draw as many as 45 seniors every day of the week, with good weather, Corrigan said.

The feedback from those patrons was positive, Corrigan said.

“We had a good bit of people who rented our facilities out for picnics and stuff like that up at the shelter houses. We got a lot of comments back — how beautiful everything was and how nice the pool was. It ran pretty well.”

The season brought a few technical difficulties, Corrigan noted, including failure of the hot water tank that heats the pool’s showers. That needed to be replaced with a new tank, which village employees installed themselves.

Additionally, the pool’s own heater went on the fritz, requiring employees to source a new part from the pool’s usual inspection and maintenance provider. Neither the hot water tank or pool heater issues required the pool to shut down completely, with the latter leaving the water just a bit colder than people might prefer, Corrigan said.

Before opening, the pool underwent some preparatory fixes, receiving a new filtration pump and trash pump for backwashing. Both the pumps and their respective motors were replaced.

The pool also saw major concrete work finished, eliminating some cracked and old segments of concrete — some of which had been present since the pool’s grand opening in 1973.

A few items remain on the pool improvement to-do list, Corrigan said. The pool currently has one diving board installed, and another was meant to be installed before issues with the mount arose. Identical to the existing one, that second diving board will be installed before the pool’s opening next year, and it will require redoing some concrete in order to properly place the mount.

The village also determined not to re-paint the pool’s floor this year, resolving instead to have employees paint it in the early spring.

Corrigan said the village is also preparing to install a new set of steps in the pool, which will give seniors and kids an easier route in and out. That improvement is being financed by Ohio Department of Aging Health Aging Grant funds, administered through the Jefferson County General Health District.

Finally, new security cameras are set to be installed around Aracoma Park and the pool sometime in October, Corrigan said. Paid for using $13,000 in parks and recreation grant funds from the Jefferson County commissioners, the cameras will provide video feed straight to the village’s police department for monitoring, “to make (the area) safer for the community.”

Some policy changes may be in the works for next year, Corrigan said, adding that those will be decided through future conversations between him and other village officials. One topic discussed previously is the presence of unaccompanied children for long periods of the day, which officials have said creates issues.

Corrigan, who reportedly tried to check on the pool every day, thanked all individuals who helped at the pool, including its summer workers and senior program coordinators, as well as the village’s water and service department employees, who helped with cleaning and other maintenance issues.

The pool also had help from the Jefferson County Board of Developmental Disabilities’ Summer Youth Program, members of which helped with some caretaking needs.

Corrigan also thanked Mingo Junction residents and individuals from outside of town, saying that he hopes they’ll continue to come and patronize the pool.

Perhaps the village’s creates quality-of-life asset, Aracoma Park and its pool provide an outlet for local youth, as well as a place for parties and other events, Corrigan said. What’s more, the pool is a great service for seniors from Mingo and surrounding communities, who come for a place to relax and socialize.

“We have a lot of people, just for the senior program alone, that come from different communities.” Corrigan said. “I have people that I know of from West Virginia who come every day. (People from) Toronto, Richmond, they take part in our senior program.”