Mayor Hopeful Glenwood Aquatic Center Will Eventually Be Repaired, Reopened

There is no swimming season in Glenwood for a second straight summer as the future of the Glenwood Aquatic Center rests in the hands of the legal system.

The 10-year-old, $4.75 million facility has been dry since an extensive investigation into the cause of on-going water loss issues commenced at the conclusion of the 2024 swimming season.

In addition to 2025 and 2026, the facility was closed for the entire 2022 swimming season and a portion of the season several other years because of water loss.

According to findings of an investigation presented to city officials in April 2025 by mechanical engineer Jordan Wiegand, many of the water loss issues that have plagued the aquatic center since its opening in July 2016, stem from the original construction of the facility, most notably the type of fill dirt that was used around and under the pool.

“The soil that’s in there is susceptible to freezing and frost and expanding in the winter,”  former Glenwood City Administrator Mitch Kolf stated in a 2025 interview. “Because the soil that’s under the pool expands and contracts so much, it causes the pool to move a few inches every winter.”

Movement of the “pool vessel” during the winter months resulted in broken pipes and fittings and ultimately water loss, according to Wiegand, an engineer with Wisconsin-based Burbach Aquatics, Inc., the firm contracted by the city in 2024 to conduct the inspection of the facility.

A geotechnical evaluation determined that two types of soil were used at the time of construction – lean clay fill below the pool slab to a depth of 4 feet and lean clay loess from 4 to 22 feet. A non-frost sensitive soil should have been used instead, city officials were told.
The investigation included dye testing, pipe pressure testing, concrete extraction, concrete sounding, ground penetrating radar investigation, structural design review and soil boring and testing.

After being presented with the findings of the investigation, city officials made the decision not to open the facility for the 2025 swimming season. Later in the year, the city filed a lawsuit against Nebraska-based JEO Consulting (project engineering consultant) and Eriksen Construction (general contractor). The case is scheduled to go to trial in April 2027. Meanwhile, the city is continuing to pay off nearly $3.5 million in debt still owed on the facility. The debt isn’t scheduled to be retired until 2035.

Glenwood Mayor Angie Winquist said she’s hopeful the needed repairs will eventually be made so the facility can reopen and serve the community years into the future, as originally intended.

“I would like to see it reopened,” she said. “I would like it fixed. Whatever becomes of it, I would like to have it replaced so we can open it up to the public again.”

Winquist is also hopeful the legal issues will be resolved before next year’s court date.

“Our attorneys met with JEO and Eriksen and their attorneys and experts,” she said. “They made a trip to the pool and did their own testing and spent some time inspecting it. From that, we’re waiting to get that information of what they found.

“They requested some data. We’re getting all the pictures we’ve taken, the water loss amounts and all the bills we’ve paid. My hope is that once we get everything to them, they might want to settle before April. Obviously, we won’t know that until they get their information.”

While the future of the Glenwood Aquatic Center remains in limbo, work is progressing on the construction of a massive 100,000 square-foot indoor/outdoor, year-round water park  just 11 miles from Glenwood in Sarpy County, Neb. The facility is being built northwest of the Highway 34-Highway 75 interchange.

Bellevue’s proposed aquatic center will be modeled after the Epic Waters water park in Grand Prairie, Texas - the fourth largest facility of its kind in the country. The facility will be the linchpin of an entertainment district that will have infrastructure in place for hotels, restaurants and other entertainment venues.

Winquist is well aware of the Bellevue project, but doesn’t see it as competition for the Glenwood Aquatic Center.

“I think it’s going to be great. I think it’s going to bring people in,” she said. “I look forward to taking my grandkids there, but we’ll still have this and not everybody will be able to afford to go and pay those prices to do an everyday thing.”

The Glenwood Aquatic Centers isn’t the only water facility Winquist has focused her attention on. Since her appointment to replace late Glenwood Mayor Ron Kohn, Winquist has been an advocate for the construction of a splash pad in Glenwood. She is actively seeking funding to build a splash pad at Glenwood Lake Park. The projected price tag is $300,000-$350,000.

“We’d like it down at the park by the camping area,” she said. “We found a flat area that’s got the water already hooked up that we could utilize.”

The goal is to fund the construction of the splash pad with a combination of grants and private doantions.

“I’ve talked to the Vision Glenwood group because I would like their help and support going forward,” she said. “This won’t happen this summer. That was the initial goal, but there’s a lot of competition for grants.”

Winquist stressed that the splash pad is not intended to be a replacement for the Glenwood Aquatic Center, just another affordable option for children looking to cool off during the warm summer months.