LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON - Fort Simpson residents will have to wait another year before dipping their feet into the new community swimming pool.

The timeline for the beleaguered project has been delayed yet again. Presently, the village can't guarantee the pool will be operational in time for the 2010 summer swimming season, said Mayor Sean Whelly.

More than three years after funding was allocated for the project, the construction site for the new Fort Simpson swimming pool is still just that. Work on the building is slated to begin on Feb. 15. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

The $1.3-million pool was expected to open this summer. The village is now looking at the possibility of opening the former pool for another year.

"It's not the best and it's not what we'd hoped for," said Deputy Mayor Tom Wilson.

The village, Liidlii Kue First Nation and the Fort Simpson Metis Nation decided to build the pool when the village received $1 million in 2006 under the federal government's Community Capacity Building Fund.

Funds were also allocated for construction of a concrete pad in the arena and a skateboard park.

Plans for the pool have met several delays.

Under the previous council, which was led by Duncan Canvin, the village hired Dillon Consulting of Yellowknife to design the pool. The council planned to tender the project in the spring of 2007 but a delay resulted in no bids being placed.

Changes to the original design delayed the project again in 2008. Further complication arose when the pool was tendered that spring and the only bid for the project came in well over budget the $2 million at $5.3 million.

In the fall of 2008, the village considered other options and decided to construct the pool on a piecemeal basis, with parts of the project supplied by different companies. At that point an estimated completion date of June 2009 was set.

In July 2009, Arctic Canada Construction Ltd. (Arcan) was awarded the contract to erect the pre-fabricated steel building to house the pool. Work was supposed to begin in August and the shell was to be completed by Oct. 15. A number of additional delays set the project back, said Whelly.

In November, the village and Arcan had to negotiate the cost of an insulation package for the building that wasn't included in the original tender document. Further delays ensued when the village, acting as the general contractor for the project, moved the steel girders for the building to the work site behind the recreation centre.

Either in storage or in transit, two of the girders were slightly bent. They can be repaired but have to be certified by an engineering firm before installation, said Whelly.

As of Feb. 8, Arcan was mobilizing and construction was expected to start on Feb. 15.

The building is now expected to be up by the end of March. However, even when the building is in place, the village will still have to obtain the exact design specifications for the pool and the interior building work, purchase the material and decide who will install it.

"It looks like it will be too compressed to get it done this spring," Whelly said.

The mayor said no one party is responsible for the delays. The village tried to save money by acting as the general contractor, but that has resulted in a loss of time at some stages of the project, he said.