Photo courtesy of Alex Peterson Plastering for the pools at the new Marshall Aquatic Center - including the deep water pool - is one of the last major parts of construction left. Marshall Parks and Recreation Superintendent Preston Stensrud said crews hoped to be able to start plaster and curing work in early July.

MARSHALL — Construction of Marshall’s new Aquatic Center is getting closer to completion, but there are still plenty of important tasks that will need to be done before the center can open to swimmers, said Marshall Parks and Recreation Superintendent Preston Stensrud.

“There’s just a lot of things that need to all come together here yet,” like getting the center’s mechanical systems up and running, Stensrud said. Other construction-related tasks will include plastering in the center’s pools.

“We’re getting close to the finish line, but there’s a lot of details that go into finishing everything up and making sure that everything’s properly done,” said David Locke of Stockwell Engineers.

At Tuesday’s Marshall City Council meeting, Stensrud went over a “virtual tour” of the construction, and answered questions from council members.

Stensrud said the virtual tour represented where the progress of Aquatic Center construction was at as of the start of this week.

“Progress was even made these last couple of days, as well,” Stensrud said.

One of the visible changes over the last couple of weeks was the installation of sun shade structures around the pool deck, he said.

“It’s really added lots of color,” Stensrud said.

Some of the other work going on includes landscaping and the installation of irrigation systems, he said. Stensrud said the HVAC systems for the bathhouse and concessions building were also tested and balanced last week. Workers were in the process of getting networking fiber set up at the center, along with security cameras and computers.

“We have signage we’re working on. Actually, the main sign for the building, the last part of it was being powder-coated (Tuesday) at Bend Rite,” he said. “It’s looking really nice.”

“A big portion of the remaining schedule is going to be, first we need to get the sod and irrigation in place, and then it will be plastering and curing each pool,” Stensrud said. He said city staff hoped to get sod laid next week, which would allow plastering to start in early July.

Each pool, including the zero-depth entry pool, the leisure river and the deep water pool, will have a slightly different time frame for plastering work. Stensrud estimated it could take about three to five working days for each pool.

“It’s a very delicate and intricate process where no dust or dirt can be flying or in the air on the site when that is happening,” Stensrud said. Once the plaster is installed, it needs to cure underwater. The acidity of the water has to be kept at a certain level during the curing process, and filtration needs to be running, he said.

Stensrud said some of the tasks that would need to be completed before the Aquatic Center could open to the public included meeting codes and health standards.

“There’s lots of health department stuff that, although we think it all looks ready and looks good, there’s lots of rules, stuff they need to see,” like making sure that the Aquatic Center’s sanitizer pumps and filters are functioning properly, he said.

“We have all the plumbing and mechanical in place, but nothing has been able to be turned on yet, because we don’t have any water,” Stensrud said.

Pool equipment like heaters, boilers, and chemical feeders will need to be operational before the Department of Health will inspect the facility, Stensrud said. The Department of Health will also need to inspect the concessions area of the aquatic center.

City Council member Craig Schafer said the Aquatic Center committee is also taking frequent looks at the progress of the new facility. The group would be getting another update this week, Schafer said.