When the Powell Aquatic Center undergoes its annual deep clean this spring, the facility will also get a new scoreboard and a fresh coat of paint for the lap pool.

On Monday, the Powell City Council approved a $60,949.65 contract with Leisure in Montana to repaint the pool. The Billings company was the only firm to submit a bid and the offer came in above the $50,000 that the city had budgeted.

However, City Administrator Zack Thorington recommended the council approve the bid and move forward with repainting the lap pool, as the original paint is wearing out and has faded.

“It needs done, pretty badly,” he said.

Thorington added that there’s some flexibility in the aquatic center budget to cover the unexpected cost. That’s because the city received $15,000 worth of donations from Park County School District 1 and Park County Parks and Recreation toward a new $31,100 scoreboard at the facility.

The new board will be installed during the PAC’s annual closure for cleaning, which is set to run from March 18 to April 9. The closure was originally slated to begin March 26, but it’s being extended to accommodate the repainting of the lap pool, said Powell Aquatic Center Co-Director Tanya Bonner. A crack in the facility’s front steps will be fixed later in the spring, Bonner said.

While the closure will be longer than expected, it will be considerably shorter than the six weeks of maintenance that were required last year so the HVAC system could be replaced.