When patrons arrived at Cottonwood Recreation Center on Monday, Nov. 28, to work off the turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes ingested over the weekend, they found the center in apple-pie order.
The center took a week off for annual cleaning Nov. 20 through Sunday, Nov. 27. It took all eight days to finish the work, which reached into every nook and cranny of the 54,000 square foot building.
Staff, assisted by local contractors, cleaned out 325 lockers, washed 50-foot-high windows, drained and refilled the 60,000-gallon swimming pool and swept and mopped under nearly 70 pieces of exercise equipment.
Because the center is usually busy with patrons from open to close, it must shut its doors for a week to complete deep cleaning. Scaffolding is necessary to paint the walls and wash the windows, which reach as high as 50 feet in places, Wells said.
“There’s just no way to get scaffolding in here when people are here,” Maintenance Supervisor Richard Wells said.
The center’s walls need a new coat of paint because the paint tends to hold onto hand oils deposited whenever a patron touches them, something that happens thousands of times a week.
“You have to paint over it. It becomes like part of the paint and you can’t just wash it off,” fitness trainer Heather Klomperans said.
Not much of interest was discovered underneath the exercise equipment except a layer of dust and dirt Klomperans called “gross.” The lockers were a different story.
Center staff member Trevor Faust, son of Community Services General Manager Richard Faust, was busy Nov. 22 removing locks from lockers with a bolt cutter. Faust had a pile of about a dozen mangled locks with several more to cut by noon.
Inside several lockers was clothing, shoes, swimsuits and a variety of work-out accoutrements several patrons neglected to remove before the center closed for cleaning.
Bart Garrabrant, who owns a window-cleaning business, said the recreation center’s high ceilings and tall windows make it a challenge different than just about any other building in Cottonwood.
To complete the job, Garrabrant said his crew of four people worked two days with the use of a hydraulic lift and a 32-foot long ladder, not standard for most city structures, he said.
“The goal of the Cottonwood Recreation Center is to enhance health, fitness, sportsmanship and relationships for residents of all abilities and ages,” a recreation center spokeswoman said.
To that end, the center boasts 36 free weight and pulley machines; 30 pieces of cardio equipment; dumbbells and free weights; walking track with pace clock; large exercise and dance studio with mirrors, ballet bar, sound system and cushioned floor; an indoor leisure pool with a large spa, two lap lanes and a 160-foot flume slide; a community events hall; gymnasium; game room and climbing wall.
Child care is available at $2 an hour during the center’s hours of operation.
Greg Ruland can be reached at 634-8551 or email gruland@larsonnewspapers.com
