Centerville Municipal Pool

Centerville Municipal Pool

Location: 712 West Lane Street, Centerville - (641) 437-1920 in Morgan Cline City Park just west of Centerville High School.

Cost: $2.00 for kids, $3.00 for adults, passes available and start at $40.00. Under 2 free.

Hours: 1:00-7:00 pm daily.

Description: Centerville Municipal Pool is truly a municipal pool with little to no updates. A rectangular pool with stairs and ladders to enter and exit. An almost 2 foot drop from the deck to the water surrounds the pool. There is a '1.5 - '2.5 foot section, then a large "2.5-"4 foot section and the deep end. The deep end has 3 diving boards, two low dives and one high dive.

Rules to Know: Rafts, blow up tubes, noodles, masks, goggles, balls, dive sticks, and frogs are all OK. Frogs? Yes, frogs. But more about that later.

Food: Food, drinks, and snacks ranging in price from $.25 -$2.00. Vending machines are also available.

Cleanliness: Pool deck was clean. Pool had a lot of debris floating in it and frogs. Bathrooms were yucky--not clean and no toilet paper in the stalls in the girls' room. The boy said the men's was scary.

Friendliness: Other pool patrons--kids talked to us and one girl shared her raft when she wasn't using it. When you enter and pay admission, you have to write your name on a clipboard.

Web-site: No web-site for the pool, but there is a few words of info about the pool on the Centerville/Rathbun Lake Area web-site: http://www.centerville-ia.com/content/view/24/40/

Pros: If you want to swim or use the diving boards this is a pool for you as there is lots of room to do that and with 3 boards minimal wait time. The park next door is a nice touch. Since there are many trees and shade our car was relatively cool, which was unusual for a hot summer day, and the trees provide some shade to one corner of the pool and pool deck. I heard a lifeguard whistle twice during the 2 and half hours we were there.  We had ice cream at Raymond's located on the NE corner of 10th and Highway 2 when we left the pool.  Yum!

Cons: No zero depth entry. There is a ramp to get through the fence and to the pool deck, but other than that, I'm not sure how they meet the ADA requirements for the facility. Bathrooms as mentioned above. There are no lounge chairs and really no room for them. There are some benches next to the fence and some tables with chairs. We spent most of the time in the water.

Lifeguard supervision was an issue. One lifeguard was texting while on duty. She kept her phone in her suit/shirt and would pull it out to text. By the third time she was on shift, the t-shirt was gone and I'm guessing so was the phone. We were leaving at that point.

The other lifeguard looked away from the deep end she was supervising. But I do know who she is dating, as the person kept referring to while swimming and asking her to confirm.  Do you see anything wrong with the picture below? The guards didn't.

Multiple times I saw kids jump off the high and low board to the side of the board towards each other. After the second time, I used the opportunity to remind the boy loudly to jump straight off the board and not to the side. This woke the guard up a bit and when the sideways jumping happened just seconds later, she weakly blew her whistle to tell the guys not to do that. I heard the lifeguard whistle 2 times during our 2 and a half hour visit.

Fun Factor: I can tell you if we go again, I'm bringing my raft! The two seven year old boys enjoyed the diving boards. Oh, the frog. I almost forgot. Just a few minutes after we arrived, the boy found a frog swimming in the deep end of the pool. He kept a vigilant watch on it, making sure the frog didn't get jumped on, etc. Soon, the frog was in his hands and he brought it to the shallow end of the pool. He and the frog swam together, jumped off the side of the pool together, and he eventually placed the frog near the fence in the grass so that it could return to its family. A few minutes later either that same frog returned or he found another frog. Once again, more frog swimming with the frog. He was convinced it was the same frog who had come back. Eventually, he took the frog out of the pool, through the entrance and placed the frog by a tree. He watched the frog for a while, making sure it was OK and then returned to swim. The highlight of the day was finding and swimming with the frog.

Visiting the Centerville Municipal Pool marks our 10th pool review so far this summer. Click on the other names of pools we have visited to read our reviews: Bloomfield Municipal Pool, Edmundson Park Swimming Pool in Oskaloosa, Fairfield Municipal Pool, Grinnell Mutual Family Aquatic Center, Monroe County Aquatic Center in Albia, Pella Aquatic Center with Adventure River, Sigourney Pool, The Beach Ottumwa, and Veteran's Memorial Aquatic Center in Indianola.