Long-delayed restroom/shower finally open at Hooper Park

Two and a half years after the aging, dilapidated restrooms came down to make room for a new facility, Hooper Park once again has operational bathrooms, complete with showers.

Lincoln Park Board President Nyle Howsmon opened the new facilities Monday, May 20 without fanfare, after the Montana Department of Environmental Quality approved water test results from the building's water purification system.

The building itself has been in place since last July, when a crew from Thompson Contracting of Libby installed it. Plumbing and electrical work was completed last September, but testing and verification of the state-mandated chlorination system delayed the opening until this spring.

The opening of the restroom came in time for the busy Memorial Day Weekend and is a welcome sight for visitors as well as local and county authorities.

The new facility, with two restrooms that each feature a toilet, a sink and a shower, is expected to be popular with local park users and tourists, including cyclists and though-hikers.

The relief at finally having the building open to the public is tempered by some lingering issues that will need to be addressed, including concerns about having just two toilets, both of which will be inaccessible while the showers are in use.

"It looks good, for what it is," Howsmon said. "It might be sufficient when there isn't anything going on, but during big events, they're going to have to have some porta-potties or something here."

One possible solution could be the installation of a year-round concrete outhouse at the park, like the one in Lambkin Park. Upper Blackfoot Community Council President Zach Muse suggested such a facility several years ago and revisited the idea at the May 21 UBVCC meeting during a discussion about the skate park being developed for the northwest corner of Hooper Park.

Installation of the building also cut power to the west side of the park.

"There's a line that comes within about 40 feet of the building," Howsmon said. "It was cut off to the breaker box, so we don't have power down there."

Lack of electricity to the west side of the park affects RV hook ups, with no power to the pump that supplies water to the sites popular with RV's and campers. Potable water is available in the bathrooms and at a spigot on the side of the new building, but Muse, as Lincoln's Fire Chief, feels it's necessary to have water to those sites if they want to allow campfires there.

Likewise, the new building also lacks the storage area for park maintenance equipment that had been integral to the old building. Howsmon is currently storing the equipment at his property on Stemple Pass Road and has often noted the need for a storage facility at the park during Government Day and Community Council meetings.

One of Howsmon's major concerns, however, is testing the chlorination system, which he said must be done on a daily basis while the park is open.

"I have to test the chlorine to make sure it's not pumping too much in or not enough. There is a margin you have to be between," he said, adding it takes about 20 minutes.

Howsmon has had one volunteer step forward to learn how to do it, but he said more volunteers will be needed to help handle the task since the park doesn't currently have a campground host to handle it.

Howsmon said his term on the Park Board is up at the end of June. If he agrees to stay on, he said he's willing to do some lawn mowing and occasional maintenance, but doesn't plan to be committed to the park day in and day out."I just refuse to live down here all the time," he said.

The water purification system itself has been a point of debate among locals who grew up drinking the well water at Hooper Park - now dubbed "nonpotable" - with no ill effects, and the system led to the first delay in replacing the old restrooms. In November of 2015 the Lewis and Clark County Commission announced a grant and matching funds for replacing the building, but in early 2016 the Montana Department of Environmental Quality deemed the park a regulated public water source. Under federal and state guidelines, that required installation of a water purification system, which in turn required a restroom building designed to accommodate it.

In the two years that followed, the effort to see the new facility installed met with repeated delays. The original contract for the new building was approved in September 2016 but contractor UBC Precast of Blackfoot, Idaho, delayed delivery of the concrete building time and again, leading Lewis and Clark County to sue the company. In the interim, the original grant that was to fund the facility expired.

Last May the county approved funding for a new contract with Thompson Contracting of Libby for the new facility.

The county is currently in the process of determining how best to capitalize on assets seized from UBC Precast to recoup the $51,000 down payment they made to the company in 2016.