Crown Communities Awards
Dec. 23, 2013 Leslie Dunn | American City and County
Post Earthquake Reconstruction
Wells, Nev.
In 2008, the small town of Wells, Nev., was shaken to its core by 6.0 earthquake, resulting in
damage to many to key city buildings. Wells High School, City Hall, Public Works and the
town swimming pool were left cracked and fragmented. The community banded together to
rebuild, and many organizations such as the Nevada Rural Development Council and
Nevada Small Business Development Center offered their services. One of the city’s major
priorities was to rebuild the community swimming pool, a gathering area for residents that
had been devastated by the earthquake, as an indoor facility that could be used year round.
“Wells is a small community, so youth as well as adults have very limited opportunities for
recreation,” says Wells City Manger Jolene Supp. “The pool provides indoor, organized
recreation for kids and adults that might not be able to afford to go to ski resorts. It’s an
affordable way to provide indoor activity and is important for health and wellness.”
At first, city officials questioned how to fund the million-dollar project when rebuilding the
city’s essential services had taken such a financial toll. With support from a Community
Development Block Grant, HUD, Senator Dean Heller, fundraising, insurance proceeds and
volunteerism, the 40 by 75-foot pool was completed in five years and opened in the summer
of 2013. It features new showers, lockers and organized activities, and it also provides jobs
to teenage lifeguards. The pool is now a destination for northeastern Nevada, with swimmers
coming from neighboring cities up to 60 miles away.
“We didn’t realize until after we had the pool that we had kids going through their entire high
school career without ever being in a pool, and some of them didn’t know how to swim,”
Supp says. “Now the school gym classes are coming to our pool, and two of our lifeguards
last year went to college and immediately got jobs because they had Red Cross
certification.”
The pool, in addition to the city’s reconstruction of the public works facility and city hall,
represents the strength of a small community that has banded together to recover in the
wake of disaster. As remodels and repairs from the earthquake’s destruction continue,
business is picking up to offset the initial financial burden.
“While the earthquake is now a historical part of Wells, we are looking to the future more so
than the past,” Supp says. “We can recover and progress.”
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