Austin Parks & Rec Officials Schedule Ribbon-Cutting For Renovated Sheffield Pool

NORTH AUSTIN, TX -- Austin Parks and Recreation officials have scheduled a ribbon cutting for the newly renovated Beverly S. Sheffield Northwest Municipal Pool this coming Saturday.

The June 25 ceremony marks the successful renovations to the pool, made to the tune of $350,000, city officials said.

"This project was completed with $350k in funding provided in the FY2015-2016 budget through District 7 Council Member Leslie Pool," city officials said. "Council Member Pool provided momentum for this appropriation as part of Council ‘Block Funding,’ with the primary scope of the project to address existing health and safety concerns, improve the visitor experience and pedestrian environment around the pool and increase the operating efficiency."

Pool renovations were coordinated and supervised by the Parks and Recreation Department, with construction work performed by a combination of Parks and Recreation Department in-house facilities and operations staff, and specialized work performed by outside contractors under service agreement, city officials detailed.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the renovations' completion is scheduled at the pool located at 7000 Ardath St., at noon this coming Saturday, June 25.

The Sheffield pool is named after a former civic leader who had a 40-year career in the city's Parks and Recreation Department, beginning in 1934. According to information by the Austin Public Library, Sheffield began his stint in 1934 as a playground/activity leader and lifeguard -- culminating in a 30-year directorship of the department.

"An enthusiastic and genial man, Sheffield was also active in civic affairs and was named Austin's 1978 'Most Worthy Citizen,' among many other awards," the library citation reads. "But it was after he had 'retired' the second time -- first from the city and then as the first director of the Austin Community Foundation -- that he really revved up to his final role as beloved cheerleader to 'Save Barton Creek.' "

Among his many notable accomplishments, it was Sheffield's effort to preserve Barton Springs with which he's arguably most associated, once saying: "It belongs to the people and it should not be destroyed under any circumstance."