The City of Cape Girardeau is the biggest city between St. Louis and Memphis, and its aquatics facilities serve a large population of both recreational and competitive swimmers. So, when voters approved a parks and recreation stormwater tax in 2018 that would fund the renovation of the Cape Aquatic Center, the parks and recreation department turned to Paddock Pool Equipment, and Capri Pools, to enhance the facility’s air and water quality.
“We always knew that Paddock had a great reputation, but of course, it all comes down to ‘Can you afford it?’ ‘Is it going to be a good fit for your facility?’ ” explains Penny Williams, City of Cape Girardeau’s recreation division manager. “We always want the best, but everyone has a budget they have to work within.”
The renovated Cape Aquatic Center, which reopened in May 2024, now features Paddock’s stainless steel gutter system and regenerative media filtration system.
“Our air quality was not premier,” says Williams of the original facility, built in 1980. “We had challenges with air quality and water quality,” which made the decision to install Paddock an easy one. “There was a little uncertainty at times. Whenever you’d walk in and you’d smell the air — there were some concerns. We certainly have alleviated those concerns with the Paddock system.”
According to Doug Gannon, City of Cape Girardeau’s parks and recreation director, the previous pool’s filtration system often could not keep up with the bather load. In the past, when the Cape Aquatic Center hosted large swim meets, the water would be cloudy at the end of the day.
Today, the “quality of the water speaks for itself,” according to Gannon, whose reviews of the Paddock equipment are equally sparkling, “as far as its quality, ease of use, features and all those types of things. So far, it has been a really great experience.”
Robert Shanahan, aquatics supervisor, adds the Paddock equipment has improved Cape Aquatic Center’s reputation as a host of competitive meets. “We’ve gotten a lot of compliments on how fast of a pool it is with the infinity gutters,” Shanahan says. “The water does not splash as much on the deck as some of the drains we’ve had in the past. It’s probably preserved some of the concrete from getting water damage, as well.”
When it came time for installation, “Everything went really smoothly,” Williams says. “Paddock was on site for the installation.”
“The Paddock guy came down and helped start up the filters that first day,” says Shanahan. “He did a really good job explaining it and walking me and all of our maintenance guys through the process of how to clean it and some issues that we might run into. He gave us his personal cell phone, so if we ever had any issues, we could give him a direct call instead of having to jump through three or four hoops in order to get somebody on the phone.”
That said, Paddock equipment is designed to be intuitive. Says Gannon, “It has a lot of good features and good technology that make it very user-friendly from an operational standpoint.”
Safety was also a priority for the team at Cape Girardeau when choosing a supplier for the Cape Aquatic Center renovation. “If the motor starts to get behind or chlorine gets out of balance, it will automatically shut the system down. It won’t let it get too high or too low,” says Gannon, who recalls needing to call out repair teams for their previous filtration system on multiple occasions. “It will notify us by phone if there’s a problem. That’s a relief to all of us.”
From ease of operation to safety considerations and beyond, the City of Cape Girardeau’s parks and recreation team couldn’t be happier with the renovation and the ongoing role played by Paddock. “We’re also proud of the fact that we bought a United States product,” says Williams. “We want to keep our business right here."