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Months later, the final bill is in for the Needham salsa pool incident
A jar of salsa broke poolside in Needham over the summer, prompting a costly pool cleanup.
A broken jar of salsa that shuttered a popular Needham lap pool for several days this summer ultimately cost the town $12,657, according to a finalized breakdown of cleanup expenses.
The glass container broke poolside on July 14 at the Rosemary Recreation Complex, sending glass shards into the water. The pool needed to be drained, cleaned, and tested for bacteria before it reopened to the public four days later.
Glass is not allowed at the Rosemary pools, and Needham Park and Recreation Director Stacey Mulroy called the salsa incident “avoidable and unfortunate” in a July Facebook post.
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While town officials previously estimated the cleanup would cost Needham somewhere in the ballpark of $15,000 to $20,000, the actual cost came in lower, local news site the Needham Observer first reported.
The majority of the cleanup costs came out of the Needham Park and Recreation Department’s operating budget, though overtime for Department of Public Works employees was paid out of the DPW’s budget, Director of Communications and Community Engagement Amy Haelsen said in an email.
Overtime for DPW and Park and Recreation employees made up more than half the cleanup costs, coming in at a combined $7,397, per an itemized breakdown provided by the town. Needham also paid $3,000 for an on-call contractor and $1,300 for pool chemicals, plus another $615 to temporarily rent a pool for the town’s swim team, among other expenses.
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The person who brought the glass jar was not asked to pay cleanup costs, as the incident was deemed accidental, according to Haelsen.
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