SCRANTON — Lackawanna County will keep its “leak-plagued” swimming pool at McDade Park closed this summer and has sued the contractor that repaired it two years ago, the county announced Monday.
A county lawsuit filed Thursday in Lackawanna County Court against D&M Construction Unlimited of Dalton claims the firm’s defective work on the pool breached the contract and seeks unspecified monetary damages.
D&M has not yet responded to the lawsuit in court. An attorney representing D&M, Robert O’Brien of the Cohen Seglias Pallas Greenhall & Furman law firm of Philadelphia, issued a statement to The Times-Tribune on Monday saying: “Last week, in accordance with our contract, we filed an action against Lackawanna County in the American Arbitration Association seeking our unpaid retainage and other monies due and owing. We fully stand by our work and do not comment on active litigation.”
Attorney Matthew Haar of the Saul Ewing law firm of Harrisburg represents the county in the lawsuit. It cites newly discovered leaks at the pool that — after a yearslong hiatus — reopened in 2023 following substantial renovations that year by D&M.
Kids enter the newly refurbished pool at McDade Park in Scranton on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023.
The county then reopened the pool in late June 2024 after a delay that season prompted by a prior leak repair.
But the pool could not be reopened this year because of leaks. Workers filling the pool found it leaked at a rate of several inches per hour and an engineering consultant recommended repair of all of the tile joints on the pool floor.
The pool at McDade Park in in Scranton on Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRPAHER)
Other county allegations in the lawsuit include:
• The lawsuit cites one count of breach of contract by D&M through “defective” work at the pool.
• A $2,637,000 contract awarded by the county to D&M on Feb. 15, 2023, called for construction of a new bathhouse and renovations to the pool to be completed by July 4, 2023. Both sides later agreed to extend the completion deadline to Aug. 11, 2023.
• When D&M completed the project and turned the pool over to the county for swimming use, it still leaked at the rate of the water level dropping by 12 inches a day.
• D&M undertook repairs in April 2024 that delayed the pool opening that year. After the 2024 season, an analysis determined leaking had not been resolved.
• This year, continuing leaks precluded use of the pool, and defective work also caused ponding and drainage issues at the front of the new bathhouse.
The lawsuit contends the contract allows the county to repair defective work at the expense of the contractor. The county currently is in the process of requesting new proposals from firms to repair the pool, but the cost won’t be known until the scope of the work is defined and the county receives competitive bids.
“This year, rather than attempt to fix the new leaks on a piecemeal basis, the county will seek bids from other contractors for comprehensive repairs,” county officials had said in a mid-June press release.
At that time, county officials also said the county would file a claim against a $300,000 maintenance bond posted in 2023 by D&M, and the county also won’t make the final $75,000 payment for the project.
Along with the lawsuit, the county also filed on Thursday a companion writ of summons against the issuer of the construction bond for the project, Old Republic Surety Co., of Brookfield, Wisconsin.
With the pool closed, lifeguards were reassigned from McDade Park to the three lakes at Covington, Aylesworth and Merli-Sarnoski parks, where swimming is permitted.
Meanwhile, the splash pad at McDade Park reopened this season.