And then there were … none.

As of last week, at least in terms of any talks that are being made public, there are no candidates to possibly take over the operation of Bothell’s Ruiz-Costie/Northshore Pool on Bothell Way Northeast.

The pool was closed Aug. 22 after a boiler broke down dropping the pool’s water temperature to below 80 degrees. And that broken boiler may be playing a part in why organizations who initially expressed an interest in the pool are now walking away.

Even before the broken boiler closed the pool’s doors, Seattle’s Northwest Centers announced it was pulling out of pool operations as of Aug. 31. Bothell officials began looking for potential new operators. Three organizations expressed interest: West Coast Aquatics, WAVE Aquatics and the Northshore YMCA.

Roughly two weeks ago, West Coast told the Reporter it simply could not afford to run the Bothell pool. Late last week and early this week, both WAVE Aquatics and the Northshore YMCA followed suit, saying the Northshore Pool just doesn’t fit into its plans, or more importantly, its budgets.

“We just weren’t able to take this project on right now,” said Luann Jackman, president of the Northshore YMCA.

Jackman said she had notified Bothell officials of the YMCA’s decision. She didn’t say if that decision was reached before or after the Northshore boiler decided to quit.

The comments of Russell Bennett, president of WAVE Aquatics, basically echoed Jackman’s comments. WAVE is a large area swim team.

“We were initially interested in operating the Bothell pool,” Bennett said. But he added that interest was tempered by a couple of factors.

Among other issues, he stated that even with a $100,000 a year subsidy from the cities of Bothell and Woodinville along with the Northshore School District, former operator Northwest Centers still was losing $50,000 a year on the pool. WAVE also recently took over the Juanita High Pool, saving it from the Lake Washington School District budget axe.

“In the end, we decided to focus on that pool, since that is where we run our meets and Saturday practice,” Bennett said. “Since we made that decision, I understand that the Bothell pool boiler had broke down … Fixing that could have cost a great deal of money and I believe we dodged a bullet there.”

West Coast also has walked away from the Northshore Pool for monetary reasons. Based in Mill Creek, the nonprofit only recently took on operation of the Carole Ann Wald Memorial Pool in St. Edward State Park.

What happens to the Bothell pool now seems more than a bit cloudy. The Northshore Pool is jointly owned by Bothell, Woodinville and the Northshore schools. Bothell Mayor Mark Lamb said the pool may be part of the “visioning process” the city recently launched with regards the adjacent W.A. Anderson school.

The city recently sent out to developers a request for proposals on what can be done to redevelop the historic school building. The building is part of the 18-acre land deal pending between Bothell and the Northshore schools. In the past, Lamb and other officials have indicated a desire to preserve the Anderson building, but it’s unclear if that preservation effort will include the pool.

“If we can find somebody to operate the pool, that is our intention,” Lamb said.

But he also talked about the creation of a regional aquatic center possibly located somewhere other than near the Anderson building.

Bennett said he other WAVE leaders toured the Bothell pool with city officials in August. He said that at point, Bothell officials told him that pool was scheduled for closure in 2011. A senior management analyst for Bothell, Kathie Oeser said the date was actually August 2010, but Oeser backed away from saying the city definitely will be closing the pool at that point.

If the deal goes through as planned, August of next year is when the city will officially take possession of the 18 acres of school-district property. Oeser said there are a lot of variables that will come into play at that point, obviously including whether or not any development plans for the property present themselves.

Oeser noted that at this point Bothell is one of only several partners in the pool. Besides the schools and Woodinville, she said that King County holds the underlying agreement for pool operations. A county official could not be reached in time for the Reporter’s deadline.