Despite a couple of misspellings, the sign taped to the outside of the door to the Carole Ann Wald Memorial Pool in St. Edward State Park pretty much says it all.

The sign states the last full day of operation for the pool was Feb. 22. At least for now, the pool was shut down completely after a half-day of operation on Feb. 23.

“We’re still hopeful we can get this open as soon as possible,” said Don Hoch, Puget Sound regional director for the Washington Parks and Recreation Commission.

Hoch also added that as it hunts for a new operator, the commission must follow a formal procedure.

“We’re trying to complete the process correctly and openly … It takes a while,” he said.

For financial reasons, the pool’s former operator, Seattle’s Northwest Center, walked away after about five years of running the pool.

Hoch previously had announced the state had put out a request for information from potential new pool operators with a deadline set for Feb. 25. But in order to satisfy that formal process he referred to earlier, officials sent out a request for proposals — apparently, specific operational plans — from interested parties, this time with a due date of March 3.

With all that in mind, Hoch said he might have more solid information about the future of the pool by the end of the first week of this month.

In the meantime, Hoch said the state will undertake routine maintenance and some minor repairs of the Wald pool and the adjacent gymnasium. He said state officials do not want the building to fall into a state of disrepair, trying to avoid handing a new operator formidable start-up costs.

Hoch declined to say who, if anyone, had responded to the initial information requests. Still, at least two organizations have surfaced as possible successors to Northwest.

The nonprofit West Coast Aquatics already runs the Mill Creek Swim Club, a pool that is open to the public in that city. Officials from Wald pool neighbor Bastyr University also have said they are at least open to the possibility of running the pool.

The pool and the attached gymnasium have garnered plenty of support from the general public, with large groups of people showing up at Kenmore City Hall and at a state-sponsored public meeting at St. Edward Park, using both occasions to express their interest in keeping the Wald facility up and running. Pool supporter Chris Tracy said his worry is the parks commission will make any deal to run the pool so expensive potential operators will walk away.

“I don’t think they have quite recognized the pool is central to St. Edward Park,” Tracy added, asserting state officials weren’t very proactive in trying to keep the pool open.

For example, Tracy contends the parks commission never contacted the city of Kenmore, Evergreen Hospital or Bastyr to see if they might be willing to contribute additional dollars toward pool operations.

Those institutions each were supporting the pool with annual donations.

According to information provided by the state recently, the parks commission was supporting the Wald facility with about $55,000 a year, which went to the Northwest Center. The state also was chipping in about $85,000 a year for utility bills. Because of budget cuts, the parks commission was withdrawing the basic $55,000 a year in support and was calling for any pool operator to chip in a “substantial” portion of the utility bills. Northwest officials decided they just could not afford to pitch in the additional dollars.

As has been well-advertised, the Wald pool was the practice site for a Seattle synchronized swimming team, as well as the diving and swim teams from Kenmore’s Inglemoor High.

An Inglemoor swimming coach did not return a request for comment.