Custom Fitness of Cedar Rapids is now engaged in two lawsuits related to government oversight of its swimming pool. (Photo via Google Earth)
The state of Iowa is contesting a Cedar Rapids company’s legal efforts to reopen a swimming pool that allegedly poses a threat to public health.
Custom Fitness, which is owned by Jason Bailey and Whole Health Natural Foods LLC, is s uing the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing in Polk County District Court. Also named as a defendant is Linn County, which is currently suing Custom Fitness over the company’s alleged refusal to comply with orders that the pool remain closed to protect the public health.
The county filed that lawsuit in 2022, shortly after a case of legionellosis, also known as legionnaire’s disease, was identified in Linn County. The individual who was sickened had attended swim classes at Custom Fitness and had to be hospitalized, the county alleges.
Court records indicate that Custom Fitness, which currently has about 1,800 members, had its pool inspected by Linn County and the Iowa Department of Public Health in October 2020, after which the pool was declared out of compliance with state regulations.