CITY OF
PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT
TO: Mayor and City Commission
FROM: Richard D. Sala, City Manager
BY: Michael Sargis, Parks and
Recreation Director
DATE : March
27, 2007
SUBJECT: Aquatic
Division Operations
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In 2006, the Department began the
process of re-organizing the Aquatics Division operations. As part of this process, we studied customer
service levels, financial matters and the age and use of pool facilities. The first two issues were dealt with when the
Commission agreed to out-source the staffing and management of the
In 2006, staff reported to the Commission the potential need for major repairs at the Senior Center Pool. The report indicated that the pool’s main drain was leaking and the cost to repair the leak was approximately $11,000.00. At that time, staff had completed a quick fix to the drain for about $500.00 – this repair had a warranty of 1-year, and all the vendors that looked at the drain stated that at some point the major repair would need to be completed.
Keeping in mind the pool’s increasing repair costs every year due to aging infrastructure, the Commission at the annual retreat last year discussed the possibility of closing the pool.
In preparations to open the pool for the summer months, staff found more items that need to be repaired to operate the pool, which will cost approximately $2,500.00. These items are listed below:
- Sensors for Automated Chemical Feeder (County Health Department Code requires the pool to be feed chemicals thru an automated system and the sensors that read the chemical levels are inoperative and need to be replaced).
- Chemical Storage
Containers
In addition, as part of the opening procedures, the County Health Department recently inspected the pool and found items that need to be corrected/repaired to be in compliance with the County Heath Department Codes. The following is a brief listing of the repairs with a rough estimated repair cost of $5,500:
- Flow meter
needs to be replaced
- Alarm on the
chemical feeding system not working
- Vacuum line
needs to be replaced
- No Diving and
Depth Markers need to be relocated and sunk into the tile
- Repair Pool
Side Shower
It is my recommendation that at this time, due to a large amount of repairs needed, the facility should be closed and filled in, and the members of the Senior Center be given free access to the Jerry Resnick Aquatic Center during normal operating hours.
As a Parks and Recreation
professional, I realize the importance of maintaining and operating
recreational facilities, and closing one is the last thing that one would want
to do. However, the pool at the
Should the Commission wish to keep the facility open, the immediate cost to repair the pool prior to the pool opening in May would be approximately $8,000. Also, in near future, the City would have to spend another $11,000 for the main drain repair. Although there will be some costs associated with the closing of the pool, but most of the work can be done in-house over a period of time.
Closing of the pool will result in $5,000 to 7,500 savings per year. In addition, there will be some savings in in-kind services (reduction of staff time to maintain the pool) and operational costs such as electricity, water and liability.
RECOMMENDATION:
The City Administration
recommends Commission consideration and approval of the attached resolution
authorizing the City Manager to take all steps necessary to close the Senior
Center Pool and provide all Senior Center Members free access to the