12/06/1994SWIMMING POOL COMMITTEE MEETING
December 6, 1994
The Swimming Pool Committee met in special session, Tuesday, December
6, 1994, at 4:00 P. M., City Council Chambers, City Hall, Paris,
Texas. Chairman Eric Clifford called the meeting to order with the
following members present: Charles Fulbright, Jean Campbell, Jim
Chadwick, Aaron Jenkins, and Millie Ingram McDonald.
Chairman Clifford announced that the meeting was called for the purpose
of receiving information survey from municipalities with swimming pools.
Chairman Clifford said that when Mayor Don Shelton appointed this
committee, he asked Dick Boots to do a survey specifically of Mt.
Pleasant, Mt. Vernon, Greenville, and any other like size community or
geographically located community to similar size of the City of Paris,
and this survey shows profit or loss, and of course, they all show a
loss, or you could look at that as cost of service, but Mt. Vernon's
cost is $3,200.00 a year, not counting the cost of the pool, up to
$35,000.00 a year at Desota, and Greenville is $25,000.00, Mt. Pleasant
is $5,600.00 a year cost, or loss on their pool.
Chairman Clifford said that there has been a proposal made to exchange
property out on the Loop for Spencer's Water Park on N. Main Street,
and his feels is a community does better with a smaller pool rather
than a larger pool, that he would much rather have a smaller pool that
is over utilized than a large pool that is under - utilized so that we
can not afford to operate it.
Ms. Campbell advised the Committee that Spencers pool is very old and
hard to maintain. The sides are cement and painting, and so with all
the suntan oils you have, there is as black rim around the edge which
means you have labor to get it off. The newer pools will be tile or
steel. Ms. Campbell said this pool is 25 meters by 25 yards, the
diving well is approximately 20 feet by 30 feet and 17 feet deep, there
is a permanent crack in the bottom of the pool that can not be fixed,
but you could crib it up and put a false bottom on it because it is 17
feet deep, and it has a 3, and a 1 meter board on it, you could take
out the 3 meter and cut your danger down. The pool house where the
filter is old, but it does not mean it can not be used, but there is a
lot of water to chlorinate. They did not always run the filter as much
as it should have been run, when you run a public pool we want it to be
well taken care of, and something that the City can be proud of. Ms.
Campbell said that she was not sure with the amount of money the City
would spend to operate it if it would be very cost efficient. Ms.
Campbell thought it might be necessary to have two pool may be start
with a small pool located in one place, and then if it is really
successful then build another one which would allow kids to go to the
pool on bicycles. Ms. Campbell advised that Mr. Spencer did not have
his pool guarded enough, and as a City, we would want more guards than
he had because of the liability aspect.
Mr. Boots advised that he had estimated the proper amount of guards and
staff would cost approximately $33,000.00 for 75 to 80 days of swimming
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season. The electric cost would run $5,700.00, water cost $4,000.00,
chemical $3,000.00, and insurance from $1,1200.00 to $1,500.00 for a
total operating cost of $51,000.00. Mr. Boots said the initial start
up the City would have to go in and do certain things such as repair to
the water slide, ground, the painting the pool, plumbing problems, and
he estimated the initial start up cost to be over $36,000.00 to get the
park ready to open.
Mr. Boots told the Committee that as far as revenue go Mr. Spencer
charged $6.50 a person which in his opinion the average person can not
afford this, and pointed out from the survey that most cities charges
$1.00 to $2.00 a day with an average of $1.25 a day. The average
attendance during the last season Spencer's was open averaged 175
people a day. Mr. Boots said that the City would make a small profit
from concessions approximately $2,500.00 to $3,000.00 which means the
revenues would be approximately $42,000.00 if we get that many people
in using the pool and slide. Mr. Boots said he figured $3.00 a day for
use of the pool and the slide a day, but that would the the maximum
revenue, showing a loss of $9,000.00, but if we charged $1.50 we are
talking about $29,000.00 loss in revenues, so we are talking about a
loss situation in the first year of operation, you are talking about
$35,000.00 to $37,000.00 start up cost, an average of a possible loss
of $20,000.00 to $25,000.00 to run the pool. Mr. Boots pointed out
that each city will tell you that you will never recoup the cost of the
pool, and what we would be doing is operating and giving a service to
the community at a low cost.
Mr. Boots told the Committee that the best layout of a pool is an "L"
shape pool with a diving area, with the other area being a six lanes 42
foot wide by 25 meters. Mr. Boots said there were so many options
available, you can have a recreational swimming pool from 3 to 5 foot
depth with a diving tank, or you can have a competitive pool and 3 to 3
and one -half feet is not enough now, you have to have a deeper depth
than that for competition. Mr. Boots said that he does not have prices
on new pools at this time, but he estimated the cost of a pool that he
has just mentions to be approximately a quarter of a million dollars
and that is without showers or lockers, that most place do not have
these because of additional maintenance cost.
Ms. Campbell suggest putting in outdoor showers in, which would not be
a large cost factor.
Chairman Clifford stated that his first goal would be to have a pool
that would be available to kids to learn to swim in, and price will be
a major issue. Chairman Clifford said the smallest size at the least
lost that we can manage.
Mr. Chadwick said his thoughts would be to identify what our needs are
in regard to a pool , if we are going first class, and if we meet the
basic needs of the community.
Mr. Fulbright asked if there has been any thought to summer passes like
75% of the total if you went everyday because normally if a person goes
50 day that is saying a lot, and if they pay 75% of the total value to
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be able to go every day, it would probably be more profitable. Mr.
Fulbright said something else we need to think about is when we get
into this, we shouldn't even expect to make a profit, if we save one
persons life, get them off the street, keep them out of trouble, it
will be well worth it.
Ms. Campbell pointed out that a teaching pool could be many things, but
if you want to teach Red Cross swimming lessons, you do need deep
water. Ms. Campbell said a teaching pool can be all shallow water, but
you can not teach your lifers, there is no where in this town to train
lifeguards, we have to take them to the Gordon's pool to train them.
After further discussion, Chairman Clifford said he would get with City
Manager Malone regarding funding sources and requested that he check in
to the Certificate of Obligation funds to see if that would be
available to allocate for a pool, and will report back to the Committee
at the next meeting.
Chairman Clifford requested that Ms. Campbell get with Tommy Haynes to
see what grant opportunities are available in the possibility of
securing a grant for the swimming pool.
Chairman Clifford also directed Mr. Boots to secure the cost for a new
pool something similar to Cedar Hill (priced in meters, "L" shaped
pool, 25 meters), and have that available at the next meeting.
Chairman Clifford announced that after the first of the year that
another meeting would be called, and requested that it be on a Tuesday
at 4:00 P. M.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned.
ERIC CLIFFORD, CHAIRMAN
ATTEST:
MATTIE CUNNINGHAM, CITY CLERK