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Four Crescent City Councilors on Monday approved a 10-year master plan for the Fred Endert Municipal Pool that included several suggestions for increasing revenue, such as adding a shallow-water pool.

The pool currently costs the city more than $700,000 in expenses, which include several one-time projects and ongoing repairs, said City Finance Director Linda Leaver. The pool brings in between $200,000 and $250,000 in revenue, she said.

 

In addition to approving the master plan, the culmination of a year-long $30,000 project with St. Louis-based aquatics consultant Counsilman-Hunsaker, the Crescent City Council appointed Mayor Blake Inscore and Councilor Jason Greenough to a committee to bring the items in the master plan to fruition. The city’s new recreation director and events coordinator, Holly Wendt, and an aquatic supervisor would also sit on the committee, said City Manager Eric Wier.

Councilor Heidi Kime was absent.

The City Council approved the contract with Counsilman Hunsaker last year, Leaver said. A $10,000 Building Healthy Communities grant paid for a public engagement campaign that included interviewing swimming pool patrons, gathering input via an online survey and holding three public meetings.

The consultant also met with several stakeholder groups, Leaver said.

Public comment included a desire for new programming as well as how lap lane swimming works at the swimming pool, Leaver said. Swim lessons also came up.

“A lot of people talked about swim lessons and how important they are to the community and how we need to make sure that everyone has access to those,” she said. “People also talked about they want to see the city engaging in partnerships as much as possible with other agencies and groups in the community to make sure that we’re utilizing the pool to the fullest extent possible and also keeping it as affordable as we can.”

Though the master plan was approved Monday, Leaver said the city has already responded to a handful public requests regarding the pool. This includes allowing people to view the pool temperature on the city’s website in real time and fixing maintenance concerns the public brought up when the facility was recently closed for leak repairs, she said.

The master plan’s short-term recommendations call for offering lap swim all day, introducing Sunday operating hours on a trial basis and tracking the number of people participating in recreational swim sessions. Counsilman-Hunsaker also call for establishing a marketing budget of 10-20 cents per person for brochures, posters and advertising. According to the masterplan, adding an extra 10 to 20 cents per user would equal $4,400 to $8,800 based on the pool’s 2019-2020 budget.

Recommended changes between six-months to a year call for incrementally increasing swimming lesson prices to keep up with inflation and future minimum wage increases. The master plan also suggested the city partner with an agency to offer scholarships for swim lessons.

Counsilman-Hunsaker also noted that the city’s current 50-visit punch card competes with its annual pass sales and suggested phasing them out.

Under the new master plan, potential long-term changes call for adding a shallow-water pool, a potential $2.1 million expense. Counsilman-Hunsaker noted that since there’s only one swimming pool, the city can’t provide variable water temperatures needed for competitive, recreational, instructional and fitness users.

“The existing swimming pool is kept at 84 degrees, which is the ‘middle-ground’ temperature for all these user groups,” the consultant stated. “(A shallow-water programming pool) would allow the city to tailor and expand its aquatic program offerings to the different user groups.”

The swimming pool master plan discussion segued into the Council’s decision to hire Wendt as the city’s new director of recreation and events coordinator. The recreation director will plan, direct, supervise and coordinate recreational activities, city parks and facilities, according to the staff report. She will also manage the swimming pool, the Crescent City Cultural Center and the city-owned Shoreline RV Park and coordinate and facilitate special events.

Wendt’s starting salary will be $64,036, according to the staff report.

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Other items on the agenda included amending a contract with Freshwater Environmental to test soil and groundwater for petroleum contamination following the removal of an underground storage tank in 2006 at the former Archie’s Chevron site at 586 H Street.

According to Wier, the projected costs for soil and groundwater testing are between $30,000 and $40,000. The project will be reimbursed through $33,000 from the state Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund, he said, though the city will have to pay a $5,000 deductible.

Testing will start this month, Wier said.

For more information about the swimming pool, including water temperature, visit www.crescentcity.org.