Fee increase proposed for family pool passes

ThisWeek CW 03/29/2012

http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2012/03/27/fee-increase-proposed-for-family-pool-passes.html

Canal Winchester City Council is expected to vote on ordinances in April to increase the fees charged for pool passes and to extend a contract to a company to manage the municipal pool for three years.

“We have some administrative things to deal with still before we put passes on sale,” Public Works Director Matt Peoples said. “We partner with the recreation program so we’ll have pool passes for sale when they’re ready to do their swim lesson sign-ups. That’s typically in May.”

City council is expected to vote on increases to the pool pass rates at its April 2 meeting.

According to Peoples, if council approves the increases, individual pool passes would cost the same as in the past, $100 for residents and $115 for non-residents. However, family passes would be based on two adults and all dependent children; previously, only two children were included on the standard family pass.

Also, the new family swim pass rates would increase from $180 to $190 for residents and from $220 to $230 for non-residents, Peoples said.

Council is scheduled to vote April 16 on a the three-year contract with Columbus Pool Management.

“Last year was the first year we contracted out our maintenance and pool management to Columbus Pool Management,” Peoples said. “We wanted to have just a one-year contract with them to make sure it worked out well for us.

“Since we hadn’t done this before, we really did our homework on them and it paid off, so this time we’re going for a three-year contract.”

According to the contract, the city would pay Columbus Pool Management $115,000 for the 2012 season, $116,150 for 2013 and $117,310 for 2014.

“They do pretty much everything but mow the grass,” Peoples said. “If a big maintenance issue comes up beyond routine maintenance, they’ll let us know and we have the option of paying them to fix it or contracting with someone else.”

The pool is slated to open June 1 and remain open through Sept. 2. Pool hours are noon to 8 p.m., Monday through Sunday.