We've Got a Problem - Who is Going to Fix It?
March 31, 2021
Pools offer a refreshing place for kids and families to cool off and get great physical activity during the summer. The two major outdoor pools run by the City of Fond du Lac are at Taylor Park and the Fairgrounds Family Aquatic Center. I’m only going to talk about the fairgrounds pool in this post.
I’ve been alarmed over the past years as the Family Aquatic Center is closing early in August well before the hot weather is over. Last year, the fairgrounds pool never opened and it wasn’t because of Covid 19.
What is happening here?
This is the explanation from City Manager Joe Moore:
The lifeguard shortage has been and continues to be so significant that even without the pandemic as a consideration, we could not operate both city pools full time this coming summer. Ultimately, the lifeguard shortage appears extreme and perhaps permanent.
Because of this, although we have not made a final decision, I expect the Fairgrounds pool will be open for one month (July) this summer rather than two, and the Taylor Park pool will be open June and the little bit in August, except for lap swimming which will continue in July.
So we have a problem that seriously reduces the availability of fun summer physical activity for the children of our community and what has this City Council done?
They approved $240,000 in the 2021 Capital Improvement Budget to refurbish the floor of the fairgrounds pool. We are spending close to a quarter of a million dollars on a pool that we can’t even keep open. That pool cost us $79,000 last year and not one person used it.
It makes no sense to invest in a facility that we cannot open because of staffing problems. Typically when you have staffing problems you can raise the salary and or offer flexible scheduling. Another solution would be to look to a different labor pool. In this case, beyond high school and college students.
It is a shame that we are not providing the much needed aquatic recreational time for thousands of kids in our community. We need to solve the problem.
2 April 2021: A Clarifying Comment on this post
My post on the Aquatic Center was not meant as a criticism of the Rec. Dept. I know they are working hard to address the lifeguard shortage. My post was meant to emphasize that the City Council prefers to fund flashy new projects rather than maintain the good things we already have.
The other issue is the carelessness of this City Council to the future costs of these projects.
I have yet to see an estimate of what the increased ongoing costs of the projects in Lakeside Park will be to the City. I hoped this would be addressed in the Feasibility Study. It was not.
It is just common sense that adding all this new infrastructure to the park is going to mean ongoing increased costs. We need to always look to the long term health of our city’s finances and that we will encounter unseen problems. Who would have thought 10 years ago that there would be a lifeguard shortage? We need to give our dedicated professionals the resources and flexibility to take care of what we already have before we leap ahead adding more.
