Season-ending pool numbers in line with recent totals

Thursday, August 10, 2017

Despite perhaps the earliest end ever to the pool season, preliminary Greencastle Aquatic Center figures for 2017 were not much different from what was considered a successful 2016 swim season.

For the 2017 season ending on Saturday, Aug. 5 -- after a cool day canceled pool activities on Sunday’s scheduled final day -- season admission fees totaled $61,655, Park Director Rod Weinschenk told the Park Board this week.

That revenue coming in through the pool front desk compares favorably to a 2016 total of roughly $64,000, Weinschenk said.

While admission fees were down about $2,500 for the year in a 72-day season that lost four days to the weather and most of two more to “people events,” concession revenues were right around $20,000. That’s about $1,600 less than in 2016.

Weinschenk had some other interesting statistics to share with the board, including:

-- Daily pool admissions numbering in excess of 10,000 for the season.

-- 215 season passes sold.

-- 85 swimming lessons taught.

-- 22 private pool parties hosted.

-- 140 participants in the Aqua Fit class.

On the concessions side of the ledger, Weinschenk said root beer floats emerged as the pool’s most poplar refreshment item, while the stand also sold more than 1,000 cookies this summer.

The aquatic center was able to accept credit cards for the first time this year, which saw $12,700 of the $61,655 in admission costs being assigned to swimmers’ credit cards. Another $2,400 in concession items were charged to those cards, Weinschenk noted.

“Having (the ability to take) credit cards really benefited us,” the park director said. “There were a lot of concessions purchases that probably would not have been made if we hadn’t had them.”

Additionally, a number of season passes were purchased via credit card, he noted.

Weinschenk was asked how revenues stacked up with pool expenses for the year.

“We’re still working on what total pool expenses were,” he replied, adding that he hopes to have those figures for the next meeting in September.

With school starting Aug. 4 for Greencastle and South Putnam schools and Aug. 7 for the rest of Putnam County, the pool’s latest scheduled day was Sunday, Aug. 6. But even that fell by the wayside when the temperature never reached 70 degrees.

“The pool was closed all day Sunday and a pool party scheduled was Sunday evening was canceled, so everybody went home at about 2:45,” Weinschenk said.

Any attempt to extend the pool season -- in the manner of the old Memorial Day-to-Labor Day schedule -- was scuttled by a lack of available lifeguards.

“We only had two guards and one manager who could stay with us,” Weinschenk told the board, “so we couldn’t open.”

The park director noted that pool attendance typically declines with the start of the Putnam County Fair the last week of July and rarely if ever recovers before school starts since many residents are busy preparing for school or getting in their last vacation days before the school year begins.

The only way municipal pools will ever go back to that Memorial Day-to-Labor Day schedule, Weinschenk said, would be for schools to shift back to a post-Labor Day start.

Meanwhile, the admission-free Bob York Splash Park will remain open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. until the weather dictates otherwise (whenever consistent temperatures of at least 70 degrees stop).

In other matters, Weinschenk told the board he is investigating the cost of replacing 100 aquatic center lockers -- 50 in each changing room -- with new plastic varieties having locking mechanisms.

The project is estimated at $30,000 -- the coin-operated locking mechanisms alone are said to be $150 each -- to replace original 1993 equipment at the pool. A number of the old metal lockers can no longer be used due to missing keys and a lost master key, he said.

Others, especially those positioned in the lower sections of the banks of lockers are badly rusted.

“Metal lockers and chlorine do not go together well,” Weinschenk said, proposing that the new, plastic lockers be operated by a token purchased at the front desk for 50 cents or $1.

Going with 50 cents dictates a 16-year payback on the locker investment, Weinschenk suggested, while charging $1 would allow for an eight-year payback on the project.

The park director called the locker replacement “our one big project beyond (replacing) the bandshell.”

Board member Tim Trigg asked if any of the old lockers could be salvaged to put outside in the splash park area.

“Probably not,” Weinschenk said, adding that they were already rusting and that putting them outside would likely just hasten that process.

In other business, the Park Board:

-- Learned that the 10th and final payment has been made on the old Clearwaters Garden Center property that has been absorbed into Robe-Ann Park at Tennessee and Bloomington streets. The final payment of $6,119 closes the book on the loan received from the city’s Citizens Advisory Committee for Industrial Development.

-- Heard Weinschenk report that he will ask the City Council for “more people and more wages” when the 2018 budget process begins.

-- Discussed an expense of $82.25 to get rid of two televisions that were taken to Republic Services for disposal. The two TVs were dumped at Jaycee Park by someone trying to avoid the disposal fee.

Beva Miller chairs the Greencastle Board of Park Commissioners with Trigg, John Hennette and Cathy Merrell as members. The board’s next regularly scheduled meeting is set for 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 7 at City Hall.

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  • I'm also interested in the total expense vs revenue for the pool. Revenue was explained nicely and complete. What are the true and actual total of expenses with everything reported? These expenses would include chemicals, water, electricity, replacement parts for pool, Maintenance for pool, buildings, fences. The schools early starts are effecting not only our pool season but they hurt the Amusement Parks, State Fair and Zoo visits just to name a few.

    -- Posted by Trying hard on Fri, Aug 11, 2017, at 7:22 AM
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