Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Parks and Recreation

TO:	Ernie Shaw, Parks and Recreation Director
FROM:	Jimmy Gibbs, Aquatics Manager
DATE:	February 24, 2012
RE:	2012 Outdoor Swimming Season

The availability of seasonal staff diminishes mid-August reducing our ability to adequately staff three aquatic facilities.  Expected levels of safe supervision decrease and features such as waterslides and diving boards are closed at each facility.  The impact on our customers is noticeable through complaints of not having features available when they arrive.

Fourteen lifeguards are required at each the indoor and outdoor facilities to fully open all areas of the pools.  Once school resumes mid-August and our staff leave, we typically open facilities with only half the needed lifeguards.  While some college student-workers are returning to Lawrence, we find many cannot or do not want to work immediately upon returning to school. 

As typically happens when classes begin with the school district, visits at the Outdoor Aquatic Center decrease significantly.  However, the number of visits increases at the Indoor Aquatic Center.  This is due in part to competitive teams moving indoors, school district swimming classes beginning and the unpredictability of late-season weather drives more swimmers indoors. 

In 2004 we reduced our operational hours at the outdoor aquatic center to better coincide with the USD school calendar.  We began offering public swimming on weekends only through Labor Day.  Each subsequent year through 2010 we struggled to secure adequate staff to safely keep the pool open and received complaints of closed features.  In 2011 we determined that due to low outdoor swimmer numbers and increased complaints, the outdoor pool would close for the season August 21^st –the first time to close before Labor Day.  We were able to shift remaining staff to the indoor pool and operate at full capacity.  Previously, we operated two facilities but did not offer any waterslides or diving features at either pool. 

Neighboring communities also struggle to keep outdoor facilities fully staffed and open through Labor Day.  Our surveys of surrounding cities show that when they operate multiple outdoor pools, many will shut down the smaller pools and attempt to keep at least one pool available through Labor Day.  However, many communities do not have the availability of an indoor pool that offers lap lanes, diving boards, waterslides and a zero-depth family pool as we do in Lawrence. 

By adjusting hours of operation and the traditional summer swimming season, the following recommendation details a solution that will have the least impact on our customers, minimize issues of safety and supervision, and maintain a high level of customer satisfaction. 

I recommend we operate the Outdoor Aquatic Center through August 19, 2012.  Beginning August 20 we consolidate all remaining staff and maintain full operations at the Indoor Aquatic Center and operate the Outdoor facility for adult lap swimming only Monday –Fridays until August 31^st   from 10am -1pm. The facility would not be available for other uses and only lap lanes would be open for these additional 10 days.