Water Aerobics Explanation

First, an apology to those who feel this explanation is coming rather late. Getting a pool ready for opening takes a great deal of time and energy. We kind of lost focus on this issue.

We have decided to suspend our Water Aerobics program for at least this summer season. This decision was initiated by two events. Allen Macklin's retirement and a general rethinking of all our programs and policies - something triggered by our wonderful new facility.

• The classes are composed of mostly nonmembers. We feel the time could be better spent serving the needs of our dues paying members. Our plan now is to open the pool for general swim an hour earlier on Friday's during the peak summer weeks. We will also be able to give pre-season school rental groups (sponsored by members) the full time in the water. For years we have had them get out from 12:00-1:00 to accommodate Water Aerobics - while still paying a fairly large number of guards.
  
  
• Allen was a rare instructor in that he had lifesaving certification. Even then we were increasingly uncomfortable with having the Water Aerobics class using the pool by itself early and late in the season. This is not the only program we've been adjusting. We have greatly restricted access to the pool area during "off-hours." We no longer allow members to use the clubhouse when we don't have guards present, for instance. The Board feels that the added liability risk without direct service to our members is probably not worth it. When we got our building permits, we avoided having a fence around the pool. To get this openess we gave assurances to the Health Department - our regulatory agency - that we would always have lifeguards present.

Again, we might have made these changes if Allen were still involved. We'll take this year to step back and see if there are any other options. I think a summer program might still be possible in the future, but I think the offseason program is unlikely to return.

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