The following letter was submitted by the Crescent Point Leisure Complex Board and the Town of Carlyle in regards to this season’s status on the pool.
Hello everyone,
It has been a grueling few weeks, to say the least, in regards to the decision we have come to.
It is with deep sadness that we are announcing that we will not be opening for the 2020 season. Several factors came into play with this decision, and we do not exaggerate when we say that it was many sleepless nights and many days of continuous discussions leading up to this decision. However, after meeting with the town council and the majority vote from both the town and pool board, our conclusive decision for our pool year, is to remain closed.
To better understand the reasons we are not opening, please see below:
1. Structural issues- Our pool is 25 years old and over time, the structure surrounding the pool within the crawl space has deteriorated. This year, as annual inspections were made to the crawl space, we found multiple sections to the pool’s structural surround has completely corroded. We are currently in the process of working with pool maintenance companies to begin the process of re-doing the pool’s surround. This will be a major expense and is something that we have to plan, for the future of our pool.
2. Budget/Finances- Due to staffing and COVID restrictions, we were planning to not run lessons this year. Without lessons and other cutbacks from our regular season (ex. season passes, number of patrons swimming, pool schedule, season duration, etc.), we have a projected deficit of close to $35, 000. Even though this may not seem extreme to some, it will set our finances back a drastic amount for years to come; especially with our major fixes in the near future.
3. Staffing- In the past, we have run our pool with an average of 10-12 staff. Because of the uncertainty of the pool plans in the last few months and our guards finding other jobs, we were left with very few full time guards, and some working part time. Therefore, we were limited to both full time and part-time staff. On top of the lower numbers, we also were limited with proper certification. We need we need a high number of guards with a National Lifeguard qualification to safely run our facility and this year, we were very low in these qualifications. As we have shown in the past, proper guarding and certification is very important to our pool and community.
4. Regulations and guidelines- Based on the Lifesaving Societies guidelines for physical distancing and in correspondence with our pool size, our daily limit of patrons would have been about fifty. To maintain the regulations and guidelines that were presented from the government, we would also have had to hire additional staff to help maintain the regulations for our facility. Again, making our deficit for the year greater.
As you can tell, it was a difficult decision to face all of these factors. However, as mentioned, with both the town’s and board’s majority vote, our decision has been made. Within the near future, we will form a plan to address the structural issues and fix and update our facility’s needs, preparing our pool as best we can for next year and as many years to come. We hope that the public understands our decision and can look into the future like we have tried to. As all of us as board members have kids who use the pool, we too are deeply saddened by this decision. However, we feel we are looking out for the pool’s future and longevity of the pool.
We thank you for your patience throughout these uncertain times.
Sincerely,
Crescent Point Leisure Complex Pool Board
& Carlyle Town Council
