[0:00] Good evening, everyone. Welcome to our town council workshop. Today is February 15, 2023.

[0:18] If you could please take roll. Council Member Ramirez.

[0:22] Here. Council Member Lord.

[0:24] Here. Council Member Duncan.

[0:26] Here. Vice Mayor Callaghan.

[0:28] Here. Mayor Mirabat.

[0:29] Present.

[0:30] We have a quorum.

[0:31] If you could please rise with me and join me for pleasant allegiance.

[0:38] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for

[0:43] which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

[0:53] Good evening, everyone. Welcome to our workshop. We'll get to talk a little bit about our

[0:57] little pool a little bit. First, I'd just like to welcome our new communications manager.

[1:01] Welcome. Just so you know, you don't have to wear a tie to our meetings. We're very casual,

[1:05] okay? So you can relax. All right. With that, I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to

[1:11] Ralph, sir.

[1:12] Thank you, Mr. Council. And the purpose of this workshop is just to provide some guidance

[1:18] to town staff. And I just want to do a little brief history. As you recall, one

[1:23] of the items that early on that we did with the American Rescue Plan funds, we commissioned

[1:29] STANTEC to do a full assessment of our qualifiers that we call the pool. Since that time, they've

[1:37] actually gone to our Parks and Recreation Committee, provided a detailed platform presentation.

[1:42] And several months ago at a council meeting, provided a report to the council. So that's

[1:48] where we're at today. And then I also like to go ahead and introduce we have

[1:52] Etienne Bergeron, our Parks and Recreation Director. We have Michelle Horne, our aquatic

[1:57] facility manager. And then we also have Sean Campell from STANTEC and Terry Glunt, as

[2:03] I call the pool guy. That has spent several days and weeks over in our pool. It was

[2:09] the author of the report that we have here tonight, Mayor and members of the council.

[2:13] Tonight, what we're really seeking is just some a little bit of guidance where

[2:16] the size of the pool, we know that there's a Parks and Recreation Commission advisory.

[2:21] And also the location of the pool. So with that, Mayor, I'll just open it up for any questions.

[2:26] Do you have any further questions from the council?

[2:32] If needed, we could do a presentation. We've done it before with the council. I mean, it's

[2:37] I really don't think we need to. Yeah, you're right. I mean, all right, bottom line,

[2:41] pool's old, not worth fixing. It needs to be replaced. Okay. Many disagree with that.

[2:48] So with that, I'll open it up. I'd like to, I guess, recognize the Vice Mayor. He's been

[2:54] working with the town advisory committee. So if you don't mind starting with you, you

[3:02] have the most knowledge I think of this and your thoughts and ideas.

[3:06] Sure. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Been working on this project for a long time. This even

[3:12] goes back before the assessment of the pool when we commissioned a architectural firm to

[3:18] evaluate the possibility of building a new aquatic center, right? Because we knew even

[3:24] back then that the pool was on its last leg. And through that whole process of public

[3:30] meetings and park committee involvement, that process, I think the price tag on that was

[3:36] about $15 million and it was just not feasible for us to move forward.

[3:44] At that time, we didn't have the 16 acres, right? So there was always a question of where

[3:48] were we going to put a new aquatic center, right? But lo and behold with the acquisition

[3:55] of the 16 acres, this opened up a whole brand new possibility. So we approached,

[4:02] we revisited the idea, right? Now that we have more flexibility in a location, we're

[4:08] able to get Stantec to evaluate the pool for us, right? To give us a strong analysis

[4:14] of where we stood. We always knew that the pool was in dire need. But obviously we

[4:22] want to thank Stantec for their very detailed report on the pool that they've

[4:27] shared with all of us. And basically, there were a couple of options that were

[4:35] presented to the Parks and Recreational Advisory Committee based on the report.

[4:41] One, we had the opportunity to repair the current pool. It would have taken

[4:49] extensive repairs and cost almost as much money as a new pool would. And one of

[4:56] the questions that were asked of the firm was what is the guarantee that those repairs

[5:04] and modifications would last for a period of time? And of course, there is no guarantee

[5:11] just because of the basic foundation of the existing pool. So based on that

[5:18] information, the Parks and Recreational Advisory Committee made the determination

[5:24] that it would probably be in the best interest of the community and financially

[5:29] that we move forward with constructing a new pool. So the question then is where,

[5:36] right? We could construct a new pool in the existing Coloritch Park, right?

[5:46] But what are the benefits there? What are the drawbacks? One, you have to shut

[5:52] the pool down for a period of two years or whatever during the construction phase,

[5:57] right? So the community would be without a pool. The second part is that the

[6:04] price, the pricing, which was a ballpark preliminary pricing for a pool that we

[6:10] chose that the Parks and Recreational Advisory Committee chose that they

[6:14] thought would be the best for the community was about $1.8 million

[6:21] a slightly more. But that didn't include the construction of ancillary buildings,

[6:27] right? So if we demoed the existing pool, put a new pool there, we would still

[6:32] have to spend additional funding $800 to a million for locker rooms, bathrooms,

[6:39] offices, equipment rooms, right? So the initial price of the pool looks

[6:48] okay until then you take into consideration that there's about another

[6:53] million dollars worth of cost that would be associated with rebuilding the pool

[6:58] in its current location. After analyzing that, we looked at the 16-acre property.

[7:05] What are the benefits of having the pool at the 16-acre property? One,

[7:10] we're building our municipal building there. There's going to possibly be a

[7:16] community center there. We're building from the ground up, so we're not rebuilding

[7:22] in the same area. Two or three, the funding for the, it generated through

[7:32] ARPA funds, which means that we don't have to touch the bond money to build

[7:37] the pool. So the pool in itself that cost that $1.8 to $2 million through

[7:44] ARPA money, but now we can share the ancillary building from the community

[7:51] center or the municipal center, right? So you have, we're already going to be

[7:56] building bathrooms. If we have a community center that has a recreational element

[8:01] to it, you're already going to be building bathrooms. You're already going to

[8:05] be building locker rooms. You're already going to be building a concession.

[8:08] You're already going to be adding all of these ancillary support facilities,

[8:12] right, that we can piggyback off the pool. The other benefit is that we can keep

[8:19] the current pool open during this construction process. So the community

[8:25] basically doesn't lose anything while we go through this process if the

[8:29] decision was made to add the pool to the 16-acres. When the Parks and

[8:36] Recreational Advisory Committee looked at all of this information,

[8:41] looked at the pros and the cons from all three options, rebuilding the existing

[8:48] pool, building a new pool in the current location, or building a new pool in

[8:54] the 16-acres, the decision that the Parks and Recreational Advisory

[8:59] Committee came out with is that it would be probably in the best interest

[9:03] financially and in the interest of the community to build it in the 16-acres.

[9:08] We also looked at the type of pool, and what we determined that the best pool

[9:14] for us would be a 25 by 25, which is a 25-yard or a short course pool, right,

[9:22] but the depth of the pool would be deep enough to be able to accommodate

[9:27] other programming, not only swimming, but water polo, SCUBA certification,

[9:35] lifeguard certification, and obviously swim lessons and all those types of

[9:39] things. But by building this pool to regulation standards, which our

[9:45] current pool is not regulation. So we can't hold sanctioned meets there.

[9:51] We can't hold any sanctioned high school meets. We can't hold any

[9:55] sanctioned club meets because it doesn't meet that criteria.

[9:59] By building a regulation pool, 25 by 25 eight lanes, we have the ability

[10:07] to be able to use that facility to host swim meets, host high school meets,

[10:14] host district regional meets, right? The other thing, too, is the parking,

[10:21] right? If we're going to be able to have those types of events at this pool,

[10:27] we're going to have the parking available in the 16 acres, right?

[10:31] If we rebuild in the existing space, we are still going to be challenged

[10:36] by the parking that we have in that park. And if we have a swim meet

[10:42] on a Saturday that you have the same on the same Saturday as the

[10:46] soccer clubs and, you know, it just it becomes chaos and everybody's

[10:51] parking in everybody's yard. So based on all of that, that's the

[10:55] recommendation that came out of the Parks Committee after we analyzed

[10:59] all of the options and, you know, what they thought was in the best

[11:04] interest, both financially and in the best interest of the community.

[11:09] So just...

[11:13] Yes, DJ, you recognized?

[11:15] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor.

[11:17] That's a wonderful position.

[11:22] Two questions that I would have, and I'm not opposed at all to the

[11:27] consideration of having a pool, a regulation size pool included in, you

[11:32] know, what the final 16 acres plan would be. Two questions, mainly

[11:36] one question and then a comment. Have we looked into or do we know

[11:40] what the cost would be to remove or to fill in the current pool

[11:45] at the time in which we would move to the new location?

[11:49] That cost has not been considered at this time.

[11:52] Okay. And then my only other comment would be, I think, you know, if we are

[11:55] looking at whether it is utilizing the 16 acres for this purpose and

[12:00] kind of starting from the ground up and or repurposing in the future,

[12:04] you know, where the current pool is that would no longer be there.

[12:07] I think the town, it would behoove us to consider and think about

[12:10] future uses potentially such as like a splash and play area for town

[12:15] and children residents, something that we don't have or, you know, items of

[12:19] that nature that are water items, water activities that aren't

[12:23] necessarily swimming that we don't have currently within our town that

[12:27] I think would benefit our town residents. So that's my two

[12:31] cents on that.

[12:33] Yeah, I appreciate that. The Parks and Recreational Advisory

[12:38] Committee has already started looking into options for that space.

[12:42] Nothing has been finalized or is still in the very infancy of the idea

[12:48] process, but some ideas that have been tossed around.

[12:51] And I do like the idea of a splash and play.

[12:54] I do like that idea, but some ideas that have been tossed around

[12:57] now, of course, or pickleball courts. This seems to be the huge craze

[13:00] today.

[13:02] But yes, we would repurpose that area, you know, to enhance the town,

[13:08] you know, whether it be pickleball courts, splash and play, additional

[13:11] parking in the park, you know, those types of options.

[13:14] Awesome. I ultimately, so like I said, if we end up ultimately choosing as a

[13:18] council to go forward with with a regulation size pool at the

[13:21] 68ers, and we're tapping into ARPA funding for said pool as opposed to

[13:25] bond money, then I think we might want to also consider having

[13:28] additional amenities that are water based for children that are not

[13:32] swimming in addition to the pool.

[13:35] That's it. Thank you.

[13:38] Thank you.

[13:41] All right. You know, I agree with the recommendation of moving the pool

[13:46] over there.

[13:48] And I just want to talk about a couple of things.

[13:51] The councilman Duncan's point of perhaps maybe including a splash and play

[13:55] area in that pool.

[13:58] The ARPA money that we have, we have to kind of really look at that as a

[14:02] whole, where we're going to spend it at.

[14:06] And not to mention that, you know, where is a splash and play more conducive

[14:10] to encourage activity, you know, is it in the center of our new

[14:15] green space or the tucked away by a pool someplace.

[14:19] You know, those are things that we can always incorporate a splash

[14:23] and play in our 16 acre park that's going to be going in as well.

[14:28] The main question I had is, you know, I love the idea that we can

[14:31] use ARPA money instead of bond money.

[14:34] I mean, that's just like using your uncle's credit card.

[14:37] The only question is, and do we take advantage of it?

[14:40] If your uncle gives you a credit card, you obviously want to take advantage of

[14:43] the fullest of your ability, especially because there are rumblings

[14:46] now that some of the senators are going to bring in forward.

[14:49] Hey, if you haven't spent this ARPA money yet, too late,

[14:52] you're not going to be able to use it.

[14:54] So we have to make sure we spend it in a timely manner as well.

[14:57] At least that's just my understanding.

[14:59] The recommend...

[15:00] The recommendation on the size of the pool was at 25 yards or meters by 25. Could you give

[15:06] me a little bit more on why you believe that's better than having a full competition pool?

[15:12] Well, so there are two types of sanctioned swimming pools, right? You have a long course

[15:20] and a short course. Back in the day, they used to be seasons, right? When I used to

[15:25] swim competitive, there used to be seasons. There would be a long course and a short course.

[15:30] The 25-yard, so it's a 25-yard pool, which is the short course pool, versus a 50-meter

[15:36] pool, which is a long course pool, which is they call an Olympic-sized pool, right? And

[15:43] of course, that's, you know, that's the type of events that are held in the Olympics

[15:46] is on a long course pool. You know, what are the benefits? I mean, there's really

[15:53] not a whole lot of benefits to spending, and I get the arc of money, right? But there's

[15:59] not a whole lot of benefits that are different between a long course and a short course pool,

[16:05] right? Because in a short, with all of, and we had this discussion in very, very

[16:13] heavily in the Parks and Recreational Advisory Committee meeting, you know, we can accommodate

[16:20] all of the programming that we need to in a short course pool, right? Competitive swimming,

[16:27] water polo, like I mentioned, you know, the SCUBA certification, the Lifeguard certification,

[16:31] which was very important to our aquatics coordinator, right? Swim lessons, you know, with the

[16:37] zero entrance, the adult, all of the adult programming, right? All of that can be

[16:41] accommodated within a short course pool. If we go to a long course pool, I don't

[16:47] believe that we gain any additional benefits through, one, the extra cost in understanding

[16:57] the ARPA. But the main, my main issue there is that now I'm taking up twice as much space

[17:04] in our community center, right? That we're not going to gain that much more programming,

[17:13] right? So it's not like, in a short course pool, you can do 15 things, and if you have

[17:21] a long course pool, you can do 30 things. No. We can do everything that we need to in

[17:27] a short course pool, and a long course pool is not going to gain us any additional programming,

[17:31] right? The only thing that it would gain is in swimming. That's really the end of

[17:38] it. But I've always taken the position, and I took this position in the parks meeting,

[17:45] is that a short course pool is a certain size, right? If you double that size, I just don't

[17:51] want our 16 acres in our community center to be about a pool, because a long course

[17:57] pool takes up a lot of space, a lot of space, you know, whereas a short course pool takes

[18:04] up half the space and still accommodates. Short course is 25 meters, long is 50.

[18:10] Short course is 25 yards. Okay, yards. Long course is 50 meters.

[18:16] Okay. So it's about double. It's about double, correct.

[18:21] Rafa, I mean, I don't know what the involvement of our, I mean, we have Michelle here. She was our,

[18:26] I guess, our pool manager and kind of knows swimming very well as well.

[18:30] Was, did she give her input for the advisory committee?

[18:33] She did, yes. She spent two meetings that I know of, and I really appreciate your involvement,

[18:40] because she was very much involved in the process. It's not like she just came

[18:47] and made a presentation. She did come and make a presentation, but she spent at least two

[18:52] full meetings with us. And as the committee was going through this process, she was offering

[18:59] her ideas and making sure that as we were considering what the best option

[19:05] were, that we were accommodating all of the things that she needed in terms of her total

[19:10] programming. One thing I'm not clear on. So you can have like 16 different events there.

[19:16] You can have water polo, regular swimming, companies like that. What about simultaneously?

[19:22] Does having a larger pool give you the ability to have the utilization without

[19:27] overlap? Is that an issue right now? Michelle, do you want to come up for a minute?

[19:31] I was going to say Mayor and Members of the Council, we have Michelle and also Terry,

[19:35] if you come up too. Terry, our consultant as well, because obviously we have wonderful

[19:41] aquatic managers, Michelle, who's there, boots on the ground every day. And then we also have

[19:45] the advantage of Terry, that this is what he does strictly for Stantic throughout the

[19:50] entire state. So whatever answers you get. I don't want to put you on the spot, but

[19:55] again, we have our Uncle's credit card. Okay, I keep saying it that way. But so let's get the

[20:00] best thing possible. So if you just give me a share of your opinion with the council, please.

[20:07] Just touch it button there. There we go. So as of right now, we do have a lot of teams that

[20:13] want to use the pool. And they currently either cannot, because we don't have the time for

[20:17] them, the space for them. So yes, a 50 meter pool would allow us to host multiple teams or

[20:23] even, for example, our Cutler Bay water polo team. They right now cannot have the boys

[20:29] and the girls playing at the same time, because there's just not space for them.

[20:32] So they have to rotate maybe the boys Monday, Wednesday, Friday, the girls Tuesday, Thursday,

[20:37] things like that. So we could use the space. We could host a lot more teams. We just

[20:42] currently only have two recreational and one currently one high school because

[20:50] coral reef does not currently want to swim at our pool. They want to swim at like a pool that

[20:54] is sanctioned for water polo. Since ours is not, they don't feel it makes sense to even practice at

[21:00] ours. Okay, Kerry, you want to give your input as well? Of course. And yeah, Michelle and I did

[21:06] a lot of work together when we were doing the original assessment. So she was heavily involved.

[21:12] I'm going to just point out that the 25 meter by 25 yard pool

[21:17] does allow you in the yard direction, sanctioned for Florida High School Athletic Association

[21:25] events in the metric is sanctioned by US swimming as well as FINA and Olympics. So

[21:32] they do tend to use different nomenclature, so to speak. But the one advantage of a 50 meter

[21:40] pool by a 25 yard will allow you to swim 10 lanes on one side of the 50 meters and now

[21:48] 10 lanes on the other side of the 50 meters. So you now have 20 lane capability in the 25 yard

[21:55] direction, which would allow you to streamline your events. You could have 10 lanes for boys

[22:01] events, 10 lanes for girls events going on simultaneously. It really streamlines it or

[22:08] you can have tournaments with multiple schools coming in and being able to take advantage of all

[22:13] of those. So that's the one advantage. Obviously the flip side of that is bigger pool, more equipment,

[22:20] larger restrooms, things like that. But the 25 meter does allow you to do certain activities on

[22:28] half the pool and then do different activities on the other, as well as larger events and more

[22:34] streamlined efficient meets. Are there, how many other Olympic sized pools are there in the South

[22:40] State area? Oh, there's lots. And seriously, there are a lot. Most of the colleges and universities

[22:50] are all at 50 meter. Almost all of them, some have multiple pools at 50 meters.

[22:58] I'm going to just start with Broward because I know them like the back of my

[23:02] update County South State. Actually, I'm looking at only South State. Yeah. Southridge

[23:10] have a 50 meter. They only 25 by 25. No, Southridge, Southridge Park. They didn't know.

[23:15] Oh, no, they don't even. They don't have a pool yet. No, they didn't build it.

[23:20] Well, no reason not have a pool. Southdade has a pool, but it is Miami.

[23:24] Miami Dade College has a long course pool. The University of Miami has a long course pool.

[23:30] I believe Gulliver Academy has a long. They used to have a short course pool,

[23:34] but I believe they upgraded to a long course pool. And I believe

[23:40] Branson Everglades has a long course pool. I'm not sure about Palmer.

[23:47] Yeah, I don't either. I know that the Hall of Fame does in Fort Lauderdale,

[23:52] Coral Springs Aquatic does, Deerfield and Pompano both do.

[23:57] Back in the day when I used to swim competitive, we had a lot more long course pools,

[24:02] but those have all gone away now. Tammy Ammi is short course.

[24:09] Okay. Yes. And again, my concern is we have, we only have one chance to build a pool.

[24:15] The last one we have 60 some years old. So I want to make sure we're going to do something

[24:19] that's going to benefit the community. And quite honestly, Ralph, as I'm sitting here

[24:23] thinking about this, is there a way that we could perhaps leverage something,

[24:27] working with our partners in the county to see if they would be able to do,

[24:33] perhaps kick in on this. I don't know. It is kind of far reaching.

[24:37] We have this ARPA money, roughly about, you know, $10 million that we're not

[24:40] spending on stormwater projects. And from your perspective, what would you say was the best use?

[24:47] Would it be, I mean, I guess the 25 yard pools, about 5 million and 50 would be about

[24:54] 7 to 8 million, is that correct? Yeah.

[24:56] Okay. So it's not quite double, but it is a couple million more.

[24:59] Right. Okay. I think, Mayor, just, you know, just a little 30 second recap of the ARPA,

[25:04] you know, we did receive $21 million. We already committed 11 million

[25:09] improvement projects. We have 10 million for what we call general government use.

[25:13] Just last council meeting, we authorized $800,000 for sidewalks. So now,

[25:19] and then we also commissioned this, this study. And we have later on tonight,

[25:23] we have a couple of ITBs for retrofitting some park, I mean, some park lights,

[25:28] both Bellaire and Lakes by the Bay Park. And then we also have some other items to do some

[25:32] resurfacing on our playgrounds that don't have the porn play or the,

[25:38] yeah, they have the porn play, but we're going to AstroTurf because, you know,

[25:40] the porn place is kind of falling apart. So we do have still some funds available

[25:47] in the $10 million, you know, call it general services, you know, allotment in our ARPA.

[25:54] I think, you know, yes, we will maximize, we're not going to be one of the ones that

[25:58] return money. That's not going to be our goal, you know. So if anything, yes,

[26:03] I think it's a good, healthy conversation to have or, you know, you have the

[26:05] Parks and Rights Committee, we have our staff to look at it, you know, 25 by 25 by the two meters,

[26:13] a new wrinkle as well or suggestion, you know, a splash pad. I mean, you know,

[26:17] some ideas of what to do with the other side. We don't know what to do yet if we got to decide,

[26:23] you know, if it's going to be in the 16 acres, then we could kind of repurpose

[26:26] that area and that Cutleridge Park, you know, for different things. And we know that we've

[26:30] had, you know, emails back and forth about having an official pickleball court. Those aren't

[26:34] cheap. All right. So we have that. So there's some uses that we could use in terms of the $10

[26:41] million. But I think another important part, Mary's going to be too, is we do a great job

[26:47] leveraging the ARPA funds, searching for other grant funds. For example, FURDAF, you know,

[26:54] FURDAF, this is right up FURDAF's alley. It's a recreational community to get people out of

[27:00] their homes and do something. And that's right up their alley. If you recall, even when we

[27:06] reconstructed Franjo Park, we received a $250,000 grant for FURDAF. We also received over $500,000

[27:13] for FURDAF for the Canoe Kayak launch to Lakes by the Bay. So we could certainly, talking to our

[27:18] grant school, this is certainly eligible for that type of money. So there might be even some more

[27:23] cost savings that maybe we don't have to draw down as much from the ARPA if we could leverage

[27:28] that with state money for the pool. So there's different opportunities there as well.

[27:35] Can I offer this suggestion? The first decision would be if we're going to build the new pool

[27:44] on the 16 acres. If I could offer this suggestion, once we choose the architectural firm,

[27:51] let's have them come back with a schematic drawing showing a short course and a long course

[27:57] pool. What would that design look like? My concern is that the long course would stick out like a sore

[28:02] thumb, but I could be totally wrong. They could come back and design a long course pool that

[28:07] looks fantastic, and then that takes all my concern away. Or we could look and say, oh,

[28:15] that short course is way too small. So I don't know. If we could do that, and then that

[28:20] gives us the ability to make a final decision after we've looked at both options.

[28:23] What do you think about the timing of that, Ralph? Because we don't have forever to

[28:29] commit this money, so let's slow it down too much waiting for architectural drawings.

[28:34] I think we could always ask the design firms that we're going to go through that process.

[28:39] You're going to hear that report shortly at six o'clock. We did put in the RFQ and the RFP

[28:46] that there may be an aquatic facility, so they understand that. We are in the process

[28:51] of issuing a request for information RFI. We want to hold off on the RFI just to get some clear

[28:58] direction if it's going to be there or not, because we don't know until we had the sunshine

[29:02] meeting that is it going to be in the 16 acres or going to be in the current site.

[29:06] I'm getting the consensus that it's going to be the 16 acres, so we understand that direction.

[29:10] And I think that we could always have the design firms draw up, hey, this option A or option B,

[29:20] what will it look like? How much is it going to encompass? But also, it does come with a cost.

[29:27] As Terry mentioned, our consultant, that it's more equipment, more items as well. But certainly,

[29:33] we could visit that with the firms, meaning that we have a window. There's a window as soon

[29:38] as like tomorrow, believe it or not, meaning that we will issue the RFI to the shortlisted

[29:45] firms. And we could tell them to design A or B. Okay. So, and again, counsel, just to

[29:54] narrow the scope of this discussion, is there a consensus that we would like to see the pool

[29:58] on the new 16 acres site?

[30:00] Is there, okay, that was the main point. And we're still, I guess, waiting on making

[30:11] a decision on the size determination. I think we haven't quite hit that yet, at least from

[30:16] my perspective. I really haven't. Let me ask the rest of the council. I mean, if you have

[30:20] an opinion on one way or the other at this point, Councilman Duncan.

[30:23] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. My only fear of utilizing the larger pool is that it would eat up

[30:28] too much real estate in the 16 acres.

[30:30] Same as Vice Mayor Cowan, which is as duly noted. Councilman Lord, do you have an opinion on the

[30:34] side?

[30:35] Yes, I can explain.

[30:36] Well, I think if we can get the biggest one, I think would be better. I mean, if we have

[30:42] the funding, but it's sufficient with the smaller one. So I'm kind of good either way,

[30:49] but I would be interested in seeing the renderings.

[30:52] Councilman Ramirez.

[30:53] I'd be curious to see what would totally be encompassed in the large pool and also in

[31:01] the small one. Are we going to have diving platforms or is it just going to be swim

[31:05] meet type facility? And what is the best benefit for us? Is this going to generate

[31:13] more community involvement or are we looking at some funding or school activities, something

[31:18] along that line? I would be interested in knowing the difference between the small and

[31:23] the larger pool and what maintenance costs would be yearly, approximate maintenance costs.

[31:29] It could take us over or outside of a budget. So we'd have to start looking at money for

[31:35] that too. So that's the only thing I'd like to see.

[31:37] All right. Thank you. And one other consensus. I think we've all agreed that we're

[31:40] going to replace the pool. Yes. Okay. So that's too important.

[31:44] I don't know if we've given you enough yet. You need more from us today.

[31:48] I think we didn't. I think we have enough. I think another point to make, again, our

[31:53] existing pool, the chiller and the heater are broken. One of the things that I recommend

[32:01] now that we know that direction, the council wants to provide the town staff of going

[32:05] to 16 acres. As Vice Mayor mentioned, the advantage of having that on the 16 acres

[32:10] is that you still have a pool. But we still have a pool that's either too hot or too cold.

[32:15] It depends on when it is. So in talking to Michelle and E.T. and our consultants, the

[32:24] pumps that are, correct me if I mispronounce them, the pumps that are there, the refrigerant

[32:29] pumps and the heater pumps are Sambionts, which is unique, meaning that they have like

[32:36] a sole source, right? And you'll hear me say that later on. In order to replace those,

[32:43] it's going to be approximately $57,000 to $60,000. My recommendation would be if we're

[32:48] making that decision and go ahead to 16 acres, then I would recommend that the school had

[32:53] to make that investment on the existing pool. The only reason, because you know,

[32:57] Michelle and E.T. have done a great job, that they contacted the vendor that the

[33:02] warranties and can be transferred over to the new site, and they would be doing the transfer.

[33:10] So it's not like, you know, we're going to be spending it, and it's not going to come back.

[33:14] But at least that would make Michelle's life so much easier, because again,

[33:20] Michelle, that's why we want her involved in the process. She's on the front line. She hears it

[33:25] every day. So my recommendation would be, and again, that'll be a future agenda item

[33:29] that will come back with a sole source letter from the pumps vendor, and I'm glad to hear

[33:35] that they would honor their warranty, and they could be used at the other location as well.

[33:39] That makes a lot of sense. And without a doubt, as Councilman, I mean, the Vice

[33:42] Mayor Callahan said, you can't go two years without a pool. Our community needs one.

[33:46] So that certainly makes sense to me. And I look forward to seeing that in the future

[33:50] agenda item for approval. Thank you.

[33:52] Any other questions or comments on this issue?

[33:55] Just one more real quick, just to kind of emphasize to Councilmember Romero's comment.

[34:03] Michelle, how many lifeguards do you have currently at our Color Ridge pool?

[34:10] We currently have 10.

[34:12] 10.

[34:13] Well, we're short-staffed, but we've eight.

[34:15] You're short-staffed.

[34:16] Yes.

[34:16] So if we went to a larger pool, that means 20 lifeguards, right?

[34:23] And we're having trouble staffing today.

[34:25] It's not that we're having trouble. We just haven't posted that we have positions open.

[34:30] We have people who just left for school.

[34:32] You would need twice as many lifeguards or surfacing for just the double service area.

[34:36] They can't see another 25.

[34:38] I mean, it would, I would have to, I haven't done the math for that, but

[34:43] they each can, I think, Terry, you do know the,

[34:47] I'm trying to think off the top of my head. I don't know if we need double per se,

[34:51] maybe an additional five or six.

[34:54] Yeah, I think it's proportional, but I think it's actually double, I think.

[34:58] Yeah, it depends how much space at the time we're utilizing.

[35:01] If we have the small section being used and the two big sections,

[35:06] we would need probably four to five lifeguards on a shift at a time.

[35:11] But if we only have, it would honestly depend on what activities we're holding at the time.

[35:16] So a weekend, we wouldn't need maybe as many.

[35:18] It would have to be something I'd have to sit down and look at and go over the area.

[35:22] And I certainly understand the vice mayor's point about

[35:24] maintenance costs, which includes labor costs.

[35:27] Well, right, right.

[35:28] And my point also is that, yes, the lifeguard is proportional to, you know, the pool itself.

[35:37] But, you know, the other point that I just want to make is that it's going to be

[35:42] increasing staff. It's going to be an increase in lifeguards.

[35:45] And if on a Saturday, our intention is to open up the entire pool,

[35:48] then we have three lifeguards calling sick.

[35:51] All of a sudden, you have to close part of the pool, right?

[35:54] So there are repercussions.

[35:55] If we can't staff properly, you know, if you don't have, you know,

[35:59] the right amount of lifeguards to cover the entire pool.

[36:02] So the reason I bring that up is I didn't want everybody to be under the misconception

[36:06] that, hey, we have twice the pool.

[36:08] We can still do it with 10 lifeguards right now.

[36:11] We have to increase staff, you know, proportionally.

[36:15] All right, any other points?

[36:17] No. Guys, thank you very much for providing that information.

[36:19] Thank you.

[36:20] Thank you for coming to us for the last minute.

[36:21] E.T., thanks for your work with this.

[36:23] I think folks come and do this for us.

[36:25] Ralph, anything else?

[36:26] No, I think, I think Mayor Murr's Council, like you mentioned,

[36:28] I want to thank the other consultants and also, you know,

[36:30] E.T. and Michelle, because they're in the front lines.

[36:33] And this is a great discussion.

[36:35] You know, we needed to have this.

[36:36] That's why we want to make this in the workshop atmosphere.

[36:39] So thank you for all the comments.

[36:40] And the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee members as well.

[36:42] But they spent a lot of time on this, you know,

[36:44] at least two or three meetings with Terry,

[36:46] providing the detailed reports.

[36:47] So, and again, the detailed reports,

[36:49] the PowerPoint presentation, and the full engineering

[36:52] report assessment are online,

[36:55] as well as the folks who view it at home as well.

[36:56] So thank you, Mayor.

[36:57] And the one last point that some people have made for,

[37:00] I just want to bring this up so people know we're listening

[37:02] about the ability to have larger tournaments,

[37:05] put Cutler Bay's name on the map.

[37:08] That's something that's a lot of the,

[37:10] I guess, the swimming community have put out there.

[37:12] I just want to let them know that, yeah, we heard you on that.

[37:15] And it will be part of our considerations.

[37:17] We muddle our way through this.

[37:19] So again, guys, thank you very much with that.

[37:21] This workshop is adjourned.

Town Council Workshop - With Virtual

Agenda

Transcript