Keeping the Iola Municipal Pool open past Labor Day would be a costly venture, Iola City Council members were told Monday.
Recreation Director Luke Bycroft spelled out why, including the difficulty in finding staff to keep the pool open past the first day of school, and the added cost for pool chemicals.
Bycroft noted that of the 37 full-or part-time employees at the pool in 2011, all but six would be unavailable to work after school started. Ten left for college, and 21 of the remaining 27 would have been unable to work because they were involved with fall sports.
Council member Beverly Franklin had expressed in recent meetings a desire to see the pool remain open later, perhaps hiring staff from Allen County Community College to man the pool after school started.
Doing so would add expense to train the new staff members to the pool’s policies and procedures, Bycroft responded. He estimated keeping the pool open later would cost the city an additional $19,000. Using a three-year average of attendance figures, the city might receive $5,000 in revenues.
Bycroft said Chanute voted to keep its pool open until Labor Day last summer, a decision the city has said will be reversed in 2012 and beyond.
Bycroft told council members he would visit with Recreation Advisory Committee members in the coming days about potential admission fee changes at the pool for 2012.
Final approval would be up to the city council members.
CITY COUNCILMAN Ken Rowe encouraged the city to look further into what he described as a health insurance “debacle.”
Rowe said the city’s policy to maintain health coverage for retirees and their spouses until they turn 65 means higher premiums to enroll with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas.
Rowe wondered if the city could change its policy to provide such coverage to retirees and their spouses for a maximum of 48 months.
City Attorney Chuck Apt said the city could change its policy at any time, but would have to wait for it to be implemented when it renews its health insurance plan in October.
