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History: Soroptimist
International of Stuart started a project in the late 50’s to fund two pools for
Martin County. They eventually turned
over their funds to the
Kiwanis Club of Stuart and helped them continue to raise funds for a Community
Pool. The pool was constructed by a joint effort between the
Kiwanis Club and the Board of County Commissioners in 1975. Since then the
Martin County School Board has funded the ongoing
maintenance, repair and staffing of the pool facility at an average annual cost
of approximately $190,000.00. Donations to improve the
facility have been received from private individuals and companies who have
believed in and supported the pool.
Condition of Pool
Facility: There have been recent renovations in the locker rooms, showers,
lights, roofs, pumps, seating and two covered areas. The parking lot
changes at Martin County High School included a separate parking area for the
pool with its own access that precludes school security
requirements. The pool has just been resurfaced with a vinyl lining at a cost of
$70,000.00. Everyone who uses our pool comments about the excellent water
clarity and temperature control. The water is maintained to perfection for
swimming workouts and diving. It always has been. It’s important to keep the
temperature at about 82 degrees. Even two degrees above that diminishes the
quality of a workout for both competitive and recreational swimmers.
If this pool were to be
closed the alternative would be the YMCA pool. There are multiple deterrents to
using that pool. 1st, the pool is
intentionally kept at a
higher temperature for water aerobic and arthritic swimming programs. The
temperature is much too high for a
good workout swim. 2nd,
the pool is too small to hold the high school and age group team workouts. 3rd,
Florida High School Athletic
Association rules do not
permit race starts in pools that shallow. 4th, the hours of operation do not
compare to those at the Community Pool.
Usage: There are
three high schools using the pool now for interscholastic swimming and diving
practices & competitions. There are as many as 13 such competitions each year.
There are two age group teams that use the pool 5 to 6 days a week, at times
twice a day. Their memberships are 60 and 82 swimmers from ages 4 to 18. Several
swimming meets a year (for both club teams and high schools) necessitate that
swimmers and their families utilize local restaurants, hotels and entertainment
venues, stimulating our economy and bringing in tax dollars. A Masters
swimming program has been at the pool for over 25 years. Many tri-athletes use
the pool for training throughout the year. The Red Cross and Local Firefighters
use the pool for teaching and training Their numbers are 8-12 and 30 twice a
year. Other classes such as water aerobics use the pool periodically. Colleges
from across the nation come to use the pool for their Christmas training
(excellent for recruiting local high school swimmers to continue toward higher
education while swimming.) These college swim teams spend a week or more using
our restaurants, hotels, and entertainment venues contributing to the local
economy. Also, the pool is used for Special Olympics, Senior Olympics, Martin
County’s Golden Games, Chiro(practic) Games, Scuba diving programs…
The hours of usage are 5:20 AM to 9:00 PM on weekdays, 7:00 AM
to 4:00 PM on Saturday and 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM on Sunday. This is very
accommodating to allow people to exercise before work/school; dedicated staff -
only closed 4 holidays out of the year.
School/Education Usage: All of this usage and
we are missing one of our most important groups of swimmers. It has been in the
newspapers several times that “Martin County Schools no longer want to be in the
business of swimming.” Quite to the contrary, swimming should be a vital program
in the education of our school children. “To educate” means to draw out
knowledge and in the case of swimming- self knowledge; just look at the Pool’s
Record board- it reflects individuals learning to improve themselves, setting &
achieving goals, believing in their talents/abilities, experiencing results,
reinforcing self-esteem and consciousness, etc.- which are all self-mastery
skills mirrored in academics.
We are surrounded by water, have great
beaches, many residential pools (some unfenced) and many unfenced water
retention ponds; many families spend the week-ends boating, sailing, skiing,
swimming and diving. Yet we are not ensuring that all of our children can swim
at least safely enough to avoid drowning. Swimming should indeed be taught, and
in a very structured program. Our students in K-6 should at least be skilled in
the basics of drown-proofing. Our Middle School students should be required to
pass a moderate endurance swimming program and by the time of graduation every
student should be able to swim with enough endurance to survive an open water
mishap. High school students have swimming as an elective and the state mandates
that each school should have a course in Pool Operations/Maintenance.
Educational swimming programs have a side
benefit. The discipline and strength acquired in these programs go a long way
towards improving self-confidence. Our best competitive swimmers come from
programs like these when most would never have had an idea that they would love
swimming. We have a Masters swimmer who started in one of the pool’s summer
programs, joined the age group team, swam at MCHS, held a school record for over
11 years, received a college scholarship and is now a National caliber women’s
Iron Man competitor; she is one of the best swimmers in those competitions. A
number of our students have attended college on swimming scholarships.
Swimming is for Life: The fitness benefits of
swimming are well known. It is one of the top cardiovascular exercises with the
least burden on joints while providing excellent musculoskeletal maintenance and
development. Even for those who never swim competitively, keeping it up as their
main form of exercise will bring the benefits of health and reduced medical
problems and expenses for a lifetime.
Revenues and Expenses: We have to find a way to continue funding
the pool. Now that the idea of building an Aquatics Center is on hold, this pool
needs to stay open. It was discussed that the funding of an Aquatics Center
could come from the ˝% sales tax money that is to be spent for buying sensitive
lands and buying/improving recreational areas. Keeping this pool open using
those funds would require a fraction of the money that would be spent for a new
center. Many people have expressed that they voted for the tax increase just for
the idea of funding an aquatics center.
We think it would be reasonable to ask for operating funds from
the ˝% sales tax revenue and perhaps treat the yearly funding as payment to
switch pool ownership from the School Board to the County and to consider it a
County Recreation Facility, at least until an aquatics center can be funded.
The current figures for Revenues and Expenditures indicate that
an annual funding of approximately $190,000.00 would be required to keep the
pool open if the School Board stopped its funding.
Annual Revenues-
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From team usage: $10,800.00
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User fees ($1.00/2.00): 3,430.00
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From swimming meets: 400.45
Total: $14,630.45
Annual Expenses-
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Salaries & Wages: $150,693.67
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Supplies/Repairs/Maintenance: 32,191.82
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Utilities (Electricity): 21,688.53
Total: $204,574.02
Shortfall: $189,943.57
Summary: The benefits of swimming and of
encouraging more people to swim for recreational and health reasons cannot be
measured, cannot be overstated. With an aging population and an obesity problem
among our youth we need to make great forms of exercise more popular, accessible
and available. Swimming should be considered among the very best of those
exercises.
A Florida community without a Community Pool? There may just as
well be a New York with no Broadway, a Chicago with no wind or a Los Angles with
no Hollywood. Florida is about outdoors, exercise, health and fitness.
Florida is about swimming.
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