Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Shields Park Pool had its best season last summer revenue-wise.
That was made possible by renting out the facility to area swim clubs for practice. Even Olympic swimmers and divers from Indiana University spent time in Seymour’s pool because most other facilities were closed.
But the increased use of the pool by outside groups led to a change in when it was open to the public.
Instead of having two public swim sessions each day during the week — one in the afternoon and another in the evening — staff decided to only have the pool open from noon to 5 p.m. daily.
Those hours will remain in place when the pool opens this year on May 29.
Chris Boggs, who manages the pool with husband Dave Boggs, said the limited hours allow for more rentals, lap swim times, water aerobics classes, swim lessons and swim team practices.
The adjusted hours also eliminate the weekly free family swim nights, which Chris said can attract 700 to 800 kids with their families.
“I’d like to get away from the Tuesday night free night until we’re sure exactly where we are on all of the pandemic protocols,” she said. “I’m really not comfortable yet with all the kids not vaccinated to have that many crowded in the pool.”
After having a meeting with the Jackson County Health Department, Parks Director Stacy Findley said COVID regulations are more lenient than last year.
“The way the health department is talking, we’ll still have a mask mandate,” she said. “But it may be contingent on where our COVID positivity levels are after spring break.”
Boggs said she would like to keep the number of people using the pool at one time to 300 or 400.
Findley said it’s easier to control the amount of people when it’s not open to the general public.
“We’re able to control the crowd size a little better,” she said.
Chris also said the regular evening hours don’t bring in enough revenue to justify paying a full staff to be there.
Preparations already are underway for the 2021 pool season.
“We had the pool power washed this past week,” Findley said. “Once we’re finished with the floors, we’ll look at putting a sealant on them so they aren’t like an ice skating rink because with the concrete, it gets very slippery.”
The parks department ordered new restroom and changing room partitions, which have been delivered and are awaiting installation along with new pool lane dividers.
Findley said although some work needs to be done on the kiddie pool in the long term, there are some items that need to be addressed sooner, including the bottom of the pool, which is deteriorating, she said. The regular pool also needs painted, she added.
Board member Kendra Zumhingst asked where the city stands with a potential project to develop an indoor community aquatics facility in partnership with Seymour Community School Corp.
Findley met with school representatives last week and learned the corporation has budgeted $3 million to renovate the Seymour High School pool.
Instead of providing funding for a new facility, the school system is open to working with the city to grant more public access to the high school pool for programs, Findley said.
Mayor Matt Nicholson said at this time, both the city and the school corporation want to invest in renovating their existing pool facilities, but it seemed likely the parks department would have more access to the high school pool in the future.
“As much as I want to tell you a true combined facility is feasible, it probably isn’t,” he said. “It’s a little bit of a pipe dream, but we may be able to pull off part of it.”
Board member Art Juergens, who serves as president of the SCSC board of education, said he would like to see the two work something out to give the parks department more access to the high school pool.
“It’s tough to get in there during the school year, but we want to see more community access to the school facilities — the gyms for walking, the weight room, things like that,” he said.
He would even support more access to the school buildings for community meetings, he added.
“I don’t think we’ve done a very good job of that, opening up our buildings for the public. They are paying the bill,” Juergens said. “So we’re going to revisit that at some point. It’s a priority.”