By Kim McDarison
The Whitewater Common Council Tuesday received a “Whitewater Aquatic and Fitness Center Action Plan,” as presented by Whitewater Parks and Recreation Director Eric Boettcher, and approved a resolution allowing the city’s finance department to move funds within the city’s budget to pay for a portion of the aquatic center’s growing deficit.
On Tuesday, Jeremiah Thomas, an accountant within the city’s finance department, said that the school district, on May 15, also has paid a portion of the center’s ongoing deficit expenses.
Marketing action plan
Offering a printed copy of a report that had yet to be included in the council packet, Boettcher told city council members that his action plan is “kind of what we put together based on what our goals are for the next year, (and) in 2024 and 2025.”
Boettcher said the document outlines the city’s plans to retain and gain lifeguards for the facility and to attract new members.
He noted that plans called for the city to work with the Whitewater Unified School District and the high school to provide lifeguard training courses.
He called the plan “ a blueprint on how we are going to move forward.”
A copy of the three-page action plan, which offers three goals, has been received by Fort Atkinson Online.
The plan’s first goal is defined as “lifeguard recruitment and retention.”
According to the document, the goal will be developed using three steps. The first seeks to develop and implement a lifeguard incentive program in conjunction with “Friends of the Aquatic Center,” a community-based group that has traditionally worked with the Whitewater Unified School District to provide money for swimming lessons for students who might otherwise struggle to afford them.
Within the document, plans call for the step to develop an incentive program with “benchmarks that would be used to entice new lifeguards to join and reward those who work a certain number of hours per season.” The document defines three seasons: first semester, second semester and summer.
According to the document, the Friends group has offered a “limited time incentive program” for qualified lifeguards. The group will provide training reimbursement to qualified aquatic center employees.
In addition, the document noted, the Friends group will offer a $250-sign-on bonus to new lifeguards who qualify. A requirement towards eligibility is defined within the city’s action plan as signing an agreement to work at the aquatic center for between 18 and 20 hours a week.
The program is anticipated to be implemented this fall, and has a goal of developing eight new lifeguards, four by Dec. 31, 2023, and four by June 1, 2024, through the district-offered courses.
A second step builds upon the high school training program during the 2023-24 school year.
A step three outlines the implementation of a “junior lifeguard” program, which the document describes as a “feeder program” to the aquatic center lifeguard training program. The junior lifeguard program is anticipated to be implemented by the spring/summer of 2025 as part of a summer school course offering, the document states.
A second goal is described as “Increase aquatic center membership.”
The document cites a target membership goal of “40 annual memberships per year,” with an added goal of keeping on average 950 primary members per month. The goal also notes a desire to increase membership revenue by 5% annually through 2024 and 2025.
Steps to achieve the goal include a plan to “reinvigorate corporate members by redeveloping and implementing the program.”
According to the document, the city currently has “relationship(s)” with Generac, First Citizens Bank, the Whitewater Unified School District and the city’s employees.
A timeline notes that the process is underway across the next 30 days and promotions to develop relationships will continue over the next 3 to 6 months.
A goal is to add two new corporate membership accounts by December, and at least one new corporate account annually thereafter, the document states.
A next step includes membership drives in concert with a “set promotion schedule produced by the marketing plan,” the document reads.
The plan will be updated and audited quarterly.
Further, the document includes an “incentive and referral program,” which will be developed through surveys, asking the membership about concepts that serve as incentives and motivations to join, and which incentives could be employed to engage them in making referrals.
An initial incentive program is anticipated to be launched on July 1.
The process remains ongoing through use of such tools as social media, Survey Monkey, and general membership surveys, the document notes.
Another step includes the development of “free trial” programs.
Included in the action plan is a desire to interact with those members opting to leave the facility through followup contacts, asking such questions as: Why did they leave? and: What changes or incentives might entice them to renew?
A third goal, titled: “Operations within budget,” looks to the 2024 and 2025 budget years, and sets as a priority operating the facility within “budget constraints of all expense areas of the budget,” including staffing, programming, and supply.
Budgets will be checked on a monthly basis, the document states, adding: “Reduced contributions will require a reduction in staffing hours and services to stay within budget.”
The full action plan is here: http://fortatkinsononline.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Whitewater-Aquatic-and-Fitness-Center-Action-Plan.pdf.
On Tuesday, Boettcher also referenced charts offering information about costs associated with operating the center.
An earlier story identifying costs within the charts discussed Tuesday is here: https://fortatkinsononline.com/city-releases-aquatic-center-costs-consessions-revenues-considers-fitness-center-only-lease/.
Deficit payments
Council members on Tuesday learned that on May 15, the school district had paid its portion of the center’s outstanding debt, accrued between Jan. 1, 2016 and June 30, 2021, in the amount of $222,008.
The full debt during the aforementioned time frame was $373,767, according to Thomas, who asked council to approve a resolution, allowing the city to move its portion of the debt, some $151,758, into an account earmarked to support the aquatic center.
Following the unanimous vote in affirmation of the move, City Manager John Weidl said the money would come from the city’s “unappropriated fund balance,” which, he said, is typically used by the city to pay for unforeseen expenses such as emergencies.
He called the actions taken by the city and the district, a “good first step.”
In addition, Weidl sought to remind council members that the city’s transfer of funds and the payment made by the district would not cover the full amount of aquatic center-related debt.
Said Weidl: “This doesn’t get rid of the entire unfunded liability. We still have July 1, 2021, through today. I’m not sure how that’s going to be dealt with, but that’s something that will need to be dealt with. And currently, the trajectory we are on, we are continuing to accumulate a deficit. So, again, good first step, we still have some structural issues that need to be corrected, otherwise we will be back here in several years.”
Weidl noted that the city’s unappropriated fund balance currently holds $2.5 million. Funding the city’s portion of the deficit, he said, “it’s going to represent a reduction in our unrestricted fund balance. Right now, we’re about 25%. We have an ordinance, I believe, that requires us to be above 20%. This is certainly a good thing. It is a good first step on the road to financial recovery (for) the aquatic center. I just want to be clear this is coming out of our undesignated fund reserves, which is also the fund balance we use to fund other emergencies and things that may come up. So, eyes wide open.”
Council member Lisa Dawsey Smith likened the measure to “settling debt with ourselves.”
Public comments:
During the meeting, several members of the public addressed council, offering their thoughts about the aquatic center.
Whitewater resident Geoff Hale said: “I would also like to commend the city manager and the city council for their wonderful efforts and diligence in moving forward to get the aquatic center, I think, pretty close to mission accomplished.”
Another commenter talked about the pool, saying that it was closed during times when it was, in her estimation, meant to be open. She specifically noted that it was closed on a Saturday when it was supposed to be open and her grandchildren were disappointed.
“We have this wonderful pool, and nobody can use it, because it’s not open most of the time,” she said.
Chuck Mills, Whitewater, offered several “observations,” noting that he believed operations at the pool had improved, calling them “so much better than last December or January.
“The pool is warm, most of the time, it’s staffed,” he said.
He compared the pool schedule to those offered by facilities in Fort Atkinson and Palmyra, citing both as “seasonal.” He said they had schedules that have been made available to the public.
In Whitewater, he said, which has a year-round pool, “We’ve been 365 (days a year) and we’re not staffed. So somebody’s dropped the ball there. Things are better, but not good enough.”
Further, he said: “The other thing I had on my mind was, while the school board and the city are in negotiations, John Weidl, you came out with your own spiel.”
He noted reading that the city manager had offered as a negotiating consideration the discontinuing of aquatic operations by the city, opting, as a consideration, for a lease agreement between the city and district of the fitness center only.
Said Mills: “I was wondering why you would chime in in the middle of negotiations between the city and the schools — during negotiating — and this wasn’t anything part of this council … I don’t understand where that’s coming from.”
He added: “We are not giving up this pool,” further stating: “This is the community’s pool.”
Whitewater Common Council President Jim Allen advised Mills that the city manager could not respond to his comments made during the public comments portion of the agenda. He suggested the commenter contact the city manager’s office at a later date.
Mills continued: “You know the school system asked us for a referendum so that they could continue their operations.”
In the time that followed, he said, the district expressed interest in offering less funding for the pool.
“So you give them money to go, and then they are going to hold back money on the pool. That doesn’t make any sense,” he said.
Referencing the city’s ongoing discussions about the pool and the condition of Trippe and Cravath lakes, he said: “For whatever reason, anything to do with water, we can’t get it together around here.”
Closed session
Tuesday’s meeting also included a closed session, from which, according to the published agenda, the council would not reconvene into open session.
The closed session topic, as listed on the agenda, was “negotiation of Aquatic and Fitness Center agreement with the school district.”
Contractual negotiations between the two parties, the city and the district, are anticipated to resume in open session during the next meeting of the Aquatic and Fitness Center Subcommittee on June 14.
Whitewater Municipal Building, File photo/Kim McDarison.
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