HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-03-25 Aquatic Advisory Board MinutesAQUATICS ADVISORY BOARD
Date: March 25, 2002
Location: Burbank YMCA, Reading, MA
Attendance: Board Staff
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CLASS.
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Ken Holbrook Dan Berry
Klaus Kubierschky Donna Griffith
Mary Ellen O'Neill Amy Vendt
Tom O'Rourke
Cam Townsend
Tom O'Rourke chaired the meeting and Mary Ellen O'Neill agreed to take the minutes.
It was agreed to set up a schedule for the recording secretary's job. A motion was made,
seconded, and approved to amend- the minutes of the February, 25 meeting to indicate that
the Bluefins were sending 23 children to the Y New England meet the weekend of March
23-24.
Charts showing February pool usage and Spring I classes and participants were
distributed. Donna Griffith and Amy Vendt explained how the pool usage count is done
every half hour the number of people in the pool at the time is counted. This results n
some double-counting, but is the only practical method to use. In February, a total of
6,252 people were counted; this did not include people taking swim lessons, but did
include a vacation week which always results in increased visits.
Dan Berry and Donna discussed the problem with chlorination of the pool. A tablet
system is now being used and a high calcium count is occurring. The Y is looking into
getting a liquid chlorination system which would cost between $2,000 - $3,000. Neptune
Enterprises will be coming in soon to look into the situation and give an estimate for a
liquid system. The pool has not been emptied since it opened 2-1/2 years ago. Some
amount of water is replenished every day, but tablets leave a residue and this is the cause
of the high calcium count.
The number of classes for the Spring I session is 182; the number of registered
participants is 1,263, an increase (as expected) over the winter session figure of 791.
Ken Holbrook is trying to put a schedule together for the next high school swim team
season. Due to the late day on which Thanksgiving will occur this fall, the week of
December 17 is the first week that a meet can be held. The mid-week timing of
Christmas and New Year's will also complicate matters. The Middlesex League is
interested in considering the Burbank Y as a location for its league meets. Ken would
like information on fees to present to the League for consideration. A Friday from 5 p.m.
- 8 p.m. would be a good time and the first Friday in February 2003 will be the first date
for a League meet. According to Ken there is likely to be a change in regulations that
will require that meets take place in pools where the water depth at the starting blocks is
at least 5 feet. This is already a Y rule, but many pools used by high school teams do not
meet this standard, including those at Bentley College and Babson College. This coming
season will be the second year of the two-year contract for a Reading/Lynnfield team.
Cam Townsend reported that the winter season for the Bluefins ended this past weekend
with the Y New England meet at Brown University. Twenty-three children from the
Bluefins participated. All events were run simultaneously with the boys in one pool, the
girls in another. The 8 and under children all swam together. The spring season started
today and will go until June. Tryouts for new swimmers will be held this week; six new 8
and under children are trying out. Cam said that the team is getting a lot of siblings on it
which indicates satisfaction with the program.
The proposed schedule for summer pool usage was discussed.. Mary Ellen presented a
chart which indicated the times allocated in 15-minutes blocks to the various activities in
each pool. She noted that this year's schedule provides more overall Open Recreation
time than last year's did. Mary Ellen asked that the Board think about what audience it
wanted to serve with the summer open recreation program and how best to meet the
needs of that audience. In response to her question about how the large pool is divided
- when more than one activity at a time is assigned to it, Amy explained the following.
When Lap, Lessons, and Open Recreation are assigned, Lap has two lanes, Lessons have
three, and Open Recreation has three; when it's Camp Quannapowitt, Lap, and Open
Recreation, Camp Q. has four lanes, Lap has two, and Open Rec has two; when there is
Physical Therapy, Lap, Camp Q. and Open Rec, Physical Therapy has two lanes, Lap has
one, Camp Q. has three, and Open Rec has two; when it's Lap, REAP, and Open
Recreation, Lap has two or three lanes, REAP has two or three, and Open Rec has three;
when it's Lap and Open Rec, it's four lanes apiece; the other combination of Lap,
Lessons, Family Splash, and Open Rec results in two lanes for Lap, three lanes for
Lessons, and threelanes for Open Rec and Family Splash together. The addition of the
Discovery camp for three hours during time already shared by Lap, Lessons, and Open
Rec was not factored into Mary Ellen's chart.
The sheet entitled "When Can I Swim??? - Summer 2002" was discussed. Since most of
the Open Rec time is assigned to the eight-lane pool and people might think all of it
might be available given the way it is described on this sheet, it was agreed to ask the Y
Director Peter Smargon to allow that pool to be referred to as the "large pool" and to
continue referring to the smaller pool as the "teaching pool." Amy stated that people
looking for open rec time may also swim during "Family Splash" time. The need to
clarify that the other swim categories - family splash, lap, and adult rec - are also open to
rv, non-Y members for a fee in the summer was discussed. The summer swim sheet will be
changed to reflect this. Suggestions for publicizing the summer schedule included
putting information on it in the local papers and on the town's website.
Donna noted that the summer schedule meets the requirements of the agreement between
the Y and the town of Reading. Mary Ellen stressed the need to consider the spirit of the
agreement and questioned whether the schedule, as now proposed, does that.
Tom stated that while not much can be done to change the schedule for this summer it
might be worthwhile considering developing some statistics from the coming season in
order to work toward some block scheduling in the future. Dan felt a survey should be
done this summer of users of the Open Recreation time. The idea of a fee sheet for the
summer open recreation was discussed.
Amy will be making site visits during April when she is out-of-state on vacation to see
how acoustic tiles which the Y is considering are working. Dan is interested in knowing
how these places installed them.
The next meeting of the Aquatics Advisory Board will be held Monday, April 22, 6:30
p.m. at the Burbank YMCA.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Ellen O'Neill
16Y , L
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