Because there are quite a few swim clubs and country clubs with pools in and around Summit, many Summit residents use the aquatic center as a secondary pool - as a way to see friends that don't belong to the family's swim club, as a change of pace during the long summer days, or just because the Summit Aquatic center has some great fun things, especially for older kids. A raise in the family rate and elimination of the single membership could result in a loss of the revenue from this secondary user source. The Department of Community Programs should add a DAILY rate for residents, especially if out of town hotel guests will be able to use the facilities that way.

Where I grew up in the Chicago suburbs, all of the park district pools had a daily rate (for residents and non-residents). This revenue model, while perhaps not being the norm in this part of the country, worked well there. It could work well here also, by serving the residents better that pay taxes AND potentially making more money by attracting revenue from a new source of casual user. Besides it seems wrong that friends of town pool members can enjoy the pool for a daily fee, and residents that support the pool with taxes cannot. Think about it!

So she wants to eliminate single parent and subsidized single parent memberships.... In other words: Let's not allow low-income single parents and their kids to come to the pool. There is no other way to say it. This is discrimination and she needs to be ashamed of herself. She probably grew up in a relatively wealthy two parent home and could care less for the less fortunate.
Just as I thought that Summit was a great place to live in even when someone suffers from major income loss due to tragic incidents in their life she makes such a proposal... Shame on her. It's all about profits...again....

I agree with VV and actually wonder if those who belong to the community pool can get a day rate at one of the other clubs in town as their secondary pool OR if you can afford to join one of the clubs in town I don't think the increase of $25 isn't gonna hurt you? I don't mind the increase so much as I mind the options that are being taken away. Also, if a single parent with one child is going to now pay $375 instead of a discounted rate that seems pretty unfair while a family of 5 will be paying the same. There should be some type of calculation to even things out. On another note, it is the community pool and if the hotels in the area wanted to have a pool to host their guests thats fine, but to offer that and not anything to our own community is not a good idea either. Raise the rates all around by a certain amount, keep all current membership categories available and be done.

While I understand if pool membership rates need to go up, do it fairly. The proposed rate increase for a single membership is $50, or 50%. The senior rate would increase 30%. But a family membership would go up by only $25 or just over 7%, regardless of the number of children - for the typical family of 4 people this works out to a $6.25 increase per person!

This unfairly forces single and senior members to subsidize families. You can do much much better.

This is one of the worst suggestions that I have ever seen, coming from a City employee. Apparently she is one of those "affluent" people who have no compassion for those less fortunate.
Our property taxes keep going up, and she wants to decrease what we get for those taxes. The Council should flush this proposal down the toilet where it belongs. PS. I reside in one of the highest tax zones in the city. I have no problem paying taxes as long as we get something for the taxes that we pay. ALL CATEGORIES SHOULD REMAIN>

Looks like the ordinance change will still allow for residents to register and save money in a single parent situation. More details expected at tonight's council meeting. Come to city hall at 7:30 p.m. to learn more or stay tuned for a full report tomorrow on Summit Patch.

A presentation will be given to council this evening. Those who have commented on this page should attend to hear about all of the proposed changes and the reasoning. I am confident, if you do so, the dialog on these pages will change.
No Director has ever done more for our city than Judith. The personal attacks on Judith by “VV” and “Dixieboy” are exceptionally tactless and inappropriate. Her vast experience has saved the city countless thousands of dollars, through activities such as sourcing better material and renegotiating procurement contracts. On her own time, Judith has learned about and obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars from matching grants from the county and state for projects; such as for Wilson Park and Glenside field. Her efforts have substantially benefitted Summit’s taxpayers. Moreover, the fields, the Muni and the Aquatic Center have never looked better or operated more safely. Judith Josephs deserves every Summit citizen’s thanks. At a minimum, she deserves a better effort from any of you who have so quickly resorted to criticizing her before knowing all the facts.

Guy Haselmann, Presiding Officer – DCP Advisory Board

Furthermore,
1) As far as a “daily rate -- that would only work if every town had a pool, like in the Midwest and resident could travel freely between pools. If you want to “see a friend”, then you can go, but as their guest. 2) The Parent/Child category was eliminated in name-only. The option is still available and replaced with an easier less obtrusive approach. For instance, the DCP now does not have to ask if the person is widowed or divorced. 3) Looking at the 1 year percentage increase of the “individual” category is inappropriate because the proposed change is to correct a mistake made in 2007, when the price was lowered from $150 to $100. Therefore, after correcting for this earlier mistake, the percentage increase is 0%. Many people seemed to “game the system” during the 2007 price change, i.e. membership for “individuals” skyrocketed, while “family” plummeted. The fee schedule has been held constant recognizing the economic picture, but such is now untenable. 4) The schedule is not linear. All members receive a “deal”. Economies of scale are evident, because families are emphasized, which has been the case since 1971.
Guy Haselmann, Presiding Officer – DCP Advisory Board

Regardless of the pool's contorted name, it is a COMMUNITY POOL. All members of the community deserve equal, fair, and equitable access to the pool, without "emphasizing" any one group of people over another. The old pool rates should be replaced with TWO simple, straightforward membership categories: adults, and children. Children can be discounted 20-25% off of the adult rate, there is no reason for it to be any larger - parents are responsible for their children's expenses, not unrelated single adults. There should also be a similar price break for seniors and low-income.

That's fair, uncomplicated, and easy to understand. The membership application only needs two boxes to fill in, one with the number of adults and one with the number of children. A third box can be checked if the people are seniors or low income. If rates need to be raised in the future, they should be raised by equal percentages across the board.

It's not DCP's business or concern what kind of families people live in, or which people within a family join and use the pool. Whoever joins the pool should pay an equal share of the costs for the pool.

I went to the town council meeting tonight to voice my opinions about the proposed pool fee increases and needed disiplinary action against Tom G. Instead of my government at work, what I found was a holiday concert. Looks like Patch is our new center of government.

Vicki, the "deal" is membership to a beautiful pool for only $150 for an entire season. There is no other "deal" like it, I challange you to find it. I paid over $300 when I lived in Verona. I dislike price increases, but recognize a deal when I see. We should all be grateful to have the "pool". Most pools I know of are at least twice Summit's price. If you want equality in your life and with all your expenses, then move to Russia. All governments give breaks to families, because "children are our future" and they happen to be expensive. Children typically do not have income, so families need help. Without children and population growth our country would go into decline, eventually ending in disaster. So, your perfect ideal of total equality is unrealistic. Families are and should be given breaks. But your math got me thinking. My family of 3 currently pays $1.44 per day. If I talked my wife into having 17 more children, then I could get our price down to $0.22 per day each. Now that's bargain (for me). I am sorry that you will have to subsidize it. But then again, the fixed cost of $375 will not change after expanding the family.

Vicki, Dotconnector is another jerk that makes no sense.

DCP will make it's recommendation at the next Council meeting on Feb 15. There has been and will be no announcement, notification, or consideration to the community that the rates are to be set on Feb. 15.

I only know because I asked Judith, yet again, given all the input on patch, if now there is any consideration being given to making the proposed rate increases fairer, and the answer is no. DCP has no interest in the views of the community, especially individuals, who were never consulted or informed about any of this, unlike seniors and families.

So this is your last chance to have your say, at the Council meeting on Feb. 15 (not that it makes any difference to DCP or Council, but that's another issue) about equitable membership fees.

The Springfield COMMUNITY pool welcomes anyone to come in for $10, $17 for the weekend. What a fabulous Memorial Day!! Pretty sure I saw a bunch of Summit folks there. So for those who asked for a pool with a daily rate, here you go!! Union County has two pools that are $5/day, and other area pools also welcome people, regardless of family status. The Summit FAMILY aquatic center is not the only place to go, you have a choice, contrary to what Guy claims.

So if the Summit FAMILY aquatic center insists the pool is for families, then families are going to have to pay for it. I'm taking my business to a place that welcomes me, for a fair rate without discriminating. See you in Springfield!!