PORT ANGELES — The William Shore Memorial Pool District commission faces a tough decision: Whether to hire staff or contract with the Clallam County Family YMCA to run the pool.
The YMCA was the sole organization to bid on a contract after the new metropolitan park district’s five-member commission requested applications in November.
The commissioners said they decided to consider outsourcing management in case someone else could do it more efficiently than themselves.
Currently, the city manages the pool, but that agreement is set to expire April 1.
The pact was intended to cover operations solely while the commission gets organized after forming last year.
Cost key issue
Under any contract, the commission would retain responsibly for setting pool hours, signing contracts, adding or removing swim classes and other pool use, commissioners said.
The contractor would hire the pool’s staff.
Mike Chapman, the park district commissioner who is also a Clallam County commissioner, said having someone else to run the day-to-day operations of the pool would lower the cost.
“The whole idea of this was to save the taxpayer money,” Chapman said.
Jan. 26 meeting
But the YMCA’s bid, at an estimated $34,600 per month, was higher than what the commission was looking for, said Chapman and Dan Di Guilio, pool district commission chairman and Port Angeles mayor.
Chapman and Di Guilio said the commission’s finance committee has been negotiating with the YMCA to bring the cost down.
But if that can’t be done by the commission’s next meeting, the commissioners will likely begin hiring its own staff, said Chapman, who sits on the finance committee.
“If the finance committee doesn’t have an agreement we can recommend to our board at the next meeting, we’re moving on,” he said.
Next meeting
The next meeting will be at 3 p.m. Jan. 26 in the county commissioners’ meeting room in the Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St.
Voters approved creating the park district last spring to save the pool from imminent closure.
The indoor plunge previously belonged to the city, which decided in 2008 that it could no longer afford to keep it open.
Chapman said if the commission decides to hire its own staff, it may need a three-month extension on its agreement with the city.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
