Aquatic Center Contract award based on friendship

News: Aquatic Center Contract award based on friendship

This past week council decided to award the Aquatic Center Management contract based upon their desire for friendly relationships instead of on performance and cost.  The result is that the city will likely pay $20,000 or more per year than the city needed to pay in order to get equal or better performance.  I also question whether it makes sense to bend over backwards to keep friendly…

Response

By Guest, posted
The management company you refer to is not sending any select soccer kids to Kettering.  A partnership program had been created to provide local families other options to avoid them leaving our community play soccer. To date, no teams have been created. The management company has held basketball camps, and a variety of other summer camps in the parks each summer as well as 5k races and a half marathon on behalf of the city's parks and recreation department.

You are right about one thing, apples to apples is very hard to do when you have a large variable such as weather that affects the operational costs and revenues. It should be pointed out that the management company chosen to run the pool does not charge the city for any staffing not used when the pool is closed! Fixed costs contracts would pay for staffing regardless of pool operating status.

Finally, it should also be pointed out that the management company selected has provided recreational services and a facility in Huber Heights for 10 years.  Having served over 700,000 visitors and participants, and with over 11,000 members, my guess is this is a much larger volume of residents being served than before the partnership was created 10 years ago.

I'd make the yearly admission cost so low it would be foolish for a family with kids not to be members

By Thomas McMasters posted
Thanks for the good information on some of the other services provided.  I've included that paragraph in the main body of the article.

About your last paragraph.  The business model that makes it possible for those things to happen depends on the city giving that business the $150,000 a year.  Believe it our not I'm enough of a liberal democrat that I'm can see the overall benefit to the City.  (although if I thought the City's providing that kind of support is actually preventing companies that don't need that support from getting into this market I'm enough of a fiscal conservative I'd be against the supplement).  The main problem I have is pretending that the $150,000 supplement is actually getting us a good parks and recreation department because we're not.  Keep in mind none of that $150,000 is going to maintenance because our streets department handles all that.  So really we are pretending that we are getting a good deal spending $150,000 putting on a half marathon, a couple of BB camps and deciding which baseball league gets to play on which field.    

Back to the reply title:  I am actually enough of a liberal democrat that I would set the yearly admission cost of the Aquatic center low enough so that we averaged 1500 people a day in the facility even if it were 68 degrees all summer long.  In that case I think it is obvious we should have gone with the management company that told us they could do it for a fixed price which is obviously $20,000, $30,000 or possibly even $40,000 dollars cheaper than the floating contract will end up costing us.

Are the pumps fixed?

By hdayejr posted
Media reported damage from the freezing temperatures. Has it been addressed yet?
By Tom_McMasters posted
The couple of pipes that had been identified where in an ease to work on area.  Last I heard, it was a relatively ease fix including a couple of standard design changes that would correct the original design flaws.  This issue will not cause any delays in opening the facility this year.
By Guest, posted
Might want to check but pretty sure it's already the cheapest pool in the area. 
By Thomas McMasters posted
Our published annual in resident membership is $210.  Tipp City looks like next year is going to charge $220.

Vandailia is $499 however theirs is much closer to having both an aquatic center membership and a YMCA membership at the same time.

If my family had both memberships it would be $918 a year for us.

By Guest, posted
Isn't their a tax base supporting the vandalia operations that would drive down their fees? I believe their taxes paid my citizens toward operations are much higher than what the city pays for recreation. 
By Thomas McMasters posted
I don't know if the Vandalia rec center had more than a $213,000 operating deficit last year or not.  
By Guest, posted
Don't forget to include levy funds in the comparisons to Vandalia
By Thomas McMasters posted
If you know how much money the Vandalia Rec Center received because Vandalia Council went to the residents to approve the decision to build that complex, that information would be useful to this conversation.  Please provide it.

I personally don't know if their supplement from the resident approved levy is more than the $213,000 we spent last year from the City's General fund in order to support the Y and the Aquatic Center.  

It would be interesting to compare the two supplements.

Vandalia Info

By Guest, posted


The above link is to the Vandalia CAFR from 2010, I believe it will show an accurate representation of taxation and operating expense in that community.
By Thomas McMasters posted
I'd appreciate it if when you have information if you would  go all the way with a full reference (page number would be nice).  On first look I found a Recreation Fund found on page 99.  This showed an entry of $1.  After that I looked too see if there is a pool fund or an athletic fund or an aquatic fund, if there are then I missed them.  Its hard not to get the impression you're sending me on a wild goose chase. Whether it was through sloppiness or intentional it doesn't matter.  The result is still my spending too much time trying to figure out something that should have been easily conveyed.   If the intention is to get information out for debate purposes and its not your intention to waste time, in the future please be more specific in your references.  
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