6/12/20 Update

6/12/20

DRA Member Owners,

Thank you for your patience as we work to come up with a plan that both allows us to enjoy the pool as much as possible, and ensures that the pool will be financially viable for future years. We know this is a year of reduced income, increased health precautions, and general uncertainty. If you have questions or concerns, please contact us at pool.dra@gmail.com.

In this week’s update, we would like to share some developments from the county, and information about likely scenarios the board has been discussing.

Dues

To date, we’ve received 70% of dues for 2020. This is limiting our ability to make a decision about whether we can offer refunds if the pool is open for a partial season, as well as to operate the pool for the full length of time we may be allowed to. While we do expect to receive more dues in the near future, it would not be financially responsible to make a decision about potential refunds until we have received all dues and know how much our operating expenses may increase for the season. We will review our finances at the end of the season, and will decide at that time whether we can give partial refunds. 

Any refund will likely be small, and would not be calculated based on the length of time the pool is open, since many of our costs (insurance, inspection, maintenance, filling the pool, etc) are sunk costs. A shorter season means we will have reduced staffing costs, but we will have some additional costs this year related to sanitization, and cannot count on our usual income from guest passes, pavilion rentals, swim lessons, and new member fees. While we would like to be able to offer an opt out option, we cannot, as the numbers simply don’t support this. We operate a tight budget so that we can offer our members cost effective dues, which means we don’t have much of a cushion between dues and expenses for a given season.

As you know, as members and owners of this club, we all have a financial obligation to cover the maintenance and facility costs of the pool each year, so we need all members to pay their full dues.

Opening Date

Things seem to be moving in the right direction. The most recent update from Montgomery County is that pools may be able to open for lap swimming, with limitations, as early as the week of June 15-19. We are working with our pool management company to determine what the cost for this would be, and will update you as soon as we know more. We are optimistic that a general opening of the pool will soon follow.

A possibility, to offset the late start date, is extending the season through September. More on that if it becomes a likely possibility.

Capacity

Thanks to having two pools, our capacity is quite high. So if we were permitted to open at 25% capacity, for example, that would be 270 members at a time at the pool. We don’t think this would impact weekday attendance, and we’d only need to work out some sort of time slot system for weekends.

Changes at the Pool

Our pool will implement a number of changes, as required by the county, to protect our members and staff. These are based on guidance from Montgomery County as of 6/10/2020, and may be subject to change:

  • Sanitization procedures- Bathrooms will be cleaned and high touch surfaces will be cleaned and sanitized according to county requirements.
  • Sign In- We will be required to implement some sort of sign in system.
  • Social distancing- Members should stay at least 6 feet away from non-household members. Lifeguards will not be responsible for enforcing this, as we want their focus to remain on water safety.
  • Face coverings-Face coverings should be used when interacting with staff or members not from the same household (no minimum age has been specified). Face coverings should NOT be worn in the water.
  • Wading pool-We are not sure whether wading pools will be allowed to open this season.
  • Chairs-We will likely not put out the pool’s chairs, but members can bring their own.
  • Guests- While capacity limits are in place, guests will not be allowed to come to the pool. This is to maximize the ability of members to attend. Anyone who paid their dues by April 1/May 1 will still receive their guest passes.

We are pleased to see progress toward the county allowing opening, and we are looking forward to seeing you at the pool!

All our best,

DRA Board of Directors