Crescent City councilors last week supported a proposed partnership with South Coast Community Aquatics in Brookings to give Del Norte County pool patrons a place to swim when the Fred Endert Municipal Pool closes for construction in December.

But on Monday, SCCA President Val Early told the Brookings City Council that discussions about how the arrangement would work are still preliminary. She floated the idea of instituting a community pass for patrons on both sides of the state line since Crescent City and SCCA would be funding the program. The details still needed to be ironed out before the agreement goes before the Brookings City Council for approval, she said.

“If we’re able to put that together and [if] you feel like that’s a worthwhile project, that would be a pilot program for us to be able to gauge what our winter activity would be,” Early said. “If we’re able to put together, this collaborative effort would start to happen in December and would go through February because those are the months the Crescent City pool is going to be closed.”

The Fred Endert Municipal Pool is expected to undergo upgrades to its HVAC system as well as its pool deck and locker room floors. As a result, the pool will be closed from December through February, City Manager Eric Wier said.

Under the proposed agreement with SCCA, the nonprofit organization that took over management of  the Brookings pool in 2023 would be responsible for facility-related costs. This includes heating the outdoor pool to between 83 and 84 degrees Fahrenheit, Wier told the City Council at its Oct. 21 meeting. Crescent City would provide the lifeguards and supervisory staff needed to operate the pool, he said.

In a Facebook post on Oct. 14, SCCA stated it was reaching out to patrons in Del Norte and Curry counties to commit to purchasing a community pass. According to the Facebook post, proposed prices are $75 for adults, $60 for seniors and $40 for youth and $120 for a family of four during the months of December, January and February.

Monthly passes at the Fred Endert Municipal Pool are $60 for adults, $50 for seniors and $40 for youth or $120 for a family of four.

The Brookings pool is open from June 1 through Sept. 1. Monthly passes are $60 for youth and senior residents and $75 for adult residents. Monthly passes are offered to families of two-to-eight with the adults paying full price and youth getting a discounted rate.

On Monday, Early said that SCCA didn’t turn away any child regardless of their ability to pay.

“If they came with money, that’s great,” she said. “If they didn’t, they still came in and swam. All of the kids had the opportunity to utilize the pool no matter what.”

According to Crescent City’s Oct. 21 staff report, the city’s 2024-25 budget accounted for a two-month closure of the pool. However, the construction project is now anticipated to take three months, though Crescent City Mayor Blake Inscore noted that it would likely be longer than that.

Under normal circumstances, Crescent City would have laid off most of its lifeguards and have found other tasks for pool supervisors, Wier said. If councilors in both cities approve the arrangement with SCCA, four lifeguards would be on staff to offer morning and afternoon programming at the Brookings facility, he said.

Two lifeguards would work for about three to four hours starting at 6:30 a.m. to offer lap swim, water aerobics and exercise programs, Wier told councilors. The afternoon crew would come on at about 3 p.m. and offer recreational swim and swimming lessons until about 6:30 p.m. or 7 p.m., he said. 

According to Wier, if the proposed partnership  proceeds, pool-related expenses for Crescent City would increase by about $37,000 during the three-month closure of the Fred Endert pool. However, with the projected revenue that comes with having the Brookings pool available to Del Norte County patrons, the net cost to Crescent City would be $32,000, he said.

However, Wier noted, that revenue is uncertain.

“It’s an outdoor pool in the wintertime — are you going to have that dedicated group that is actually going to come and buy those passes?,” He asked. “It could range from 50 to 100 people that would be taking advantage of this per month is what estimates look like. That could be $10,000 over the three months or it could be as much as $27,000 over the three months.”

There’s also the added benefit of keeping Crescent City’s lifeguards employed, Wier said.

South Coast Community Aquatics entered into an MOU with Brookings in 2023 to operate the pool. In March, the nonprofit entered into another MOU with Brookings to operate the pool for the 2024 season. That agreement is set to renew automatically in 2025.

During a presentation before the Brookings City Council on Monday, Early said the pool generated $75,364 in total revenue during its 2024 season. That revenue includes about $19,072 in membership fees, $38,630 in swim lessons and $11,000 in daily use fees, she said.

SCCA also received $21,354 in grant dollars, which included support from Advanced Health, the Curry Health Foundation and the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation. The Wild Rivers Community Foundation sponsored a water safety program and youth programs while CASA of Coos and Curry counties and the Curry Homeless Coalition provided scholarships, Early said.

Early also presented the results of a survey to the Brookings City Council where 84 percent out of 94 respondents stated they were either satisfied or very satisfied with the pool. Most of the 94 respondents — 93 percent — said they would continue to use the pool if it was open year-round, Early told councilors.

“Mostly they wanted to know if it was going to be covered before we [opened] it in the winter time,” she said. “We, of course, responded no.”

In addition to the proposed partnership with Crescent City, SCCA’s future goals for 2025 is to hire a pool manager, keep the pool open to the public longer and potentially cover it.

Councilors in Crescent City enthusiastically supported the proposed partnership with SCCA, though Councilor Kelly Schellong Feola was initially concerned about how a weather-related last-minute closure would be communicated to pool patrons.

Wier noted that SCCA has a Facebook page and a website. He also suggested creating a listserv for Fred Endert Municipal Pool patrons.

Inscore praised the city, including Aquatics Supervisor Alicia Garcia, for being proactive and “patron-first” in accounting for the possibility that the construction project at the Fred Endert pool could take longer than three months.

Inscore also noted that Crescent City will need to train new lifeguards, which would delay the pool’s reopening even further. He supported keeping lifeguards on staff at the Brookings pool to “maintain continuity” and said that the novelty of swimming outdoors in the winter would provide a novel experience for local youth.

Plus, Inscore said, access to a pool is a legitimate need for many residents.

“Anything we can do to address that, I think, makes us good community leaders,” he said.

On Monday, Brookings Mayor Isaac Hodges told Early to return to the City Council with the estimated costs associated with SCCA’s proposed partnership with Crescent City. He also urged Early to gauge the risks and benefits of covering the pool year-round before hiring a pool manager since finding someone who would only work half a year would be difficult.