Q.C. pool swimming in funding problems

The Queen Creek Unified School District Aquatic Center is built. The water is glistening in the eight-lane competition lap pool, two diving boards sit ready for jumping feet and two shaded bleachers wait for cheering spectators.

However, the district is unsure when the $2.8 million center will open on Chandler Heights Road west of Ellsworth Road. It’s also unsure what programs it can offer and how it will pay for them.

A town or city’s parks and recreation department often oversees programs for open swimming, swim lessons and various swim activities. In this case, discussions between district officials and Queen Creek town leaders failed to produce a partnership to share in the pool’s operating costs.

The district had been planning the pool for eight years, but didn’t invite the town into discussions until late into the process, said Town Manager John Kross. He also added the district has not approached the town within the past two years or so in regard to the pool.

“We don’t have any details what they’re requesting,” Kross said.

A couple years ago the town completed an aquatic center feasibility study, but it was unable to get the district involved in the process, Kross said.

Queen Creek originally offered the school district $500,000, but because the money was for capital expenses and could not be used for daily costs for the pool, the district turned down the offer. The town is limited by state law on what it can provide for operating costs, Kross said.

“We don’t have the flexibility to use money any way we feel like using it,” Kross said. “We also couldn’t take it on in the middle of the fiscal year.”

Unless the district can find enough donors, sponsors and groups to rent the facility, it will be financially unable to open the pool to anyone other than students.

Queen Creek school board president Jeff Black said he knows families are going to expect to use the pool once summer comes.

“If we open the pool and say it’s only for students, what are we going to say to kids who want to swim?” Black said. “It will be a terrible public image problem if the pool is not open for public use. Towns don’t normally have pools that they are not involved in running. But parents will have a hard time differentiating between the town and the district’s use.”

Without the funding, the pool’s main user will be Queen Creek High School’s swim team and dive team. The school’s teams have been using the pool at Canyon State Academy in Queen Creek for years, and the swim team now uses the pool at an LA Fitness health club.

Students could also use the new pool during their physical education classes, for off-season training or for after-school intramurals and other activities.

Most of the $2.8 million cost of the aquatic complex’s construction was paid for through a $2.5 million bond, which voters approved in 2002.

District officials, school board members and district employees with experience in pool management met Monday to study program and revenue ideas.

Tony Mlazgar, the high school’s science department head who coaches swimming and baseball, said public swimming and swim lessons aren’t revenue generators, and pools actually lose money by offering them.

“It will have to be paid through grants,” said Mlazgar, who has 12 years experience in Mesa as a pool manager, lifeguard and water safety instructor trainer. “Reservations (such as group rentals) bring in the highest revenue.”

Former board member Monte Nevitt wants the district to try to run the pool as a for-profit center, similar to the district-owned Queen Creek Performing Arts Center.

However, he also believes that once the town sees the pool is open, “they’ll come to the table, or it will be a huge black eye for them.”

Kross said the town is still open to “ongoing communication and dialogue” about the pool, but the town also has to balance the aquatic center’s programs needs with existing town programs that are already funded.

“It’s most challenging to do that because this is the most difficult budget year and the most challenging economic (time) we’ve faced in the town’s history,” Kross said.

The town is just starting its next budget process for next fiscal year, and Kross invites the district to participate in the application process needed for outside agencies requesting money.

“It looks like a great facility for the school district,” Kross said.

Superintendent James Murlless said he will invite town officials to the next aquatic center meeting planned for Feb. 9.

“These parents are going to expect something to happen (such as the pool being open to the public),” Murlless said. “If that means I work a deal with the town, then I’ll do that.”

Swim clubs, naming rights sponsors, donors and grant opportunities are being sought for the pool.

To offer assistance, call (480) 987-5935.