Private Partner Emerges with Idea to Keep Sumner Pool Open

When Sumner School District athletic director spoke to the school board about options for the Sumner pool, it’s hard to say if anyone present knew he had a Hail Mary up his sleeve.

Addressing a packed room, Thomsen outlined three options for the Sumner pool, the result of several meetings with community leaders. In the third and final option, he announced that a “business owner” came forward only a few days prior to the June 8 school board meeting, with an offer to take over the building and create a long-term lease agreement with the school district to keep the pool open.

While Thomsen wouldn’t say who the individual is, School Board president Sherm Voiles asked if it was “the business owner from Buckley.” Apparently, this person approached the board through email, pitching the idea.

A lease through a private individual wouldn’t be a “permanent fix,” and would, ideally, last only until the YMCA or a recreation center is built, said Thomsen.

The stipulation? The pool needs a number of upgrades in order to maintain it, even for less than five years. In this agreement, the benefactor would expect the Sumner School District to foot that bill.

“We simply cannot recommend anything that does not include upgraded basic systems,” said Thomsen. “But once it’s done, the estimated savings could be 50 percent.”

Basic pool systems, like the boiler, pump and pool cover, need to be upgraded, which will cost approximately $100,000. But, with grant opportunities from Puget Sound Energy and other partnerships, Thomsen believes that pool upgrades could only cost the district $50,000.

The money could come from the school district’s capital project funds, although OSPI and the state of Washington would have to give the district permission to use state money for pool upgrades.

To maintain the Sumner pool today, it costs the school district $150,000 annually in maintenance costs, not including staff time. Currently, the district makes about $30,000 in annual revenue from the facility.

The other options Thomsen presented included plans to close the pool permanently and bus students from Sumner and Bonney Lake to the King County Aquatics Center in Federal Way. It is the only venue available where school district kids could swim at a reasonable hour – 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Closer options, like the Muckleshoot Tribe facility, Enumclaw Aquatic Center and Mel Korum YMCA in Puyallup, have their own programs and less availability during ideal hours. However, Thomsen said they are still in talks with those agencies and are trying to figure out a closer option.

To bus school district kids to and from Federal Way, a 30 minute ride, it would cost the district approximately $23,000 a school year.

The second option Thomsen presented is inspired by the Enumclaw model and includes a plan to keep the pool open, make essential upgrades and develop comprehensive public program. This would include one, full-time staff person who develops and oversees a variety of pool programs open to the public, in the hope more community programs will net more profits.

“We aren’t necessarily recommending that Sumner remain in the pool business,” said Thomsen. “We want to think about future options and what can we do for our aquatics teams.”

The school board decided to halt any immediate decision on the pool until more information about the possible lease contract and benefactor emerges.

“Time is of the essence. I needed to see this information yesterday,” said school board member Mike Pavlik.

The board plans to have a workstudy session on this matter and said they hoped to have it as an agenda item at the next school board meeting on July 13.