Sumner-Bonney Lake Aquatic to Take Over Pool Management

The Sumner school district board of directors voted 3-2 to approve a lease agreement for the pool with Sumner-Bonney Lake Aquatics at Wednesday night's meeting. Pending a letter of agreement adding stipulations about school district oversight and possibly raising the required amount of individual liability insurance, SBLA will take over the management of the pool on Sept. 15.

Diana Ekstrom, president of Sumner-Bonney Lake Aquatics, will act as manager of the Sumner pool.

“I was really happy that Diana has a lot more experience than I do,” admitted SSD Athletic Director Tim Thomsen, who would have managed the pool otherwise.

The lease agreement sets up a five-year term, which will be reviewed annually and renewed or terminated by April 1. However, SBLA can walk away whenever they want, at which point the board will have to decide how to proceed.

SBLA will be responsible for maintenance, repair and custodial services, like gas, water and sewers. The group will also undertake staff training, public programming and subletting management. Everything will be subject to district oversight. SBLA must guarantee that SSD swim and water polo teams will receive 2.5 hours for practice daily and 3 hours for meets, and that SSD will have 5 hours set aside weekly for various other reasons.

SSD will be responsible for purchasing a pool cover ($14,000), paying the annual electric bill (estimated between $45,000 and $81,000) and paying the first $5,000 of boiler repair.

It is Ekstrom’s intention to pursue non-profit status for SBLA, although this is not a requirement of the lease agreement.

“She’s going to be utilizing that pool from early morning to late at night,” said vice president of the board Richard Hendricks, who sat on the committee that reviewed SBLA’s proposal. “This will bring everybody back to the pool… the way it used to be.”

“Her heart is in it,” added board member Jeff DeMarre, who also sat on the committee.

Legislative representative Greg Hanon countered that he does not support the lease agreement.

“I don’t believe that this is a solution,” he said. “Any sort of major problem that occurs will be on the district anyway… I don’t believe that the pool is going to be able to function for an extended period of time.”

Board member Mike Pavlik also voted against the agreement, but said that he hoped it would pass anyway. His objection was to the lack of support from the City of Sumner. “I’m extremely upset,” he said.

Thomsen admitted that the lease is a “short term solution, until we find an appropriate long-term solution.” The school board hopes to work with the city in finding a long-term solution that will result in a community pool.