City Council Report#2015-26
April 7, 2015
DATE:APRIL 7, 2015
TO:BELINDA B. ESPINOSA, CITY MANAGER
FROM:ROCHELLE JOHNSON, RECREATION MANAGER
HECTOR DE LA ROSA, ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER
SUBJECT:AUTHORIZE THE CITY MANAGER TO ENTER INTO A ONE YEAR AGREEMENT WITH THE HILLTOP YMCA FOR PINOLE SWIM CENTER FACILITY USE AND ONSITE AQUATIC PROGRAM COORDINATION
Recommendation
It is recommended that the City Council adopt Resolution No. ______, “Authorizing the City Manager to enter into a One Year Agreement with the Hilltop YMCA (YMCA) for facility use and aquatic program coordinationat the Pinole Swim Center.
BACKGROUND
In 2001, the City entered into an agreement with the Hilltop YMCA to operate the Pinole Swim Center. Based on this successful partnership, the City has continued to contract with the YMCA to operate the swim center on an annual basis.Under the 2014 agreement, the swim season is defined as May 1st through Labor Day (September).
Separate from the Agreement between the City and the YMCA, the YMCA has an agreement with the Pinole Seals for use of the Pool. The agreement calls for the Seals to pay the YMCA for the cost of lifeguard services during their use of the facility. The Seals have traditionally used the City’s Pool as their home pool for practice, meets and invitational’s commencing in mid April. Additionally, the Seals also donate $7,500 annually to the City to assist in offsetting the operational costs.
In February2014,the City Council directed staff to seek other organizations, which may be interested in operating the City’s pool. OnFebruary 26,2014,Staff submitted a request for information on a Recreation list serve. The request was for organizationsthat operate other agencies pools. From theinformation obtained from the list serve, Staff contacted two (2) potential operators on or about March 2014, which provide pool operation services in other cities and seemed able to meet the needs of the City. The two operators were the City of San Rafael and California Sports Center (CSC).No other cities or entities have demonstrated an interest in providing program pool services to the City of Pinole.
The City of San Rafael was selected because they provide similar services to the City of Novato as the YMCA provides to the City of Pinole. Their agreement with the City of Novato requires that Novato maintain the pool and pay for all costs associated with maintaining the pool including chemicals, routine cleaning, heater malfunction, and anything else. The City of San Rafael provides lifeguards, sets the programs schedules and events, and collects the revenues from pool users.
CSC currently operates the pool for the City of Sunnyvale. CSC operates from a model of renting out a facility for which CSC provides a monthly fee to the City of Sunnyvale. The requirement of the City of Sunnyvale is that CSC maintains a predetermined number of classes to meet the needs of the community. The revenue provided to the City of Sunnyvale is to cover the cost of operating the pool, without any profit. All profits are retained by the CSC.
Upon initial discussion, CSC indicated that the distance of their home offices from Pinole was too great to consider further engaging in any type of the support. Discussions with CSC concluded in April 2014.
Similar to CSC, the City of San Rafaeldetermined the geographical distance between the Pinole Swim Center and their relative locations were too great to manage our pool. San Rafael also raisedconcerns thatbased on the YMCA’s limited profit (based on past performance) it was not financially viable for them for the amount of work to be performed.On December 29, 2014, the City of San Rafael concluded discussions with Staff with the final determination that operational support could not be provided.
On January 16, 2015, Staff contacted the Hilltop YMCA and discovered that they remain interested in provided operational support for the Pinole Swim Center.Staff has met with the YMCA Program Director over the past several weeks in an effort to review the existing agreement and suggest changes.
REVIEW AND ANALYSIS
Outlined below are some of the pertinent provisionsand sections which are proposed to be changed as identified by Staff and the YMCA:
Section 2 - Term:The term of the agreement is for one year from April through October 2015. However, the swim season will only be from April 15 through Labor Day. The YMCA has expressed interest in a multi-year contract, which staff will evaluate next year.
Section 3.2 – YMCA Obligation Care and Maintenance of Center:
The City requested changes to clarify the care and maintenance responsibilities for the YMCA. The City has detailed that the YMCA should be responsible for providing and maintaining Automated External Defibrillator (AED), providing and maintaining umbrellas provided for patrons and lifeguards, and a detail of removal of garbage and debris.
Section 4.1 City Obligation Care and Maintenance:
The City provided language on the provision of janitorial services provided at the center. The City will continue to provide service four (4) days per week. If it is determined by the City that in order to maintain a safe and clean environment, the City will increase services for three (3) additional days per week for a total of 7 days a week.
Section 5.1 - Financial Obligations:
Historically, YMCAFoundation has contributed$8,000 annually to the YMCA’s Swim Center Operating Budget. For the 2015 swim season, the YMCA Foundation will no longer supply the $8,000 contribution. The loss of the $8,000 not only affects the YMCA operations budget but would likely result in no net income to the City at year end.
Moreover, the YMCA has expressed that they will require a rate increase to cover the loss of the $8,000. The YMCA is proposing an across the board rate increase averaging $2 per program, with the exception of daily drop-in fee which they are proposing to increase by $1 dollar. The new schedule is attached as Exhibit A.
When evaluating the proposed fees with other surrounding agencies, the fees do not appear to be out of line. The City of Hercules non-resident pool rates are the same as the proposed rates (non-Resident: Youth = $5, Senior = $5, Adult =$6).
The increase in fees is expected to generate a net income at year-end of $1,016 of which the City will receive 50%.
The YMCA has stated that without the rate increase they would not be interested in operating the pool given that any financial losses would have to be absorbed by the YMCA.
YMCA 2015 Budget
The YMCA has presented a preliminaryOperations Budget for the 2015 Swim Seasonwith Revenues estimated at $47,318 andExpenditures at $46,302 with a net profit of $1,016.Assuming the YMCA’s Budget projections are realized, the City would receive$508 to assist in offsetting some of the City’s Pool maintenance costs.If there is a net loss at the end of the swim season, the YMCA shall be fully responsible for funding that loss.
According to the YMCA’s and the Seals 2015 schedules, the Seals will commence using the Pool on April 15 with publicswim season to start in May.
The attached agreement provides for the YMCA to operate and maintain the Pool from April 8 through October 31 2015.
FISCAL IMPACT
During the 2014 contract, Staff was directed by Council to track usage at the swim center by Pinole Youth Center camps. At the conclusion of the summer, funds were to be transferred internally to cover the cost of camp users. A transfer in the amount of $1,290 has been made to cover the cost of 430 summer camp users at the rate of $3 per use. Staff will continue the same procedures for the 2015 season.
The City’s costs to maintain the Pool in FY 2014-15 is estimated at $51,764. However, the estimated amount will be reduced by the electrical saving due to the installation of the solar panels. Revenues are estimated at $46,300 (Seals contribution $7,500, YMCA net profits $2,300, and a transfer from the General Fund $36,500).
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A:Resolution
Attachment B:2015Swim Center Agreement
Attachment C:YMCA 2015 Budget
Exhibit A: Pool Brochure
Exhibit B:Pool Rules