There are plenty of under used municipal and school pools across the country that could be bought or managed by an outside organization, just for the promise of occasional public access. USMS is not loaded with money, but has lots of knowledge and experienced people who could pull off a stunt like this. One club in Indiana has done just this thing by taking over a county pool that was in peril of closing because it could not afford to operate it. As far as I know, the agreement is still in force and the USMS club is still paying for operations by its own management and programming.
San Diego has three public pools but cannot afford to keep them all open at once, so they have one or two open and close the other one (or two) on a rotating basis. Not a good way to keep programs filled.
Are you suggesting that USMS spend their 'rainy day fund' to subsidize the operation and maintenance of swimming pools in order to create greater pool availability for members? This sounds like the prelude to a sizable increase in dues. I'm not against your proposal, per se, it just seems like there are a lot of questions to be answered. Also of note, most members do not participate in USMS national events, nor would most members use one, two or three pools that USMS was operating. This might result in some acrimony from membership were dues to be increased in order to support such a venture.
The title of the thread is misleading, I am sorry for that and cannot change it. The intention is for USMS to possibly manage OR buy existing pools that are underused. It is possible to get a facility for free, if you agree to certain terms. My proposal is based on the idea that USMS will not be foolish enough to agree to just anything or buy a pool in a flood zone, Cartel war zone or on top of a skyscraper.
Dues should not be affected at all, because operating money should be provided for by program money at the facility. If it only breaks even, we have won a huge victory in keeping one more pool open.
I fully realize that until we operate or own all municipal pools across the country (if one is to dream, one should dream BIG), many members not in proximate driving distance would not have th opportunity to use the pool(s). One of a large number of opportunities would be to install new clubs and new members, neither of which are flooding our rolls in the last 5 years.
Are you suggesting that USMS spend their 'rainy day fund' to subsidize the operation and maintenance of swimming pools in order to create greater pool availability for members? This sounds like the prelude to a sizable increase in dues. I'm not against your proposal, per se, it just seems like there are a lot of questions to be answered. Also of note, most members do not participate in USMS national events, nor would most members use one, two or three pools that USMS was operating. This might result in some acrimony from membership were dues to be increased in order to support such a venture.
The title of the thread is misleading, I am sorry for that and cannot change it. The intention is for USMS to possibly manage OR buy existing pools that are underused. It is possible to get a facility for free, if you agree to certain terms. My proposal is based on the idea that USMS will not be foolish enough to agree to just anything or buy a pool in a flood zone, Cartel war zone or on top of a skyscraper.
Dues should not be affected at all, because operating money should be provided for by program money at the facility. If it only breaks even, we have won a huge victory in keeping one more pool open.
I fully realize that until we operate or own all municipal pools across the country (if one is to dream, one should dream BIG), many members not in proximate driving distance would not have th opportunity to use the pool(s). One of a large number of opportunities would be to install new clubs and new members, neither of which are flooding our rolls in the last 5 years.
