BROWNSTOWN
This summer has been far from typical at the Brownstown Pool.
In her seven years as manager, Jamie Temple said it has been the craziest season she has experienced.
“Starting out with very cold weather, lots of rain, no business to shutting down the big pool, draining it and filling it back up again, we’ve not had much of a summer,” she told the Brownstown Park Board during a meeting Tuesday night in the park shelter house.
“Several people are just hopeful that we’re going to stay open just because it has not been much of a summer,” she said.
Temple said she has enough high school and college students serving as lifeguards who would be available to extend the season by at least two weeks, and concessions manager Shannon McKeand assured she had enough staff, too.
Starting Monday, the pool will close at 5:30 p.m. every day. Plus, morning lap swim has been extended, going from 6 to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday.
Once school starts in Brownstown, the pool will be open from 4 to 6 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. It will be closed Fridays.
Temple said the last day of the season most likely will be Aug. 18. It originally was set to close Aug. 3.
“There is a possibility we will close sooner than the 18th, so stay tuned for that,” she said.
Park board President Richard Burrell said he was fine with extending the season as long as Temple had enough pool chemicals.
“We should be good to go,” Temple said.
There have been more pool parties this year than any other year Temple has been manager, and she said four more are coming up.
“I’ve had people ask about movie night, and that’s far from my mind,” she said. “I don’t know if we’re going to get another one in. We have so many pool parties. I’ve already got people tentatively trying to book August pool parties.”
No glass goggles
On June 29, Temple posted on the pool’s Facebook page that the big pool was shut down after a swimmer’s tempered glass goggles busted in the pool. Customers then could only use the leisure pool and slide.
The big pool reopened July 6. Then she posted on the Facebook page that all public swimming pools don’t allow glass of any kind, and staff members would be checking all masked goggles as people entered the facility.
Since then, around a dozen people have been stopped at the gate for having glass goggles, Temple said.
“That’s amazing how many people probably came through and we didn’t have an issue with them, but I’m not chancing it again,” she said.
Temple said there’s a disclaimer on the back of the package that states the goggles are not for swimming pools.
“They are not safe at a pool or for your child,” she wrote in the Facebook post. “Please be aware when shopping for goggles. They are not made for swimming pools or diving. Says so in the directions. Children will not be allowed to wear any goggles while on the slide or the diving board.”
Diving board issues
Speaking of the diving board, Temple said it is losing its gripping, paint is chipping off and there are spots where it’s pure metal.
She said the board was purchased in mid-June 2017 and is stored indoors in the offseason, so it has only been used five or six months.
“I’ve been talking to the company that we bought it from and said, ‘Hey, this isn’t right,’” Temple said.
The company offered to give her some diving board resurfacing paint, but she said that didn’t work well in the past.
“We had not bought a board in years. It was slick, and we were having people get hurt, so we tried a couple solutions, and the best one was to buy a new board,” she said. “Well now, we’re getting back to where we were.”
She said it’s possible the issues stem from people weighing more than 250 pounds using the board. As people step onto the board, the weight limit is posted.
“I think it’s stretching the board more than it’s supposed to, and it’s bending that and cracking that paint,” Temple said. “That is the only logical response I have for why it’s doing that so badly. I mean, it has peeled, and it’s going to become slick.”
The company is looking into the warranty of the diving board, and Temple will move forward when she hears back from them.
Other updates
Also, a new backboard recently arrived at the pool. Temple worked with Jackson County Emergency Medical Services to determine the right size backboard to order after realizing the previous one she had would not fit in a medical helicopter.
She also said there are spots on the concrete where “No diving” is painted at the leisure pool that aren’t legible, making it slick. She found a company that sells vinyl stick-on letters, so those may be used instead of paint.
“I’m going to try them out on the ones that are gone now and just see if this is a better fix,” Temple said. “I only bought the ones that really needed to be marked up.”
Finally, the park board discussed waiving the fee for the Brave Wave swim team to use the pool for home meets next summer. This year, the number of participants went from around 60 to 18, causing the swimmers’ fees to increase.
Temple said she is fine with waiving the fee, which is around $150, as long as the swimmers help set up before meets and clean up after meets.
The park board unanimously agreed to waive the fee.
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Starting Monday, the Brownstown Pool will be closing every day at 5:30 p.m.
Morning lap swim now has extended hours, going from 6 to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday.
Due to a few issues and weather this summer, pool manager Jamie Temple has decided to extend the season.
The pool will be open every day after school from 4 to 6 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, closed Fridays and open from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
Most likely, the last day of the season will be Aug. 18.
Information: Call 812-358-3536 or visit facebook.com/brownstownpool
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