Question for communities with pools

What days and hours is your pool open?

Pool & Jacuzzi spa: Year 'round 5a - 10p Sun-Th.. 5a - midnight, Fri., Sat & days before federal holidays.

I'm asking because we are only three years old. Until now we've been open seven days a week, but we have decide we need a monitor to control behavior, and our cleaning service has jumped 50% in the last two years, so we are considering closing on Monday or Tuesday to save some money. I'm curious what others are doing.

The monitor is a whole different subject, but I'm happy to discuss. Basically, 90% of the time things are fine. But early in the season there are always a few issues such as fighting, throwing furniture in the pool, etc. In addition, we do regularly see children unaccompanied by an adult (against our rules) and people bringing multiple guests into the pool (our limit is four per household.) We do have cameras, and honestly once the troublemakers are identified and their fob turned off, things generally calm down quite a bit. But we have a perception problem, now, because once Social Media gets wind of the problems, everyone forms the opinion that the pool is a zoo.

We're struggling to understand how a pool pass or wristbands would work. If you have four per home (which is appealingly simple), what about homes with three or more kids?

Interested to hear ideas.

I lived in an apartment complex for 15 years and they had laminated ID cards for each household member. The Lifeguard had a binder with the current up
to date listings in case someone tried to sneak by.

Is your pool outdoor, or indoor? As mentioned above, each property is unique to its needs. If you have a pool monitor or lifeguard, I suppose you can
get a ipad or like device that has a current up to date list of owners and residents.

I don't think you can keep a pool open 24/7 7 days a week. Chemicals for shocking can take up to 24 hours to work. There are times where there are "accidents" in the pool that require shocking. I would plan a day like a Wednesday as the day to do the work. It's less busy of the week. Plus no holidays. That way the pool does have a time to rest and recover from all the "bacterias" that can build up.

Our passes were similar to LetA's and we changed the dates every year so someone couldn't sneak in on last year's pass.

It seems your primary problem is the behavior, so unless and until that's addressed, it won't matter what time the pool is open so do that first. Maybe it's time to consider reducing pool hours - longer on the weekend, for example. Tell the homeowners what the problems are and the worst-case scenario. If they can't behave themselves and/or compel their guests and family members to do the same, the pool may need to be closed for a few days to calm everyone down and to find out who the bad seeds are. No one wants their kids to be denied the pool because Mr. and Mrs. Jones' bad-A kids crunked out and caused a near riot, so this could lead to more self-policing among the homeowners.

In my community, we had to threaten to shut down the pool for the remainder of the summer if people didn't start controlling themselves. This message was sent as we were getting into a very hot August, so between that and revoking the passes of some people, things did calm down. This may seem gangster to some of you, but these amenities are for the benefit of the homeowners, so if they want them, they need to do their part in caring for them so everyone can enjoy.

Ask your homeowners for suggestions regarding pool hours, passes, etc., and see what comes up. You could also talk to the local parks department and see how they determine their hours and address would be mayhem. Don't forget to get some numbers on the costs of hiring monitors, managing a pass system and so on, so homeowners will understand what's at stake and consider what they're willing to pay for.

All of that said, another suggestion on hours - consider resident-only hours a few days a week. That will suck for those who have out-of-town guests or grandkids visiting for the summer, but it's the RESIDENTS who are paying for this stuff anyway, so their access should take priority.

Our pool open Memorial weekend to Labor Day weekend. 10 AM to 8 PM every day. Sundays noon to 8 PM. Open one night per week till 8-10 PM for "adults only" swim (no lifeguards). Shock added if needed after closing in the evening. Lifeguards are the biggest expense.

According to the World Health Organization, it should be between 78 and 86 degrees Fahrenheit for moderate activity. Hot water can cause a rapid decrease in blood pressure, which can lead to dizziness or going unconsciousness, so it's recommended that hot tubs be kept below 104 degrees.

Going the other way, if the temperature is below 70 degrees, that will increase the heart rate and blood pressure, which can ramp up one's risk for heart trouble, especially cardiac arrest. It's even worse if the temperature's below 64 degrees, which is why you see people in triathlons like the Ironman in Hawaii are wearing wetsuits.

If you're doing water exercises, like those for people with arthritis or aqua Zumba, the recommended temperature for warm water exercise should be between 83 - 90. Generally the slower the movements the warmer the water needs to be, but that doesn't mean bathtub warm.

In fact, when I went to the Y for water aerobics, we were always told to jump in the shower before the pool because your body temperature drops a bit when you jump in anyway. If you jump in the shower first, it's easier to adjust to the cooler temprature. That's why this is usually a requirement in public pools, so you might want to contact the parks department in your city and see what they do, and go from there.

This year our pool is supposed to be open from May 1st to Nov 1st.

I’ve posted elsewhere about how the pool ate my soul last year. In retrospect, I think if our Board had applied some member discipline earlier on, the entire season would have gone a lot more smoothly. But I think the Board members were more concerned with their reputations than with running the pool.

One thing: check your laws and governing documents about cutting off pool access (or any member discipline). In my neighborhood, it requires a two week notice, there’s a right to a hearing, yadda yadda. In the one case where a fine was issued, the homeowner complained all over social media and our spineless Board (illegally) removed the fine.

I can only ask you to believe that I’m not an authoritarian a-hole: the incidents that concerned me were things like people getting drunk and obnoxious, breaking in after hours and vomiting and making a mess, racist slurs directed at the LGs, false allegations of racism - serious stuff that needed to be addressed. But was not. We also had a lot of issues with people sneaking friends in, and with people complaining when the LGs attempted to prevent the sneaking.

We had significant issues with trespassers - there is a well-established homeless encampment not far away - and our local police were not particularly interested in helping. When the problem became bad enough that I was genuinely afraid someone was going to get hurt, the Board voted to close the pool early (in October). This made a lot of residents very upset, and so the Board pushed me under the bus.

Overall, I think the important thing is ensuring that you have solid support for whatever actions you deem necessary to make the pool run smoothly.

Bill

Seven days a week, 5am to 9pm