De Pere Park Board plans for next pool season

By Lee Reinsch

Correspondent

DE PERE – Making pool patrons happier, quicker moving lines and seasonal park and recreational staff less frazzled are the goals behind some changes coming next year to outdoor swimming in De Pere parks.

No more nonresident fees for open swim

Nonresidents will pay the same rate for open-swim passes as De Pere residents next summer.

Park Board Commissioners said the move is meant to ease the bottleneck of people in line.

Director of Parks, Recreation and Forestry Marty Kosobucki said there was some frustration when some Rockland and Ledgeview residents find out their De Pere ZIP code isn’t enough to qualify them for resident rates.

Commissioner Randy Soquet said De Pere taxpayers should get a benefit for pool admission because they voted for the referendum to raise their taxes to pay for the pools.

Ultimately, they all agreed expediting the admission process made sense. 

Nonresidents will still pay more than residents for general admission and seasonal swim passes, but open-swim day passes will be one price.

Swim periods to change

The pool schedule will look a little different next summer. 

Open swim at both the VFW and Legion pools will change to 1-5 p.m. and 5:45-7:45 p.m. weekdays.

The new schedule eliminates family swim and afternoon lap swim. 

Weekend open swim will be the same: 1-6 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays.

It’s possible some special family swim events could be put on the calendar.

Kosobucki said families still have the option of going to open swim.

“I think the benefits outweigh the negatives,” he said.

Soquet suggested family swim periods could be scheduled as special events throughout the summer.

Also, pool facility rentals will be limited to weekends only.

One pass for two shifts

Pool users attending both the afternoon and evening open swim sessions (1-5 p.m. and 5:45-7:45 p.m.) won’t have to pay admission twice.

A day pass will cover both sections.

Kosobucki said he hopes this makes things easier for everyone.

“This has caused confusion with people and staff because people naturally call the (afternoon open swim) pass a day pass,” he said.

Kosobucki said he doesn’t believe the change will cause a revenue loss.

“The majority of people who leave after the afternoon open swim do not come back,” he said.

All changes were approved by City Council Dec. 21.