Multiple changes at the Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center are planned in an ongoing effort to maintain the public exercise facility and only public pool within the City of Sequim.

A reduction in hours is among the changes and projected to keep the facility open until Sept. 30, 2016. Additionally, annual passes are no longer available for purchase and the discontinuation of six-month passes are assumed to eventually follow.

“I’m sorry it has come to this,” Scott Deschenes, SARC executive director, said. “We’re trying to serve the most people we can with the limited amount of resources we have.”

During the summer, SARC is open seven days a week from 5:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday. But, recoiling from the recent failure during the primary election to create a SARC Metropolitan Park District and with no immediate short- or long-term funding strategy, the SARC board unanimously approved a motion to reduce SARC’s hours of operation.

The adjusted hours are to begin Monday, Oct. 5. Following implementation of the new hours, the SARC board plan to re-evaluate its decision and its impact based on monthly reports provided by Deschenes.

“The board will remain flexible,” Frank Pickering, SARC board chairman, said.

Gill Goodman, a SARC commissioner, gave the outline for the new schedule scheme at a meeting Aug. 18. Beginning the first week of October, SARC will be open from 8 a.m.-1 p.m., closing for two hours and reopening from 3-7 p.m., Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., Saturdays and closed Sundays.

Before presenting a handful of different operating options aimed at reducing costs to the board of commissioners on Tuesday, Deschenes carefully analyzed the various scenarios for months, Pickering said. The options ranged from making no adjustments to closing the aquatic portion of SARC and reducing hours to just closing the pool. In the end, taking into consideration the assumptions about revenue, the option to simply reduce SARC’s hours was projected to keep the facility open as long as possible.

“I think the longer the timeframe the better,” Sherry Nagel, SARC vice chairman, said. “The longer we can hold out, the more time we have to find resolutions.”

To maintain as much flexibility as possible, Deschenes developed a sponsorship opportunity for anyone interested in sponsoring SARC to be open on a Sunday. A program he modeled after what pool officials did in Jefferson County.

Pending plans

Reducing hours and offering only short-term passes is estimated to keep the doors open to SARC for about one year, but the adjustments don’t come close to providing SARC with the financial assistance it needs to stay open.

In exploring longterm options, Goodman was assigned during the SARC board’s first meeting following the primary election to work with City of Sequim officials on their potential proposal to pursue a broad-based, joint county and city metropolitan park district. Nagel was assigned to coordinate with Gary Huff, fundraising chairman for the Clallam County Family YMCA in Port Angeles, about a potential partnership or lease options with the YMCA.

“Both options focus forward,” Pickering said. “And, that’s what we need to do.”

Like Pickering, Deschenes is “hopeful,” but he said, “unfortunately,” both potential longterm options through either a county and city metropolitan park district or with the YMCA don’t help with the immediate financial needs of SARC.

“The uncertainty of things and the facility is just at that age where we need to be fixing things,” he said.

Because of the short-term financial challenges, Deschenes and the SARC board is continuing to gather input, take suggestions and seek funding.

“We’ve gotten some very positive comments,” Pickering said.

One suggestion the SARC board is following up on is to work to form a foundation.

The Aug. 12 meeting primarily was centered on gathering information, hearing about possible options and exposing the public to what will occur if SARC does close.

“People need to know that locking the doors is an option,” Pickering said.

In the event the facility closes, attorney for SARC Craig Miller, said there are really two options for the dissolution of SARC given facility is solvent. Either the SARC board can pass a resolution to dissolve and transfer all contracts, physical property and assets to a successor taxing district, such as the fire district or school district for example.

If an agreement with another taxing district cannot be reached, through a petition process with the Superior Court, SARC would be sold and all proceeds would be turned over to the Sequim School District.

“These options are at the bottom of the barrel,” Miller said.