University Hills Swimming Pool
4100
Metzerott Road
P.O. Box 896
College
Park, MD 20741-0896
(301)
935-5092
Change
your bookmark for UH’s World Wide Website!!
The “calix.com” domain name was sold, and our web server/host
modified their name to calinx.com. Our thanks to Shelley Rowton for designing and maintaining our
web site.
WINTER NEWSFLASH
Message from the President, David
Betman
This
Winter Newsflash has a lot of important information, and it is extremely
important that you read it thoroughly. Carol Cron, Chair of Fundraising,
provides details and a timetable about our upcoming 2nd Annual
Spring Lawn & Garden Sale. There is
critical news from our Treasurer, Michele Deck, on the financial status of
University Hills Pool. Included is a
copy of the proposed budget for 2001.
As you will see, the situation is not good, and help and support are
needed from every member. There is a message from the Membership Committee,
chaired by Gary Stewart and Ro Lesiw. Finally, Greg Middleton, Chair of
Buildings and Grounds, lists the dates and tasks to be done before we can open
the pool on May 26.
Message from the Fundraising Committee, Carol Cron,
Chair
Last year we had a successful
first lawn and garden products sale. We
distributed flyers to 3,200 homes in College Park, University Park, Berwyn
Heights, University Hills and College Heights Estates. We had 110 orders, totaling $4,500. Minus some expenses (plus the cost of the
product, of course), we made a profit of $1,500. We were pleased with that result, particularly for the first time
doing this type of fundraising activity. This year we want to double our
profits. We have made some minor
adjustments to the products we are offering, modified the flyer distribution
methods and increased the quantity of flyers we will distribute. We will distribute 5,000 flyers to the same
neighborhoods as last year, and will add Hollywood, some areas of Adelphi, and
more areas of College Park. We will mail flyers to the customers who ordered
from us last year and to our pool members who do not live in the communities
listed above.
On
Saturday, March 3 we need many volunteers to distribute flyers. We will meet at the pool at 9:30 a.m. David Betman is organizing the flyer
distribution. Swim team members who are
13 years and older are asked to help with both the flyer distribution and the
product delivery. The products will be
delivered on Saturday, April 7. Those
swim team members who contribute at least six hours (time must be documented!)
to this project will be eligible to go to dinner with Chris Benedick on a
Saturday in April. The telephone tree
will be activated this coming week to line up members to help with flyer
distribution.
Message from the Treasurer, Michele Deck
We are in
dire straits. Those of you
who have been hit with assessments at the end of the past several seasons
should be aware of this fact.
Unfortunately, there are many people who have not paid their assessments
for one reason or another and the money we need to open the pool this year is
simply not there. We have not fully
paid for certain expenses from last summer because it would deplete our funds
to a less than acceptable level and have had to make arrangements with certain
vendors to further delay payment until we collect revenues from the upcoming
mulch sale. If we do not take action
now, we will be unable to open the pool for the 2001 season.
We would
not be the only pool to take these drastic measures. The Green Acres Pool, formerly
located at Good Luck and Cipriano Roads was at one time an active, viable
pool. Our Swim Team participated in
Divisionals at Green Acres for several years (Division B). They were unable to
open due to lack of funds for the 2000 pool season and now the entire property
has been BULLDOZED.
None of us want to see this happen to University Hills, but it is inevitable
unless we make some changes.
Because of
declining membership in recent years and ever-rising costs, the funds remaining
at the end of each season have dwindled.
The amount assessed at the end of the past few seasons was designed to
prevent a more permanent dues increase, but after-the-season billing is no
longer a workable solution. Too many
people have not paid and some may not pay at all and just not return to the
pool, which is obviously not the direction we want to go. As a result, the Board of Directors has been
forced to increase dues and reduce hours of operation for the upcoming season
in order to ensure that we will open at all.
Despite these necessities, our membership rates are still very
competitive with those of neighboring pools.
As always our swim team, staff and grounds are second to none in this
area! Please be aware that members
have the opportunity to pay their dues in installments, in advance, to
help ease the financial crunch at Memorial Day. You may send your check to the P.O. Box and the amount will be
credited to your account. Remember, we
also accept Visa and MasterCard.
The dues structure for 2001
returning members is:
Regular
Class A $445 Seniors &
Founders $280 (rate unchanged)
Special
Class A $375 Class B $495
Auxiliary $50 (rate reduced)
As of now, the Board of Directors
has approved a reduction in pool hours as follows:
Tuesday
thru Friday 12 noon - 8 p.m. Saturdays 12 noon - 9 p.m.
Mondays Closed Sundays 12 - 8 p.m.
The 2001
Projected Budget, approved by the Board on February 15, is on the back of the
first page. If you review it you will
know exactly how your dues money is spent.
The Board will consider expanding the hours of operation during the
season if revenues sufficiently exceed our current projections. On the other hand, an additional reduction
in hours could occur if we fail to meet budgeted revenues or if expenses are
higher than expected. In addition, if
we can increase membership to an acceptable level, membership rates can be
reduced. Remember that this pool is a co-op. All class A members are owners and we
must all do our best to bring in new members in order to keep our rates
down. The fewer members we have, the
fewer people we have with whom to share the costs of running the pool.
We can do
this. It is not an impossible or
necessarily permanent situation. We
must all pitch in and help where we can to prevent the Green Acres
Disease from striking University Hills. Assisting the membership committee is crucial as is ensuring that
we have more than enough help for a very successful spring fundraiser.
Message from the Membership
Committee, Gary Stewart and Ro Lesiw, Co-Chairs
The expense of operating a pool
remains the same, whether we have ten members or three hundred members. Several years ago we raised our membership
ceiling to 320, because we had more than 250 Class A memberships and projected
we may exceed our ceiling within a few years.
At the close of the 2000 pool season, we had less than 100 Class A
family memberships. We simply
need more members to avoid continually increasing dues and to cover current and
future repairs.
While we got
30 new members last year, we lost 40 (or more). This is not because members do not like the pool, but it is
generally due to families moving out of the area, such as the Torres family,
who moved to California last summer, or the Cefalu family who relocated to
Louisiana two years ago. The other
typical reason we lose families is when the children grow up and leave “the
nest,” the parents no longer want to maintain a family membership. The ideal situation would be to have
children who grow up at the pool, stay in the area, start their own families
and become pool members, such as Geoff and Cricket Benedick (and Bailey and
Brice)! Unfortunately, this is not the
trend.
The
Membership Committee is always looking for new ideas for bringing in new
members. The Committee is working on an
idea for early June where every single family will be encouraged to bring two
or three families – perhaps neighbors, school or church friends, or relatives –
for a “big backyard cookout and party”.
This will be a chance to give friends a tour of the pool, introduce them
to the staff and swim team coaches, and most importantly, introduce them to
your pool friends. More details about
this will be in the Spring Newsletter, which you will receive in late
April. In the meantime please be
thinking of families you can talk to about UH, and any ideas you have which can
be used by the Membership Committee to bring in new members. If you would like the Membership Committee
to contact them directly and explain membership details to them, please call
Gary or Ro.
Message from
the Buildings and Grounds Committee, Greg Middleton, Chair
During
2000, 33 families worked a total of 1,337 hours in various capacities for UHP;
almost 56 percent of these hours were in buildings and grounds efforts. THANK YOU!
Once again, your help is very much needed to handle the
large number of tasks scheduled by the Buildings and Grounds Committee for the
Spring of 2001. Repair, maintenance,
and improvement projects include raking and cutting the lawn and cleaning the
drainage ditches; making plaster repairs in the main pool; repairing and
caulking the deck; and, repairing the bath house roof and soffit. These and other projects, planned for
Saturdays beginning March 10 through May 19, will prepare us for our spring
Health Department Inspection and continue to make our pool more
attractive. Our past attention to
preventive maintenance and improvements has enabled us to remain an attractive
pool for our current members and helped us attract new members.
Listed below is a brief summary of
the Work/Fee Requirement.
1. Eligible members are required to help
for at least 12 hours per membership in pool
activities each year (pool
maintenance efforts can be spread over the year) or pay an
additional $50 with their annual
dues.
2. Family members 13 years or older can
participate and combine their efforts to satisfy the family minimum of 12
hours. A family of four could fulfill
its requirement in 3 hours (4 people x 3 hours per person = 12 hours)
3. Exempted from the work/fee requirement
are our charter members, those 60 years of age or older, and those with serious
health problems. Be sure to note any of
these exceptions on the dues form, which you will find in the regular spring
newsletter (to be mailed in April).
The 2001 spring schedule of all work
activities is listed below. Please call
Greg Middleton about any tools that you can bring or other questions you may
have. The UH phone tree will call a
couple of times this spring to remind members of the Saturday work
efforts. We work from 9:00 a.m. until
3:00 p.m. By the way, free
refreshments will be available!
PLEASE
MARK YOUR CALENDAR TO COME AND HELP!
MARCH
3: Purchase new mower and
blower; take old mower for repair and mower blades for sharpening (as backups);
check bath house roof for repairs and clean roof; purchase a larger, wider scupper; replace light-post fixtures;
check pool deck for repairs.
MARCH 10: Attach new
scupper; clean parking lot; rake lawn inside fence, and rake island, perimeter
of parking lot, and the drainage ditches; remove trash and leaves from around
bathhouse and behind pump house; attach barrel bolts for inside screens;
fill-in dirt in island and seed island and other bare spots on lawn.
MARCH
17: Finish raking lawn, Island,
perimeter of parking lot, and drainage ditches; finish seeding where needed in
baby pool lawn, front lawn, and island; remove any dead trees; roof and soffit
work..
MARCH 24: Repair
deck; rake out and remove weeds from sanded areas; finish any remaining yard
work.
MARCH
31: Reattach plumbing in
office, ladies' room, and pump house; repair deck; finish yard work; continue
attaching barrel bolts for inside screens.
APRIL 7: Repair
deck; cut, edge, and weed-whack lawn.
APRIL 14: Caulk deck; roof work; attach new signs;
roof work; finish caulking deck; cut, edge, and weed-whack lawn.
APRIL 21: Clean
pool, fix pool lights, replace broken tiles in main pool (Water Works and
Current Electric; plaster repairs in main pool (done by members); begin
filling pool by end of weekend; clean and set up pump house for inspection;
turn on filter systems and add algaecide; finish cleaning and straightening
storage shed; staff available to help
after meeting; clean and straighten office and store room; affix signs that
were removed for the winter; cut and trim lawn; clean and straighten storage
shed; move items from under pavilion; place picnic tables/benches on basketball
court and under pavilion, and chairs on deck at baby pool.
MAY
5: Install speakers and
microphone; vacuum and backwash pool; clean trash cans; fix any broken picnic
tables; cut and trim lawn; clean chairs and picnic tables; assemble swing set
and playhouse in baby pool area; paint bathhouse floors.
MAY 12: Finish
fixing picnic tables; cut and trim lawn; vacuum and backwash pool; continue
with roof repairs.
MAY 19: Cut and
trim lawn; vacuum and backwash pool; rake out and weed all sanded areas;
complete roof and soffit repairs;
clean parking lot and all concrete decking.
MAY 26: Pool Opens!!
2001 BOARD
OF DIRECTORS
David
Betman, President (301)
595-0047
Michele
Deck, Treasurer (301)
982-3459
Carol
Cron, Secretary and Chair of Fundraising (301)
277-4718
Gerry
Benedick, Chair of Operations (301)
935-5633
Greg
Middleton, Chair of Buildings and Grounds (301)
345-8021
Gary
Stewart, Co-Chair of Membership (301)
937-4003
Roman
Lesiw, Co-Chair of Membership (301)
864-8989
Rae
Phelps, Co-Chair of Socials (301)
927-7169
Buck
Aplin, Co-Chair of Socials (301)
937-4766
David
Brosch, Membership Committee (301)
779-3168
Shelley
Rowton, Webmaster (301)
345-7438
Caroline
Benedick, Swim Team Manager (301)
935-5633