[Kitria]

GOOD NEWS!

So many phone calls flooding the people on the board in the Historical side concerning a change in the closing time of the pools resulted in a decision on Dec. 12.

There weren't many people at the meeting, I was away. But a few spoke up. That and the massive phone calls convinced the board to leave the pool closing times to stay the same.

This does prove that the boards DO listen to the residents. Don't assume that nothing can be done!

If you made a call, thank you from the whole Historical side. I think the Mature side sounds better..hmm..another thing to call about..? *winks*

[Skip]

The Resident Advisory Council is NOT the decision maker here. It is not a done deal. The Villages Central Community District has the final say. Hopefully what should happen is that the RAC recommends that these pools be "grandfathered in" to stay open to 11 PM. Otherwise, the Recreation Department could bring this up again next year. My feeling was that the VCCD concurred with the RAC and won't touch the closing hours of the pools in question because there was no monitory savings in closing them at dusk. Key word is "Advisory".

Skip

[Kitria]

Thank you, Skip, for the incite and correction. I understood that the Dec 12th meeting was the VCCD meeting. There has to be a reason, savings vs nosavings being a reason, to put in the minutes. One of the questions over the phone by many was 'what was the savings?'. As one of the pools had to have the lights on all night anyways due to it being a mailcenter.

However, they wouldn't even be considering if it hadn't been for phone calls. Well, that is my opinion, anyways. If you don't speak up, don't complain about the outcome.

I have spoken up on another issue and was rewarded with a very nice phone call, which in the end, didn't stop the decision. I tried..I complained to myself for a few minutes (well maybe more than that)..and moved on. *smiles*

[bamafan]

Why is it that the pools must close at dusk. I have never paid attention, but are the newer pool not lighted. I too would like to be able to swim at night when it is really hot. A cool dip just makes it all worthwhile. What would happen if you did get in at night. I'm sure it happens.

[Barefoot]

I hear that Handie always goes for late night nude swims when he is in TV.
What a sight. :yikes:

[Skip]

As I recall, after the pools in Lake County were built and the hours established at 11 PM (by ole man Harold), either the state (or the counties) changed the rules about lighting pools used at night. The newer pools built since then did not meet the new lighting rules. However the new rules did NOT apply to pools already built before that date. So, with the exception of the 4 pools in question (Paradise, Hilltop, Southside and Chula Vista) all pools close at DUSK. People in Sumter and Marion feel "How come our pools can't stay open later like those 4?" Answer is: "Too bad, your pools don't meet the new rules". What happened recently was the the Recreation Department wanted to make the closing times uniform throughout The Villages (maybe to appease Sumter & Marion residents). The VCCDD said, let's ask our residents (through the RAC). And yes, the chairperson of the RAC got lots of calls, mail and messages from residents (who use those 4 pools) saying leave them open until 11 PM. So this might be visited again in a few years. And once it changes, it can't go back, from what I'm told. All the pools built after the rule change can't be changed to a 10 or 11 PM closing because they don't meet the newer lighting and security standards. However, any Village resident can go to any of the 4 night pools and meet nice people from the Historic and Pre-Historic sections.

The next big item to come along will be the change in Trash Collection and Recycling. It'll cost more money to collect fewer times per week and re-cycle! I think the RAC can't fight for us on this one since they can't get involved with "utilities" and I think the VCCDD considers trash a utility. We'll be watching.

Skip

[bamafan]

Thanks for the info Skip.