Parks and Recreation Director Casey Wooddell presented the resolution to City Council Dec. 7 and it was approved on a 6-0 vote to seek proposals to determine if it is a good idea.
Wooddell said the RFP would allow them to compare proposals from different companies and decide whether it is a good idea for the city of Oxford operations.
“We will find out what the advantage and disadvantages are and see what other cities found good about this,” he said. The Oxford Country Club is also interested in contracting for operation of their pool. “We started talking in January 2021. The country club is interested, not in teaming up, but going alongside.”
Wooddell told Council he has spoken to people in several other area communities which have contracted for pool operation and said there are three primary companies in the region which do this work.
“All the communities in the area I talked to use one of these three companies. It would save HR time and the money recruiting people to work,” he said.
He was asked by a Council member if the city could retain operation of the concession stand and he said it is possible to have a company run the entire operation or piece it out. He also explained, in answer to Council questions, they could build up an increase in minimum wages for employees as well as continue to offer scholarships for those unable to afford the cost of pool memberships, which has been a longstanding practice.
Those scholarships, he added, are done using the same income guidelines as the Talawanda School District free- and reduced-price lunch numbers.
Wooddell emphasized the RFP process is to gain information about contracting the work out and that any decision to do so will require a City Council vote.
“Oxford Parks and Recreation is requesting city Council support of publishing a Request for Proposals in order to receive official proposals from professional companies. Should the Oxford Parks and Recreation Department in agreement with City Management wish to proceed with one of the responding companies for these services, City Council would be asked at a later date to specifically support such an agreement,” he wrote in the staff report included with the agenda.
In that report, he included a list of 13 communities around the state which have contracted for pool services and noted it is not necessarily a comprehensive list. The list included Fairfield, Mason, Vandalia and Bexley.
“Contracting out aquatic operations is a growing trend in the industry, with very successful results for many other cities and villages in the state of Ohio,” he wrote.
He explained he had contacted several directors of facilities at some of those locations, receiving positive comments about the relationship, quality of service and intention to continue contracting these services. Fairfield, he said first used contracted operation this past summer and recently chose to continue that agreement through 2022 and beyond.
Contracting Aquatic Center work to an outside firm will allow his staff to deal with an expanding summertime recreation schedule, Wooddell said.
He said the plan has potential benefits beyond cost savings and reducing human resources time but will also result in such things as enhanced training, greater number of available lifeguards, dedicated maintenance and repair personnel, reduced city of Oxford staff time, network of professionals available as needed, professional recommendations on capital improvement needs and forecasts and reduced liability.
“Contracting these services has the ability to allow OPRD staff to redirect time toward achieving other important tasks during the summer months, including enhanced recreation opportunities for underprivileged communities and economic impact events to support local businesses. This also allows OPRD staff more time to focus on the existing summer camp operations and evaluate the potential of new events or programs for the summer months,” he wrote in his staff report.
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