Editor’s note: The following statement, regarding Whitewater Aquatic and Fitness Center contractual negotiations, dated Friday, May 12, has been released by the Whitewater Unified School District’s superintendent’s office. The statement is followed by one released on Monday, May 15, in reply by the Whitewater city manager’s office. 

From the Whitewater Unified School District’s superintendent’s office: 

Last evening, the Whitewater Aquatic and Fitness Center negotiations of The Whitewater Unified School District (WUSD) met with the city of Whitewater committee to continue negotiating the joint agreement that operates the aquatic center facility. The WUSD committee communicated that they value and support the community pool and facility and are committed to coming to an agreement. However, the School Board aims to find a solution that focuses on the facility maintenance and capital planning rather than the operation of an aquatic facility and fitness center business.

WUSD committed to paying half, $220,000, of the previously accumulated operational deficit from the aquatic center in order to clear the financial path of negotiations. However, that commitment came with the caveat that the district does not want to continue to be responsible for the operations or future accumulation of debt based on the operation of the business inside of the facility moving forward. 

“The education of our students must be the top priority when making financial decisions moving forward. We are not in the business of running a recreational pool and fitness center,” stated the committee chair for WUSD, board member Jennifer Kienbaum. Historically, WUSD utilizes the lap pool for swim team and swim lessons, not the recreational pool or the fitness center. 

The City of Whitewater’s full contract budget request from WUSD of $4.3 million over a 15-year contract is the equivalent of 4.5 full-time teacher salaries and benefits over a 15-year period. The WUSD committee stated that it would not commit to a time period that extensive until the city is able to demonstrate a successful business plan inside the facility that does not depend on the WUSD contribution to simply run their business. 

Finally, WUSD made its intentions clear that WUSD was proposing, due to our size, staffing and the building’s connection to our facilities, to take over the maintenance of the aquatic center facility moving forward. This is a substantial commitment, however, it is critical that our facilities are well cared for. This would make for a more traditional lessor/lessee agreement and clarify the city/school district partnership. WUSD owns and maintains the building and would like our staff who are familiar with it, to do the upkeep and maintenance. This will require continued discussion on rental costs to utilize the pool. Negotiations are planned to resume on Wednesday, June 14, 2023.

From the Whitewater city manager’s office: 

Paying for obligations under a previously signed to and agreed upon contract was a good first step for WUSD to demonstrate commitment to doing the things it says it will do. Second and third on that list comes paying their fair share of the usage demand, which totals almost $70,000 a year and taking on the maintenance and chemical costs associated with the pools too, if WUSD intends to take care of all the facilities and maintenance as they proposed. Otherwise, this proposal aligns with previous WUSD proposals in that it is neither equitable nor accounts for WUSD’s demand on the facilities – creating a funding shortfall.

In short, WUSD is still proposing to use only deficit financing to sidestep the operational costs of their usage and the current proposal threatens the operational integrity of the entire facility for the community and surrounding area. As I said before, following through on prior obligations was a nice, and very basic, first step among many more needed for the school district to provide the transparency, honesty, and commitment to partnership that is required to successfully run the Whitewater Aquatic and Fitness Center. 

On Tuesday, the staff and elected officials will have to take a hard look at the future of the facility’s current hours and daily operations in light of the shortfall in funding offered by WUSD at this time. How WUSD can try and spin fulfilling basic contractual obligations into some sort of positive step while they have turned the faucet off on any operational funding for their usage is beyond me.