A Letter from the Pool President, May 24, 2020

Dear pool members,

Normally this would be our opening weekend—an exciting time for us all—so I just wanted to let you know our current status in this evolving pandemic pool season.

OPENING

There is uncertainty about when/if Fairfax County/Virginia State Government will allow pools to open this summer. The current stated date is 6/10/20 but if you are following the phased approach, Phase I starts 5/29 though only for lap-lane swimming. Many pools are closing for the summer. The general impression to reach Phase 2 (undefined rules) is that the County is waiting to see the number of virus cases plateau and start decreasing before moving to higher phases. Regardless, our pool management company sent notice last week that they cannot open our pool until 6/20/20 due to personnel issues. The PRA Board of Directors (BOD) meets this week to discuss whether we will open 6/20/20 and, if so, in what capacity. We will post that information to the website for all soon after the meeting.

PAYMENT POLICIES and POOL FINANCIAL HEALTH

Pool policy is membership payments are non-refundable unless the BOD votes otherwise. However, the BOD has no interest in taking a hard line in this regard if the pool is closed this summer. Still the BOD must protect the pool as an entity/going concern and cannot simply refund membership payments. The good news is that your patronage and our combined efforts over the last 4-5 years updated all the core pool infrastructure so the pool is fairly healthy with limited risk of unforeseen large expenses. The BOD evaluated pool expenses this season and feels that generally the pool can cover the expenses for both this season and next season with the payment from this season IF the pool can reduce some of our standard expenses for this summer. So, the BOD voted that if the government closes the pool this season, we will credit membership payments this season to next season so membership does not simply lose their payments. In an email I sent earlier this month, I stated that if the pool does open this summer then it is business as usual and there is no roll forward. However, when we hear whether open means fully open or open per the government restrictions, we will re-evaluate whether we roll forward pool payments in part or full accordingly.

Regardless, the BOD requests that all memberships complete their full payment this year as usual as the pool waits to hear more from our government about the season. If you have not sent your membership payment, please do so ASAP as they are now past due. If you forgot to write down your balance due, please let me know and I will provide. More information on payments appears below.

We will communicate any updates as soon as we are aware. We thank you for your understanding and support. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Regards,

Dave Galway, dave.galway176@gmail.com
Parklawn Pool President