A cross-section of Morgan Hill residents and government
officials are brainstorming about what to do with 1.7 million
gallons of water.
A cross-section of Morgan Hill residents and government officials are brainstorming about what to do with 1.7 million gallons of water.
That’s how much water is in the four pools servicing the city at the Aquatics Center, the Centennial Recreation Center and Live Oak and Ann Sobrato high schools.
A committee of 10 people representing Morgan Hill’s various swim interests has formed to develop the Aquatics Strategic Plan for the Morgan Hill Community.
The plan is aimed at streamlining and improving services for everything from swim lessons to competitive team practice and saving the school district and city money, according to Recreation Director Steve Rymer.
It’s too early to say whether or not this would lead to a pool closure at either high school, Rymer said, but is more about maximizing the facilities that are available.
The committee sprang out of an initial community meeting held in February. After meeting weekly since then, the committee has developed a flow chart identifying what a successful swim community would look like, he said. Ideally, there would be a fluidity that doesn’t exist in Morgan Hill right now, he said.
For example, many children enter the swim community when they take swim lessons. But once they know how to swim, there may not be clear channels to then enter a youth swim team, Rymer said. With a strategic plan in place, swimmers would be guided from program to program, he said.
While the project is still in a conceptual stage, it’s got Morgan Hill leadership marveling already.
“I think this is just a stepping stone for partnerships with regard to other athletic facilities,” said Don Moody, board president of the Morgan Hill Unified School District. “Who knows where it could lead.”
That there’s an aquatics committee at all is testament to the level of cooperation reached already, longtime swim coach and committee member Mack Haines said.
Prior to 2002, the city had just one pool at Live Oak High School. The limited resources led to a collaboration between different interests, Haines said.
Despite the one pool, Morgan Hill has a storied history of aquatics success: a Central Coast Section Championship, 25 all-American swimmers and Olympic swimmer Kelly Asplund, Haines said.
Then, in rapid succession from 2002 to 2006, the city and school district opened six pools.
Haines said the swim community was chomping at the bit for time in the pools.
“We went from one small pool to … all this water, so, maybe we didn’t really have to cooperate,” Haines explained. “Now we’ve hit a financial crisis, so we’re saying, ‘We may have all this water, but we should get back to cooperating.'”
In a community where just a few years ago swim teams jockeyed bitterly for time in the sparkling facilities, having all swim teams at the table is a huge step, officials agreed.
Streamlining aquatics was a springboard for other collaborations between the city and other entities, Mayor Steve Tate said.
“If we can do it with aquatics, we can do it with anything,” Tate said.
