Council comments

Gorland did say that the Sunday mens soccer league is hard on the field, and it was tabled until next week for further consideration. The good news is that they may actually be charging for use of City facilities. The bad news is, as noted previously, that the pool fees charged for the private swim team are ridiculously low and dont reflect the going rate for such a facility. Gym did note that he DOES have the leeway to charge whatever he wants for the pool facilties "to encourage use" of such facilities, and the Council agreed without a discussion or debate. Gymbos artificially low rates benefit only the private teams owners at the expense of the taxpayers. The owners are "encouraged" to use our pool because he charges less than HALF the going rate for pool practices. The 60% discount is a good deal for the owners, but a BAD deal for the taxpayers. Dr. Mel P. Johnson

information please

More info is needed- who watches the admissions gate? the city or the host team? Who actually sells the food at the concessions? Who is responsible for the totals? Who receives the admissions fees? what is the average revenue generated by heet sheets? What is the admission cost to get in for nonswimmers, etc? is $165 an hour the standard fee per hour of pool rental, or an average? How many meet hours are the pool rented for, usually? 6? 7? 8? Are the Devil Rays a nonprofit? Does the pool rental fees include the costs for cleanup afterward and setup before? How do we know if the numbers of admissions are accurate? concessions? heet sheets? number of swimmers at each practice? each meet? Do they register anywhere? if so, where? Would the heet sheets reveal any information about the individual swimmers? which swim team? where they live? Who would have a complete team roster? Pool officials? Swim team officials? Does the cost per swimmer per meet depend on how many events they are competing in? Or is it a standard charge for everyone, no matter how many events they are in? what do other pools charge for a meet? how do we compare? Who is in charge of admissions, heet sheets, and pool rental fees at other pools? Do other pools have a written contract with the groups that use their pools? Do most pools have a contract with Dade County schools? These are some of the pertinent questions that have arose so far. Help is needed to fill in these gaps. Thank you for your participation.

the nose knows- something smells

While it may be true that MS didnt host the event, supposedly we DID rent it to Miami Dade Aquatic Club, who in turn, turned around and rented it to the Goulds swim team. How much revenues did we receive from our rental to MDAC? How much pool rental revenues do we recieve form renting the pool to MDAC for swim practices? Very simple questions, why arent there simple answers coming forth? IF we arent receiving ANYTHING, why not? Why cant, or wont, the Asst City Manager provide some verifiable numbers regarding the aforementioned topics, AND how many Springs kids are on the MDAC swim team, now and for the past three years? more simple questions - no answers. Perhaps a FOI request will help motivate him to reply. What could he be hiding? Altered numbers? Pocketed cash? Kickbacks? All of the above? Something smells here. The nose knows.

Gymbo giveaways

So the private Doral team is charging the Goulds team-and making a profit- to host the meet at OUR pool. We CAN rent the pool to private entities for THEIR benefit - how much do we charge to use OUR pool for THEIR benefit? What are OUR expenses and revenues for those meets? where are those numbers to be found? We CAN charge rentals is NOT the same as we DO charge rentals, is it? If we CAN, and DO charge rental fees, where is that revenue reflected? And what are our expenses for each meet? If we CAN charge rentals for private enterprises, but DONT, why not? If these were nonprofit organizations it might be a little different situation, but it ISNT! And there is NO proof that we have EVER charged ANYBODY a nickel, except the residents of course, to use OUR pool, is there? We are paying ALL the expenses for private entities to make a profit, just like we are doing at the Country Club! To keep the pool open from Sept-June to subsidize those 6 Springs kids and the private businesses is ridiculous! and EXPENSIVE! Its just ANOTHER case where private special interests benefit at the expense of the taxpayers - all of which is approved by the City Manager. The horribly inept, incompetent, and expensive, mismanagement continues.

Borgemanns Black Holes

The pool is supposed to be fixed (100k) as a part of the LINK contract, as it was included in the package. I spoke with the LINK representative when it was given to LINK and he confirmed it. Of course there will be MANY change orders and resultant cost overruns attached to that project too, like every other city project associated with the City Manager. WHO are the Rodrigues family? Are they Springs residents? If not, WHY are we NOT charging them to use OUR pool? Even IF they WERE Springs residents, they should be charged the going rate for pool rentals, $165 an hour, no? What about the water polo team? The scuba guys? Do we charge ANY of those guys? If not, why not? Residents pay for it so that nonresidents can use it for THEIR benefit! The Country Club arrangement works at the pool too! How many OTHER sweetheart deals are there?