Sumner Pool Reopens to the Public

The pool is back.

After being closed for nearly a year due to budget cuts, the Sumner High School pool reopened to the public on Thursday.

In August, the Sumner School Board voted 3-2 to approve a lease agreement for the pool with Sumner-Bonney Lake Aquatics. The nonprofit, run by Diana Ekstrom, took over management on Thursday. She will manage the pool.

And on her first day on the job, she sat in her office wearing a SBLA shirt and a satisfied smile on her face.

“It’s great to have it open again,” she said. “So many people have come up and said that they’re grateful.”

While the pool underwent a thorough cleaning before opening Thursday, Ekstrom has a few plans in store, one of which is closing the hot tub, which she says requires too much work to maintain. She also wants to spruce up the interior and make it more welcoming to visitors. Sumner High School art students will be painting island-themed art on the walls, which she expects will be complete by October. There will also be painted representation for Sumner and Bonney Lake High, which share the pool.

Ekstrom said that senior residents were especially grateful that the pool was back. When it closed in 2010, those wanting to swim or do water aerobics were forced to drive to the nearest pool in Fife.

On Thursday, several people were waiting when the pool opened.

“Some of them were not sure it was open, but they had questions,” she said.

Bonney Lake city employee Gary Leaf dropped by early in the day for a swim and commended the operation.

“It was really nice,” he said via email. “Staff is friendly, the locker rooms are very clean.”

Ekstrom, who said that opening day had gone as expected, praised the relationship between SBLA and the Sumner School District, calling the district “fabulous.”

While Bonney Lake and Sumner's swim teams had use of the pool during the 2010-11 school year, if it had closed permanently, the district would have paid $38,000 a year to bus the swimmers to the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

“If we hadn’t come up with this alternative, the pool would have
been closed,” Ekstrom said, gesturing to the pool, where Bonney Lake and Auburn Mountainview were holding a swim meet. “All of these teams wouldn’t be here. It was going to affect (the swimmers) this year.”

Jay Paulson, the assistant coach for Bonney Lake’s girls team, and the boys’ head coach, said that knowing the pool will be open takes a burden off the coaching staff.

“We still have to bus over (from Bonney Lake) to use the pool,”
he said, “but knowing it will be open is a relief – and knowing there will be a boys' season. It has been on the chopping block.

“I have confidence in Diana, and I think this is going to be a big plus.”

The lease agreement reached in August sets up a five-year term, which will be reviewed annually and renewed or terminated by April 1. However, SBLA can walk away whenever they want, at which point the board will have to decide how to proceed.

SBLA will be responsible for maintenance, repair and custodial services, such as gas, water and sewers. The group will also undertake staff training, public programming and subletting management. Everything will be subject to district oversight. SBLA must guarantee that Sumner School District swim and water polo teams will receive 2.5 hours for practice daily and 3 hours for meets, and that SSD will have 5 hours set aside weekly for various other reasons.

SSD is responsible for purchasing a pool cover ($14,000), paying the annual electric bill (estimated between $45,000 and $81,000) and paying the first $5,000 of boiler repair.

Ekstrom has plans to add new programs, including a teen night on Fridays and Saturdays, and triathlon training.  For a complete schedule, click here.

“There are all kinds of things that haven’t been happening in the last five years," she said, "and they will be now.”