By Sara Strong
The Rock County Pool and Fitness Center came out of 2002 with almost $2,800 more than expected.
That may not sound like much, but the facility hasn’t been ahead at the end of the year for as long as manager Carol Wessels can remember.
A slight increase in revenue and spending less than anticipated made the year-end report a positive one.
Wessels gave the report to the Pool Commission at its Tuesday meeting.
Subsidies from the county and city of Luverne have increased in recent years, prompting previous discussions to sell the facility. But after investing in new equipment, adding a women’s only weight room and cutting classes, the facility could see better times in 2003.
The city of Luverne and Rock County have said they will continue to subsidize recreation to keep it available to all people at a reasonable cost.
In 2002, the facility lost 50 fitness memberships and saw a decline in exercise class participation. Open swim was also down, especially during the summer months with outdoor water parks available in the area.
Even with the decline in memberships, revenues increased in the end. Wessels said, "We feel really good about that."
Senior swim, group rentals and physical therapy are some areas where the facility saw more attendance in 2002. All things considered, attendance was 77,501 for the year. (Each time people use the pool or fitness center, they are counted toward this total.) The previous year’s overall attendance was slightly more than 2002 totals.
Wessels addressed recent complaints about cutting some water classes. She said an average of two to five people attending classes meant that the Pool and Fitness Center lost more than $100 per class. The two classes cut were deep water and circuit training.
The Pool Commission has allocated more money for advertising during this year. The pool may offer special classes and ask for advance sign-up and payments to ensure that classes don’t run at a major loss in the future.
Wessels also said the new weight equipment and women’s room were capital expenditures, which aren’t considered when looking at classes and staff time that run at a loss.
Since the second week in January, 30 to 40 new fitness memberships were sold. Because the special one-month-free offer got such a positive response, the facility is extending the offer of one month free with the purchase of a yearly membership. The offer continues until Feb. 7.
New members Linda Bakken and Bob Kaczrowski joined the Commission Tuesday. Paul Alink was elected chairman and Laurie Ketterling vice chair at the meeting.
For women only
The new Exclusively Women room has gotten the fitness portion of the facility much positive feedback.
Advertising the hours that weight trainers are available has also been popular, especially for women new to lifting weights. Trainers have even had lines of people waiting to be initiated on to the machines, Wessels said.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the Pool Commission approved the purchase of a new crunch machine for the women’s room. The machine will cost $900 and will be identical to the new crunch machine in the co-ed room. It allows users to add weights to the piece and work different muscles harder than the standard situp.
Many women have said they would use it in the women’s room, but not the other. The Commission questioned the practicality of two identical pieces of equipment in neighboring rooms, but ultimately voted to purchase it.