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Council receives aquatics user-group evaluation; hires consultant to produce facility business plan
Summary
Council received staff's user-group success criteria report for the El Segundo Aquatic Center and approved moving forward with a consultant to produce a business plan to guide lane allocation, programming and subsidy targets.
The El Segundo City Council received and filed a staff report reviewing six years of user‑group performance at the El Segundo Aquatic Center and agreed to supply a consultant with the data to produce an aquatics facility business plan.
Aquatics staff member Joe Martin presented the user-group success criteria used to evaluate swim and water‑polo organizations: documentation, treatment of staff and facility, fiscal responsibility, space utilization, El Segundo residency, documented competitive success, community benefits, coaching certifications and timely reporting. Martin said staff scores generally aligned with groups’ self-assessments and noted substantial year‑over‑year improvement among most organizations.
Martin said the city will engage the consultant (named in the staff presentation) to deliver an executive summary, market analysis, operations and management plan, lane utilization study and a financial plan. The consultant’s kickoff meeting is scheduled for the week after the council meeting, Martin said.
Councilmembers discussed policy goals they want the consultant to consider, including cost‑recovery targets and the roles of the main Aquatic Center (competition focus) and the Plunge (community/recreation focus). Councilmember Drew urged the council to set explicit cost‑recovery goals — for example, targeting 90% cost recovery at the competition pool and a lower recovery rate (he suggested about 50%) for the community plunge — so the consultant can tailor recommendations.
Others emphasized that staff should retain authority to assign lane time based on the consultant’s recommendations and operational considerations, and that the consultant should consider programming, pricing elasticity, staffing and potential revenue opportunities such as tournaments and special events.
Council reached consensus to receive and file the staff report and provide the consultant the existing data set; the consultant will return to the council with its formal recommendations when the analysis is complete.
