Redmond staff seek five-year extension with Wave Aquatics, add resident priority and reporting

Redmond staff on Oct. 28 proposed an amendment to the 2020 operational services agreement that would exercise the final five-year renewal option with Wave Aquatics and add new resident-priority rules, program hours reserved for city use and stricter reporting and customer-service requirements.

"We're looking to exercise the final renewal option from the 2020 operational services agreement, extending Wave Aquatics management of the Redmond Pool for 5 years," Deputy Director Zach Coevner told the Parks and Environmental Sustainability Committee. He described the amendment as a strengthening of a "15 year partnership" and said the changes were negotiated with city legal, risk teams and Wave Aquatics leadership.

Staff said the amendment formalizes resident priority for program registration tied to Redmond ZIP code windows, requires WAVE to meet the same resident-priority standard when offering programs, and guarantees 200 hours of guarded pool time annually for dedicated city programming (a 100% increase from the previous agreement). The amendment also sets a peak-hours definition (weekdays 8–11 a.m. and 3–8 p.m.; Saturdays 8 a.m.–4 p.m.; Sundays 9 a.m.–3:30 p.m.) and protects a minimum share of hours for community-based programming such as learn-to-swim, drowning-prevention, aquatics fitness, lap swimming, family swim and adaptive therapeutic programs.

City staff flagged two operational complements: twice-annual customer-service training for Wave Aquatics using standardized city policies, and enhanced data reporting to help track usage and equity of access. "This agreement has been reviewed by our legal and risk teams," Coevner said, adding the amendment addresses specificity that was missing from the 2020 agreement and caused "unintended operational challenges."

Council members welcomed the resident-priority language and the reporting enhancements. Council Member Fields said changes respond to past complaints about perceived priority for certain teams and a lack of welcoming customer service, and said she planned to support the amendment. Council President Kritzer asked whether the amendment would increase overall swim-lesson capacity; staff said the amendment will prioritize residents for existing lesson slots but does not by itself add pool capacity, noting physical limitations of the facility affect how many learn-to-swim sessions can run simultaneously.

Staff recommended placing the amendment on the Nov. 18 council consent calendar for approval so the five-year renewal can take effect pending council action.