Bouquet Pool needs 250 memberships by March 1 to stay afloat

If Bouquet Park Pool in Springdale Township can’t sell 250 memberships by March 1, the pool’s board could potentially close it.

So far, only 44 have signed up, according to a recent count by pool board member Kellie Vergerio, of Springdale, who has been swimming at the pool since she was 7 years old.

This year, the pool board has dropped the membership fees by $200 across the board in hopes of luring more than the 114 members they had last year. They also expanded evening hours to 8 p.m. most days, offering more swimming options to working residents.

The pool needs the new and larger membership to stay afloat, said Vergerio.

“We have to have these numbers (250 members) by March 1,” she said. “With the way things are, we can’t move forward; we’d hate to see the pool close.”

The board is holding a sign-up event from noon to 4 p.m. on Feb. 29 at Fat Cat Subs in Harmar.

Family membership fees are $350 in 2020, down from the previous fee of $550. A single membership is $250 and seniors will pay $200. Each is $200 less than previous fees.

Later closing times will be offered to accommodate evening swimming until 8 p.m. weekdays with Fridays hours still until 9 p.m.

“We heard that the pool closed too early for people to go swimming after work,” Vergerio said

The change in membership prices and hours are the result of doing what the public has been asking for, she said.

The board has to come up with about $85,000 to operate the pool for three months, according to Vergerio. The private pool is not subsidized by local government.

The pool has a new board this year with new ideas, expanding from six to 11 board members in late 2019, according to Vergerio.

Residents can sign up via Bouquet Park Pool’s Facebook page or pick up an application at local businesses and the Springdale Free Public Library.

Membership is open to residents in the Allegheny Valley School District and surrounding communities.

Separately, the pool board has reached an agreement with the Springdale Veterans Association to split the cost of cleaning out a catch basin that has been causing water to back up and flood the association’s parking lot, according to Vergerio.

The pool will pay about $450 this year for the catch basin work, she said.

The township commissioners brought the two parties together last month after pulling the pool’s occupancy permit because of the reported drainage problem at the Springdale Veterans Association. The pool’s occupancy has been restored, said Vergerio.

Calls to Township Commissioners’ President Anthony Rozzano and Mark Messina, president of the Springdale Veterans Association were not returned.

The pool was established in 1966.