Closing Weekend 2019

We’re all sad to see summer come to an end, but some of us are excited for the beginning of the school year and the cooler weather that fall brings. The pool will offer a few hours this fall, before shutting down and winterizing the pool deck. Here are the hours for September:

  • Sunday, September 1: 1:00 – 8:00 pm
  • Monday, September 2 (Labor Day): 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
  • Tuesday, September 3 – Friday, September 6: Pool Closed
  • Saturday, September 7: 2:30 – 8:00 pm
  • Sunday, September 8 (closing day): 1:00 – 5:00 pm

We will need help closing weekend to get things cleared off the pool deck, emptied out of the snack bar and barn, and organized in the garage. Not all of this needs to happen on Sunday, but there will be a group working Sunday afternoon just before and after closing to make sure everything is ready for winter. Please see a Board Member if you are available to volunteer a little time to help close things down. The more volunteers we have, the faster it goes.

And keep your eyes on your email for announcements this fall for events such as fire pit nights, trunk-or-treat, and fundraising opportunities!

We Need You (to volunteer for the Board)!

The Colony Recreation and Civic Association (aka Colony Pool) is lead by members of its volunteer Board. What is the Board? Based on the Bylaws, it’s a group of 12-15 members of the Association, with 4 of those individuals serving in the elected positions of President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer, and others serving in appointed roles, such as the Membership Chair and Operations Chair.

What does it take to serve on the Board? First and foremost, it’s the volunteer spirit. The time commitment in the fall and winter is fairly minimal, with attendance at a monthly meeting as the only requirement. However, a lot of planning happens in the off season, so sometimes volunteers are sought to pitch in a little extra time. Depending on the role you take, more time may be required in the spring for workdays to get the pool ready. And once the pool is open for the season, you’re already there having fun, so it doesn’t feel like an extra commitment anymore!

If you’re interested in learning more about the positions, here’s a basic rundown of what each elected/appointed position requires:

  • President: Coordinates and develops agenda for monthly Board Meetings and General Membership Meetings; Oversees the management of projects and ensures that necessary tasks are completed (this involves a lot of delegating things to other people and following up with them on the progress); and Interact with members! After completing the term, stay on the Board as an advisor to the next President. And a bonus, you get to write a monthly column in the newsletter.
  • Vice President: Serve as an understudy to the President and help out where needed. This individual will serve as the President the following year unless extenuating circumstances prevent that from happening.
  • Treasurer: Oversee the finances for the organization, including paying bills and taxes, doing payroll for employees, ensuring the accuracy of insurance policies, taking in cash from sales at the snack bar/front desk, and advising the rest of the Board on whether a project is affordable at a given time. Kyle Harrington has been our awesome Treasurer for the last 4 years and a new job means he will be leaving this role on November 1. Anyone interested should talk to him now to gain experience in the role before this transition.
  • Secretary: Records the minutes and takes the records for the Board meetings. Distributes the minutes to the other Board members for review. In the upcoming year, this position may need to help ensure that the Bylaws get updated.
  • Membership Chair: This position works closely with all Board members. They are the one that enters all membership information into a database, updates email lists and responds to, or forwards on, questions from the membership, and ensures that the Treasurer has received the correct payment from each family. The larger our membership, the larger this role, and thus there is an opportunity to have co-chairs of this committee is the board sees fit.
  • Operations Chair: This position oversees the maintenance of the facilities. While it helps to be handy, moreover, this person needs to have an awareness of who to contact for what issue. As a member-run pool, it’s great to know when a member can be contacted to help with a repair, but there will be other instances where it is necessary to bring in someone to complete a task. There are always a lot of things on our to-do list, so here is another opportunity to have co-chairs of this committee is the board sees fit.

August Membership Meeting Recap

Once again the General Membership Meeting forecast brought us thunder and a closed pool deck, but we persevered, occupied the kids, and powered through a meeting. Thanks to everyone who came out, and for anyone that couldn’t make it, here’s a rundown of the discussion:

  • After a quick introduction of the board members, we did a round robin introduction of everyone present. It was great to see both new and returning members gathered in one place to discuss the future of the pool.
  • The Membership Update brought the exciting news that our overall membership has increased again this year, with a total of 213 memberships of all types. Family memberships are the most popular, and this year we had 120 returning families and 44 new ones! We’ve also had 5 new memberships that took advantage of the end of season discounted rates.
  • Don’t forget, we’re running a Membership Raffle for a free 2020 membership! Tickets are on sale at the front desk at the following rates:
    • $1/1 ticket,
    • $10/15 tickets,
    • $20/arm span of tickets.
  • A quick recap of our finances showed that we’re in a slightly better position financially than was anticipated due to the extra memberships. However, it’s been an expensive year with planned repairs to the baby pool and low dive, and the cost for chemicals and water has been higher this year due to repairs that required the pool to be drained.
  • President Denise Palm took a few minutes to open the floor to the membership to talk about what went well this year. Here’s what was said:
    • Communications was much better with solid email messaging, an active Facebook account, an up-to-date website, and the addition of a newsletter.
    • Fellowship and connections among members was stronger than in years past.
    • Better management of problems and issues, with concerns being addressed as soon as they were raised.
    • Great showing at picnics!
    • Lots of great new members and great new volunteers willing to help with anything, as well as individuals that are taking initiative to fix things before a request has to be made. THANK YOU ALL!
  • Swim Team update: Our Cudas had a great season finishing 2nd in the red division and earning 2nd place at the City Meet Championship. Our team had a total of 102 swimmers on the team this season with many new faces! We are so proud of our Cudas and can’t wait to see you all again next summer.
  • What’s on tap for the last two weeks of the season:
    • Pizza and Float Night on Tuesdays from 6:00-8:00 pm.
    • Late nights at the fire pit with bring-your-own-s’mores on Wednesday nights.
    • Labor Day Cookout
    • Closing Day is September 8. The pool will be open from 1:00-5:00 pm. We need your help, so come enjoy the last day at the pool and then help us close up shop for the winter.
  • Volunteers still needed:
    • Food trucks didn’t pan out this season, but we started a little late. Let’s get a head start and try to book them early for next year. We can not pay a minimum, but we need people to help us schedule them for next summer.
    • There are plans to hold a yard sale later this fall, so keep a look out for communications about it. We’ll need stuff to sale, be renting space for anyone that wants to sell their own stuff, and need people to help us run the sale.
    • If you have any other fundraising ideas, please bring them to the board with a willingness to help the idea come to fruition.
    • Plastic bag donations for a Trex bench (https://www.trex.com/recycling/recycling-programs/). Donations will be coordinated during the off season, please watch your email for details.
    • We need volunteers for the Colony Pool Board! The next Board meeting is Tuesday, August 27 at 6:00 pm and we will be electing a President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary, as well as at-large members. We also need to fill the positions of Chair of Membership and Chair of Operations. Ask a board member if you have questions — you can come to the meeting without committing to a term on the board!

Labor Day

It’s the last day before school, so come salute the end of summer at the pool. We’re opening and closing early so there’s time for a fun day, with enough time to get ready for whatever September 3rd brings. Here’s the scoop:

  • Hours are 9 am – 5 pm
  • The cookout starts at 1 pm (and ends when we run out of food).
  • There will be hamburgers and hot dogs for sale (with the option to add chips and a drink).
  • Sweet Frog will be selling yogurt cups with toppings for $5, and will be donating a portion of the proceeds back to the pool. They will be on site from 1 – 4 pm.
  • We’re raffling off a 2020 Pool Membership. Tickets will be $1/1 ticket, $10/15 tickets, and $20/arm span of tickets (you choose the arm span). You can buy them now at the front desk.

General Membership Meeting

The next General Membership Meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 20 at 6:30 pm. It’s a float night as well as a pizza night, so bring the kids and have dinner at the pool!

What’s on the agenda?

  • Electing new board members and filling the positions that will soon be vacated (including President and Treasurer).
  • An update on the pool finances.
  • Fundraising in the off season.
  • Preview of what’s happening Labor Day Weekend.
  • Raffle for a 2020 Membership.
  • Volunteers needed for Closing Weekend.

Late Nights at the Fire Pit (with Food Trucks!)

This summer we’re trying something a little different and staying open late on Wednesday nights so that we can bring in food trucks, enjoy the pool under the lights, and light the new fire pit.

For our inaugural late night on June 19, we will have NOSH Modern Mobile Bistro in the parking lot. Their “doors” will open around 4 and they will be there until 8.

The pool will close at 9:00 pm these nights and we’ll get the fire started around 7:00. We will be selling s’mores kits and sticks for roasting your marshmallows to anyone interested in having a sweet snack while enjoying the fire. For $1 you can get a kit with all the fixins’ for 2 s’mores. We will also be selling marshmallow roasting sticks for $1 each. All money raised from this will go towards the pool re-lining project.

The first fire pit night will be Wednesday, June 19. This event is staffed by volunteers, so we will only be able to have the fire pit open if we have adult volunteers available to staff the event. Volunteer here: https://forms.gle/WpNxf6u8vaCDnkLw5

 

Float Nights are BACK!

Beginning Tuesday, June 18 we will welcome back float night! This Colony Pool tradition allows you to bring your pool floats to use from 6:00-8:00 pm (with no adult swim during that two hour period). It also means the Colony Cudas Swim Team will again be selling ice cream sundaes.

The price for ice cream will be a little different this year. If you’re interested in plain ice cream, the cost will be $1. If you want to add toppings to your ice cream, it will be $2. Either way, it’s a tasty way to support the Swim Team.

In addition to ice cream, we will have pizza available for sale during this time to support the fundraising effort for the new pool liner. This will be available from approximately 6:00-7:30 pm (or until we run out) on Float Night Tuesdays only. We will have member volunteers there to staff the sale, so please bear with us and note that the full snack bar menu will not be available. Additionally, we will only be able to offer this service if we have volunteers available to staff it. Volunteer here: https://forms.gle/WpNxf6u8vaCDnkLw5

General Membership Meeting

On Tuesday, June 18, 2019 at 6:00 pm a General Membership Meeting will be held to provide updates on the status of pool projects and give all members an opportunity to interact with the Board Members. The agenda will include:

We’re holding this meeting on a Float Night in hopes that many members will attend. We know there is a lot going on that night, but hope that it will provide additional motivation to come out and support the pool and the swim team with the opportunity to get pizza for dinner and have ice cream for dessert.

Opening Weekend

There are still a few more work days before opening weekend, but it will be here before we know it!

The water might be a little chilly for some, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t come out to have some fun on Memorial Day Weekend. Here’s a look at what’s going on:

  • Saturday, May 25: open 10 am – 8 pm
  • Sunday, May 26: open 1 – 6 pm
    • Cookout from 2-4 pm with fresh grilled food for sale
  • Monday, May 27: open 9 am – 5 pm
    • FREE pancake breakfast from 9-10 am

For anyone not ready to brave the water in May, there’s always ping pong as well as seating and tables under the portico that offer a great place to enjoy the weather and play games.