Dear Ms. Calder,

I’m writing on behalf of the Harborview Dolphins youth swim club regarding the lane and staffing notice posted on September 28. The memo states that due to a temporary lifeguard shortage and a three-lane public swim guarantee, club allocation on Mondays and Wednesdays 5:30–7:00 p.m. will be reduced from six lanes to three, and the Saturday 7:00–9:00 a.m. club slot is cancelled for two weeks (Oct 12 and Oct 19). It also says that make-ups are available only through a token system when lanes exist, and credits are issued only for full cancellations, not for partial reductions.

We recognize safety must come first. That said, we have 46 registered swimmers across Juniors and Seniors, and our fall meet is on Saturday, October 19. With only three lanes on Mon/Wed, we cannot run race-starts safely and still rotate stroke work. Could the centre authorize a temporary swap—e.g., loan us two lanes on Tuesdays 6:00–7:00 p.m. from Aqua-Jog while we return one lane to public swim on Wednesday 6:15–7:00 p.m.? If Tuesdays are not possible, we can split the Monday block (Juniors 5:30–6:15; Seniors 6:15–7:00) provided we can access starting blocks one evening this week. Your deck lead mentioned the blocks are in the equipment cage and that maintenance has the key; they also said the cage is opened for lifeguard drills on Thursdays at 6:45 p.m.—could we coordinate around that?

For Saturday cancellations, may we either receive prorated credits for the two lost mornings or ten make-up tokens usable before the end of October? Our families accepted higher fall fees to cover the additional coached time; parity with Aqua-Fit (which receives automatic credits when its class is shortened) would help. On the ratio question, the notice quotes “1 guard per 25 bathers.” Our two coaches are Lifesaving Society Swim for Life Instructors with current First Aid. Can a coach on deck count toward that ratio, or is the ratio strictly lifeguards on surveillance? If strictly guards, we will cap each sub-group to 24 and run two staged check-ins to manage patron load.

Finally, if the three-lane public guarantee is immutable, would you consider moving leisure swimmers to the shallow tank during 6:00–6:45 p.m. on October 14 and 16 so we can use the dive-block end for starts? We’ll provide cones and spotters and keep clear communication on deck.

Thank you for considering these adjustments ahead of the meet. We appreciate how hard scheduling is when staffing is tight and want to keep safety and community access intact.

Sincerely,
Alex Morton
Coordinator, Harborview Dolphins