CLEVELAND HEIGHTS — Many outdoor public pools are closed now or will be soon as fall approaches.
Cumberland Pool in Cleveland Heights closed following Labor Day.
Tuesday night, a group of residents planned to be at the city council meeting to demand that the city work out a deal with the Cleveland Heights-University Heights School District to once again allow public swimming at the indoor high school pool.
For friends Robin Koslen and Cheryl Kuenzel, swimming gives them life.
"Water is very forgiving on older body parts," Koslen said.
Kuenzel said she swims just about every day and has made many friends.
"I miss an occasional day, but essentially a mile a day first thing in the morning," Kuenzel said.
During the summer, the women are at Cumberland Pool getting a workout or playing with family and friends.
"But, I would like to swim in the winter time too, and I have this community resource that's unavailable to me," said Koslen.
Koslen is talking about the pool at Heights High School built after residents passed a bond issue in 2013.
"One of those perks that we were assured of is that this facility was going to be open to the community," Koslen said.
A memo from the school dated June 18, 2023, states, "… the high school will have a new competition quality swimming pool that will be open to the community's use."
Koslen and Kuenzel said that after the pool was built outside the school day, it was open to residents within the school district for a fee.
But COVID, they said, changed things, and the pool hasn't been open to the public since- something they said gives people a place to exercise and build relationships.
"I don't know what more to say… that it does sit empty way too much. You know, which is criminal to me," Koslen said.
In February, the city council passed an ordinance 4-to-3 authorizing $25,000 to pay for lifeguard positions for community swim events at the high school.
"The legislative branch did what they were supposed to do, and now we're waiting for the executive branch," Koslen said.
At that February meeting, one city council member, Craig Cobb, expressed that he supported the overall mission of the public being able to use the high school pool. However, he still had questions and wanted equity and parity between the city and the school district.
At the meeting, Cobb said, "Why isn't the school district offering to its residents membership as is the case in Beachwood, Lakewood and also I believe Euclid where the school district is providing the lifeguards in the facility."
I reached out to Beachwood City School, which released the following statement:
"Beachwood City Schools recently completed a full renovation and modernization of the Beachwood High School indoor pool. Providing community access to these state-of-the-art amenities is an important service we offer our community. While the district covers the costs of lifeguards and liability insurance, we also offer various membership options to help offset these expenses. For more information about pool memberships, please visit the Indoor Pool Memberships section of our website."
Tuesday, I called the spokesperson for Cleveland Heights' mayor and emailed asking for an update on where things stand. No one immediately responded.
The President of the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Board of Education, Jodi Sourini, issued the following statement:
"When Cleveland Heights High School reopened in 2017 after two years of major renovations, we were able to make the new pool available for community usage through a partnership with the City of Cleveland Heights. The City hired, paid, and managed lifeguards and carried liability insurance (and sold passes to help cover these costs). The school district maintained the pool and its facilities. We had to close the pool to the public in 2020 due to the pandemic, but when it became possible to open up the pool for community usage again, the city did not agree to continue with our previous arrangement. Our conversations and meetings continue with representatives from city partners, and I remain hopeful that we can find a solution together in order to provide this recreational program for our community."
Koslen and Kuenzel said there are about 80 people dedicated to pool and swimming issues in the city. They said they'd keep pressing leaders so promises don't sink.
"There's nothing here to fight over," Koslen said. "It's just silly. Silly."
