Ives Pool Back to Normal This Summer
After Covid closures and restricted access, Sebastopol's pool is again full of swimmers.
When I arrived around 2pm on a weekday in June, Hybrid Public Swim was underway at Ives Pool in Sebastopol. Three lanes were open in the large pool and several people in wet suits and scuba gear were swimming back and forth. There was one lane blocked off in the small pool for lessons. The open sections of both pools were available for families for the next hour. Ricardo Frietas, director of Ives Pool, estimated that there were 70-80 people in the facility.
Ives Pool, built in 1941, is owned by the City of Sebastopol but it is operated by Western Sonoma County Swimmers, a non-profit organization that hires Ricardo to manage the pool, its staff and budget. I spoke recently with Ricardo Frietas and Board President Virginia Anderegg.
In June, we had several hot days with temps in the 90’s, the kind of days you might want to spend time at the pool, especially with kids. It’s the sound of summer, kids playing in a pool, shrieking and splashing. The trouble is, if you look at the summer schedule for Ives Pool, there are limited windows of time when the pool is open to the public for swimming — from 1pm to 3pm is Family Swim and from 6:15pm to 8:30pm (small pool only) during the week. (Note that weekend hours are different but they don’t show up fully on the online schedule).
I asked Ricardo and Virginia why the pool wasn’t open for more hours for families during the summer. Virginia, herself a lap swimmer, said that Ives Pool is one of the few pools in the region that is open year round and it’s open each day from 6 am to 8:30 pm. “In winter the pool is too large and in summer the pool is too small,” said Ricardo who has been at Ives Pool for 18-1/2 years. He also explained that the summer weather in Sebastopol is so variable that on a hot day there might be 70 people for Family Swim but on a foggy day, only 6-8 people might show up.
Ives Pool balances many different uses of the pool, which is reflected in its schedule — Lap Swim, Aqua Aerobics, Swimming Lessons for Kids, local summer camps, Sebastopol Sea Serpents swim team, Underwater Hockey and Water Polo. Each has a block of time on the schedule and takes up all or a portion of the two pools. Each one produces income, some under contract, that contribute to meeting the budget for the pool’s staff and operations.
I asked them if there were any future plans for Ives Pool. “I’d like to see a larger pool,” said Ricardo who motioned that he’d like to see it oriented north to south on the site, rather than east to west. “It would cost $10-$12 million,” he estimated. Virginia smiled, saying that she had never heard Ricardo speak of a larger pool. It’s a dream, but there’s no current plan for expanding the footprint of the 80-year old pool. Two years ago, the women’s locker rooms were renovated.
“Ricardo has found ways of maximizing the facility,” said Virginia. This summer, one of the challenges is hiring enough lifeguards. The staff includes 10-15 lifeguards and 20-30 swim instructors. “There are other places that pay better,” said Virginia, adding that it was hard to compete with the hourly rates and bonuses offered elsewhere. Yet she is proud that lifeguarding is often a first job for teenagers, some of whom started with swim lessons, then joined the swim team before becoming a lifeguard. She credits Ricardo for “running a tight ship” and hiring a capable staff.
Virginia and Ricardo both commented on how Ives Pool had to weather the pandemic. Because the pool’s operations rely totally on usage fees, the closure during March-June 2020 followed by restricted access to as few as 6 people a day by reservation was difficult. In November 2021, the pool opened once again and then the locker rooms opened in February of this year. From March through June 2022, Ives Pool was back to normal with lap swimmers, kids learning to swim and families sharing the pool.
For the 4th of July, the pool has a special schedule: “Lap Swim- 8 to 8:50am, Aqua Aerobics 9 to 9:50am, Lap & Family Swim 10am to 1pm, Hybrid Public Swim 1 to 3pm.” The weather is expected to be on the cool side.