Park board considers discount pool pass options

The Red Oak Park and Tree Board held its regular meeting Dec. 14, and discussed the opportunity for offering discount pool passes. Park superintendent Adam Van Der Vliet outlined some of the options.
“I talked with pool manager Georgana Derr. And she really liked the idea. We’re looking at doing something towards the spring, when it’s closer to the pool’s opening, and I’ve also talked about how we’re going to coordinate the discount part of things,” said Van Der Vliet.
Van Der Vliet also said there were a couple of options they could do for distributing the tickets.
“We can have a certain amount of tickets, and they can be purchased, and we’ll give them a certificate they can bring to city hall when we start selling tickets May 1 that gives them the discount price, rather than have them come in and try to figure out who they’re going to put on a season pass in January. I feel we should do a certain number of family and individual tickets and I can coordinate their sale,” Van Der Vliet advised.
Van Der Vliet said he would converse with Derr and Red Oak City Hall officials to find a discount price point that everyone was comfortable with. Currently, a family pass price is $200. Individual passes are $125, and those are unlimited.
“Right now I feel like I need to determine the discount. Do we feel comfortable with half off, or 25% off, or $25 off? I’m open to suggestions,” stated Van Der Vliet.
Board member Anna Boeye felt comfortable with a set amount off, rather than a percentage.
“I think the passes should be $25 off the full price, so $175 for family passes and $100 for single,” Boeye commented.
In order for the passes to be updated, the board has to put a temporary resolution in place, as the pool pass prices are stated in the park and tree board’s handbook. Plans are to approve the prices at the January meeting. Next year, the discount could be implemented sooner.
“Going into next year, we can do this more ahead of time, and maybe do a sale on Christmas or on Black Friday. We just ran out of time for this year. We’ll still be able to market this sale as a spring break sale,” explained Van Der Vliet.
Boeye also asked if the tickets should be limited, or if the sale should be limited to a certain number of days. Board member Cliff Owen said a set time could make all the difference.
“A one day only sale is a huge difference over a multi-day sale where people have multiple shots. We’d have to make sure the sale date was heavily advertised to say this is the only day,” Owen said.
Van Der Vliet said if the sale was for one day only, it would make it a lot easier to have one person named to sell the tickets. However, he was also in favor of a set discount ticket amount.
“I would like to keep it at a certain number, as that gives us an ending. a certain number until they’re sold. Last year, we only sold 40 or 45 family passes,” said Van Der Vliet.
Boeye was in favor of the limited tickets, but was in favor of having the sale take place two days instead of one.
“We do a two-day sale, and we sell 15 discount passes in two days instead of one. So if all 15 passes sell out in one day, that’s it. It’s the first year of the discount, so we can see how things go,” Boeye commented.
Boeye also suggested a breakdown of 15 family passes and 15 individual passes. Van Der Vliet said having 30 total passes would be feasible.
Van Der Vliet said he would bring further details about the sale to the next park and tree board meeting in January.