Lawrence metropolis commissioners gained’t restore free senior swim days as they await extra information – The Lawrence Times

Lawrence metropolis commissioners thought of reinstating free senior swim on Wednesdays on the Indoor Aquatic Center, however they selected to carry off till they’ve extra information about rec middle utilization following price implementation.

The weekly Free Senior Swim Day began round 2013 to encourage folks ages 60 and older to remain bodily energetic by permitting them to make use of all areas of the aquatic facility throughout operation hours, in accordance with an agenda item report for the Feb. 3 metropolis fee assembly.

Both aquatic facilities charged each day charges and for memberships previous to this 12 months, however free senior swim ceased Jan. 1 when town carried out membership charges on the recreation facilities for the primary time.

City workers members didn’t focus on the cessation of free senior swim in fee conferences previous to Jan. 1.

Lindsay Hart, interim director of the Parks, Recreation and Culture division, wrote within the report that workers members knowledgeable patrons through signage across the facility posted in early November 2025, and that workers spoke with lots of the affected patrons in November and December. She mentioned they have been typically dissatisfied, however only some have been involved about affordability, “generally on behalf of others rather than themselves.”

She mentioned workers selected to eradicate this system to “standardized fees across all recreation facilities.”

“The decision was made to ensure a more consistent and equitable approach to access across the entire recreation system,” Hart wrote. “Aligning aquatics with the same fee structure used at recreation centers helps maintain fairness for all users and supports the long-term sustainability of our facilities. Offering a free senior swim day at the pool would create an expectation for similar free options at other recreation facilities, which would be difficult to sustain systemwide.”

During Tuesday’s fee assembly, Vice Mayor Mike Courtney raised issues about rec middle entry for veterans and non-veterans with disabilities, individuals who want one-on-one attending care and 18-year-olds who’re nonetheless in highschool.

He additionally advocated for bringing free senior swim on Wednesdays again, saying he had already obtained emails from round six involved seniors who had beforehand taken benefit of the fee-waived day.

Courtney mentioned a lady from the Barker neighborhood instructed him that pool train helps seniors with mobility points, and water is gentler on joint ache than different workouts. Courtney mentioned she makes simply sufficient earnings that she doesn’t qualify for scholarships, so she has to determine whether or not to spend her cash on meals, fuel, prescription drugs or swimming.

“‘Though I’ve been doing some exercise, I am feeling the stiffness rearing up from my body from not swimming. Poverty is not fun,’” Courtney mentioned, studying from her message throughout the Feb. 3 fee assembly.

He mentioned one other lady who reached out was on a hard and fast Social Security earnings and confronted the identical problem of selecting between fuel and groceries or swimming.

Steven Watts is a Lawrence resident from the Oread/University Place neighborhood. Although he didn’t avail himself of free senior swim days, he was involved to listen to that this system was reduce with out public dialogue.

“It is not ‘free’ and never has been!” he wrote through e mail. “It was and is already paid for via tax dollars. Government is not business. Government is about the business of providing service.”

Looking at information from the primary three weeks of January 2025 and January 2026, workers discovered a 50% decline in senior swimmers on Wednesdays following price implementation, per the Feb. 3 report. Wednesdays of the primary three weeks of January 2025 averaged 60 senior contributors, and 2026 averaged 30.

The metropolis’s projections estimate $15,288 in further income for the complete 12 months after eliminating senior swim. The first three weeks of January yielded an added $600.

On Tuesday, Hart mentioned complete attendance throughout all ages confirmed an 8.26% improve between all 4 Wednesdays in January 2026 and January 2025, to 557 from 511. She mentioned she thought among the seniors who beforehand attended the free swim day opted to buy a month-to-month or annual move.

Courtney requested why they might not open the amenities for seniors to swim without cost as soon as every week if the variety of impacted folks is comparatively small.

Seniors get diminished charges for annual and month-to-month aquatic memberships, in addition to diminished each day charges and punch card prices. However, Hart mentioned that many seniors don’t qualify for scholarships as a result of they’re based mostly on earnings, not age.

“But we’re happy to have all those discussions with them, but we need to be consistent across the board with all of our community because other people in other programs have the same concerns,” Hart mentioned. “So we’re just trying to be consistent across the board now that we have begun charging the rec center fees, which is where this change was initiated.”

Commissioner Mike Dever opposed reinstating senior swim based mostly on one month’s value of knowledge.

He mentioned he thought it could be unwise to have senior passes refunded, seeing as that inhabitants makes up a major variety of Sports Pavilion Lawrence memberships at this level.

“They’re getting the most benefit out of it,” he mentioned. “They have essentially the most free time, they usually have essentially the most — technically talking, essentially the most cash out there to them to spend of all of us in Lawrence at this cut-off date.

“That demographic, technically speaking, has that flexible income,” Dever continued. “So if there are people that are left outside, we have the means to help them through scholarship, and if they truly do have a financial problem, then we have the means to help them already. We don’t need to change the rules.”

Mayor Brad Finkeldei requested in the event that they would want to refund seniors who’ve already bought a membership in the event that they reinstated free senior swim.

“I don’t know how we’d handle that, to your point, but I mean, we’d be willing to work with seniors if they had bought an annual or monthly pass and came back to us and explained why,” Hart mentioned. 

Commissioners and Hart resolved to get extra verbal suggestions from seniors utilizing the amenities and to return to the dialogue with extra information.

Hart additionally offered additional information on rec middle memberships and revenues throughout the fee’s Tuesday assembly. Read extra about that on this article.

Wulfe Wulfemeyer (they/them), reporter and information editor, has labored with The Lawrence Times since May 2025. They will be reached at [email protected].

Read their full bio right here. Read their work for the Times right here.

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