Start.

Um, so for the record, my name is Aaron Murphy at large city councilor, and I'm the chair of the Boston City Council Committee on Human Services.

Today is June 29th, 2026, and the exact time is ten thirty-two.

In accordance with chapter two of the acts of twenty twenty-five modifying certain requirements of the open meeting law in relieving public bodies of certain requirements, including the requirement that public bodies conduct its meeting in public place that is open and physically accessible to the public.

The city council will be conducting this hearing virtually via Zoom per the head um sponsor of this request.

I don't know if council me here is on yet.

I think she should be hopping on soon.

This hearing is being recorded.

It is also being live streamed at Boston.gov backslash city-council dash TV and broadcast on Xfinity Channel 8, RCN channel eighty-two, and FIOS, channel nine six four.

Written comments may be sent to the committee email at ccc.hs at Boston.gov and will be made part of the record and available to all counselors.

Public testimony will be taken at the end of this hearing.

Individuals will be called on on the in the order in which they signed up, and we'll have two minutes to testify.

If you wish to sign up for public testimony and have not done so, you can email our Central Staff liaison, Ron Cobb at RON.co B at Boston.gov for the Zoom link, and your name will be added to the list.

So today's hearing is on Docket Zero Six Nine Four, in order for a hearing on the conditions, operations, and access of Boston Centers for Youth and Family Pools.

This matter was sponsored by Council Mejia, myself and Councillor Pepham, and was referred to the committee on April first, 2026.

An issue we have every year, and I know we've checked in, Council Flynn and I had one a couple months back, and I think it's important, especially now that the heat wave's coming and always good to check in and see where we are on this city asset.

So if I am correct, in order of arrival, we have Councillor Flynn, Councillor Pepin, and Councillor Durkin.

I think that's correct.

And if more colleagues join us, I will add them to the list.

I'm having technical difficulties.

Can you hear me?

I can, yes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And Council Makia is here.

Um from the administration, we have Brian Ford, she chief of Operations, BPS.

Thank you for being here, Brian.

We also have Eddie McGuire, Director of Operations, and I believe it's Sam here from Ada.

Sam Lovingson is here, who's the first deputy commissioner for PMD property management department, which we all probably remember.

I think it's two years now.

The pools BCYF falls now under property management, which has had a positive impact.

So looking forward to hearing from them also.

And we have some community panelists also who will come second.

But before I turn it over to the administration, I'm going to call on my colleagues for any opening statements.

I'll go first to the lead sponsors and then to council Flynn and Counselor Jerkin if that is okay with everyone.

So Council Mahir, if you're good to go, you can start.

Awesome.

Can you guys hear me and see me?

Uh yes, both.

Okay, great.

I just want to thank my colleagues for showing up.

Uh if anything, if anyone knows anything about me, I've always been all about making sure that we are creating space for community uh to amplify their voices.

We've heard a lot of concerns regarding some of the pools, closures, and decisions, protocols, policies, and procedures that have not been in place for effective community um processes, and so my hope is that in our time together, we can understand the how we go about making decisions like this, um, and the level of communication and engagement community plays um in this process.

And I just really grateful to community for reaching out to our office and asking us to um create uh a platform uh for them to be heard, and I'm looking forward to working alongside the administration to set you all up for success as we continue to move through this work together.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman.

Um Councillor Peppen.

Good morning, everyone.

Uh, I'm a pleasure to be here today to talk about this very important topic.

I represent three very beautiful pools in my district, and I know that I get a lot of questions from my residents about just the access to them, the quality of the pools, if they're gonna be open this year.

It's uh it's it's always a question.

People are excited for them.

I know that I have a great group of advocates in my district as well that I've been advocating over at the Flarity Pool.

I believe I got some testimonies for that.

Um also some testimonies that I heard from from seniors who want to make sure that their um other aquatics class continues to be strong with BCYF.

I think that's a very popular class.

So um wanted to elevate that, but wanted to I'm probably gonna ask questions today both about facilities in terms of relationships between BPS and BCYF, and then more geared towards BCYF programming and how they're being run at the pools.

So that's what I'll be talking about today, making sure that my residents feel heard.

And thank you so much for um hosting this meeting, Councillor Murphy.

Of course.

Um counselor Flynn.

Thank you, Councilor Murphy.

My constituents in the South End have expressed their frustration regarding the prolonged closure of the pool at the Blackstone Community Center.

BCYF pools have have reopened.

However, Blackstone remains closed.

Or being left without critical swimming lessons throughout the year.

The city must find the funding to complete pool repair so that we're able to provide lessons for our children and neighbors in public housing.

As of right now, the swimming pool at the Blackstone is closed indefinitely.

It will not reopen unless the whole school is completely redone, which will likely take several years, or maybe it will not get done.

But let me tell my colleagues in the administration about the Blackstone.

It sits between the Villa Victoria and the Cathedral Public Housing.

It's just down the road from Roxbury.

Many families of color have historical use as pool.

In November 2024, I held a hearing with Council Murphy on the status of the pools in the city.

BPS informed me that to reopen the pool, a full excavation would need to happen due to the aging shells, shell drains lines, groundwater coming back.

However, I'm beyond frustrated now with what is happening with the lack of action at the Blackstone.

I'm calling for an independent and engineering study at the swimming pool at the Blackstone.

I don't think it's fair that children in the South End in Roxbury, most of them are kids of color, don't have the same access to a swimming pool that wealthier white kids have.

And I just can't accept that any longer.

So I'm calling for an independent engineering study, and I don't want to hear that we are we're not able to open the Blackstone any longer.

I want solutions on how we're going to open the Blackstone, and I'm not going to take no for an answer.

If you can sense that I'm frustrated here, some frustrated because people in frost in public housing are frustrated that they don't have the same level of a swimming pool that wealthy white families do, and my constituents don't feel like they're being heard.

And I want some answers, and I'm going to call for this investigation and for hearing orders specifically on the Blackstone.

But I want to use this opportunity to find out what the situation is with the Blackstone.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Flynn.

Council Dirk.

Thank you so much, Chair.

Um I was able to join a couple years ago the opening of the Charlestown pool, which is looking incredible.

And I understand there's a bunch of pools that are under.

We don't have any pools in our district in my district, but we are really excited that the Hennigan just opened because it's very close to a lot of my constituents in Mission Hill.

And so I understand that about three-fourths of the pools in the city are open, and um and that, you know, pool um infrastructure is extremely complicated.

Um I think my uh advocacy is just for the pools to be open longer.

I think that um it's really important that you know sometimes when we invest, you know, over 30 million dollars in a pool cross ration, you would hope that it would be open for at least 90 days in the summer.

So um, and obviously making sure that I understand that um that our goal is to have students and young people work at these jobs and they're not out of school yet, so that you know, raises its own, um you know, maybe raises its own issue, but um Great Balls had BCYF and Great Ball to operations team and everyone who works um to ensure um that our um I know for the Hennigan it took a lot of advocacy and it took a lot of um you know work on behalf of the um you know operations team so uh grateful that that pool is open and um and I know that there's more work to do, but um but I think that we're you know as a city I think we're getting more splash pads open than ever.

We're doing as much as we can to uh make sure that um but the you know it's complicated, and I think every single infrastructure project in the city is different.

So I'm excited to hear more um through this hearing, and I want to thank the chair for um for bringing this issue forward.

Thank you, everyone.

So I'll just gonna reiterate what people said, looking forward to this conversation to hear what state all of our pools are in, which ones are open.

In the past, we've had issues where maybe the pool was functioning, but we needed staffing.

I think we've gotten past that.

Um, that we're we're good with our lifeguards.

Um also want to get an update hearing that some of our schools may have to go back and do additional HVAC where we thought maybe it was done already.

So if we can kind of get an overview of that also, because sometimes our pools are closed, not because the pool isn't working, but because the building itself needs to be shut down for um, you know, other repairs in the building.

So one thing I'd like to ask before I turn it over to the admin panel.

We are holding this.

I know Councillor Mejir and I have had several conversations.

I'll be very transparent.

I kind of push back on the virtual meeting, but she did convince me that it's virtual to make sure that the community panelists' voices are heard.

So if admin is going first, I just want to ask that you stay for the community panel to hear their concerns also and questions that we have.

So if you could assure me that that will be happening, we can go forward.

Council Mejio, you have your hand raised.

Yes, thank you, Counselor Murphy, for accommodating a virtual um meeting and hearing and just one more thing, two more things that I want to point out is that in regards to the Blackstone as a parent uh organizer, even before I walked to the city hall, I have been advocating and working alongside the Blackstone parents, and I do want to uplift and uh second Counselor Flynn's remarks regarding just the inequities of the Blackstone and the time is now and then to Councillor Durkin's remarks regarding the quality pool in Charlestown.

It was through the office of my office in particular that worked alongside Councillor Coletta.

Um Sapata then to ensure that the city was meeting the moment for the Charlestown um community in regards to their pool, and I want to see that same type of energy and response that we saw in Charlestown given to the Blackstone, in addition to making sure that uh the folks from the Flowerty Pool in Rosendale also understand that they do have a voice, and I would like to better understand how we ended up here anyways with the flowery decision.

That's going to be a lot of my questions.

And lastly, just because I always like to lead with community, I'd like to advocate, Councilor Murphy, that we honor if the if everyone if there's public testimony lined up virtually or in you know virtually, if we can hear a few voices from public testimony or and or community panel before we go to the admin, just because I think it's important.

Um, and I'm sorry if my office did not communicate that to you, but we'd like to lead uh with a few public testimony before we hear uh from the admin panel if that's okay with you and sorry if that was not communicated to you sooner.

Um a few things were sent over, but I don't know if that was exactly asked.

I do know that I did get a list of a few people that um Ron, I mentioned at the beginning has been working since you know the weekend to line up people.

So I would ask Ron and Ethan: are there people all ready um with the link ready to go for public testimony?

Do you know?

Because we could start with three public testimony, and then we'll go to the admin based on the list I have right now.

Do you know, Ron, if anyone's already lined up for that?

Yeah, Ron, you're on mute.

I think he's checking with Ethan.

We'll see.

Ron, I'm sure we're checking now to see who are.

Okay.

Okay, we'll give it one minute.

Thank you.

Yes, I believe the the first few people are in here ready to go.

Okay, if you could, we're gonna do three now.

If you could accommodate that, if you elevate them and then I'll get them started.

Thank you.

And I also see Ken.

Well, start with Natasha.

Um, you have two minutes.

If you could just start by identifying yourself, your neighborhood or your connection, and then you can go ahead with your testimony.

Thank you for being on.

Great.

Thank you so much.

Morning.

My name's Natasha Winniger.

My daughter just finished her third season with the Dolphins, and I live in Rosalindale.

I'd like to address BCYF's unfulfilled commitments.

Six months ago, the city promised specific steps to improve community engagement.

Only one of those has actually happened a short-term working group for the dolphins.

We greatly appreciate that that working group.

Without it, swimmers would not have had a spring season or secured grants for next season.

But advancing a vision for youth swimming requires the genuine community engagement that BCYF promised back in January with kids and families at the center.

But since then, BCYF has not engaged the broader Flarity or Swimming Community about their needs.

They did not send the promised surveys or monthly updates.

Volunteers did that work instead.

When BCYF did conduct outreach, we were left out.

On February 12th, Central Office surveyed league families about competition days.

But no Flarity family I know received one.

But the main thing I want to lift up, what's most disappointing is the failure to form the broader citywide parent working group for competitive swim.

There's been no meaningful follow-through on this promise, and this undermines what I believe to be our shared goals.

Equitable access to both safe swim and high quality competitive swim opportunities that allow Boston kids to thrive in the water.

In January, my daughter said to city officials, I want to swim in high school, college, and maybe one day internationally.

My poppy is from Puerto Rico, and one of his dreams is for me to represent our island.

I always want to try to make him proud.

The Dolphins can help me learn to compete at that level.

I urge the city to help make the dreams of Boston's current and future youth swimmers a reality.

Honor your proposals, form the citywide working group.

Let's create real infrastructure for youth swimming like other sports have and build a shared future for Boston's youth together.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Ken, you can go.

Thank you.

Good morning.

I'll I'll be quick.

Um so I'd be I work with the Hype Squid Task Force, and we've been working, our youth have been working for a year and a half to get the Hennigan pool open.

And um I'm happy to say that democracy does work after a year and a half of a lot of work.

Um a lot of city officials, a lot of elected officials working with us.

We did get it open.

So hope uh counselor Flynn, and I'm wishing the best for you with the Blackstone.

Um I can't think of a square footage that gives more joy to people of all ages across the city than the swimming pools, elderly, young kids, uh infants with their parents, etc.

And so I think you know, if we can try to uplift and make the pools a bit of a more of a priority, especially with this heat coming, but also just in the in the indoor pools as well.

Um kids can't have their phones with them in the pools, and they there's so much social interaction, laughter, fun.

Everyone who's been around a pool knows this.

And our teams jumped in.

Uh, the mayor jumped in the pool the other day, uh, counselor Webber jumped in the pool.

A bunch of teens jumped in, and they spent hours, hours in that pool.

No phones, imagine.

Um, so one thing that might be helpful is that if we um there were so many entities involved in in the Hennigan, and so you know, if if we went back and did a little bit of a survey.

How could have how could have things picked up a little quicker rather than the year and the half that it took?

That might be helpful, but again, it's one of those positive stories um that just took a lot of uh patience and uh persistence.

Thank you.

Oh, thank you, and congratulations.

Uh, it doesn't go unnoticed.

I know Council Flynn, you mentioned, and Council Mejia uplifted, you know, advocacy when certain pools do get the attention and get the work needed.

So happy that it did work out there.

I think the last one for now will be Danny.

I see you on, you can go.

Hello.

Okay.

Yep, we're good.

We can hear you, you can go.

Okay.

Uh with the Hindegan pool opening.

Um, I can't stress how important this for the people of the community to be able to learn and be able to swim.

Uh for the youth it becomes increasingly common that they grow up and don't learn how to swim.

Like every day, you see more and more kids not being able to learn how to swim.

And for the pool being shut down for such a long time has definitely contributed to that, I believe.

Um I learned how to swim in the pool ever since I was seven or seven second grade at the Hinnigan, and while Mr.

Ted was still my instructor.

When I got back into the pool, I I stayed in there for so long that I didn't want to get out.

My friends and I stayed there until it was time for us to get out of the pool.

We had so much fun that I didn't want to have the pool close back up again.

With it being redone and it will allow the youth but also the elderly to practice swimming in the water with the pool having access for those with special needs and disabilities will also be included with boards and platforms for regular school days.

People should be able to swim in the pool during all months of the year.

It's also important for the school to have a swim team to further establish an incentive for students to learn at a young age to swim and to be able to compete in possible tournaments and represent the Hitligan.

It is truly hardware that the space opens back up.

It makes me happy to finally swim in a space where I grew up and learned all those years being a student at the Hinnagen.

Thank you.

Thank you, Danny.

We will now go to the administration.

I'm not sure if you have already figured out which order you want to go in, but you can go ahead.

Thank you.

Well, we have a presentation, so I thought we'd run through that first.

Yes.

Thank you.

Go ahead.

Can everyone see that?

Yeah, yeah.

Okay.

Alright, so there are 22 pools um owned by the city.

18 of the pools are operated by BCO BCYF, two of which are outdoor and open only during the summer.

Um as you can see there are a few pools such as the Carter Pool, um, Carter School Pool, the South End Fitness Center, BPS Umana, and Madison, um that are not operated by BCYF.

We are operating the Madison pool this summer, however.

Um and then we also have the curly beach.

So just kind of an overview of where pools are located, some of the pools that exist in our network that are not operated by us but are available to either the student population or being operated by somebody uh different.

The next slide.

Oh, there we go.

So just a breakdown, I won't go through every single one of these, but as you can see, how the pools are maintained, um, which facility falls under BPS.

Um obviously BCYF does help maintain those pools on a day-to-day basis as well as operate them, and then BCYF owned uh pools.

Um as you can see there, another list, and then BPHC, which is the South End, like I said.

So just for everybody to kind of get an understanding of, you know, jurisdiction as well as kind of how we work together uh on this.

It's this seems to be one of the top uh areas that people you know get a little confused by.

So we can always share this after as well.

Just wanna go through, you know, um just the percentage of pools and where we were and where we are today, as you can see.

Um, just kind of how we account for everything.

This is the only one that is excluded during our analysis is the charter uh is the Carter School.

And then you can see from 2023 to 2026, we uh went from 10 pools to 16.

That was a significant amount of work and coordination done but between VCYF, BPS, PFD, and PMD to make that happen.

Major capital projects and repairs since 2021.

I think it's an unprecedented amount of investment in our aquatic network, not only from a staffing structure, but from a facility structure as well, getting the necessary funds together in order to, you know, see all these reopenings.

The Parish Street Pool, McClarity Pool, the Marshall Pool, Mattahunt, Draper, Condon, Quincy, Lee and Perkins, and Hennigan.

Again, I think unprecedented amount of investment in our aquatic settings, and just shows the dedication of my colleagues throughout the different departments to meet the needs of the city of Boston and its patrons to try to get as many facilities open as possible.

And it hasn't been an easy task to say the least, but it's a task that we took wholeheartedly and have continued to work toward ensuring that these pools that just got reopened, stay open, and are servicing the public.

It's desperately needed.

The facility is constantly battling with different issues going up and down, and so finally being able to get this investment in Curtis Hall will ensure that we can operate that moving forward in a safe environment and also in an updated environment.

Grove Hall, obviously, the new community center.

It's underway.

Currently, we'll also include a pool, which will be um you know a vital asset to the community, and we look forward to you know building an operation around that as we progress.

Maribella pool is closed this year because they are doing the North End Community Center uh rebuild that will be included in it.

And so just like the Clarity Pool was um updated and well essentially rebuilt, and the same thing with the Maribella pool, which was struggling for many years to maintain its viability.

Um, looking forward to also seeing that come back online um somewhere in 2028.

And then the Mason pool is uh currently in design uh for a major renovation, and we've continued to work with property management and PFD to get the necessary uh third-party entities in there to assess those uh conditions as well as to provide an update as to how we can move about modernizing the pool to ensure its operations moving forward.

Um I'd like to hand this over to Sam Levinson to just kind of go through the maintenance situation and how we've been handling that collectively between BCYF and PMD.

Yes, thank you, Eddie.

Uh good morning, Madam Chair, good morning, counselors.

Uh, my name is Sam Lovison.

I am with the City of Boston's property management department and have the distinct pleasure of uh overseeing maintenance of the seven standalone BCYF pools, which has been an enjoyable experience given uh how important they are to the community and and how uh quickly the maintenance and the changes of these pools can have an impact on uh the communities that they serve.

Um, so in partnership with with the mayor, thanks to her prioritization of aquatic facilities and the uh work by the finance and budget team to allow for additional funding to service those pools, all through the mayor's resilient buildings plan.

Uh, we put a number of changes into practice since 2021 to better maintain our pools and bring them into a state of good repair.

Uh, the first thing we did was we assessed all pools along with all other city buildings as part of the citywide facility conditions assessments, um, which BPS also conducted for their facilities, uh, giving us a clear understanding of uh any deficiencies in those facilities and what the cost would be and the priorities would be to repair them.

Um in 2022 uh through our partners in the state legislature and uh the mass department of Conservation and Recreation.

We received uh $5 million grant of American Rescue Act funds dedicated to aquatic repairs, which we've been putting to use, and those funds are uh currently being used uh to um do the overhaul of the CODAS Hall pool, which Eddie mentioned.

I closed on last Friday on the 26th and will be closed for approximately 12 months.

Um, in 2023, as I mentioned, we took over maintenance.

Uh we being the property management department of the seven standalone BCYF pools along with the other BCYF centers.

And since 2024, uh we, along with our partners in operations, BCYF and uh Boston Public Schools have been meeting monthly um to talk about pools, just coordinate closures, maintenance, uh any sort of upcoming issues uh or programming items that we need to discuss.

And then in 2024, we also put a new pool maintenance contract in place, and BPS did the same.

This maintenance contract, again, thanks to the prioritization of the mayor and our finance and budget team is really focused on reducing on planned closures.

So we're ensuring we always have on coal technicians available, parts readily available, and that we can ensure that you know the pools are kept in a static good repair after all of these extensive capital investments on lock at the Clarity.

Uh and um my colleague Brian Ford can expand upon this, but uh BPS has also dedicated two staff positions to work on pool maintenance supervision and um sort of move that forward.

And with that, I will turn it over to Brian and the BPS team.

Thank you.

Thank you, Sam.

Um good morning, everyone.

Thank you, Council, for having me today.

My name is Brian Ford Jr.

I'm the chief of operations for Boston Public Schools.

Um, just to touch a little bit on what Sam was mentioning in terms of the way we've uh accounted for our staffing around these pools.

We do have two dedicated positions that have come to us in 2023, where we've had uh an assistant director of special projects as well as a senior pool supervisor.

With that and the allocation of our general contracting budget of around 3.5 million for the school year of 2024, we're able to address around four pools to make sure that they were operable and ready for the summer.

In 2025, we're able to secure an additional 4 million in spending uh so we're able to continue to do the work on those same pools and get even more of them operable.

And over the last two years, we've been we spent just around one and a half million dollars out of that fund, which is going to be for the next few years.

Um, and then moving forward, we have a contract with Wesson Sampson for around four million dollars that continues to do the repair and maintenance on our 12 school-based pools.

Now, right now we're in a pretty good position.

So nine of our schools are currently running in school swim programs, which serves around 1,300 students in a learned swim uh classes and public education and physical education.

Eight sessions of monthly learning community opportunities for BPS swim instructors, lifeguards, and swim paraprofessionals.

Nine of our BPS swim instructors are training with BCYF through their swim whispers training, and in 2026 2026 swim and water safety were integrated into physical education framework for student learning outcomes.

Looking forward, we're gonna continue to maintain the strong relationship that we formed with BCYF, PMD, working together and collaborating as you can see on a few of the previous slides, and you know, me talking to Sam and Eddie probably more often than we would absolutely need to on a daily basis just to make sure or weekly basis is to make sure things are going as planned.

Um, we going forward will continue to uh put out contracts for three-year sections of time to make sure that we continue to maintain our pools, and after that, we are gonna make sure we can continue our assessments, make sure we can recommend capital projects where they need to happen, put together major project proposals for critical work, and see which items fall into our maintenance categories versus our capital planning expenditures.

Uh, and with that, I'll pass it back to Eddie if he has any closing remarks.

Thank you, Brian.

We're gonna move back just one step just to go over some of uh the statistics related to BCYF programming.

Um, as you can see, swim lessons um we've provided them to over 20,000 youths since 2022.

Um we've trained, you know, 15 BCYF staff and BBS life guides for adaptive swim techniques.

And we're uh uh offering adaptive swim programming at four different BCYF pools um and host an annual autism awareness swim event every April.

So we're trying to ensure that we include all walks of life and giving opportunity for individuals to access these resources.

We've worked um very hard to essentially reopen.

And as you can see through the list below, the increase of um obviously our aquatic program and and attendance.

If you can see there's a little dip in FY25, part of that is from a data cleanup that we did, as well as a few pools that were down uh within the last year.

So there was a little bit of a dip, but nothing too significant.

Um believe it's an accurate number.

So that is the presentation I can stop sharing at this point.

Okay.

Thank you.

Um so we're gonna go to my colleagues to ask questions to the admin, and then I've been in contact with Ethan and Ron, and we have five public testimony that will come up after my colleagues before we go to the next panel.

So, Council Mejia, you're first.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um I'm having somewhat of internet issues.

Can you hear me?

Yes, we can't see you, but we can hear you.

Oh wait, hold up.

I'm not gonna deny you of my presence.

Here we go.

There we go.

You're good.

Okay, I'm good.

All right, so just a few questions.

Um the Hennigan finally reopened, so awesome, nearly after five years.

Um what were some of the key factors that delayed uh the reopening and what um has BCYF changed to prevent closures of that length in the future?

It'd just be helpful to know, as we know that the blackstone remains uh closed.

Um, so I'm just curious what is in what's the current timeline for reopening, what work remains outstanding and what barriers still exist.

I think that families deserve to know where we're at and why we're not where we need to be.

So I'd love to better understand that.

Parents have raised concerns about changes to swim team programming at the Flourity in particular, and I'm just curious what led to those decisions and how is BCYF engaging families when programming changes affect youth um and disrupt entire families or families who were traveling all the way from East Boston to participate, and now they're driving all the way to Dedham.

That's very disruptive.

So I'm just curious, you know, what work are we doing now so that we can continue to work together and that students have access uh to the team.

So just curious about kind of where we're landing with that.

And can you share um BCYF's current priorities uh for aquatics division?

For example, how do we know if the city has made any significant investments in it in the initiatives like swim safe to expand swimming lessons, how does the priorities shape decisions around staffing, maintenance, programming, and access across the entire pool system.

Um so I'm just curious about that, and then I know I'll have a second lab, so I don't want to overwhelm you with too much in this first go round.

You may have already been happy to answer them the best uh that we can.

I'll take the sort of maintenance and um and sort of uh work to address sort of the lengthy and unplanned closures, and I'll let uh Braun jump in in regarding the BCY BPS managed pools uh as necessary, but essentially it's a two-pronged approach.

One is continuing to make these large capital investments.

You know, we know that um we have decades of default maintenance in our aquatics facilities, uh, which is unfortunate.

Um, and uh the this administration has made it a priority to sort of uh along with the community and and um and you all to prioritize capital investment in pools.

So uh we have active capital projects going on at the Mirabella, um at the uh at the co at CODUS Hall and others, um, and then in parallel with that, uh, one thing that we are really working on um along with BPS is getting those maintenance contracts in place so that we're able to perform expected preventative maintenance, sort of replace pots quickly before issues sort of snowball.

Um but in my experience, some of these longer closures are really about sort of the gel of the pool or really like sort of critical structural systems of the pool itself uh reaching the end of their expected life.

Um, and so it's unfortunate that those are such large problems, but large problems tend to take a much longer uh time to fix, and what I think we've got better at is the small problems that may have resulted in a pool being closed for two weeks, three weeks, four weeks because of waiting on pots or trying to diagnose a problem.

Um, I believe we've gotten much better at resolving those issues, and we can focus our energy and our efforts on those bigger picture problems where a pool is losing water.

How do we do that?

We're gonna have to close it and renovate it, but we can prioritize them.

Um, Brian, anything you would add there?

Yes, thank you, Sam.

I would say uh maybe pun intended here, right?

It's a fluid situation for a lot of our pools.

Um, and uh specifically as it relates to the Hennigan, we were looking at 2023 was the last time that we're open prior to the most recent opening, and the contracting vehicles are really something that slowed us down, where we were seeing different pieces of maintenance without the proper staffing on our side to be able to assess what those problems might be.

Uh, once we were able to bring in some people to assess the pools both internally and externally by doing some audits, it allowed us to actually forecast what it was like to have the right people in place to see exactly what contracting vehicles we needed to put together.

So it meant that instead of doing the $20,000, $10,000 WQC or our written quote contract for us to put the work forward, we're able to do an assessment that alarge allowed us to put a larger maintenance contract together to do this work.

Um it also meant that we had a budget that was uh allocated um from the capital budget that allowed us to also uh piggyback on that to do the service that we did need in that pool, and then it was replacing with the chemical feeder system after that was working, it was kind of continually chasing the issue down the line where we couldn't trace it before because we needed all pieces to be operable before we can figure out how much needed to happen.

It seemed like that domino effect, along with um some of the lead times that we're seeing on parts, some of the contractors being on site was really what slowed that process down.

But very similar to what Sam was mentioning before.

Okay, so uh is anyone going?

I I may have missed it, but did anyone talk about the decision making process for uh the Flarity, how that came to be and what the Eddie can help you with that?

Yep, I was just about the chairman.

So um the decision-making process specific to the Flarity Dolphins you're saying, or well, I mean, yeah, I would like to start with that because that's one of the reasons why we're here today.

Overall, you know, we were also hearing from uh families from the Hennigan, and we were here from families at the Blackstone.

Obviously, you know that my office was heavily engaged with the um the clarity pool in Charlestown.

Um, so if you could just kind of paint a picture for what family and community engagement looks like overall, and then I would like to dive in a little bit deeper to kind of how we ended up with the flowery situation and just the bumps that we've hit along the way.

Okay, um, I mean, so just in general, we're advocacy on every level is coming in um to BCOF on uh daily basis, whether it's specific to aquatics or just general programming.

Um that is being accounted for.

Our public information officer is collecting that, we are responding to that as quickly as we possibly can.

Um what we say is obviously, we share that with our colleagues, and it is identified by the administration as well as obviously you all to help us set our priorities.

It isn't the only determining factor, but it is something that is taken into account.

So to say that there's like a particular scale, there isn't, um, but there is one that that we are accounting for it.

We are trying our best to address it and addressing it in uh the you know, the operational parameters that we have, you know, in the fiscal as well as the amount of money we have and things like that.

So taking a look at facilities, um, especially facilities that may need a little love to get back on board or a complete rehaul, and then trying to, you know, prioritize in that fact.

With respect to programming, um changes in programming, you know, happen season to season pretty regularly.

Um sometimes things change from uh one season to the other, and we do get feedback on that.

Um, and then we try to incorporate that within our, you know, with the programmatic offerings that are coming in the near future.

So that would be specific to saying that's how we take our information.

A lot of it comes from 311, some of it comes from a site level engagement, as well as when we have events.

Um, and so we get briefed on those things and we put that into um, you know, our analysis of when we're reviewing the entire network.

Um, with respect to yes, counselor.

No, go back.

I'm hoping that you'll get to what uh yeah, yes.

With respect to the Flarity, the Flarity Dolphins, um, they are five at, you know, they operate under the Rosendale Community Center Council, a separate 501c3 nonprofit, um, independent of Boston Centers for Us and Family.

Um, they are using our facility, and that is going to continue, and they have been working with HHS, but both chiefs, both Chief Masso and Deputy Chief Conley, as well as Nadine.

Um, I I heard earlier in the comments that people were concerned that not certain certain things have not progressed as far as they would like it.

What I do know um is that they do continue to meet with the Flarity Dolphins and parents and communicate on a, I think it's a bi-weekly basis or a monthly basis, and there isn't a timeline set to say this is when our connection with them ends.

Um it still continues.

They're still allowed to use our facility.

Not only the Flarity facility, but we've also had conversations about if uh scheduling at other pools as well, if necessary.

Um, and that is essentially where we are with with respect to that process.

I remember you at the council, I remember you being there for the community meeting as well.

Um, so they are operating, they are operating out of the Metro League, which is separate of us, and they are still being coached by Lewis Barnes, I believe.

Um, he's just not coaching during his working hours as a pool manager.

So, I don't know if that adequately answers the question or not.

Well, I know that we're out of time.

I'm not sure.

Maybe I can just do a follow-up in my second round, Counselor Murphy.

Just chair it Murphy just to begin with my colleagues.

I'll come back for round two.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um counselor Pepin.

Hey everyone, again, thank you so much for for the hearing.

Thank you so much to the panelists for the community panelists for testifying and for other work to the admin.

Thank you so much for providing the questions.

I I also have a ton of questions, um, similar to Council Mahia, follow-up on the flarity pool as well.

But I want to start off with some a little bit more basic questions.

Um programming for the seniors program of the aquatics program.

Um big fans again.

I know that they've been reaching out for updates on the on the funding on when you know if they're going to continue.

I want to know where do you guys hold those those programs for our seniors through the age strong partnership as well.

Um I know that many of them are tend to want to at the Flarity pool.

So I wanted to get an update on for that specific site.

And then I think that this is a question more towards um Chief Ford, um, regarding the Mildred pool and the Matahunt pool.

I would like to know in terms of timing and um if the pools are ready to be open this summer.

I know that the Mildred Pool had some questions about if it was going to be open or not last year, and I just want to make sure that those two pools are going to be available to the Mattapan residents for this summer.

And then the questions that I had regarding the dolphins and the flare in the flarity pool is a little bit more broader question as well.

Is in terms of the of the future of the of the swim team.

I know that they have been very successful, very competitive, um, one of the best, if not the best swim team in the city of Boston.

I I've always wanted to know if the city of Boston is looking to create some sort of a league of its own.

Use the Dolphins as an example.

What is the plans for the future of swim teams and swim leagues in general in the city of Boston?

So I'll leave it at that for now.

Thank you, Counselor.

So maybe I'll just start with the last question first as we were just on that topic and then we can move backwards.

With respect to uh competitive swim at BCOF, we're looking at not only making sure we're maintaining our own league, which is a little below, you know, I would say the threshold of what the flare Metro League Flority Dolphins are and it making sure that we expand our own league at all the new pools that we just opened.

And it's really the entry way for you to get to, you know, initially into competitive swim and then take the next step into something like that of the Metro League.

Another, in addition to that, in collaboration with USA Swim, uh Chief Chief Masso, Deputy Chief Conley, as well as Nadine have been working and collaborating with USA swimming in order to figure out a structure that could potentially fit within our own, um, so that we could elevate it.

There it's still in kind of the works, like drafting works.

There are like agreements that need to be signed and you know, liability and threshold as well as parameters to even compete at that level.

I am not a pro and understanding all of that, but I do know that those conversations are existing, and that competitive swim continues to be um, you know, competitive swim definitely is one of the you know key facets of our aquatic network and something that we prioritize, but it's not the only thing either.

So I just want to make you know, teaching people how to swim is is key in order for you to be able to get to the level of competitive swim as well as ensuring that we have programs such as you know senior aquatic programming, whether that's water aerobics or the bikes or whatever it is.

So there's a uh you know a spectrum of different types of programs that are all trying, we're all trying to prioritize as well as ensure that they're you know spread around the city um as well, you know, in an equitable fashion, so you don't have to travel, you know, all the way to Rosendale in order to get that class if you live in East Boston.

Um my situation uh the situation with respect to the classes and moving forward, um, we're you know what I mean.

We are we are definitely uh dedicated to ensuring that we're providing the highest quality programming as consistent and reliable programming as possible.

Um, obviously, it just you know the parameters in which we're operating have changed uh under the new budget, and we're gonna make sure that we do an analysis of not only our ongoing operations but all of our programming and to ensure that we are efficient and ensuring that we are consistent and reliable as well as equitable in the way that we distribute programming, especially aquatic programming throughout, you know, throughout our our network.

Um I will say it it will be a little bit more difficult this year than it has in years past with respect to the you know the new fiscal um situation, but we're still not going to.

I mean, we're still going to do our best to ensure consistent, reliable and safe programming.

That's great.

And if possible, um our office has questions about what classes are available.

If you have some sort of a breakdown of especially my region, like the southern part of the city, um, where they are the senior aquatic class or the or the um any type of programming for that age group, that would be helpful if you could share that.

So, yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

I'll make sure we follow up after this to have that information.

Thank you.

Um, and then to to Chief 4, just following up on the Madahunt and the Mildred school pools.

I know that those are BP BPS connected swimming pools as they are connected to to schools.

Um, wanted to know if is there any updates on that I can share the residents on terms of of them opening for the summer?

Yes.

Um, so good morning, Councillor Frickman.

Morning.

Uh good to see you.

Um, so I I have a live document, and I was really hoping that we have some people boots on the ground today, um, that are going through a couple of these sites just to see if there's gonna be some further updates.

Um, as of right now with the Mildred, the pool is ready to be operated in its current status.

So right now it's just working through some of those logistics to make sure that we can fully pull the pool online.

Um that's just gonna be some administration.

So we will work with that, and you should be able to tell the community that if as long as we can program the pool, it should be available for use.

Um, do you have like an ex a date expected or are you aiming for an expected date that they can say like I don't know, like July such and such, you can start using the pool this day.

Yeah, um, I don't have that date.

Um, I think as you know, I work with you know some of our colleagues here and some of the the existing school programming.

We'll figure out if that's something we're able to do because that is also a site that um we have summer programming in.

So I just need to see if like they are using the pool currently or have a plan to use the pool, and then um what we can do for the residents as well.

So I just I think I need to have another conversation with Eddie and Sam um to figure out what that looks like in terms of my other thing, it's being inspected today by ISD, and BCYF is already in the background anticipating that the inspection goes well to move staff there almost immediately to open.

Um, and so usually after and just and sorry, Chairman, but usually after the inspection, there are usually some boxes to check once those things are done.

The BPS will communicate that to us, and our staff will deploy as quickly as possible to reopen the pool.

That's huge.

That's huge.

That's great updates.

Um, thank you so much for doing that.

And then I'll also advocate for the Mad Hunt pool.

I was just there, I want to say two weeks ago with Raymond with um the amazing Raymond Heath.

He had he had a great youth program there, still has one.

Um, I was able to talk to over 30 young people and uh the kids actually brought up the questions about when the when the pool is going to open.

So um we'll love to also get an update on that if that's if when that's available.

I know those two sites, Mattapan, you know, they have people that they want to go swimming, so uh we're very blessed to have two pools in that neighborhood.

So advocating for for both Mildred and the Mattahunt.

And before um, Madam Chair, before I know my time probably coming up, I just want to thank the um the parents of the Flarity pool.

So I know that you know the transition has not been easy for the families.

I just want to elevate their voices.

They've been doing everything possible they can to advocate for those kids.

I believe there's over 90 swimmers in that program, and many of them who live in my district, so just it's always nice to see democracy in action when the parents are speaking up, the youth are speaking up, and kudos to BCYF tool for creating the opportunity to have those working sessions on a bi-weekly basis.

Um that was very helpful to at least get to where they are now.

I know that we are not at a place where you know where it's the exact answer we've been looking for, but I know that we are heading in the right direction.

I think that with the eyes of you know the city council partnership with BCYF and the parents.

I think that we can make sure the the dolphins continue to be successful.

But that's what I wanted to say.

Thank you, Council Peppen.

Council of Flynn, you're up.

I'm sorry, um, council.

I think you want to, yeah, go ahead.

Sorry.

I just want to interject for one minute because I didn't answer the question on the Madahunt.

Oh, live updates are are great.

Uh so the Madahunt just passed their inspection uh two minutes ago.

Uh so we we should be pretty good there, and so we'll have an opening date for you.

And the Mildred was just flagged as open for me right now.

Huge, just wanted to uh share that.

Thank you.

Councilor Murphy, it looks like we're gonna go swimming in Matapan.

I know I'll see you there.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Flynn.

Thank you.

Um, I'm still asking about respect for my constituents in the south End.

The Blackstone swimming pool, located across the street from Ruth Bakley, public housing development across the street from Villa Victoria, to developments that are are almost all people of color.

We're talking about in this conversation, high school swimming, college swimming, elite swimming.

But what about what about my constituents that are living in public housing and down the road that live in Roxbury?

What about them?

Are they part of this conversation?

Or are we just ignoring them?

They might not have the advocacy or the ability to effectively weigh in with elected officials.

But they're important.

Their families and their children deserve a little bit of respect.

We haven't heard that conversation at all about the Blackstone.

We're almost ignoring them and hoping that they go away.

And the Blackstone's swimming pool is still closed.

I want to make sure my constituents that are living in public housing and in Roxbury and South End have the same opportunities as other families, wealthier families, white families that have the ability to lobby their elected officials.

But what why are we refusing to have a conversation about this, Sam?

Can't we engage city officials in work on trying to identify ways that we're able to reopen, invest in the resources for the Blackstone school?

Why why is it why is that there's so much silence around this?

Thanks, counselor.

Unfortunately, I do not oversee the Blackstone.

I'd have to defer to Mr.

Ford on that one.

Okay.

Sorry about that.

Um good morning, counselor.

Hey, Brian.

Uh this is a tough question to answer, and I don't think that I have any great response for you, just to be frank.

Um we have been advocating for all of the pools, right?

It's not that we have precedented one over another.

I think we've got to a place where we did our initial assessments.

We saw that two pools were outstanding, two pools were uh a little bit above what could be considered that maintenance line.

Uh that ended up being the uplined pool and the blackstone pool.

We have since done those assessments.

I think we went to the pool together.

Uh I don't want to recall the time online because I don't remember the exact thing.

No, we we did, and um I'm I'm requesting um I'm gonna send another email out.

I'd like to do an on-site visit next week with the appropriate city officials at the Blackstone.

Um, but I I just can't, I just can't accept it any longer, Brian, that we're not able to fix a swimming pool in the city of Boston.

That excuse, not not you, I'm not saying it's you because it's not you, Brian, because I like you and have great respect for you, but I just can't accept that any longer, that we're unable to fix the swimming pool at the Blackstone in the Blackstone um pool.

And I'm I'm hearing about other pools where people elected officials are jumping in the water and everyone's having a grand old time.

But what about the what about my constituents at the Ruth Barkley development?

Um, almost all people of color.

What about the people at Villa Victoria?

Almost all people of color.

People down the road in Roxbury that go to the swimming pool as well.

Um, I have an obligation to them.

I'm not gonna jump in the swimming pool, regardless of it's fixed or not fixed.

My job is to fix the pool, and it hasn't been fixed, and I want us to work together.

I'm willing to work with you, Brian, because I've we've worked well together, but I I just not I'm just not going to accept any longer that the Blackstone School is a school that's unfixable.

I can't accept that.

Yep, I I agree, and I think what you're asking for is the appropriate next step.

I think getting an engineering assessment, working with a team that has expertise in this, um, looking and comparing against the capital budget that exists now, and figuring out like what is you know that next step, right?

We talked about like the shell, we talked about uh excavation that needs to happen, building, we talked about uh wastewater lines that were there as well that need uh some additional support, and I think comprehensively, we need to put it all together with uh FCA that we've done with that assessment that you know we've identified with our our pool team, but I think we also need to bring in a couple of extra people.

I think it wouldn't be against um, you know, regulation for us to think about what a civil engineer might do uh for that part of the city and um how we could think about this.

So that up Holland, we started this process, and I think at Blackstone, there should also be an ability for us to start this process.

I just have to check with like a few things on my end, um, what it takes to get that off the ground uh for at least for us to all have like that transparency.

Yeah, I I see I see us all celebrating the pools across the city that are opened, and I was over in the south end, I was over in Roxbury over the weekend.

I was at the bowling building for a brunch in honor of um Mel King and his family.

Um and residents came up to me and were asking me, Ed, what about families of color?

Swimming lessons for them in the south end in Roxbury.

Um, what are you gonna open that pool up, Ed?

Um, is there any support on the city council or the mayor's office for putting resources into the blackstone swimming pool?

And I said, Well, there is with me, um, and I'm not giving up on my constituents, but I I hope I hope we have the same level of um excitement and commitment like we did with opening other swimming pools around the city.

Um, and it's just this is a racial justice issue as far as I'm concerned, and we want to make sure young people of color, boys and girls have swimming lessons.

That's important.

That's a safety issue.

That's a moral issue.

That's a that's about respect and dignity for our residents for all of our residents, people and wealth being able to have the ability to get swimming lessons for the kids, and that and that's fine.

I'm um I'm happy about that.

But kids in public housing in low-income families don't have that same ability, and that's the job of the city to provide those resources, and we have with fill them, we'll feel those kids, and we need to come together for a plan, develop a plan, because they deserve a little bit of respect, and that they've been denied that respect from the mayor's office and in the city council as far as I'm concerned.

Thank you now, Chair.

Thank you, Council Flynn.

Um, Council Louis Jeanne, you're up next.

Good morning, everyone.

Um, happy to be with all of you, and I also just wanted to say that I know that there's tremendous work in the city to do to make sure that all of our pools are online and that we're able to um meet the needs of all of our residents.

And I I also want to acknowledge uh to you.

Um uh to Brian and uh Ed the tremendous work you all have done and BCYF has done to get us this far in celebrating pool opening because I do think that there's been a lot of great work not to take away from the work that needs to happen.

So just wanted to say that.

I also wanted to uplift the advocacy.

I think Council Bet Ben asked many of my questions with respect to uh uh the Flarity pool and access to uh for all for everyone.

I think um uh Dr.

McGuire, I heard your answers when you were talking about making sure that the pool was accessible to those aquatic lessons and those we needed lessons on how to swim and uh developing the BCYF, BCYS owns team own teams.

Uh I'm wondering sort of when we're talking about allocating the time to um different programs, you know, in this situation, want to uplift the dolphins here.

How are we making a decision about pool time?

Um with respect to pool time.

Obviously, I mean, I think our priorities are BCYF programming first, especially like the swim lessons, um, and anything that our staff are facilitating facilitating.

We've put a lot of time and effort into developing those structures as well as ensuring that the staff are certified and certified.

Um, you know, we we're picking up those expenses in order to have that quality and to have the ability to do so.

Um, but also our third party vendors that we've brought in that specialize in aquatics.

So we try as much as possible to ensure that we're consistently programming the pool while also, you know, having general windows of opportunity for whether it's open swim or third party use.

Um, and so when we take a look at how we're going to do that, it's obviously BCYF programming first, then things that are specialized, like vendor purposed, whether it's for seniors, whether it's a different type of activity that we might not have in-house, but we want to make sure we're offering it to the public.

Then with respect to the next step would be kind of general, general open access swim, open swim, lap swim, things like that to the general, and then looking for those other windows that are there for third party use.

Um, and that's that's kind of the way that we look at it and prioritize.

Um, and luckily we're able, you know, there are a lot of competing asks all throughout the city.

It's not just one particular group or uh or another, it's tens of them.

And ideally, we're able and we are continuing to build toward you know having a lot of these things in-house and having those times, you know, allocated and expertise in-house uh whether it's for competitive swim or if it's a lifeguard who wants to be trained in you know aqua aerobics.

So trying to get off um not so much relying on vendors as much as possible, but in-house expertise as well as kind of you know making sure that third-party communities have an equitable opportunity to access one of those windows, and that balance is sometimes a little difficult.

Oh bad.

Counselor, can't you're muted?

You're muted.

Pro mistake, sorry.

Um, are we going to be able to guarantee to the dolphins the time that they need to uh you just went on mute again, counselor?

Sorry.

Oh, sorry.

Are we going to be able to guarantee to the dolphins the time that was promised to them regarding pool usage and lane time?

Uh there right now, I mean, my understanding is that they they are continuing to operate out of the flarity.

We've also offered other locations within our network to ensure that you know that the time that they need is there.

And um the chiefs as well as Nadine have been working with them on a bi-weekly basis to continue to hear uh their concerns, as well as you know, ensuring that their operation can be sustained at that location.

I would say I think my understanding is that they were operating out of the flarity uh swim league like eight times a week.

That might be a reduced a little bit, or we might be able to move them to a different location, but the bulk of what they have done historically at Flarity has not been interfered with.

So we look forward to having them here, you know, their season this year as well.

Thank you.

And I just want to just encourage you to continue to work alongside the families and their priorities as we, you know, want to make sure that we're maintaining these competitive sort of teams and doing the work of building out.

I I a hundred percent hear you about learning making sure that pools are available to learn how to swim.

I know that's a that's a deep, deep need, especially for our young uh kids, black and brown kids, just learning how to swim is such is so so important.

I have my own swim story and challenges and journey as a result of not having access to pools, and so it's incredibly important that we do everything we can to make accessibility uh possible at all levels, but want to make sure, you know, I I come out and I came out and I listened to the families at the Clority in Charlestown at the Flarity and Rosendale, uh Mildred, uh Matapan, that we continue to send our families and the priorities of our families in the decision making process when it comes to the pool time.

Um, thank you, everyone, and I really appreciate the time to ask these questions.

Thank you, counselor.

Thank you.

So, Ron, Ethan, we're going to go.

Thank you to my colleagues at all that are on right now.

So we're gonna go to the next five, I think Paul Paula.

Excuse me, Chair.

Before we move on, we're still gonna do a second round of questions, right?

You're just gonna allow public.

We will, but I before we move on.

Yep, I'll do it.

Yep, thank you.

We have Paulo, Anita, Mercedes, and Ethan, who should be coming up next, but Paulo first.

Thank you.

Hi, G.

Uh, hi.

Yep, we can hear you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Perfect.

Um good morning.

My name is Paula Faz Johnson.

I'm from Rosendale, and I have been part of the Floyd community on and on for about 18 years.

First as a swimmer and now as a parent of swimmers.

I joined Florida as 16 years old after moving to Boston.

Flority is so much more than a swim team.

It teaches children discipline, teamwork, responsibility, and self-confidence.

Ever since my kids joined, the team has played a huge role in shaping who they are.

It has helped build their confidence, create lasting friendships, and given them a true sense of belonging and community.

As stated by Edward McGuire, BCYF swim program is not a competitive swim swim team, but um for many Boston families is the only affordable option.

If the city doesn't support programs like Metro Flority Dolphins, our children whose families can afford private swim clubs and that are really good swimmers simply supposed to be left behind.

Watching our kids worry about the future of something they love while feeling they're not being heard is hard to process.

These are not small questions, they come from real fear and confusion.

These kids are these are kids who show up for the city, they represent Boston with pride, they grow and learn here, but it often feels like their voices and the programs they love are now being prioritized.

As a parents, this hurts because they're doing everything right, they just need the city to show up for them too.

Invested in competitive swim is invested in Boston children.

I hope the city continues to support programs like the Flarity so future generations can have the same opportunity that helped shape my family for nearly two decades.

Thank you.

Thank you, Paulo.

Um Anita.

Um, good morning.

My name is Anita Cooper, and I'm here today as a Rosendale resident and Flarity Dolphins swim team parents since 2017.

Being part of the Florida Dolphins competitive swim team helps shape my three children into the young adults they are today.

It isn't just a swim team, it's a pathway that builds confidence, leadership, and community.

Last December we learned that after 30 successful years, the Flaherty Dolphins competitive swim team would no longer continue as a BCYF program.

Today the Flarity Dolphins continues as a developmental program, and I'm grateful these opportunities remain.

It introduces children to the sport in a supportive environment.

But for swimmers who want to continue developing, there also needs to be a true competitive pathway.

This means more advanced training, competition under standard swimming rules, and the opportunity to progress to higher levels of the sport.

Today that pathway continues through the Boston Dolphins, supported directly by families rather than a BCYF program.

Families are paying more than twice what they paid before because they believe this opportunity is worth preserving.

There are very few competitive swim team options within Boston, and many suburban programs start at $2,000 a year.

As opportunities become more expensive and move further away from the city, they become less accessible to the very families BCYF exist to serve.

One of the reasons I voted for MERWU was because she described Boston as a family living room, a place that has to work for everyone.

That vision has always stayed with me because BCY pools are one of Boston's shared living rooms.

Competitive swimming is more than a sport, it teaches discipline, resilience, teamwork, and leadership.

It creates lifeguards, swim instructors, coaches, and young adults who give back to their communities.

That is exactly the kind of opportunity I believe Maywoo wants for Boston families.

Please preserve affordable competitive swimming opportunities for Boston's children.

A thriving city isn't measured only by how efficiently it uses its buildings, it's measured by the opportunities it creates for people.

Thank you.

Thank you, Anita.

Next we have Mercedes.

Hi, I'm gonna just make a few comments because I did uh submit a uh a written testimony, but as I'm listening uh to the discussion about uh children and the competitive swimming um and also the lack of discussion about um the mason pool would serve as it serves a school and also a commun a larger community that is underrepresented.

Um a lot of the people from the South end come all the way to the Mason pool to actually uh swim because there's nothing happening at um at the Blackstone, and I appreciate your comments and your advocacy, um, Mr.

Flynn.

Um but I as a I'm a senior, and that's the other reason why I wanted to talk.

Um I'm kind of a bridge person.

My son who's now 30 um actually wanted to swim at the Flarity, but instead we went to a million pools around the city, including some in the colleges, um, looking for a program, and at that point he did um go to the Mason pool, and I did that because I wanted to build his self-esteem.

He struggled in school, and it was one of the ways that he felt successful um as an individual.

Not just not playing basketball, but swimming and learning the challenges of that.

My as I said, my son's now 31, and I am a senior with health issues, and my my neighbor who's sitting next to me, she's saying that she doesn't look good for the camera, but we have been going to the mason pool for the last three years and have been taking water aerobics, doing swimming lessons, and engaging with seniors, which is really important, breaking the isolation, especially after COVID, breaking that isolation that a lot of seniors have, um, when um when they're alone, they're retired or they're aging and they have uh physical issues.

Um I have built a community, and there are community people who are actually on the phone on the on the on the uh zoom call who are not speaking who have really uh used that pool as a way to connect to community, um and the pool is extremely important that and actually the mason pool uh is not only used by the kids but it's used by seniors, and the seniors actually last year I I embarked on raising money for the students at the mason school to have suits and swimming gear.

Um, and we raised $4,000 doing that.

Um, and handed that money right to the Boston public schools to get them those kids in the school.

They were coming with used suit suits that maybe were not washed out.

I'm like, wait a minute.

I know when they have their own suits, they'll be they'll feel confident.

Um, so I am here, um, and I should say that I live in Dorchester, so I I go I come all the way across town, maybe I'm maybe six blocks from uh from uh Marshall, but I come across town to go to their aquatics program for seniors, and um a lot of us would not know what to do if we didn't have that program.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mercedes.

Um, and thank you for your.

You know, it's speaking not just about yourself as a senior, so it's all all generations swim in our pools.

Um, so I think is Ethan, is this youth ethan up to go before we go back to a second round?

Oh, Ron.

Not seeing them in here.

Okay, is Maria there?

Zola Tara Therese.

Not seeing where we are eating.

Okay.

Well, I'll go back to a second round for our panelists um for my colleagues, and then I will set up the next round of speakers with you.

Thank you.

Um, so councillor Mejia and then Council Flynn.

Uh thank you.

I it would be helpful for me.

I'm gonna start specifically with the Flarity Pool.

We participated um in some organizing, if you will, with some of the families.

They came to us early December reaching out, looking for some guidance around how to best move forward.

And I know that they had worked with Chief Masso um and BCYF staff and created some infrastructure and some ways to be able to support these transitions.

Has it always been that?

That's my understanding.

Okay, because my understanding.

Okay, go ahead.

Yeah, they operate under the Rosendale Community Center Council.

They sign an MO, there's some sort of MOU between them.

I believe they're the fiscal um their fiscal agent for that, and then I think they re-reiterated their own status earlier this year as a separate entity.

So let's just kind of for us to for those folks who haven't been following this journey and so that we can get these sort of things on the record and we understand kind of what these processes are.

Now they will be, correct?

Something that was a public resource, now it's a nonprofit entity, and therefore they're they're now being asked to pay a lot more than what they had initially signed up for.

Is that true?

I can't speak directly to their program fees and how they break that down.

Um with respect to Boston Center and Newton Families.

I mean, our we're not charging them in any way, shape, or form.

If that's yeah, we're we're not adding that that inherent cost for utilization and things of that of that matter.

So if this I wouldn't be able to speak to their costs.

Okay, so the Dolphins program and the participation continues to be free.

I'm not I I believe that they in order to participate in the Flarity Dolphins, there is a fee that that organization collects.

Um what I do know is that we've provided bathing suits for them over the years for free.

Yeah, so I guess what I am trying to better understand is that BCYF is a public entity that is supported with public dollars.

However, this particular program was uh forced to privatize by becoming its own nonprofit and then covering those costs as private um participants.

Like that's that's the narrative, and I just want to.

I can clarify that.

Yeah, can you because because that sounds a little weird that we would do something like that?

This isn't just for the dolphins.

I'll speak very broadly about you know our relationships with councils.

Councils are separate 501c3 nonprofits.

They at one time operated um pretty prolifically throughout our entities.

Um in 2018, the terms of liability related to City of Austin operations and those 501c3 operations were um you know officially delineated and separated in lines of liability.

The Flarity Dolphins have operated out of the Flarity Pool, or the Dolphins have operated out of the Flarity Pool in partnership with the Rosendale Community Center Council, but they were not a BCYF specific city of Boston operated program.

They did have a coach, or they still do have a coach that um is both an employee of the city of Boston and now is also their coach on the side, just not during his scheduled work hours.

So then basically, is it fair to say that the coach that they're you know the what they're paying for as private through the privatization of it covers their the coaching hours?

I'm not sure what the you know what the fee is related to a the coach that's not part of the city.

I we're not in the finances of that, but they have always charged a fee to their swimmers to operate in that week.

Yeah, I think yeah, so thank you, Edward.

I guess what I'm trying to better understand is that when people come to me with concerns about, oh well now we have to pay, and we're talking about equity and we're talking about removing financial hardships and we have families that are traveling from East Boston to participate in this way, and now there's additional fees, and some families have opt to send their kids now to other spaces and places like Dedham, which now it just feels like we've gone from having a quality team, the dolphins, that were competitive and still are, and that in some ways their little wings have been cut, like you're no longer gonna be flying as high as you can because we're going to stop the way we have been doing business with you, and now we're creating a new structure, and this new structure forces families to then have to what it feels like a privatization of a public good, and that's what I'm trying to better understand.

Like how do how do we reconcile with that?

Well, the entire city had to, you know, all separate nonprofits, especially councils, um, you know, they had to sign the terms of the 2018 MOU.

Uh then they did it again in I believe 2022, and then there's continued conversations about that relationship.

But the doll the Flarity Dolphins are operating under the same guise as all other 501c3s that have that.

Yeah, but but now they're paying for the coaching and and the insurance is new.

They weren't, they didn't have to cover those costs.

So, in order for them to maintain their team, families are now being asked to cover the insurance and coaching, whereas before they didn't.

So that has that cost has been.

Yeah, their insurance, I mean, if there's a fee related to coaching, then yes, that would that's a new cost for them, but with respect to insurance and other aspects, that's not something that I'm aware we would have been covering.

So the standard in which they are now essentially the standard in which we're having them operate is the same one that we would do for all of the councils throughout the throughout the city, and it's something that's been in existence since 2018 and reiterated time throughout that time up to now.

So this was not a random switch, it's just the enforcement of it is at this point.

Okay, so just a few things.

Um they're not a non-profit like they before they were used um for the metro swim league meets.

I'm just trying to help under it.

None of this makes real sense to me.

That's why I'm trying to unpack it.

Um, and could you just ask if there was if there was um anybody who can answer this?

Uh, was there an agreement with the Dolphins that it's only for the year pool youth and why not longer?

Was there any agreements around um the Did you understand that question?

I'm moving all over the place here.

It's okay.

It's um my under I mean it's a continu, they're again, you know, the Chiefs and HHS uh working and Nadine are working with them on a regular basis.

I mean, I have not seen any specific time limit put on the dolphins for utilization of our facility.

And obviously, as we are working to help prioritize our own programming as well as making sure that the general public has regular access to it, um, you know, where we're we're working with the dolphins to identify times that they can continue to operate out of there.

Um, with respect to their financial uh situation, they do my understanding is that they are a subsidiary of the Rosendale Community Center Council, which is a separate 501c3 nonprofit, and that non-profit will be held to the standards of the MOU that ensures our compliance with the law.

Thank you, Eddie.

And I uh sorry, thank you, Mr.

McGuire.

I think that that is probably where the the discrepancy lies is that this group was forced in many ways to be its own standalone nonprofit, like to cover these costs.

That's how the narrative is that they were forced to prior um privatize.

Um, but they're all Boston citizens, right?

And they all pay taxes to support our public good, and that's where the tension is.

Now they can only swim at Metro, and they don't they're not supported um to the team to swim on Metro.

So it just it's a little bit confusing.

Confusion there.

Yeah, um, and they have to pay for everything uh except for the pool time.

So it's it's it's going from here's this free amazing program to like the terms and conditions have shifted significantly, and the financial burden is being placed on the families, and that's where the discrepancy lies.

Um, and then they're also being forced to swim at two different pools, um, and they're limiting the you know the size of their team, and so how can they be competitive when they have two different pools um and and different days to use it?

So it's just it there's a lot to just put on one team in a short period of time, and so that those are the sort of things that we're trying to reconcile with.

Yeah, I would say just to be fair, the terms in which that they're being held to were established after we were established.

There was an incident at the Curly Community Center that sent a review, which was a drowning that sent all third-party entities operating within our facility to be assessed.

Took about two years, and what came out of that was an MOU about kind of standardizing that relationship and the responsibilities of third-party relationship to public assets.

That was in 2018 and reaffirmed more than once.

I believe 2022 or 21 was again where the MOU was signed, and it's it goes through what what I would say is that the way that they are operating today were actually established in 2018, and it's 2026, and throughout between 2018 and 2026, they should have been operating in the fashion that we're now holding to.

So then that that's the point of clarification here for a lot of folks because they have not been operating as a nonprofit or a third-party entity until this year.

No, they were.

The dolphins are obviously moving toward fitting within them.

And this is and this is usually why I like to lead with community because what their experience is usually does not line up with what the administration is, and there's a point of tension here because in their in their eyes, they were they were not swimming.

They were not a nonprofit, you know, they were BCYF participants.

And it feels as though they've been kicked out of BCYF, right?

It feels like they have been evicted from their.

I know.

This is just I'm just noting for the record.

This is the way it feels.

And I know that I have other colleagues that want to ask questions, and I don't want to continue to hold you hostage here.

Um, but I will say that, you know, with a when you have a partnership with a nonprofit, it's it sounds a little bit messy, doesn't sound as clear and as um here it is.

I know that I I may have a third round of questions.

Hopefully I will, but I I'll just state that um for me, someone who who didn't learn how to swim.

I know how important uh this conversation is, especially in our communities when there's so many young people, particularly young people of color, um, who need this and could also compete competitively, so it's not just about state of lives, but it's also a sport, and I think that if we can continue to treat it as such, then our kittles can have the same opportunities that the suburban uh communities have when it comes to swimming, and I think that the dolphins were definitely onto something here, and I think that it's really sad that that we don't have this, um, the capacity that we did, but I'm gonna I'm gonna let my colleagues go.

You say you you don't know how to swim.

Yeah, don't be trying to get it to swim.

Okay, like I was about to make a change, we could change that for you.

No, I listen, I got I got knocked off.

And I can meet you down at the curly, because I mean in the ocean.

I know how to waddle, I don't know how to waddle, and that's it.

I used to, when I was a kid, it was the fire hydrant that I and whenever we have floods on my street that I swam in and nasty water.

So if you ever change your mind, please let us know.

We have no problem helping that.

Yeah, that's all good.

You're not using me as an example.

Um I'm not gonna be drowning.

I have enough problems already.

But anyways, um I'll wait for my next round and uh thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Flynn.

Thank thank you, madam chair.

I still want to stay with my original topic, of why we're refusing to support residents in the South and in Roxbury with the with a swimming pool that works.

It's it's beyond frustrating to many residents that are hearing this conversation, and we're talking about competitive swimming and kids going on to high school swimming and college swimming, and and we all support that, but the kids that don't have access to the swimming pool will not have those same potential opportunities that other kids have.

And that's what's difficult for me to accept that because you're from a certain neighborhood, you have the opportunity to excel in a particular sport, and if you are from another neighborhood, especially in neighborhood located within several uh a public housing development um in across the street from Villa Victoria, then you're not really able to excel in a particular sport, or a scholarship in a high school or or a college, and and that part for me I can't, I just can't accept.

And so my question is Brian, why why do we prioritize building new swimming pools or or SAMA ed, why don't we prioritize building new swimming pools when there's still swimming pools that need to be fixed?

Uh counselor, yeah.

I I think we're trying to strike a balance of both.

I think um, you know, we've had the unique opportunity with uh BCYF Grove Hall to incorporate a pool in a neighborhood and uh and a center that didn't have one, um, and we've seen the need uh throughout the city and this and as this sort of discussion has has indicated the the desire of the community to have those facilities available.

So uh we prioritized including that in the Grove Hall.

Um, the BCYF North End, the new North End Community Center.

Um, you know, we knew that the Mirabella pool was facing similar challenges to the Clarity and then Sam, why then you stay on that example that you highlighted in the North End?

Why was that a priority?

And I support the I support that, um, the North End pool, uh, a new North End pool.

But why don't we support a new um blackstone school pool?

If if we're willing willing to put all the energy and resources um into building a new swimming pool in the north end, again I support that.

Why can't we do the same for the residents of the South End?

Why was one particular neighborhood prioritized over another particular neighborhood?

No, I think that's a valid question, Councilor.

I mean, I can't speak to how the prioritization within the capital plan was reached.

I I would hesitate to say that one neighborhood is being prioritized over another from our perspective as facility managers.

We're really prioritizing what we consider to be, at least within the capital plan, things that are typically out of our reach to deal with, sort of on a on a routine basis, and I'll let Brian speak to this.

But an experience we've had that I know he's had at pools is that with many of these you're chasing an issue and you continue to chase the issue, and it's frustrating to the community, it's frustrating to to you and the other councils, and it's frustrating to us that we you know we fix a filter and then we find out that the collector tank is broken, and we fix a gutter and then we find out that the pool's losing water.

And with the Blackstone in particular, my understanding was that um BPS submitted a renovation plan to the to the MSBA in uh 2022, I believe, and were denied.

And so they were hoping to rebuild not only the pool but the entire school.

So I think that has put us in a position of reactivity, which none of us really prefer to be in.

So, you know, I think to Brian's earlier point, I think meeting on site with the Blackstone and figuring out okay, given this larger context, given the investments that you mentioned.

But Sim, the the the pool has been closed for a lot of a lot of years.

Now there is $500,000 in the capital budget for the potential of a new Blackstone school potential um swimming pool.

Um not a lot of money, uh as we know, but there's money in there.

But the but the question still remains the school, this the pool has been closed six six years, and so even if it was built today, it'd take another couple years, 10 years, uh, it'll be a total of 10 years.

Well, we lost a generation of young people that wanted to learn to swim competitively, and we're not providing equal services to them like we are other particular neighborhoods.

Um, so I I feel like if this the city of Boston is not going to prioritize building a new BCYF school, which I don't I don't know if they're committed to doing that.

If that's not their priority, let's fix the beat, let's fix the swimming pool immediately, because I don't want another generation lost due to our inability to move forward with building a new school.

Why should the residents of the South End suffer because of poor decision making at City Hall?

Sam, what do you what do you think?

Oh I think you're right.

I don't want any residents or constituents to suffer in the South End or anywhere else.

And I think you know, this administration has worked hard, you know, from three years ago when half the city's pools were closed, including almost all the pools in Dorchester and Mattapan.

We've got back to a place where we have pools open in Mattapan and Dorchester, we're building new pools.

But Sam, but but but the Blackstone wasn't prioritized.

Was it not prioritized because it was too difficult to do, or there wasn't the support for it?

I can't speak to that, Councilor Bryan.

I I think it was very difficult to do and remains very difficult to do, but uh I can't.

But that doesn't mean we should not do it because it's difficult to do.

Um that means we we have to work together to come up with a plan to put the necessary resources with the proper engineering study with the community support to prioritize rebuilding um this pool, but just doing nothing is really not an answer.

Telling the residents of the south end and the and Ruth Bockley and Villa Victorian kids in Roxbury, you know, we see we see people jumping in the swimming pools, cutting ribbons, having a grand old time, and then, and then we look at kids of color and Ruth Bockley.

Do you know how that must make them feel when they see that on television, everybody's celebrating, and they can't even go to their local swimming pool because it's closed, it's been closed for years, then must be demoralizing to see that type of video on television.

Um what do we say to those young people, Brian and Sam?

Yeah, I just wanted to um jump in just for a moment here.

Um I agree, right?

We should be doing what we can in order to make sure that pools are available for all of our residents across the city.

Uh I think one good resource for us might be kind of sharing the map.

Um I keep looking up and I'm not looking up and away, but I'm looking up at my map.

My map has a bunch of different pools that are available across the city, and I'm starting to think of like we have, and maybe this is not operated by us, but the South End Fitness Center.

There's um the Madison Park, which will be open this year.

We have the Condon uh K through eight and the JQ ES, uh the Quincy Elementary School pools.

Um, and I think you know, everybody here on the administration is happy to help any president be pointed in the right direction to make sure that they have access to uh the ability to swim.

I mean, I learned to swim in the city, I think everybody should learn to swim in the city, and you know, I think it'd be very helpful in terms of um why we're not packaging more pools with schools.

I think we're trying.

Um I think the the last school that came online that had a pool attached was uh the Carter.

Um we all know that um it was a need.

I don't think I need to go into more details there.

Um, but a lot of our schools are in unique positions where the footprint hasn't necessarily supported uh adding in an additional pool to those spaces, and even um things like uh working with the Jackson Mann community out in Brighton, working with uh some of our new school communities when they come online, uh we start to look at what the community is asking and looking for, and we incorporate that into some of the designs as we get there.

I think the 500,000 that is currently in the capital budget, it's low, but I think it's low on purpose, and it's so we can get that study, right?

So we can figure out how we can continue to explore down the line what it means to invest in the blackstone, whether it's the pool, the school, or the pool and school in combination with one another, because I do agree that we're still investing there in the blackstone, like we've done uh and still more needs to happen on the inside, but we're doing improvements to the outside, we're adding things to the library.

I think um every time I walk through there, I want to make sure that we are doing more, we are serving that community uh from all the aspects that we're we're able to, and um, I think working with agencies that are next to us, MSBA, maybe that'll happen again, but you know, we'll have to work with the plan and see if if that works for uh BPS uh collectively, and then you know what it means to move forward with that next step in the capital plan.

All right, thank you, Brian.

Uh just like chime in.

I mean, um, Boston Center is for youth and family obviously still operates out of the Blackstone school.

Um, we do have a van, and we're more than willing to uh and have always provided the opportunity to transport anyone who's in that area to one of the functioning pools in and around our network.

I understand that it would be better for it to operate within their own neighborhood, but this is something that we do commonly, especially when pools go down for periods of time, shifting programming, making transportation available, and so if anyone in the South End is watching this or hearing this, you know, if you go to BCYF Blackstone and request, you know, working with the site director, we can accommodate in our network the opportunity for you to take classes at any one of our functioning pools, whether it's closed or not, and um until there's a resolution with respect to the major overhaul of that specific pool.

But we don't want anyone ever to fail that they don't have an opportunity there.

Um, and if it something that we could better coordinate, or if there is a specific group, please let us know, and we will work with you all to ensure that you do have access and you do get the services that you see at other pools.

Madam Chair, um I'd like to request a um information from you to the um BCYF team.

Can I get a list of the number of people that were driven from BCYF Blackstone to other um BPS or BCYF related swimming pools since the Blackstone has been down?

Has been down.

And I do think that's important for us to have the facts as we go forward.

Madam Chair, I don't have any further questions.

I want to say thank you to you, Council Murphy and Council Mejia for um advocating for the Blackstone poll, but also for the residents of the South End in Roxbury as well.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um we've been joined by Council Warrell, so Council Warley, you are up.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you to the administration that's here.

I just have a couple questions around pool status inside of district four.

Um Holland, any status on the Holland pool?

This is something that the community advocated for um for some years now.

Um I know that it's a major fix, but I just wanted to check in to see, you know, what what's the plans?

Um, is it something that we plan on fixing over the next couple years, or is this school one of the schools that's possible for you know major renovation?

Uh good afternoon, Council Laurel.

Good to hear from you.

Um at this moment in time, I don't have a major update for up Holland.

Currently, where we are is um from the last conversation that was had, we've since had uh a team go out and do an assessment of that space in partnership with um the city of Boston operations.

Uh we have got that report back.

I think right now we are working on trying to figure out what feasibility looks like in terms of how we can or what the next step might be in terms of feasibility for that project to move forward.

Um, because of a you know, particularly tough uh financial year, don't have uh an answer for you on the moment of what next steps are on timeline, got it.

Um so do we think it will be like how often do you like for your capital plan?

How often do you set timeline like when would you have an update for the timeline?

It would be sometime next next year.

When do you plan on revisiting it to like set timeline for pool renovations and plans for capital projects for pools?

Yeah, so annually I try to make sure that we have an updated proposal of capital projects.

It usually falls in line with about an October for the submission.

Um I do meet with the team uh and assess kind of like all of the different things that have come up as higher priorities on uh weekly or bi-weekly basis, depending on the month, so that we can summarize where our current budget is and where we're having some budget pitfalls for those proposals to come together for October.

Uh the formal reports of those or formal submissions, they start our preparation in about August, so uh about a month and a half from now, we'll start putting together uh what that looks like from the BPS side and weigh in our operating versus capital versus grant funding uh into that uh mix as well.

All right, and my understanding is that the lead school pool is now open.

Is that true?

Oh, okay, awesome.

Awesome.

And what are the hours of operation?

Did you ask what the hours of operation is?

Yes.

Yeah, so it is Monday through Friday.

Um, they're operating.

Well, obviously, when it's schools in session, it's when school's out until 9 p.m.

Um, yeah, so that's I believe the hours of operation for this summer are 10 to 9.

Or something along the lines of that.

Yeah.

So they just developed the new pool schedule, and it's just recently been opened, so there is programming and uh enough lifeguards at that location for programming to be maintained.

Not you said, not enough or enough, sorry.

There is enough.

There is a there's enough often.

All right, well, um thank you.

I know that facilities management has we have done this transition from um BPS uh to owning a lot more of the pools.

I know that um a lot of work has gone into it.

Um I know that facilities management is uh a lot of a lot of work, but we have to just make sure that we stay committed to making sure that accessibility and access to a lot of the amenities um that our public BCYF centers in our school provide to our community is up and running.

Um, but I just want to say thank you for all the work that um everyone on this call puts in.

Also, just want to thank my colleagues for advocating for their community, and I know that we are all uh working towards uh making sure that you know these amenities are available to all our residents across Boston.

So uh just want to say thank you to everyone on this call for all your hard work.

Thank you, Council Warrell.

We are going to go to if they're still on the last who have signed up already, public testimony, and then to the second panel.

But if we have Maria, and then it's Allie, Oscar, Elizabeth, Louisa, and Bo were the others still on the list.

But if you are still on Maria, you can go next.

I think Maria might have left.

Okay, but we have Al.

Perfect.

You can go ahead, Allie.

Thank you.

Hello.

Um, I was going to say good morning, but I will say good afternoon.

Um my name is Allie Casher.

Um, I'm the parent of two children who have been swimming at the Flarity for the past several years.

Um the Flarity community has not gotten clear answers about why BCF, BCYF transferred the Dolphins coach or privatized what was once an affordable and accessible public swim team.

Um, but internal emails we received from a public records request do shed some light on some of these questions.

These emails suggest that BCYF officials transferred Coach Barnes because they thought he spent too much time with the Dolphins team.

They show officials strategizing about how to get ahead of parent outreach to the mayor's office after executing this poorly planned transfer, and they also show how two falsehoods that we have heard today.

Um became a key talking points.

The first was that Coach Lewis orchestrated parent outreach to the city, which I assure you we were capable of doing on our own.

And the second was that the Dolphins were a quote external non-BCYF team, despite decades of Dolphin swimmers being registered through BCYF, swimming at BCYF pools, being coached by BCYF staff, and swimming in BCYF meets.

But the main reason I'm highlighting these emails today is because of what they don't talk about.

Children, in 231 pages of correspondence between city and BCYF officials, children barely enter the conversation.

Children are mentioned only in mass emails to parents or in internal discussions about how to manage parent outreach.

When an organization that exists to serve children and families makes a decision that a limited public youth program and children are not at the center of that discussion, something is broken.

Boston's kids deserve better of all places, BCYS should be the place where they come first.

Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony.

Let me just check.

I think we have one more public testimony.

If Rachel Green is on, you are next.

Hi, good morning, everyone.

It's great to be here.

Can you all hear me?

Yes, we can.

Thank you.

So I am really grateful for all of the conversation that we've had today about the importance of young people swimming.

And I would love, in my professional capacity, as a person who works with young people in Boston to help with that.

But I'm actually here as just a citizen.

I've been a resident of Boston for over 20 years and have really counted on BCYF to support my well-being.

When I first moved back to Boston, I really wasn't very excited about being here.

And I really found a community at the Manahunt pool.

It was a place where the lifeguards looked out for me.

They taught me and a lot of older women, some in their upper 80s, some who had never been in a pool before, to actually like learn how to swim and build their skills.

And some of the ways that the pool has operated this year have felt a little bit like arbitrary and confusing.

It was initially when I started swimming that I could get in at 5 50 in the morning because I signed up for six o'clock lab swim, and that gave me enough time to get into the pool.

At some point in the winter, they started locking us out of the pool in the dark and not letting us in until 6 a.m.

At some point they would let us into the lobby, but then they told me that I couldn't get into the locker room because it was a liability issue, which made zero sense to me because why the liability in the lobby would be different than the liability inside of the locker room was confounding to me.

And then this Friday, a bunch of us were swimming, and all of a sudden at 6 50 a.m.

the lifeguard started blowing whistles and got us all out of the pool, which was a little scary and startling.

I didn't understand what was going on.

It was raining out, so I thought maybe there was lightning, maybe we were in danger.

And then when we all got out of the pool, they just told us it was just a new rule.

The new rule is that you have to stand on the deck for 10 minutes between the hour at the end of the hour, and for what reason nobody could tell me.

So we all got out of the pool and on the lifeguards stood on the deck for 10 minutes, and then eventually at 7 a.m.

they let us back in the pool.

And so I think it's just a little frustrating having swam at so many different pools around the city to find that sometimes the rules are arbitrary, um, that things aren't very well explained, and also just that as a resident, I don't always feel like I'm treated very respectfully.

But I want to say that that is not the majority of my experience.

The majority of my experience in the pool that I'm very grateful for are that the lifeguards look out for us, that the managers are accommodating.

But in those off in those off cases, I really would like something to be addressed.

Thank you.

Thank you, Rachel.

We actually do um a few others said popped on.

So Oscar, you were next.

I just finished eighth grade at Boston Light Academy.

I've been swimming in both the BCYF and Metro Leagues with the Flaherty Dolphins for five years.

I'm working as a lifeguard intern at the Flaherty Pool this summer.

And I hope to become a lifeguard when I turn 16.

I want to start by saying that what I've been hearing about competitive swimming from BCYF has not lined up with my experience.

Today I want to talk about how competitive swimming, specifically swimming for the Flaherty Dolphins uh essentially changed my life.

When I was in first grade at a BPS school, I was sent to the principal's office nearly every day.

My teachers also used to sit me in a chair outside of the classroom because they said I was too disruptive.

I learned during that time that it was better to keep quiet to avoid getting into trouble at all costs.

It was not at all so it was not at all that surprising when I got an ADHD diagnosis in second grade once I moved to a different school that focused more on understanding kids than punishing them.

Those early experiences stuck with me, and I continued to avoid situations where I thought I might get in trouble or make mistakes.

I refused to join sports teams or speak up in class.

But swimming with the swimming with the dolphins helped me find my voice again.

When I started in fourth grade, I was not a good swimmer.

But I worked hard, improved, and started to feel more confident.

The Dolphins built my confidence because it was hard.

I had to work on stroke technique and endurance to get better.

I had to focus on my form so I didn't get disqualified.

If I had been on a developmental swim team in the BCYF instead of a competitive team, I wouldn't have worked as hard or have done as well.

Contrary to what a lot of people think about kids with ADHD, we're not lazy.

We just need something that's challenging to keep us engaged.

Competitive swimming also provides an outlook for kids with ADHD because of the consistency of it and the focus that it requires.

This year I won a silver medal in the 500 freestyle at the Boston City Championships as part of the BLA swim team.

I never would have been able to swim that distance, let alone competitively had I not swim with the Dolphins.

Kids in Boston deserve to have the same opportunity I have had to become competitive swimmers, but without a public option for competitive swimming.

That bridge to high school swimming is gone.

Because I'm hoping to swim in college, I'm now swimming with USA swimming, which is a national competitive swimming organization.

I'm grateful to have the opportunity to do this and am very aware that because of the cost, I can only do this because of my own privilege.

Many, many families do not have that privilege.

If the city takes away the most competitive swim team at BCYF, it has also taken away the opportunity for so many families to have their children swim competitively at a higher level.

BCYF swim times can't be used in college applications, unlike Metro League times.

Since Metroids are officiated, the times achieved in them are considered official.

BCYF might be a good starting point, but doesn't carry kids into college swimming.

Metro and specifically the Flaherty do.

Kids in Boston need access to both types of leagues.

I want to wrap up by talking a little about what it feels like to be a youth swimmer in Boston.

It feels like we are essentially an afterthought.

I've been playing baseball with the JP Regan League for as long as I've been swimming, and Regan's able to apply for permits each season to use city baseball fields.

The mayor attends Regan's opening day, and Regan participates in the Mayor's Cup baseball tournament each year.

Almost every other sport has a mayor's cup and has a way of filing permits to use public facilities.

Swimming does not.

If the city values its youth swimmers as much as it does other youth athletes, please consider giving us equal access to facilities and recognition through the mayor's office.

On a personal note, I would love to be able to swim in a mayor's cup swimming.

Thank you.

Thank you, Oscar.

Um next we have Elizabeth.

Hi there.

Before I get started, I just want to um confirm that I have um five minutes to speak as of as a everyone has two minutes for public testimony, and just to be clear, it's not also a time for either colleagues or the panelists to kind of sorry, counselor uh Chair Murphy.

Um Elizabeth, they is a panelist, not a public testimony.

So if you're a panelist, we then if you could wait.

We haven't called up the second panel.

So I um, oh, I guess Oscar was also supposed to be.

So Louisa, Danny, Elizabeth, and Oscar are panelists.

So is Bo on?

Bo would be the last to just be um not just, but to give public testimony if Bo is on and wants to, and then we can call back Oscar, Elizabeth, Louisa, and Danny for the second panel.

And you will have as much time as the first panel.

So if we don't waiting, Elizabeth.

Thank you.

Um, so if Ethan, if Bo is on, that would be helpful, and then we can call up the next panel.

And before the admin leaves, I think Council Mahia may have just had one more question for for you also.

Yeah, Bo's in here, they just need to accept the promotion of panelists if they want.

Thank you.

Bo, if you heard Ethan, if you can just accept panelists and then you'll be able to speak.

Let Ron know that I was gonna send in a letter instead, and I'm just listening to the testimony of others.

Sorry that didn't get to meet me.

That's awesome.

Thank you for that.

I appreciate it.

Okay.

So Mihia, do you have um any other questions before we switch to the next panel?

Yes.

I think it's more of a clarity.

Just want to it just be helpful for those who are tuning in and have been doing a lot of work here.

Um, you know, from what I understand, they were a team of 90 swimmers, and we now they can't assure that their um students will still have a team passed next year.

So I just want to note that for the record as a point of contention for families.

And then in regards to the city acting as uh a fiscal agent and collecting fees.

Um, I believe that was started in 2019, and it was immediately after the agreement between the site councils and the city was ended in 2018.

I just feel like it's a little bit murky how all this came to be.

But this the BCYF regional manager, from what I understand, insisted um that it was the city that it was a city program and required families to get money orders, and that they didn't take personal checks, and the city treasure had no management um entry in their system for those fees, and they were recorded as swim lessons or donations, and a review of the treasury um records for that year will show that a spike in those two entries, and then after the polo reopens after COVID, the regional manager at the time said that it would be okay for them to do it again, and they've been doing it like that ever since.

And they believe that they you know they have picked up in 2021 and 2022, and they you know, it just feels like the whole timeline, and I know we're not gonna spend the whole time with this issue here, but I think that it is a little bit unclear, and then it would help me.

Um Mr.

McGuire, if you could just put the record just state clarification for us in regards to the how the how this became to be, where it is right now.

Yeah, I can give another brief overview of the relationship uh with respect to councils and third-party entities at Boston Centers and News and Family.

Um again, those relationships were scrutinized after a drowning in 2016 at the Curly community center.

As a result of that, there was the legal department reviewed how we operate in contingency with third-party entities and created an MOU that delineated the terms in which third parties could operate in public facilities to ensure compliance with the law.

As a result of that, organized community center councils throughout this throughout ECYF network were held to new standards.

Some of the things that they did do in the past was collect money at public assets, which is not compliant with the law.

And we moved to rectify those under the guise of the legal department.

With respect to the Flarity Dolphins and their operations, I can't speak to the previous manager um or whoever we were referring to and with respect to the way that they said that they could operate, but what I do know is that we've gotten our guidance from the City of Boston's legal team and we're following that guidance.

Um and that the Flarity Dolphins are still able to operate out of our facility, and we are still providing space and working with them to ensure that competitive swim is a part of Boston Centers and Youth for BCYF's aquatic network moving forward.

Um it is true that Flarity uh that some of the dolphins members do swim at with BCYF uh developmental teams.

Um but the developmental teams and those and bullet, unless you sign up for the dolphins can't swim with them.

They're two separate leagues.

BCYF controls its developmental league, the Flarity Dolphins operate out of the Flarity Community Center and a separate uh separately called Metro.

That's that's how that happened with respect to incurring cost uh to operate their program.

I I really can't speak to that, but I do know that the um HHS along with Swim Safe and and others have been working with them to try to help mitigate those costs in this transition as well as ensuring that they still have time.

Um again, there isn't a timeline right now that says we're just gonna stop communicating with them.

It's uh it's a continued work in progress, and there are still things that uh thresholds that need to be met, and I know that they're gonna work diligent.

You know, my colleagues are gonna work diligently to ensure that.

Thank you.

And I know uh Chair Murphy that my time is way over.

I would ask if the administration does not mind staying, I may have a few more questions because I think that when we hear from community, we usually have a better understanding of some of the things that uh we may not have all the information, and it's not until we listen to folks that we have a full picture.

So if the administration does not mind waiting, and then I can ask whatever last round of questions I have if I have any after the community panel speaks.

Yes, I agree.

Thank you, Council Mejia.

Um, so I do just want to thank Oscar and hope that you do stay on as a panelist.

The next panel is gonna be Oscar, who is a Flaherty swimmer, Elizabeth Costello, who is a Flourity parent, Louisa, who is a friends of the Hennigan Community Center, and then Danny Vargas, a youth advocate from the Hyde Square Task Force will be the next panel.

Um so I Ethan, um, if you could set them up, but I did want to give we've been joined by Council Culpepper a chance to speak, um ask any questions.

Hopefully the admin will stay on.

But if you have any questions directly from the administration, it's it's your turn.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you, Council Murphy.

Thank you for holding this hearing.

I will hold my questions for now.

I'm just listening to all the good information that we're getting.

Thank you to the panelists, and uh, I'd rather just continue to move on at this point.

I'll jump in later.

Yeah, I just think we need to keep uh moving forward with the information that we're listening to.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you for that.

So thank you to the administration.

I hope you can stay on um and know that each of us individually, but also you know, collectively, we'll continue to reach out and advocate.

And for myself.

Just thank you for always being available when I do have specific questions.

Just one quick question that I did have.

And it could have been wrong information, but over the weekend, Brian, I heard that the Murphy school was going to undergo more HVAC work.

And I mean, the story sounded identical to what did happen a couple summers ago that the community center of the would then have to move out again.

Is that true that they're doing more HVAC work?

And is that was that always planned, or is this to kind of fix because I know at the end of this school year there had been some concerns that the past work needed to be updated?

If you could just speak to that before we move on to the next panel.

Thank you.

Uh, sure.

Um, we are noticing that there was a little bit more HVAC work that needed to happen at the Murphy School, and that's why we've relocated all of the uh summer programming at that building this year.

It it doesn't seem to explicitly be affecting the pool, but because of the type of work that's happening where it may affect the carbon monoxide detectors, it may affect the fire alarm system.

We do want to make sure out of an abundance of caution that we don't have people in the building while we're undergoing some of these changes.

Um, in terms of the timeline for this, uh I it was pre-planned because it came up during the year, and we should be able to get through those.

I just don't have an exact timeline of when it's complete prior to the beginning of the school year, but uh I don't have the date in the summer currently available in which we'd be complete.

Uh if I can find that before we're over, I'll just send it over.

And are we prioritizing to do it sooner than later so that we don't lose a whole summer for the neighborhood to have that pool access?

Uh yes, we should be prior, like the project should have started, so school ended last week.

Um the project should have started um this week.

Okay.

If you could keep me up to date, that'd be helpful.

Thank you.

Okay, so we are on to the second community panel.

Um, I know Oscar, you already shared your story.

Thank you.

Go dragons.

Um, if Elizabeth, if you and Luisa and Danny, but Elizabeth, you can go next and you have as much time as you'd like to share, and we'll ask questions of this panel also.

Thank you, Councillor Murphy.

Um, hi everyone.

My name is Elizabeth Costello, and my daughter Cora just finished her second year swimming with the Flaherty Dolphins.

Until the team city decided to abruptly and unjustly categorize us as a private team and not a BCYF team.

My daughter competed in both the BCYF and Metro League meets as a BCYF swimmer, she was very proud to swim in BCYF Meets and display her BCYF medals, but will no longer be able to compete in that league next season because of the application of rules we never knew applied until today, and as city MOU, we have never seen.

I also serve as president of our team's newly established board of directors.

We did not establish this board to reiterate our status as a third party.

Families previously paid a fee of $200 to cover our $15 Metro League participation fee, our competition swimsuits, and our swim caps.

Now we are required to form a new nonprofit, pay for coaching, secure insurance for our swimmers, and insurance for our board.

These costs were previously not required as we were a BCYF team.

As counselor Mejia noted, our fiscal agent handled our feet our funds for us because the city didn't have the operational structure to manage those fees.

I invite Mr.

McGuire to join one of our upcoming meetings with Nadine so we can help address some of his misconceptions about our team and we can better understand these rules that are just being explained to us today.

As board president, my responsibility is not just to our current swimmers, but to ensuring our program continues to grow and serve youth swimmers across all of Boston for years to come.

We are genuinely supportive of expanding swim programming across the city and committing committed to working with the city on an arrangement that meets everyone's needs.

And we stand with Counselor Flynn and the Blackstone families in asking that BCYF prioritize all communities, not just ours.

We ask that the city honors its commitments to the Dolphin families and not split our team between two locations, as this will burden families who rely on public transit.

We have proposed alternative schedules that would allow us to practice at the flarity alongside the new BCYF team, including a dedicated evening window for the BCYF team, which we understand is the city's primary goal.

Our team remains an institutional limbo because of the decisions made without community input and commitments that have not been honored.

And we implore the city to stop, please stop making changes months into existing agreements and to deliver on the genuine community engagement it has promised.

As Natasha noted in her testimony, six months later, we have seen no follow-through, and BCYF continues to set priorities for resource allocation without public input.

We truly believe the city shares our vision for competitive swimming in Boston, and we ask that you fulfill the promise to convene a citywide working group on competitive swimming across BCYF pools, so that every child has a pathway from developmental swim to high school, college, and beyond.

Today is our first time hearing that BCYF is engaging with USA swimming, which I want to note is a less inclusive and more expensive program than the Metro League.

We want to be part of these conversations that will impact our swimmers.

And we need long-term commitments to support our shared vision for competitive swim.

One year of pool time guards and grant funding gives us no ability to plan ahead or sustain program access for our lowest income swimmers, especially.

There is a glaring gap in how Boston supports competitive swim compared to other youth sports: soccer, baseball, softball, they have seasonal permits, standardized fees, and formal city recognition through events like the Mayor's Cup.

As Oscar noted, swimming has none of this.

The city has invested in swim safety with free lessons for over 1500 youth through the swim safe program and the Beast CYF Developmental League, and we applaud that.

But there is no permit system for community swim programs, no tournament recognition, no continued grant pathway to support sustainable community-driven programs.

Programs like ours are always one administrative decision away from disappearing.

Swimming should have the same opportunities as every youth sport in Boston.

We are asking the city to build that infrastructure for every youth swim program in Boston, from East Boston to the South End to Roslendale.

And we are asking that it be built with the community, not handed to us.

In closing, we ask the city for four things.

Honor your commitments, deliver the genuine community engagement you promised in January, make long-term commitments that allow us to plan and grow and build the infrastructure that gives swimming the same standing as every other youth sport in Boston.

Our children deserve a city that keeps its word and puts them first no matter what neighborhood they live in.

Thank you.

Thank you.

It looks um like we have Bo and Allie, so I assume you're both on as part of this panel also.

Is that true?

I already spoke.

Oh, okay, you're still on.

Okay.

Okay.

Thank you.

So, Council Mejia, Councilor Culpepper, if you have any questions to the community panelists or if you wanted to elevate any other concerns, you can go now.

If you're still on Julia, I see camera.

And no, I'm here.

I'm here.

I know.

Yeah.

Unfortunately for the administration, I'm still here.

Louisa Harris seems to have popped on too.

Um, Louisa, do you want to speak before Council Mejia asks any questions of the panel?

Yeah, that would be helpful if if it's.

And I don't see Danny yet, but I do see Louisa just hopped on the councillor Murphy can I Elizabeth, one question.

Sure.

Of course, go right ahead.

Sorry.

And also, uh, Denny already spoke at the beginning.

So, oh, okay.

Okay.

All right.

So then when if my people signed up for both, okay.

Okay, so then is it's okay for me to ask questions now it is um and then um council call pepper did you have a specific question for Elizabeth yeah I just want to Elizabeth talk a little bit more about that citywide planning group that she talked about how the city made a commitment to establish yeah are you just curious about the details of that um this was something we had um we had a community meeting in January with um with Jose Maso's team and one of the commitments they had made to us in January was that we would form um a citywide working group um to to address competitive swim and that we would do that in the spring so we have passed that timeline um so we are asking that that be formed um by the fall that's what I was talking about and how was it to be a service for district for who per school how was it to be a center?

We didn't um it was just a brief bullet point on a slide in the community meeting we didn't um we didn't receive any additional details about it um we have had at that meeting we did ask we did note that um our team had immediate needs that needed to be addressed around competitive swim and so we were able to secure um a working a citywide work a city working group with our team but again that is only benefiting our team we want the conversation to happen for all youth in Boston um not just for our team so that's what we're requesting the follow-up on you okay and we can um council murphy we can talk about following up on that for Elizabeth because I do think it's a great idea.

Absolutely and I think it keeps all swimmers on the same level not one being beneficial or one having an advantage and the others don't have so let's talk about it after after the hearing and see how we're just pulling one more detail it was meant to be about 12 or 15 parents from all across the city so again not just our team but citywide thank you awesome and council call pepper I'm I'm more than happy to share with you the notes that we took and that our office has been working alongside the Flarity parents in regards to this issue since December um so more than happy to loop you in the organizing that we've been doing the reason why they were able to have that meeting was because we met with some of the parents in December and talked about a plan of action and what came of that was the meeting that was hosted and they did such an amazing job of turning people out that place was packed and they walked away with some agreements and then some of those agreements became disagreements because um the the work that we set out to do did not manifest in the way that we had intended and so this is an opportunity for course correction um and getting it right so Council Call Pepper happy to engage you in the into the process.

Yeah I think we need to help them get it help get it established uh but we could talk about that yeah we definitely can loop you in to the work that has been happening offline thank you um so I just hi Louisa you're here okay go ahead and I just wanted to you want to please yeah go ahead should I should I do it or wait I'm sorry I don't know I would like this is your time so yeah yep thank you thank you so much good afternoon uh my name is Louisa Harris I'm a JP Mission Hill resident and on behalf of the 400 plus friends of BCYF Henning we want to thank you for the effort and attention to reopen the Hennigan pool.

No small feed for sure but um if for reason on why this project took the amount of years and finance to realize um the reason became clear in our opinions.

It's a lack of vision, strategy, and competence on the part of leadership and on-site management.

And that's why we have this conversation today.

Someone said the communities are not strengthened by grand gestures alone, but by the consistent, thoughtful choices that quietly remind people that they are seen and supported.

This creates connection and restore dignity and lays the groundwork for something lasting.

The Hennigan Sport Center is a constructive channel for the energy of students, not only Henningans, we have several schools around here: teens, adults, families, veterans, seniors, and people with disabilities.

Yeah, I think we uh we are quite tolerant and understanding, as you heard, but overlooking past and current mismanagement or allowing another disconnect manager in our case will have a negative consequences for our community that has been already greatly overlooked by BCYF and BPS in the past.

BCYF and BPS have only seen us as people bringing issues to them.

But if they had only checked our concern, instead of relying on reports from uncommitted managers on-site managers, they would have seen that there are requests were valid years ago, and were validated also by previous counselors.

A year ago, over a hundred community members gathered to state our request to BCYF and BPS, but they did not come with an open mind.

Once again, failing to connect with quote youth and families, they are supposed to care and support, which seems to be a pattern, unfortunately.

And the constant refusal to listen and adapt has led and is leading, sounds like, to stagnation and quite a lot of money spent.

So our pool has reopened.

Now the community needs a leadership, management, and programming, the reflects is needed.

In our case, last year's uh community meeting, very clear and written requests from the community were given to the counselors, uh, the mayor, Senate, state, and city officials, and these requests are first of all, community center programs, second, a dedicated community entrance separate from the school entrance, which in our case is completely possible, and equitable hours of operation designed around the schedules and needs of the community throughout the year, not just in the summer.

So, in closing, our hope is that collaborations, communication, and accountability to the community must be at the foundation of a functioning and well-maintained center.

The extent of BPS and BCYF leaders' next actions will demonstrate their ability to listen to the community, responding to us thoughtfully, and working in collaboration with us towards meaningful solutions.

So thank you.

Thank you for that and for your years of advocacy.

Appreciate it.

Council Mejia, do you want to go first with sure?

Thank you.

I do.

Thank you.

Um, so and I want to thank Luisa for reaching out to our office as well.

And I just want to know for the record that normally what I tend to do is either allow the district counselor or the committee chairs to kind of really step into their power and lead.

And then because I'm such a busy body, sometimes I can't help but to be engaged, and so just really want to thank particularly um the Flarity pool folks for looping our office into this and working in collaboration with you all.

Sorry that we're still at it, but I do believe this is a lesson for everybody here, and Luisa, congratulations on the advocacy that you all were able to do.

Um, so now I just really want to better understand some of these dynamics from the community's perspective because I always say there's two different sides to every story, and the better that we are understanding people's experience, the better we're under able to understand what needs to get fixed as we continue to have these discussions.

So this is really more about understanding.

So this is for the community.

I'm curious um if you could just tell us what was the communication between between BCYF and the community.

What has the communication been between the BCYF staff and community?

I'd love to hear kind of like the communication flow.

I felt like I saw a lot of emails, then after the emails came some response, but if you could just talk to us a little bit about your experience with the communication flow, one to is there anything that the administration said in their remarks that you would like to respond to?

This is not normal, but I do believe this is an opportunity for communities to have a voice, and I think it's important that if they said something that either you did not understand or that did not land well, or you know, it was a was a little bit confusing or may not be true to your experience.

I would love to give you the mic to do just that.

Um for the swimmers, what does swim provide that is different than any other sports or activity?

You know, I think this is such a very specific um sport that I'd love to hear kind of what it provides for you that no other sports you can get.

Um, and then for your, I'm curious to know what is your vision for swimming in the city as a whole.

Um, I'm curious what should BCYF be planning for the long term.

I really do believe that this is an opportunity for us to really start thinking collectively and collaboratively of what that could look like.

And then my last question for now is how can we expand the model and the success of the Dolphins team to other teams and pools throughout the city.

That's a lot for y'all, but Elizabeth and team, you have the floor.

Thank you.

Um, let me start with the communication flow question.

Um, I don't want to, I mean, if we go back to December when the decision was initially to move our coach, was initially communicated to us.

We did not hear that from BCYF first.

We did hear um that news from our coach, and again, as Ali noted, he did not ask us to he notified us, he notified this of us of this information.

He did not ask us to conduct outreach on his behalf, we did that on our own out of our own interests.

Um, and that was in the middle of our season.

Our season started in November and concludes in April.

Um, when we received follow when we did receive communication from BCYF, it did not initially address what would happen with the rest of our season.

Um, those there was some notes that our coach could continue to like volunteer, but it didn't address anything about the future of our team.

Um, and again, I joined this team, we joined this team two years ago with this idea that my daughter would be growing through she's 10, you know, she that she could be like Oscar and some of the high schoolers and swim for years on this team.

It's half a mile from my house, selfishly, right?

So um, and when we um, so yeah, that that is like the broader communication that we have received from BCYF, and then I think specifically um now that we do have our city and what citywide working working group um with Nadine and Lisa and Efrain, we've had a lot of really good communication with with them, um, working through the details of our spring season, our summer season, um, and working through you know the grant funding.

So I I do really I think that the communication has improved on the at that level, but the communication broadly um and engagement um has not.

We have not um we have not had the broad communication about the um again, the citywide working group or like the future vision for swimming.

Um, that vision for swimming in the city.

I again we haven't had this conversation as with with the city or as a full team in in a bit, so um I don't want to completely speak for everyone, but we would you know, we I think Oscar outlined and I outlined there there's a pathway you you you learn to swim in a swim lesson, you join a developmental program.

If it's something you're really excelling at, you join the competitive program, and that could lead you to high school and college and beyond, and it's a lifelong sport that teaches you a lot of discipline.

So I think our vision for competitive swim is that it's not just isolated at our own our one pool, that it is something that children have access to and can feed into from across the city and that there is like a structured way of identifying um you know how someone moves between the developmental system across the city into the competitive system across the city um I would say that you know we we are we swim in the Metro League because it's the only accessible affordable option that provides the competitive swimming um and we don't have that in Boston so if there was a if that was ever something that existed in Boston um that is something we we would you know our team would be like thrilled to participate in that that's just been the only the only um option so and in terms of like addressing some of the some of the other testimony and I I did I did include um that some of that in my own remarks but um the and Ellie as well um but the the fact that we have been classified as not a BCYF team like no one no flarity family or swimmer ever knew we weren't a BCYF team until BCYF told us that like they made that decision for us we identify still do if you were if you'd have us we identified as a BCYF team again I called the Flarity pool because it was the pool nearest to my house and my daughter enjoyed swimming and I asked to join the team you know in my mind it was the the Flarity team at at the Flarity pool the BCYF pool um the BCYF team so there's a lot that I'm learning even in this meeting about MOUs and legal rulings and agreements that has not been explained to us um or explained to me I didn't understand that until today so I do think we have some additional follow-up conversations beyond um this hearing to better understand those those details but um I think it's unfair to classify us as not a BCYF team be because of those other structural rules around um you know an MOU that we've not been privy to see so um that is that is the primary piece that we really want the counselors to know is that we have always been a BCYF team and we were we were removed from the league by the city.

Okay so Mr McGuire I know and and and Chair Murphy if you don't mind could could I allow the admin could I ask the administration if at um Mr McGuire if you would like to respond to that I know you spoke to it earlier but if you don't mind that's good.

I mean especially the part that the families did not know that they wouldn't it's like being kicked out your house without getting the eviction notice it's like oh wait a minute I gotta like so you know help me understand that like how could that that's a big communication flaw there so I'm just curious.

Just to be clear the the dolphins are still operating out of the flarity pool.

But are they considered still the coach and Flarity Dolphins but are they still considered a BCYF team.

They are not a BCYF team under they charge and they have charge for some time and they operate in a league that is not in the Boston BCYF league.

Now the swimmers swim on the dolphins and they can swim in our team as well.

But it is not a league or an agreement that we have we don't BCYF does not have an official agreement or team in Metro League.

Ever.

Yes.

That's correct yes so they have historically operated out of the Flarity they are going to be allowed to continue to operate out of the Flarity Lewis Barnes, who is the coach, is going to be able to coach those dot the dolphins.

It's just not going to be during his work time.

So I mean, we have worked with them consistently to meet on a regular basis, and there are still some goals to be met about competitive swim and holistically throughout our network, and that timeline hasn't changed.

We are continuing to do that.

There isn't an end to it.

So I understand that the parameters in which they are operating now are not something that they are you were familiar to, but they are the parameters that all third party entities in the city of Boston should be operating under while using a public asset.

So and there have been multiple different organizations already operating under those standards since 2018 and being enforced.

Now, we've I would say again the Health and Human Services Department has spent significant amount of time and effort reviewing this to make sure that the league can continue to operate out of our facilities and that we are in compliance with the law.

I so with respect to saying that we're kicking them out or that we don't want them to operate in our facilities is not accurate, but we are trying to prioritize our programming as well as equitable access to the facility and to all of our facilities throughout the entire network.

And so, yes, we're asking them to potentially operate out of a different pool if there is a conflict with some of those other priorities.

Um but with respect to anything being definitive as if we do not want them there, that's not that's not accurate.

And I think that the amount of time and energy put forth by my colleagues and my supervisors would speak to that, and that we have yet to completely finish all the things set in that January meeting, but there has not been any indication that we won't meet those.

So I mean, just for you all to have an understanding, I was the part of the Thailand Community Center Council.

I was there when the 2018 memo came out, not in this official capacity.

Everyone on the council resigned due to the lines of liability.

I had to completely rebuild it, programs had to end.

It was because of result of the working relationship between these entities.

Now they are still able to access our facility.

They are still able to, you know, identify as the Flarity Dolphins, but when it comes down to where they compete and what we have control over, BCYF Developmental League is our league.

We're exploring opportunities for competitive swim, and we have yet to define delineate those specific things.

But the Flarity Dolphins operate in a separate league and utilize the facility, and there is a blend of kids between the two.

So I completely understand that you know what I mean, it's it's somewhat hard to interpret, but there isn't again.

We're not trying to do anything more than ensure that we're aligned with how all entities should be operating out of our centers and safely, and we're continuing to work with them.

But you can't take a developmental swimmer and have them swim randomly at the Metro League.

You can't have a random BCYF swimmer who isn't signed up through the dolphins and paying that fee, swim in that league, unless they do so.

I wanted to question that.

That's the difference between our operations and theirs.

Yeah, so thank you, Ms.

Um, I think if Elizabeth or Oscar, um thank you, Mr.

McGuire, would like to speak to that.

You have the floor now.

I think I saw Elizabeth's hands first, and then you can go Oscar if that's okay.

Thank you.

I will just ask why if we weren't a BCYF team since 2018 when this MOU, why we've been allowed to swim in BCOAF meets in all that time, why was this decision made mid-season and why wasn't it communicated to us with with in like collaboration with us?

Like again, the way it was communicated was was terrible.

And why, why do you the as Alley noted, the 231 pages of emails that we have, why was that never mentioned as the reason why our team was destroyed?

Our team was destroyed because you felt Coach Lewis was spending too much time on the team.

I never saw anything in those emails about our youth swimmers.

I never saw anything about legalities.

I never saw anything about not honoring MRMOUs.

So I really, this is not sitting well with me as an explanation for why we are not a B CYF team.

Thank you.

Go ahead, Oscar.

So I have something similar to what Elizabeth said.

What I heard was that the player Dolphins are not a BCYF team and have never been a BCYF team.

I myself participated in the last one and we won that one by a mile.

How does that not make us a BCYF team?

I'm not sure if there's an answer for that.

I mean, I appreciate you McGuire on, but I know that Mata Rivera and Jose Masso and others have been part of this conversation.

So if you don't um you don't have an answer, that's fine also.

We can continue.

I know that we'll continue to get answers from any outstanding questions from this meeting.

Um Councillor Call Pepper, do you have um any questions or want to speak to the community panel that's on?

No, I have some questions for the administration, though.

Yep, that's fine.

I know that um Eddie and Brian are here.

So I was looking at the forecast for future expenses on a new three-year pool contract after the existing contract expires in 2027.

And this is for the administration.

How much is that new three-year pool contract?

I would have to follow up with um Sam and then I believe the first allocation was 150,000, but I'm not 100% sure.

So let me um follow up to get that information.

And that's specific to bringing in like Weston Sampson and others who can more immediately fix uh kind of lower terror issues.

So we're in 2026.

So go on.

Uh good afternoon, Council Calpepper.

So on the BPS side, just because we operate on a separate contract, um, in 2024 we had three and a half million, which we rapidly spent um to get uh it was actually just four pools ready because of the amount of money that was involved in 2025.

We had a four million dollar contract.

That is the one on our side that's it is expiring in uh June of 2027.

2027.

Yep.

Uh past that point in time, what we'll do is uh the goal is uh something similar or to forecast our exact need based on the maintenance separate of the capital projects of what a three-year continued maintenance at the same level will look like.

Uh we're expecting somewhere between three and four million if projected right now.

Um, but when we get towards the end of uh of the the next fiscal year, we'll have a better picture of what that looks like.

And with regard to the um Madison Park pool that's going from BPS to BCYF for 26.

Not exactly.

So we partnered with the mayor's office and BCYF and PMD or property management department uh to expand our pool services for the summer.

Um, and the Madison Park seemed like a great opportunity for us to flex that um and see how well it works.

Uh we don't know if it'll be continued, uh, but right now it's something that we're trying out, and uh we'll know soon.

I mean, summer's gonna kick off shortly.

For the summer 26, yes.

You'll be operating it though, BCYF.

Yes, BCYF will be operating um Tuesday through Saturday, 10 to 6.

Throughout the end of the remainder of the summer.

Um, and this the software fitness is also.

That isn't um one of the pools that BCYF operates.

It is one of the that's included.

We haven't had any reports to say that it's not an operable condition.

It's BPHC, right?

Correct.

Okay.

I did my question with that that it's all set for someone 2026.

My question was what that it's all set for 2026.

My understanding is that the pool is operable.

Um and that it is function, you know, so people are utilizing it, but we don't track that um for BPHC.

They would have to report that separately.

I I do get some of the facility updates, but I don't get the you know utilization updates from that.

Okay.

That's all I have, madam.

Sure.

Okay, thank you, Council Culpepper.

Council Mejia, do you have any closing statements or questions?

And then I'll just do one last check with Ron if there's any more public testimony since we finished the last ones.

Yeah, and no, I want to just thank um the chair for accommodating this hearing virtually.

Thank you so much.

Um, and for the community panelists and for the administration.

These are the sort of difficult conversations that I think are really important to have, especially in this moment in time when there's so much mistrust in government, then I think the moral spaces that we can convene to get clear and to allow folks to share their experiences with us.

This is customer service.

This is the best way that we get better, and I hope that the administration listens with that ear in terms of what we need to do.

I still do believe that there are many outstanding um questions and things that we need to do to get it right for the dolphin and fireity pool families, and I look forward to working with my colleagues and community to figure out a path forward that is clear and just um for everyone, and and so you have a partner and me in this work, and I just want to thank the advocates who reached out via email.

I've never seen a group of people organize that quickly over the holiday break.

Y'all did not take your foot off the gas, um, and so much so that you know you had counselors attending your community meetings, you had folks participating in a number of different processes, and so my team has always been committed.

Um I know Mr.

McGuire, you remember me from the Charlestown Clority Pool days, so you know I am a fierce advocate and um and a big supporter of community centered uh processes, and so I look forward to working with you and your team to make sure that we write the wrong um and and make sure that we set up our families uh for success more importantly.

And I want to thank the students, the families, and the advocates who have shown up and the administration for staying here the entire time.

That is not normal.

We don't usually get to see that.

So I just want to thank you all for not just staying but for allowing the back and forth to go with community.

That's not a norm either, and so I just want to just thank you for allowing that um to manifest in the space.

And you gotta partner in me.

I look forward to working alongside everyone.

Thank you, Chair Murphy.

Thank you.

Before I go to Council Calpepper, we do have a couple more.

Ethan just texted.

So um, Ethan, if you could bring up the public testimony that has signed up since the last time we checked.

Thank you.

Dana, you uh the first one in.

If you would like to uh mute, you can go.

Thank you.

Hi, my apologies.

I um I feel some of this is repetitive, but I am not good on my feet, so I'm gonna read my remarks.

My name is Dana Willkey, my family lives in JP.

My daughter learned to swim at Curtis Hall, and she was a proud BCYF Clarity Dolphin for nine years, and she's currently working her third summer for the city as a lifeguard at the Hennigan.

BCYF facilities are an incredible resource for Boston with city pools being integral to raising a healthy and active family in an urban environment.

Free access to pools is one of the major assets we enjoy as residents in an otherwise very expensive city.

Unfortunately, many of our city pools have been closed for excessively long periods of time, are underutilized while open, or have experienced disruptive programming changes.

To be clear, this isn't strictly about lack of funding, it's about lack of planning.

Failure to both seek out and to listen to the needs of users and misguided attempts to standardize programming when instead facilities should be responsive to the communities they serve.

For three decades, by also participating in the Metro League, the city team out of the Flarity was able to provide affordable access to recreational level competitive swimming.

It gave opportunity to city youth beyond the learn to swim program offered by BCYF alone and provided rigor and organization that was unmatched in the BCYF developmental league.

You've heard from Flarity Swimmers about their individual loss this winter with the move of their coach, but the loss to Boston will be greater if this team and this opportunity that it represents isn't preserved.

Please recognize the value of what this team has been able to offer to the city for three generations of swimmers, and don't waste 33 years of operational knowledge by trying to start from scratch without our team.

Make a long-term commitment to the 90 dolphin swimmers that are they already exist, they're there, they're ready to go next season, and all that would benefit in the future.

I urge BCYF leadership to view the new Boston Dolphins team's success as an example of the strength of the city's aquatics program and not a drain on resources, not at odds with other pool users.

If done right, this public partnership can be a blueprint for learning from our shared past and planning for a stronger future.

Thank you.

Thank you, Dana.

Margo, you are up next.

Thank you.

Margot, if you're unmuted, you can go.

Okay.

Hi, I'm surprised.

Okay.

I um a great water aerobics person.

I go to many different pools.

Um I wanted to share the experience of Saturday mornings at the Mason pool.

Uh, there may be 40 people uh in attendance, it's that popular.

Um, and a lot of people who have disabilities, um, who are physically challenged, uh, seniors, a lot of women, and a lot of different communities represented.

Um, it is a wonderful community, and uh I haven't heard you talk about Mason Pool like with the exception of Mercedes.

Um, it seems to be all about Flattery, and um, you know, I what about all the other pools?

And I'm also I would like to get a response around um what I've been hearing uh that the Mason pool might be closed.

Um, if someone could address that, but I really hope that the water aerobics programs will continue because they're really well attended, and they're a mainstay for seniors um across many communities.

Thank you.

Hi, Margot, my name's Ed McGuire.

I'm the director of operations for BCYF.

There is no timeline at this moment for a foreclosure.

They are assessing the pool.

Um overall infrastructure and coming up with the plan.

But as soon as we have an idea of um if it's possible to find in move forward with it, uh we'll be you know communicating that out to the public.

But um, we are looking to modernize the pool.

Thank you, Eddie.

Unless Ethan is still bringing people in.

Okay.

So Oscar, did you was your hand up from before?

Do you want to say something more?

I'd like to say something more.

Of course, go ahead.

Thank you.

I think maybe instead of taking away the most competitive team in BCY, maybe we should add more, like give more teams access to the Metro League or like give them give the Mason pool a metro team or the Blackstone when it finally reopens.

Like instead of instead of instead of taking away this amazing opportunity, like create an up more opportunities for kids around around the city to compete with each other instead of instead of having a instead of having just one great opportunity.

Thank you, Oscar.

So Council Culpepper, if you have any closing statements.

Yeah, and I had a question about uh the Southland Fitness Center.

Being the only BPHC own pool.

How does that work?

Um I would have to get you.

Are you talking about day-to-day operations at that pool or ownership?

Yeah, because you own the BCYF only supports them, right?

BCYF.

Uh we don't operate that facility.

I understand, but you support them, right?

No, we don't support them.

They're just on the list of city assets.

They're that's we don't have lifeguards there, our CPOs are not there.

So if something goes wrong with it, then they repair it or fix it on their own.

For capital, um, for like capital investment and or for repairs, it would be something.

My understanding is that it usually is done in partnership with property management as well as PFD.

Um so I don't think they're solely responsible, but they definitely have um majority stake in that.

But how does it work?

Let's say there was a problem with the pool.

How does that work in terms of repairing?

I don't have enough information off the on that offhand that I can um provide today, but I can definitely follow up.

What I what I will say is that for all pools, there's a collaborative approach between BPS, PMD, PFD, and BCYF, as well as a plenty of other individuals like a press team and things that monitor and we meet on a monthly basis.

Um and so when issues arise at any one of our pools, you know, there are subsections within those departments that focus particularly on it.

Um, but it's you know, sharing best practices, understanding what costs were previously, as well as having that, you know, pool, unfortunately, pools like to break so that we have situations where we have to share knowledge quite regularly and or have expertise of our, you know, CPOs come in and make those particular adjustments.

But um, with respect to their funding resources and stuff like that, I couldn't really speak to it.

So I I will follow up um with you all with that and for you all with this and BPAC actually they own it, right?

That's my understanding.

Yeah, we're trying to get to how does that partnership work in terms of the operation and the repair.

I'll make sure to follow up with that, teams on this list, um, and thank you for the slide deck you shared earlier um that the South End Fitness Center is the only one outside of yeah yeah is maintained um through them.

And and the the other the other question I had was what's the swim whisperers training program um yeah Brian.

Yeah um yeah just from my understanding it's it's kind of like a train the trainer.

Right.

So it's like a what um kind of like a uh train the trainer type of uh programs.

Right.

So our trainers train with them and it is kind of like a a repetitive repetition of breeding more trains.

Right but who are the swim whisperers it's a program to help train individuals uh teach adaptive swim techniques so we work with uh that organization to help train our staff in order to be able to ensure equitable access to our facilities and people of all needs um and so that's that's my understanding of it um me and Brian are more operations related so the programmatic aspect we could always get someone who speaks more um you know more in depth about what that actually entails I think Nadine would probably be the uh probably be the best person to follow up with that on but so if there's any specific details to that program or others we can you know I can make sure we get that information to you.

Right right through through the chair yes yes that's if we could just try and find out who the swim whisk the swim whispers are yeah.

That'd be good too.

And it seems like they're they're training some of the uh swim instructors some of the BS yeah yeah and that's it.

And so there's there's three things we were looking for uh and customer here talked about establishing a citywide task force and the information from the December meeting that that Elizabeth talked about and uh South end pool.

Just trying to be clear on on how if it does go down how that operates who's responsible for making sure that um they get the attention they need if something does happen to it and then the swim whisperers train who are the swim whisperers.

Okay those are good questions we'll make sure we get those on the record thank you thank you thank and here's what's interesting my final comment uh this is something that that most folks most folks never even think about until the pool breaks or until the pool's not available and so I really appreciate you holding this hearing all the answers and the testimony that we heard especially from the public and I think it just makes it a lot easier to be on top of uh the pools uh before something happened to know who handles the operation and the uh repair in case the pools go down so you don't think about it much until they go down and then everyone's trying to figure out what do we do next and so Brian and Edward uh thank you for coming on to give us the answers that you did and uh hopefully this summer the summer will go through with no pools having any kind of issues thank you.

Thank you Council Culpepper um Chair Murphy also here.

Yeah no I see you again um we also will hear a lot from residents um with the heat wave right the summer's just beginning so that's usually also when things aren't working and there's a need.

So thank you for that.

One quick question before I pass it back to Council Mia.

Who you've mentioned Nadine.

I feel like I should know her.

Who which Nadine are we referring to that has she's the re aquatics regional operations manager and my team.

Okay.

And so she handles a lot of uh the recruitment but also helping establish them some programming and overview of just generally that.

Okay.

And one thing I know we listed the South End because it is part of our assets property wise.

Um as we look at neighborhoods and needs, just want to reiterate uh the the need also that we look outside of just our assets, because one thing we do see is when we say neighborhoods like Roxbury, Mattapan, Dorchester, are kind of like these pool deserts, it's not just like other neighborhoods like we're investing in our BCYF pools, which I think is important, but they may already have like a YMCA, they already have a boys and girls club, they have other access to, you know, very, you know, non-profits but public facing pools.

Um, so there really are these spots across the city.

So thank you, um, Elizabeth, and I know the team of people who have been advocating for the Flowerty swim team.

Also looking just outside of your needs and just seeing, I know Louisa, that's something you guys kid about.

You know, you want to advocate for your school or your neighborhood, in this case your swim team, your pool, but you do see the need that that has to go equitably across the city.

So I know there is one out there somewhere, Eddie, but do you have a list you could share with me, the counselors where we're also listing other pools, even though they're not city assets.

Has that been a list that you guys have created just to even though we can't rely on them, you know, on a day-to-day basis, but just that knowledge is important to see that map across the city.

Um I'm not uh completely sure, so I'd have to double check to see if that isn't exact.

I would assume it is because a lot of what we're just you know, um those partnerships with Health and Human Services with the swim safe initiatives, you know, it incentivizes YMCA's boys and girls club and other entities with aquatics to you know provide swim lessons.

Um so I would have to double check that.

But I also I also do have to jump from this meeting.

I just wanted to say thank you to everybody.

No, thank you for staying on.

I appreciate it.

And Council Mejia, you're up.

Yeah, no, I understand, and I know that Mr.

McGuire has to leave, and I I see Mr.

Ford is still here, but it was you mentioned uh the uh the site as an asset, and when we're talking about public good, public dollars, you know I see the work that came out of uh the BCYF uh Flourity pool as a public asset that public you know that families were taken advantage of, and so I'm just curious in terms of funding, has there has do we have a budget line item that was uh ever used for the Flarity Pool to support the dolphin programming the city ever in its existence in the last 20 something years because at some point I believe that this team was a fully operating initiative of BCYF.

Okay, I'd have to I'm not aware of whether or not there was a specific lion item in the past that was s spent um you know directly for this for this program.

Uh what I do know is that our current aquatic funding is comes from our general budget um and is spread throughout the entire city.

So there isn't a specific cost that goes to outside of trying to set up programming or like vendor fees, there isn't a specific allocation to one site, it's all one.

So we have to take that money um and spread it out throughout the network.

So there's uh no no one particular facility at this point.

If that was different than in the past, I I couldn't speak to it.

Yeah.

Okay, but thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to speak here today and for the advocacy and we look forward to work with you all.

Okay, thank you.

Before I close out the meeting, I know wait one second.

Um I will give Luisa and Elizabeth seem to have raised their hand.

I'll give you one last chance, but Councilor Mejia, do you want to finish?

I just got some folks that stated that they sent um their video testimony.

So I just wanted to make sure that they know that their um written testimony and or their video testimonies will be um added to the record, and I'm not sure if you're gonna play those videos after the um Elizabeth and Luisa speak just so that we have those uh video remarks as part of our record here today.

I'd have to check with Ethan and Ron.

I know I don't I have not seen them yet.

So I will check when I um give Elizabeth first and then Luisa another chance.

I'll check with them.

I have the same exact question as Counselor Mejia.

We were just I was just curious about the written and submitted video.

The written are never read into the record, they're put part of the record, but I can check and video can if we wanted to.

I'm just not sure if Ethan has it set up ready to go, but it will be part of the um meeting once we close it out.

So I'm checking with Ethan now about that.

Thank you.

Thank you all so much for inviting us and involving us.

This is really grateful for this opportunity today.

Thank you.

Thank you, Luisa.

Yeah, I just want to say thank you for thinking outside the box in a sense or thinking of um YMCA um or additional resources.

The only issues with that is that uh you have to pay a fee.

So unless there is a um connection between BCYF and um YMCA to support those who are not able, right, to afford the fees that YMCA um requests, they will not be viable options.

Just want to make sure that but that's what I keep on hearing from people.

So thank you.

Yeah, no, they're definitely they're reasonable, they're not free, of course, the fees there.

Um, yeah, but when we're looking at neighborhoods around the city, there are definitely neighborhoods that have no no access to even another option.

Um, so just to um not sure Ron, if you have them, but Ethan says, Counselor Murphy.

Yep, because I have a question for Brian.

Okay, if he's still here, yes, he is.

Um, Brian.

I'm checking in with Ron now.

So this is not full related.

Brian, did you ever take care of the issue and Orchard Gardner that we discussed some time ago when Clinton Jones was on?

Yes.

So I had the team go out there and uh address it immediately.

It was the following weekend that they were able to get out to the site.

We've they did some make-safe work, and now we have uh an estimate for further work that's supposed to happen in that auditorium as well.

Um, and I'll have to check on the status of where that's going with the next step, only because we've had uh tough budget here.

Please do.

Please do.

And I understand about the tough budget, believe me.

We all understand that.

Thank you, Brian.

Anytime.

Thank you, Councilor Murphy.

I think that's thank you, Council Culpepper.

I know Ethan said there was a glitch with the submission form, but we will add any video testimony that was given so people can watch it after once this video.

I mean, once this meeting is adjourned, it will be part of the record along with any testimony that was submitted.

So thank you everyone for being on it was an important informative meeting.

Um, thank you for the public testimony for the community panelists and the admin, who um I appreciate you were here, you stayed and you were very um helpful.

I think, and we'll continue to reach out with any further questions we have to continue to advocate for the community.

With that being said, this hearing on Docket 0694 is adjourned.

Thank you.

Stay cool, everyone.

Go to go to one of the pools, go for a swim.

Thank you, Councillor Murphy.

Thank you, Chairman.

Thank you, Councillor Mejia and your team.

Thank you.

Bye.