Discussions

I see that they aren't opening until June 30th- September 3rd, with 11-7 set as the hours(splash park) I find it an incredible waste of resources to utilize it for such a short season. Winnipeg opened there parks on May 20th. Small towns have already opened their pools!  
 
Why is Brandon incapable of opening any sooner? Its been so hot already they would be packed!  
 
I guess it's because they have to be staffed? Why do they have to be staffed? I assume liability due to injury? Do other cities have them staffed?  
 
Too bad for the kids!

They are only required to be staffed if they have standing water within them like a wading pool.

Having fixed days also allows for budgetary controls. If they open a month early their budget would be 33% higher than planned and that money would need to come from somewhere. Of course they could close a month early to balance out but that would likely make people even angrier. I'm guessing they prioritize days when school is out. Right now most usage would be weekend only.  
 
Keeping the budget under control seems to be top priority for many around here, which means less flexibility.

They could definitely just open the splash parks and keep the paddling pools closed until the end of June if its a standing water issue. Kids can play at a city playground without "staff" and under parents supervision so why should the splash parks be any different? I can understand the standing water, but just open the splash parks. Its an entire waste of recourses to have them open only 2 months out of the year when its definitely warm enough now. Plus it would give the preschool age kids + under 5 year olds the opportunity to play at the splash parks without all the big kids.

Viv said "They are only required to be staffed if they have standing water within them like a wading pool. "

if this is in fact true, why are the hours at the splash park only 11-7? It's light outside until 10:00 at least. Isn't 9 pm more realistic for older kids?  
 
I understand budgeting and do think splash parks would be used more than pools while school is still in session.  
 
Very much takes away for the under 5 years age group to enjoy some splash park fun without the big kids!

Abracadabra said "    Viv said "They are only required to be staffed if they have standing water within them like a wading pool. " if this is in fact true, why are the hours at the splash park only 11-7? It's light outside until 10:00 at least. Isn't 9 pm more realistic for older kids?     I understand budgeting and do think splash parks would be used more than pools while school is still in session.     Very much takes away for the under 5 years age group to enjoy some splash park fun without the big kids! "

For staffing I am assuming it is for liability issues. I'm sure it keeps insurance costs down.  
 
Googling splash parks the recommended ages are 3-8. At that age my child was already in bed by 9pm. What age do you figure would go till 9pm. Heck I have driven by many times at 6pm and it is totally dead. 11-7 is an easy to manage 8 hour shift. Going longer would mean having double shifts now and people working less. Harder to find staffing for that.  
 
And common....this is Brandon. If it wasn't staffed people would complain that it should be staffed as parents can't seem to watch their own kids, that sort of thing. Longer hours complaints would be made that we are paying someone to sit there for no reason as many times it would be dead. Having it staffed also allows the water to be turned off if nobody is there, thus conserving water.

The city of Brandon posted why they don't open earlier on their fb page. It has to do with the spray parks not being the push-button use style and so an attendant has to be present. YMCA does the hiring for these jobs, and city pays for them. It's too cost prohibitive for them to meet minimum staffing requirements for the extra opening times. Especially while school is still open and people busy with sports and activities (usually end by end of June)  
Outdoor pools open June 19th. And paddle pools/spray parks open June 30th.  
 
Edited by Cheezies, 2017-06-05 10:49:23

Maybe a group of interested persons could get together to volunteer to man the splash parks during June.  
 
There are many ways this could be done. Just one idea: Perhaps 2 people could do a 4 hour shift for a total 4 people for 8 hours open each day. In this case you may need 28 people interested. Then everyone only has a 4 hour commitment each week. plus training and key responsibly. I would assume everyone involved would need a child abuse search record done- not sure of the proper name of it. Also keep in mind this would only keep one splash park going. So it would be choose one or rotate or find a much larger volunteer base, before you could even go to the city officials for approval.

It is so sad that we have these great splash pads and they aren't utilized during our warm June days. I would LOVE them to be open while school is still running so that the preschool kids could have some time without the bigger, and often unsupervised, older kids.

I've researched splash parks outside of Brandon so I have no idea how Brandon's system works.  
 
In my opinion, after 7pm the temperatures usually begin to drop though and it would get cold for kids playing in the park. If Brandon doesn't have the push buttons and they have to be monitored I totally understand why their hours are 11-7.

Viv said "I've researched splash parks outside of Brandon so I have no idea how Brandon's system works.     In my opinion, after 7pm the temperatures usually begin to drop though and it would get cold for kids playing in the park. If Brandon doesn't have the push buttons and they have to be monitored I totally understand why their hours are 11-7. "

Curious to outside of Brandon splash parks...we get compared to these smaller towns on why do they do it and we don't mentality. Does anyone know on average how many people use the small town unsupervised spray parks on a daily basis? We have a couple at least that I know of and they are usually pretty busy all the time.

I admit, this is a yearly pet peeve of mine. It is so sad/frustrating that we can only use these parks 2 months out of the year. What a waste of money! I would prefer to have a bigger outdoor pool area like Souris, Wawanessa and Portage than to have all these little spray parks then.  
 
I have asked why Brandon NEEDS to staff them when other communities don't. I totally understand their reason of not wanting to pay staff more then the 2 months but WHY do they even have to be staffed? Why does Brandon have a different liability issue?  
 
Their explanation of the push button didn't make sense to me and I'm waiting to hear back on clarification. To my knowledge, once the main water is turned on the kids then have the "control" with the buttons that are placed around the pads. The water is not continously spraying out? When it's inactive, the water shuts off. I can see not opening the parks with the wading pools but there are a few that are just spray parks. During the months of June and September, older kids are in school and the kids using them would be there with an adult, be it parent, guardian, childcare provider etc. It would be nice to get the maximum use out of these costly parks!!  
 
I'm fine with the hours of 11-7 as like others have said, it gets cooler and kids that these parks appeal to are younger and in bed anyways. It would just be nice to use them in June and September.  
 
I wonder/wish it was possible for them to open even just 2 and have a city employee turn the water on in the morning and than check in throughout the day. I don't understand why it needs to be staffed at all times. Even during the summer when it's busy, the staff are not really doing anything (other than maintenance apparently, according to the city)

Also, and now this was several years ago when I asked one of the attendants why such a short season, is that there's grant money involved. Or at least there was in the past (IDK if it's still applicable). Basically, they get a grant to hire students, but it's only X amount of hours for the summer. So the hours were what they were because it was a condition of this grant money. So from a historical perspective that's maybe why things are the way they are.

Perhaps it's because so many people don't follow the spray park rules. Too many times I've seen people think these rules don't apply to them. Such as playing in the sandbox at the park then try to join the spray park to rinse off. All that sand damages the systems. And all the people who think they can just wear street clothes in spray park instead of proper swimming clothes, and the dyes in them damage system, etc, etc. Parks that have broken glass from the people drinking in them the night before (paid staff check around the area for hazards). The parents that don't actually properly supervise their kids, eg running and being wild. These things all ruin it for others that do follow rules. So unfortunately I can see why the city of Brandon needs attendants to run these. In Smaller towns, the people all know each other to point out who the problem ones are.  
 
We didn't have these spray parks when my kids were little. We used a sprinkler and kiddie pool in the back yard and still do now.

-"I admit, this is a yearly pet peeve of mine. It is so sad/frustrating that we can only use these parks 2 months out of the year. What a waste of money! I would prefer to have a bigger outdoor pool area like Souris, Wawanessa and Portage than to have all these little spray parks then."  
 
If that was the case to have a larger theme park like these other places would people be happy with no spray parks and outdoor pools? Have one large play area where you pay.

Personally, I'd prefer it. We go to the other places fairly often and if Brandon had something similar I know we'd buy the yearly pass. The spray parks are great because they're "free" but honestly, they're only really good for ages 2-8 (8 might even be pushing it) older kids tend to find them boring (yes theres exceptions but I'm talking about the majority) With pools like the other places, the whole family can enjoy it. If I didn't have a daycare, I'd never step foot in a spray park whereas we go to other pools a lot. I really don't see the city budging on their rule of having it staffed when open and it doesn't sound like they want/can afford to open even a month earlier so I guess it is what it is unfortunately We will continue to go to other places and spend money there in the meantime!

For how much these splash parks cost. It's a joke that we can only use them for about 65-70 days in a 365 day year.

A lot of the schools book the splash parks throughout June for end of year trips. They aren't open to the public in June, but they are still being used.

Fishin Guy said "    Viv said "I've researched splash parks outside of Brandon so I have no idea how Brandon's system works.     In my opinion, after 7pm the temperatures usually begin to drop though and it would get cold for kids playing in the park. If Brandon doesn't have the push buttons and they have to be monitored I totally understand why their hours are 11-7. " Curious to outside of Brandon splash parks...we get compared to these smaller towns on why do they do it and we don't mentality. Does anyone know on average how many people use the small town unsupervised spray parks on a daily basis? We have a couple at least that I know of and they are usually pretty busy all the time. "

I can't speak for populations on a daily basis as most of the communities I've talked to have no way of tracking that - most of the spray parks are free and there's no staff so it would be impossible to track how many people use it on a daily basis. On that note, I wonder if the Brandon spray parks track how many users they have daily? Are the lifeguards on staff required to keep numbers? We reached out to the Brandon Recreation department awhile back (likely a year now) to try to get more concrete numbers for our proposal and we weren't given much information.  
 
Many of the small towns who are fundraising for spray parks now are going to a recirculating water system as their sewer/water systems cannot handle the amount of water required by a spray park. I know that Brandon uses flow-through systems and their water isn't recycled as the city has much more capacity to handle the water usage. The recirculated systems generally have touch sensors and timers so if they aren't activated every fifteen minutes the water stops and there is no waste.