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The City of Cordell is exploring the idea of implementing an age limit for when kids can be left alone at the city pool. -
File Photo: The City of Cordell is exploring the idea of implementing an age limit for when kids can be left alone at the city pool.
Cheryl Wedel thinks the Cordell city swimming pool is a hidden treasure.
“The pool is very important for our community,” Wedel said. “It’s something we have that’s special. The pool has a big soft spot in my heart.”
The days of dropping kids off at the city pool unattended might change next summer.
New Cordell Development and Redevelopment Authority board members discussed at their monthly meeting last month just how old a child should be when left alone at the city pool.
The issue is one of liability, board member Wedel said during the meeting.
“Basically, I’d like to see us set into place rules that would eliminate some of the liability the city has been shouldering by not having that parents or adults bring children of a certain age to the pool and stay there with them,” Wedel said. “They just bring kids of any age and drop them off, and we become the baby-sitter. We take on that liability.”
Apparently, according to board members, there isn’t an age limit for a child to be left unattended at the pool.
“There’s nothing posted at the pool. Or anywhere,” Wedel said in a recent interview. “There’s nothing that shows that. If it is a rule, if it isn’t a rule, we need to figure it out and get a rule in place.”
Wedel doesn’t want people to take advantage of the pool, she said.
“It happens every year, where people have a benefit that they don’t appreciate enough to take care of,” Wedel said in the meeting. “We need to have a rule in place that says let’s take care of this properly. We put in quite a bit of money every year to the pool to keep it open.”
In fact, Wedel said, the city suffers a financial loss every year on the pool.
“We happily budget it in because we want that service for the kids,” she said.
The year of COVID changed a lot of things for many people, and the city is no different.
“This was an odd year, so it gave us an opportunity to get filters fixed and get patching done. It would be nice to be ready to take on next year with the pool ready to go, and have some rules in place,” Wedel said in the meeting.
Wedel is thrilled with how well maintained the pool is, she said. It takes a loft of work and money, but it’s worth it, she added.
Wedel suggested that the age limit should be 12, meaning kids under 12 would need to be accompanied by a parent or guardian while they are at the pool.
“We have teenagers that are lifeguards, and that puts them in charge of a lot of little kids,” Wedel said.
“It’s better to have adults in charge of their own kids, and then lifeguards can do the jobs that they’re supposed to do, which is monitoring if there is an emergency situation where they need to go in and get a child out of the pool.”
Mayor Jerry Beech asked Wedel to head a committee and come up with something concrete to bring back before the board, and ultimately the city council. Earlene Smith and Buddy Holman will be on the committee with Wedel.
Wedel would also work on a new fee schedule for next year, as well, she said.
Wedel always will value the pool.
“It’s a wonderful place to go. Our children can grow up with wonderful memories of places they went to.”
Parents “just bring kids of any age and drop them off, and we become the babysitter. We take on that liability.”
Cheryl Wedel, city councilwoman