Park and recreation programs throughout Jefferson County face challenges just like any other government programs that are designed to keep the citizenry happy within a budget.
Last week, when the Golden City Council began discussing fees for its water park called The Splash, City Councilwoman Gwyn Green suggested that 3-year-olds should be admitted free of charge, just like those ages 1 and 2. She told the staff that it would only seem fair to let the 3-year-olds splish and splash without paying.
Charlie Fagan, who oversees the city’s parks and recreation matters, explained to Green that the age of free swimming had been carefully considered after years of experience with the youngsters at the community center.
That’s when the story became interesting. Anyone who has attended a city council meeting in any city knows that it can be a somber affair with lots of dickering over details and prattle about various proposals. Fagan broke the mold by explaining to Green that 3-year-olds fall into a category in which they may have left their water-diapers behind but they might not have mastered the art of timing. Fagan said the young swimmers cause some of the biggest problems, or what some pool workers have dubbed “brown trout” that must be fished out of the pool. Three-year-olds not sporting their water diapers force workers to call more “code browns” than all other folks, he explained. When everyone at
the council meeting regained their composure after a good belly laugh, Fagan apologized for the “poopy story” but explained that the pool must be shut down for at least an hour every time there is an accident. “We sell water diapers and we try to police it,” he said.
Who says city council has to be humorless?
For the record, 3-year-olds will continue to pay the admittance fee.