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A Message from the President

I hope you've already been to Bayside. It's shaping up to be a very fun season. You probably already noticed that the main pool has been resurfaced. Behind the scenes, we've also replaced our old heaters with new, very efficient heaters. The new heaters are so efficient that we are receiving a substantial rebate on our gas bill. Running an outdoor pool in the Pacific Northwest can be a challenge. Heating the pools is a significant expense and this change will significantly reduce operating costs. We are also looking into augmenting those new heaters with solar collectors, making Bayside even "greener" in the years to come.

We are also making it possible for more people to make use of Bayside this summer. While this comes after our regular season began, it takes effect just as summer weather finally begins in Bellingham. Those summer memberships will be offered to those currently on the waiting list. The fees will not be prorated.

On Thursday, May 26, 2011, at a regularly scheduled meeting of the Bayside Swimming Club Board of Trustees, the board voted unanimously to amend the bylaws. The change, effective immediately, deletes the last sentence of Article 1, Section 1, Paragraph C, which read "The number of summer memberships will equal the number of inactive stockholders." As a result of this change, the board voted to offer additional summer memberships for the 2011 swim season. Per Article 7 of our bylaws, this amendment will be on the agenda of our next regular meeting of the stockholders.

The pool is quite often under-utilized, even when the weather is good. At present, Bayside's total stock ownership/membership is capped at 200 due to inclusion of wording to that effect in our conditional use permit (CUP). It has long been the intention of the board to remove that wording from the CUP. Once that limitation is removed, we would be able to increase our membership. At the same time, the board is very mindful of not increasing membership to the point that the pool would feel crowded or of unfairly diluting the value of the stock. So any increase in stock ownership will be gradual.

Increasing membership also helps us solve a significant problem. Bayside Swimming Club operates as a 501(c)7 non-profit corporation. As such, 35% of our gross receipts can come from sources outside our membership, but only 15% can be "derived from the use of the club's facilities or services by the general public." Our swim lesson and swim team income currently puts us above that 15% mark. In order to remain a non-profit, we need to reduce that income to 15% or less of gross revenue. In order to do that, we can either reduce non-member income (by reducing the number of swim lesson students we accept and/or reducing the cost of those lessons) or increase member income (by either raising dues or increasing the number of members).

Bayside has a long history of providing swim lessons for residents of Whatcom County and the board does not want to cut back on this valuable service. At the same time, the board also does not want to raise dues.

Again, this change is in effect only for the current 2011 swim season. The amended bylaws are available online.

See you at the pool.

Sincerely,
David Cohn
President, Board of Trustees, Bayside Swimming Club

Website designed by David Cohn

Updated 01/17/2022

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