Swan Lake Members,

It is with great sadness and a heavy heart to announce that Swan Lake will not open for the 2020 season. In light of our prior discussions and after studying guidance from the CDC, we did not feel confident that we could guarantee a safe environment for all of our members and staff.  We hope that you understand that we could not in good conscience burden our members and staff with the health risks, the charge of navigating, adhering to, and managing social distancing rules, or imposing rules limiting access to the pool at specific times. The fact that the mayor has cancelled all summer events in Baltimore only underpins that decision.

In addition, after carefully reviewing our finances and expected income thus far, we will be asking all of our members to contribute a $150.00 “holding” fee for this season. If you have already paid your dues in full for this year, we can take that $150.00 out of the money you already paid, so you would only owe $150.00 next year. If you have already paid your dues in full and want us to refund the difference, we can certainly do that. Please indicate whether or not we can credit your refund amount back to the credit card that you originally used in Member Splash.  Otherwise, we may need to reach out to you to find another way to refund your money.  If you have not yet paid your dues for the year and want to pay the $150 fee, please indicate that in your questionnaire below and we will update your payment options in Member Splash to reflect the correct amount due.

We do realize that this fee is higher than we previously discussed, but after crunching the numbers, we had to make the increase. Otherwise, we would run at a loss this summer and would have to dip into money allocated for next season. We also agree that applying the fee to all members is the most equitable, while keeping it as low as possible. We understand that this may be another unwanted burden in these tough economic times. However, we are a community owned pool and have to make tough decisions to guarantee its success in the future. Please read the questionnaire below and reply back by May 31st, so we can get an idea of your intentions for the 2020 season. We have tried to offer enough options to accommodate everyone's individual situation, but if you would still like to work out another, please check off the last option below and someone from the board will be in touch.

We ask for your patience in responding and issuing any refunds, as most of this will need to be done manually--Member Splash is not really designed to accommodate refunds and special circumstances.

There have been some inquiries about our operating budget for the 2020 season and the reason for setting the "holding" fee at the level we did. Please take a look at our expense sheet here, showing our projected expenses and estimated income from the holding fee. If you have any questions, please let us know at members@swanlakeswimclub.org and we would be happy to discuss.

The video from last Wednesday's meeting is posted here. We were a little late to start the video, so it may not be fully clear that Paul starts the meeting off by saying the board has voted unanimously to close for the season, and then proceeds to explain the reasoning behind that decision. Once again, we had a lot of thoughtful questions and discussions. Thank you to everyone who was able to participate!

Please mark an 'X' next to your intention below and reply back by May 31st:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Member Intention for 2020 Dues Payment

      [   ]   I have already paid 2020 dues in full. I choose to leave my full dues with Swan Lake and will pay $150.00 for dues in 2021
 

      [   ]  I have already paid 2020 dues in full. I am requesting a refund of all but $150, and will pay my full dues in 2021
 

      [   ]  I have not yet paid 2020 dues and will submit $150 through Member Splash by August 15th
 

      [   ]  I would like to speak with a Board Member to discuss payment options.

**If you are requesting a refund, please indicate whether or not we are able to credit the credit card that you originally used for payment via Member Splash. This will make it easier to make credits. We are also looking into other way of transferring refunds electronically.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you,
Swan Lake Board