Park Board considers pool memberships for firefighters

The Clear Lake Parks and Recreation Board is expected to continue discussion this month about a proposal to offer free family memberships to the Clear Lake Aquatic Center to the city’s volunteer firefighters.
    Board member Jim Finstad brought the idea to the Board at its March meeting.
    “The idea for a pool membership came from some research I was doing for a federal fire grant,” said Finstad, who is a member of the Clear Lake Fire Department.  “One of the towns I was researching had 120 volunteer fire fighters and they offered all of their fire fighters free pool memberships. This was a week or so before the park board meeting and it was right after our fire department meeting in which we talked about recruiting for new members. I thought that with my position on the fire department and on the parks and recreation board that it was something that I could bring to the table to help with fire department recruiting. The current members are not asking for this it is something I thought the park board should offer.”
    Finstad noted he would continue to purchase a membership for his family, but estimates about eight firefighters might take advantage of such an offer.  A family membership is valued at $90.
    “Good volunteer fire fighters are becoming harder and harder to come by and in general people seem to have less time to volunteer to all causes not just the fire department. The thought was this was one tool that the fire department could use to help recruiting and at the same time give something to the families of the fire fighters who volunteer,” said Finstad.
    The  Parks Board is slated to meet again at 6 p.m. Monday, April 28.  Finstad has said he would abstain from a vote on the issue.   Currently, no group receives free pool memberships.
    Finstad notes that the public is served by many persons in a variety of professions, however members of the city’s fire department are volunteers.
    “The fire department is a little different in the fact that we don’t get to choose when it is convenient to volunteer. If it is 2 a.m. and the pager goes off we will respond. If it is Sunday dinner and the pager goes off we will respond. We ask a lot from our volunteers. We train regularly, we have meetings, we maintain our equipment. We have fundraisers to purchase equipment that is not in the budget...In 2007 each of our volunteers gave 227.5 hours on average, training and responding to fire calls. These were hours that we could have spent with our families, at work, or in a warm bed. But we choose to spend them helping the community and people who needed our help,” said Finstad.  “We made the choice to volunteer and these are some of the best guys you will ever find and they will continue to volunteer with or without a membership to the pool. The membership is just one thing that we can give to the families who let us volunteer and it won’t cost anyone a cent. And with a little luck it might encourage some new volunteers to give the fire department a shot.”