Jonesboro, AR – JonesboroRightNow.com – The Finance and Administration Council Committee on Tuesday unanimously voted to indefinitely table a resolution regarding pool lane usage for Jonesboro swim teams.

The resolution would have allowed the city to enter into an agreement with the Jets Aquatic Club, allowing it to use the pool at the Jonesboro Pool Complex during pre-determined times for practices. Jets Aquatic Club has shared the pool with the Shark Wave Aquatic Team (SWAT) for practice.

The issue was brought before city leadership after it was determined that lane usage agreements between the two teams could not be reached. It initially went before the Public Service Committee in early May for “open and public discussion about the needs and how the swimming programs operate,” the city’s chief administrative officer, Brian Richardson, told committee members.

Lane usage would be determined by the number of team members registered in each program and verified by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), according to the contract.

Council members expressed concern about dividing the lanes between the two teams based on team size, because, while one team would have fewer lanes, the contract specifies that the pool’s heating costs are divided equally.

One figure cited by several council members of the lane division is that the Jets would have 70% of the lanes and SWAT 30%.

“You come up with an agreement that is fairly equitable, and 70-30 is not equitable,” said committee member John Street.

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During the meeting, city officials said the teams needed to meet and come to an agreement. Indefinitely tabling the resolution sounded “scary,” city attorney Carol Duncan said, but it allowed for the original contract to be killed so new agreements could be drafted and voted on in its place.

“The contract’s gonna change, it has to be [postponed] indefinitely because we’d be coming back with a different contract,” Duncan said. “It’s not that it means we’re putting it off forever, it just means that when it comes back, it kills this approval of this contract.”

Representatives from SWAT spoke during the meeting, saying they did not believe the city’s administration would be able to finalize a contract.

“I have zero confidence in the administration to reach a contract. We made numerous concessions in this process. We have done everything in our power to ignore the fairness of it,” said Bryce Cook, SWAT chairman.

He said that because of the contract’s uncertainty, SWAT had canceled a “large swim meet” for which the Jonesboro Advertising and Promotion Commission had allocated funding.

City officials said it was up to the two parties to meet and reach a mutual agreement.

“I just want you to know, kids are gonna swim,” said Tony Thomas, chief operating officer for the city. “We’re putting the onus up on the two teams in order to come up with a solution that they can both live with and then move that forward to administration.”

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