- April 24, 2024
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Dear Editor:
(Note: The following letter was also sent to Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt.)
This is a request to the School Board by the Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club Advisory Committee to keep Belle Terre open and ongoing while fees for memberships and medical groups pick up as the pandemic gets under control.
I represent BTSRAC 501c3 nonprofit that worked with the School Board in 2015 to keep Belle Terre open. When the pandemic struck, Belle Terre was shut down for two months. People were told to restrict their activities and stay at home as best they could. It is remarkable that when 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 memberships are compared, paying members have only gone down from 1,378 to 1,243 and during these same periods Silver Sneakers, Renew Active, Silver and Fit and Florida Health Care are all up. The problem is that frequency of visits is down. School system employees can use the Belle Terre facilities for free. It appears few of them are. Some of the comments indicated in the Observer article on Jan. 21 will be referenced in this letter.
We consider ourselves to be a partner with the school system, but that view is not returned, and our many requests verbally and in writing for financial information about the facility have been refused. We have no financial data on the Belle Terre operations for our members.
It seems we are headed down the same path as 2015 with questionable financials and information from the School Board.
I am requesting that the School Board open the books on the Belle Terre operation so that we can bring in an auditor at our expense so that BTSRAC can get an assessment of financials.
When we pressed for financial information for 2015/2016, we found that the school system’s treasurer was under applying income. Our estimates do not align with theirs.
I am requesting that the School Board open the books on the Belle Terre operation so that we can bring in an auditor at our expense so that BTSRAC can get an assessment of financials.
If the information in the article is correct, the school system apparently wants to imply that more money needs to be spent than needed to make it look like maintaining Belle Terre is not possible.
Two hundred thousand dollars to redo the parking lot is an insult to intelligence. What is needed is to have four tree roots that extend into the lot cut, pulled out and the resulting 10-foot-by-2-foot areas patched. Then reseal the lot for under $20,000.
There is no ADA compliance problem. All buildings have handicap accessible toilets and sinks. The exercise building has a handicap restroom.
Belle Terre has a heated pool. Frieda Zamba does not and is not open year round. Groups using the pool are Flagler Fluid Swim Team (district team established through BTSRC), FPC Swim Team, MHS Swim Team (in 2020) Synchro Belles, PAL, BTES Robotics Stem Program, Boys and Girls Club and Imagine School.
BTSRAC has done in depth research into building a senior center as a replacement for the classrooms. We visited the senior center in St. Augustine several times and corresponded with the new facility in New Smyrna Beach. We have an internal layout and external depiction by a local architect. Part of the building would be used by the school system and part by a senior center.
We were preparing to begin fund raising and made a request for approval of the concept to the director of the Flagler Technical Institute and were turned down. Our aim was to have the operation costs split between the county and the school system.
My organization wants to work with the School Board so that Belle Terre can be economically maintained.
David E. Corson is president of the Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club Advisory Committee.
