2020 President's Letter

Dear Pleasant Valley Neighbors,

What. A. Summer. “What a year!” seems appropriate, too, but as a pool board of directors we are still reeling a bit from such an unusual and complicated summer pool season. We are deeply grateful, however, for all the physical support and positive affirmations we have received this summer to allow us to make lemonade out of some pretty bitter lemons. For those that were not pool members or following us on Facebook, we were one of the first pools in Virginia to open in late May and remained open without interruption through Labor Day, providing members with safe recreation opportunities throughout the summer. Smart Management ensured consistent staffing and we are very proud of the service we provided our membership this summer.

Thank You! And You! And You!

I want to thank all the volunteers who made swimming in 2020 possible. First, the Board of Directors who endured literally 1000s of text messages and emails and hours of hastily scheduled online meetings to plan and re-plan and re-re-plan pool hours, openings, signups, etc. They also are always the first to sign up when all hands are needed on deck, be it for the yard sale, the aquathlon, movie nights, etc., etc., etc. Those volunteers are John Ferguson, Jenn Genus, Matt Kroetch, Rachel Miaw, Krystal Owen, and Sara Silverman.

Some other volunteers played key roles in making 2020 successful:

• Reid Owen connected us with Occoquan Swim Club who got us open in the first place this year. That connection led to a connection to Nation’s Capital Swim Club whose rental fees allowed us to remain open and may also allow us to make some needed improvements to the pool and pool property.

• Sean Kenney ran our Master Swim Class twice a week for nearly the entire summer without any compensation at all (save an occasional dive well reservation for his kids!). The regular participants were tremendously grateful for this safe opportunity to exercise without leaving the neighborhood.

• Alex Gruenther led a team of volunteers in organizing our first annual Pleasant Valley Aquathlon. This is another valuable fundraiser that was successful even in the throes of a pandemic. Next year, we’re sure, will be even better!

• Nelson Orellana (and his whole family, really) stepped up absolutely every time we called with a facility need – whether it was unclogging toilets or installing a security camera. We are endlessly grateful for the efforts of all four of these volunteers.

We also want to thank Rodriguez Landscaping for their partnership this summer. We hope that will be a lasting relationship.

Community Support Needed/Financial Update

This brings me to a pretty serious request that I’d like to make on behalf of the entire board. Our pool, while it survived 2020 and is poised for a (hopefully!) normal and drama-free 2021, remains significantly at-risk without community support. The financial load is simply too heavy for the 110 households that joined in 2020 and the workload is too heavy for seven board members and the additional 15-20 households that contribute their time to the pool from year-to-year. Those numbers are unsustainable and will ultimately cost our neighborhood the joys of having a community pool if they continue.

We believe we have made supporting the pool as easy, and as inexpensive, as we can. When we begin our membership push for 2021, we encourage even non-swimmers to join us at the Friends of the Pool level (roughly $20-30 per month). We are working to develop a recreation committee that will hopefully allow us to provide even more social and recreation benefits to members who aren’t all that interested in the pool itself. More to come on that as we approach the 2021 season.

At the end of the day, however, the neighborhood votes with its wallet. If you believe the pool has a positive impact on your property values or provides a valuable service to the neighborhood, join at some level for 2021. If you don’t, don’t, but understand that within very few years it will mean that the pool property will need to be sold and converted to new homes or an alternative use. We hear the silence of the 400+ homeowners in the neighborhood that don’t support the pool—ultimately your silence will end the pool’s tenure in the neighborhood. On our side of the equation, we commit to continue seeking ways to increase the value of the association and membership.

Financial Update

With all of that said, we are proud to say that we ended 2020 by significantly improving our financial situation in the short-term. We made over $40,000 in rental income by negotiating agreements with three different local swim clubs. We fundraised at a rate $5,000 above budget, due largely to the Aquathlon, a record-setting yard sale, and multiple movie nights. We also negotiated a nearly $15,000 reduction to our management contract due to reduced hours. All of these moves were necessitated by coming in $20,000 under budget on membership income. Of course, for anyone that has seen the pool property in recent years, you will understand that any additional income earned in 2020 needs to be invested back in the property after we meet our first priority of setting up a healthy reserve fund.

In short, we have more than weathered the storm of 2020, but we have much more work to do. We thank the community for their support, request that as a neighborhood we double-down on this wonderful community good, and can’t wait to see swim meets, pool parties, and a non-socially distanced Second Annual Pleasant Valley Aquathlon next summer!

Sincerely,

Chris DelGrosso

President, PVRA Board of Directors