HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-09-20 Public Comment - J. Silvan - Sports Cove ScubaFrom:Chris Mehl
To:Agenda
Subject:FW: Sports Cove Scuba
Date:Thursday, July 9, 2020 2:46:28 PM
Chris Mehl
Mayor, City of Bozemancmehl@bozeman.net406.581.4992________________________________________From: Jeff silvan [silvan.jeff@gmail.com]Sent: Thursday, July 09, 2020 2:36 PMTo: Chris MehlSubject: Sports Cove Scuba
Good afternoon Chris,
I am one of the instructors from Sports Cove, I am sure by know you, and the commission have had many emailsfrom many people about the problem we are facing. Mitch Overton, has been, in all practical ways, unwilling towork with us for a solution of our need for pool time, I have personally called him twice to talk to him and he hasn'teven had the courtesy of giving a call back. The hours he has proposed, morning hours, for us to use, does NOTwork for many of our students. I have personally called 15+ that are ready to begin their pool training, and askedthem if morning classes would work for them, and all their answers have been no, they have to work. I am the maininstructor for the Sports Cove, and I have a day job, and I can not afford to take 2 days off a week for half day, Ineed evenings as well. As Dive professionals, we know more about water safety and rescue than the average 16year old life guard that doesnt know anything. Not only are we first aid/CPR trained, we are also First aid/CPR/Emergency Oxygen provider Instructors as well. Not only that, the injuries that would occur in diving arepressure related injuries, the most a lifeguard can do is call emergency services, and stay out of our way, as we takecare of the issue. And if that is the case, i could have one of my students do that very thing while i address theproblems, so we don't have any use for a lifeguard on duty while we teach classes.
I reached out to a Law office to get advice on all this, since one of our clients mentioned restriction ofbusiness, seeing how we were able and allowed to operate at the swim center for at least 10 years without any staffon duty. The swim Center staff/lifeguards would do their evening clean/ etc, than they would leave, the doors wouldbe locked, and we made sure the lights were off when we left, and we double checked the doors to make sure theywere locked. We, the Sports Cove Staff, were the last ones out of the building and made sure everything was good,before we walked out. Back to the law office, when I was talking to them, and this would be a very viable solutionthat would work for all of us, if you and the city would be open to this idea, is tohave a written contract between the city and the Sports Cove to use the Swim Center without staff, taking Allliability off of City of Bozeman for the Sports Cove Staff and students. This of course is just an idea, to hopefullyhelp move forward, and think out of the box to help resolve the situation. Another easy fix, if it is a matter of SwimCenter staffing, why can they not open in the afternoon/evenings instead of opening up in the morning?
I look forward to hearing back from you and hope we can come across an easy solution for all involved.
Jeff SilvanSports Cove406-580-6507Silvan.jeff@gmail.com<mailto:Silvan.jeff@gmail.com>