Baldwin Borough Council balked at a request to continue the tradition of allowing a local swim club to use the town pool at no cost for summer training.

"The way expenses are, there's not a lot of things that are free anymore," Councilman Bob Collet said at a meeting last week, when Lauren Tripson, president of the Baldwin Whitehall Aquatic Association, pleaded her case.

"Historically, we've always been here," Tripson said later, referring to the group's use of the pool for summer morning training sessions for 20 years.

Borough Manager John Barrett this month, at council's direction, sent a letter to Tripson explaining its decision to not permit free use of the pool. He told her that borough officials were not aware of past use of the pool by the aquatics association.

Barrett told council this month that money must be taken from the general fund each year to pay for pool expenses. "We're supporting (the pool) and we're always looking for ways to bring those numbers down," he said.

Council's decision is among recent moves it made to shore up its budget. In April, it approved implementing fees of $250 per season for non-youth leagues to use borough fields, with an additional charge for lighting. Councilman Ed Moeller said the permit fees offset the cost of improvements and maintenance. Youth leagues make their own improvements, so they are not charged.

Members of Baldwin Whitehall Aquatics, which sprang from the former Baldwin Whitehall Swim Club in March, train at no cost at the 25-yard Baldwin High School pool during the winter for the short-course swim season. Some club members swim for the J.E. Harrison Middle School and Baldwin High School teams. For the long-course season in the summer, community pools of close to 50 yards are used for training. The Baldwin community pool is 43 yards long.

Some Baldwin officials contended it's unfair for town residents to pay for a group whose members mostly do not live in the borough to use the pool. Tripson said about 40 percent of the swimmers are from Baldwin Borough and pointed to members' participation on school teams.

"It's frustrating to me, because I don't understand such resistance for a youth organization that's so established," Tripson said.

She said the club does not cause the borough to incur costs because the pool is in operation and her organization would provide lifeguards, doesn't require lights and carries insurance. Membership fees of $180 for the summer pay coaches, Tripson said. "We don't operate at a profit, by any means," she said.

But borough officials said there are costs, as well as principle, involved.

"If there was no cost, then we would let everybody use anything in the borough at any time," Moeller said.

Some council members questioned why the organization does not ask to use the Whitehall Borough pool, where 40 percent of club members live. But the Whitehall pool's size and configuration isn't conducive to the type of swimming that the group does, Tripson said.

If Baldwin council does not change its mind, the students will continue practicing at Baldwin High School during summer months, Tripson said.

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