Johnson County Super Pass pool program users will have two fewer options in 2024.
Only three northeast Johnson County cities — Fairway, Mission and Prairie Village — will participate in the program this year, after Leawood and Roeland Park dropped out.
The program allows pass holders access into the municipal pools of all participating cities by purchasing a single Super Pass.
Leawood and Roeland Park are out this season
- Super Pass program representatives from each of the five 2023 participating cities met in December, according to a memo presented at Monday’s Fairway City Council meeting.
- Chris Claxton, the director of parks, recreation and cultural arts in Leawood, told the Post via email on Wednesday that the city’s team decided against participating in the program for 2024.
- Claxton said the Super Pass program “became hard to manage for staff and the benefits of the program were no longer advantageous overall.”
- The remaining Super Pass city participants said Roeland Park needed to take a break from the program in 2024, according to the Fairway memo.
Roeland Park leaves open the door to return in 2025
Jennifer Jones-Lacy, assistant city administrator for Roeland Park, told the Post via email this week that the main factor in the city’s decision to drop its participation in the Super Pass program was its inability to keep its city pool open seven days a week last year, a result of staffing shortages.
Jones-Lacy said more Super Pass users ended up attending their pools when Roeland Park Aquatic Center was closed. This ultimately created a burden on the other Super Pass cities who were then tasked with handling an influx of pool users faced with fewer options.
Additionally, Roeland Park City Administrator Keith Moody told the Post via email that Roeland Park failed to use a specific program guideline to sell patrons Super Passes in 2023.
Roeland Park should have only sold Super Pass memberships in 2023 to patrons who were Roeland Park Aquatic Center season pass holders in 2022. This is an eligibility requirement of the Super Pass program.
Moody said Roeland Park failed to “employ this policy accurately” when selling Super Pass memberships in 2023.
“Participation in the Super Pass program for the 2025 season will be considered by the group following the 2024 season,” Moody said.
This leaves three cities in the program
- Fairway, Mission and Prairie Village are now the only three cities that are participating in the 2024 Super Pass program.
- Merriam used to participate in the program before its new community center opened.
- The city of Merriam opted against participating in the program back in 2019, ahead of the 2020 pool season.
Go deeper: Most Roeland Park city pool users will pay way less this year. Here’s why.
