Every year, a few weeks before school gets out, students put in applications to work at the city pool as either life guards or concession stand workers.  But this year, things are going to be different.

The City of Willow Springs owns the pool and the concession stand, but instead of the city selling food out of the concession stand like they have in previous years, they decided to auction it off to a local business.  The winning business was Smiley’s Place. They will pay the city $600 a year in rent for the building along with 5% of their total income.  They will be hiring some people to help run their concession at the pool this coming summer.  The employees of Smiley’s Place have proposed to do the following:

1. They will provide snacks and beverages, offer a varied menu, and include sundry items such as sunglasses and suntan lotion
2. They will be responsible for staffing and wages of the concession employees.
   1. Staff will maintain cleanliness of the stand and tables.
   2. They will contact the Health Department to be sure they are in compliance of all health codes.
   3. They will provide Workman’s Compensation Insurance for their staff.
   4. They will purchase all products for resale under the tax id.

Why the change? Well, the City Council thought that they could make the city more money by renting out the concession stand rather than having to pay students to run it and purchase the food for stand as well.  Although this will be a new way of running things at the city pool, many people think it will be successful change.