Partnering with trusted, supportive vendors is essential in creating distinguished aquatics offerings at any community rec center. Thankfully for the team at the Snohomish Aquatic Center in Snohomish, Washington, they have found their own beneficial partner in TMI Sustainable Aquatics (TMI).
“We’ve been open more than 10 years now,” said Michael Jones, the maintenance director of the Snohomish Aquatic Center. “We’ve been with TMI since our inception in 2013. I can’t imagine our tremendous success without them. Our business has and is reinvesting with TMI.”
Below, Jones details the center’s experience with TMI, benefits to members and more.
Why did you decide to partner with TMI? What problem were you looking to solve; or what solution were you looking to incorporate?
The decision to go to salt systems was made during the design phase and we reached out to TMI. The advantages of salt were already being incorporated into plans. I was contacted about interest in joining since I was one of the very few in region who had pool saltwater experience and vigorously supported it since around 2001. The prime reasons for utilizing TMI in the beginning was to reduce operational and labor cost as well as great guest experience.
The salt systems are effective on all Snohomish Aquatics Center’s offerings of different sizes including the competition and leisure pools, spa, and Flo-Rider area. Altogether, TMI’s salt solution helps the center operate over 600,000 gallons of water and a 3,000-plus daily bather load.
We are owned and operated by a nominal-size school district. This requires due diligence in budgeting and competitive bidding. Initial capital expenditures allowed us to save on day-to-day operations, so we can do other facility upkeep and enhancements. We are constantly surprising the district with our success at our 52,000 square-foot facility.
What are the benefits to your business and to your members because of this partnership?
Having a team supporting us like TMI has made us stand out in the industry. Our guests, clients and competitors praise our water quality daily. We’ve also secured many private groups meets and events due to our water, facility and people.
The ongoing technical upgrades in our industry are very fluid and can be expensive. We’ve found working with them provides us with great hardware, pricing, service and forecasting needs. The real strength is in their people and systems. We always have access to training and operational recommendations. This allows us to take full advantage of systems and increase overall longevity.
Have you been pleasantly surprised by working with TMI in any way?
Service is considered as important as sales, so following up on existing or new hardware is not an afterthought. To our pleasant surprise as years pass, we are even more impressed with TMI and their dedication to their products and us.
What else can you tell other rec center professionals about the benefits of working with TMI?
When working with TMI, they really work hard to find what you need most. They confirm what hardware is necessary, what’s optional specifically to your situation and they don’t provide a cookie-cutter approach to satisfy sales. One of the strongest advantages of using TMI is education and diagnostics. You won’t find many of the industry businesses doing this at the level they do, consistently.
