Is it time to force contractors to stop using pool restrooms in The Villages?

Is it time to force contractors to stop using pool restrooms in The Villages?

The idea may have picked up momentum in a meeting Monday of the Amenity Authority Committee and the Project Wide Advisory Committee.

The main reason for the meeting at Savannah Center was to discuss long-range readers for gates and updated resident ID cards, but concerns about contractors using restrooms at swimming pools repeatedly hijacked the conversation, as residents took to the podium to voice their irritation with the longstanding policy.

The contractors using the pool restrooms are primarily individual landscapers. There were some residents who suggested that some of the male contractors are slipping into the female restrooms. Residents also said it was unfair to make residents show their IDs at the pools while allowing unchecked contractors to wander in and out of the restrooms, which are funded through residents’ amenity money. Some residents suggested the presence of contractors has become a safety issue.

Supervisor Duane Johnson of Community Development District 8 said The Villages has looked the other way for years, knowing that contractors will have to answer the call of nature during the day.

“How are we dealing with contractors who need a potty break?” Johnson asked. “We don’t.”

Supervisor Steve Lapp of Community Development District 7 said it isn’t the responsibility of The Villages District Government to ensure that contractors have a place for their workers to relieve themselves.

“Their boss is responsible for providing them a place to use a restroom,” Lapp said.

Jim Vaccaro of the AAC said it would not be practical to bar contractors from using the pool restrooms.

“What are we going to do? Put up 100 Porta-Potties?” Vaccaro asked.

Jim Shields of the Village of Bonnybrook, who was in the audience, shook his head in disbelief when he heard the discussion.

“I am disappointed in my fellow residents who are upset about contractors using the restroom,” he said.

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