By: Rebecca Miller
The City of Wauseon Swimming pool will open for the season on Friday, May 29 at Noon. The summer hours will be Sunday-Friday 12-8pm and Saturday 12-5pm; with pool rentals available 5:15-6:45 and 7:00-8:30pm (Saturday).
Daily Rates: All guests over 2 years of age $3; Guests 2 years of age of younger $1
Pass Rates: Individual city resident $60; Individual non-resident $85; Family (includes up to 5 members; additional members $10 each) City resident $140; Non-resident $190
Daycare Passes: 10 users or less $225; More than 10 users $300
The city released the following statement in regards to the opening of the pool: Our goal is to provide a safe and fun environment for our guests and staff. To do this, we are limiting the maximum occupancy to 166 users. There will be social distancing guidelines in place while at the pool; please follow these guidelines as closely as possible while visiting.
In certain situations, you will notice our staff wearing masks. We will be sanitizing all surfaces every two hours. There will be a designated “unsanitized chair” area for visitors to place their deck chairs when they are finished using them so that they can be cleaned for the next visitor.
There will be no swim lessons this season. We look forward to spending the summer with you!!
Archbold Parks and Recreation posted on their FaceBook page on May 6: “It’s with a heavy heart that I post this tonight. After lots of research, deliberations and discussions, it has been decided that the Archbold Pool will not open this year. This was a very difficult decision, as we know the importance that the pool has for so many families in our community.
But right now, we have to weigh the positives and negatives, the known and unknown. The park board is in agreement that it is not in the best interest of the community for us to move forward with a summer pool season. Please don’t hesitate to reach out by email (jenkidder@archbold.com ) if you have any questions. My sincerest apologies. Jen Kidder”
The Bryan Park Board announced on their website that the pools in Bryan will be closed for the summer of 2020:
To The Community of Bryan: “After weeks of deliberation, we feel it is in the best interest of the Bryan Community not to open Moore and East End Pools for the 2020 summer season due to the current COVID-19 situation.
I assure you that this was not an easy decision; we spent an enormous amount of time talking with our staff, various health professionals, various parks and recreation professionals throughout the State of Ohio and looking through all the guidelines provided to us by the State of Ohio regarding reopening aquatic of facilities. At the end of the day we feel it is in the best interest of our staff, community and patrons to keep the pools closed.
COVID-19 has created a lot of difficult challenges for tire Parks and Recreation Department’s day to day operations including how to safely operate both of our aquatic facilities. As we are sure most of you are aware, on Thursday May 14, 2020 Governor DeWine and his learn announced that public pools could reopen on May 26, 2020 by following the mandatory guidelines established in the Responsible Restart Ohio, Local and Public Pools and Aquatic Centers and the Center for Disease Control guidelines.
Under the guidelines established by Governor DeWine’s team the capacity of our pools would have changed. Also, the social distancing rules in the water and on deck would have great impact on the ability to move in and around the facility and would have required additional monitoring.
The increased demand on sanitization of all surfaces located at our pool facilities would be extremely cumbersome to our staff. Finally, the health and safety of our employees, typically local teenage kids, was paramount in our decision.
Managing our pools within these guidelines that have been established was still a high risk and not in the best interest of our community and staff. This decision was a painful one to make; our aquatic facilities are a place for the citizens of Bryan to enjoy throughout the summer months.
Unfortunately, the risk associated with opening our aquatic facilities during this pandemic are not a risk we want to take! We apologize for the inconvenience this decision may cause, and we look forward to seeing everyone next year at Bryan Parks and Recreation Department Pools!”
Montpelier Parks and Recreation agreed at the May 7, 2020 meeting that with all the complications involved financially and physically, the pool should not be open this summer.
From the minutes of the May 11, Montpelier Village Council meeting, concerning the pool, “The pool requires a minimum of seven certified lifeguards at one time to operate, and although thirteen individuals have applied, we currently only have three guards who are certified.
‘The pool creates a giant sucking sound in the middle of the Park Budget’ and with the current financial position we are in due to decreased income tax collections, it is our best interest to not open the pool this year.” The council voted to approve the closure of the public pool for the season.
Rebecca can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com