Port Alberni's pool will be re-opening on Sundays.
City council made the decision on Monday, Jan. 27 to amend the 2025 budget so the Echo Aquatic Centre can once again be opened on Saturday evenings and Sundays.
The pool has been closed on Sundays since the beginning of 2023 due to a lack of staff and lifeguards. The problem dates back to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the pool was shut down for two years and lifeguard classes could not be offered.
Willa Thorpe, the city's manager of parks, recreation and culture, told council that the city has finally hired enough staff to open the pool on Saturday evenings and Sundays, but this will require adding $110,000 to an already tight budget. Council asked city staff to provide some cost-savings options for the pool, and Thorpe brought back a report with 11 different options.
On Monday, council made the decision to reduce "everyone welcome" swims by one lifeguard, and to close the aquatic centre on Monday evenings, which is when the pool is least-attended.
British Columbia requires pools to have one lifeguard for every 40 patrons. Recreation manager Shawn Bourgoin explained that "everyone welcome" swims usually have between 90 and 150 participants. The pool currently staffs four to five lifeguards during these swims. Because of this, Bourgoin said that reducing the number of lifeguards by one would have a "minimal" disruption.
“We still would be able to have 100 to 120 patrons in the pool during the swim," he said.
Councillors all agreed that re-opening the pool on weekends was a good trade-off for these changes.
“The public has been wanting [weekends] for a long time,” said Councillor Cindy Solda. “We’re taking some things away, and we’re adding something that they’ve asked for.”
“I’m not a fan of reducing services, but the community has spoken that they want a weekend service,” added Coun. Charles Mealey. “It will be taking away from family swim and public swim on Mondays, but we’re here to make tough decisions and if it’s not going to work out one way we’ve got to look at it another way. This is probably the least painful option.”
A date hasn't been set yet for these scheduling changes, but Bourgoin says the city will make an announcement on their social media pages when the pool is officially opened on Sundays.
