During a special council meeting Thursday, administration discussed options for the reopening process while adhering to the province’s COVID-19 public health requirements.

Facilities will require attendees to register when they enter to meet the province’s contact tracing requirements in the event a positive COVID-19 case is identified. The city reported additional cleaning and sanitizing measures of shared surfaces is needed for its facilities.

Mayor Ryan Bater said the city has to make sure it is economically viable to reopen a facility due to the COVID-19 restrictions.

“There are a lot of restrictions on size of gathering and how many people can actually come in,” he told battlefordsNOW. “There are a lot of restrictions around sanitization and disinfecting that affect the operations as well.”

The Battlefords Co-op Aquatic Centre will have a partial re-opening no earlier than August 1, running Wednesdays to Sundays to start.

“If the province says we can open July 15 we will be opening August 1,” Bater said. “But if the province says we can’t open until Aug. 15 we’ll have to wait until then.”

The city also needs to keep in mind the province’s reopening phase restrictions.

“We need the minimum gathering level to be 75 in order to make it viable,” Bater said of the Aquatic Centre. “Right now for [phase] 4.2 that threshold is 50. So we would need that changed.”

Only public or lane swims will be available when the pool opens. Swimming lessons will not be available until the fall.

The waterslides, lazy river, and steam room will remain closed, as well as the showers and lockers at the beginning.

Adminstration said the lazy river needed to remain closed because the required two-metre social distancing between attendees would be difficult due to the water-pressure feature.

Attendees will not be able to use the showers and lockers due to COVID-19 cleaning and disinfecting restrictions.

“It is something all facilities are struggling with that have aquatic facilities,” he said. “It is going to be a little getting used to, maybe a little inconvenient but those are the rules we’re working under. In order to make the aquatic centre available, that is what we have to do.”

Members will receive booking privileges. No user rate discount will be available due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The NationsWEST Field House will remain closed until mid-September, running Wednesdays to Sundays at the start.

Bater said similar to the pool, the Field House requires the minimum gathering level to be 75 in order to be viable.

Administration advised council this facility has generally low attendance numbers over the warmer months so it was not feasible to reopen currently.

“We don’t typically see a lot of people in there in the summer time,” Bater said. “People are usually outside doing activities.”

The middle lane of the track on the top level will be closed when the facility does open, so attendees can have proper physical distancing space between them. The facility’s showers and lockers will will remain closed after reopening, until an effective method of disinfecting and sanitizing can be developed. No user rate discount will be available due to COVID-19 restrictions, when the facility is able to reopen.

For the arenas, Don Ross Arena will not reopen prior to October 1.

“We need a minimum booking level of 50 per cent of last year’s levels,” Bater said. “In other words we need user groups to be booking it, and we need to get to that half number, based on what last year was.”

The Civic Centre will not reopen prior to August 15.

“Again, we need that minimum 50 per cent booking levels based on 2019 levels,” Bater said.

Shower use will not be permitted in the arenas due to COVID-19 cleaning and disinfecting restrictions. No user rate discount will be available due to the impact of COVID-19 restrictions.

The Allen Sapp Gallery will reopen the week of July 13. Local artists work will be added to the display. The city decided to keep The Chapel Gallery closed until the end of 2020 to allow staff to focus on the city’s main gallery – The Allen Sapp Gallery. The Chapel Gallery will still be available for rentals and special events however.

“We are going to be consolidating everything into the Allen Sapp Gallery,” Bater said.

The mayor said there are many details for the city to be cognizant of when planning for re-openings.

“There is a lot to it,” he said. “Theer are a lot of conditions, a lot of rules and they are changing all the time. We’re staying on top of it. We are in daily contact with other cities throughout Saskatchewan. We are in constant contact with the provincial government to understand and interpret the public health orders, and to make our plans around them. A lot of this is maybe a little frustrating because there are some different ways we have to use facilities, but this is a way to make them available and still be safe for everybody to use them. That is the important thing – public safety.”

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW