(file photo/battlefordsNOW staff)

By Keaton Brown

make the most of it

COVID-19 closure used for fixes to Battlefords Co-op Aquatic Centre

Jul 22, 2020 | 1:12 PM

With everything shut down due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the City of North Battleford decided to take advantage of the situation and get some work done ahead of schedule.

The city used the shutdown to perform some general maintenance and repairs that were originally scheduled for the Battlefords Co-op Aquatic Centre next year.

Dustin MacDonald, communication administrator for the City of North Battleford, said they do have a short shutdown every year to perform maintenance of the facility but used the extended closure due to the pandemic to do a more comprehensive job this year.

“It would have been a longer closure next year, due to having to drain the pools to get to certain areas under the water. So that is what we are doing for maintenance and repairs this year that would have been done next year,” he said.

The province’s Re-Open Saskatchewan plan allowed for indoor aquatic facilities, like the Co-op Aquatic Centre, to re-open as of July 6. MacDonald said the city postponed that re-opening so they could complete the maintenance.

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“The longer shutdown period is because we drained the pools to get to the parts that are typically underwater,” he said. “This one is taking a little bit longer than the typical yearly short closure for the maintenance and repairs that are done annually,” he added.

The city set August 5 as their re-opening date for this year. MacDonald said the maintenance and repairs will be done ahead of that date so they can safely re-open.

“The repairs will be done before then and it would just be a matter of having the facilities inspected and making sure the province gives us the OK to open up,” he said.

The city has said that any residents looking to cool off in the summer heat can make use of the spray parks located at Senator Herb Sparrow Park, Centennial Park and Kinsmen Park, daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

—

Keaton.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow