OLDS — Now that new COVID-19 restrictions are in place, town officials are monitoring the Aquatic Centre to see if the hours that it’s open need to be reduced in line with pool use.
The hours that the Sportsplex is open are being monitored as well, because opening hours at that facility have been reduced.
The town's community services director, Doug Wagstaff, made that point during a Nov. 30 special town council meeting.
Wagstaff said the Sportsplex is now only open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. instead of 6 a.m. to midnight, at least for the next three weeks that new provincial COVID-19 mitigation measures remain in effect. The first ice slot is available at 6:30 a.m.
Wagstaff said the two shifts at the Sportsplex would remain, despite the shorter opening hours, adding they will take advantage of the situation to catch up on some uncompleted projects.
“We do have a number of areas that are still going to be looked at for little projects; things that we would clean up extra, do some painting, finish off a couple of the larger projects that are in the back areas of the arena that we started in the spring and continue to do that for the next three weeks,” he said.
Wagstaff confirmed the Sportplex will be closely monitored for how much it’s used, compared to the amount of time it’s open.
"Just to see what the requests were and what the reality’s going to be over the next week-and-a-half.”
“(We’re) strongly encouraging individuals who are not associated with the immediate activity to not come to the Sportsplex to limit the number of people coming in and out,” Wagstaff said.
Coun. Heather Ryan asked if opening hours at the Aquatic Centre might be cut back if use of the pool drops off.
Wagstaff said that will be monitored as well.
“One of the things that we’re going to look at is what was the uptake," he said. “We do know that there were lots of requests as soon as this was announced last week about lane swims.
“And we did say (was) can people give us some time to sort out what the impacts are going to be? Now that we’ve done that, we’ll see what the uptake will look like.”
Wagstaff also said the town now offers one flat rate of $30 an hour across the board for use of the Sportsplex “to make it simple and easier for people to understand.”
He was asked if a similar fee structure will be put in place for the Aquatic Centre.
Wagstaff said the fees at that facility remain the same as they did before the latest COVID-19 restrictions were announced.
“The operations of the pool don’t change as significantly as those for the Sportsplex,” he said.
Wagstaff said town staff are “strongly recommending” that people wear masks if they are attending either of those facilities.
Wagstaff confirmed that if people are found to be violating the new COVID-19 restrictions, community peace officers now have the authority to issue tickets if necessary.
However, he stressed it’s up to Alberta Health Services (AHS) to determine how the matter is dealt with.
He said the process for members of the public who may be concerned about an alleged violation is to contact AHS.
AHS officials will assess the situation and determine whether it’s a matter for police or peace officers to deal with.
The link for complaints about pandemic restriction violations can be found at olds.ca\covid-19.
