Midwestern

Pools in Huron East will stay closed

The mayor of Huron East says the municipality will not be opening the pools in Brussels or Vanastra at this time.

Various factors played a role in the decision including the current pandemic and staffing.

"By the time all the work got done it would have been some time into early July before we could physically have the pool open. But, along with that, there an employment problem, because the lifeguards, not believing there was going to be pools, went and found other jobs. So there's a staff shortage there, to begin with," said Bernie MacLellan.

MacLellan added complying with public health COVID-19 guidelines would present some challenges as well. They would have to limit the number of people in the pool and even the people in the pool and around the deck would have to maintain a safe distance from each other.

As well, he said in the event that a child in the pool needed help, it would be the responsibility of the child's parent, not the lifeguard, to provide that help.

MacLellan said they did contact some of the groups who regularly use the pool but half of those groups stated they weren't comfortable coming back at this time.

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