CUplex manager Jodi Hargreaves discusses the mechanical failure impacting the Battlefords Co-op Aquatic Centre during Monday's City of North Battleford Planning Committee meeting. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Community recreation

City to compensate aquatic centre member users while services reduced

Apr 16, 2019 | 9:30 AM

Member users feeling frustrated by the partial closure of the Battlefords Co-op Aquatic Centre since late last week due to a mechanical failure may be able to receive some compensation while they wait for the facility to be fully up and running again.

North Battleford Mayor Ryan Bater said it’s a challenging issue.

“We have a great aquatic centre and these are great features,” Bater said following the city’s Planning Committee meeting Monday. “It’s disappointing when they are not available.”

He added city administration is dealing with the issue “the best they can, as quickly as they can.”

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The wave pool, the lazy river, the water slides and the splash features will be temporarily out of service until after the pump is fixed.

Both public and lane swimming will be limited while the repairs are being completed.

The city announced admissions rates for the Aquatic Centre will be discounted to Field House prices in the meantime. Swimming lessons will continue as scheduled. Among the changes: senior classes running from 3 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. have been temporarily cancelled. “Velocity Fitness” classes will now take place in the Lane Pool.

The mayor said while the main pump for the facility should have an estimated lifespan of three to five years, this one has only lasted about three years. The pump is made in the USA, as are its replacement parts.

“The last time this happened there was a six-week wait for the parts to come in to fix the pump,” said Bater, adding the city expects it will take a comparable amount of time again to remedy the problem.

The committee heard the aquatic centre has about 10,000 members, who all pay a monthly premium to access it.

The Planning Committee proposed two possible options to compensate members until the repairs are completed and all services are available again: to extend the membership by the amount of time the features are down; or, the second option, to give a financial credit to membership users when they come to the pool wanting to use those features that are not available.

“It’s a tough one,” said Bater. ”Administration will return for council’s next meeting to offer some recommendations.

“Hopefully, we can come up with a solution that will be fair to all those monthy-users, and fair to city taxpayers as well,” he added.

angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW