By Kellen Olshefski
Correspondent
The City of Elkhorn Common Council voted 4-2 last week in favor of keeping Sunset Pool closed for the 2020 season amidst continued COVID-19 concerns as well as consideration of Walworth County’s recommended guidelines for opening public pools.
Alderman Ron Dunwiddie and Frank Boggs voted in opposition of the motion to keep the pool closed this year.
According to Parks and Recreation Director Karl Sorvick, Walworth County’s plan for outdoor pools would limit admission to 25 percent of capacity. He said that would translate to 75 patrons at a time throughout the entire pool complex, and would require that physical social distancing protocols be followed.
“Regardless of what the season looks like for the pool, it’s not going to be the typical season that we have,” Sorvick said. “I think there’s a lot of parameters that would need to take place in order to open that pool.”
Sorvick said if the pool were to open, one option would be to do so in two, four-hour time blocks with patrons being able to purchase admission for access online. The time blocks would allow the City to limit capacity and allow for cleaning in between shifts, he explained. Sorvick also noted that if the pool were to open, he didn’t think it would be fair to sell season passes, considering there’s no guarantee at this point the pool would be open, and in the event it did in limited capacity, a daily pass would be more favorable.
He also noted the recreation department would have to limit or restrict common use areas near the pool – such as the basketball hoops – and would likely need to remove the provided pool chairs and switch to a bring-your-own-chair scenario.
“A lot of things would have to be taken away from the pool, and we’d have to kind of restructure how we let people in, let people out, and just the overall operation if we want to get that thing open,” Sorvick said.
In response to a question from Alderman Tom Myrin, Sorvick noted the pool would also face decreased revenues with just 25 percent capacity being allowed in at any given time.
Sorvick said the initial investment of filling up and preparing the pool is likely the largest expense for the City. He also noted that if the City were to sell out every time slot, the City would be able to break even when it came to paying the pool managers and lifeguards, but would not be enough to cover the wages of concession stand staff.
Alderman Tim Shiroda said he was concerned with opening the pool at 25 percent capacity considering there’s already an overcapacity of people that want to use the pool.
“I’ve heard from multiple people that it’s crowded. If you don’t get there on time you don’t get in,” Shiroda said.
“We go down to 25 percent, there’s going to be a lot of irritated people. I think you’re almost better off opening it or not opening it, and I don’t think opening it for everybody is probably wise,” he added.
Shiroda said he hadn’t heard a good reason to open the pool and heard a lot of reasons to not open it. He made a motion to keep the pool closed for the 2020 season.
The motion was approved 4-2, with aldermen Dunwiddie and Boggs dissenting.
