Lifeguard shortage will keep Aurora aquatic center closed this season
The Phillips Park Family Aquatic Center in Aurora will not open this year.
Fox Valley Park District officials said they failed to get enough applications for lifeguard positions by the deadline they imposed of June 5.
“They just didn’t have enough qualified people to allow it to open, even on a three-day (a week) basis,” said Ald. Sherman Jenkins, at large, one of the city of Aurora’s representatives on the Aquatics Board that oversees pool facilities in the city.
The Aquatics Board is made up of two city representatives, two park district representatives and a fifth position that alternates back and forth between the two governmental agencies.
The Fox Valley Park District announced earlier this year it could not open the Phillips Park center because of lack of staffing, particularly lifeguards. It said it would keep Splash Country on the West Side open because it has room for 500 more people, and does not have a deep water section like Phillips Park, which needs additional lifeguard certification.
But the district said it would try again to hire the needed lifeguards for Phillips Park under three scenarios, to open fully, to open for five hours on five days a week, and to open for three days a week, for five hours on each day.
Tim Wagner, public relations and content strategist for the park district, said as of June 5, the district received 41 lifeguard applications, but needed at least 59 to proceed with the hiring process.
He said those 41 applicants received letters from human relations explaining they would not be able to open the aquatics center at Phillips Park safely this year. They were given a list of Recreation Department positions related to aquatics at other facilities, including Splash Country and the Vaughan Athletic Center.
They also were told of positions open at the Eola Community Center for activities such as camp counselors, on-duty managers and coaches at the MVP sports academy.
Jenkins said the situation
“They just didn’t have enough qualified people to allow it to open, even on a three-day (a week) basis.” — Ald. Sherman Jenkins, at large, one of the city of Aurora’s representatives on the Aquatics Board that oversees pool facilities in the city
with lifeguards “is a national shortage.”
“We can’t open and take chances on the lives of folks using the facility,” he said.
At one time, city officials talked about providing a shuttle service from the East Side to Splash Country on the West Side. But Clayton Muhammad, the city’s chief communication and equity officer, said officials could not work out liability questions and will not provide such a service.