Two popular summertime venues for Oil City got the go-ahead Thursday as city council voted to proceed with preparations to open the city swimming pool and to hold the annual BridgeFest celebration.
“We need some direction from city council as to the 2021 pool season,” city manager Mark Schroyer said. “I recommend we do not open it this year.”
Schroyer said he believes the city is “facing the same conditions as last year” in regards to pandemic-related health directives about cleaning, social distancing and capacity limitations. More staff to help clean would have to be hired and patronage would be limited to 250 people.
Those issues compound the fact that the city annually loses money on pool operations, Schroyer said.
Jason Herman, the city water department director who oversees the municipal swimming pool, said the state Department of Health allows municipal government to decide whether it should reopen a public swimming pool.
“But, we have some hurdles to get over,” Herman told council. “We need lifeguards and we will have to partner up with the YM to help us get guards.”
Acknowledging that the pool typically runs at a deficit, Herman said, “It’s hard to predict what the finances will look like at the end. It takes a lot of money at the pool to make money.”
Schroyer elaborated on the finances and said, “I know we will lose money – it’s at least $10,000 a year that we lose – but we have absorbed it because of community support. This time, I’m not sure we could.”
Councilman Ron Gustafson strongly favored reopening the pool, which was closed all of last summer.
“There is a huge amount of community support to reopen it. The kids have suffered greatly. People would like to see it open this year,” Gustafson said. “I believe we are getting to a better end (with COVID) and I think it would be shortsighted if we just say right now that it will stay closed.”
Gustafson added, “People, especially those with children, are desperate to have it open for some return to normalcy. And, I think we can offset (money) losses by getting help within our community.”
In response to councilman Mike Walentosky’s question about how much lead time is necessary to prepare for a reopening, Herman said, “The latter part of April, that’s when we start. First, we will have to have a second party as to certification of lifeguards. We’ll have to reach out to somebody.”
Council was unanimous in voting to “proceed with the idea to open the pool.” The decision will be subject to any further COVID-related restrictions on public gatherings.
2021 BridgeFest is on
In other action, council also agreed to permit the annual BridgeFest celebrations on the Center Street and Veterans bridges on Aug. 20 and 21. The events feature the sale of food and beverages, live musical entertainment, activities for children and more.
The festivals are sponsored by the city’s Main Street Program and the Oil City Arts Council.
The BridgeFest events were canceled in 2020 because of social distancing and crowd size limitations due to the pandemic.
“These are signature events and we are keeping our fingers crossed,” said Stew Armstrong of the Arts Council.
Armstrong told council the Center Street Bridge event is contingent upon getting approval from PennDOT since it is a state-owned bridge. More stringent rules as to liability issues on state property, including streets and bridges, have resulted in the cancellation of several similar events in the region.
“We need a special events permit from PennDOT for the Center Street Bridge,” said Armstrong. “On the ‘hold harmless’ issue, there are ongoing discussions with insurance companies as to indemnification.”
Kay Woods, a BridgeFest founder, said the Veterans Bridge event doesn’t fall under the state edicts as to liability effects because the bridge is county-owned.
