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Queens residents looking to beat the heat at municipal pools will have to look elsewhere this summer.<\/p>\n
Milton Centennial Pool and North Queens Aquatic Centre will not open in 2020.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s one of the measures included in a recent list released by Region of Queens CAO Chris MacNeill, intended to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19.<\/p>\n
Queens Director of Recreation and Healthy Communities Meaghan Roberts says each of the pools need certified staff to work at the facilities.<\/p>\n
While there is no shortage of young people looking for those jobs, Roberts says getting them the courses they need in time for summer just wasn\u2019t possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo when we reached out to the governing bodies for those certifications, they didn\u2019t feel like, at the time, that any certifications were going to happen prior to summer because of the public health restrictions and the limits on groupings and all the things that they have in place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roberts says the community pools are very well used but the recreation department and municipality\u2019s top concern is everyone\u2019s safety.<\/p>\n
She says older facilities such as these with smaller change rooms and more confined space make it difficult to maintain social distancing rules set out by the province.<\/p>\n
Roberts says even if the staff could receive training in time, a pool presents a specific set of challenges to preventing the spread of COVID-19.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing outdoors, that is in your favour but in terms of the staff, you\u2019re right in children\u2019s faces. It\u2019s very hard to social distance at a pool. Especially when it\u2019s children involved, they don\u2019t understand. So we had to think about the safety of people coming into that facility as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roberts grew up in the area and not only understands how important it is for residents to have these facilities in their communities, but what the loss of the pools this summer will mean.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get people\u2019s disappointment, I do. Like I said, I\u2019m obviously sympathetic to that because not only do I oversee the pools, but my kids use them. And those kids that wanted to work there, we still want to work with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roberts says the municipality has secured some grants to help them take certification courses, once they\u2019re offered.<\/p>\n
She is still hoping to help people find the positive in this situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, it\u2019s this point in time, and it\u2019s right now that the pools aren\u2019t open but there\u2019s other ways and they\u2019re continually opening up more things. People are able to go to the beaches now. So there are other ways to get out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roberts says she is keeping a close eye on other provinces as they begin to reopen their public spaces.<\/p>\n
She says because Nova Scotia is several weeks behind the pandemic we can learn what works and apply those lessons when it is Queens County\u2019s turn to restore their services.<\/p>\n
The Region of Queens also announced the full Canada Day celebrations at Privateer Park in Liverpool have been postponed but they haven\u2019t ruled out the possibility of holding fireworks.<\/p>\n
The summer concert series to be held at parks around the municipality has been cancelled.<\/p>\n
And tax sales for properties in arrears have also been called off.<\/p>\n
The full list of program and service updates is below.<\/p>\n