Mason City’s mayor says aquatic center will not open right away, slight chance pool might be able to open later this summer

MASON CITY — The City of Mason City has announced they will not be making preparations for opening the city’s aquatic center for the time being.

Mayor Bill Schickel says due to the many challenges and uncertainties presented by COVID-19 and its impacts on summer aquatic programs in the community, the Park Board during their meeting Tuesday night decided to delay the opening of the center due to the level of public congregation that takes place at aquatic facilities and the demand for properly trained and certified staff required to operate the facility.   “The park board met Tuesday night and made a decision to postpone indefinitely the opening of the pool. There’s a lot of logistics to opening up the pool.”

Schickel says though if the current public health emergency conditions impacting the safety of pool operations dramatically change, the city could decide to open the facility at a later date this summer.   “The Park Board and our staff will keep the option open should things change dramatically, there’s a slight chance that the pool might be able to open.”

Governor Reynolds’ executive order on Wednesday kept all public swimming pools across the state closed.