On Wednesday morning, May 27, the Merrill Area Parks and Recreation Department announced the Bierman Family Aquatic Center will remain closed for the Summer season.
As part of a social media post Wednesday morning, the Parks and Rec Department cited lengthy discussions with the Lincoln County Health Department and using Local, State, and National Guidelines. The decision was made with overall community health in mind.
“In using this information The Parks & Recreation Commission decided to only consider opening the Bierman Family Aquatic Center when mass gatherings are acceptable and COVID restrictions allow for normal operations. This means the Aquatic Center will remain closed for this season unfortunately. If we were to open this season, we would only be allowed 25% capacity at any given time, and we would have to have additional COVID staff and supplies to monitor and sanitize during all hours of operation. This, along with creations of high touch areas would make it very difficult for us to ensure the health and safety of our staff and the public.”
In addition, the department also announced cancellation of the Summer Playground Program as well as June Shelter reservations. The department plans to re-evaluated reservations for the months of July-September in a few weeks.
“None of these decisions were made lightly” adds Parks and Recreation Director Dan Wendorf.
“In looking at our operations, and discussing updated guidelines and recommendations with our Lincoln County Health Department frequently, we were advised to err on the side of caution and put community safety first. It has always been, and will continue to be our responsibility to bring people together and provide countless recreational opportunities and spaces for everyone to enjoy. It might not be a “typical” summer recreational season for our department or community, but we will continue to provide the recreational programming that guidelines/recommendations allow, as well as beautiful green spaces for people to recreate responsibly until guidelines/recommendations say it is safe to do so. We very much look forward to defeating this, putting it behind us, and being back stronger than ever before!”