By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Even with the adjusted plan from the State of Kansas that pushed back certain reopenings of businesses and services, the City of Great Bend has moved forward with allowing public access to certain areas. Walk-in traffic is allowed into the Fire Department and Police Department.
City Administrator Kendal Francis says plans are to still open the pool, or Wetlands Waterpark, on June 15. The plan is to divide the day into two sessions, with patrons exiting the waterpark during a break between the sessions to clean the facility. The hope is to be back to a relatively normal operational schedule by July.
"The goal is by the July 1 timeframe, we will be in the phase out period," said Francis. "Those restrictions would be removed and the public could enjoy the swimming pool as normal."
The Wetlands Waterpark has a “bather load” of 400 people, and Francis says the capacity would be reduced to 50-percent during the restriction guidelines.
"We are trying to do everything we can to keep that pool open and give kids something to do," said Mayor Cody Schmidt. "We did talk that if this thing gets pushed back based on the Governor's orders, we might have to bring this back to the council to determine if it is even worth opening."
Francis noted on a typical day, the pool would not have to worry about a “bather load” of 200. In the case that the pool did have more than 200 people wanting to come in, the second session following the cleaning would allow those waiting priority to use the waterpark.