Farmer City pool closes after emergency meeting Thursday night

FARMER CITY, Ill. (WCIA) — The Farmer City Pool will be shutting down again for the foreseeable future. The city council made the decision at an emergency meeting Thursday night.

The pool missed its Memorial Day weekend opening. It had issues holding water, so a new pump needed to be installed.

It just opened two weeks ago, but now it looks like it’ll be closed for another summer holiday. Officials shut it down again Thursday and on Tuesday this week.

City officials said this time, it was unspecified mechanical issues. They believe these issues are leading to pool leakage and increased pool chemical usage.

Farmer City Mayor Scott Testory said they’re focused on providing the best quality water for swimmers.

“The main talking points were the safety of the other users,” Testory said. “That’s the primary talking point and mechanical issues with the pool. The amount of cost of the chemicals were, I think, almost two-thirds more than what we usually spend on the pool. But then the conversation came back around to safety. And I addressed a couple of people in the audience and they said, ‘Hey, we don’t want to use the pool if it’s unsafe.’ And so the council chose to close the pool until we can ensure the safety of the users.”

The pool will be evaluated by engineers this Monday to find the root of the issue. Findings from the engineers will be brought to the city manager, who will then provide a patch-up plan to the city council by next week.

Timelines for repairs and reopening will vary depending on what is discovered.

The mayor and city manager also released a statement on the city’s Facebook account indicating that they will make a decision as to whether they will reopen or not next week.

We have been following your concerns, as well as the concerns from staff, regarding the pool. Tonight, the City Council met and decided to close the pool immediately for safety reasons, more than anything else, until the issues are resolved.

We have contractors coming Monday to evaluate whether we have a leak and to review the pool floor. We will have our regular council meeting Tuesday, July 2 at 6 pm and discuss the update at that time. We will then decide whether to try to reopen with partial pass reimbursement or not reopen and provide full pass reimbursement. Thank you for your understanding.

Mayor Scott Testory City Manager Sue McLaughlin

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