Several Central IL pools face delays, closures; Urbana’s has no issues so far

CENTRAL ILLINOIS (WCIA) — Several pools across Central Illinois have been facing closures or delays at the start of the swimming season.

It includes at least five pools in the area such as Farmer City, Paxton, Danville, Gibson City, and Mattoon. The main issue revolves around different cities dealing with equipment failures.

June has been filled with pool delays and closures. Mattoon’s Lytle Pool closed for the summer due to a pool-pump issue that officials described as irreplaceable. Farmer City’s pool was closed for Memorial Day weekend, and will now be closed for the Fourth of July because of a leak. Other communities have had similar leak issues, like Gibson City and Danville. Both facilities had to delay openings into June.

One outdoor pool that’s had no issue so far this season is the Urbana Aquatic Center.

“It was a very smooth opening this year, and we’re all very happy with that because we have had very rough openings before. So like I said, we just try to get better every year at what we do. We try to avoid problems and we put a lot of effort into making sure that the community can rely on the opening day. They can rely on the services that they expect. And I think all of us are just driven to provide the best facility and services that we possibly can to the people of Urbana.” says Joseph Schmidt, Urbana’s Aquatic Facilities Maintenance Supervisor.

The outdoor aquatic center opened for the season on Memorial Day weekend. But Urbana’s indoor facility was closed for a week in February to fix HVAC equipment.

Other pools in Danville and Gibson City are open now after a bumpy start to the summer.

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