River View Community Pool to remain closed this season

On May 14, the State of Ohio authorized public pools to open after May 26. While the timing of this announcement had already put River View Community Park and Swimming Pool at least six weeks behind schedule, the River View Park Board and Warsaw Village Council both met to discuss at length options for meeting the new mandates, financial issues, and a potential time frame for opening. They had initially made the decision to pursue the possibility of a shortened season with fewer amenities, despite the undeniable financial losses that they would be facing, in an effort to provide the community with a summer recreational outlet.

However, once staff began the process of preparing the pool, they discovered an unexpected issue with the filtration system. This is something that needs replaced regardless of the pool’s status for this year. Parts were ordered days after the state announcement, but they have yet to arrive, let alone be installed or tested. Currently, there is zero possibility of opening before July 4, and the potential of being delayed to the second half of July.

Officials also received news from the city-county park district that due to property tax receipts being down, their board of commissioners made the decision to reduce the second-half distribution of the county park levy made to outlying parks, including Warsaw’s.

To be able to recoup losses from startup, the pool would have to average more than 100 daily admissions for six weeks of operation. The fact that they would have to reduce capacity on a daily basis to 63 makes this untenable. This does not even factor in the loss of revenue from not opening on May 23 as planned.

With yet another delay of what could be four more weeks before the pool would be ready, combined with reduced capacity and the fact that the pool already had a major repair and repainting project scheduled for later this year, the losses are just going to be too substantial. Therefore, it is with great regret that the board announces that the River View Community Pool will not be opening for the 2020 season.

“We will be working on maintenance and securing grants in the meantime to ensure that we can start another 50 years in 2021,” said Jesse Fischer, Warsaw Village Council and River View Park Board President.