It’s been a long few months at Elgin City Hall trying to find staff to man the Elgin Swimming Pool this summer.
Finally, there appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel following a special meeting of the Elgin City Council held Wednesday.
Meeting at noon, all four members spent less than 20 minutes clearing the way for the pool to open next month.
The most important action taken at the meeting was to hire a pool manager. The council approved long-time manager Sue Vanis to return to the position for another summer. She will ‘co-manage’ the pool with Karin Kinney. Kinney is in the process of becoming certified as a pool manager, according to information shared at the meeting by City Clerk Kristin Childers. Working together as co-managers should allow Vanis more time away from the pool as she hopes to step away from the position in the near future.
The next item the council acted on was hiring additional lifeguards.
Earlier in the year two lifeguards were hired. They were Emma Lordemann, who worked at the pool last season, and Kali Dworak.
They have now been joined by three new lifeguards – Darby Carstens, Landon Kallhoff and Abriel VonBonn.
No date has been set for opening the pool. Traditionally, it has opened on Memorial Day Weekend.
The council is expected to set the opening date, hours and ticket prices when they meet in regular session on Monday night, May 2. The meeting, to be held at City Hall, is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m., and is open to the public.
In other action, the council approved Policy #245 dealing with sick leave as it is mentioned in the employee handbook.
