Lac La Biche indoor rec and pool aiming to open next week

The County isn’t opening the Bold Center or the Portage College pool on Friday because it is still trying to come up with COVID-19 protocol after dealing with an emergency this week.

As Alberta’s relaunch strategy moves to phase two today, Lac La Biche County is aiming to open these facilities next week.

Initially, the plans to open the Bold Center and the Portage pool would have been finalized and the doors would have opened on time, however, due to the extreme flooding the plans were put on hold. 

“When they announced that they were moving up the date to open the gyms and pools, we were hit with the flood,” said Lac La Biche Mayor Omer Moghrabi. “So we pulled all of our staff to help and operate 24/7 and just to focus on the flooding.”

The County is currently back to preparing for the recreational facilities doors to open as Lac La Biche is no longer in a state of local emergency.

Mayor Moghrabi says they are aiming to have both facilities open sometime next week, but he admits there are some obstacles in the way that could prevent that from happening. 

“We are really hoping to have the Bold Center open sometime in the middle of next week, but we still have some major rain that may come on Saturday or Sunday that might need our attention,” said Mayor Moghrabi.

When the recreational facilities do open there will be health guidelines for everyone to follow.

For both the gym and pool, everyone is still expected to social distance, which means keeping a six foot distance.

The hot tub at Portage College will be closed and all machines at the Bold Center gym have to be wiped down after they are used.