The Arnold Recreation Center is slated to reopen on Monday (Feb. 22), the city has announced.
The facility, at 1695 Missouri State Road, has been closed since Nov. 18 due to concerns about the spread of COVID-19.
“The decision (to reopen) was made because of the decline in COVID cases,” City Administrator Bryan Richison said Wednesday (Feb. 10).
On Tuesday (Feb. 9), the Jefferson County Health Department moved the county to the orange status on its COVID-19 warning system. Jefferson County had been in the red status for 14 straight weeks.
The orange status is the second highest level on the four-color system and indicates widespread but controlled transmission of the coronavirus. The red status, which is the highest level, indicates widespread and uncontrolled transmission of the virus.
“The new cases per week have been going down, and they are heading in the right direction,” Richison said. “My hope is two weeks out from the now, we will be in an even better place. I just felt like it was time. We still have a long way to go on the vaccine, but at least people are starting to get it. My feeling is all indicators are heading in the right direction.”
The rec center will reopen with some restrictions in place to limit the potential spread of the virus.
People will be required to wear masks in the facility, except when they are working out and can maintain at least 6 feet between each other. The basketball courts will not be open for large group activities, such as playing basketball or volleyball, Richison said.
Richison said those policies will be in place until the Health Department removes its mask order, which is expected to be in effect at least until 5 p.m. Feb. 25.
Unrelated to the pandemic, the indoor pool at the rec center will not be open when the facility allows guests to return to the Feb. 22. A circulation pump for the pool is broken.
Richison said there is not an exact timeline for when the pump can be repaired, but he is hopeful the work can be completed by early March.
“The pool would be open, if not for the repair,” Richison said. “The basketball court is a different story. We just anticipate there being difficulty with players wearing masks. We did not feel comfortable with people playing basketball for hours on end mask-less.
“The other parts of the facility can be used with people spacing out, like walking the track or using the exercise equipment, which we have enough machines that people can spread out while not wearing a mask.”
When the rec center begins operating again, it will be open from 5:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. It will be open from 5:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Fridays, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays.
Annual memberships will be extended 95 days after the rec center reopens.
“People will get what they have paid for,” Richison said.
Monthly membership fees have not been billed during the shutdown, but the city will resume charging members who pay per month on April 1. Memberships may be canceled by calling the rec center at 636-282-6648 or emailing Ajsa Hukic at ahukic@arnoldmo.org. Those who want to cancel memberships must do so by March 22 in order to avoid being billed on April 1.
Arnold’s rec center previously closed from March 18 through July 6 because of the pandemic and then reopened for a period before closing again.
Richison said the closure has led to lower revenue from the rec center, which has generated $543,862 this fiscal year, which began Sept. 1 and runs through Aug. 31. The city has paid $679,549 to operate the facility, but those costs were lower than normal because the city did not need to part-time staff to operate the rec center during the two extended closures.
He said the reopening could actually cost the city more, depending on how many people retain their memberships.
Through Feb. 9 of this fiscal year, the rec center had collected $93,099 in membership dues, and the rest of the rec center funding has been from sales tax revenue.
“It could get worse by opening in that we will be increasing our expenses by bringing in part-time people to staff the building, and we will have higher costs with the building operating,” Richison said. “It is hard to say how many people will come back and if we will get enough revenue to make up for these extra expenses.
“My expectation is that people are going to be understandably slow to return. The hope is there will not be another spike (in COVID-19 cases), and we will see continued improvement.”
Richison said the reopening of the rec center will coincide with Arnold employees returning to normal work schedules. Since Nov. 18, the city has been splitting its work force with about half of the employees working one week and the other half working the following week.
