Phillips Park Aquatic Center Won't Open This Summer Due To Short Staff

AURORA, IL — Locals who like to regularly splash at the Phillips Park Family Aquatic Center will have to find a new pool this summer. Fox Valley Park District officials are opting to close the Aurora pool for the 2022 season due to "the national lifeguard shortage and current labor climate."

The pool, located at 828 Montgomery Road in Aurora, was originally set to open Memorial Day weekend along with Splash Country Water Park.

"We considered several factors and, unfortunately, opening Phillips Park Family Aquatic Center was not possible this summer, purely from a safety standpoint," Jaime Ijams, the FVPD's director of recreation, said in a statement.

Before coming to the decision, staff "never worked harder" to recruit new team members by holding a job fair, attending others throughout the Fox Valley and visiting local high schools to discuss the benefits of being a lifeguard, officials said in a news release Wednesday. But the outreach wasn't as fruitful as staff had hoped, "compromising swimmer safety and facility management efficiency."

"It's been trending this direction for a few years, and our hope was to at least flatten the curve, if not reverse it a bit here locally," Ijams said.

Splash Country Water Park, an outdoor facility, and Vaughan Athletic Center, an indoor facility, will remain open.

To operate the three centers concurrently, Ijams said a total of 160 lifeguards are needed, plus another 70 staff members to support other areas, including admissions, swim lessons, slide attendants, managers and camp counselors.

"Ideally, we needed to be about 90% staffed at this point to get new team members onboarded and trained — and we fell significantly short of that target,” Ijams said. "Considering the current hiring market and what we’ve seen during the past three months of our recruiting outreach, we had to adjust our summer schedule."

He continued: "We considered several factors and, unfortunately, opening Phillips Park Family Aquatic Center was not possible this summer, purely from a safety standpoint," he said.

Community members who purchased a season pass to Phillips Park will have it automatically transferred to Splash Country, park district officials said. Passholders who want a full refund have to submit a request to fvpd@fvpd.net by June 6.

Splash Country, located at 195 S. Barnes Road in Aurora, will be open Memorial Day weekend before the full season starts June 4 and runs through Aug. 7. The aquatic center will shift to weekend-only hours Aug. 13-14, 20-21, 27-28 and Sept. 3-5.