PORT TOWNSEND — The Mountain View Pool, Port Townsend’s municipal pool at 1919 Blaine St., will be shut down starting Monday due to a staffing shortage.
The city has reached the point where the facility lacks the critical base it needs to stay open, Public Works Director Steve King said Thursday. The staffing problem, combined with repeated equipment failures, have spurred a proposal.
On Monday, King and City Manager John Mauro will present the Port Townsend City Council with this plan: a partnership with the Olympic Peninsula YMCA, which could assume pool operations this summer.
The Y, which has an aquatic center at its Sequim facility, has been serving in an advisory role to the Mountain View Pool since before it reopened in March.
Partnership
This proposed partnership would allow Port Townsend’s pool to operate more reliably given the depth of the YMCA’s expertise and aquatics network, King said.
It would also allow the YMCA to hire the needed staff for the pool to reopen as soon as possible — which King hopes is about four weeks from now.
He added that no pool employees will be laid off or furloughed. If all goes as planned, “the staff we currently have will help in the transition with the YMCA. They’re getting certified and trained with the YMCA,” King said.
For the city’s press release about the pool closure, see cityofpt.us/pool.
