2023 Fall aquatic service adjustments
As many industries have experienced over the last several years, the City of Calgary continues to experience challenges in recruiting and hiring certificated candidates for swim instructors and lifeguards. These staffing shortages have resulted in reduced operational capacity and program cutbacks.
As a result, over the summer, the City needed to reduce operations at several smaller community aquatic centres in order to increase capacity at some of the bigger pools. Our hope was that service levels would be able to resume this fall, however, amendments are still needed at this time.
Fall Service Adjustments
Based on historical customer demand during the fall months, adjustments to the hours of operation at several City-operated recreation facilities will begin Sept. 5, 2023. This includes some staffing hours reallocated from Inglewood Aquatic Centre to optimize service levels at the Leisure Centre pools, which have a higher customer demand.
As part of the fall 2023 recreation service adjustments beginning Sept. 5, 2023, Inglewood Aquatic Centre will return to seven days per week but will see a reduction in standard operating hours.
Fall hours of operation at Inglewood Aquatic Centre will be as follows:
Monday, 11 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, 11:30 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Wednesday, 11 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, 11:30 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Saturday/Sunday, 7:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
The majority of offerings at Inglewood Aquatic Centre will not be impacted, including swimming lessons, swim clubs, and popular birthday party booking times. Services reduction times were selected based on historical data, resulting in most adjustments happening during typical low-demand periods on weekday mornings.
The number of drop-in fitness classes at Inglewood Aquatic Centre will be increased by one class per week (compared to spring operations.) Classes will be scheduled to align with peak customer demand, such as lane swim earlier in the day and fitness in the afternoons.
Customers looking to access City-operated recreation facilities during weekday mornings can look to visit the Renfrew Aquatic & Recreation Centre, Mondays to Thursdays, or Bob Bahan Aquatic & Fitness Centre on Mondays and Wednesdays.
The Inglewood Aquatic Centre usage will continue to be assessed and hours of operation will be adapted to meet demand based on staffing capacity. The City continues to undertake actions to adapt recruitment and training activities to increase service levels, such as:
increasing the number of public certification opportunities for swim instructors and lifeguards,
liaising with Canadian municipalities to share new approaches for recruitment and retention and collectively advocating for a solution to this sector-specific labour shortage,
partnering with schools and swim clubs to enhance connections between skill development and career opportunities, and
increasing and diversifying our presence in the labour market to attract new talent.