$41M water park opening in June means 100+ peak swim season jobs in Pasco
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Pasco Aquatic Center and Memorial Park to total nearly 150 staff (many seasonal)
- City created $2.5M aquatics fund; costs covered by facilities district sales tax
- $41M water park opening mid‑June will operate year‑round with pools, slides, lazy river
The Pasco Aquatic Center plans to hire the equivalent of about 32 full-time positions once it opens to the public in mid-June.
Several jobs will be full-time but many, such as lifeguards and cashiers, are filled by part-time, seasonal workers.
So in all, the number of employees at the new center and the Pasco Memorial Aquatic Park could total nearly 150, said Assistant City Manager Angela Pashon.
The exact number of hires at city’s new water park will be refined once programs have been finalized and hours of operation are set. But it’s expected to equal about 68,000 annual labor hours.
That includes managers, aquatics specialists, cashiers and lifeguards for the $41 million venue still under construction in the Broadmoor area of west Pasco, according to Pasco city documents.
The Pasco City Council approved earlier this week creating the aquatics fund to manage the $2.5 million operation and signed off on the new positions.
It’s unclear when hiring will begin.
Permanently funded positions include:
- Aquatics manager to oversee both Pasco Aquatic Center and Memorial Aquatic Park
- Lead aquatics specialist
- Guest services coordinator
- Guest services assistant
- Facility maintenance worker
- Cashier (2 FTE)
- Head lifeguards (3 FTE)
- Senior lifeguard
- Accountant
- HR generalist
- Lifeguards (19 FTE)
The city will manage and operate the water park, though the cost will be paid by the Pasco Public Facilities District, created in 2002 to develop these types of projects.
Voters in April 2022 approved a 0.2% sales tax increase — equal to about 2 cents on every $10 spent — to design, build, maintain and operate the facility.
It passed by a margin of 10 percentage points after a Tri-Cities-wide vote for a water park failed in 2013.
Pasco Aquatic Center will include a four-lane indoor swimming pool, with slides and a ninja course, an indoor children’s swim area, a lazy river with a beach-like entry to ease access for all users, splash pads and a dramatic indoor-outdoor hot tub.
More than half of the amenities will be indoors, and the facility will operate year-round.
Construction will take place over two phases, and after the second phase it will host high school swim meets and other competitions. Bouten Construction is the contractor, and NAC Architecture is the designer.
The city estimates construction will be complete, and they’ll take the keys around May 22. The facility still needs to recruit, hire and train staff.
The seasonal dome installed over the Memorial Park pool for the winter is expected to be removed in time for summer swimming.
Herald reporter Wendy Culverwell contributed to this report.
