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NEDERLAND — Nederland residents and visitors are gaining more access to city facilities following a drawback approved for municipal COVID restrictions.

Nederland City Council members unanimously approved measures late Monday afternoon impacting parks, the library and city basketball court.

Following the vote, City Manager Chris Duque said by the end of this week:

• The capacity at the Nederland Recreation Center would increase to 25 people on the basketball court.
• Orange fencing around pavilions at all city parks would be removed.
• Public access would be opened at computer stations within Marion & Ed Hughes Public Library as long as proper social distancing was practiced.
• Library study rooms would become available, but the large meeting room would remain unavailable to large groups until June 1.

The city is continuing to employ face-covering safety measures at all city facilities and buildings through June 1.

“If a patron does not want to wear a mask, there are alternative methods to still provide services,” Duque told council members.

According to Duque, the city’s mask requirement allows it to stand with the Nederland Independent School District, which recently announced masks would stay required throughout this school year.

“This gets us through Memorial Day, then we’ll come back and discuss this at the last meeting in May,” Duque said, adding he expects, at that point, the city would make wearing masks optional.

“We’re getting there,” he said.

Mayor Pro-Tem Emmett Hollier took a moment Monday to publicly thank city staff in all departments for bearing the weight this past year of COVID protocols.

“They have had to go through working with a mask on, staying six feet apart and dealing with that,” the ward 3 representative said. “They have done it in a very professional manner and took care of business.”

Duque said the parks department is attempting to fill recreation attendant positions to further extend access and maintain proper staffing in order to schedule room rentals for parties.

The city is also actively seeking to fill open lifeguard positions and invites anyone interested to reach out about the opportunities at the city pool. The recreation center can be reached at 409-724-0773.