EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – A fenced in section of Lincoln Park should be filled with the summer sounds of splashing and children’s laughter. Instead, the highly anticipated East St. Louis water park remains empty and silent.

FOX 2 first reported June 20th – that the contractor had left, pulling construction trailers that once filled the interior parking lot. More than 20 workers, who were putting the finishing touches on the new pool, are also now gone.

The elected leaders responsible declined to discuss it on camera.

East St. Louis Councilman Courtney Hoffman II posted a Facebook video telling his citizens that no money has been stolen and that there was just a delay in the state unfreezing grant funds because of required audits.

State regulators confirmed to FOX 2 that the problem is an audit. An Illinois Department of Commerce spokesperson told FOX 2 that required audit has been overdue since August 29th, 2024 (10 months ago) and it’s set to expire this December. The rep added, “State grant funds cannot be disbursed to the entity until the delinquent audit issue is resolved.”

It’s the responsibility of the East St. Louis Parks District, which we visited again this week.

Just like last Friday, executive director Michael Collins was not in the office. Collins told us by phone that his Parks District is close to being able to answer all of our questions and provide all of the documents we’ve requested about the pool project.

Ten minutes later, we were emailed part of what we’ve requested – the 60-page contract for the pool to be built, saying the total cost is $8,952,000 – to be paid as work is completed. Now that it’s almost done- no one will say how much is owed.

“We have nothing to do now,” one resident said, who we met near the project.

Another resident, Johntae Lewis added, “Everybody’s going to want to come over just to have fun, but now we can’t.”

We will return again next week to see if leaders will step up – or if another summer slips away.