Sunday, May 30, 1999
Pools try to lure lifeguards
Communities have trouble filling summertime slots
BY JANICE MORSE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Lifeguards are hot — in the Tristate and across the nation.
Communities are suffering from lifeguard shortages — so pay is going up, while some pools are being forced to close or curtail their hours of operation.
The Butler County city of Hamilton this year raised its hourly lifeguard wage to $6.63 — an increase of $1.26 over last year's rate — but still is about six lifeguards short of its goal, said Bill Phelps, the city's recreation director. The city, which has four public pools, needs about nine guards for each pool and might have to cut back on hours of operation if more guards aren't hired by the time they open for the summer on June 12, Mr. Phelps said.
There are probably multiple reasons for the shortage, but Tom Fattlar, aquatics director for the Ohio Parks and Recreation Association, described what he believes is a major factor. “I think there are more year-round pools, so there's more competition for people who are lifeguards now,” he said.
Mr. Fattlar, who works in recreation for the Cleveland suburb of Rocky River, said the city of Cleveland scrambled to raise lifeguards' pay from $6.50 to $8.50 after more than 50 lifeguard posts went unfilled and nearly forced the city to delay opening its pools.
In Cincinnati, where many pools closed in the summer of 1993 because of a lack of lifeguards and pool managers, many lifeguards from last year are returning this year, earning around $7.50 an hour.
Even so, the city pools, which employ more than 300 lifeguards and pool managers, still had about 20 openings for lifeguards, an employee of the Cincinnati Recreation Commission said Friday. For information, call 352-4018.
“It's a nice job, and the pay's not bad. It's hard to figure out why we can't get enough,” said Anita McPherson of the Hamilton Area Chapter of the American Red Cross. Her organization is holding a lifeguard training class starting June 21Anyone interested may call 868-7616.
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