For many, beating the summer heat means heading to a nearby public pool. That was not an option last summer due to the COVID pandemic, but even now many public pools are holding only limited hours, or are staying closed. Local municipal recreation offices say there just aren’t lifeguards to fully staff their pools.
In the cities of Buffalo and Niagara Falls, outdoor pools will remain closed this season. The Town of Cheektowaga, which normally operates three pools, will open only one this summer.
The Town of West Seneca opened its brand new splash pad July 1 and will make it available seven days a week, 12 hours per day. But the adjacent large pool will operate on very limited hours, beginning July 6. The hours will be 2 p.m. until 7 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays, until August 4.
West Seneca Recreation Supervisor Lauren Masset says they need to do so because of their number of personnel. It is not due to a lack of trying.
“We did start recruiting aggressively in December of 2020. For this season, we had limited applicants by about March or April. So we ended up offering up to a $500 bonus for anyone that met the qualifications as a bonus to try and recruit them in order to open these programs and facilities,” she said. “We were able to find enough regular lifeguards. But unfortunately we were not able to find enough supervising lifeguards, nobody that really wanted to be in charge at the pool, or was able to meet those qualifications.”
The City of Buffalo, which confirmed Thursday it would not open its seven outdoor pools and two wading pools this summer, also suggests it tried unsuccessfully to secure enough personnel for the summer season.
In a prepared written statement, Deputy Parks and Recreation Commissioner Andrew Rabb said, “Back in March, we started reaching out to all the lifeguards who worked for us in 2019, the last time all of our indoor and outdoor pools were open. While we were able to hire enough lifeguards to open our two indoor pools, and will be hiring additional staff to expand hours at those facilities, there just aren’t enough certified lifeguards out there to open the outdoor pools.”
The Town of Tonawanda, meanwhile, is one of the more fortunate governments this summer. Mark Campanella, Superintendent of Youth, Parks and Recreation, says their Lincoln and Kenmore pools, as well as their Mang Avenue Wading Pool, are open. They have staff, but Campanella admits just one setback could cause problems.
“Luckily right now, we're able to open. But at any given minute, should a lifeguard quit our call in and not show up for work, we will be probably be having to close off a portion of the pools due to New York State Health Department's restrictions and guidelines as to having so many lifeguards per square foot of a pool,” he said.
New York State guidelines mandate at least one lifeguard per 3,400 square feet of pool area. Masset believes the pandemic plays a role in the lifeguard shortage, with lifeguard certification programs suspended last year. The Red Cross is once again offering lifeguard certification training, but Campanella notes the current classes offered are too late in the season to hire more lifeguards.
There was a shortage before the pandemic, according to Campanella, and those starting out now need to pay large sums of money for certification.
He also suggests extended unemployment benefits and other financial lifelines thrown during the pandemic are working against job recruitment efforts.
“There's ‘Help Wanted’ signs everywhere, in just about every storefront, every restaurant business, every store, whatever it may be, people need to go to work,” Campanella said. “Right now you have people home, absorbing that money that they're getting from unemployment. And until that's lifted, the crisis will continue.”
As for residents of towns and cities where pools are closed, they do not have the option this year of visiting the nearest town and paying a non-resident fee to get in. As a means to limit capacities, towns which have previously charged a non-resident fee are only admitting town residents who present a recreation ID card.
“Because we are at a limited staffing we're also at limited capacity, we can only have 50 percent of our maximum capacity in the pool at one time,” Masset said. “Due to that, the Veteran's Park pool will be limited to residents only, possessing a valid membership card. They do have to present that membership card at the time of admittance into the pool.”
Those cards are usually available for purchase at the town’s recreation office.
The Town of Tonawanda and Town of Amherst are also limiting pool access to residents. Amherst, additionally, is requiring pre-registration for reserved time slots.
In the meantime, some department leaders are already looking ahead to next summer, hoping there will be adequate interest in filling lifeguard positions.
“I'm definitely keeping my fingers crossed for next year,” Masset said. “I'm keeping my fingers crossed and have high hopes this year that nobody backs out or resigns, and we're able to continue our season. And I am definitely keeping my fingers crossed for next year and trying to figure out some other avenues in order to recruit for 2022.”
