Pool to get new hours
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TweetThe public swimming pool reopens Saturday with a new schedule and a new approach to managing the facility.
Saturday’s swims will be a free lap swim 7 to 9 a.m. and a free open swim 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
For the rest of July, the pool will be open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for lap and open swims but will be closed on weekends. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the pool will offer programs including parent-child aquatics, preschool aquatics, learn-to-swim and adult swim lessons.
A complete schedule is posted at the pool’s Facebook page.
Borough manager Annette Kreitzer said weekend swims may resume in August but that pool staffing is being revised to a system where fewer lifeguards will work more hours, up to 29 hours per week.
At a meeting with Friends of the Pool representatives this week, pool manager Jae McDermaid said she was hoping to make lifeguarding jobs more attractive by offering water safety instruction as another form of compensation for guards.
Kreitzer said the borough is looking at other possible forms of guard compensation such as an annual bonus. Kreitzer said that the borough couldn’t afford giving more pool staffers more than 29 hours, entitling them to borough benefits.
Friends member Bonnie Hedrick said lifeguard wages have been a concern for years and that borough janitors make more pay. “When you look at wages, I ask you to consider the responsibility you give to lifeguards and the training that is required.”
Starting lifeguard pay is $15 per hour. Kreitzer said she was hoping that a smaller, more permanent lifeguard staff would lend itself to fewer pool schedule changes and smoother operation of the facility.
