Lifeguards needed so Northside pool can open

By JUSTIN WIER

jwier@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The Northside Swimming Pool may not open this year as the city struggles to hire certified lifeguards.

The Youngstown Park and Recreation Department plans to open the pool on Belmont Avenue on June 12, but Mayor John A. McNally said the city has only received one application from a certified lifeguard.

“It’s a pretty simple equation,” McNally said. “If we don’t find a good seven to eight lifeguards, the pool will not be open this summer.”

Those lifeguards would need to be in place by June 11 to allow the pool to open.

Robert Burke, the city’s park and recreation director, has been “beating the bushes” recently to find lifeguards interested in working at the pool, McNally said.

The pool closed a few times last year because there weren’t enough lifeguards, Burke said, so he started reaching out early to the YMCA and the Jewish Community Center to recruit applicants from their lifesaving classes.

“The past couple years it’s been difficult,” McNally said. “We’ve been able to make it work, but this summer, nothing so far.”

The number of lifeguards has dwindled, Burke said. When he started five years ago, they had 10 lifeguards. Last year, they had five dedicated lifeguards with a few others on reserve.

The pool still gets plenty of use, Burke said, with more than 300 people showing up on hot days.

Ryan Hart, who worked at the pool from 2005-2015, said when he started at the pool there were so many applicants there was a waiting list.

“The last few years it seemed like there was just a core group of us who had been there for awhile, and we were only getting one or two new people a year,” Hart said.

He suggested the cost of the classes, about $500, prohibits people from becoming certified, especially since at $10 an hour they aren’t seeing a return on that investment.

“Now, people can just go and get a job working at any fast-food restaurant or something, and you get paid the same,” Hart said.

Other pools in the area pay $9, Burke said, but he said he would discuss helping people pay for certification classes with the mayor.

Even if the pool doesn’t open this year, Burke asked strong swimmers to get in touch with him. He said the city can help applicants schedule and perhaps even help find funding for classes.

The pool is normally open Monday through Saturday from mid-June through mid-August to accommodate the schedule of college students.

Northside is the city’s last public swimming pool. The Borts Swimming Pool, on the city’s West Side, was demolished in 2014 after closing in 2008. The city had at least six public swimming pools in all parts of the city in the 1950s.

Those interested in applying for lifeguard positions can call the park and recreation department at 330-742-8711.