Additional lifeguards hired at city pool

While the staffing situation at the Red Oak Pool is improving, the hours of operation will remain from 1-7 p.m. Monday through Friday with no weekend hours for the time being.
Discussion of the pool took place at the regular meeting of the Red Oak Park and Tree Board on June 9. Park superintendent Adam VanDerVliet updated the board on staffing numbers, and indicated that the lifeguard total has increased from six to 12.
“While we’re up to 12 lifeguards, we’re unable to be open full-time as of now. Of the last four lifeguards hired, two of them have full-time jobs, so they have said they can work one or two days per week,” advised VanDerVliet. “There is also a lifeguard in Shenandoah who is looking for more hours, so he’ll probably work the most for us. The fourth new hire is a student athlete, and so his hours will be worked around his summer sports schedule. I do have one lifeguard who has reached out to me about a potential hire, as well as someone interested in being a pool attendant.”
Once the new lifeguards are in place and the hours can be examined, VanDerVliet said they would look at the potential for weekend hours, or a shift in hours from Tuesday-Saturday with Sunday and Monday being days of the pool’s closure.
Also, VanDerVliet said the number of visitors to the pool have been solid, although the weather has played a factor some of the days.
“We’re averaging around 117 people per day. June 3 was our biggest day with 204 visitors. The weather last week was a hit on our attendance numbers, as there have been cooler air temperatures, and the water temperature hasn’t gotten very warm because of that,” said VanDerVliet.
Board member Alexandria McFarland suggested raising the salaries of the lifeguard by $1 to provide a further incentive for new hires. It was decided to discuss the potential salary increase at a later date, Also McFarland said she had heard from some of the current staff who would like to see a pool manager on site.
Currently, pool management is handled by VanDerVliet, who spends part of the day on-site while coordinating his other duties as park superintendent. VanDerVliet said he was in agreement that an on-site manager was needed.
“To run that pool to the best of its ability, it really does need a manager on-site, probably a salaried position. We’ve had some in the past, but due to a lack of staff things have changed,” VanDerVliet said.
Park Board Chairman Bill Drey said that for a time, they hired some managers who were of a younger age, and there were complaints that the manager wasn’t an adult.
“After that, we had a few years where we couldn’t find any managers, so VanDerVliet took over as the pool manager, and worked in the job as much as he could,” commented Drey.
McFarland requested that they advertise for the position, and if there was no interest, things were still working with VanDerVliet in the role. Further discussion on the subject is expected at a future meeting of the park and tree board.
The board also finalized updates to the lifeguard manual for certification reimbursements and the recruiting bonus.
According to the updated verbiage for the certification reimbursement, any new, first-year lifeguard for the Red Oak pool will be eligible to receive their one-time training expense paid for by the board under the following guidelines:
• They must be a new hire for the Red Oak pool.
• The individual must be hired by the board, prior to certification lessons beginning.
• Certification must take place at the Montgomery County Family YMCA to be eligible.
• The hired individual is expected to work a minimum of 75 hours to not be required to reimburse the city.
• If the minimum work hours are not met, the individual will be responsible for reimbursing the City of Red Oak for the certification expenses. This reimbursement must be paid within 60 days of the calendar year date of the pool closing.
• The City of Red Oak will coordinate with the Montgomery County Family YMCA to set up a billing process for city-paid certifications.
For the recruiting bonus, the park and tree board will give a monetary bonus of $50 per hired individual for the Red Oak pool to each current-year hired assistant manager, lifeguard, or pool attendant listed on the submitted application of the hire.
In order to receive the bonus, the submitted application must have the name of the referral listed either on the top as a referral or listed as a reference. The referral person must have been hired for the current pool year and have gone through the orientation provided by the pool manager to be eligible for the bonus.
Once an application for employment has been submitted to the City of Red Oak, it cannot be resubmitted or have a referral added at that time. It must be on the original submitted application.
The City of Red Oak will pay out the bonus through payroll processing with any appropriate taxes being withheld. The bonus will be paid to the referral person after the new hire has been hired and completed their first pay period.