Rochester boosts lifeguard pay to prevent pool closures this summer

The city of Rochester Friday announced a significant pay raise for lifeguards in hopes of avoiding another summer of closed swimming pools.

The new starting pay will be $20 an hour, up from about $16, and will top out at $27.10 an hour for the position of beach manager. By comparison, lifeguards with Monroe County, the state of New York and the YMCA start at $18, Mayor Malik Evans said.

The city will host a special lifeguard training session from June 12 to 17. It will be free for city residents and reimbursable for suburban residents who subsequently work as lifeguards for the city.

"$20 an hour, 40 hours a week, sitting out here soaking up the sun -- that's a heck of a way to spend your summer," Evans said at a press conference at the Genesee Valley Park pool. "(And) there's no age limit. ... As long as you can jump in that water if necessary, you can come work."

Last year, Rochester was one of many cities across the country to leave some of its pools closed due to a lack of lifeguards. The pool at Genesee Valley Park, the city's largest outdoor pool, was also closed for much of the summer due to construction and water quality issues.

The opening day for that pool is June 26. There is also Durand Eastman Beach and pools at four R-Centers: Adams Street, Avenue D, Trent and Pamela Jackson and Willie W. Lightfoot.

The city needs 32 lifeguards but currently only has 15 ready to go. If it can't find more, the Avenue D and Lightfoot R-Center pools won't open and Adams Street and Jackson will be closed on weekends.

The pay raise, which will cost the city somewhat less than $500,000, came together quickly after a City Council budget hearing Wednesday, where it was evident the city is at risk of another summer with little swimming.

"We have had a number of people come to some of the trainings, but what we’re learning is that some of those people are not swimmers at all; they’re not able to pass the lifeguard test," Commissioner of Recreation and Human Services Shirley Green said Wednesday. "Given our current numbers we may only be able to open three of our pools."

Green and Director of Community Athletics Eric Rose lay part of the blame on the Rochester City School District, which they said is not producing enough teenagers who know how to swim.

"We just don’t have enough opportunities for youth to swim during the school year," Rose said. "There’s not (enough) swimming programs in schools, so we’re not developing a pipeline for kids to be safe around water and be competent to be lifeguards when they’re teens."

RCSD does not mandate swimming as part of physical education, in part because it has struggled to keep pools at high schools in working order. At the same time, its students are less likely to have other opportunities to learn to swim -- backyard pools, summer camps, private clubs, private lessons -- compared to their peers in the suburbs.

RCSD spokesman Marisol Ramos-Lopez, who formerly held Green's job with the city (just as Green was until recently a chief of schools in RCSD), applauded the city for the pay raise and declined to comment on Green and Rose's remarks at the hearing.

The city's spray parks also opened for the season on Friday. To apply for a job as a lifeguard or to learn more, visit www.cityofrochester.gov/jobs.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Rochester NY boosts lifeguard pay to prevent pool closures this summer