Future of summer swim season at Williamsburg pool uncertain

The future of the Williamsburg Aquatic Center rests in the hands of its seasonal help.

Or more accurately, the lack of it.

With the traditional post-Memorial Day opening less than two months away, only five applications have been received for lifeguard positions. That number isn’t enough for even one of the six-person lifeguard shifts City Manager Aaron Sandersfeld needs to fill.

“We need 15 guards, minimum, to open,” he says. “And we don’t have them.”

The aquatic center relies on high school and college-age kids for its summer workforce. A normal season runs from the Tuesday after Memorial Day through mid-August, when kids return to classrooms. The number of guards needed is based on the size of the facility and the kinds of features it offers. The waterslide at Williamsburg’s pool, for example, requires a guard to monitor it alone. If only five lifeguards are available for a shift, that popular attraction has to be closed.

Having served two years on the Williamsburg City Council and more than three years as mayor before stepping into the city manager’s position, Sandersfeld remembers the days when the number of applicants overshot the available positions.

“Those days are gone,” he said. “We’re competing with places that pay $15 an hour, indoors with air conditioning and the option to stay on year around.”

He will update the Williamsburg City Council on the staffing woes at the next council meeting, Monday, April 10, and the city will decide how to move forward.

Recurring issue

This isn’t the first time the city has faced this problem. Last year, the pool opened with only 12 lifeguards — enough for two shifts. Instead of being open seven days a week, the facility was closed on Mondays.

“The only reason we opened last year was because people were so adamant about it,” Sandersfeld said. “Then they complained about the closures. I understand it — but I can’t fix it.”

Williamsburg has raised its lifeguard pay to $12 an hour for first time guards who don’t have their life guarding certification yet and to $13 an hour if the applicant is already certified. Last year’s rates were $9 an hour for an entry level position and $10 an hour for those with experience. Lifeguards must be certified by the Red Cross. Certification is good for two years.

Training and certification costs $260 per person, Sandersfeld said, but the City of Williamsburg pays the fee for each guard. With new candidates for the position being uncertified and returning guards who need to recertify, it could cost the city nearly $4,000 to certify what he feels is the minimally acceptable staff of 15.

It’s getting harder to find instructors who teach the course, he added. While he was able to find an instructor willing to come to Williamsburg, she was only available for two weekends in April and one of them is Williamsburg’s prom weekend.

Lifeguard certification is also available as a physical education module through high school and he encourages more kids to consider that option for future summers.

Busy schedules

Sandersfeld cites kids’ busy schedules as one of the reasons availability of workers has dropped in recent years. Longer sports seasons, along with family and other activities, pull kids away from summer jobs.

“These are seasonal jobs and that’s who your workforce is,” he explained. “But kids are busy. The kids who step up to do this are the same kids who are doing everything else.”

While he appreciates a healthy work/life balance, especially for teens, the city is expected to operate regardless of vacation or sports tournaments, he noted.

“We still have to be open. But we can’t have a pool without lifeguards,” he said.

One thing Sandersfeld has encountered is the absence of male lifeguards. In the last few years, only girls have applied. While this isn’t a problem on the surface, it created an issue no one expected.

“One year, the (pool) staff were involved in dance and they all had to attend a dance competition on the same day,” he said. “We had to close the pool because we didn’t have anyone available to work.”

Searching for alternatives

The city has looked at alternative ways to address staffing issues. Sandersfeld contacted an area YMCA that had expressed interest in assisting with aquatic center management in another town, only to find out they were stepping back from that proposal.

He also contacted Marengo City Administrator Karla Marck to suggest splitting the Red Cross certification fee if potential guards were willing to work this summer for the City of Williamsburg, then next summer for the City of Marengo when that town’s new pool opens. To date, no agreement has been reached.

Williamsburg isn’t alone in facing a shortage of seasonal workers. Last summer, Cedar Rapids municipal swimming pools rotated lifeguards from one facility to another, opening and closing pools as they juggled the available workforce. This year, the Iowa City pools are paying $18 an hour in hopes of attracting workers.

Will 10 more lifeguards appear in time? Sandersfeld has his fingers crossed.

“We want to open the pool,” he affirmed. “It’s a costly thing for the city but it’s an amenity that draws people into the community and that’s what we want.”

He is cautious about predicting the future but feels staffing problems aren’t going to go away.

“I don’t see us getting back to the days when we turned kids away because we didn’t need any more lifeguards,” he said. “Going forward, I think we’ll always struggle to find help.”

In the pre-COVID years, the aquatic center staff included a manager, assistant manager and 18 to 24 lifeguards, who served in six-person shifts.

“Things changed during the pandemic,” he said. “We were closed for an entire year and it hasn’t been quite the same since. A lot of people put in their own pools that year.”

In spite of reopening in the summer of 2021, attendance at the pool has been in a decline. Weekends, traditionally hailed as busy days for recreation, are no longer the big draw they once were, and pool patrons find weekdays more popular.

“We see a lot of business from day care centers,” Sandersfeld said, adding he’s had inquiries about rates from centers not only in Williamsburg but from Solon and Wellman, as well. With this in mind, if the pool is able to open this summer, reduced hours may mean closing on weekends instead of weekdays.

Comments: Melinda.Wichmann@southeastiowaunion.com