By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
The City of Hoisington announced Tuesday that there were a couple of days this week where the public pool was not able to accommodate all of the patrons wanting to come to the pool. A staffing shortage, with limited lifeguards, caused staff to turn people away to ensure that the patron to guard ratio was adequate.
Hoisington City Manager Jonathan Mitchell said the city has a full
roster of lifeguards, but a few of them had challenges making it into
work.
"We are dealing with young people who are active and involved with a lot of things," said Mitchell. "There have been days when people just get too warm or they have sports meetings which can create coverage problems. We just wanted to educate the community and for them not to be frustrated if they went there and were turned away."
Mitchell said the hope is to remain fully staffed the rest of the pool season.
The pool is required to have one lifeguard for every 25 patrons. This summer, Hoisington
has 15 lifeguards on staff, but Mitchell said they are always looking
for more.
"This also helps put the word out in the future that we would love to talk to anyone interested in being a lifeguard," said Mitchell. "We would love to get them started in the process for next year. The bigger your roster, the stronger your team."
The final day the Hoisington pool will be open is Aug. 13.