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Resident asks Emmaus to keep pool open through final week of summer; council cites lifeguard staffing constraints
Summary
A resident asked the borough May 5 to keep the public pool open during the week between school start and Labor Day; council members said the facility traditionally closes that week because lifeguard staffing is largely high-school and college students.
At the May 5 Emmaus Borough Council meeting resident Dan Weidenhammer urged the borough to keep the public pool open for the final week of summer, saying the pool’s closure during the week between school resumption and Labor Day left season-pass holders and residents disappointed after several hot days.
“Last year, I was really disappointed when Labor Day week, the last week of the summer, the pool was closed,” Weidenhammer said. He suggested staffing options such as offering community-service credit or stipends to students to keep the pool open through Labor Day weekend.
Council members replied that the pool has long been closed for the week between the start of school and Labor Day and that the primary constraint is lifeguard staffing. A council member said the borough typically reopens for the Labor Day weekend but that “the problem is the lifeguard staffing. I would say nearly every lifeguard is either a college age student or a high school age student.”
Council members said they could discuss whether alternate staffing or incentive programs could keep the pool open in that period, but no formal motion or policy change was made at the meeting.
Why this matters: Keeping the pool open would require staffing solutions or new funding for incentives; council identified staffing availability as the core operational limitation.
Ending: Council members asked staff to consider whether there are feasible staffing or stipend options and to bring potential options back for discussion in a future meeting.
