Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Safety Beach Management topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Long Beach accepts Nassau County funding to pilot lifeguard digital platform; purchase to be voted next meeting
Summary
The council authorized the city manager to enter an intermunicipal agreement with Nassau County to accept funding for a lifeguard digital platform. Council members and staff described features such as incident reporting, public dashboards and scheduling; the actual software purchase will be on a future agenda.
The Long Beach City Council on July 1 authorized the city manager to enter into an intermunicipal cooperation agreement with Nassau County to receive funding for digital software and related equipment for the lifeguard division.
City Manager Dan Creighton and lifeguard chief Rich Borowski described the platform as a move away from paper reporting toward a digital system that provides real‑time community risk information, incident reporting, public dashboards and the potential for scheduling tools. Borowski said the platform will allow residents and visitors to scan a code and see surf and rip‑current information for each beach, and it will let the lifeguard agency compile incident reports electronically. “The digital platform is, basically to help us become more efficient lifeguard agency. We're getting away from paper and pen,” Borowski said. “It helps us with incident reporting... giving residents real time data, up to date community risk information.”
Staff thanked County Legislator Patrick Mullaney for securing funding for the project for a five‑year period; officials said the county funding will cover items such as iPad cases and Wi‑Fi bills for the pilot. Council and staff also discussed potential future uses, including scheduling and broader customization for other departments.
The council passed the intermunicipal agreement unanimously with “yes” votes from Council members Benbow, Lester, Reinhart, Vice President Yamara and President Finn. City Manager Creighton clarified at the meeting that the vote accepted the grant; the formal purchase of the software will come to the council at the next meeting.
Why it matters: The platform aims to provide real‑time safety information to beachgoers and to modernize incident tracking, which officials said improves response and resource allocation on crowded summer days.
What’s next: The council approved the agreement to accept county funding; staff will return with a separate purchase item for the software at a future meeting.
Ending: Lifeguard leadership said the project is ready to start and that several city departments collaborated on the rollout plan.
