Parks staff outline lifeguard recruitment and retention plan ahead of 2025 season

Milwaukee County Parks presented an aquatics staffing update to the Personnel Committee on March 4, outlining recruitment, training and retention activities intended to staff pools for the 2025 season.

Andrea Wallace, assistant director of Recreation and Business Services for Milwaukee County Parks, told the committee Parks staff had visited more than 62 recruitment sites — including high schools and the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee — and had active media outreach, including a Spanish-language interview with Telemundo and increased social media engagement. Parks completed two lifeguard training classes earlier in the season, had a third in progress and planned additional classes in March and April.

Wallace said the department currently has about 80 returning lifeguards and 24 new recruits, not counting trainees enrolled in ongoing sessions. She noted the department offered free swim-skill sessions tied to training; 17 people attended an early session and six participants improved swim times by more than 10 seconds. Parks said it is shifting emphasis from purely recruiting to retaining returning lifeguards and adjusting the bonus structure to reward experience with the aim of creating more assistant headguards and head lifeguards.

Parks described partnerships with Brewers Community Foundation, Summerfest, Visit Milwaukee and the Parks Foundation to provide incentives and recruitment support. Wallace said Parks plans to announce which five outdoor pools will open for the 2025 season at the end of April; two indoor pools will be kept open for programming and swim lessons regardless of the outdoor pool plan.

Supervisor Martin and two other supervisors had heard the presentation at a Parks and Culture committee meeting earlier in the day; no committee action was required on the informational update.

Ending

Wallace said Parks will continue training and outreach through spring and will announce the 2025 pool plan in April.