City struggles to guard its pools.
It's a mid-July day at the Bicentennial Pool on Alto Street and the scene is all about summer.
Laughing children wriggle through the pool's expansive swimming area like sea urchins. Parents keep one eye on their kids while massaging on the last dollop of Hawaiian
Tropic. Fresh-faced lifeguards watch from their chairs.
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Yet despite the happy-go-lucky scene here, Santa Fe's four city pools are in the midst of a lifeguard shortage, and the dearth is particularly problematic at Bicentennial because it is the only outdoor public pool.
According to Bill Rougemont, director of the city's recreation division, last year the city didn't fund six of the approximately 60 lifeguard positions from the $569,000 annual budget for city pools. Those positions were refunded this year, but the lifeguards-most teenagers-the city had planned to hire before the cuts moved to better paying jobs at private pools. (Starting pay for a city lifeguard is $9.50 per hour.)
"There's just not a big pool to pull from," Rougemont says.
As a result, there are "a couple of vacancies" at each city pool, Rougemont says. At Bicentennial, there are only 12 lifeguards, four short of the 16 Rougemont wants. The current number includes lifeguards culled from other city pools.
Because of the shortage, Bicentennial has, on occasion, had to turn people away; city policy dictates only 25 people can swim for each lifeguard on duty.
"At an indoor pool you can get away with one lifeguard, but you need more at an outdoor pool during the summer," Rougemont says.
For lifeguard Peggy Sanchez, who also manages pools at Bicentennial and Fort Marcy Recreation Complex, that means shuttling between both facilities to oversee the depleted staff.
"It has been a big challenge. Probably the most stressful summer yet," Sanchez says. "Pulling lifeguards from other pools, juggling the hours, it's difficult."
Despite the tough times, Sanchez says city lifeguards are extra diligent in watching the water. Sanchez points to an incident last month, in which she rescued a child who had a seizure while swimming at Bicentennial, as a prime example.
Moreover, Sanchez emphasizes that virtually everyone who comes to the pool gets a chance to swim. In fact, revenue from the pool's entry fee (which ranges from 30 cents for kids to $1.85 for adults) is up this summer.
For the giggling groups of children who flock to Bicentennial in droves, all that matters is that the pool stays open.
"We come here every day," 11-year-old Juliana Fierro says through a wide, wet smile. "It's just so much fun."
