Lifeguards, city disagree on staffing

Andrew Edwards

The Laguna Lifeguards Assn. wants more lifeguards promoted to

full-time status, but City Manager Ken Frank maintains the city does

not need to employ seasonal employees on a full-time basis.

“No business, public or private, should have staff on duty when

they’re not needed,” Frank said.

Lifeguards disagree, and cite figures that three lifeguards

classified in seasonal jobs work 1,500 to 2,000 hours each year. The

lifeguards association also wants two part-time lifeguards upgraded

to regular part-status so they can receive benefits.

“The part-time guys are frustrated because they feel like they’re

not being recognized,” lifeguard Tom Trager said. Trager is an

advisor to the lifeguards association.

Mayor Cheryl Kinsman said she has met with the lifeguards, but

declined to make any further comment, except to say the city needs

state and county funds to help pay for beach upkeep and safety, since

millions travel from out of town to enjoy Laguna’s coastline.

“It’s free for them, but it’s not free for us,” she said.

The Marine Safety Department employs four full-time lifeguards.

Laguna lifeguards patrol 5.5 miles of beach, and more than 3 million

people visit Laguna’ beaches annually.

Neighboring cities have more full-time lifeguards employed. In

Newport Beach, 14 lifeguards keep watch over about 7 miles of beach.

In Huntington Beach, 14 lifeguards, including their chief, are

responsible for 3.5 miles of beach.

Though part-timers are classified as seasonal employees, part-time

lifeguard Mike Scott, who is also president of the lifeguards

association, said he works all 12 months of the year.

Full-time lifeguards require extensive training, including EMT and

scuba certifications and emergency driving skills. Trager said the

part-time lifeguards the association hopes to have promoted have also

been trained in these skills.

But because part-timers do not have the same amount of experience

as full-timers, Scott said the beaches would be safer if there were

more full-time lifeguards.

“These guys have way more training and way more experience as

full-time staff,” he said.

When seasonal lifeguards move on to other jobs, Trager said the

turnover requires new people to be trained all over again.

“You just don’t throw a pair of red shorts in the car and say, ‘Go

get them,’” he said.

Laguna beaches are busiest in the summer, when the tourist season

is in full-swing. Frank said it makes more financial sense to have

more lifeguards on the payroll when there are more people on the

beaches.

He compared the strategy to the way the city has police officers

patrol Laguna streets.

“We have more police on duty, for example, on Friday night and

Saturday nights than we do on Monday and Tuesday nights,” Frank said.

The lifeguards’ group is also seeking to be recognized as a

bargaining unit for the Marine Safety Department’s employees.

Currently, lifeguards are represented with other city workers in the

Laguna Beach Municipal Employees Assn. Police and firefighters have

their own unions.