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Crescent City is seeking lifeguards for an April 12 reopening of the Fred Endert Municipal Pool.

Shuttered for nearly a year due to COVID-19, the swimming pool will open for lessons when Del Norte County is in the most restrictive Red and Purple tiers on California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy, according to Crescent City Recreation Director Holly Wendt.

In the less restrictive tiers, the pool can open for lap swimming, exercise and aerobics classes, physical therapy and other programs, Wendt said.

“The current recommendation with the new opening is that we’ll be moving forward with discontinuing the sale of the 50-punch passes,” she said. “We’ll allow people to use punch passes — we want them to recoup the value — but we want to discontinue them going into the future.”

Four Councilors on Monday approved the discontinuation of the 50-punch passes and authorized the sale of day passes, 10-punch passes and swim lessons. Mayor Pro Tem Alex Campbell was absent.

The Fred Endert Municipal Pool will be open Monday through Saturday year-round starting April 12, according to a Crescent City flier. Day passes will be $5 for youth and seniors and $5.50 for adults. Ten-punch passes are $40 for youth and seniors and $45 for adults.

Individual 25-minute swim lessons are $15 and individual 55 minute swim lessons are $27 for one student and $42 for two students. Six swim lesson classes are $43.50 for preschoolers; $33 for parent-child classes and $38.50 for Level I-VII lessons.

“These are the current fees,” Wendt said. “Given what services we’re providing during our reopening whether it’s the Red and Purple Tiers where we’re just doing swim lessons or in Orange when we can open for larger services like lap swimming, exercise and masters (program), physical therapy, we can still provide all those services with just these fees being present right here.”

Since she will return to the City Council with an updated fee schedule for the swimming pool, Wendt said annual passes won’t be on sale yet.

The pool’s fee schedule is about three years old and doesn’t reflect recommended changes a 10-year masterplan called for in 2019, according to Wendt.

One of the main concerns outlined in the pool’s masterplan was the increase to California’s minimum wage, which is expected to add $72,000 to city’s yearly expenses starting in 2022, according to Wendt. The masterplan intended to create a strategy that would help the pool be sustainable and “would be thoughtful about the increases that were happening,” she said.

One recommendation was to phase out the 50-punch passes, Wendt said. It’s hard to keep track of, competes with the pool’s other prices and fees and isn’t found in most other municipal pools, she said.

“The other pools offer a 3-month pass, a monthly pass or a year pass,” Wendt said. “To offer a 50-punch pass and a year pass and have prices competing with each other is not a good tool for the city.”

As for lifeguards, a few new recruits began training this week, City Manager Eric Wier said.

The city is recruiting more lifeguards through 4 p.m. March 12. A swim test is scheduled for 11 a.m. March 15 and candidates will be interviewed for the position via Zoom. Multiple positions are available at $14.25 per hour.

Applicants must be 15 years old or older, be able to swim 50 yards as quickly as possible with a rescue tube under their arms and be able to swim 25 yards as quickly as possible with a rescue tube dragging behind.

Lifeguards must be able to tread water with their legs only for two minutes and retrieve a 10-pound brick from a 7 foot depth.

For more information and to view the job application, click here or call HR Director Sunny Valero at (707) 464-7483 extension 233.

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