TOLEDO, Ohio — Summer is right around the corner and Toledo city officials have said they intend to open the city's pools on May 28 for Memorial Day weekend.
But to do that, officials are asking for help from the public.
To open the city's six public swimming pools, Toledo needs to hire lifeguards -- at least 13 of them.
Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz announced Tuesday the city has 11 lifeguards already certified and ready to go for the summer, but they need a total of 24.
They mayor called the job an opportunity to provide young people with something fun to do during the hot months out of school while also getting paid.
This year, lifeguards will be paid $16 an hour.
To help bring in some help, the city is partnering with a hiring agency, Job1USA.
"The training that you need in order to be certified as a lifeguard -- we'll pay for that too. Normally, that can be a $300 accreditation certificate if you had to go through the training yourself and pay for it," Kapszukiewicz said. "We'll pay for that, too."
"We're offering a $100 Job1 rewards bonus for anyone who completes processing by the end of this week, so Friday, May 13," said Stacie Moss, vice president of Job1USA. "Also this year, we're offering a daily pay option for anyone who accepts a pool seasonal position."
Toledo operates Jamie Farr Pool, Navarre Pool, Pickford Pool, Roosevelt Pool, Willys Pool and Wilson Pool. The city routinely struggles to keep the pools open for the entire summer, either because of staffing, maintenance or funding issues.
Kapszukiewicz said the safest place for kids to be last summer was at one of the city pools, saying there were zero incidents of violence or fighting.
"The police were never called to a pool," he said. "Nothing but the positive, uplifting experiences that we want to happen are what happened at our pools last year. That's a story worth telling."
The mayor said if Toledo doesn't get enough lifeguards in the next couple of weeks, officials will have to scale back on their plans for opening the pools.
What a scaled-back plan would look like depends on how hiring goes, he said.
You have to be at least 15 to apply to be a lifeguard for the city.
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