The village of Saugerties is urgently seeking two lifeguards for the village beach which is set to open on July 1.
Typically the village hires four lifeguards to cover all six or seven days the beach is open and meet state regulations that require two lifeguards to be on duty at all times, Mayor Bill Murphy said during Monday’s Village Board meeting.
Any certified lifeguard could come down to Village Hall and practically get hired on the spot, he said.
“It has flexible hours and we’ll try to be flexible,” he said.
The YMCA of Kingston and Ulster County does the certification, he said.
“Two of our main ones have gone off to college and can’t come back, I helped one get an internship with State Sen. Michelle Hinchey,” Murphy said. “It’s just unfortunate all four we last year couldn’t come back. Fortunately we get an old one back from a few years with a lot of experience.”
That lifeguard is in their mid-20s and returned from college looking for a job, he said. He added that most lifeguards take the job when they’re in high school and typically stay through their first summer of college. “Then we don’t have to hire new people every year,” Murphy said.
Murphy said when he was a kid everyone wanted to be a lifeguard, but that’s not the case anymore, and he wasn’t kind of sure why.
The mayor said they’ll make it work no matter what happens though.
“We’re ready to open up July 1,” Murphy said.