OCEAN CITY – Despite an ongoing lifeguard shortage, officials say they will make any necessary changes to ensure the beach is covered ahead of the summer season.
On Monday, Emergency Services Director Joe Theobald presented the Ocean City Police Commission with an update on lifeguard recruitment. While staffing challenges remain, he said the Ocean City Beach Patrol would have two more testing dates before the summer season starts.
“If I factor in the next testing cycles, we’re going to be slightly less than the number we had last summer, and last summer we were down 27 [lifeguards],” he told the commission. “But we may get lucky and increase that number. We still have two tests left.”
A discussion on the need for lifeguards has been an ongoing one in recent months. During budget discussions in March, for example, officials highlighted the beach patrol’s efforts to hire guards ahead of the summer season. And earlier this month, the council agreed to establish end-of-season bonuses and overtime pay for lifeguards, so long as a balanced budget is maintained.
In this week’s commission meeting, City Manager Terry McGean said pay did not seem to be an issue, but rather the lack of qualified applicants. Theobald noted the most recent testing date had 38 registrants, but only 12 showed up and seven were hired.
Where has OC been when the rest of the world realized that you cannot be successful with “Rule by Committee”. They’ll probably keep it up until the Old Families sue each other to the grave.