Discussion began for the Helper City Council at the July 7 meeting regarding the city pool. Particularly, discussion revolved around the possibility of increasing the private pool party fee as well as the need for employees.
Taci Tapia, Helper City Pool Manager, was in attendance at the meeting and spoke with the council in depth on the issues that the pool is facing this season. With competitive lifeguard rates and many of the current lifeguards having to travel a short distance for the job, they are having a difficult time retaining employees.
As it is, the staff of the pool is already cut down to about half this season. Tapia informed the council that she has had lifeguards approach her and ask about the wages and if any possible increases were upcoming. Tapia and the council discussed the possibility of increasing wages to double during private party times to assist in the competitive wages.
A decision was not made during the meeting; rather, the council made the decision to move the discussion to a special meeting to further explore the options.The special meeting was hosted on July 14. This meeting only had three agenda items and two of those items were pertaining to the pool.
First, the council tackled the topic of raising the private pool party rate. Councilwoman Michelle Goldsmith explained that they would like to increase the private party fees to cover paying the lifeguards. They would like to pay them double time during the party and double for the manager.
Helper City Mayor Lenise Peterman wished to acknowledge and inform the council that they have had other city employees approach and ask if they are also able to get double time if they are asked to cover an event elsewhere. The mayor did state that this is another side to the story and just wished to make the council aware.
It was also stated that when the council created the pay scale table, the pool staff was out of proportion. However, they are now facing a need to retain the employees and be competitive as they have lost staff to other pools.
Councilwoman Amanda Wheeler stated that there is a clear difference from staffing and managers from last season to this one from lowering wages and employees quitting. Because the staffing is so low, they have had to conduct more training than they have ever done in the years past and it is believed that part of that is due to wages.
It was stated by Councilwoman Goldsmith that she felt strongly about the budget and salary scale work that they have completed over the last year and knew that this was going to come up, but said that the city had to go through the process.
Ultimately, the council approved for the private party fees to be increased and Mayor Peterman agreed that there needs to be a similar consideration for other departments. She also said that she believes that the city has made great strides forward.
Next, the council made the approval of increasing the wages at the pool, during private part times only, to double time. This approval is for this pool season only and will be addressed again in the coming year.