All this in the news is bad… At a time when we should be marketing an amenity, we are trashing it publicly. Wrong, wrong, wrong. The frustrations from last year are just being rehashed publicly which deters those on the fence of whether to purchase or not based on last years’ experience. Admittedly our administration is forewarning the membership of likely closures like last year. Fix last year’s problem, staffing. We need to talk about how we will meet the need of our members and we will be staffed so people will buy the passes.

The way I see it we have three things wrong; we didn’t budget for paying folks more and that’s driving the train.  We have issues with enforcing our payment standards and identifying who is a resident and who isn’t and lastly, we have a staffing issue,

Next February redo the budget not now in May. Pay them. Change the pay rate to $16 or give them a season ending bonus… PAY THE MONEY! Our ability to run the amenity is against an underfunded budget. buy tee shirts versus Under Armour full sweat suits, cut costs...  Teach swimming lessons and charge them real money.  $15 30 min individual, $60 group, etc.  Slide the number and then we are back to operating correctly, realistically against the economy or lack of guards. If our membership isn’t buying memberships then forget our budget. .

Those that live in OP [including STR] pay resident costs. The children of grandparents, outside community guests, and Ocean City tourists pay $15. Also, don’t take cash, improve your POS system to track our numbers. For payment, don’t take cash, avoid slippage at the register. For renters, establish a standard, enforce it. Show a copy of the lease [don't memorize an address on Ocean Parkway], phone picture of the lease, copy of the beach club parking pass etc. Hileman and vacasa can react now…

We need to increase the staff with “JR” or “SR” Lifeguards. A junior staff member may be only 14-15 years old but can pass the skills tests needed but can’t be placed in a leadership role or work by themselves. Our local swim team can help, but you have to work friendly with them.  Same with a “senior” lifeguard, one that can also pass the skills requirements but may lack the physical prowess of a younger guard, might need a chair for example. OC police department is augmented with cadets, why can’t we have cadets? We have 80 year old security guards at the casino why can’t we have older folks keeping our pools safe?  Years ago, the swimmen women got the indoor pool, why can't they get the help for us.  Ask them.  

Hard to stay on the sidelines with this reoccurring management issue.  This is NOT a new problem.