Story updated 1:42 p.m. Monday, July 23, 2018

By CRAIG FREILICH

POTSDAM – After being closed for the weekend, Potsdam beaches at Sandstoner Park and Postwood Park will be open today while officials try to settle a lifeguard strike over pay that began Friday.

The beaches will have sufficient staff on duty Monday and Tuesday at least.

“We will resume normal hours today and Tuesday and see what we can do with the staff we have,” said Potsdam Recreation Director Trey Smutz. “We are going to arrange the schedule to make sure we’re good to go.”

He and officials of the town and village, which run the recreation program jointly, are in communication to attempt to settle the dispute.

There had been indications of dissatisfaction among the lifeguards.

At the town board meeting July 10, one staff member said she had heard the lifeguards were unhappy with their compensation.

At that meeting, Town Councilor Rose Rivezzi, who chairs the joint town and village recreation program, said she would discuss it with Recreation Committee members at their next meeting.

After the job action on Friday, Rivezzi said she believes the job action could have been avoided.

“Just seems there are some steps that could have been taken by the lifeguards prior to quitting and leaving the community without a beach for the weekend,” Rivezzi said in an email.

Eleven lifeguards out of about 25 who have walked off the job complain that the pay they receive is not enough for all the responsibilities that carry out.

While the two head lifeguards receive the state minimum wage, $10.40, municipalities are not required to meet the minimum for their employees.

They are still subject to the federal minimum wage rate, $7.25 per hour.

Smutz said all lifeguards started at no less than $10 this year. Lifeguards get $10.15 and sub-lifeguards and assistant lifeguards receive $10, he said.

The lifeguards walked out late Friday afternoon, too late in the day to set up a meeting with officials before the weekend to work on the disagreement, Smutz said.

Head lifeguard Alaina White, in a letter to NorthCountryNow.com, points out the lifeguards are required to spend $250 for lifeguard certification and were not informed of their wages prior to starting work. She also notes lifeguards must have training in CPR and first aid and are responsible for responding to many types of emergencies.

Head lifeguards require a special certification, which costs $120, White said.

“Many of our lifeguards teach swim lessons five days a week and a few of us teach private lessons separately for no extra compensation. We are also in charge of renting out kayaks, cleaning bathrooms, routine maintenance duties around the beaches, and putting in and maintaining all of the ropes and buoys at the beaches,” the letter said.

Lifeguards are also “in charge of bus runs between beaches twice a day where they supervise all of the children in the Potsdam Recreation program, some of whom require one-on-one aids,” the letter said.

Other lifeguards in the area “are making above state minimum wage,” according to the letter.

The letter is also signed by head lifeguard Mackenzie Frary, full lifeguards Dallas Brown, Gage Yette, Chad Varney, Lauren Lucht and Emma Ormsby, and assistant lifeguards Sarah Miller, Camryn Mangual, Karissa Kingsley and Coryn Young.

The lifeguards said in the letter that when they were hired they never received notice of their pay and were given nothing to sign to indicate they agreed with the pay scale.