Lower capacity for some summer programs amid city staffing shortages

Hamilton is fully staffed for summer recreation, but some programs planned for reduced capacity and operating hours

Thestar.com
June 14, 2023
Kate McCullough

City pools, camps and recreation programs are fully staffed for the summer, but some continue to have lower capacity and reduced hours.

The city has been “strategic” in its planning amid provincewide labour shortages, ensuring “capacity meets the current staffing resources available,” recreation manager Laura Kerr said in an email.

This means camps are running at 85 per cent of pre-pandemic capacity, and Supie, the free drop-in recreation programs for kids at Hamilton parks, are operating at a reduced schedule, offering about half the number of hours as they have in the past.

Still, program capacity is higher than the two previous years, Kerr said.

“We have been able to successfully recruit all staff required to run our planned summer programs,” she said.

This includes 61 additional lifeguards to staff 10 outdoor pools and six wading pools -- “additional places to cool off during heat waves” -- 66 camp counsellors and 50 Supie attendants, she said.

Outdoor pools are set to open June 30, and wading pools open between June 26 and July 4.

City swim programming has “almost fully recovered” from the pandemic, she said.

Drop-in aquatics, like family swim and water fit, have “returned to normal,” Kerr said, while 90 per cent of spring swim lessons were operated. This is up from 58 per cent of pre-pandemic levels in spring 2022.

The city is starting to recruit lifeguards, skilled instructors, fitness instructors and facility monitors for fall.

Earlier this month, the province lowered the minimum age required to be a lifeguard from 16 to 15 “to help communities address staffing shortages,” reads a June 2 release.

“The regulation changes will allow candidates to obtain their certifications and be hired within the same year, which will allow for quicker recruitment for interested and qualified applicants,” Kerr said.

The next recruitment period for lifeguards -- the first to include 15-year-olds -- starts June 22. The new certification age means the city can hire guards a year earlier, but it’s unclear whether it will ease staffing pressures.

“We will not understand the impact or benefits of this until we go through a couple recruitment cycles,” Kerr said.