Mayor Robert Restaino’s administration hopes that bumping up pay rates will help address what’s been a common summertime problem — lack of adequate staffing for public splash pads and pools in the City of Niagara Falls.
The draft agenda for Wednesday’s city council meeting includes a request from the administration to hike hourly rates paid for seasonal employees assigned to splash pads and pools.
The proposal calls for increasing the hourly wage for recreational specialists from $19 an hour to $21 an hour and for increasing the hourly wage for the position identified as “recreation aide I” from $13.50 to $15. In addition, the administration is seeking council support to create three new positions identified under the category of “recreation aide II,” which would come with a pay rate of $16 per hour.
“These modest additions and increases in hourly rates should put the city in a better position to compete with other businesses that recruit staff from our community,” Restaino wrote in the March 19 memo tied to the city council agenda item.
The request for council approval follows a year in which the administration drew at times heavy criticism from residents who complained about the closure of splash pads and pools in the city, including days when temperatures exceeded 90 degrees.
Citing challenges in finding qualified and willing individuals to serve as attendants or lifeguards, the administration operated pools and splash pads on a four-day-per-week basis, from Thursdays through Sundays, last summer. On the days the pools and splash pads are open, they are open to the public from noon to 5 p.m.
The pay measure is scheduled to be up for consideration by the council during Wednesday’s meeting, which begins at 6 p.m. and will be held inside council chambers at city hall, 754 Main St.