Repairs and staffing difficulties are causing issues for the opening of pools in St. Joseph.

“There are significant repairs that need to be done to Hyde Pool,” said Chuck Kempf, Interim Parks Dir.

He said City Manager Bruce Woody made the decision to go ahead and keep Hyde Pool closed this season due to the cost of repairs and staffing challenges associated with finding lifeguards.

In fact, if the city doesn’t see an increase in lifeguard applications Krug Pool may also remain closed.

In order for the City to operate the Aquatic Park, Krug Pool and Hyde Pool, Kempf said it would take a staff of 90 lifeguards.

Currently, the city has only received around 33 applications.

Kempf said the first goal is to get Aquatic Center fully operational with staffing to include swim lessons and host events. In order to operate both the Aquatic Center and Krug Pool, Kempf said around 70 lifeguards would be needed.

Right now he said they are hopeful that they will be able to open up Krug Pool.

“We have made some repairs,” Kempf said. “Park maintenance has already addressed repairs to get Krug Pool open.  Now it’s based on the availability of lifeguards.”

Kempf said the city is actively recruiting for the upcoming season.

“They’re actually going to the high schools today,” he said. “They’re trying to promote the job opportunities in the high schools.”

Even though public usage at Hyde and Krug pools was noticed several years Kempf said it wasn’t until 2012 or 2013 that they city started having a difficult time hiring lifeguards.

“It probably didn’t happen that sudden but it seemed like two years ago when it really became apparent that we had a significant challenge with staffing,” Kempf said.

Click here to view the city’s job opening for lifeguards.

The city has also received a grant from Mosaic Life Care to assist with lifeguard training this spring at a reduced rate.