{"id":284300,"date":"2025-11-11T00:59:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T00:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/284300\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T00:59:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T00:59:17","slug":"westsyde-residents-want-more-proactive-plans-from-city-as-weekday-hours-set-to-resume-at-pool-and-fitness-centre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/284300\/","title":{"rendered":"Westsyde residents want more proactive plans from city, as weekday hours set to resume at pool and fitness centre"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a September staff report<\/a>, Sherri Holmes, the City of Kamloops\u2019 Sport, Recreation and Wellness manager, said that while seven lifeguards are needed to operate both the Westsyde Pool and the Canada Games Pool, there were only four available on staff.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is the minimum required for basic operations at the Canada Games Pool,\u201d Holmes wrote, noting the city focused its efforts to maintain core services at a single location \u2013 the Canada Games Pool.<\/p>\n

\u201cMorning closures at Westsyde Pool and Fitness Centre will allow lifeguards and Customer Relations Representatives to be reassigned to times and facilities serving a larger population, notably at the Canada Games Pool,\u201d Holmes wrote.<\/p>\n

Holmes said the shortage of lifeguards can be connected back to the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when pools were shut down.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe lost the majority of our senior lifeguards who had been with us for a very long time. They moved on to different careers,\u201d Holmes said. \u201cWhat we are finding is the majority of people who are applying are students. Unfortunately, those folks are unavailable during the daytime and this is where we are particularly struggling with staffing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Houchen told CFJC that while the WCDS has been told the city is working on a \u201cbetter plan\u201d to staff the Westsyde facility, they\u2019ve not been given any firm assurances.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hoping for more proactive plans on what the city is planning to do to make sure that staffing levels are appropriate so that our pool stays open,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear what that plan could look like, though Holmes told CFJC on Friday (Nov. 8) that she is working on a update.<\/p>\n

The plan could involve the hiring of Customer Relations Representatives with first aid training, so in the event of a lifeguard shortage, the fitness centre in Westsyde isn\u2019t forced to close as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe closure of the Westsyde fitness centre is directly related to the lack of qualified first aid providers on site,\u201d Holmes wrote in her September report. \u201cSince Customer Relations Representatives cannot assume first aid responsibilities, as it is not currently within their job description, alternative arrangements must be identified when lifeguards are unavailable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a unionized employer, the City must adhere to collective agreement provisions and consult union representatives before significant adjustments to hiring practices. While this ensures fair labour standards, it may delay procedural changes,\u201d Holmes added.<\/p>\n

Houchen said that staffing proposal was discussed at a community meeting last Thursday (Nov. 6).<\/p>\n

\u201cThis facility isn\u2019t just specifically for leisure as these closures can affect people\u2019s health. Some people need to use the pool or gym facilities for physical rehabilitation and those things are very important to people in our community,\u201d Houchen said.<\/p>\n

At this time, it\u2019s also not clear how many lifeguards have been hired by the City of Kamloops this year, and how many of those are long-term employees with the ability to cover weekday morning shifts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe community in Westsyde wants to use this pool,\u201d Houchen added. \u201cSo along that vein, its the communication from the city [that needs to improve]. You can go on their website and the hours say its open, but you get to the door there\u2019s a note saying its not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo again, we\u2019re hoping for more of a proactive plan of what\u2019s going to happen if they are short-staffed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a September staff report, Sherri Holmes, the City of Kamloops\u2019 Sport, Recreation and Wellness manager, said that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[337,97],"class_list":{"0":"post-284300","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-fitness","9":"tag-health"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}