The city of Longview expects to grow its own lifeguard crew starting this year.
Seth Pile, the city's parks and recreation manager, recently told the parks board that aquatics supervisor Jack Gense is now certified as an American Red Cross lifeguard instructor. That allows him to train potential lifeguards.
The city of Longview has for years struggled with having enough lifeguards each summer.
"It's same problem for everybody," Pile said.
"(Offering our own training program) will allow us to train our own here in town," he said, an option the city hasn't had for a while.
"That will help us immensely," Pile said.
City pools lost a lot of potential lifeguards in the past because people had to go somewhere else to get their certifications and were recruited by other organizations.
"When you have them in a class you're trying to get them to come work for you," Pile said. "When you can provide that training and you can kind of reel them in during that process, it puts you ahead of the curve."
Specifics about how the program will operate are still being finalized.
The city will operate one outdoor pool this summer at Ingram Park, 1400 N. 10th St. City staff at the recent parks board meeting described how repairs to some of the pool equipment already have been completed in anticipation of the summer swim season.
