City Council hires lifeguards for Walnut Beach

Shelley Terry, Star Beacon, Ashtabula, Ohio
·2 min read

May 18—ASHTABULA — Lifeguards will be on duty again this summer at Walnut Beach.

City Council Monday night approved a $15,000 agreement with the Ashtabula County YMCA to provide lifeguard services for the 2022 season at Walnut Beach. The money will be taken from the park levy fund.

The city of Ashtabula has hired lifeguards certified from the Ashtabula County YMCA for many years. The lifeguards rotate shifts at the beach. They work 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

In 2017, lifeguards saved three boys who were playing in the water close to the breakwall when the waves kept pushing them against the rocks.

In 2016, a lifeguard saved a boy who ventured out past the buoys and had to be helped to shore.

City Manager Jim Timonere said the Walnut Beach concession stand should be open around Memorial Day.

"The Pieros are excited to be the concessionaire for Walnut Beach," he said.

John Piero, the former owner of Piero's Pasta House in Geneva-on-the-Lake, signed a three-year contract to run the concession stand.

"We are really excited to have them," Ward 5 Council person Jane Haines said.

The manager also reported Cornelius and South parks have been cleaned and mulched, and city workers are mowing and painting streets in anticipation of a busy summer season.

In other business:

—Council approved the city manager's request for an ordinance to execute a change order with Koski Construction Company of Ashtabula for additions and deletions of materials and services for the Lake Avenue paving project in the negative amount of $3,200, to be deleted from the original project cost, for a final project cost of $462,000.

—Approved an ordinance authorizing the manager to enter into a memorandum of understanding with Saybrook Township Fire Department for the purpose of sharing a reserve engine with the Ashtabula Fire Department.

—Haines reported litter from providing food to the homeless in city parks is not getting disposed of properly. Organizations are encouraged to obtain permits for these giveaways. Permits are free and available on the City Manager's web page https://www.cityofashtabula.com/city-manager.

—Council passed a resolution authorizing the creation of an ad hoc committee to study racism as a public health crisis and make recommendations to council.