South Haven fails to act on lifeguard recommendations

By James Windell

When TV camera crews showed up at the South Haven City Council meeting on Monday, April 7, 2025, it was clear that there was a hot-button issue on the agenda. But it was not short-term rentals this time.
And when the first three citizens who addressed the City Council discussed the need for lifeguard’s on South Haven’s beaches, it became evident that the media was there to find out what the City Council would do after receiving a report from the United States Lifeguard Association (USLA).
Prior to the report, however, Lisa MacDonald, whose daughter drowned in Lake Michigan’s waters in South Haven in 2022, got up to talk about the need for lifeguards on South Haven’s beaches.
“It’s time for South Haven to stand up and protect and respect the people who come to this town year after year,” she told the City Council. “Lifeguards should not be seen as a luxury and liability, but rather as a responsibility and priority.”
MacDonald concluded her remarks by saying that she had talked to the experts in the field, “and they have assured me that we can get a lifeguard program going this summer.”
Nancy Hnat, another SH resident, also spoke telling the council that “I hope the next step is to take a vote. This can’t go on for another year. This needs to get going tonight.” She ended by exhorting the council to “Vote!”
Later in the meeting, Chris Brewster, Chair of the National Certification Committee of the USLA, gave a report detailing the USLA’s assessment of South Haven’s needs for a lifeguard program and recommendations.
In his report, Brewster reminded the City Council that South Haven has not had a lifeguard program since 2001, and that 12 drownings have occurred since then. He said that South Haven has 1,000 to 3,000 people at both the North and South Beaches every day of the summer. While a lifeguard program would not necessarily prevent every drowning, Brewster said, “The risk of drownings in an area patrolled by USLA-trained lifeguards is one in 18 million visits.”
Among the recommendations that came out of the USLA assessment was that there should be 5 to 6 lifeguards every day in the summer on South Beach and 5 lifeguards every day on North Beach. In addition, each beach would need a lifeguard tower, two-way radios, and an ATV. Brewster estimated the cost of the kind of lifeguard programing USLA was recommending at about $234,000 a year. The benefits, he explained, would be that there would be limited fatalities, that South Haven would gain a “safe” reputation, that there would be enhanced visitor services, and there would be greatly limited civil liabilities for the city.
Following Brewster’s report, the City Council discussed the report and the next steps to achieving a lifeguard program. Although all council members seemed in favor of a lifeguard program, there were concerns about the cost and how a lifeguard program would be funded.
City Council member Joe Reeser seemed to reflect the views of other council members when he said that the council should make a commitment to move forward with a lifeguard program. However, councilman Jeff Arnold stated that his reservation was that he didn’t know what a program would cost and where the money would come from. Councilwoman Wendi Onuki countered that by stating that money has already been budgeted for the program “So, I don’t see what the problem is.”
A motion to begin implementation of the lifeguard program failed when only three votes supported it. Instead, the council approved a motion to request the city staff to develop an itemized list of costs associated with the USLA recommendations.
This outcome appeared disappointing both to the City Council as well as to members of the audience. With Memorial Day, the traditional beginning of the summer season on South Haven’s beaches, less than two months away, it seems unlikely that the city would be able to begin a program, which would entail hiring lifeguards, training them, building lifeguard towers, and buying the needed equipment for the lifeguards, by May 31.