PADUCAH — As summer break begins and pools open for the season, one popular spot is closed until further notice.
The lap pool at Paducah’s Athletic Club was shut down after an inspection by the Kentucky Department for Public Health Thursday.
The reason is because no lifeguards were on duty.
The owner, Ryne Hagan, is calling this a case of government overreach.
Hagan says they’ve never had lifeguards in the 20 years they've been open. He also told us the state inspects their facility at least four times a year, once quarterly.
It's never come up as a problem, even as recently as last month. That's why he says this comes as a shocking and costly surprise.
The lap pool normally full of splashing swimmers now sits empty and quiet.
Dean Carpenter has been swimming at the Paducah Athletic Club pool for the past 17 years.
“I usually swim six days a week. So, I had been in the pool the night before, and I came in, and they notified me that it was closed,” Carpenter says.
Hagan says the Kentucky Department of Public Health told him they received an anonymous tip saying there were no lifeguards on duty.
“We have documentation of all of our 20-year history of papers to show that every inspection, not one inspection paper says anything about lifeguards,” says Hagan.
The deepest end of the pool is 5 feet, 6 inches deep, and that was intentional. Twenty years ago, they originally planned to make thr lap pool a lot deeper, but made changes to comply with the law.
“We were told back in 2003 that pool depth, if you stayed under 6 feet that you were allowed to open. The state's what opened us in 2003, or we never would've opened,” Hagan says.
He says the financial impact is large.
"If you have four, three to four lifeguards, at just minimum wage — and nobody works for minimum wage anymore — you're looking at over $150,000 a year,” says Hagan.
But Hagan says the impact to the community is bigger, taking away a resource that is used by families and athletes alike.
“It's total tyranny. It's wrong on so many levels to just overstep like this and overreach with the government,” Hagan says.
Now his members are in limbo and patiently awaiting their next swim.
“I don't know what the solution is, but hopefully there's one,” Carpenter says.
Local 6 did reach out to the Kentucky Department of Health to get their take on this, but didn't get a response Friday.
Hagan says he asked the inspector for a two-week period to address the issue, but was denied.
He's now working to challenge this decision.
He also says he's been in contact with local state and federal lawmakers like Steven Rudy and James Comer, attempting to reach a solution.
The lap pool is the only pool at the athletic center that's affected.
Both the aerobic pool and the hot tub are open as normal.
