After hundreds of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea residents told town officials in a recent survey they don’t want lifeguards on their unguarded beach, the commission on Tuesday night nixed any further discussion of getting them. More than 300 residents completed a beach safety survey, which closed at the end of June, and they made it clear they don’t think lifeguards are necessary and don’t want their tax dollars to pay for them. Commissioner Theo Poulopoulos, who has been the most vocally in favor of lifeguards, wanted the commission to vote Tuesday night on including lifeguards in next year’s budget, which begins in October, but his attempt failed without support from the others.
A preliminary plan to conduct a study to get information on how many lifeguards the town would need and the cost also was dropped at Tuesday’s meeting. Elected officials have repeatedly discussed beach safety since Feb. 20, when 7-year-old Sloan Mattingly died in an accident on the sand.
She and her brother were visiting from Indiana with their parents and spent the day at the beach. As they were getting ready to leave, Sloan and her 9-year-old brother Maddox ran and jumped into a 4-feet deep hole they dug, and the sand collapsed in on them. Sloan was completely buried underneath her brother for 30 minutes before they were freed from the sand.
She was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. Sloan’s death prompted immediate discussion about whether the town’s beach, which is periodically patrolle.
