Westhampton Beach Lifeguard Quits After Being Denied Permission To Respond To Fire Alarm

For at least one former lifeguard, life is most certainly not a day at the beach.

Longtime Westhampton Beach lifeguard Jim Raynor, 28, who was employed part-time by the village for the past 13 summers, submitted his letter of resignation last Wednesday, August 17, following a highly publicized dispute with Westhampton Beach Mayor Conrad Teller. During their meeting last Thursday, Village Board members agreed to hire two new lifeguards—Chris Rothe and Seth Conrad—though they did not make any mention in public session of Mr. Raynor’s resignation. The new lifeguards will make $11.50 an hour.

In an interview this week, Mr. Raynor, who has volunteered with the Westhampton Beach Fire Department for the past seven years, said he quit his village post after he was not allowed to respond to a fire alarm on July 22, just before he was supposed to start his lifeguard shift at Rogers Beach. Mr. Raynor also said that, since the incident, he was demoted—he had served as a lifeguard captain for six years—and saw his pay cut by $3 an hour, from $17.25 per hour to $14.25 this summer. He said he also never received a 25-cent raise this year.

“It was the last straw,” Mr. Raynor said in a phone interview on Monday.

Emotion erupted at an August 4 meeting of the Village Board when Mr. Raynor’s father, Mark Raynor, a former deputy mayor a past chief of the local fire department, demanded to know why his son was not allowed to leave his post to answer the emergency call. The call—which turned out to be a false automatic alarm—occurred during his son’s break, he said.

“It was nothing. Even if I had gone, I would have been back in 10 minutes,” Jim Raynor said.

But Mr. Teller contends that a lifeguard cannot leave his or her post while on duty, even if it is to answer a fire alarm. On the day in question, the mayor estimated that about 200 children enrolled in a sports program at the Westhampton Country Club, as well as a number of other beachgoers, were on the beach at the time of the alarm. Beach managers James Carr and Brian Naughton stopped the younger Mr. Raynor from responding, according to Mr. Raynor.

Though the village does not have an official policy on the books regarding the issue, Mr. Teller said that, in light of 
last month’s event, he plans to create a rule stating that lifeguards cannot leave their posts to answer fire and ambulance alarms.

“The alarm came over the radio at approximately five minutes to 10—before the beach was technically open,” Mr. Raynor said. When he was told not to leave, Mr. Raynor recalled stating: “I said, ‘No big deal.’ And I didn’t go to the call.”

Despite his compliance, the managers contacted the mayor, who, in turn, wrote a letter to the beach managers instructing them that lifeguards are not allowed to respond to fire alarms while on duty, according to Mr. Raynor.

“He said I left while there were kids swimming,” he said, referring to the mayor. “But I never left and they weren’t in the water. I would never leave the way the mayor is making it seem, if I had a packed beach.”

He later added: “Anytime I respond to a call, I’m not jumping down from the stand and leaving. There was no one in the water—and there were other lifeguards there. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal.”

Four lifeguards, including Mr. Raynor, were on duty that day, he said. He also disputed the mayor’s estimation regarding the number of kids at the beach at the time, stating that it was closer to 40.

Of the discrepancy, Mr Teller said this week: “Even if it was only five children, what in the hell is the difference?”

In addition to being demoted, Mr. Raynor said he was not given Sundays off, despite having a rotating schedule. Finally, Mr. Raynor said Mr. Teller told him he could not work more than 40 hours a week, though his colleagues were scheduled to work more than 40 hours in a given week.

“They make up all these rules just for me,” Mr. Raynor said. “It was everything,” he added when asked what prompted him to quit. “I’ve just had enough of it.”

When asked about the allegations raised by Mr. Raynor, Mr. Teller, who also volunteers with the Westhampton Beach Fire Department, declined to elaborate.

“It’s a personnel matter,” the mayor said. “He resigned. I would say that says it all.”

Though he acknowledges that there is no formal policy in place, Mr. Teller said Mr. Raynor has plenty of work to do on the beach when it comes to responding to potential emergencies. The mayor also noted that about 95 percent of the calls that the fire department responds to are not emergencies.

Westhampton Beach Fire Department Chief Al Tudisco said his volunteers must respond to 10 percent of calls each year to retain their active status. It was not immediately known what percentage of calls Mr. Raynor has responded to this year. Mr. Raynor, meanwhile, said he responds to about 10 percent of the calls, though the figure is “perhaps a little lower.”

When asked to describe Mr. Raynor, Chief Tudisco said: “He’s dedicated. He is following in his family’s footsteps.”

As for the younger Mr. Raynor, he said he still cannot believe the way in which he was treated.

“I’m working in the village to aid people and [the mayor] is telling me I can’t?” he said. “That’s just ridiculous.”