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Long Island Beach To Reopen After Dispute With Lifeguards

This story was updated on July 24, 2015, at 6:08 p.m.

BELLPORT, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A Long Island beach that was closed to swimming last week over a dispute with lifeguards is scheduled to reopen on Friday.

Bellport officials said they have hired a group of Brookhaven Town lifeguards for Ho-Hum Beach after accepting the resignation of seven village lifeguards.

The lifeguards said after a litany of complaints about mistreatment and lack of equipment, they walked out last Friday after two of them were told they couldn't watch swimmers and their own family members at the same time.

Long Island Beach To Reopen After Dispute With Lifeguards

The new rule was instituted after at least one lifeguard who brought a toddler to the beach got distracted, Bellport Mayor Ray Fell said.

"The safety of the people using the beach is what comes first," Fell said.

Lifeguard Matthew Horsley said he was cited after bringing his 3-year-old daughter with him for an hour while his wife was running errands.

As CBS2's Emily Smith reported, Fell said that Horsely and a second lifeguard admitted they left their stations to deal with their own children.

"One lifeguard was in the water swimming with his kid in the water while he was lifeguarding," Fell said.

Then lifeguards were told no family was allowed and his wife, Cami, was stunned, 1010 WINS' Mona Rivera reported.

"They were telling me that I couldn't go to the beach when he was working, meanwhile he's always been nothing but professional," she said.

Fire Island Beach To Reopen After Dispute With Lifeguards

Officials said the village policy bars lifeguards from bringing their own children to the beach without supervision by another responsible adult. The policy also states they aren't permitted in the water with their children.

Fell said he's disappointed that the lifeguards quit, but a crackdown was needed.

"We can't have people supervising swimming and supervising their own children or playing with their own children," he told Rivera. "I said no families, and that I think is the straw that broke the camel's back."

Beachgoers are siding with policy.

"Ho-Hum beach is a great beach, the lifeguards are great there, but when you go to work you don't bring your children to work," one woman told Xirinachs.

Other residents said the village had long allowed the lifeguards to bring their families and keep an eye on them along with everyone else.

"I don't think lifeguards would look at their family as more important than anyone else. I  think the lifeguard's family should be able to come over here," Gregory Chavious said.

But former lifeguard Jett House sided with the mayor.

"Off-duty I don't have a problem with it, but your job is to be watching the water, you probably shouldn't be talking to your family," House said.

The beach is located between Fire Island National Seashore and Smith Point County Park. It's open to village residents only.

The mayor said he chose to hire lifeguards from the town of Brookhaven instead, claiming Brookhaven does not allow lifeguards to bring their families. A Brookhaven spokesman told CBS2 they have no such policy. Brookhaven lifeguards have now set up their own stand allowing swimming to resume.

The lifeguards did try to take their resignations back but were turned down.

Several residents told CBS2 they will try to get the lifeguards re-hired at a special meeting on Saturday.

(TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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