Registration for swim lessons and recreational swim teams at pools operated by the City of Melbourne is scheduled from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 19, at the Eau Gallie Civic Center, 1551 Highland Avenue.
Four different levels of swim lessons are available, and the lessons are to be offered in two-week sessions that begin on June 4, June 18, July 9, and July 23. Lessons are to be available at the Fee Avenue Pool and the Sherwood Pool on Post Road. The cost is $41 per person for residents and $49 for others.
Both novice and advanced swim team activities are to begin on June 4, and the registration cost is $80 per person for residents and $96 for others.
Additional information about swim classes and swim teams is available at 321-255-4608.
Although the swimming season is still a couple of months away, the City of Melbourne is currently searching for lifeguards, swimming instructors, and others who will help operate the three municipal pools beginning May 26, 2012.
Job applications are being accepted now and hiring is to continue until the pools open, explained Recreation Superintendent Patrick Love. Positions with openings include pool supervisor, pool manager, lifeguard, swim instructor and head swim instructor.
“These are great seasonal jobs high school, and college students, “said Love, noting that he anticipates also hiring some parents and teachers who want summer work. “These jobs provide a good work experience in a position of responsibility, and you get to be outdoors and around people who are enjoying their recreation time”
Love said the positions vary in job requirements and pay levels. Lifeguards must be at least 15 years of age and must have Red Cross certification. Lifeguard pay starts at $8.36 per hour. Swim instructors must be at least 16 years old and must have completed the Red Cross water safety instructor course. Swim instructor pay starts at $8.50 per hour.
Those interested in the jobs can contact Pat Love at 321-757-7149. A complete job listing is available at Melbourne's website (www.melbourneflorida.org/employ/jobsout.htm).
The City of Melbourne has been rated among the best in the country in the suppression of structure fires, an accomplishment that is expected to reduce overall insurance costs for homes and businesses in the city.
After a detailed survey, an independent company has assigned Melbourne with an ‘ISO’ insurance rating of 2, to be effective on the first day of 2012. Melbourne previously had a rating of 4 on a scale that goes to 10, with 1 being the best. The ISO ratings, prepared by the New Jersey-based Insurance Services Office, Inc., are used nationwide by insurance companies in determining rates. They are issued with a lengthy ‘Public Protection Classification Summary Report.’
Fire Chief Paul Forsberg said the improvement reflects work by his department as well as others with responsibilities ranging from maintenance of fire hydrants to enforcement of fire safety codes and the dispatching of emergency vehicles. The City was last rated 12 years ago.
“We have to continue what we are doing and make additional improvements in order to maintain that rating and our level of protection for the community,” Forsberg said.
The rating puts Melbourne in a category with 592 other departments nationwide that have earned the 2 rating. Some 46,589 communities have a lower rating, and only 61 communities with fire departments have a rating of 1.
In Florida, 33 communities have a rating of 2, while nine have a rating of 1. Another 683 communities have a rating of 3 or higher, indicating a lower level of service.
The ISO rating for Melbourne takes into account factors that include the locations of eight fire stations, the level of staffing and equipment, availability of water, and the emergency notification options.
Forsberg said the way in which Melbourne’s readiness to suppress fires impacts insurance rates should be substantial, although more likely to be noticed by businesses. “Insurance rates are determined by the various companies, taking into account factors including the ISO ratings,” Forsberg said. “In our community, there may be a substantial overall savings. For individual businesses and homeowners, whatever rate reductions become available may be modest. Obviously, in the current economy, any savings on insurance will be welcome.”
Insurance Services Office, Inc., notes that surveys are conducted when it appears that a community’s rating may have changed. Forsberg said Melbourne’s next rating will likely come in five years or less.
The holiday weekend will likely bring with it an abundant harvest of illegal, roadside signs that Code Enforcement Administrator Dan Porsi says must be removed from roadway rights-of-way in order to ensure that motorists and pedestrians have safe visibility. Problems associated with the roadside signs include the likelihood that they will fly through the air in windy conditions, sometimes ending up where they will block drains.
"We usually pick up more than 100 illegal signs on holiday weekends," Porsi said. "The people who are placing these signs along the roads seem to think that we are not working on holidays."
Porsi would prefer to have those with small signs follow the rules that are spelled out in Melbourne's city code. Signs are not permitted on any public tree, pole, post. They are prohibited from all public rights-of-way, roadway medians, and landscaped or grassed areas.
"We make every effort to let people know that signs cannot go alongside the roads, because that costs them money that they could apply elsewhere to benefit their activity or business," Porsi said. Confiscated signs are held for three days before disposal.
The drinking water that the City of Melbourne provides to most of the southern Brevard County area has now been judged as the best tasting in Central Florida, earning top honors in a blind-sample competition that included water from utilities serving the greater Orlando area.
A panel of judges recently gathered to consider the taste, odor, color, and clarity of water samples from 12 providers competing in the eighth annual "Central Florida's Finest! 2011 Best Tasting Drinking Water Contest." The contest is a joint effort with the Florida Water Environmental Association's Central Florida Chapter and the Florida Section of the American Water Works Association, Region III.
Melbourne is now eligible to participate in the "Best Drinking Water, State of Florida" competition, which takes place at the Florida Water Resources Conference in Orlando on May 3.
The Central Florida honor prompted Mayor Harry Goode to issue a proclamation declaring April 26 as "Melbourne Water Quality Day." The proclamation "encourages all citizens and businesses to help protect our water quality sources, practice water conservation, and enjoy the best tasting water in Central Florida from your taps."
During a City Council meeting on April 26, the award is to be presented to the city by Rajah Augustinraj, the contest coordinator. He is an employee of engineering firm CH2M Hill. Contest judges included two representatives of WKMG Television, meteorologist Tom Sorrells and general manager Skip Valet, along with Dwight Jenkins, consumptive use policy development coordinator with the St. Johns River Water Management District; Steven Memberg, with the Water Use Regulatory Division of the South Florida Water Management District; and Jason Parillo of ITT Corporation.
Water samples were submitted from the cities of DeLand, Clermont, St. Cloud, Altamonte Springs, Port Orange, Winter Garden, Winter Park, and Casselberry, along with samples from the Orlando Utilities Commission, Orange County Utilities, and Lake Utility Services, Inc.
Each water provider submitted a one-gallon sample, kept at room temperature to allow any tastes or odors to be detected more easily. All of the utilities offering samples also affirmed that they had no state or federal drinking water violations for the current or prior calendar year.
Ralph Reigelsperger, director of the City's Public Works and Utilities Department, saluted the work of water production employees who provide more than 15-million gallons of water to Melbourne area homes and businesses on an average day.
"This is a great recognition for the City of Melbourne and a reflection of the quality of work performed by Water Production Superintendent Fred Davis and his staff. We can all be extremely proud of this achievement," Reigelsperger said.