The Volunteer Life Saving Corps (VLSC) of Jacksonville Beach has launched a voter referendum campaign to compel the City of Jacksonville Beach to place an amendment to the Jacksonville Beach Charter on the Nov. 8 general election ballot.
The amendment, if approved, would require the city to preserve the corps’ historical operations at the American Red Cross Volunteer Life Saving Corps Station and execute a deed of conveyance permitting the American Red Cross to convey the station to the corps, for whom it was originally constructed 75 years ago.
The American Red Cross currently owns the station building, and it sits on land deeded to the Red Cross by the city. That deed states that if the station is not being used by the corps for more than one year, then the land reverts back to the city.
To get the proposed amendment on the November ballot, the corps will need to collect signatures from at least 10% of the city’s 18,000-plus registered voters by Aug. 9. To reach its goal, the corps is activating a sign-up campaign taking place daily at various locations around the beaches area.
“Over the past months, we have seen unequivocally strong public support for the VLSC to continue our 110 years of volunteer service in our community,” said Jim Emery, VLS Board of Directors president. “We have tried earnestly to negotiate with the City of Jacksonville Beach to no avail and believe that this is best option to remain operational. We hope the public will continue to make their voices heard and support the VLSC by taking this most important step and signing our petition by Aug. 9.”
The charter amendment petition follows the city’s lockout of the corps from American Red Cross Volunteer Life Saving Corps Station and the delivery of a notice of contract termination on April 5. For decades, the corps has worked alongside guards employed by the city’s Jacksonville Beach Ocean Rescue at the station, with the corps guarding the beaches on Sundays and holidays.
In December 2021, the Department of Labor noted an issue with some Jacksonville Beach Ocean Rescue lifeguards being members of the corps, resulting in a determination that a lifeguard working for the city on a paid basis Monday-Saturday could not also be used as a volunteer on Sunday and holidays.
The city subsequently decided to assume fulltime responsibility for guarding the beaches, eliminating volunteer guard service in Jacksonville Beach entirely, effectively setting the stage for the dissolution of the Volunteer Life Saving Corps, which was established in 1912.
According to the corps, employment law experts have advised it that as long as Jacksonville Beach Ocean Rescue employees are not corps members and each organization conducts its own training, all parties will be compliant with the Department of Labor wage-and-hour laws.
The Volunteer Life Saving Corps contends that the city, by locking corps members out of the station, terminated its current 10-year agreement unilaterally with no required advance notice and that the contract is unenforceable.
The corps estimates that the additional staffing to replace the volunteer guards will cost Jacksonville Beach taxpayers an additional $125,000 per year.
The corps’ 4,000 members have provided the city with more than 1,606,000 volunteer service hours over its existence, said Emery.
“In addition to performing thousands of life-saving rescues, assists to swimmers in distress and administering nearly 27,000 first-aid cases, our organization has produced a multitude of community leaders in every field imaginable, teaching them the importance of volunteerism and self-sacrifice,” he said.
For further information about the Jacksonville Beach Volunteer Life Saving Corps, go to jaxbeachlifeguard.org or contact Emery at jim.emery@comcast.net or 904-307-9530.
