Mayor: City Is Following Up on Alcohol Pool Party

The school district may have closed the case on , but the city of Lakewood has not.

After the story broke on Lakewood Patch on Wednesday, Fox 8 news made a stop at , where Mayor Michael Summers said the city has an “obligation to follow up” on the incident.

That’s because bringing alcohol into a city park is illegal, he said.

Summers added that he was the person who discovered the off-duty lifeguards still at the pool at around 9:30 p.m.

The school district — which oversees the recreation department — has already accepted the resignations of a Madison Pool lifeguard and her supervisor.

Seven other lifeguards were suspended without pay for two weeks. All but one of them work at . 

The district released a statement to Fox 8 noting that "the matter is closed."

The incident was first discovered when the mayor — "unbeknownst to a lot of lifeguards" — showed up to make an announcement regarding the .

Aquatics director Matt Demaline was notified. After he dismissed the lifeguards, he found as many as two cases of beer at the pool.

“I had suspicions that they were doing something they shouldn’t be doing,” he said. “But I didn’t observe anyone drinking.”

The police weren’t notified about the pool party, which may have included underage drinking.

Most of the lifeguards are older than 18, but younger than 21.

Summers told Fox 8 that the one surveillance camera at the park didn’t catch any footage of the party. He said more cameras would be installed at the park by the end of the summer. 

“I believe this was out of character for these kids,” Demaline said. “These are good kids who made a questionable decision.”

The suspended lifeguards, who are part-time, seasonal employees, are set to begin working again July 19.

Do you think the lifeguards' punishment was fair? Take .