Carbon County officials are looking for lifeguards to staff Mauch Chunk Lake Park this summer.

And to help build interest in the positions, the Carbon County Salary Board increased the salary from $9 to $10 per hour, effective immediately.Commissioners'Chairman WayneNothstein, who also chairs the salary board, said the increase is to try to help lifeguards offset the costs of the training programs that are needed to becomecertified and remaincertified as lifeguards. Today, the cost for training is $200 and recertification is $65.He said the county is working with pools, which have also experienced lifeguard shortages over the past few years, to try and set up additional training sessions on weekends in the spring.Nothstein said another reason for the increase in pay is because lakes are completely different from swimming pools and require the lifeguard to be more attentive because they cannot see the bottom of the lake like they could at a clear swimming pool.Last year, the county was forced the shut down the swimming area of Mauch Chunk Lake when there weren't enough lifeguards available to work."Since we charge a fee, we must provide lifeguards," Nothstein said, noting that if there aren't lifeguards on duty, there can't be any swimming.Commissioners William O'Gurek and Thomas J. Gerhard agreed with Nothstein, saying they hope the increase helps bring in additional applications. There are 12 lifeguard positions available at the lake."We need lifeguards," O'Gurek said.The problem with the lack of qualified lifeguards came to a head last summer when the commissioners talked about a problem with finding enough certified lifeguards to fill all the available positions at Mauch Chunk Lake.In other salary board matters, the board acted on the following items:• Change the rate of one part-time security office in the sheriff's department from $10.72 per hour to $11.04 per hour, effective Feb. 18.• Ratify the payment of on-call pay for Area Agency on Aging caseworkers at the rate of $40 for the scheduled days of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday; from Jan. 1 through Jan. 23.• Set the compensation of three election board members at $70 per day, effective per court order dated Jan. 14.• Change the rate of three part-time corrections officers at the prison from $11.59 per hour to $11.26 per hour, effective Feb. 5.