By Bonnie Culverhouse

In an effort to avoid future drowning tragedies, Minden City Council is discussing a resolution to allow free swim lessons for any Minden child under 18 years old.

Mayor Nick Cox posed the question to council members during a workshop Monday: “When we have swimming facilities in our city, why are there children in our community that do not know how to swim?”

“It is tragic and if we can save one life then we need to,” he continued.

Cox said he met with Recreation Department Director Zita Williams to work on a plan to offer free lessons at the rec center to any child living within the city limits of Minden.

The plan is called “The Minden Promise: All Kids Taught to Swim.”

When Williams said it may be an issue to teach all children and still maintain normal paid lessons, Cox posed the idea of temporarily foregoing all paid lessons, and offering a first full week of free beginner lessons.

“We can teach a kid to swim in one week, and we just rotate them through that beginner’s lesson – and a child can only take it one time,” he said.

By doing so, the rec center will lose between $5,000 and $6,000 per year in revenue, “but we never know how many kids’ lives we may have saved,” he said. “And if it ever does happen, at least we know we did all we could to try and help our kids learn to swim.”

If registration for free lessons does not fill up, the city will continue normal paid swim lessons in those slots that cover beginner, intermediate and advanced.

“I would never want money to be a barrier to a child learning lifesaving skills,” he said.

If the council agrees, a vote would be held at the June meeting.