Better to be safe than sorry.
Holmes Beach code enforcement relayed a Feb. 15 email blast from Police Chief Bill Tokajer to the city’s registered vacation rental owners and managers asking them to ensure their pool safety measures are in place and functional.
The message was sent the day after a Feb. 14 incident in which a 2-year-old boy nearly drowned after falling into a swimming pool at a vacation home in the 200 block of South Bay Boulevard in Anna Maria.
The mother rescued the child from the pool and Bayflite air ambulance service transported the victim to the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg.
The child’s condition was improving, his prognosis was positive and the investigation was closed as of Feb. 15, according to a Manatee County Sheriff’s Office report. MCSO provides law enforcement to the city of Anna Maria.
The incident may have been the result of a failed alarm device on the door leading to the pool area, which a sheriff’s deputy found lacked batteries and was improperly placed during an inspection of the property.
The city last inspected the property Jan. 20, 2021, and completes annual vacation rental inspections, according to city clerk LeAnne Addy.
Addy did not say when city staff was expected to complete the rental unit’s 2022 inspection.
Tokajer’s message referenced the incident, noting the property’s pool alarm had “malfunctioned or may have been tampered with.”
“The incident is a stark reminder that all doors and windows with direct access to a pool, spa or hot tub must have functioning alarms,” Tokajer wrote. “Having the alarm checked when code compliance does the bi-annual inspection does not do enough to make sure the alarms continue to be in working order in between inspections.”
“We strongly suggest having a cleaner or home inspector document that the alarms were functional and working properly before a new renter checks in,” he added.
The message also asks rental owners to maintain a working phone line that can be used in an emergency in case a cellphone is not available or lacks a signal.
Tokajer told The Islander March 3 that he wrote the message in the hopes of preventing something similar to the Feb. 14 Anna Maria incident in Holmes Beach.
Anna Maria Commissioner Robert Kingan told The Islander March 4 that he’d like the city to issue a similar bulletin to its vacation rental owners.
“I believe it’s very important to ensure that all of our vacation rental owners with pools, or access to docks or water or any dangerous place, should make sure that all their systems are up to date and active with batteries in place so that we can avoid having incidents like this in the future,” Kingan said.
He added that he would support exploring additional policy measures to ensure safety measures are maintained at the city’s rental units.