Honolulu’s lifeguards got their own city department this spring after years of campaigning for more autonomy and leverage over budget negotiations.

Whether to create a volunteer commission that would oversee the Department of Ocean Safety and have the power to appoint and remove its chief will be up to voters in November. The commission would be analogous to those that oversee the city’s police and fire departments.

The new department, which was created in May by Mayor Rick Blangiardi, subsumed the Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services division that was part of the Emergency Services department. That will enable lifeguards to lobby for more resources in the city budget instead of having to compete with other emergency services, supporters said.

Each year, city lifeguards report making about 3,000 rescues, responding to 40 drownings and 1.4 million preventative actions to stop a drowning before it happens.

The creation of the new department came after years of arguments over whether to put that question forward as a charter amendment. Mayor Rick Blangiardi put together a yearlong task force to study the issue, which he announced in March had recommended that the new department be formed.

But the mayor does not have the power to create a volunteer oversight commission, which many lifeguards and people within the ocean safety realm think is important. That can only come from a voter-approved city charter amendment.

In May, Blangiardi also signed a City Council resolution allowing for the ballot measure asking voters to decide on the commission in November:

Shall the Revised City Charter be amended to establish an Ocean Safety Commission to review and make recommendations on certain activities of the Department of Ocean Safety and to appoint and remove the Chief of Ocean Safety?

The commission would have five members with the power to appoint and remove the head of Ocean Safety.

They also would conduct annual evaluations of the chief’s performance, hear complaints from the public, recommend improvements to operations, submit annual reports to the City Council and the mayor, and make budget recommendations, according to the charter amendment proposal.

Advocates say the department’s leadership shouldn’t be beholden to the mayor, given its importance for public safety.

“An Ocean Safety Commission that appoints the Department Chief is a key component to the success of a standalone Ocean Safety Department,” lifeguard Jesse King wrote in testimony from May.

Read the full charter amendment proposal below: