All hands on deck : Staff keep busy tending to expanding parks system
Posted on Monday, June 30, 2008
Can Fayetteville have it both ways: more parkland with the same or fewer hours for mowing and taking care of it ?
"I know the parks department talks a lot about they've got more parkland than they can take care of, and I sometimes wonder how much parkland do we need," said Ward 4 Alderman Lioneld Jordan, one of two council members to vote against rehiring a parks maintenance worker this month.
"We have over 3, 600 acres of parkland to take care of. We keep busy year-round, " said Connie Edmonston, parks and recreation director.
Responsibilities are growing. More land is dedicated for parks, and more parks are developed every year. In addition the department is responsible for maintaining the trails and public lands such as flower beds in parking lots, the entryway on Archibald Yell Boulevard and Happy Hollow Road landscaping.
Staff increases have not kept up with the increased workload. For at least five years, the department has been denied additional workers, Edmonston said.
The city's parkland dedication ordinance requires developers to provide 0. 024 acres - or its monetary equivalent by formula - for every new single-family housing unit on a new lot and 0. 017 acres for each multifamily unit. Since the parkland dedication ordinance was established in 1983, it has added 202 acres of parkland and trails to the city. In the past five years, the city has acquired 350 acres from parkland dedication requirements, land purchased by the city and natural areas. The Parks and Recreation Division is also responsible for the care of 21 more miles of natural and asphalt trails in the same time period. Meanwhile, Fayetteville's hiring freeze, established in December during the budget process, is still in place. A majority of the council must vote to rehire for vacated positions. A split council voted 4-2 earlier this month to rehire for one of the mowing and weed-eating positions. Jordan and Alderman Shirley Lucas cast the no votes. Edmonston said her department is brush-hogging more land and mowing less as officials re-prioritize the amount of work among the workers available. Brushhogging refers to field mowers, usually attached to tractors. Crews mow around pavilions and playgrounds in the developed parks. "But the surrounding areas, sometimes, we're mowing less and less just because we're trying to protect the active-use areas," Edmonston said. Another change has been reducing the mowing on the sides of the trails. "If we don't preserve that land today, it'll be gone tomorrow," said Edmonston, who continues to support the parkland growth despite the lack of a matching staff growth.
Vote The most recent hiring freeze vote was for a fulltime, year-round, entrylevel parks maintenance worker. The person who fills that post will be primarily responsible for maintaining parks, public lands and trails. That includes mowing, weed-eating, pruning trees and keeping parks and trails clean and free of litter. He or she would also have winter upkeep duties, help take care of ball fields and help install the Lights of the Ozarks display.
Salary for the position starts at $ 20, 911 annually.
Jordan based his vote against rehiring for that position on the possibility of filling it with a part-time worker and the sales tax collections that finance the city's General Fund.
"The only thing I was hoping we might be able to do is put on a part-time worker until the fall and see how the sales tax revenue does, and then possibly put that part-time worker on full time," he said. "Or if we have to turn somebody loose, that would be a part-time worker instead of a full-time worker."
"We need someone yearround," Edmonston said of the rehire request. "People want full-time jobs that have benefits, and that way we don't have to keep retraining the temporary workers."
The most recent sales tax report showed an increase of about 8. 59 percent when comparing city sales tax revenues for the same time period last year, according to Paul Becker, finance and internal services director.
Jordan acknowledged that tax revenues are coming in as anticipated.
"Well for right now, but what if they suddenly don't ? "he said. "I, personally, want to wait more until September, October, to really see what we've got."
Mayor Dan Coody disagreed with Jordan's assessment, noting that the maintenance position was approved in the 2008 budget.
"There's no real reason to be worrying about the position of a parks maintenance person because it's already been approved in the budget, and our budget numbers are right where we expected them to be," Coody said Thursday.
At the council meeting before the vote was taken, Lucas said she had heard from residents who wondered if the Lights of the Ozarks might take less time because the trees were shorter.
Edmonston answered with a list of other and ongoing winter duties for the maintenance staff.
Ward 1 Alderman Adella Gray said it made sense to her to rehire, especially in light of Edmonston's comments about reducing maintenance at the parks.
"To me it was a no-brainer to talk about cutting the staff further," she said. "I think our parks are one of our shining stars in Fayetteville, and we all know that with all the wonderful rain we've had that everything has to be mowed more. The thought of cutting our personnel was totally out of the picture for me. "Ward 3 Alderman Bobby Ferrell voted with the majority to rehire for the position, but for him it was a close call. "I guess I was a 51 percenter," Ferrell said. "I believe the council is and should do due diligence on these things. Government does not generally cut itself. "Keeping parks natural cuts down the tax burden for citizens, he said. "The less we have to maintain, the less we have to spend," he said. "I love natural parks. "According to Edmonston, the city has more natural parks than developed parks.
Parkland 1998 was the first time the city received a deed for parkland through the parkland dedication ordinance. It later became Bryce Davis Park. Among developed parks received through parkland dedication are: Trammel Park, Clarence Craft Park, Gar y Hampton Softball Complex, Red Oak Park, Eagle Park, Bayyari Park and David Lashley Park. Natural areas such as Rocky Branch Park and the greenspace of Friendship Park are also part of the parkland dedication from the past 25-plus years. Trail segments can also be part of the parkland dedication required of residential developers. By the wording voters approved in the ordinance, the money paid to the city instead of parkland dedication can only be used for the city to develop more parks and recreational facilities, and only in the same quadrant of town in which the development lies. Among other purchases, money in lieu of parkland has been used for sand volleyball courts, fences, signs, a gazebo, playground equipment, bike racks, the Lake Fayetteville spillway bridge, picnic tables and benches, soccer field construction, restrooms, lighting, a drinking fountain, basketball goal posts, and Grinders Skate Park at Walker Park. Development is ongoing. This month, a grand opening was held at Holland Park, 4385 W. Alberta St., and the department hosted an event at Bryce Davis Park to celebrate replacing outdated playground equipment. Ideas for creating a new park at 1582 S. Fairlane St., land dedicated through the city's ordinance, will be discussed at the next Parks and Recreation Advisory Board meeting. Staff levels According to Sherrie Langehennig, human resources administrator, the city has 17 full-time parks maintenance workers and seven part-time workers. Of the seven part-time employees, six are temporary workers hired just for the summer. Tracie Martin, financial coordinator for the Parks and Recreation Division, said the city had 3, 678 acres of parkland to maintain at the end of 2007. Divided among the 24 maintenance employees, that comes to about ™ acres of parkland maintained per employee. "People don't understand that during spring and summer, we're so busy mowing we're not doing anything else," Edmonston said. In the winter months, crews clean brush, trim trees, fix fences, and do other parks and grounds maintenance and upkeep throughout the city. "We are not a sufficient staff; we are an efficient staff," Edmonston said. Among the staff requests denied was a person to specifically care for trails so existing parks maintenance staff could continue their duties. Edmonston said her department also needs a facilities maintenance person to help renovate, replace light bulbs and paint. It is Edmonston's understanding that she will not be able to request more personnel next year. "You love that people are satisfied with you, but then when it comes to budgeting, ' They're doing fine. We don't have problems with them, so we'll go to the problem area and give them money. ' It's kind of a double-edged sword," she said.
How much ? "How much parkland do we need and how much parkland can we take care of ? "Jordan said. "I think that would be a good discussion for the council, especially during budget session coming up. "He said when the city takes in more parkland, that's more maintenance that needs to be done. "I think we need to be realistic about it," Jordan said.
Coody said it is tough to maintain all the parks, trails and public lands, but it would be shortsighted to change policies based on what he considers to be a cyclical slump in the economy.
Ferrell said he might like to see the parkland ordinance revisited so the money coming into the city in lieu of parkland dedication could be used for maintenance as well as for acquiring more parkland.
The existing ordinance was approved by a vote of Fayetteville residents. As such, the parkland ordinance cannot be changed except by public vote.
Steve Hatfield, former trails and greenways coordinator for the city and now a member of the Parks and Recreation Advisory board, said he thinks the parkland dedication ordinance will never outgrow its usefulness unless the city stops growing.
"We're selling our city on quality of life and all of these great things to do," he said. "If you have to get into your car and drive across town to get to a park, it just makes no sense."
He said it is fair to acquire land based on the number of new residents so there are parks for everyone in every neighborhood.
"It really has nothing to do with just trying to acquire more land," Hatfield said. "It has a lot more to do with trying to provide that quality of life that everyone wants."
Coody, too, said he thinks it is a good idea to keep adding parkland to the city.
"As Fayetteville continues to grow in population, we need to make sure our city stays green," said the mayor, who added that the city's park system is "by far the number-one favorite"in the city survey.
"Especially when we are trying to encourage more dense development and encourage more infill and walkability and livability, if we start cutting back on our greenspace, then over time we will cut back on the quality of life for our community," Coody said.
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