Democrats celebrate park outsourcing pause

NASHVILLE — Tennessee Rep. John Ray Clemmons and Sen. Lee Harris say the response from their statewide tour to gauge the interest and potential effect of privatizing the operations and management of state parks and facilties was overwhelming, even in rural parts of the state that consistently vote against Democrats like them.

But what they’re calling a “very significant victory” is likely short-lived.

On Wednesday, Haslam put an indefinite hold on the privatization of management of Fall Creek Falls State Park, where he and his proposed budget have taken first aim at privatization. For a couple of years Haslam has pushed a sort of sidecar initiative to privatize the management of state facilities, including state parks, facilities at state-run colleges and universities.

“We think it is — at least for now — the people back in charge of what we do with our public assets,” Harris said Thursday.

Many saw the Fall Creek Falls privatization of concession facilities and renovation of the inn as a test of whether the measure could be scaled to all state parks or across the entirety of stateowned facilities.

Eric Ward, communications director for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, said a Request for Proposal submission deadline was postponed to make an amendment, which will be made public when the new RFP is issued.

Ward said he couldn’t legally disclose what the amendment was until it was made public.

Last year, the effort to privatize facilities management at colleges and universities drew an outpour of criticism from state workers concerned they would see a reduction in pay, layoffs or loss of valuable state benefits.

“These places need to be protected.” — TENNESSEE REP. JOHN RAY CLEMMONS

Haslam pushed the effort as a measure to save the state money and reduce the size and scope of government, both core Republican pillars.

Clemmons said that goal is noble — “government efficiency is a great aim,” he said — but he and Harris both suspect there were influencers behind Haslam’s idea who had a stake in the game. He questioned the virtues of Haslam’s initiative.

“Before [the postponement], many of us believed that consultants were in charge of our cherished public assets,” Harris said.

Clemmons, of Nashville, and Harris, of Memphis, have toured the state to collect input from state workers “with an open mind.” They said the response and feedback they got was overwhelmingly opposed to what Haslam had proposed.

“What we heard, resoundingly, is they’re understaffed, there’s no more room for cuts, they need extra funding, and they believe these jobs need to stay in control of state government,” Clemmons said.

But inclusions in Haslam’s proposed budget suggest a different direction. There’s a $10-million item deep in the 1,000-page document that indicates he wants to raze the inn at Henry Horton State Park, but there’s no accompanying item that would support the rebuilding of the inn. At least not by the state.

Three similar appropriations are included in the same line item: $4.29 million for the Rocky Fork Visitor Center, $11.68 million for Pickwick Landing Inn renovation and $23 million for Paris Landing Inn replacement.

“These places need to be protected,” Clemmons said.