Staffing could leave Fourth of July up in smoke
Lodi City Council discusses parks department vacancies that could threaten annual celebration at Lodi Lake
Cutting community events and services or filling two positions in the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department was discussed during the Lodi City Council’s shirtsleeve session on Tuesday morning.
Jeff Hood, the parks and recreation director, told the council that in the past decade, the department’s level of staffing has declined significantly. In the 1992-93 fiscal year there were 22 people employed in the department, with 90 fewer acres in the parks system than the city currently has. Right now there are only 12 employees on staff. By not filling the positions the department will not have the adequate amount of people needed to cover more than 300 acres in the parks system, Hood said.
If the two positions are not filled mowing will continue, Hood said, but the department would not be able to perform sport-specific youth sports field maintenance or staff the Fourth of July celebration at Lodi Lake. The department would also be unable to assist community groups with special events, respond timely to dangerous conditions, maintain restrooms, respond timely to water leaks and sewer plugs or perform special projects, said Hood, who asked council to give him the OK to recruit for the two vacancies in the department.
City Manager Steve Schwabauer inquired if the council would possibly consider eliminating some community events that come with costs versus not filling the vacant positions.
“As staffing goes down, those things are going to go away because there won’t be the staff ultimately to support them,” Schwabauer said. “I’m not necessarily asking you directly what you want to see happen in parks but because parks drive the conversation, I want to have the conversation about parks ... about whether there are sacred cows as we go forth and deal with the budget problems we have.”
According to Schwabauer, the Fourth of July event comes with a $75,000 cost including $16,000 in fireworks. He said he’s gone to the event several times and the majority of people who usually attend are not from Lodi.
Councilman Bob Johnson said it was premature to make a decision and felt the council should look at all the city departments as a whole when deciding whether to make cuts or fill positions.
“There was a staff memo handed out this morning in which Steve Schwabauer said that he is going to take a look at each department and what I was advocating was let’s go head and do that. Let’s look at every department but before we start making decisions, have all of the departments laid out in front of us,” Johnson said Tuesday afternoon. “I want to see the whole thing laid out so I can say OK, that one makes sense, that one doesn’t make sense,’ rather than see it piecemeal. I want to see what all the options are before we make any determination.”
Johnson said that after looking at everything as a whole, if it came down to cutting community events or other services, he would have no qualms with that.
“Nobody likes to cut. No one likes to see people lose their jobs but we’re in a very, very deep economic pinch. There has to be decisions made that people are not going to be happy to make but they have to be made. We’re running out of options,” Johnson said. “I’m a red, white and blue guy. I would hate to see the Fourth of July fireworks go away. I’m also a realist. That may be on the chopping block. I would not like to see that, but if it came down to a vote I would probably vote to eliminate them, but I would not like to have that happen.”
Councilman Alan Nakanishi also agreed that the decision about whether to make cuts or fill the positions was too premature and eliminating community events and services would give off the perception that the city is “going in the dumps” when it is not.
Mayor Doug Kuehne said he would like to explore opportunities to make parks and recreation a profitable venture before considering the possibility of cutting services and pointed out that an upcoming legislative bill may have some monetary opportunities for the department.
Kuehne suggested charging to get into Lodi Lake on a regular basis with discounts for Lodi residents, as well as charging for parking at the Grape Bowl as a few ways to make the department profitable.
During public comment, Lodi resident Mike Lusk proposed that the city should revisit putting a sales tax increase on the ballot during the next election to offset parks and recreation costs and provide the necessary funding for those two positions.
Hood said department spending on parks maintenance has decreased in the past decade from about a little more than $2 million in 2007-08 to $1,774,130 in 201718. The department is also operating at an annual deficit in excess of $300,000 a year and the budget for maintenance has been stagnant.
In the last decade, the department’s expenses have increased 1.7 percent, Hood said.