MONROE — Discussion of whether a parks supervisor is needed continues to divide members of city staff, aldermen and city employees, even as the proposed 2019 budget has been recommended for approval by Monroe Common Council during its meeting Nov. 5.
Members of the Finance and Taxation Committee approved a proposed budget during their meeting Oct. 10 after a presentation from City Administrator Phil Rath outlining changes and the tax impact.
Within the proposed document, the projected cost of salaries within the parks department was reduced by nearly $100,000. In 2016, over $307,000 was identified as parks salaries expenses. In 2017, it jumped slightly to almost $329,000. The change is due to a recommended change to not hire a new parks supervisor after the death of former parks supervisor and city forester Paul Klinzing, and to shift a parks worker to the utilities department to cover an opening for general labor work.
Rath recommended not hiring a new parks supervisor due to budget restrictions. He said a shift in employee responsibilities was more prudent to avoid firing other personnel because the budget could not accommodate the cost of the employees and a full-time supervisor.
“The city has a structural deficit and the only way we can fix that is to take a look at our operations and see how we can do things differently,” Rath said, adding that there will likely be an adjustment period as workers take on new tasks. “We might have to not do things the way we always have.”
At the council meeting Oct. 15, Brian Saugstad, who serves as the president of the Board of Park and Recreation Commissioners, said after attending the finance committee meeting, he decided to repeat his objections to not filling the position. Saugstad had previously given public comment during the Oct. 1 council meeting.
Saugstad pointed to not filling the position as additional stress on other departments already expected to work full-time.
“It doesn’t seem right to give people more duties and expect them to do the jobs well,” Saugstad said. “They have gone up and above what I think is necessary to make it look like it was working.”
He was referring to Public Works Director Al Gerber, park maintenance worker Dave Weckerley and interim Parks and Forestry Contact Matt Skibba, who also serves as the full-time recreation supervisor.
Forestry would be harmed the most, Saugstad added, because even more responsibilities have been added to the department over years. He said that in the past, when the city administrator position needed additional staff to handle the workload, an assistant city administrator was hired to solve the problem. Members of the public have stressed the importance of filling the parks supervisor position, he added.
Finance committee member Michael Boyce said he hopes to see the budget adopted. Not filling the previous parks and forestry position was purely a fiscal decision, he added.
“It’s not personal,” Boyce said. “It’s an objective review of resources in a budget process.”
A public hearing will take place during the Nov. 5 meeting, which will allow any residents to address issues they may have with the proposed 2019 budget.
Gerber and Skibba had expressed issues with the possibility of not filling the position prior to the finance committee meeting with a letter sent to the city. In it, they outline the need for a parks supervisor and recommend reducing the staff. If the city were to eliminate two young adult workers and a seasonal worker, it could have a savings of roughly $36,500. Add in a change to the way in which supplies are ordered and gradual reduction in overtime pay would add more than $9,000 saved.
They both included that “we feel very strongly that a Park Supervisor is needed in Monroe” in the letter. Skibba and Gerber added in their writing that they felt the shifting workload would likely require a period of adjustment, but “filling the vacated position is that important.”
Specifically, because of the span of duties a parks supervisor oversees.
“Members of council have expressed they do not have a full understanding of what the parks department does as a whole,” they wrote. “We feel it is important, when making this decision. … We don’t believe everyone fully understands everything this position is responsible for.”
The letter listed a number of duties, spanning from serving as a point of contact with the public on behalf of the department, attending conferences and training sessions, supervising all of the department staff, preparing grant requests and annual budget outlines, inspecting playgrounds and organizing tasks as well as attending various meetings throughout the city and facilitating staff requests.
They wrote that the duties could not be fully explained in just one letter. Attachments included examples of snow removal, the tree planting program, grounds, playground and building maintenance as well as preparation of athletic fields and facilities.
The personnel committee had considered applicants over the summer months to fill the position, but city staff were also instructed to evaluate whether the position would need to be filled in order to avoid hiring someone before knowing for certain whether the city could budget for the salary cost.
Rath said the recommend rate of pay for a new hire was roughly $55,000 with the addition of benefits.
Three finalists had been considered: Charles Heaton of Nebraska, who recently informed the city he no longer wished to pursue the position, applicant Garrett Ramsay and Joshua Trame, who is the son-in-law of the late Klinzing and Recreation Director Marge Klinzing. Rath said the city interviewed six applicants total for the position.
Rath said the city had not contacted anyone to offer the position because the issue was “tied up” in budget issues. He noted that part of conversations during the Salary and Personnel Committee meetings was to recommend consideration by the finance committee to determine whether the city could accommodate the cost of filling the position.