City parks and recreation workers work hard to keep city in shape

Dear editor:

I rarely write a letter to the editor. But when someone calls our Parks and Recreation staff "lazy", as Brittnee Harrison did in last week's paper, I have to set the record straight.

The Recreation Department employs five individuals who manage over 100 programs with over 4,000 participants, thousands of spectators and hundreds of volunteers every year. These five people are responsible for marketing and newsletter creation and distribution, finding partners and sponsors, tracking participation, arranging for instructors, coaches and officials, coordinating the places, times, and registrations, maintaining safety and quality control. These few employees are able to get so much done because they work extra hours, have plenty of drive, and feel boundless enthusiasm for the value their programs provide to the community.

Our parks staff, which is responsible for the Legacy Park pond to which Ms. Harrison refers, consists of six individuals with tremendous initiative. These city workers take care of 40 pieces of public property totaling over 200 acres. They maintain and repair all the equipment on the property, and all the equipment used to maintain it.

They do it so well that all the city's park maintenance vehicles are more than 20 years old, saving city taxpayers thousands over the years by delaying new vehicle expenses.

The parks staff offers the full spectrum of construction and maintenance work, from building rock walls, laying sod, installing sprinklers to re-painting and refurbishing picnic tables. Sadly, they must also spend hours repairing vandalism and cleaning up garbage, which people could have disposed of themselves.

This year, the parks staff gladly pitched in to assist with city-wide snow removal.

They are some of the hardest workers I've ever encountered, and when it comes to hard work, my standards are high.

As far as the Legacy Park pond is concerned, the Parks staff just spent 150 hours in November, working to the specifications set by Fish and Game, to deepen the pond and create better conditions for the fish. The pond water is free flowing groundwater, which circulates, so chemicals cannot be used to treat it. The green substance Ms. Harrison refers to is algae, not moss, and will disappear by spring as part of the natural cycle of the landscape. The health of the birds and fish are of enough importance to us that we seek the continuing guidance of Fish and Game in maintenance of the Legacy Park environment.

The city welcomes the help and volunteer efforts of interested citizens. We sincerely appreciate a positive desire to improve our parks and public spaces. There is more than enough work to be done. Getting it accomplished is a team effort between the citizens, the staff and those elected to serve; and that means we take time to pat each other on the back at the same time we roll up our sleeves. For me, it must begin with publicly recognizing the tireless hard work and dedication of our Parks and Recreation staff.

Mayor Tom Rist