Photo Credit: Courtesy of Gustavo Bermeo
Since the passage of California’s Proposition 13 in 1978, the message to local government has been that growth must pay its own way while continuing to operate in an efficient and effective manner. The problem was that most agencies did not heed the message and continued down the same path, expecting the state and others to bail them out. A popular catchphrase today is “structural deficit”; however, there is no such thing. If more money is spent than is taken in, there is a negative balance. Simply put, people need to live within their means. And that is exactly what a small district that grew into a large district did in southern California.
Making The Switch
Valley-Wide Recreation and Park District is a full-contract maintenance organization. The district’s climb from one park to its current inventory of 76 was an evolving process. When the district added a 5-acre park nearly 10 years ago, it was decided an additional staff member was needed; however, it was also determined there was not enough work to justify an additional full-time employee. Recognizing its strengths as a recreation-programming organization and not a maintenance-and-repair group, the district’s board of directors decided to hire an outside company to maintain the new park. And who better than a landscape contractor and maintenance company that already exists in the community? Not only do the contractors do similar work, but they also employ numerous community members who live, shop, and add to the local economy.
After experiencing some growing pains and a learning curve, the district found that the contractors exceeded expectations. Subsequently, another decision was made to contract out the maintenance of all existing and any new parks. It is important to specify that some maintenance still needed to be done in-house. Although the core maintenance staff remains, members are now inspectors, contract monitors and field-preparation specialists, who assist in quality assurance. As such, their roles are less apt to utilize workers’ compensation and more apt to save on liability claims.
