By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
The fringe benefit of working in wide open spaces for $11 an hour is not enough to lure seasonal staff for the Wood County Park District.
The park district board learned Tuesday that only one seasonal worker has been hired this summer – leaving the district 13 workers shy of the normal summertime staff.
“We’ve had zero success with advertising,” said Neil Munger, director of the park district.
So some weeds may go un-wacked, and some grass may not get mowed as often.
“Little things aren’t getting done,” said Jeff Baney, assistant director of the park district.
Starting pay for seasonal maintenance staff was previously $10 an hour.
“We moved that up to try to get more people,” Munger said. “It’s a tough task getting people.”
The board on Tuesday discussed raising the hourly wage from $11 an hour. But Munger cautioned that the seasonal pay is already close to the full-time starting pay for facilities and lawn care specialists staff.
The starting maintenance staff wage is currently $11.58 an hour, and was set according to a salary study done in 2015, with cost of living increases approved annually by the board.
Board member Tom Myers noted that the customary minimum wage right now being offered in Ohio is between $14 and $15 an hour.
“If we’re going to do that, we need to take a look at the staff,” Munger said.
The park district will be posting signs in the county parks about the seasonal openings.
“Our hope is that getting the signs up there may get some faithful park-goers,” Munger said.
The park district is looking for workers 18 and older, since insurance doesn’t allow younger staff to drive vehicles. But Baney said he wouldn’t mind younger workers.
“If they can pull weeds, I’ll take them,” he said.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the board and park staff talked about the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions in the parks. As of June 1, all park facilities were fully opened, with no masking or social distancing required.
But the board realized some people may want to continue wearing masks.
“If you feel more comfortable wearing a mask, wear a mask,” board President Sandy Wiechman said. “It’s your personal choice.”
While the park district may encourage unvaccinated people to wear masks, they can’t require them to, Wiechman said.
Since the park programs are frequented by little children, who are not yet eligible for vaccinations, questions were raised about the need for them to wear masks and stay socially distanced especially when inside buildings.
The board agreed that limits could remain in place for tour groups with children.
Board member Tom Myers said the parks can set “reasonable” limits.
“I’m hoping folks who participate are doing the right thing for everybody,” he said.
“I think we have to look for a balance,” Myers said. “We can enforce things that make sense.”
Myers said people should be comfortable coming to the open atmosphere of the parks.
“Quite frankly, we are providing a service I want people to partake in,” he said.
Jim Witter, the park district program coordinator, pointed out that programming opened up in a limited fashion last summer to allow people an outlet.
“I think people appreciated that,” he said.
“It’s a complicated, fraught period of time,” Witter said.
Also at the meeting, Molly Strader, a neighbor of Buttonwood Park, thanked the board for cleaning up part of the park, which had been wiped out twice by ice jams in recent winters.
Strader said neighbors are again using the park, and are grateful for the work by the park district. She asked about the possibility of starting a fundraising campaign for Buttonwood Park.
Munger said a presentation on the park will be presented to the board next month.
“Our goal in the immediate future is to get the park looking less than abandoned,” he said.
In other business at the meeting, the park board:
- Heard a presentation by Joe Schroeder, of Miller Insurance, on the public entities pool membership. The first rate increase in 17 years was necessary, Schroeder said. The board approved the policy costing $77,220.
- Approved contracts for interpretive exhibits at W.W. Knight Preserve for $22,979, and at Otsego Park for $7,800.
- Learned the grand opening of the Sawyer Interpretive Center will be on July 31. The center will be named after Ann B. Sawyer, who donated the stone quarry to the park district and believed in the importance of teaching about the natural surroundings and about how the quarry operated.
