Harford reducing number of parks and recreation maintenance jobs, relying more on contractors

Harford County has been gradually reducing its maintenance staff for the Department of Parks and Recreation, as workers are not replaced when they leave and contractors take on more mowing duties.&quot;We have fiscal realities to deal with, and efficiency is not a one-year fix,&quot; Cindy Mumby, a spokesperson for the county administration, said. &quot;We are constantly looking for ways to be more efficient and to save taxpayer money.&quot;When County Executive Barry Glassman took office in late 2014, he and his staff put together their first budget for the 2015-2016 fiscal year, which showed an 80-20 split in county employees and contractors doing the mowing for the 967 acres under Department of Parks and Recreation control, Mumby said.That has shifted to a 50-50 ratio for fiscal 2017, which started July 1, as parks and rec maintenance staffers retire or depart for other jobs, according to Mumby.She stressed the entire maintenance service section, which has 34 employees, is not being outsourced.&quot;No one's losing their job, it's all through attrition,&quot; Mumby explained. &quot;Folks are either retiring or transferring to another job; those positions are simply not being back filled.&quot;The affected employees make up more than a third of the 94-person parks and recreation workforce, which had 96 people in fiscal 2016 and 105 in fiscal 2015, according to county budget documents.The union that represents many Harford County employees, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, has not taken a position on using more contractors for parks and recreation mowing.&quot;They [the county] are [abiding] by the contract, so they are not doing anything wrong,&quot; said Chuck Bankert, president of AFSCME Local 1802, which represents highways, parks and recreation and some water and sewer employees.Three county employees, who were mowing at Belcamp area parks and rec facility on Thursday morning, said they did not want to talk about the move to more contractors, although one of them said he had heard &quot;rumors&quot; of the change.More than $5.98 million, out of the $10.1 million parks and recreation budget, has been set aside for facilities operations and maintenance in fiscal 2017. The county is spending $1.17 million on contractual services related to parks and facilities, $172,000 more than it spent last year. The facilities budget has increased overall by more than $300,000. The county budgeted $5.68 million for that purpose last year.A specific line item for mowing is not in the parks and recreation budget, Mumby said. She noted costs for that service are included in spending for employees, maintenance, fuel, in-house equipment and the contracts. The mowing contracts are approved by the Harford County Board of Estimates.A Parks and Recreation employee mows the ball fields off Belcamp Garth in Belcamp as a boy plays ball on the baseball diamond Thursday. Harford County government is using more contractors for mowing.The department is spending less on salaries this year, compared to the past two years. The county set aside $7.48 million for salaries for all parks and recreation positions this year, compared to $7.49 million last year and $8.01 million in fiscal 2015, according to the budget.Mumby said the administration expects the ratio will shift toward contractors taking on more mowing as additional county employees depart.&quot;It won't go to zero [for the county],&quot; she said, reiterating: &quot;No one is losing their job; this is all through attrition.&quot;Mumby noted the county's highways and water and sewer departments also use contractors for mowing at their facilities.More than 40 positions in the county's former Department of Environmental Services were eliminated in August 2015 when the county outsourced all of its solid waste and sanitation services, including the operation of its landfill in Street, to Maryland Environmental Service, an independent state government sanctioned operation.AFSCME initially filed a grievance against the county, but then reached a settlement in which the former environmental services workers could have the first chance to apply for open county positions.Some of the displaced workers got other county jobs, or they went to work for MES; however, two former employees sued the county, claiming the county had not followed procedures in its own codes and the contract with AFSCME governing a mass layoffs, since the whole department was eliminated.The Circuit Court and county's Personnel Advisory Board later upheld the county's process for the outsourcing.The county recently renewed the Maryland Environmental Service contract for the 2017 fiscal year at a cost of $5.24 million. Director of Administration Billy Boniface said the outsourcing saved the county about $550,000 over the 10 months in fiscal 2016.Brian Krista of The Baltimore Sun Media Group contributed to this report.

Harford reducing number of parks and recreation maintenance jobs, relying more on contractors

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