Shawano County Parks Manager Keith Marquardt’s request for more park staff during the fall months was trimmed Monday by the Administrative Committee.
Marquardt had requested one of his summer employee positions be expanded to nine months because of the number of events and campers at Shawano Lake County Park in September and October. The committee approved having one additional employee through the end of September.
A four-month park employee earns about $7,200 per year. A nine-month employee with limited hours during the off-season would get $12,800 annually, Marquardt said.
Marquardt explained that his 10 summer employees are due to finish on Sept. 6, the weekend after Labor Day. However, there are still campers booking the park until November, and Marquardt has 30 events booked for the pavilion, including 18 in September.
Letting all the summer employees go after Sept. 6 would have left the parks system with only four employees, including Marquardt. The additional employee will primarily handle the set-up and tear-down for events in the pavilion.
To not have sufficient staff might require Marquardt to limit use of the pavilion, he told the committee.
“I can turn down people using the pavilion. I can charge other county departments,” Marquardt said. “If I don’t have staff, I’ll just say, ‘You can’t have use of the pavilion.’”
Usage of the pavilion has increased significantly over the last five years. The pavilion already has 99 events booked for 2014, the same number as 2013, but Marquardt noted other events likely will be booked for 2014 between now and the end of the year.
Supervisor Kathy Luebke suggested trimming hours in the summer to have sufficient hours to keep one of the limited-term employees on staff longer.
Marquardt found that idea problematic, explaining that the summer staff is needed to keep the park clean, which is one of the reasons campers come in September and October after the traditional camping season ends. Also, trimming hours would likely eliminate on-site park staff on Friday and Saturday nights, when volume is highest and the potential for issues grows.
“This (past) Friday night, we had a theft at three in the morning,” Marquardt said. “Some kids came down and stole coolers from some of our campers.”
The on-site ranger caught the kids and called the Sheriff’s Department, Marquardt said.
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