June 28, 2023 |
Photo – Washington Park – Bigfoot99 file photo
With the warm weather upon us, the Rawlins Parks Department is hard at work keeping the city’s green spaces looking their best. Parks and Recreation Director Jason Sehon said his department is short staffed. Sehon said he relies on seasonal workers to mow and weed while full-time parks department employees handle more technical responsibilities.
Sehon said in his two plus years as the city’s parks and rec director, he has never had so few seasonal workers. Sehon said recruitment has been a challenge for everyone.
Often, during the summer months, organizations will use high school students to supplement their workforce. Sehon said not being able to hire minors has limited his department’s access to seasonal workers.
Seasonal parks department workers start at $12.36 an hour. Every year people return, they receive a 50-cent raise, maxing out at $14.36 an hour. Sehon said the parks department isn’t the lowest paid seasonal job the city offers. The parks and rec director said the city council is aware that the wages are considered low.
In other words, it’s a budget thing. Money for seasonal employees must come from somewhere. Less impact assistance funding and ballooning inflation has every town in Carbon County feeling the pinch.
The lack of seasonal workers has had a domino effect on the city’s parks. Sehon said watering and mowing have been less frequent than people would like. He said the sentiment is shared by the parks department staff.
Sehon said the condition of the city’s cemetery has been a point of contention between residents and the parks department. He said the few parks department workers spend a lot of time on the graveyard.
Sehon said the cemetery’s current irrigation system must be activated manually. He said he hopes to automate the process next year if he can find $45,000 in the city’s budget to buy the required equipment.
In another bid to take some of the strain off parks department employees, Sehon said he has introduced an Adopt a Park program. The parks and rec director said individuals or groups can offer to maintain any of the city’s parks or green spaces, including the cemetery. Sehon said adoptees would be mainly responsible for light yardwork and litter removal.
Sehon asked people interested in the Adopt a Park program to call him at the Rawlins Family Recreation Center. The phone number is 307-324-7529.
Public Information Officer Mira Miller explained how to apply for an open seasonal worker position.
Like Miller said, go to www.rawlinswy.gov/jobs for a full list of available city jobs.
