Save State $ And Protect Our Parks!

Great news for Washington's Parks in today's Council 28's Hotline!  

WFSE/AFSCME PRESENTS ALTERNATIVE FORT WORDEN MANAGEMENT PLAN THAT SAVES STATE $1.2 MILLION

    The Federation on Friday formally asked the state Parks Commission to reject plans to turn over management of Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend and instead embrace the union’s alternative that would save $1.2 million and not sap further revenue from the cash-starved parks system.

    The Fort Worden Public Development Authority (FWPDA) wants to take over effective control of the historic battery, made famous as the setting for the 1982 Richard Gere movie, “An Officer and a Gentleman.”

    But among other “asks,” the PDA wants to skim off $250,000 of the $350,000 in annual camp fees at Fort Worden.

    The Federation, instead, proposes a plan that keeps the park under the commission’s control and makes the PDA a partner with the ability to do fundraising for upgrades to buildings that tenants now use.

    The Federation’s “Black Friday Memo” also identifies nine areas where the PDA’s business plan does not comply with a 2008 long-range plan. That’s required by the Legislature. The union will ask the Parks Commission at its Dec. 6 meeting in Monroe to declare the business plan out of compliance and allow employees to offer alternatives under state competitive contracting rules and the General Government Collective Bargaining Agreement.

    But first, on Nov. 29, the public will get a chance to comment on the PDA’s plans at a public meeting in Port Townsend.

    The Federation’s “Black Friday Memo” outlines savings of $1.2 million from what the PDA proposes. The union proposes increasing tenant rents by about 35 percent – but still well under market rates. And the Federation plan would bring all reservations for parks facilities under the commission; that would cut out the current wasteful practice where the tenants act as a third-party broker and sub-lease space they pay little or nothing for.

“Not only is the current deficit nearly eliminated in the first year, but a solid foundation for future increases in revenue is created that has a greater opportunity for success,” the Federation’s memo said.

    The union also saves by rejecting the PDA’s marketing plan, instead using parks staff. And the Federation would save $147,000 by upgrading the current computer reservation system rather than replacing it to the tune of $162,000, as proposed by the PDA.

    The Fort Worden Public Development Authority would also rely on state subsidies to operate.

    This flies in the face of current joint efforts by the commission and Federation to ask the Legislature for additional General Fund monies to smooth out the transition to the user-fee based Discover Pass system, which still is not bringing in the required revenue to make up for lost state funds.

    “The PDA plan is a drain on the parks system,” said Jeanine Livingston, the Federation’s contract compliance manager. “Parks have been cut beyond the bone. The PDA plan calls for a state subsidy that places the rest of the parks system in jeopardy. There could be additional layoffs, fewer year-round parks and parks closures. We can’t ask the Legislature for more money to cover the Discover Pass and then even more money to subsidize the PDA’s contracting out plan.”