By Kevin Smith, Pharos-Tribune
kevin.smith@pharostribune.com
France Park will cut more than half of its seasonal staff for the summer to remain within its budget.
Sandy Heckard, superintendent of the Cass County Parks and Recreation Department, said she had been forced to request the staff level changes because she was not sure how much money will be available.
"We've had two fantastic years in the past, but we always had the tax levy," Heckard said. "With no tax money until June or July it is going to be difficult."
As part of the cuts, only nine seasonal employees will be employed by the park to work 30 hours per week. Last summer, the park employed 17 people who all worked 40 hours per week.
Specific jobs that will be cut include a mini golf attendant, reducing gate attendants from one to two, cutting security staff to two and employing six lifeguards instead of eight.
The park will also close the beach on Monday and Tuesday, its quietest days, and reduce beach operating hours from noon until 6 p.m. the rest of the week.
Heckard said the park's six full-time staff knows it will have to step up during the summer season.
"They know that they are going to have to work a little harder by working weekends and some split shifts," she said.
The Cass County Commissioners unanimously approved the request at Tuesday's meeting.
During the public comments segment of the meeting, former parks superintendent Wes Parmeter said that he felt the commissioners were tying Heckard's hands.
"Without the staff to operate, it is going to go downhill fast," Parmeter said. "132,000 people visit the park each year, which brings a lot of people and revenue to the county and Logansport. ... She is giving you revenue. Don't handcuff her, please."
Commissioner Dave Arnold said that commissioners were responding to Heckard's request and she was free to come back and seek more staff once the county knew exactly how much tax revenue it would have.
Arnold said after the meeting that the park would have to look for ways to increase its revenue in order to make up for the anticipated losses and retain its status as one of the county's most attractive destinations.
"France Park is the diamond in the rough for the county," Arnold said. "We have got to explore different ways to bring in more money. We are going to have to find out how to utilize the facility to its highest capacity."
He said this could be through an expansion of camping areas, something that currently generates a lot of money.
"Holidays especially, but also weekends, the camping areas are full," Arnold said. "If we can establish more spaces to put campers, that would probably be the best way that it can be done."
Heckard added that she hoped the cut would only be temporary.
"It's just for this summer," she said. 'We have to be conservative so we can continue to operate and offer a service next year."