Some Parks Maintenance Duties to Return to Parks Department
September 21, 2011
Mayor Dewey Bartlett and the Tulsa Parks Board have asked Tulsa
Parks & Recreation Director Lucy Dolman to formulate a plan for
returning parks maintenance functions to the Parks Department.
Parks maintenance work and Parks employees who performed the
work were transferred to the former Public Works Department under
the previous City administration. This change was made in order to
improve efficiencies and to free the Parks staff to focus more on
Parks programs.
The Public Works Department has since been disbanded and
reorganized into three smaller departments targeting specific
functions - Streets & Stormwater, Water & Sewer and
Engineering Services.
Ongoing problems with maintenance on aging Parks buildings and
grounds prompted the Parks Board to enlist the aid of the mayor in
returning maintenance duties to the department.
"Because Parks are at the core of our communities, it is the
City's task to strengthen them, to build them up, and make them
places where we can show our pride," said Mayor Bartlett.
The Tulsa Parks and Recreation Master Plan was completed in 2010
and was adopted as part of PLANiTULSA. The Parks Master Plan
provides a clear direction to reinvigorate Tulsa's parks, and the
Parks Board is eager to implement the plan, which was approved by
the City Council. We will soon begin the first steps to implement
the plan and we must provide the resources. As one of only
four charter boards, the Parks Board advises the mayor on
management, operation, improvement and maintenance of parks,
playgrounds, and other recreational facilities.
The Parks Department is beginning an improvements program which
includes removal of neglected structures, followed by construction
of new facilities which fit into the neighborhoods and will be
supported and used by Tulsans.
Dolman has been working with the City's Management Review Office
to identify employees and other resources that may be returned to
the Parks Department, however, the numbers of employees and their
functions are still to be determined.
