HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012/06/28 Item 01 Additional InformationRECElVE~
June 21, 2012
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Honorable Mayor and City Council
276 Fourth Avenue
Chula Vista, CA 91910
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RE: Proposed Merger of Recreation Department and Library Services
Dear Mayor and Councilmembers,
I have been watching with great interest the proposed budget discussions that have
been occurring over the past couple of weeks, and I feel that I need to weigh in on
what I see is an ill-advised restructuring of two critically-important departments of
the City.
As most of you recall, I was an employee of the City of Chula Vista for 35 years
working within the Planning Department and the merged Planning and Building
Department during that tenure. I also was a member of the Growth Management
Commission (GMOC) for four years after that, interacting with the departments
being considered for merger, among several others. I believe that you know that I
am committed to what is best for "my" city. You also might recall me as a good
listener and one who tells it like he sees it.
I understand the need to be efficient in the delivery of services recognizing scarce
funding and resources; however, in examining the mission of the Recreation
Department and the mission of Library Services it is clear that the administration of
these departments require strong executive guidance and expertise. The Recreation
Department currently has a Director, but with no assistant executive. To assume
that merging the large scope of the Recreation Department activities and employees
under the current Library Services without an executive that can manage the
employees, as well as continue with vital outreach/collaboration with community
stakeholders while pursuing needed funding sources is a mistake.
While a member of the GMOC I had the opportunity to interact with the new Library
Director and found her to be refreshing and innovative. Library Services has moved
to provide some recreation services to attract more community use of current
Library activities and services, again an innovative approach. It would be a mistake
to dilute the energy and creativity that I see our community benefiting from by
distracting Library Director's efforts by putting an entire additional department
under her responsibility. The answer here isn't a merger of departments, but rather
better collaboration between departments to meet community needs, including
offsetting the underuse of Library services.
The goal of trying to save funding by eliminating one executive position and
redirecting those funds into additional recreation programming for the community
on its face is noble, but it seems clear to me that in the end, an executive position
will still be needed, and therefore, very little savings of funds. With very little
savings of funds, the upheaval of potentially two departments providing critical
services, and the strong potential to fail (has happened before), change for change's
sake does not make sense.
If the real issue is that Council is unhappy with how the Recreation Department is
being managed, then the Council has the means to change that. If the Council is
unhappy with the Director of Recreation, then it should replace him with a director
that can meet the Council's goals and expectations. Merging departments to achieve
this I believe would be a big mistake and not in the best interests of my community.
Thank you for your consideration,
li~
Duane E. zzel
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