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Common Council votes to transfer responsibility for upkeep of city parks and field to Department of Public Works.
DPW to maintain parks and fields as of September 1, 2000.
Savings on not building new garage for Recreation & Parks vehicles cited for transfer of responsibilities.
Special to WPCNR
By John F. Bailey
CityLine: November 29 - The Mayor's Office
The Common Council voted last night to approve transfer responsibility for upkeep of White Plains parks and athletic fields to the Department of Public Works effective September 1, 2000.
The vote moves Department of Recreation and Parks groundskeepers and maintenance workers into the Department of Public Works, under the supervision of DPW Commissioner Joseph Nicoletti.
Commissioner Nicoletti will have sole responsibility for the upkeep of the parks, courts and athletic fields, baseball and soccer. Recreation and Parks Commissioner Joseph Davidson of the Department of Recreation and Parks will apparently be a liaison with Nicoletti on park maintenance matters. How line responsibility will be administered beginning in September has yet to be worked out. It was speculated by one member of the Recreation Advisory Committee that Joe Rea of the Department of Recreation and Parks would be involved in that responsibility.
Members of the Mayor's Recreation and Advisory Committee were persuaded at the meeting to agree to try the arrangement for a "trial period" of one year, and two persons on the Recreation Advisory attending the meeting that all on the committee were in agreement with the proposal.
Mayor Joseph Delfino assured all present there would be "no change in service," according to one Advisory Committee member. All requests would at this stage would "go through Joe Davidson." However, details of who would make decisions and how maintenance would be scheduled and requested for the fields and parks would be managed beginning next September are "sketchy" at this time.
Members of the Mayor's Recreation Advisory Committee expressed concern about chain of command decisions involving use of athletic fields, as to who decides whether fields are "playable," during games and who to contact for specific field maintenance. Another concern was the cleanliness of the parks. However, the "trial" nature of the proposal persuaded the Committee to endorse the proposal.
Mayor's Office: Savings key to move.
George Gretsas, The Mayor's Executive Officer, was asked yesterday the reasons for the switch, and he told WPCNR that it was a money-savings issue. Gretsas said that the new DPW garage scheduled to be built at Brockway Place beginning in 2001, would not have room for the Recreation and Parks vehicles and maintenance equipment.
A new garage to house the Rec mobile task force, Gretsas said, would have to be built, at an estimated cost to the city of over a half-million dollars. By housing and maintaining recreation vehicles in the existing DPW highway garage on South Kensico (near the Exxon and as yet, unopened car wash), the city will not have to build a separate recreation garage. Gretsas said the city saves on filling the position of Parks Maintenance Superintendent, budgeted at approximately $100,000 a year, according to the Mayor.
Gretsas: Umbrella responsibility given to Nicoletti of DPW will bring more manpower to parks, field, facilities maintenance.
Asked why the Department of Public Works had to control the Recreation and Parks maintenance crews when all that was required was garaging to house Recreation and Parks equipment, Gretsas said that the added manpower available through the Department of Public Works would give DPW Commissioner Joseph Nicoletti flexibility to increase Recreation and Parks manpower during busy weekends, and through the week much as the DPW mobilizes extra crews for the parades held in the city.
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