Bonney Lake Mayor Dissolves Community Services, Reorganizes Parks Department

Before the long Memorial Day weekend, Bonney Lake Mayor Neil Johnson sent a memo to staff and city council, announcing an executive decision to dissolve the Community Services department and shift two parks maintenance staff into Public Works.

The move is a matter of efficiency and needed to be done quickly, said Johnson, but some in Bonney Lake believe the change signifies a greater shift in city priorities that should have been discussed and voted on by city council first.

“I feel like, somehow, the train left the station and no one knew about it,” said councilmember Donn Lewis. “I don’t like finding out about it last moment.”

The Community Services department was created during Johnson’s tenure to focus on park development and maintenance, special events, facilities and capital project planning. Under the new organizational chart, the responsibilities of former manager Gary Leaf will move to the executive level, with day-to-day parks operations overseen by Public Works.

“With the Executive and Community Services Department now located at the Justice Center, it would be very difficult for the Community Services department head to manage part of his team effectively. This is why I am moving forward to eliminate the department of Community Services, but move the elements of this department to other sectors of the organization.” said Johnson in an email to Patch. “This means no activity that has been underneath Community Services has been eliminated, just moved to other departments for a more efficient management approach.”

The switch, said Johnson, will have no or little impact on city budget and is simply a matter of reorganizing staff, with little change in their job responsibilities. Here is a breakdown of the switch, as laid out in Johnson’s email to staff:

• Former Community Services director Leaf has a new title–Facilities and Special Projects manager–and moves departments, to Executive. He has been assigned an increased emphasis on special projects, such as park planning, Fennel Creek, AYP dike expansion, YMCA, and other special projects. Leaf will also maintain his role as the City’s facility manager and the two facilities employees will continue to report to him.
• David Wells has also been reassigned to the Executive Department and will continue to work under Leaf. Thus, all employees on the north wing of the second floor in the Justice Center will be part of the Executive Department.
• Due to the close proximity of the Senior Center to City Hall, Senior Services has been reassigned to the Administrative Services Department, reporting to Woody Edvalson.
• Parks maintenance and community forestry has been reassigned back to public works. This is the maintenance function only. Park planning, park capital projects, and non-maintenance park and recreation activities will remain under Leaf’s management.
• The Office of Financial Services will be removed from the executive department and return to full department status. Al Juarez’s title will likely remain Chief Financial Officer. 

By the time the issue came before the city council at their June 7 study session, the shift had already occurred, effective June 1. In order for the change to become official in the city’s organizational chart, the council must still vote and approve it during its biennial budget review and move to modify the municipal code.

During the workshop, councilmember Laurie Carter expressed concern over the move and how it could affect the overall mission statement of the city.

“Community Services is the core of a livable community. Doesn’t this basically mean that idea is disbanded or split up?” Carter asked. “This is something that should go to council.”

“This will go through council, but managing staff is my responsibility,” responded Johnson. “I can change titles whenever I want to.”

Johnson asserted that the shift would allow for Leaf to focus his energies on bigger projects within the administration. However, Fred Jacobson, a Park Board member and author of The Livable Community, believes that splitting up the Community Services department will take away focus on park and trail plans within the city.

“Personally, I don't think this bodes well for the future of the parks of the City of Bonney Lake. How can a city of more than 17,000 souls consider that this is the right time to eliminate/merge parks with public works?” said Jacobson in his Livable Community editorial. “…the City is in process of trying to expand our borders to include three new areas to the south of the city that will immediately increase our size by approximately 8,000 people. Today, the City has a shortage of both parks and trails, and with this increase those shortages could be exacerbated.

"My concern is that elimination of Community Services (aka Parks Department) does nothing to instill confidence that the city is going to actively pursue acquisition of the needed land for park expansion and /or get the trails built that should have been several years ago. In my estimation this is a wrong decision and sends the message that we no longer care about creating and maintaining a Livable Community.”