OXNARD : City Creates Parks and Recreation Post

Oxnard’s City Council has voted to create the position of assistant parks and recreation director to free up the director to solicit private contributions for programs the city can no longer fund.

Earlier this year, the Parks and Recreation Department lost 32 positions to budget cuts aimed at saving the city $5.2 million over the next two years to avoid a deficit.

In the process, the city stopped sponsoring most of the community events it had been involved with in the past, including the summer aquatics program, the South Oxnard Community Center, the Carnegie Arts Museum, the Santa Claus Christmas Float and the Fourth of July fireworks show.

City Council members instructed parks and recreation officials to find private and nonprofit organizations to take over the city programs.

As a result of this mandate, Parks and Recreation Director Gary Davis has proposed creating the position of assistant parks and recreation director. That person will take over most of Davis’ administrative duties, freeing him for fund-raising efforts, Davis said.

The council voted 6 to 1 in favor of the proposal with Councilman Manuel Lopez as the lone dissenter. Lopez said he could not support the proposal because he was against privatizing the city’s recreation programs.