Officials to Review Park Employees’ Bonus Plan

City officials are taking a second look at a program set up more than two years ago to reward park employees for cost-cutting initiatives, saying the money might be better spent cleaning up parks in desperate need of refurbishing.

Since October 1994, seven Parks and Facilities employees have received up to $6,256 each as members of a group called the Shared Savings Plan Committee. The committee was created to grant cash rewards to employees for coming up with creative ways of improving efficiency and implementing cost-cutting measures.

Parks and Facilities Supt. Michael Henderson said Monday that the shared savings plan is one of two programs in the parks department that rewards employees for cost-efficient ideas. Under a second program that has awarded smaller sums, any employee can be chosen for a Pay for Performance quarterly bonus of up to $300.

Henderson, a member of the Shared Savings Plan Committee, said he could not say what specific cost-cutting measures anybody proposed that led to the larger bonuses in the shared savings program, but that the committee in general found ways to make the parks department more cost-effective.

“There have been general overall improvements in the program,” Henderson said. “It is just a combination of working smarter and using the equipment better.”

Henderson spearheaded the committee’s formation. After he appointed one park employee to the committee, the rest of the panel was put together through nominations by other committee members.

*

While saying they still think the shared savings program has some merit, all the questions about how the money has been distributed have some city officials saying it is time for a thorough review.

“I think that as an idea, it has been successful in part, but probably something that needs to be looked at and reworked,” Councilman Dean Maulhardt said. “I would want to review it and to make sure it was equitably shared.”

Under the plan, a total of more than $39,000 was paid to seven employees. Six of them--Henderson, Supervisor Lori Beltran, grounds maintenance workers David Juarez and Joel Galaviz, tree trimmer Herman Ramirez and secretary Joan Thorpe--received $6,256 each. A seventh member, Jesse Soto, who is no longer a member of the Shared Savings Plan Committee, received $1,757, Henderson said.

While about $47,000 worth of savings was returned to the general fund by the parks department during the same period, some council members are now asking why they were not kept informed on the details of how the bonuses were rewarded and how these savings were made.

“The concept is not a bad concept,” said Mayor Manuel Lopez, who approved the plan when it came to the council in 1994. “But I don’t know about the implementation of it. We have not been given all this information.”

Added Councilman John Zaragoza, who scheduled a meeting today with Henderson to discuss the shared savings plan and other issues: “I’m not sure if it is good or bad or what. But my first thought is why don’t we use [the shared savings plan money] to offset expenses? Normally, if you have savings, they go back into the general fund.”

The Shared Savings Plan Committee meets on a quarterly basis to discuss budget goals and find ways of reducing costs, Henderson said.

*

The plan was meant as an incentive to parks employees, whose department has been hard hit by cutbacks, resulting in layoffs and reduced budgets over the past five years.

Each year, the parks budget has been decreased by at least 2%, Henderson said. Its 1996-97 budget is $2.3 million, about $80,000 less than the year before, Henderson said.

While the shared savings program is not a new idea and has been used in other cities, some Oxnard residents say those savings could be better spent cleaning up and improving the conditions of some of the parks in the city.

“The $39,000 could have bought a lot of lawn seed, fertilizer and soil amendments to repair many of the playgrounds and sports fields that are a mess,” said former Parks and Recreation Commissioner Donato Ventura, who resigned last year, complaining that the city was unresponsive to the commissioners.

“Employees already have a substantial salary and they’re paid to come up with economical ways of performing their work without additional perks,” he said. “They shouldn’t be given rewards for performing their normal duties.”

But Henderson defended the program as a way to reward employees who go beyond the call of duty.

“These are all outstanding employees. I don’t think anybody would question that,” Henderson said. “The shared savings program has been a true implementation of the employees’ empowerment program, where management and employees sit down and work things out and come up with solutions.”

Based on the profit-sharing programs that many private industries implement, the shared savings program was initiated in the Bay Area city of Pittsburg, said Henderson. After visiting Pittsburg and meeting with city employees, Henderson said the idea was presented to several Oxnard city supervisors. But only Parks and Facilities implemented the program.

Henderson said the plan brings out the best in group decision making.

“It is truly a group decision that makes this possible,” Henderson said. “The city looks better now than it did five or two years ago before this program started--and all with less money.”

*

But other departments reviewed the plan and opted not to use it.

Sal Gonzalez, the city’s housing director, said he met with his department and discussed implementing the program but decided not to go forward with it.

For one, the federal housing authority requires that any savings be placed back into a general fund or returned to the government, said Gonzalez. In addition, there were some questions of equity that concerned some of the managers in his department.

“Is it fair for the maintenance workers who have striven to reduce costs to unilaterally receive the savings and not to share it with the people who bring the rents in” who also contribute to cost-cutting measures? asked Gonzalez.

Fairness aside, Lopez said he wanted to know where these savings are coming from. The mayor said he was concerned that many city employees were laid off at the time the program was implemented and that nearly 80% of the city’s budget is for employee salaries.

“When we had large reductions in personnel then we were told it was going to be a big savings,” Lopez said.

Indeed, some of the savings came from converting the number of full-time positions to temporary ones, said Henderson.

Eight years ago there were 75 full-time parks employees compared to 18 today.

In addition, the department has implemented ways of saving money like trying to repair equipment rather than buying new equipment, and hiring county work-release program graduates to trim bushes and pick up trash rather than using city employees, Henderson said.

“These are general, overall improvements in the program,” he said. “There is no one particular thing. We are working smarter and everybody is contributing ideas and ways of doing things better. The parks look better, the trees are getting trimmed and the medians are better maintained with less money.”

But Vicky Gonzalez, chairwoman of the La Colonia neighborhood council, said the parks in her area are in sore need of money.

Every weekend, thousands of soccer players and their families meet at Del Sol park, have picnics and soccer matches. Residents often complain about the muddy conditions of the park, holes in the field and run-down restrooms that need to be refurbished.

“It upsets me because this is taxpayer money,” said Gonzalez, referring to the shared savings plan. “I have gone to the council and I have complained about the parks. [Whether] it’s $6,000 or $39,000, you could take all that money and it can make a difference.”