Cuts may close county parks
By DAWN GARCIA
Ol the Emerald
Fewer county parks will be open next year if
additional funding doesn’t come through, county
parks superintendent Charles Schrader told Lane
County Commissioners last week.
The Parks and Open Space Division is
counting on a portion of a proposed special levy
— $121,990 of a total $1.6 million — to continue
base level service to parks. The proposed parks
budget has been cut severely.
Voters will decide June 30 whether to
approve the levy package that also includes extra
funds for the sheriff’s department, district attor
ney, judicial administration and juvenile depart
ment.
Schrader said he wished the general levy
were broken down so voters could vote for
specific programs.
“I’d be more comfortable if it was a menu
type levy,” Schrader said. "This way you pay your
money and you take your chances.”
Currently, no one in the parks division is
comfortable. The parks system is in an “emer
gency situation,” Schrader said, unable to handle
the growing number of park visitors with the
current level of funding and a dwindling number
of workers.
“Right now I’ve got eight people covering 59
parks,” Schrader said. "And we have had an
18-percent increase in visitors per year for the last
five years.”
People are using county parks “as an exten
sion of their backyards,” Schrader said.
Another cause for the increase in park visi
tors is that parks are now thought of as an
inexpensive form of recreation.
"As unemployment goes up, park usage goes
up,” Schrader explained. “At Alton Baker park,
we’re having up to 10,000 people per day."
The increased usage has not been reflected
in increased funds in the 1981-82 proposed
budget. This year’s budget barely kept the parks
system alive, parks officials said.
The maintenance level of most parks has
been evaluated as acceptable by the County
Commissioners, the Army Corps of Engineers and
the Parks and Open Space Advisory Committee.
Seventeen of the 59 county parks are maintained
at an "E” level, the lowest level of upkeep de
signated by the parks department this year.
If the levy is not passed, the parks will con
tinue operating at that level or be shut down,
Schrader said.
Some of the deletions under the new budget
will be 14 seasonal labor positions, the operations
supervisor and the landscape architect positions,
six fee collectors and two ticket booths.
"Without those positions, it’ll just be me and
the secretary, and she handles thousands of
phone calls a day. There just wouldn’t be anybody
here,” Schrader said.
The commissioners have said they un
derstand the financial difficulties the parks are
faced with, yet a divided board passed the motion
to put the one-year levy on the ballot. Not all agree
that a levy is the solution.
"Parks are probably in the worst shape of any
program in the county, but you know my feelings
about the levy,” commissioner Scott Lieuallen
said.
Lieuallen said he opposes any tax increase.
"The county needs to limit growth so we ll be
in better shape in the future. What we need to do
is raise the tax base next year, and we have to
program in a reasonable response to park main
tenance,” Lieuallen said.
To combat the closure of many of the parks if
the levy fails, the parks department is planning
programs in which the public and service groups
could volunteer their time and labor to keep the
parks clean, repair trails and paint park buildings.
Any organization wanting to help in any of the
"Adopt-A-Park” or "Adopt-A-Project" programs
should contact the Parks and Open Space Divi
sion at 687-4231.
Such programs may be the only thing that will
keep the parks open, Schrader said.
Lieuallen maintains that a special levy to beef
up the budget isn’t the answer, but not having it
pass also would be detrimental to the county, he
said.
“I frankly don't think it will pass, and if it
doesn't, it'll just be another black eye,’ " Lieual
len said.
Bill would revamp
state ethics panel
SALEM (AP) - Oversha
dowed by investigations of
alleged public corruption, 10
bills to revamp Oregon ethics
and lobbying laws are fading
quietly into the legislative
graveyard.
‘‘Frankly, with all the turmoil, I
don’t think it’s the time," said
Sen. L.B. Day, R-Salem.
Day organized an informal
committee before the start of
this session to study the Oregon
Government Ethics Commis
sion and recommend changes.
The result was a bill (SB389)
that would shift many of the
panel’s functions to the
secretary of state.
The commission opposes
Day's bill and introduced its own
(HB2369) which strengthens the
panel and requires that public
officials who fail to file required
disclosure statements be
removed from office.
No hearing has been held on
Day’s measure or the other
ethics proposals and none is
scheduled. The executive dir
ector of the Ethics Commission
plans to meet with a committee
chairman Monday to push for a
hearing on the commission’s
bill, but the chairman doubts he
can do it before the end of the
1981 Legislature.
"I really think it’s too late and I
don’t see a lot of interest in it,”
said Rep. Drew Davis, D
Portland, whose House State
and Federal Affairs Committee
has tabled the commission’s bill
under a time rule.
Day’s bill was sent to the
Senate Rules Committee. Sen.
E D. Potts, D-Grants Pass, the
committee chairman, said no
hearing is planned on that mea
sure or seven other ethics
proposals referred to his com
mittee.
SUMMER JOB
OPPORTUNITIES
U of O is hiring students for work in the following positions:
1 Telefund Program Coordinator
Will be responsible for planning and coordination of the UO
Telefund Program for Summer 1981 (potential for Fall
continuation). Supervision and training of six student Telefund
Assistants. Keeping of Telefund records and statistics as well as
necessary follow-up to specific questions and problems. The
Coordinator will work 14 hours a week between 6:00 and 9:30 p.m.
Strong organizational skills, ability to supervise others,
understanding of the University are desirable skills. Program
begins June 15 and finishes approximately August 20.
6 Telefund Assistants
To call UO Alumni seeking their financial support for the 1981
Annual Fund. Some data recording involved. Assistants will work
10.5 hours a week between 6:00 and 9:30 p.m. Good
communicative skills, pleasant telephone manners, knowledge of
University, and fund-raising interest preferred. Program begins
June 15 and finishes approximately August 20.
Applications and job descriptions available in UO Foundation Office,
148 Susan Campbell Hall. Completed applications due no later than
Friday, June 5. For further information, call 686-3016.
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