Comments on: Park District Board Faces Tough Decision on District Administrator Edmonds Fate

By: Geoffrey Sakala

Geoffrey Sakala — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:59:24 +0000

I’ve never said I thought the Board of Directors was weak, those are your words. My point is that Boards don’t run organizations, they advise, consult, vote, etc. It is the Board members job to have oversight on the performance of the District Administrator, the budget/finances, legal issues, and approve or reject the issues brought before them. A seasoned District Administrator knows how to build relationships with their Board members, their staff and the residents of the district which can lead to success. It’s hard to attribute organizational failure to a part-time Board who meets twice a month for a few hours. Would you blame the Board of Directors for the failures of GM, Chrysler, WAMU, Enron etc. No, it’s the CEO who runs the day-to-day operations that is ultimately responsible for the success or failure. If you argue that you disagree with the Board’s decisions on specific issues that is another case, but organizational failure lies solely in the hands of the person in charge of the daily operations.

By: Ivazian

Ivazian — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:40:28 +0000

I have to agree with some of these comments, especially that you do not want the present weak Board to micromanage the district because they do not have the tools to do it. So we get people to run for office that just want to sit and vote at meetings without a plan. I would argue that a strong Board would not have allowed the District to become so disfunctional. It is through the planning and guidance of the Board that the Administrator uses to act. No guidance or plan and you have mismanagement. That has been the status quo. So some argue that the Board is ineffective because they don’t have the experience nor the time to devote to it. That is a MAJOR problem and must be fixed by the people. So what makes you think that an unwise Board can select a new Administrator that will fix it all?

By: shelia

shelia — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:13:31 +0000

True, I dont know much about the other issues, but I do not want the Dog Park problem to be used agianst someone whom I believe has supported its presence. The Dog Park has enough negative press and feelings from various other indiviuals in the community, some who have strong ties to members of the Board of Directors.

By: Geoffrey Sakala

Geoffrey Sakala — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:34:17 +0000

A good Board of Directors simply makes decisions and votes yes or no with some direction on priorities. It’s the Administrator who builds the budget, determines staffing levels, negotiates park priorities and runs the day-to-day operations. I would argue that we don’t want a Board of Directors micro-managing the running our parks because they don’t have the experience nor the time to devote to it.

By: Geoffrey Sakala

Geoffrey Sakala — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:28:27 +0000

Shelia, you may be correct about the off leash dog park, but there have been numerous other issues which have not been handled well. A skilled and experienced District Administrator would be able to navigate these difficult issues and would not have nearly as many missteps along the way.

By: shelia

shelia — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:19:36 +0000

I am an active member of Gone to the Dogs. To my knowledge is has not been Dave Emonds that is the stumbling block to the Dog Park. I have been present at several of the last board meetings and it is the Board of Directors who can not commit to a location. There was a location picked out and approved by Dave Edmonds and a partial Board of Directors, that was cancelled by the entire Board. At the last board meeting, Mr. Edmonds was saying that he thought that he and the staff had found a new location and would be bringing it to us soon.Personally, I believe it is the Board of Directors that needs to be reviewed and perhaps replaced.

By: Ivazian

Ivazian — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:18:38 +0000

I agree that the Board hires/fires Admin Officer; however, the Board can ask for a rationale behind the structure of the District. Why blindly approve a budget that includes many new worthless positions in it? The Board can make changes in the budget which would limit the waste of public funds.

In fact, in 2007 a consultant was hired to review the organization and concluded that the district was in failure mode. Thereafter, Mr. Foell was displaced. From my sources, there have been some worker suits against the district for bias and other things. The district is complicated and it needs strong leadership from both the Board and the Administrator to make it work. A weak Board could still hire another weak Administrator….what good is that?

By: Geoffrey Sakala

Geoffrey Sakala — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:01:05 +0000

David thanks for your comment and passion for the parks. Generally, a Board of Directors only hires/fires the head person and does not have oversight of any staff below that level. If any action is taken it would be a change at the District Administrator level.

By: Ivazian

Ivazian — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:06:53 +0000

I ran for the CRPD Board with a promise to clean up the mess. At every forum during the campaign I preached over and over again that CRPD was in failure mode. The people spoke. They elected honorable individuals that did not have any background/experience with CRPD operations. I touched upon every subject mentioned above and in detail.

Nothing has changed. The whole operation is in failure mode. There needs to be a total bottoms up cleaning of all positions. Just adding a new Administrator to a time bomb will not get it done. We do not have board members who want to fix the problem. They are more interested in photo-ops.

By: Ryan L.

Ryan L. — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:49:32 +0000

It’s my understanding that the District is in need of more staff, so I doubt they would get rid of their top guy right now.

By: Geoffrey Sakala

Geoffrey Sakala — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:43:40 +0000

We’ve been following several complaints of the parks district over the past year and felt it was time to tie them into a coherent piece. No one can predict what the board members will do, nor will we know what’s said since its during closed session due to the nature of personnel matters.

By: Ryan L.

Ryan L. — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:09:45 +0000

We’ll see what happens. CRPD has received a ton of scrutiny from virtually all outside sources, but how they feel fabout the Administrator rom the inside will obviously be the key in tonight’s decision.