March 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 14

Letters
We hope the articles you read in Parks & Recreation are thought-provoking and
engaging, and we want to hear your opinions on what you read in these pages. Through
social media posts, website comments, emails to staff or posts on Connect, let us know
how the magazine's articles apply to your job and your agency. To submit feedback for this
his
section directly, email Senior Editor Danielle Taylor at dtaylor@nrpa.org.

[Ed. Note: The below email was received
in response to NRPA President and CEO
Barbara Tulipane's January Perspectives
column, " Park Privatization Issues Challenge Public Parks " (www.parksandrecre
ation.org/2014/January/Park-Privatiza
tion-Issues-Challenge-Public-Parks).]
Regarding the Perspectives column in January's Parks & Recreation,
I thought Barbara publicly raised one
of those critical questions that is in
the back of everyone's mind to some
degree but, as she stated, isn't really
discussed. Like Jack Nicholson says
in A Few Good Men, " Because deep
down, in places you don't talk about
at parties... " Privatization. Outsourcing. Contracting. The hard truth is:
These decisions could cost my staff,
and possibly me, our jobs.
It's pertinent in my case. From 2006-
2009, I worked for CH2M Hill - a

Brad Chambers

12

Parks & Recreation

Fortune 500 Company and one of the
largest engineering firms in the world
- as part of the Municipal Services
Division Management Team. The
short version of the story: A state law
was changed in Georgia that allowed
urban geographic areas to incorporate
and form their own cities. Four such areas in Fulton County, three of them in
affluent north Fulton County, immediately voted to incorporate in 2005-06.
Sandy Springs was the first and largest, and at a population of 93,000, the
second-largest city in the history of
the U.S. to incorporate. All four cities
decided to " outsource " and contract
with CH to manage all city operations
except public safety ( " outsource " is the
term that was used between the cities
and CH, and it may be a more accurate descriptor than " privatize " ). CH in
turn hired a management team to work
with the cities, and I came on board to
assist Sandy Springs in the creation of
their park and recreation department
and later did the same with Milton.
The overarching, driving objective of
the public-private partnership (P3) was
to ensure that programs were offered
and facilities were maintained. The
city councils didn't care who, or what,
entity provided those services. And, as
our management team also came to
realize, 99 percent of the citizens who
lived there didn't care either as long as
services were offered.
It was a transformative experience
for me, coming from the traditional

| M A R C H 2 0 1 4 | W W W. N R PA . O R G

director of parks and recreation world,
leading public agencies around the
country. " We " know best. " We " know
how to do it better, etc. However, in this
new environment in which there were
few staff and little equipment, and the
mission was to get programs offered
and have facilities maintained, the only
viable option was to contract everything out. And it worked. But it was
cumbersome, often very inefficient, required consultation with providers, and
meant being referee, arbiter, judge and
counselor as competing interests went
head-to-head. It meant writing detailed
deliverables and holding contractors
accountable. It meant using landscape
companies for a lot of mowing, knowing deep down that frequently the labor
force was comprised of workers making minimum wage or less. Every city
pushed for maximum efficiency, and
we did everything we could to be an
efficient steward of the contracts. The
P3 model was a new way of thinking
for almost all of us in municipal services, as we all - city managers, HR
professionals, public works directors,
community development and planning
staff - came from the public sector
and had to rethink how we operated.
My takeaway: Park and recreation
professionals have the confidence and
talent to provide effective, efficient,
award-winning programs and facilities
- period. A professional - whether
he or she is a YMCA athletic director,
a Boys and Girls Club program direc-
March 2014 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2014 - Parks & Recreation
