(Spirit Lake)– Repeated attempts at filling a vacancy in the city’s Parks Department failed at Tuesday’s Spirit Lake city council meeting.
City Administrator Mark Stevens told the council the position would be filled by transferring a worker from the Sanitation Department, who’s interested in the parks job, subsequently leaving a vacancy in the Sanitation Department.
Following considerable discussion, a motion was made to transfer the sanitation worker to the Parks Department and to then fill the vacant Sanitation position. It failed on a two-two tie vote. One councilman, Clyde Ihrke, was absent.
That was followed by additional discussion. Councilman Steve Balm questioned the timing of filling a vacancy in the Parks Department with summer winding down. He also wanted a breakdown of the city’s workforce and how the flow is handled when some workers are temporarily transferred to help out other departments whenever they need additional manpower.
Stevens added that he’s personally ashamed of the condition of the city’s parks and warned they will only get worse without the proper number of workers to maintain them. He said an inspection of the parks he conducted Tuesday turned up “dirty bathrooms, trash in the parks, paint peeling off, broken and split wood on shelters, bathroom doors kicked in, lack of toilet paper…today. This very day. And I’m not happy with it and I think if you don’t fill this position it will get worse.”
Another motion was made, identical to the one made earlier. It also failed on a two-two tied vote.
