December 2016 Senior Staff Notes

MARYLAND PARK SERVICE

SENIOR STAFF MEETING NOTES

December 14, 2016

NRP Broadneck Office – Sandy Point State Park

Attendees: Nita Settina, Chris Bushman, Amanda Mock, Mary Owens, Mike Riley, Christy Bright, Rob Dyke, Alison Woodfield. Guest: Kevin Chesley

(next meeting’s manager-of-the-month – Southeast)

REGIONAL REPORTS

• Southeastern

1.     Millington Manor (Cypress Branch): In process of getting house inspection. Town of Millington annexed the property prior to state purchase, so water and sewer may need to be connected to Town utilities. Will be responsibility of curator.

2.     Belt Woods: Ongoing discussions with tenants and interested stakeholders.

3.     Hoffman Property (Wye Island): Scheduled for settlement soon. Lead paint / asbestos will need to be tested, sprinkler system considered – will need to develop plan to utilize stabilization funding.

4.     Assateague: Questions about horseback riding. Has not been allowed in the past, but will explore allowing it during the off-season.

5.     Assateague: Dune restoration project will result in elimination of 13 campsites, including three electric sites. Will explore possibility of including additional electric sites at adjoining loop in scope of work, to achieve a net gain of electric sites after project completion.

• Central

1.     Baxter Farm (Monocacy): Curatorship proposals were reviewed and interviews will be conducted in early January.

2.     Patapsco Valley: Staff and Settina met with Howard County to tour Belmont property. County is proposing alternate route for entrance road through Patapsco property.

3.     Elk Neck: Northeast campground restroom renovation project scheduled to begin after Labor Day 2017. Campers are being moved to other loops, etc.

4.     Patapsco: Vermeer agreement – As part of equipment expo / tree care demonstration, company provides training – park staff attends and participates in the demonstration work. MPS Training Division will include the fall 2017 event in their training calendar.

• Western

1.     Greenbrier: 50^th anniversary of official park opening was in August 2016, but 2017 marks the 50^th anniversary of the park and lake being made available for summertime recreation and will be celebrated.

2.     Recent promotions – James Ramsburg and Chris Todd – will be moving to fill the vacancies soon.

3.     Gambrill: Tea Room is fully booked each season – raise rental fee? We are working hard to freeze or decrease fees, so it will remain at its current level.

4.     AIS: considering the purchase of a dedicated, specially equipped vessel to monitor and manage aquatic invasive species. Will evaluate need to determine purchase vs. borrowing from other DNR units.

5.     Retirements: Donna Paugh and Stan Ford leaving at end of year.

HISPANIC OUTREACH (Chesley)

• Deputy Secretary Joanne Throwe has approved continuation of program in 2017, with events to be scheduled in six water access parks.
• Exploring the hiring of a Spanish-speaking outreach coordinator in Tawes, to continue outreach efforts.
• Exploring funding for events – active Friends groups, grants, corporate sponsors – to fund gear for children, etc.
• Selected parks will need to provide Spanish-speaking staff to assist with the events.

REVIEW OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEY

• Settina noted high satisfaction on Customer Satisfaction Survey results for November. Exceeded our goal of a 90% rating, as we achieved a 93% in the category of “Overall, how would you rate your visit?”
• Information forthcoming about state government-wide customer satisfaction survey program, including a link in all email signatures. Stay tuned.

REVIEW OF ATTENDANCE REPORTING

• All staff, especially supervisors and managers, is reminded to review the new Attendance Reporting Procedures. Park attendance figures are to be reviewed, reconciled / corrected if necessary, and signed off as having been reviewed and approved.
• Information about any anomalies is to be provided to the Regional Manager by COB the day before each monthly senior staff meeting.

                            

PLANNING AND CONSERVATION PROGRAMS (Owens)

• Current Project Review count is 297.
• Project Review Records Retention: Eight filing cabinets are located in LAP, with project review files dating back to 1990. Need to be stored elsewhere. Owens to follow up.
• Strategic Management Plan for Belt Woods: Process to be initiated soon. Public and stakeholders will be involved.
• Strategic Management Plans: New Germany’s is complete. Once reviewed by Settina, Bushman and OOS, the plan will be posted on the park’s website page. Fort Frederick, Smallwood, Susquehanna and Tuckahoe are nearing completion. Owens will be setting up final meetings.
• Maryland Conservation Corps: Recently completed team project on dam at Cunningham Falls, with controlled burn, etc. Great project!
• Conservation Jobs Corps: Working on bus and van contracts.
• Veterans Conservation Corps: Crew hired and scheduled to start on January 4, vehicle identified, etc. Assigned to Point Lookout Complex, supervised by Ranger Zach Bruce, and will be working at Greenwell, Newtowne Neck and St. Clements Island.
• Healthy Parks, Healthy People: Expanded to Tuckahoe State Park, in partnership with Caroline County. Production of printed material is close to completion. Pease to provide an update to senior staff at January 11 meeting.
• Park Quest: One more year of Park Quest in 2017 (10^th year for program).

-        Working to develop new program.

-        Theme for 2017 will be “Best of Park Quest.” Parks will choose their best Quest in the first 9 years and use it to celebrate the 10^th year.

-        Pease looking into possible funding sources.

• HWA/EAB: Things are moving along. Burditt soliciting input from park managers on second set of trees for treatment.

-        Kudos to Burditt for providing a helpful educational guide.

-        Applying for additional grant funds to re-treat trees already treated (treatment lasts two years).

• Rails to Trails Conservancy grant opportunity available. Dan Hudson would like to pursue; needs input from Senior Staff on priorities.

ADMINISTRATION (Mock)

• Personnel: Mock thanks all Park Managers for providing information about seasonal staffing needs. All material will be sent to HRS on Monday. Please review before then!
• Seasonal Hiring forms will be the same as last year. Mock will double check with DBM (health care forms).
• Changes in reservation system administration / management – Lora McCoy will take over duties of Donna Paugh in short term until a long range plan is determined.
• Staff from Sandy Point will be helping out in Tawes temporarily. Thank you!
• Budget Update: Great News! Received approval to replace 12 vehicles this year (plus three from DNR budget, for a total of 15 new vehicles in FY17).
• MPS taking possession of several vehicles that had been assigned to Hollofield. Rollback tow truck will be kept at Hollofield shop but available for all parks for transport of equipment, etc.
• Budget Projections: Regional Managers asked to keep in touch with Park Managers on to-date expenditures. Updates due by mid-January!! Regional Managers to have updated six-month projections for January 11 senior staff meeting.
• Reservation System transition: Mock having weekly meetings with Reserve America and CAMIS to work on transition.
• Working with Melton to develop training on new system.
• Will need field staff to assist with inventory.
• Uniform Bids: Kudos to uniform committee for help in selecting new uniform parts.
• Use Agreements: DNR needs to be named as the additional insured on liability certificates. It is not sufficient to have proof of insurance.
• Obsolete References on Websites / Printed Material: Park Managers and staff are asked to actively review all websites, bulletin boards, printed material for out-of-date references to previous administrations. We continue to have these brought to our attention and need to seek them out rather than have them pointed out by members of the public, who often contact the Governor’s Office to complain.
• Succession Planning / Hiring Update: Numerous new hires / promotions / lateral transfers have taken place and have been announced or will be announced soon.
• Labor Management Committee: Settina and McCoy will represent management on the committee, which will meet quarterly.

SUPERINTENDENT UPDATE (Settina)

• Joint Chairmen’s Report (JCR) – Settina presented the group with copies of the final 2016 Strategic Park Investment Plan, prepared in response to the Joint Chairmen’s Report from the 2016 Session of the Maryland General Assembly – to be shared with all Park Managers and interested staff.
1. Recognition – Senior staff recognized Superintendent Settina for the outstanding work on the JCR. The document is very professional in appearance and content, and will prove to be a valuable tool to advocate for the value of State Parks and the tremendous contributions made by MPS staff. Kudos, Nita!!!!!
• Settina requested status on Trash-Free Parks operational plans for each park. Parks should also be working on recycling plans, in the context of Trash-Free Parks, which promotes personal responsibility and stewardship with regard to recycling.
• Update on upcoming MPS Customer Service training (Dealing with Difficult People).
• Fee waiver for veterans on Veterans Day / attendance. Woodfield will follow up to collect information on number of veterans who took advantage of the waiver.
• Settina complimented parks on great upcoming First Day Hikes. The OC is working with the MPS to publicize the hikes.
• Fall Managers Meeting / Follow-up on topics. Great feedback from managers during discussion forums.
1. Carrying capacity – discussions continue regarding challenges (trash, dirty restrooms, lack of picnic tables) that detract from the visitor experience. MPS may form a committee of managers to develop strategies to test this summer to improve visitor experience. Senior staff needs to know which parks feel the need to change operational plans to handle large crowds / mitigate resource impacts. Regional Managers to ask Park Managers if they would like to work with the MPS Planning Team to address these over capacity problems.
2. Committee to review current MPS Awards Program and develop a more robust employee recognition program.
• Regional managers will begin reporting out on park-level and regional-level recognition at senior staff meetings, as part of their regional reports.
3. Enhance natural resource management training opportunities – Mock to follow up.
4. Improve communications between leadership and field.
5. Complete draft Strategic Management Plans and post on website next year.
6. Develop replacement for Park Quest program for 2018.
7. Finalize trail signage and wayfinding plan.
8. Improve JobAps efficiency to allow continuous recruitment for seasonals.
9. Finalize MPS historic artifacts management plan (Bright / Ironside).

DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT UPDATE (Bushman)

• Weekly Reports: MPS weekly reports suspended during holidays (no reports required for weeks of December 19 and December 26 – One report covering three weeks to be submitted during week of Tuesday, January 3). Woodfield will submit bi-weekly reports if required during that period.
• Policy Issues
1. Notification to MPS personnel of staff changes (follow-up to discussion at Fall Managers Meeting) – Will begin to disseminate announcements to workforce about retirements, lateral transfers, resignations, etc. (much like the current hiring / promotional announcements) so that everyone will be aware of the comings and goings of staff, the resulting transfer opportunities, etc.
2. Assateague – Question about requirement that pet owners provide proof of vaccinations / rabies certification (NPS does not have the requirement). MPS policy requires pets to be licensed and have all required vaccinations, but does not require staff to inspect the documents or the pet owner to have it in their possession / provide it for inspection. Policy will remain as written and Riley will follow up with park staff.
3. New generator policy to go into effect on January 1, 2017. Need to ensure that all parks have posted the new policy on their website, etc. Mock will double-check to ensure that it is still posted on the reservation service website and is placed on the new service’s website.
• NRP Commanders Meeting
1. Discussed recent rash of suicides, reports of suicides and attempted suicides. Bushman reinforced with NRP leadership the need to notify park staff of these reports when they occur, for the safety of MPS employees and to enable them to be vigilant and notify the NRP if the person / vehicle is observed.
2. Tuckahoe: NRP officers donated confiscated fish to Scales & Tales – should keep this in mind for all parks with aviaries / S&T wards.
3. Reminded NRP of date for grand opening ceremony for Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park.
4. Follow-up discussion on continued communication between Park Managers and their local NRP commanders (sergeants and lieutenants) – NRP asked to make Park Manager aware of times when all officers are unavailable for a period due to training, regional meetings, etc. so the park staff knows to go straight to DNR / 911 if they need a law enforcement response (rather than trying to contact an officer directly).
5. NRP has brought on 48 new officers over the course of the last year, will be making 54 promotions, and will be experiencing numerous retirements in the next year, creating a lot of movement. This will require both the NRP and MPS to work hard to develop and maintain positive working relationships.
6. Light duty assignments – the NRP was made aware that the MPS is very receptive to providing light duty opportunities in State Parks, to utilize the officers’ talents and promote positive working relationships.
7. Vehicles in parks after hours – Reinforced role of Rangers to report vehicles remaining in the park after hours and the need for due diligence by the NRP in checking on the vehicle to ensure that the owner is not hurt, in danger, or engaged in illicit activity.