2019 September Senior Staff Meeting Notes

MARYLAND PARK SERVICE

SENIOR STAFF MEETING NOTES

September 11, 2019

Broadneck Office, Annapolis, MD

Attendees: Nita Settina, Chris Bushman, Amanda Mock, Mary Owens, Christy Bright, Steve McCoy, Patrick Bright, Shea Niemann. (next meeting’s manager-of-the-month – Southeastern)

REGIONAL REPORTS

Southeastern – Patrick Bright

·         Rosaryville State Park – Obtained a better deal from the power company, so it may not be cost prohibitive to connect the contact station to the power grid; may not need a generator.

·         Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park – The premier of the Harriet Tubman: Soldier of Freedom movie occurs this weekend.

·         Sandy Point State Park – Possible meeting with the Broadneck Community Association on deer management in late September.

·         Assateague State Park – Kudos to park staff for preparing for Hurricane Dorian, and then implementing and clearly communicating hurricane-related actions.

·         Pocomoke River State Forest – Mattaponi Pond Trail – Agreement needed with the Forest Service to effectuate Maryland Park Service management of four recently developed campsites created with a Recreational Trail Grant.

Central – Steve McCoy

      

·         Elk Neck State Park – Initiation of park headquarters repair will start this fall, with staff relocating to the shop and camper contact for the duration.

·         Gunpowder Falls State Park – Discussion of the rise in public complaints about visitation in undeveloped areas, and the need to better communicate a “no fires / no grills” policy.

·         North Point State Park – The deer archery hunting program began last week with no issues.

·         North Point State Battlefield – Park staff are refreshing the battlefield site in preparation for the September 22 NRPA tour.

·         Patapsco Valley State Park – Robb Bailey is working on the acquisition of interpretive panels for the Offutt Johnson Visitor Center dedication, likely to occur in late fall / spring.

·         Patapsco Valley State Park – There is a need for a meeting with park and E&C staff to discuss a pending Recreational Trail Grant for temporary bridges on the Grist Mill Trail.

·         Two new Park Technician Lead positions created at Patapsco Valley and Fort Frederick State Parks by reclassifying existing positions, providing new professional advancement opportunities.

Shea Niemann

·         Seneca Creek State Park – Advisory signs about algae blooms were posted around Clopper Lake and park staff are fielding many calls from the public.

·         Patuxent River State Park – Over a thousand visitors to the nature center since April 2019.

Western – Christy Bright

·         Jennings-Randolph Lake – The State’s lease with the Army Corps of Engineers is expired and there are several impediments to continuing the lease. Discussion about impediments is ongoing.

Reviewed attendance reporting and customer satisfaction reports. Kudos to park staff for carefully inputting and checking attendance data and noting important anomalies on the spreadsheets.

PLANNING AND CONSERVATION PROGRAMS – Mary Owens

·         Project Review – To date, approximately 287 projects are in the review process.

·         Strategic Management Plans – Plans continue to be reviewed and finalized. The Tuckahoe State Park and Belt Woods NEA SMPs were finalized. It is important to have careful documentation to substantiate observations made in the plans.

·         Maryland Conservation Corps – Recruitment for the 35 2019-2020 participants is nearly complete. The FY 2020 funding allocation from the GOSV is nearly level with FY 2019.

·         Veterans Conservation Corps – Lost one new VCC member, not likely to refill the position.

·         Conservation Jobs Corps – Program may be scaled back in 2020, to approximately 250 participants, in response to limited budget resources.

·         Employee Recognition / Awards – Discussion about proposed awards for presentation at Employee Field Day and the Fall Managers meeting.

·         Bed Bug Policy – If there are two confirmed occurrences of bed bugs within a 12-month period at a mini-cabin, park staff should permanently close the mini-cabin and develop a plan for alternative use of the site.

SUPERINTENDENT UPDATE – Nita Settina

·         Review and approval of August Senior Staff meeting notes.

·         Fall Managers Meeting – Discussion about the agenda and potential topics for the November 18-21, 2019 meeting at North Bay. Regional Managers to follow up with their Managers as to topics for the “Challenges” session.

·         Employee Viewpoint Survey – Taking a break from the employee viewpoint survey this year, in light of over five years of previous data that is largely consistent from year to year.

ADMINISTRATION – Amanda Mock

·         Personnel – Discussion about the status of several recruitments and pursuit of additional recruitment information.

·         Budget – FY 2020 regional budget meetings are ongoing and revised FY 2020 park and program budgets are being developed. Currently plan to finalize and post the revised FY 2020 park / program budgets in early October. Development of the agency’s FY 2021 budget is underway and initiatives are being proposed to DNR leadership.

·         Volunteer Management – Volunteer management is occurring at the park level and should continue in this manner. There are no plans to designate a statewide volunteer coordinator. Park staff should continue to utilize Samaritan software to track volunteer projects and hours, and should contact Samaritan for technical assistance as needed. The Training Division is coordinating volunteer training sessions, and park staff are encouraged to share volunteer training suggestions with Training Manager Cineva Smith.

DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT UPDATE – Chris Bushman

·         Deputy Superintendent Bushman asked for any policy suggestions and encouraged the solicitation of ideas from field staff.

o    Suggestion made to develop a civilian Ranger badge, and a discussion ensued about the benefits and disadvantages. Regional Managers to seek feedback.

o    Suggestion made to extend the two-night minimum stay for full-service and mini-cabins to year-round. This reservation business role suggestion needs to be discussed further by Senior Staff. Regional Managers to seek feedback.

o    Suggestion made to allow the wearing of the campaign hat with the work uniform, for more than traffic direction duties. Policy will remain the same, and all supervisors are reminded to monitor the correct application of policy, as there have been violations noted.

·         Park Managers are to prioritize staffing of contact stations whenever weather / other factors indicate high levels of visitation can be anticipated, e.g. nice fall weekends, to ensure receipt of required entrance fee revenues.

·         Park staff are encouraged to submit MPS NRP Officer of the Year Award nominations to their Regional Manager.

·         Regional Managers will be working with their Park Managers to update snow removal plans using the approved template.

·         Discussion about the importance of obtaining a CAD number in a timely fashion from the DNR Communications Center (same day as incident / first aid case), adherence to the MPS Submission of Required Reports policy, and some challenges associated with radio transmissions.

·         The proper use of complete, official State Park names, rather than shorthand versions / abbreviations, is strongly encouraged. Also, the official name of the Scales & Tales program includes an ampersand, not the word “and” (not Scales and Tales). Proper use of names is part of our brand.