City Auditor Finds Disturbing Park Conditions, Cites Parks Maintenance Unit, Offers Recommendations, Some of Which Management Resists; Read Full Audit w/ Recommendations, Mgm't Response And Auditor Rebuttal

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City Auditor Finds Disturbing Park Conditions, Cites Parks Maintenance Unit And Offers Recommendations, Some of Which Management Resists; Read Full Audit w/ Recommendations, Mgm't Response And Auditor Rebuttal

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(June 29, 2016) -- Long Beach City Auditor Laura Doud has released (June 28) an audit of the Park Maintenance Unit within the City's Dept. of Parks, Recreation and Marine Bureau which found that:

One in four park trees are dead or in poor condition, with no maintenance plan, and only trimmed on an emergency or as needed basis;
An "antiquated irrigation system" regularly fails and contributes to standing water
Widespread trash -- including marijuana and broken glass -- was visible on park grounds;
Uneven turf, dirty patches and extensive weeds were present

[Scroll down for further.]

The audit concluded that landscape conditions don't meet stakeholder expectations and seven out of ten sports groups reported poor turf conditions exposing players to injuries and requiring them to supplement their own maintenance activities.

The audit noted that while the City added 16 new parks and park improvements plus 18 other locations such as street medians since 2013, the City didn't increase contract funding for landscape maintenance contracts. It reasoned that adding more areas to be maintened without increasing funds required city contractors to maintain more with the same amount of resources, on top of challenging conditions during a statewide drought.

The audit also found mismanagement due to a lack of processes and controls that included leaving $215,622 worth of relatively new equipment unused in a City yard for several years, and $80,000 paid over 16 months for maintenance that wasn't performed.

The Department of Parks, Rec. and marine agreed with some -- but not all -- of the audit's findings...and management did not agree to undertake some of the Auditor's recommendations including:

Implementing a long-term, concentrated strategic approach to maintaining the City's parks and trees;
Expanding funding opportunities with naming sponsorships, donor programs and private-public partnerships to offset maintenance costs [Auditor's rebuttal noted her recommendation was similar in spirit to a June 21 item agendized by Councilmembers Mungo, Supernaw, Andrews and Richardson. That agenda item asked management to conduct "a parks facilities and recreation programs analysis report to inform the development of a pilot program designed around new public-private partnership proposals to benefit community programs, facilities and services, and report back to City Council with progress update within sixty (60) days" (carried 8-0, Uranga absent).]
Reassessing park and recreation fees to include a provision for ongoing park maintenance;
Adopting a 5-year tree trimming schedule plan;
Developing clearer maintenance performance measures along with a park inspection rating program

In her rebuttal to PRM management's response, City Auditor Doud concluded that the Department [Auditor release text] "prefers to operate in its current state regardless of the conditions without considering non-traditional solutions as recommended in the audit. Based on PRM's response and their lack of alternative solutions, park conditions will continue to decline as the City adds to its park system without effective strategic planning or additional funds."