Mike Lane

Chief Rich Etheridge is retiring from Capital City Fire/Rescue at the end of this year. After serving as a first responder for decades, he’s now turning his focus to woodworking.

KTOO’s Mike Lane spoke with Etheridge about his retirement and his future plans.

Listen:

The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity. 

Mike Lane: We’re speaking with Chief Rich Etheridge. Chief, you’re retiring soon. How did you come to this decision?

Rich Etheridge: You know, I’ve been in my career for a little over 33 years now. This is all I’ve done since I was 18, whether it was wildland firefighting or a state trooper and volunteer firefighter. Actually never planned on being the fire chief, but it just, you know, happenstance. You know, my career went that direction. But, you know, between family and I’ve got a little side business at home that’s been taking off and you know … I think chiefs need to turn over periodically and just get fresh ideas and new new ideas in the department to keep it healthy.

Mike Lane: You have such an interesting history. You were a state trooper. How long were you a state trooper? 

Rich Etheridge: For almost five years.

Mike Lane: And you weren’t just in Juneau, were you? 

Rich Etheridge: No, most of my time was on the Kenai Peninsula, and then a year up in Talkeetna. It was amazing.

Mike Lane: And then you went to CCFR, or to another fire department. 

Rich Etheridge: Yeah, I got hired back at CCFR as the fire prevention officer. So I was responsible for going out and doing public education, fire investigations, code enforcement and those types of things.

Mike Lane: I see. That’s so interesting, fire investigations. So you’re one of the guys who would determine how the fire started, where it started, and what was used?

Rich Etheridge: Yeah, or I started doing that as a volunteer. It was just fascinating to do that. How did this happen? You know, everybody sees the big black hole, but those big black holes tell a huge story and, and how did the fire travel to get to where it was at? It was just a really unique way to look at firefighting. 

Mike Lane: So what year did you start with CCFR?

Chief Etheridge: I started in, you know, full time as a volunteer. It was like late ‘92.

Mike Lane: Just a few decades. 

Rich Etheridge: Yeah, a couple. 

Mike Lane: A couple of decades. And you worked yourself up the ranks, obviously, from from that point forward. And what are some of the highlights of your career? And can you tell us anything that you’re particularly proud of, something that jumps out at you?

Rich Etheridge: Sure. You know, our response to the COVID stuff here in town, I thought was pretty amazing — how our department responded to that. We stood up a whole lot, really fast. I think we hired 65 people within just a couple of weeks, working with our HR department to staff the airport for COVID testing. We did the drive-through testing centers, and then we also created — what’s alive today — our mobile integrated health program. People that were sick with COVID and couldn’t leave and the doctors didn’t want them in their waiting rooms, we would send EMTs and paramedics out to go take them medicine or you know, whatever they needed to keep them recovering and not spreading COVID around the community. So I think between COVID and that mobile, integrated health program, getting all that stood up and put together, and having it as big and lasting of a program as it’s become.

Mike Lane: CCFR, of course, we’ve reported on this. They’ve struggled over the years with the chronic understaffing issues and union contract negotiations. So what do you think is needed to solve those particular issues moving forward?

Rich Etheridge: Man, that’s a really tough question. You know, Juneau is an isolated community. We don’t have outside resources, and then we also have a budget that we have to work within. So it’s just trying to find that balance between what the needs are and what we can afford as a community. Fire departments are expensive to run, and, you know, trying to get a huge career staff is going to be extremely cost prohibitive for the city, and volunteers are having a harder and harder time volunteering because of the requirements to keep them safe. I think the staffing and the long term retention of folks is going to be the biggest challenge over the next, next decade.

Mike Lane: And what are your plans for after CCFR, what’s your retirement plans?

Rich Etheridge: My retirement plan is to do my woodworking shop a little bit more full time.  Right now, it’s just kind of evenings and weekends and small projects here and there, but be nice to kind of expand that and do a lot more with it. 

Mike Lane: What kind of woodworking?

Chief Etheridge: Right now, one of the primary things I make are looms for the Lingít weavers here in town and the robes that they make and stuff like that. So that’s been one of my primary projects lately. It is so cool to be a part of that. 

Mike Lane: And how did you learn how to do this? 

Rich Etheridge: One of our gentlemen here in town, Kevin Miller, was making them, and he’s retired and travels a lot, and he has a hard time keeping up with the demand for that stuff. So he showed me his magic, how he puts all that stuff together, and I’ve just kind of been running with it.

Mike Lane: Wow. Well, congratulations again, and thanks for joining us.

Rich Etheridge: Hey. Thank you, sir.

When it snows, crews fan out with plows, graders, blowers and more to clear the streets in Juneau. 

Morning Edition Host Mike Lane recently sat down with CBJ Streets & Fleet Superintendent Scott Gray to learn more about local snow removal operations.

Listen:

This transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity. 

Mike Lane: The city and the state both share responsibility in keeping Juneau’s roads safe and plowed during the snowy months. Can you explain how that works and who is responsible for what?

Scott Gray: Let’s start with CBJ. So CBJ basically takes care of all — pretty much all — the residential areas, downtown area, anything that’s not on the main arterial, like Egan Drive, Back Loop, Loop Road, Fritz Cove and Douglas Highway — that’s all DOT. There’s a number of other smaller streets. They go all the way out the road. They do Engineers Cutoff. They do Nine Mile Creek Road out Douglas. So DOT has quite a few roads locally here in Juneau that are kind of residential too, but we take care of a lot of the residential areas, more populated areas.

Mike Lane: So what does a typical snow removal day look like for your department?

Scott Gray: We have a town crew. The town area crew comes in at 1 o’clock in the morning and they get off at 9 o’clock in the morning. Then we have another crew that comes in 8 in the morning, and they get off at 4 p.m. So we stagger them. We have two guys that work four tens, so they’ll work Sunday through Wednesday, Wednesday through Saturday, and they work from 5 o’clock in the morning until 3 in the afternoon.

Mike Lane: What equipment do you use and or need for the job? And how has technology changed when it comes to snow removal in Juneau?

Scott Gray: Well, so we use graders a lot. We also have loaders with bull blades, and they come from, you know, like 12-foot bull blade to 14 feet, and they’re heavily chained up, and they can go anywhere. They’re pretty amazing pieces of equipment out there. And we have 10-yard trucks with plows, belly blades. We have blowers, so when everything’s all calmed down, hopefully we can go through the neighborhoods. We can blow the big berms out of the way. We have a contract with multiple trucking companies here in town for hauling snow, because a lot of our trucks are already outfitted with sanders, and unless we have a big lull in between storms, we don’t pull those sanders out.

Mike Lane: What do you recommend as the best strategy for residents to deal with the berms?

Scott Gray: You really need to think about snow placement. So when you shovel your driveway, the best way to do it is to put that snow up in your yard or somewhere where the plow can’t get a hold of it again.

Mike Lane: What about sidewalks? Whose responsibility is it to keep those cleared?

Scott Gray: Well, actually, it is the property owner’s responsibility to clear the sidewalks, and we understand that isn’t doable in a lot of areas. There are some people out there, though, that are really good about, you know, cleaning up their sidewalks, and I have to give them kudos for that. It’s a lot of work.

Mike Lane: How do you plan for back to back storms?

Scott Gray: That’s a tough one, you know? I mean, we try to keep our equipment up and running. We have a whole fleet department, you know, that takes care of us and other departments. The Fleet department, they take care of  260 pieces of equipment and vehicles. So we, we try to go through all the equipment in between storms, so we’re ready. So when it does hit, we’re good to go.

Mike Lane: Where do you put all the snow that you remove from, from neighborhoods, etc.?

Scott Gray: So we have multiple areas that we pull, or we we haul the snow to, in the Valley. We also have an area in Lemon Creek where we haul snow to. And then we also have an area out at Thane.

Mike Lane: What should people do when they encounter a plow or grader on the roads?

Scott Gray: You know, give them room. Give them space. A grader only does 22 miles an hour, but that piece of equipment, it takes a lot to get it stopped on a slippery road. So give them space. Their visibility behind them is none.

Mike Lane: Now, Scott, you’re the superintendent for CBJ streets and fleet, and you have quite a few people on your teams in staggered shifts. Do you have a full boat of employees? Or are you still looking for somebody?

Scott Gray: We currently have two positions that are open. We have an operator one position, and it’s a flex position. And then there, then we also have a seasonal position.

Mike Lane: So I would assume that if somebody wanted to apply for either of those positions, they would go to juneau.org and do that through the website. Okay, excellent. Is there anything you’d like to add to this?

Scott Gray: Well, I’ve got to say, my team is out there doing a great job, and they’re clearing the roads. I appreciate them, and I couldn’t do my job without them.

With Juneau expecting to see temperatures in the single digits and even below zero this week, residents may be tempted to recreate on frozen lakes around town. 

KTOO spoke with Juneau Fire Chief Rich Etheridge about a recent incident of someone falling through the ice, what to do if it happens, and other safety precautions when venturing out on frozen bodies of water. 

Listen:

This audio has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Mike Lane: Welcome, Chief. Thanks for coming in. 

Chief Etheridge: Thanks for having me this morning. 

Mike Lane: We understand that somebody went through the ice on Mendenhall Lake recently. Can you describe what happened or how CCFR was involved?

Chief Etheridge: Sure, I can let you know our involvement. The person was out on the ice, recreating, doing their own thing. While they were doing that, we were busy taking care of an apartment fire out in the valley. And just as we were wrapping up and clearing from that incident, dispatch said that there was a person in the parking lot that had fallen through the ice, had hypothermia and needed some medical care. So JPD went racing out there to get them in a warm vehicle to get things going, and then our folks showed up in the ambulance to start the rewarming process and getting them taken care of and get them up to Bartlett to go get checked out. 

Mike Lane: That rewarming process, what does that entail?

Chief Etheridge: Usually, it’s cranking up the heat in the back of the ambulance, warm blankets. You know, if they’re extremely hypothermic, we can do warm IVs to start getting some warm fluids in their blood and then getting them up to the hospital where they can do a lot more, like a lavage and put warm fluids through their stomach, things like that. The trick is, is to to warm them up controlled so that you don’t put their body in more shock, because they’re pretty fragile at that point. 

Mike Lane: When someone does fall through the ice on Mendenhall Lake, or any other lake for that matter, what is CCFR’s typical response?

Chief Etheridge: Especially Mendenhall Lake, it takes about 20-25 minutes for people to get from Glacier station to the lake on their suits and headed out onto the ice. 

Mike Lane: What precautions do they take as responders to not fall through the ice as well?

Chief Etheridge: We’ve got a couple of things, if the ice thickness is sufficient, we’ve got some four wheelers on great big tracks for getting out there as quick as we can. But they wear ice rescue suits. They’re like a big Gumby suit that insulates them and they’re buoyant and protects them from the temperature, so if they do go through the ice, you know, they’ve got quite a bit of time to self-rescue or have their partner rescue them. And we practice that every year. We go cut holes in some of the local ponds, or out of the float pond at the airport, and people jump in and practice getting rescued.

Mike Lane: What makes Mendenhall Lake particularly unsafe to go out on when it’s frozen?

Chief Etheridge: Sure, Mendenhall Lake’s really unpredictable. There’s a lot of currents, especially with Nugget Falls pouring into the lake, you get a lot of currents in there. And so any place you have moving water, you’re gonna have shallow, thin, thin areas of ice. And then also the icebergs, they act kind of like a heat sink, and so the areas right around the icebergs tend not to freeze as thick, and you can still have an iceberg roll in the wintertime and break the ice around it.

Mike Lane: Now, are there any lakes in Juneau that are okay to go out on when it’s frozen?

Chief Etheridge: You know, there’s some that I feel are safer than others. You know, if you go to like like Twin Lakes, you’re at least visible, you know, and you don’t have the currents flowing through it that you do in other places. You know, the duck pond out off Riverside Drive. Places where you’re more visible, you’ve got less travel distance to get to someplace warm, I think is a good thing to look for.

Mike Lane: How could a person determine whether the lake ice is safe to walk or skate or bike on, or or snow machine, whatever it might be?

Chief Etheridge: Sure, the rule of thumb I’ve always heard is, you know, four inches for people to be safe out on the ice. But I’m a big old chicken, so I like at least a good foot out there before I go out.

Mike Lane: And what warning signs should people look for before going on a frozen body of water?

Chief Etheridge: Look at the areas along the shore, you know, do those break up? You know, do you have the ability to kind of drill through the ice and, you know, with, like, a hand drill and see how thick it is? 

Mike Lane: Now, if someone were to venture out onto a frozen lake but wanted to bring proper safety equipment, what would that be?

Chief Etheridge: You know, a PFD is not a bad idea. Ropes, you know, long poles that you know, if you do go through the ice, you got something to hang on to, to help pull you up out of the area, but you really only have a few minutes to do anything significant. Once you hit that water, it’s so bitter cold that your hands go numb really fast. And getting out is extremely important. You lose the feeling and gross motor functions pretty quickly.

Mike Lane: What if I witnessed somebody go through the ice? What would I do as a witness or a bystander?

Chief Etheridge: Sure, first thing is to call 911, because that response time does take time , keep an eye on where they were at if you’ve seen them, and if you’ve got equipment that you can safely, you know, attempt to help, help them get out of the ice, you could do so, whether you’ve got a rope you can throw them, or things like that, a sled you can scoot out to them, but going up to the area where they just fell through is kind of a bad idea.

When someone experiences sudden cardiac arrest in Juneau, the average response time for Capital City Fire/Rescue is 9 minutes. 

CCFR’s EMS Program Manager Andrew Pantiskas is leading an initiative – involving the help of Juneau community members and an app called PulsePoint – to make the response time faster.

KTOO’s Mike Lane spoke with Pantiskis about this life-saving effort.

Listen:

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Mike Lane: There’s an effort that you’ve been helping to lead to collect the contact information from people trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, and to provide training opportunities. Tell me about that. 

Andrew Pantiskas: Yeah, so we’re trying to get our cardiac arrest response to more of a community response. And what I mean by that is our average response time to a cardiac arrest when someone’s heart stops is 9 minutes across the board, and has been for the past over five to 10 years since we’ve been tracking our data. And what we’ve realized, and what most major cities down south have realized, is we need to get the community to the point that they can respond faster, start early compressions. Law enforcement agencies, military organizations, schools – the sooner we can have other trained responders start CPR, the better outcome we’re going to have for that person. Every 1 minute without good quality chest compressions is a 10% decrease in survival. And so you can kind of assume, if no one does chest compressions for about nine to 10 minutes, we’re not going to have a great outcome for that person. Now, that’s not a hard and fast definitive that it will be 100% mortality rate. It just means that the sooner we get compressions on board, the better chances we’re going to have of returning someone home to the community neurologically intact. 

Mike Lane: There’s a particular tool out there called Pulse Point, and that’s an app for your phone. Correct?

Andrew Pantiskas:  It is, yep. 

Mike Lane: So can you tell me about this and why it would be helpful for folks who live here in Juneau?

Andrew Pantiskas:  When we identify that someone might be in cardiac arrest, and our dispatchers start telling someone on the phone to start compressions, it basically pings everyone within a certain distance, whatever we set it to, and says, ‘Hey, this person here is in cardiac arrest. We need trained responders to respond. And here is your closest AED so that you can grab it on the way.’

Mike Lane: And that’s going to reduce the response time overall.

Andrew Pantiskas: Exactly.

Mike Lane:  Now, PulsePoint is not an active app in Juneau yet, but is going to be in the near future. 

Andrew Pantiskas: Yep, I don’t have an exact date. Our hope is that mid- to late-2026, we can do it. So there’s some things administratively we need to do. It’s got to be integrated into our dispatch system. What I can tell you is that CCFR is already adding in AEDs into our registry. If you do have an AED in a public location, your workplace, your religious gathering, your school, wherever it may be, and you don’t know if it’s entered, I would love it if you would send me an email. My email is andrew.pantiskas@juneau.gov. I would love to come out, photograph it and add it to our registry. That way, the day that PulsePoint is ready to go, we’ve already got them all in, and it will speed up the implementation of it. 

Mike Lane: Excellent. And now what is the reaction from Juneau residents been towards CCFR’s efforts for this? 

Andrew Pantiskas: So far, what I’ve heard is an overwhelming amount of support. This is going to drastically change how we manage our cardiac arrest. And I think that people realize that this is for their family, it’s for our community, it’s for the people who suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, it’s for our friends and family.  

Mike Lane: Now, do you have a goal for how many contacts you need or want in order for the app to be effective? 

Andrew Pantiskas: To me, as long as we have one person who’s willing that could be their sooner, I see that as a win. 

Mike Lane: Tell me about any of the training opportunities in Juneau for CPR.

Andrew Pantiskas:  Absolutely. So there’s several agencies, and I apologize, I’m probably not going to list them all, but Tlingit and Haida does CPR classes. Bartlett Regional Hospital does CPR classes. We do CPR classes. While ours are mostly right now, tailored for individuals within or around CCFR, we do them. Southeast Extinguisher does them. And I know that there’s a couple others and I apologize I can’t name them off the top of my head that do them. The first thing I would do is, if anybody has any questions, email me. I can absolutely send you a list. 

Mike Lane: Who can be a user of Pulse Point? 

Andrew Pantiskas: Yeah, anybody can be a user. There’s differences in the types of responders, and we’ve not internally worked out who’s going to be a verified or unverified responder, and so on and so forth. But anyone can download the application. And so if anybody has questions on that, I would just go download it and start looking into what it does and how it does it. If you are like me or my family and travel down to Seattle or travel down somewhere else, and if you’re walking through Seattle–Tacoma International Airport airport, you might get a ping and say, ‘Oh, there’s someone in C gates who’s in cardiac arrest,’ and you could be the first person there. So if you have questions, just download it and start looking at it. 

Eaglecrest Ski Area is slated to open for its 50th season this Saturday. And there’s a lot to talk about ahead of the season – like lift conditions, the status of the gondola and the actual likelihood of opening on time. 

KTOO sat down with Craig Cimmons, the general manager of the city-owned ski area, to talk about all of it.

Listen:

This interview has been edited for length and clarity

Mike Lane: So it’s starting to look like a winter wonderland up there?

Craig Cimmons: Oh yeah, we blew a bunch of snow, and then it snowed several inches. It was really magical in the parking lot filled with skiers and snowboarders. So it’s been great.

Mike Lane: Eaglecrest has previously announced that the Black Bear lift is permanently closed. Is there any update as far as what’s happening with the infrastructure at Eaglecrest? 

Craig Cimmons: There’s a ton to talk about. So unfortunately, Black Bear is closed. People keep asking if we’re going to fix it. It’s not worth fixing. It’s a very old lift. They got their money’s worth for it. It’s in a very old design that the industry has moved away from. So it’s smarter to put that time and energy into the other lifts right now, the other three lifts. Porcupine, Ptarmigan and Hooter are in incredibly good shape and ready to go. So the infrastructure— the staff who have been there for a while — say it’s been the best shape it’s been in years.

Mike Lane: What’s the life expectancy of the other three lifts? And how often are those maintained?

Craig Cimmons: They’re constantly maintained. It never really ends. There are so many moving parts on them. You’re just constantly greasing things and replacing things and checking on things. The life expectancy of those three lifts? They are at the end of their life, for sure. But they’re in good shape, so we will get plenty more years out of them, but we need to really start talking about a replacement plan for Ptarmigan, the main lift.

Mike Lane: Can skiers still access the runs that Black Bear was servicing?

Craig Cimmons: Yeah, for sure. You have to hike up. You have to walk up a bit from the top of Ptarmigan up to Black Bear. But 100% of the train terrain is still accessible. It’s just not via the lift.

Mike Lane: This January marks 50 years since Eaglecrest has been in operation. So, what — if anything — is planned for the milestone?

Craig Cimmons: We are so excited about 50 years — 50 years is a big deal. So, Jan. 16 is the anniversary, the 50th anniversary. Right now we’re playing on a couple of things. We’re gonna do night skiing that night. That’s a Friday night, so we’ll have lights on the Porcupine terrain. We did a couple of night events last year, and they were a huge success. So we’re really excited to do those again. We’ll get music going and make it a whole party and a scene and invite everyone to come up.

We’re also going to do all-day lift tickets. They are only $7, because that’s the price Eaglecrest lift tickets were when they opened 50 years ago. So, $7 lift tickets that day. Big party that night. And then we are also planning something for that Saturday as well. Everyone should just pay attention to our socials and everything. And we’re gonna make this year as much of a party as we can, because it’s 50 years. And then we’re going to kick off the next 50 years.

Mike Lane: Now, can we talk about the gondola? Can you give us any updates on its timeline and how that’s being paid for?

Craig Cimmons: The timeline is the same it has been: it’s got it open by the summer of 2028. Everything’s still moving forward. We still have the initial investment from Goldbelt (Incorporated). It has become clear that we will need more money to install it. 

The world has changed since Eaglecrest bought that. How much more money we’ll need, and where that money comes from? We don’t know yet. Once the general contractor is hired, they’re going to give us a price on what it will cost to finish the build, and then we’re going to know how much short we are from the initial $10 million. And then we’ll figure out where we get that money from. So that’s still to be determined.

Mike Lane: Craig, is there anything you’d like to add to this before we wrap up?

Craigh Cimmons: Yeah. I was thinking about that a lot. I’ve been here just over a year, and it’s incredible. The difference a year makes. From a year ago to now, the infrastructure is in better shape, we’re staffed better. The retention rate is incredible. We have tons of employees coming back, so we’re so much better set up for this winter. We’re really excited about this winter for all of those reasons. We’re just more prepared, we’re more of a team than we were a year ago. A lot of us were new last year, including myself, and it’s our 50th, so it’s all really coming together. So yeah, I’m just really overly excited about how set up we are for this winter, it’s going to be a really good one.

Marc Wheeler has worn a lot of hats in Juneau – from serving on the Juneau Assembly, to founding a beloved Juneau coffee shop and working with youth at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Alaska, he’s no stranger to public service. 

Now, he’s taken on a new role as the city’s new Parks and Recreation Director. His first day on the job was Nov. 3. And he comes at a tough time as the city faces potential budget cuts following the outcome of this year’s local election. 

Listen:

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Mike Lane: As everybody knows, the city’s facing some potential big budget cuts following the results of the recent local election, and how is that going to impact Parks and Recreation? Do you have that insight yet?

Marc Wheeler: Yeah, we don’t exactly know yet. We’re still getting some direction from the city manager’s office, and then also it’ll be up to the Assembly in the end. But I think at this point, it’s pretty clear that we’re going to have to reduce services or increase fees – or both. The magnitude, the impact of the [ballot] initiatives is great, and it’s really affecting our operating funds for the community. Parks and Rec is a big part of the budget, so I’m assuming we’ll have some real direct impacts that the public is going to feel.

Mike Lane: That kind of covers my next question: What changes will Juneau residents see?  There is the possibility of rate hikes and that sort of a thing.

Marc Wheeler: Yeah, I think we have to look at both revenues and expenses to meet the budget. Just coming from the private sector, (CBJ is) a lean organization, and there’s not a lot of places to cut that are going to be easy. So it’s going to have a lot of hard decisions. So ultimately, [it’s] up to the Assembly, but really, we hope the community is really involved in that process and really gives some good direction to the Assembly.

Mike Lane: Okay, and how are you going to balance the community expectations with the financial constraints that we know are there?

Marc Wheeler: Yeah, it’s going to be a balancing act. And, we really want to serve the public as much as we can with Parks and Rec, and that’s our mission, is to really provide a great service to the community. So I think we have to get creative, but also the community is going to need to get involved and prioritize what they want to see from us.

Mike Lane: Immediately, if I think Parks and Recreation, I immediately go to the swimming pool, to softball, to different organized sports. But it’s more than that. How many different areas does Parks and Rec cover? How many facilities?

Marc Wheeler: Yeah, so Parks and Rec not only does the parks, the trails, our facilities, our recreation facilities, the youth sports — we operate a youth shelter. I don’t think many people know about the Shéiyi X̱aat Hít, the Spruce Root House. It’s a place for teens that are experiencing homelessness (to) come and find shelter. So we’re doing everything from that to hosting pickleball now at Floyd Dryden three times a week. But also Parks and Rec, we oversee building maintenance for all of the city’s facilities. So we have at least 44 city buildings — I don’t think people know that —but we run buildings, from the warehouse and thing where we have the cold weather shelter to our IT department in an old NOAA building in Auke Bay. And, we’re servicing these buildings with our city staff. It’s a lot of facilities. It’s a lot of facilities. And then there are parks all over the place. We have parks. There are 42 trails in Juneau that the city is involved with. We also manage the parking garages and some parking lots downtown. We have just some great, hard-working staff, and I’ve been super impressed by the dedication and the heart and all the hard work that our staff is putting in.

Mike Lane: Speaking of staff, how many staff are you responsible for?

Marc Wheeler:  Parks and Rec is over 200 staff, but a lot of them are part-time or seasonal employees, and we have a lot of lifeguards working part-time. It’s over 90 FTEs, so there’s a lot of part-time staff.

Mike Lane: What other big issues do you see your department facing as director of Parks and Recreation?

Marc Wheeler: I think working with a smaller budget, trying to meet the needs in the community — that’s I think our biggest challenge. But also, supporting our workers. Like, I really want to highlight all the people that are behind the scenes making these services so valuable. People think, ‘Oh, it’s just some abstract budget.’ Well, most of our budget are people, people that are working in the city. Those are your friends and neighbors, and they’re working hard. From our shelter staff, who are working like 24/7 in the youth shelter, to our landscape crew, who are responding to downed trees that might be in people’s yards. Those are your friends, those are your neighbors and they really, they really are important.