Taste of Sunday: At Parks and Rec, the bloodletting continues

By Robert Rogers and Andrew Edwards
Staff Writers

SAN BERNARDINO -- Even before one of its most recognizable faces was arrested on charges of child molestation, the Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Services was in painful transition.

Records obtained Friday by The Sun through a public information request show 17 employees have either left or were fired between Jan. 1 and July 15.

Sources say Parks chief Kevin Hawkins has labored to shore up a department riven with problems and subpar personnel since taking over in May 2007.

"Kevin has moved decisively to begin to addreess the issues in his department," said City Manager Fred Wilson, who hired Hawkins from his former city of Inglewood post to replace outgoing Director Lemuel Randolph. "The fact that he has dealt with so many (employees) is evidence of that. I applaud his efforts to improve his department."

The list shows the discontinuation of five full-time and 12 part-time personnel, a turnover that represents about one-quarter of the roughly 65-employee department.

The list stops at July 15, but several sources acknowledged that more dismissals likely occurred between July 15 and July 25, as the department has come under harsher scrutiny following Operation Phoenix Center Manager Mike Miller's July 3 arrest on more than 20 counts of child molestation.

The list does not specify whether employees left voluntarily or were forced out.
Mayor Pat Morris said he's confident Hawkins is on track, but stressed that problems were deeply-rooted.

"Quite clearly, with what weve learned in last several weeks, we've got additional work to do to make that department healthy," Morris said.

But 7th Ward Councilwoman Wendy McCammack said Hawkins has sought to address his department's "unnacceptable level of professionalism."

McCammack said Hawkins was working beyond the spotlight to excise poorly performing employees from their posts before Miller's stunning arrest.

"Kevin has been a good manager of that department, working with what he has inherited," McCammack said.

Miller's arrest cast light on a number of previously undisclosed problems within the department -- including pellet gun wars between recreation staffers, unauthorized use of personal cars to transport children and missing equipment funded at taxpayer's expense.

Hawkins began his tenure as San Bernardino's parks chief in May 2007.
He declined comment for this article.

But in an interview in February, Hawkins voiced his dissatisfaction with a number of subordinates.

"I could get rid of (a number of) people right now who I don't think are committed" to the city, he said then, noting that civil service regulations made it easier to talk about firing staffers than actually issuing walking papers.

Since that interview, 14 staffers have quit or been fired.

If there has been any point of consensus among San Bernardino politicos since the Miller scandal erupted, it's the sense that there are serious problems within the department.

"My understanding is that Kevin's had some real problems there and has for some time," 4th Ward Councilman Neil Derry said.

For two decades, the department has been kept alive on a barely growing revenue stream while the city's overall spending swelled.

In Fiscal 1982, San Bernardino spent $3.7 million on parks and had a $36.5-million general fund.

The city's general fund had nearly quadrupled by Fiscal 2006, when general expenditures reached $132.8 million. But over that 24-year span, parks spending had only climbed to $5.8 million in a growing city.

Even though dollars were scarce, Mayor Morris and Hawkins alike saw needs to use Parks and Recreation to bolster other initiatives.

In Morris' case, he incorporated the cash-strapped department into his Operation Phoenix initiative and launched three new community centers as part of that anti-crime program.

Hawkins contended the department could serve as auxiliary engines for economic development and crime prevention. He has moved to leverage resources with Economic Development Agency funding on the basis that groomed parks and community beautification attracts businesses and residents to the city.