Busy summer for Linn County Parks; need more staff

ALBANY — Business has been booming this summer at Linn County Parks, director Brian Carroll told the Board of Commissioners Tuesday morning.

But as we head into the dog days of summer, staffing remains well below adequate levels, Carroll said.

“Our staff is doing a great job and they are putting in a lot of overtime,” Carroll said. “I would compare this summer to two summers ago, which was very busy.”

Last summer was an anomaly in terms of parks usage as the public was coming off COVID-19 closures and people wanted to get outdoors and recreate.

The Parks Department has an opening for a full-time park ranger, a seasonal ranger and summer help to fill in when college students start heading back to school before the end of August, Carroll said.

Carroll said Clear Lake Resort has been busy all summer, although the restaurant is only open four days a week because he could not get a second cook hired.

Commissioner Sherrie Sprenger pointed out that even though hot food items weren’t available when she recently visited Clear Lake mid-week, there were plenty of packaged food items as well as desserts like pie available to guests.

She also noted the large number of paddle boarders and kayakers who were braving the frigid waters — from 37 to 41 degrees — even during the hottest months of summer.

“In general, our sites are full from Thursday through the weekends,” Carroll said. “Our day use areas, like Lewis Creek, are really busy and that means our staff has to do a lot of cleaning and hauling trash, stuff that comes with having lots of people around.”

People interested in full-time or part-time work with Linn County Parks & Recreation can call 541-967-3917.

“We appreciate you and your staff, as do the citizens of Linn County,” Board Chairman Roger Nyquist said. “We also appreciate that you are working through the workforce challenges.”

The commissioners also approved accepting a $65,000 per year Maintenance Assistance Grant from the Oregon State Marine Board for two years. The money will be used for marine/boat ramp related expenses.

They also approved a contract with Udell Engineering of Lebanon to design and engineer an RV Waster Water Disposal facility in Sweet Home.

In other business the commissioners:

• Approved language for a ballot measure that will allow Linn County voters to decide in November if they want to ban the manufacture and sale of psilocybin mushrooms in unincorporated areas of the county.
• Approved an intergovernmental agreement between the Linn County Sheriff’s Office and the Oregon Department of Transportation. ODOT will give the Sheriff’s Office a heavy-duty metal building that will be refurbished to house radio equipment on Buck Mountain. This is part of the Fire Radio Improvement Project.
• Completed the sale of two pieces of tax foreclosed properties, one for $200,100 at 45497 East Dogwood St., Lyons, and the other for $98,000 at 41795 Stayton Scio Road.
• Approved 8% inflation adjustments for profit margins of Republic Services, Pacific Sanitation and Sweet Home Sanitation. That will translate into rate increases to customers of 3.4% for Pacific Sanitation, 4.2% for Republic Services, 6.9% for Sweet Home Sanitation.
• Approved First-Time Youth Wage Grant agreements with Cook Family Farms, David C. Malpass Warehouse and Malpass Farms.
• Announced there will be an Elected Officials meeting at noon Wednesday at the Linn County Fair & Expo Center.

Media contact: Alex Paul, Linn County Communications Officer, 541-967-3825 or email apaul@co.linn.or.us.