Under the auspices of greater efficiency and having more resources to address needs now handled by small departments, Snohomish County is merging its parks department with three other related departments. | Pixabay
Under the auspices of greater efficiency and having more resources to address needs now handled by small departments, Snohomish County is merging its parks department with three other related departments. | Pixabay
The Snohomish County Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department is to be merged with four other departments that county officials say are complimentary by nature.
With approximately 194 full-time employees, the parks department is to be joined with the Surface Water Management Division, with 95 full-time employees; the Energy and Sustainability Office, with nine full-time employees and the Agriculture Office, with one full-time employee, according to coverage by the Everett Herald.
“My hope would be that we could provide a streamlined vision under one leader,” Dave Somers, county executive, was quoted as saying by the Herald.
Tom Teigen, director of the parks department, told the county council that he believes the new department will not only provide greater efficiencies – the departments often are already carrying out duties within the same outdoor spaces – but also give the opportunity to address needs with the resources and manpower of a larger department that may now be under-addressed by smaller departments, according to the Herald.
“There’s an opportunity in this larger structure to value those more and try to dedicate additional … human and financial resources to those endeavors,” Teigen was quoted as saying by the Herald.