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Parks board requests flexibility to consolidate seasonal staff funds, proposes higher hourly rates
Summary
Parks board members asked the council to allow seasonal-employee pay flexibility so three park workers can be paid a higher hourly rate by consolidating their budgets and staggering pay periods rather than increasing the overall appropriation.
Park Board members asked the Vermillion County Council to permit flexibility in how seasonal park-worker pay is administered so the department can offer higher hourly wages without increasing the total appropriation.
Wayne Bush, president of the Park Board, introduced the topic and said county park employees do more than groundskeeping; the three seasonal staff “have not only built concrete, they have built buildings, they have done all the electrical work, they have done all the plumbing,” he said. Becky Holbert of the Park Board said the board’s goal would be to “bump the workers up to $20 an hour,” but that the board understood the salary resolution for 2025 was already approved and did not expect an immediate vote. Holbert said the board would be willing to negotiate lower targets (she suggested $18.50) and recommended consolidating the three workers’ budgeted amounts into a single line so the board could stagger start/stop dates and shift hours among employees.
Park board members said the three current seasonal employees perform multiple skilled tasks (electrical work, carpentry, plumbing and general construction) and that, because some employees do not work the full season, leftover funds in one person’s line could be used to increase hourly pay for another if the money were in a single pool. Council members responded that an adjustment to the county salary resolution would be required to permit the change and asked the Park Board to return in March with written guidance showing how the pay-period changes would work within the current appropriation.
Ending
The council did not take immediate action. The Park Board agreed to prepare a written proposal with pay-period scenarios and budget calculations for the council’s March meeting.
