Oshkosh staff outline reorganization that would move park maintenance into new Public Work Operations unit

Oshkosh City staff on Tuesday described a proposed reorganization that would move many park maintenance workers into a new Public Work Operations department while keeping parks services and events inside a new Cultural and Enrichment Services department.

Michelle Benke, the city’s human resources manager, said the change would group field crews — sanitation, streets, water distribution, and the buildings-and-grounds crews who currently do parks maintenance — under a single Public Work Operations division. “So, the intent is that the parks workers … will go into this public work operations organization,” Benke said during a presentation to the Parks Board. She added that administrative park staff and functions such as the zoo, amphitheater, events and fund development would remain with parks services and events inside Cultural and Enrichment Services.

Benke told the board the reorganization stems from goals set by the Common Council to improve organizational efficiency, create a unified communications and grant strategy and reduce duplicated effort across departments. She said communications and marketing positions would be centralized under a Communications and Engagement division and that the work of designing the new structure will continue through staff input; she cautioned the timeline could stretch into 2026 as positions and reporting lines are finalized.

Several board members voiced concerns about operational supervision and protecting parks priorities. A written statement read into the record from board member Tim Franz warned that reassigning field staff could produce unclear reporting lines and a loss of focused oversight: “The concept of 1 person, 1 boss … With field staff being organizationally disconnected from the position or positions … ensuring that parks are developed and maintained is destined for problems,” the statement said. Board members also worried parks work could be deprioritized if overseen alongside street operations.

City staff responded that the zoo and parks services would remain within park services and events and that details about supervisory positions and job descriptions have not been finalized. Benke said staff will solicit employee input and examine where functions such as CIP project planning and grant applications should sit: “We are talking about trying to bring some of our CIP resources together … so that we’re making sure we’re looking at things holistically,” she said.

Benke and other staff also emphasized the reorganization aims to preserve service levels while making grant-seeking and public communications more consistent across departments. Board members asked staff to provide more detailed organizational charts and job descriptions before taking action; Benke agreed the effort will be iterative and include further review.

Next steps: staff indicated the reorganization proposal is an employee-structure plan (committee reassignments would be a separate council decision). No formal vote on the reorganization was taken at the Parks Board meeting; the board requested follow-up information and continued engagement with staff and employees.