RDCO replacing park Caretakers

[just popping in]

I believe this to be the wrong decision on the part of the RDCO to replace resident caretakers who look after the parks for free.

http://www.castanet.net/edition/news-st ... htm#177039

[gman313]

Sorry but if you are thick enough to believe it is actually free....

The rent is subsidized big time - and the cost to maintain etc etc.

So this will likely be a cost savings for the park operators.

Knox mountain, which will continue to have live in caretakers is a good example. The current guys contract is up shortly so the bid is up on the cities website - read the requirements and you will see all that gets paid for

[just popping in]

Yes, their rent is subsidized, however, this is not about City of Kelowna and Knox Mountain.

http://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/17 ... rs-evicted

http://www.castanet.net/news/Poll/17650 ... ion-notice

[Swoop]

...if you feel the RDCO is making a mistake by removing park caretakers, there is a petition that has been set up through Change.org to keep the caretakers in the parks...here's the link should you be interested:

http://click.exacttarget.change.org/?qs ... 28d1e33a4e

[gman313]

Yes, their rent is subsidized, however, this is not about City of Kelowna and Knox Mountain.

http://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/17 ... rs-evicted

http://www.castanet.net/news/Poll/17650 ... ion-notice

I'm just making a point of saying there is expenses to having live in care givers is as well. It really is not free.

[forumdoug]

Sorry but if you are thick enough to believe it is actually free....

The rent is subsidized big time - and the cost to maintain etc etc.

So this will likely be a cost savings for the park operators.

Knox mountain, which will continue to have live in caretakers is a good example. The current guys contract is up shortly so the bid is up on the cities website - read the requirements and you will see all that gets paid for

Agreed that a security patrol is cheaper than a resident caretaker, but guaranteed, they (RDCO) will not be getting anywhere near the same service level as with someone on-site all night versus a mobile security patroller in a vehicle coming once (maybe twice) in the night (anymore than that would likely cost more than the resident caretaker) to lock up the gate, check out the parking lot and shine a light with their flashlight from the entrance gate and then leave and return when it's time to open the gate. :)

I also have issues with RDCO appearing to not properly tender this security contract to other firms. Sure, they invite Requests for Proposals each five or 10 years but, because it's an RFP and not an "invitation to tender," they don't publicly announce who the bidders were or the value of the bids. I suspect they may not be getting the best value for money had they placed a higher criteria on being cost effective - certainly, I think Paladin Security, Securiguard, Turner Security Group or Concord Security might be able to provide the same service level at lower cost. :)

Cheers,
Doug

[Balance]

I'm just making a point of saying there is expenses to having live in care givers is as well. It really is not free.

What are these expenses incurred by having live-in caretakers? Do you know?

[gman313]

Balance I will answer you when you learn how to quote

[pepecat]

Balance I will answer you when you learn how to quote

So you will only present your made-up statistics to people who know how to "quote" in the proper form? Okay then .. I am asking the same question. What are the costs of having on-site attendants?
(I do hope the "quote" function works properly)

[voice of reason]

i live by one of these parks and i feel bad for the people effected by this.there is a nice old couple who live in the caretakers home.i always see the old guy waiting for the handi dart in the morning when i am on my way to work. i suppose they can get a commisionaire to open and close the gate but they still have a house that will sit there relativaly unused .it seems kind of dumb to me when the housing maket is like it is here that the regonal district actually owns 7 or so houses that they are going to evict people from and allow to sit empty or use them for a shed.there is no way a commisionaire will be able to give the same service these residents would be able to either. they will be there first thing and last thing to service the gate and maybe a lap thru the parking lot once or twice a day.it sounds like the rdco parks are going to be a good destination to hang out and drink beer and smoke pot in the future.no one will ever be around maybe some hobos can move in to the houses for the winter

[Balance]

I'm still really interested in knowing what costs are incurred by RDCO for having caretakers in the parks. Anyone?

[forumdoug]

I bet the resident caretakers would do the job, on-site security and minor maintenance/care of the park with free rent if RDCO decided no compensation was available. :)

I suspect RDCO has two motives here: (1) they want to further entrench the cozy relationship Commissionaires enjoys, regardless of the fact that what this will entail, and what they're not telling the public, is a mobile security patroller in a branded vehicle (probably a Prius or something like that) will show up at or around park closing time to lock the gate, walk the parking lot and a shine a flashlight at the park entrance from the parking lot and then not return till park opening time 10-12 hours later and (2) they want to repurpose the houses as "interpretative centres," though one wonders why since the EECO Centre is hardly used, is of little value and only open during standard government office hours.

I suspect, though obviously there's no proof of this, RDCO is doing everything it can to try and solidify that it's a valuable organization we can't do without or at least couldn't further outsource many of its functions to relevant local municipalities or the private sector on a fee-for-service basis.

RDCO CAO Brian Reardon and CFO Marilyn Rilkoff (her salary is the most obscene for a glorified accountant/senior bookkeeper!) need to continue to justify their nearly $200,000 per year salaries plus "fat cat" pensions for positions that are largely redundant. I have no problem paying the City of Kelowna City Manager that, given all that the City of Kelowna does but the RDCO is a shell of its former self. At best, they need a general manager, a city clerk, a finance manager, a receptionist and a handful of parks planners and public works staff. The rest could simply be assumed by local municipalities or private sector organizations under contract on a fee-for-service basis. Basically, RDCO could and should shrink itself to the size of one of the local improvement districts in terms of staffing plus some regional parks planners and public works staff and, last I checked, the GM of the Glenmore-Ellison Improvement District made only $80,000-$90,000 per year. :)

Cheers,
Doug

[Balance]

The resident caretakers already do security and minor maintenance with no financial compensation, they are not paid, they pay the RDCO a reduced rent. The caretakers have anywhere from 10-15 clauses in their contracts that outline their services and responsibilities, only one of those responsibilities is to open and close a gate.

I'm still unclear what costs are incurred by RDCO by having on site caretakers in the parks.
Genuinely interested in the answer to this question.

[DODGEBREW]

Well Balance, in talking to someone in the know.......the cost to the RDCO is just the upkeep of the buildings (which will still be there unless they remove the houses). The Caretakers pay their own utilities in most cases. So if the average subsidized rent is between $300-$400 per month and they are now going to pay the Commissionaires at the very least $600 a month (just got that number assuming that they wouldn't go twice a day for much less than $20/day).........seems to me that's about a $1000 dollar swing each month. And not in the tax payers favor!!!! That's $12000 per year times 7 places.......so roughly $84000 in wasted money spent by these clowns. I'm sure we can all look forward to get another tax increase in the future to help make up for this mess. Not to mention to cover the vandalism costs that will arise once people realize that 7 more parks now have LESS security than they used to.

[LTD]

fidos gonna love running wild at Bertram park with no caretaker there to say anything