News More questions than answers as leaders delay action on Park & Rec housing issue

Vinton leaders and citizens left Thursday's meeting of the City Council’s General Government Committee with more questions than answers about the controversy over the housing and pay of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department Director.

For as long as Duane Randall has been Parks and Recreation Director, he has lived in a city-owned house. The Parks and Recreation Board has proposed ending that arrangement, and compensating Randall $1,050 more per month – $12,600 per year.

But several Vinton residents have complained to city officials that the plan constitutes a pay raise.

Vinton Parks and Recreation Board Chairman Jeff Peterson disagrees with calling the change a “raise.” He said the $1,050 per month includes what the city could reasonably expect to charge for renting that house, plus utilities.

Randall is currently the only city department head with such an arrangement. Peterson said the goal of the Park and Recreation Board is to end the arrangement for future directors.

On Thursday evening, the Government Committee heard from citizens who believe the arrangement has been detrimental to Randall, as well as those who say the change constitutes an unfair raise.

“He’s being screwed over big time,” said Ed Haag, who said he believed the lower number on Randall’s salary would result in lower IPERS benefits when he retires.

But other residents had told the city council during its meeting a week earlier that the change should be considered a raise that is unfair to other department heads and a burden on taxpayers.

A woman in the audience told the leaders that recently a county conservation officer moved out of the house the county had provided for him, at his own expense, without receiving additional compensation. She said she believed the city should do the same, if Randall chooses to move out of the house it provides. 

Council member Bud Maynard told Peterson that when constituents see that thousand dollars being paid to Randall, they can only see it one way.

“You might as well just call it a raise, Jeff,” he said.

Unlike most committee meetings, in which the only three people in attendance are the council members who serve on this committee, the Thursday evening meeting at City Hall included Mayor John Watson, and the city clerk and city administrator, along with 25 constituents.

The Vinton Parks and Recreation Board will meet before next week’s city council meeting, when leaders hope to set a date for further discussion of the issue.

Among the questions to be decided are:

* When (and how) did the current arrangement begin? The housing arrangement began with the previous Parks and Recreation Director decades ago (Randall began working for the city in 1986). No one at city hall can remember or find a written contract setting the terms of the arrangement. Then one year, in lieu of a raise, the council agreed to pay the previous director’s rent.

* How will changing the arrangement affect the tax obligations of either the city or the director, as well as his IPERS?

* What to do with the house if the arrangement is ended.

* How can the arrangement be changed so that future city councils do not have to face this issue?

“A lot of information is missing,” said council member Dave Redlinger. Many other leaders echoed that sentiment.

Council member Bud Maynard said the council’s goal should be to resolve the issue so “that the council 20 years from now will thank us for having everyone stare at us and yell at us.”

 While the Parks and Recreation Board was hoping to change the housing and pay arrangement by Jan. 1. Currently, Randall’s salary is $40,661 per year, approximately $8,000 to $9,000 less than other Vinton department heads, not counting the police chief, whose salary is $54,000.

But city leaders are uncertain if all of the questions they have can be answered in time for the change to be made by then.

Mayor John Watson expressed optimism for a solution that answers those questions and satisfies residents.

“People are good at accepting change,” said Mayor Watson, “If you say it straight and say it upright.”