The Phoenix City Council has approved a new contract for trailhead custodial maintenance services after attendees express concerns about park rangers performing custodial duties.
The ruling was approved at the city council meeting on Sept. 18 at the Phoenix City Council Chambers.
This decision will allow Phoenix park rangers to focus on their main duties instead of janitorial services.
“The role of the park rangers should be to educate the public and keep our parks and preserves functional and accessible for all,” said Kelli Cholieu, vice chair of the Desert Conservation Commission for the city of Tempe.
Park rangers are responsible for enforcing the law, protecting the environment, educating visitors and ensuring the safety of all visitors.
Starting on Sept. 1, rangers were being told to take on custodial services which included cleaning trailhead bathrooms and opening the gates in addition to their primary ranger duties. The reason for these park rangers’ new obligations was due to the loss of the former janitorial staff.
Parks and Recreation Director, Cynthia Aguilar claimed that the park rangers taking on custodial duties was unintentional. She said the contract wasn’t extended in time, and that’s why there was a delay in hiring new staff.
Tim Sierakowski, a member of the community, disagreed with Aguilar’s statement.
“We had a park ranger stop them from coming and cleaning the restrooms. Their contract is up Dec. 31. There wasn’t a glitch here. There wasn’t someone that, ‘Oh, we made a financial mistake.’ They stopped service, they didn’t give the company 30 day notification, and they just stopped because they didn’t like this company,” said Sierakowski at the meeting on Wednesday.
Sierakowski claims that a park ranger terminated the contract with the janitorial company without prior authorization from the parks and recreation department.
Sierakowski raised further concerns about why a ranger was making managerial decisions instead of Aguilar.
Aguilar claims she didn’t intend for park rangers to fulfill these duties, but she mentioned that they are permitted to perform these duties in their job descriptions.
“For the past five years, these duties specifically, at a select number of trailheads including Camelback Valley, Piestewa have been performed by various janitorial services,” said Aguilar.
Other attendees reported that these bathrooms were not well-kept while under park ranger care. They reported that people formed lines outside the bathroom while waiting for rangers to clean them as well.
Residents were verbally pleased by the approval of the new contract. Nearly all that spoke thanked the council for approving it.
With this new contract, park rangers will no longer have to complete janitorial duties but can instead put their full attention into protecting the parks and educating visitors.
Edited by Shi Bradley
