Park Board talks employee pay at Beaver Creek Park

The Hill County Park Board held it’s monthly meeting Monday evening where members discussed, among other things, finding a way to reimburse employees for the substantial commute to and from their jobs, an issue Beaver Creek Park Superintendent Chad Edgar said is damaging his ability to hire.

See more on Monday’s Park Board meeting in Wednesday’s edition of the Havre Daily News.

Edgar said it is very difficult to compete in the local job market when they pay what they do for a job that requires a 20 mile minimum drive every day.

Beyond the concern of getting new employees, he said, it’s also a matter of fairness, as the gas costs for this necessarily long commute are substantial.

“I just want to be fair and be competitive with the job market,” he said.

Edgar said he’s not sure what the best way to do this is, but he feels something needs to be done to help the situation, and board members seemed to agree, though many were not at the Monday meeting.

Board member Mark Peterson, also a Hill County Commissioner, said, doing the math on his vehicle, going out the park every day for work would cost around $2,100 a year in gas alone, to say nothing of car maintenance.

Board members discussed the possibility of a pay raise or mileage payments, but both would require changes in county policy to work, which may be difficult.

Edgar said policy also requires workers to clock-in only once they arrive at their worksite, so counting their commute as work is not possible under current county rules.

Board member Pam Wilson said the park is a unique entity within the county and she thinks it’s justifiable to carve out a piece of policy that gives them the flexibility to take care of the issue.

Wilson also said any direct raise in pay will be taxed, which isn’t ideal as a solution, so some kind of separate payment would be better in her opinion.

Board member Lou Hagener suggested carpooling as a way to reduce costs, but Edgar said the schedule of work at the park makes that impractical.

Hagener also suggested paying for gas directly, but that idea didn’t seem popular either.

Peterson said that would require either that they install a gas meter on the park and figure out a system for giving employees gas, or using gas cards, which he said have seen a lot of abuse when used by the county.

Despite his skepticism regarding these proposals, he said he’s glad people are thinking creatively and wants them to keep doing so until they find a solution to this problem.

Edgar said he would do some research on the logistics of a bunch of different proposals and come back to the board at their meeting next month, encouraging anyone with ideas to get in touch.

Edgar and members of the board discussed a number of other matters at the meeting as well, including needed repairs to park infrastructure, progress on the new Kiwanis Beaver Lodge.

They also heard an update on park conditions and worked on the wording of a new policy governing their new combined Finances and Rules Committee.