SPARKS – City park maintenance is now sharing access to maintenance shops and staff with the city of Reno and Washoe County. In return, the county and Reno will be granting Sparks access to some of its resources.

The cooperative agreement among the municipalities was approved by the Sparks City Council on Nov. 23 and was approved by Reno and the county in weeks past.

The move to share was made in order to save money, according to reports from Sparks Parks and Recreation Director Stan Sherer.

“The terms of the interlocal agreement will allow the participating agencies to save or avoid costs related to maintenance, marketing and training,” Sherer said in reports prepared for the Nov. 23 meeting.

He added that the city hopes to save money by trimming off travel expenses by using the closest maintenance shop for supplies rather than having to travel back to a Sparks shop. The city will also be perusing joint programming options.

In addition, the three northern Nevada municipalities will work together to recruit part time, seasonal employees.

The agreement was made after a year of cuts to Parks and Recreation departments in both Sparks and Reno.

The city of Sparks did not hire seasonal maintenance staff this summer.

Seasonal county parks jobs were also cut in a June county budget slash. The county went without hiring 150 staff members this summer as 300 other county employees lost their jobs.

The staff cuts meant a little longer grass at area parks and maybe some dry patches.

“The grass on the playing fields maybe isn’t trimmed to the qualifications it could be or it is browner,” said county parks and open space spokesman Bob Harmon. “These (workers) take a lot of pride in their parks but they are stretched very thin.” 

The state of the area parks did not escape the notice of Sparks Mayor Geno Martini in his March State of the City Address.

“While we have made significant reductions to our budget, we can expect more to come in the months ahead,” Martini said. “I am making a plea to all our citizens to please understand if it takes a little while longer to repair our streets, or approve building plans and building inspections, or cut the grass and trim the landscaping at our parks. I congratulate and thank the Parks and Recreation Department, and all of the city’s departments that have taken necessary steps to maintain our services despite these troubled times.”