Without more staff, some Carson City youth, adult summer programs could be seeing the axe

Finding enough staff for day-to-day operations is a nationwide issue as cost of living increases continue to force workers to look for higher paying jobs, but when it comes to staffing youth programs, the lack of workers could have community-wide effects.

Camp Carson has been keeping Carson City children entertained and safe during the summers for decades, but with low staff numbers, caps on enrollment have already been put in place.

"Across the board in youth, aquatics, and sports, we are running at approximately 50 percent of our regular staffing levels compared to pre-Covid programming in 2019," said Carson City Recreation Superintendent Dan Earp. "Staffing levels have been low since the beginning of the pandemic, but our programs were limited and registrations were also lower as well, so we did not feel the pinch as much. We’re definitely noticing a higher return in registration numbers this summer, which is great, however many of our programs are capped due to low staff numbers, which means, unfortunately, that we may not be able to meet the community’s demand in some of our program areas, unless we’re able to hire additional staff."

Only a few days after enrollment opened for the 2022 summer season, some caregivers found themselves placed on waiting lists for their children's programming due to enrollment caps.

The waiting lists are being kept in hope that the program recruits additional staff, at which point they'll be able to allow additional registrations.

Swim lesson registrations have also not been opened yet, but according to Earp, it is likely to see the same enrollment restrictions due to a lack of Aquatic Center staffing.

Youth programs aren't the only ones feeling the strain; adult sports programs are having similar issues.

"In our adult sport programs we contract out officiating; however, our contractors are experiencing the same issues," said Earp. "This has caused us to postpone start dates while we work on recruiting officials, or in some leagues, we have or may have to switch to a self-officiated style of play."

According to Earp, despite the hardships and enrollment caps, Carson City is actually doing better than other recreation programs in the west.

"We are grateful that we seem to be faring better than in some areas," said Earp. "Phoenix is keeping half of their public pools closed this summer due to staffing shortages."

Earp said that Carson City still plans on keeping their facilities open and running through their regular programming, only some programs may have limitations to them.

One problem in finding staffing could be that the pay has not been high enough to compete against other industries all vying for the same summer staffing within the high school and college aged demographic.

"There is a lot of competition amongst other industries that also hire this same age group," said Earp. "We try to offer the best wages we can but as a government agency we are limited on some of the incentives that are being offered by other industries."

However, the wages for parks seasonal staff will be increasing this year. Pay increases must be approved by the Carson City Board of Supervisors during a budget cycle, which luckily just occurred.

Parks and Recreation asked for a $1.50 per hour increase for seasonal wages, which Earp says the board was very supportive of.

"This will go into effect on July 1st," said Earp. "This will make our entry base rate for any seasonal staff $12.00 per hour, while our part-time/seasonal supervisors could make up to $18.00 per hour."

Parks and Recreation will happily hire staff of any age from 15 to 99 or above, though they do rely heavily on the high school and college age population to fill their hiring needs, according to Earp.

In order to stand out against competitors, the city is looking into providing resources such as classes on filling out applications and resumes or opportunities to connect with a professional in another City field such as law enforcement, fire, health, IT, Finance, HR etc.

"As a City we have access to (these opportunities) that a high school/college aged employee may not have access to while working for a different employer," said Earp. "Several of our staff start off as a lifeguard or in our youth camp but move on to full-time positions elsewhere with the City."

For more information on the Parks and Recreation career opportunities for this summer, please click here.