Marc Wheeler has worn a lot of hats in Juneau – from serving on the Juneau Assembly, to founding a beloved Juneau coffee shop and working with youth at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Alaska, he’s no stranger to public service.
Now, he’s taken on a new role as the city’s new Parks and Recreation Director. His first day on the job was Nov. 3. And he comes at a tough time as the city faces potential budget cuts following the outcome of this year’s local election.
Listen:
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Mike Lane: As everybody knows, the city’s facing some potential big budget cuts following the results of the recent local election, and how is that going to impact Parks and Recreation? Do you have that insight yet?
Marc Wheeler: Yeah, we don’t exactly know yet. We’re still getting some direction from the city manager’s office, and then also it’ll be up to the Assembly in the end. But I think at this point, it’s pretty clear that we’re going to have to reduce services or increase fees – or both. The magnitude, the impact of the [ballot] initiatives is great, and it’s really affecting our operating funds for the community. Parks and Rec is a big part of the budget, so I’m assuming we’ll have some real direct impacts that the public is going to feel.
Mike Lane: That kind of covers my next question: What changes will Juneau residents see? There is the possibility of rate hikes and that sort of a thing.
Marc Wheeler: Yeah, I think we have to look at both revenues and expenses to meet the budget. Just coming from the private sector, (CBJ is) a lean organization, and there’s not a lot of places to cut that are going to be easy. So it’s going to have a lot of hard decisions. So ultimately, [it’s] up to the Assembly, but really, we hope the community is really involved in that process and really gives some good direction to the Assembly.
Mike Lane: Okay, and how are you going to balance the community expectations with the financial constraints that we know are there?
Marc Wheeler: Yeah, it’s going to be a balancing act. And, we really want to serve the public as much as we can with Parks and Rec, and that’s our mission, is to really provide a great service to the community. So I think we have to get creative, but also the community is going to need to get involved and prioritize what they want to see from us.
Mike Lane: Immediately, if I think Parks and Recreation, I immediately go to the swimming pool, to softball, to different organized sports. But it’s more than that. How many different areas does Parks and Rec cover? How many facilities?
Marc Wheeler: Yeah, so Parks and Rec not only does the parks, the trails, our facilities, our recreation facilities, the youth sports — we operate a youth shelter. I don’t think many people know about the Shéiyi X̱aat Hít, the Spruce Root House. It’s a place for teens that are experiencing homelessness (to) come and find shelter. So we’re doing everything from that to hosting pickleball now at Floyd Dryden three times a week. But also Parks and Rec, we oversee building maintenance for all of the city’s facilities. So we have at least 44 city buildings — I don’t think people know that —but we run buildings, from the warehouse and thing where we have the cold weather shelter to our IT department in an old NOAA building in Auke Bay. And, we’re servicing these buildings with our city staff. It’s a lot of facilities. It’s a lot of facilities. And then there are parks all over the place. We have parks. There are 42 trails in Juneau that the city is involved with. We also manage the parking garages and some parking lots downtown. We have just some great, hard-working staff, and I’ve been super impressed by the dedication and the heart and all the hard work that our staff is putting in.
Mike Lane: Speaking of staff, how many staff are you responsible for?
Marc Wheeler: Parks and Rec is over 200 staff, but a lot of them are part-time or seasonal employees, and we have a lot of lifeguards working part-time. It’s over 90 FTEs, so there’s a lot of part-time staff.
Mike Lane: What other big issues do you see your department facing as director of Parks and Recreation?
Marc Wheeler: I think working with a smaller budget, trying to meet the needs in the community — that’s I think our biggest challenge. But also, supporting our workers. Like, I really want to highlight all the people that are behind the scenes making these services so valuable. People think, ‘Oh, it’s just some abstract budget.’ Well, most of our budget are people, people that are working in the city. Those are your friends and neighbors, and they’re working hard. From our shelter staff, who are working like 24/7 in the youth shelter, to our landscape crew, who are responding to downed trees that might be in people’s yards. Those are your friends, those are your neighbors and they really, they really are important.
