Residents Criticize Staffing Changes at Lake Accotink Park

Temporary staff changes at Lake Accotink Park have come under fire from the park's neighbors, who say the move makes the park unsafe and was made without community input.

The controversy began in late January, when the Fairfax County Park Authority transferred two employees from the Springfield park to other parks for eight weeks because Lake Accotink Park is less busy in January, February and March. A maintenance worker continued to work at the park.

"We felt we were being good stewards," Park Authority spokeswoman Judith Pedersen said, adding that moving park employees to different parks is routine. The Park Authority needs to shift staff, Pedersen said, because of budget cuts.   

While the employees returned to the park last week, some visitors to the park say their absence made the park more dangerous and want to make sure the park stays staffed next winter.

"The thing that was really bad was that they never told anybody they did it," said Gail Nittle, a director-at-large for the Springfield Civic Association. Nittle said leaving the park unstaffed means there is no one who could respond in an emergency. For example, Nittle said, a child could drown at the park's marina.

Diane Boughton, who lives near the park, visited the park on an unstaffed day and, in an email to members of the Board of Supervisors, cited problems she thought could be fixed by a Park Authority employee, including children running on the marina's dock, a boat out of place, and a fallen tree on the park's road.

With the staff assigned to other parks, the park's office was closed, which Boughton says was also dangerous.

"This is just a no-brainer," said Boughton. "This should not have been done."

The Park Authority's Pedersen responded that in the case of an emergency while the park is unstaffed, visitors could call 911. In fact, a majority of the Park Authority's parks are not staffed, according to Pedersen.

Still, Pedersen conceded that more could have been done to notify the public about the temporary staff change.

"We probably need to do more in the future," she said.