"Unemployed Golfers" Help Decatur Park District Keep Courses In Shape

By Ralph V. Rosser

If preseason maintenance on your golf course tends to get backed-up, the Decatur Park District may have a solution to part of your problem. In the spring of 1982 we experimented with a program titled "Unemployed Golfers Assistance Program". This program was designed to allow a group of people who were laid off from full time employment an opportunity to work at the minimum wage rate in an effort to earn an All Course Golf Annual which sold for $210. The participants were assigned in groups of 4 or 5 to maintenance projects at our five public golf courses and were under the supervision of our golf course superintendents.

Regular golf course patrons are shown enjoying the benefits of the Decatur Park District's "Unemployed Golfers Assistance Program," which utilizes the services of unemployed workers to help maintain the golf courses. In exchange for thru labor, the unemployed workers are given a season pass to play golf.

As with any program, standards had to be established to determine who would be eligible. These standards were created in order that we could best serve our target group — the unemployed. The following guidelines were used:

A. Participants must be a Decatur Park District resident.

B. Participants must be laid off from a full time job. (does not include retirees, teachers, housewives, or those people on strike.)

C. Participants had to attend the organizational meeting.

D. The first 25 people to sign up were given priority to participate.

The only complaints we received concerning this program were by those people who were disqualified from participating because they did not meet the standards that were established. (There were also a few complaints that people laid off from some major corporations still made more money than people still working for smaller companies.)

We found this program to be very easy to administer because the rules governing the program were simple:

1. Each participant would work a total of 61 hours (every attempt was made to use the participants on consecutive days.)

2. Once the annual was earned, it was not transferable.

3. A participant received no credit for any work done if he left the program prior to completion of his time.

4. The golf course superintendent could "fire" the participant for any just cause at any time.

5. Each participant had to sign a Release and Assumption of Risk Statement (the participants were considered independent contractors, but were covered under our workmen's compensation program). At the organizational meeting, the participants were given an opportunity to make us aware of any physical disabilities that would prevent them from doing any assigned tasks.

Why was this program a success? Because the participants wanted and appreciated an opportunity to work and do something productive. We initially accepted 28 participants in the program (3 dropped out because they were called back to work). Of these participants that signed up only 6 had purchased an annual the previous year and only about 12 of the participants considered themselves serious golfers (playing 3 times or more per week). During the course of the program the 25 participants worked a total of 1,525 hours.

The work done was of the highest quality and there were absolutely no disciplinary problems. In several instances participants returned during the season to do volunteer work at the course where they had previously worked. There were two instances whereby we needed to hire part-time employees to finish out the season and we offered the jobs to participants that had been in the program and had proven to be excellent workers.

Typical assignments for this program included a great deal of painting, sand trap work, laying stone

Illinois Parks and Recreation    18    March/April 1983

"Typical assignments for this program included a great deal of painting, sand trap work, laying stone along banks of ponds and streams, as well as general grounds maintenance."

along banks of ponds and streams, as well as general grounds maintenance. Several tasks on the golf courses were completed in less time than had been anticipated so we were able to assign these participants projects at other park district locations.

We are definitely planning to continue the "U.G.A.P." again this season. Due to the tremendous amount of interest shown thus far we will use a lottery system for those eligible people that attend our organizational meeting to determine who gets to participate. We will also require those in attendance to put in writing any physical disability they have as well as any special maintenance skill that we could capitalize on. Beginning in 1984 we will also inaugurate the policy that a person can participate in this program for only two years.

It's only fair to say that our superintendents were leery of this program in the beginning. However, once it started and they saw the attitude that was displayed they became totally in favor of the program. For our community, one that has consistantly been in the top 10 in the nation with unemployment, this program has been a small jewel. The positive publicity we received has far outweighed the few annuals we did not sell. As a matter of fact, we are contemplating another program along this line that will give the participants a chance to earn a swimming pool and tennis annual for their family in return for a specified number of hours.

Why not?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ralph V. Rosser, Director of Parks for the Decatur Park District, is a 1972 graduate of Eastern Illinois University with a B.S. in Business Management. He began work for the Decatur Park District in 1967 as a summer playground supervisor, moved to the position of Supervisor of Recreation in 1972 and was promoted to his present position in 1979.

Illinois Parks and Recreation    19     March/April 1983