WPF Pod Ep. 2: The Difference…with Parks Commissioner Kathy O’Connor

The WPF Executive Director Joe Stout welcomed  Kathy O’Connor, commissioner of Westchester County Parks, Recreation and Conservation and discusses how she and her staff manage over 50 county parks. The commissioner takes us through the inner workings of the department and discusses the relationship between Westchester County Parks and The WPF.  

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Sometimes we're sunrise. We got drivers out there and horse or family rising out of which we're ready to guys working, and sometimes it's folks checking the trail conditions and mainters out there, repairs and more damage. And some of our team is planning for the next big improvement that most of us won't even notice because that's the point. Today we're going to go behind the scenes to meet some of the people who are trying to get. Welcome back to The Difference You Made, the podcast that brings you closer to the parks of people and stories that make our county thrive. I'm your host, I'm the executive director of the Westchester Parks Foundation, Joe Stour. And today we're pulling back the curtain on the essential and often invisible work that keeps Westchester's parks beautiful, safe, and accessible. And to help us understand how that all happens, I'm joined by the Westchester County Parks Commissioner, Kathy O'Connor. Welcome to the Commissioner. Thank you for the morning, guys.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Good morning. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

You oversee uh one of the largest and most diverse park systems in New York State, if not in the country. From beaches to nature reserves to historic sites. I'm excited to dig into what keeps it all running smoothly.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

I'm sure you do.

SPEAKER_00 1:17

Worchester County manages thousands of acres of parking, right? So for listeners who may not realize the scope, can you can you kind of paint a picture of the full scope of what the park system is? You know, number of parks, the facilities, annual visitors, some some some stats for them?

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Sure. Some stats that we utilize, especially trying to get grants, etc., and and great social media content. We have 18,000 acres, we have 51 facilities, and we have over 200 full-time and thousands during the summer, thousands of hourlies that keep our department clean, green, and growing. You ask what really keeps things happening. I believe we have spent a tremendous amount of time, money, effort in our staff. And I've always said our facilities are beautiful, naturally they're beautiful. With our capital improvements, they get better and better. But all of that wouldn't make any difference if our staff was not dedicated. And I truly believe, and I don't say this just because I'm the commissioner, I don't think there's really anybody that doesn't like their position. They're outside most of the time, other than bad weather, freezing cold, or steaming hot. They take tremendous pride in what they do. And we really promote, I'd like to say I invented it, but I did not, but you wouldn't know that. Parks, recreation, conservation, PRC. I would know that. Yeah, I know you would know that. I have to be careful in what I say I can do because you do know too much. But we also went with the acronym performance, respect, commitment. And that's those are not just words, they are truly what we believe in. You perform your position every job, your job duties every day. You don't have to like everybody, but you have to respect everybody in the positions that there are.

SPEAKER_00 3:13

Something about the scale of the system that surprises even longtime residents that they wouldn't you may not know.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

I think the scale is the fact that north of White Plains, even a little bit more north, uh our facilities up county, uh whether it be Hudson Hills, Mohansa Golf Course, or uh Mountain Lakes Camp or Ward Pound Ridge, the fact that you can be in those facilities, Ward Pound Ridge is 4,300 acres. And if you were dropped in there, you could easily be in the Catskills and the Adirondacks, and you're still in Westchester County. You're basically 40 minutes from White Plains. A couple of years ago, and I liked doing this, I took any of the Board of Legislators that were interested, I took them in a van and I started purposely, I started at Mountain Lakes, and throughout the day we went south and we ended at Glen Island. They were flabbergasted at the breath, the the width and breadth and content of what we are responsible for.

SPEAKER_00 4:15

So that leads me into the the next part of my question. Is like, how does the diversity of parks, because you mentioned a couple of them, but like when you go from a playland to nature preserve that's actually a nature preserve and a playland, but but you go from from you know a highly uh developed and active facility to you know acres and acres and acres of of just open space and trails. So how does that shape uh the parks department's work?

SPEAKER_01 4:39

Sure, and I think it's a testament to our separate divisions, parks, the recreation division, and the conservation division. And I truly believe uh the conservation division has really taken off over the last few years in that they are doing way more public programming, not just nature hikes and walks and whatnot. But I think the diversity of the population in Westchester County is how which came first, the diversity of the population or the diversity of our department. But I think the beautiful getting together is that there are people that do not want to go to Playland and do not want to go to Tibbetts or, you know, in those highly dense areas, they want to go to Kichawan, they want to go up in Mountain Lakes, and they want to just walk around, they don't want to hear the noise. Um we've had situations at Cranberry Lake Park, I'll never forget Cranby Lake Nature Preserve. Um, through budget situations, there were some possibilities years and years ago of not being able to open. And I got a letter from the head, the president of one of the biggest hospitals in the city, who happened to live in Ormonk, and he offered to pay the salary of the curator because he said what keeps him sane and grounded is being able to come home, put a pair of sneakers on, tell his wife where he's going, and head to Cranberry. And nobody talks to him, nobody bothers him, and he gets grounded.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

So we talk about the values of parks all the time. At the Parks Foundation, that's one of our missions is to make sure folks know uh they may intrinsically know it, but but you know, our job is to kind of remind them why parks are so important to their lives, and that's you know, the mental health we can't put the price on happens here. It's interesting when people think of parks, they only typically think of fore trails and in the woods, right? So but you guys have a lot of stuff, right? That you're responsible for, you know, maintenance, safety, recreation programs, infrastructure, environmental stewardship. So what's a typical day look like for you guys across the county, seriously, across the county? Because it's different, right? It's different in Mountain Lakes and Ward Pan Ridge than it is at Saxon Woods or at or at Tibbettsburg Park.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Sure. It's also seasonal, as you well know. Um and we don't close in the dead of winter. We might be plowing like this past winter. Um, but the the facilities that have beaches and pools attached to them have a little bit of a different scenario because they have to get those facilities up and running, ready for uh the season. Typical day, a lot of them start at seven and basically work seven to three. They get time off for lunch and whatever, but uh the superintendents of each facility lay out, and we are very conscious of making sure that's clear, lay out a day's duty. It can be garbage. You know, on a Monday following a big weekend, just the garbage detail is is tremendous. Um, general maintenance, who has become uh they don't just build things, they also fix everything. They've become a little bit of our emergencies um crew, too, when we have a bad storm and trees are down, uh blocking, you know, important roadways. So there's a lot of maintenance, there's a lot of cleaning. Um, our superintendents have gotten even better and better at growing grass, and that sounds funny, but you know really better than anybody at Kensico. It used to be just a dust bowl. And with the right staffing and some money gone into it, um, Dominic Angemi as the superintendent there. People want to take him home because his flowers are so good, they want him to do in their neighbor in their own backyard. What really makes me happy is in a lot of our facilities the public does take care, and they're we put up signage that say they're your parks. Sure. Don't don't mess them up. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

We've talked about it over the years. Is that you know if if it looks like uh it's not taken care of or nobody cares, then the patrons don't care. It's a personal question for you. It's like how do you coordinate such a wide range of services across so many locations?

SPEAKER_01 8:52

My immediate staff that works you know directly under me, the directors and the first deputy Peter Tattaglia, William Bland, Deputy Commissioner, um, they have divisions directly under them. And so we meet frequently, sometimes we meet almost every day. The senior staff meets once a month, and we literally go over goals and objectives, and we're we're finishing it uh next week. Um, and they they took a lot of time and energy and effort into really a little bit of a wish list, but also practicality. What can be done with the money that we are allocated? Um but we we also are determined by uh need. Um if we realize that uh something is not working correctly at a pool, at Kensigo, at a golf course, um, we will zero in and try to fix it and make it better.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

Those like invisible things that happen that before a park opens. And and what um the man behind the camera, John Chapman, our director of sponsorship the contract, uh, you know, making sure that this gets done right. We talked about this in our episode one of maybe going to behind the scenes of one of one of the parks and actually following one of your superintendents and your managers uh uh around for a little bit to see what they actually the public doesn't see. But if you can kind of like let our listeners and viewers know, what what are some of those things that happen that they never see?

SPEAKER_01 10:20

I hate to mention it, but our bathroom facilities are so it's just like anything else. If you go to an expensive wedding, if the bathrooms are not done correctly, you're gonna hear about it.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

Um can you talk a little bit about the Pride and Parks program? Um that that's because bathrooms just kind of generates that conversation about the city. Yeah, since we had interesting wedding. Somebody else doesn't think is clean. So there's a standard that you that you use for your facilities.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

Right, which Joe, when he was commissioner, um established it. It's Pride and Parks. It's actually a person in our um in our uh department, and this is probably the fourth person that's been doing it, they literally pick a park, they work with the commissioner, and we decide who you're gonna critique, and they go out with their checklist, a very specific checklist with percentages and markings and whatnot. And they do not really talk to anybody, they literally go through as public eyes looking at things, looking at uh, you know, the signs are backwards, the bathrooms are clean. They actually go into the concession stands that we have at various facilities and they um give a grade. And in the very beginning, it was, you can imagine, the reaction was, you know, IAB and we're the rat and you know, that kind of thing. It was it was a little bit negative, but the whole point was that then when we have our staff meeting, if I was in charge of Tibbetts and Tibbetts was critiqued, they brought Tibbets in. And the point was not to embarrass anybody, not to point a finger, but to bring up any issue that might be helped by the fact that general maintenance is in the building, uh IT is in the in the meeting, so it was a chance for that particular staff person to get help. And certainly, if there were problems, if the marks were not great, it was a chance to come back and get a better grade. I have to tell you, we've now been doing it well over 20 years. They still really worry about not getting a good grade, which is really amazing. Um, and and are very excited that one is always like 92%. So it's something that really, really keeps their feet to the fire.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

Can you share a story that stuck with you of a time when your staff went above and beyond?

SPEAKER_01 12:44

We all know COVID was the pandemic was just a horrible, scary. There are a million really sad stories to be a little bit more positive. We never closed. The county executive at that time um really asked us to keep going. So we had to rearrange our entire schedules because nobody could work a certain amount of time. Um, I will never get over walking. I happen to be at Tibbetts, highly, very, very a lot of people that day, very crowded. And, you know, we have 16-year-olds that are cleaning things, and they don't know who I am, so they weren't being good just because the commission was around. They had masks on, they had spray bottles, and they had antiseptic with them. They were cleaning garbage cans, tops of garbage cans. Every surface was being cleaned, and I kind of thought their own bedrooms probably looked like a wreck, but they realized how important it was, and we were getting crowded throngs of people coming to our facilities. And I'd like to say, you know, if there ever was a silver lining, and there really isn't, but the public came out because they didn't go to work, they didn't have anything else to do. And places like Kensico looked like we were having a festival. People put on their masks, put on sneakers, and walked. And for the first time in a long time, we were getting a lot of compliments from the public saying, thank you. Um, I met my neighbor and we walked at Kensico, we walked at Tibbetts, we walked at wherever, and I feel a little bit more normal. And that really resonated with me that we hopefully saved lives.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

So you know, it's you know, everybody thinks about first responders, and and nobody really thinks about the fact that the parks department, the park system in Westchester County, first off, was the only park system open. None of the local, none of the state parks were open, but Westchester County parts were open. And your staff never stopped working. Just like EMS, just like police, just like fire, and there's doctors. But the folks that got celebrated for the most part, they don't think about the parks department. I just think it's you know, that's a microcosm of how dedicated the parks department is. So switch a little bit here, just talk a little bit about funding and public support, community partnership. Yeah, that's kind of like where we've had. So county by county funding obviously plays a huge role in keeping parts running. I mean, that's the job of the county is to operate the parks, uh, improve them, and make sure that they're open and relevant and safe for everybody, right? But how does that investment that the county puts into translate into a visitor experience for the millions of people who come to our parks?

SPEAKER_01 15:27

What you see is what you get. You know, um we uh pride ourselves in the fact that, and certainly when you were a commissioner, you did it, we we do it, I've done it about four different times of late, that we're keeping our cost, especially the golf. Golf is our revenue, our six courses are our revenue-generated um facilities. And uh we've put tremendous amount of money into it, the Board of Legislators and the County Administration and our staff. I mean, we went from teeing off, you know, bathroom mats to, you know, top of the line. We have friends and family that play at Wingfoot or play at Westchester Hills, um, and they come back and say, wow, Maplemore is unbelievable. 267,000 rounds last year, and and they're real round, those are real numbers, obviously. Yeah, Wingfoot doesn't get 267 rounds maybe in five years. So I think people are seeing Playland. If you walk around Playland now, it our crew, um, the construction people have the contractors have brought just the promenade back to what it was in you know 1930, 1928. So I think, and and people are realizing it, um, you know, they question money, nobody wants to spend anything, but they're getting um a good product, and we're very proud of that.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

You know, and I think it's part of this because this kind of goes into how to community groups and volunteers and organizations like the Parks Foundation, how do we complement that work? But I think that it's important to talk about those investments that the county makes in the Spark system, that it's uh it's not just an expense. There's a there's a return on that investment, and not and it's not just solid and fuzzy stuff like my mental health and physical health and solved and buzzy stuff, but there's direct economic benefits to the county spending that money in Westchester County with county uh contractors that goes back into the county's economy, that comes back to help support the jobs, uh non non-public sector jobs in you know in the county and uh reduce maintenance costs, keeping uh facilities up to up to up to stuff. It's an investment. It's not a nice to have. It's not an expense.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

And I think what's really important is the um the percentages and the information that just came out through the county census. There are a million, fifteen thousand, one million, fifteen thousand people, over a million for the first time in ever, and in a time where there's so many other things going on. But I'd like to think a big part of it, and realtors have our preamp pamphlets. School system and the park system are the things that sell houses.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

The question is, how do friends groups and and and uh volunteer groups like the Parks Foundation? I know there's but there's other ones. You know, we are the umbrella. And no, I don't even want to say I don't like to use the word umbrella because we don't oversee. Right, you're right. I'm sorry. But we're you know, with the largest one, and we advocate for all the park systems, not the Tibbettsburg Park Conservancy or the Kent School Park. You know, we we try to do you know all you know all of them where we're asked uh uh to help to do that. So how you know how do we fit into this funding role of helping?

SPEAKER_01 18:48

To speak about the other ones other than you, and I'll get to Parks Foundation in a second. Um, we have realized that there are people that just love Lasden or just love Playland or just love Kensico. And so the people they put together the friends groups, legit friends groups, and they have the ability to raise money specifically for that park. And we have countless examples. Um, up at Muscood, Friends of Muscou just paid for two ADA compliant uh hay rides, hay wagons, which is fabulous because if you ever saw, we were lifting people into them over the years, so now they actually can get in them. Things that the county budget doesn't allow for at this point, um, the friends groups do. The Parks Foundation, as we said, and I'm sorry, I know you're not the umbrella group, but you do work on all of our facilities as opposed to just one, and that makes a big difference. Umancial, you've helped us pay for all our professional development. And once again, I think the most important aspect and most important thing that we have that I'm so proud of is our staff, because it doesn't matter what our facilities look like if our staff is not good and not dedicated, not trustworthy, getting into trouble, that kind of thing. Um, so professional development, which uh the Parks Foundation pays for, um, is very, very important, including the conference that we do once a year. I would love to get back to PRC Academy. I thought that was one of the best things we ever did. Um, love to try to do that again. But the other side of everything that you do for us is the volunteer program, which has grown tremendously. Um, I think it's interesting that one of the women that was in charge, he trained or did whatever, and now she works for me. So I like that program. So that's why we keep you away from our staff. That's right. Um, but my staff has finally realized that they're not there to be in the way or they're not there to tell anybody. They're there to help. And they have done fabulous programming and cleanup and just really making our parks look better and better through the volunteer program. So thank you.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

What do you got coming? What's coming this year, other than obviously the fact that you're retiring?

SPEAKER_01 21:04

We're not talking about that right now. We're really looking forward to July 3rd again, which thank you. You you pay for that's our annual Kensigo Music Fest at uh Kensico, obviously, uh July 3rd, which is a Friday night. We've gotten 15 to 20,000 people in good weather. Uh, music, just it is it is community 101 and you know, knock on wood. Thousands and thousands of people have been there, and I don't think we gave out a band-aid. And that doesn't just happen. And every ethnicity, every age group, every ADA, you name it, is there music, entertainment, eat, whatever, and then the fireworks, of course, are I think one of the best shows because they reverberate off the dam, nobody else has that. So we're saying that all the time. Something else I should talk about is uh July 19th, we were asked. I'm sorry. Excuse me, Governor Hulkle contacted the county executives administration and wanted to do something at Kensigo Dam for the final of the World Cup, which will be quite exciting. It's July 19th, Sunday. The game is at three. They are coordinating it. We are providing the area. It'll be a giant screen and then four smaller screens. The biggest issue is parking. It's going to be so we're utilizing WCC, which we did for Empire State Games in 2007. WCC and all the county parking around here that we own. It's a ticketed event. It's free, but it's a ticketed event, so we will know going into it how many, but they're talking probably about 13,000, 14,000 people. Wow, that'd be great. Pardon me? That'd be great. My goodness, it'll be amazing. In June, we have a couple of our biggest ethnic festivals there. Then July 3rd is the biggest event that we've been doing. The following weekend is the Italian festival, which is big. And then the following is uh eventually it'll be July 19th. So Dominic will have his work cut out. Yeah, my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 23:15

So it's it's it's Westchester County Parks.gov slash parks. Yes. And you can find out information about the park system. Right. Putting in a putting in a plug for us, you can also find out some information about what happens in the park system through uh the the WPF.org and info at um Westchester Parks.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

Just to finish on the last question that you asked me, I think the fact that we do 13, in this day and age, 13 ethnic festivals, and I go to all of them, and they are heavily populated. Yeah, no, and they're they're fabulous. And they're free. We do a lot for free.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

So so there's hundreds that you do. One of the niches that the Parks Foundation has has gotten into is that um we try to make the park system available to folks that can't, and one of the things we do is we raise money so you can do free programs. So we're very proud of the fact that there's a lot of free programs as well. But uh Commissioner, thank you for your time today. Thank you for coming and sharing behind the scenes. Um I hope folks who are listening and watching that this conversation reminds you that parks don't just happen, they're built, they're maintained, they're protected by people who deeply care about the county and the park system. The next time you walk on a trail or you enjoy a clean picnic area, you're re you know, you were experiencing the result of thousands of hours of work, much of it invisible, uh, but absolutely essential. And and uh a shout out to the parks department staff because they are the real heroes here for keeping it uh for keeping it safe. Uh if you enjoyed this episode, take a moment to appreciate the scale of the work that keeps our parks running. Learn more about how public funding and community support uh work together. Uh consider getting involved with the Weschester Parks Foundation to help strengthen the future of our parks. Please subscribe to our podcast, The Difference You Make. You can find out information at WPF.org. Um please send us your suggestions of what you'd like to hear or or see at info at the wpf.org, and we'll see you next time for episode three.