Letter to Arlington County Management

I emailed this to Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Resources department director Dinesh Tiwari and Parks and Natural Resources division director Steve Temmermand today, with copies to the county manager and the county board:

Dear Mr. Tiwari and Mr. Temmermand:

I am writing to express my concern and frankly outrage over two actions that were taken on Thursday and Friday of last week. On Thursday, Denise Chauvette, the director of Gulf Branch Nature Center, was told that her position was ended in less than two weeks. On Friday, Jenn Truong, was told that her extension agent position with Virginia Cooperative Extension, funded by Arlington County to serve as Arlington's Invasives Coordinator ends March 31 because the County has withdrawn funding.

While the exact substance, means and manner of the communications to them may be disputed, I am confident that both of these conscientious women would aver that they understood that they were losing their positions and that they had no meaningful choice -- these were involuntary separations triggered by County actions. I understand that Ms. Chauvette has served the County for almost 24 years and wished to continue to serve as director of Gulf Branch. Ms. Truong is a new mother, with a 5-month-old son, and also wished to continue to serve as Invasives Coordinator. Both of them are dedicated and competent, and they are a huge part of Arlington's small natural resources workforce.

I understand very well that the FY10 budget submitted by Mr. Carlee on Saturday proposes the closing of Gulf Branch and the elimination of the invasives program. I look forward to the upcoming public hearings and the opportunity for public input before the Board makes the final decision.

But the two actions related to Ms. Chauvette and Ms. Truong are extremely premature, and frankly, shameful. There was no public input. As Mr. Zimmerman noted in his questions Saturday morning, losing key personnel in small programs has a disproportionate impact on those programs, relative to losing personnel in programs with staffs larger than 10. Removing the women who run Gulf Branch and Invasives amounts to pre-deciding the fate of those programs, before public process.

I understand that tough decisions have to be made to meet the current-year funding shortfall. And I understand that both women were offered severance packages that arguably may be more generous than the minimum required. However, the actions devastate two key programs before the hearings and a Board vote. So I am respectfully asking that these actions be reconsidered and reversed and that both positions remain filled by their incumbents at least through a final Board decision on the FY10 budget, which will clarify the fate of Gulf Branch and Invasives. I can estimate that the current-year dollar savings attributable to these premature actions are well under $50,000, while the negative impact to our natural resources is severe.

Finally, let me mention that over the last dozen-plus years I have contributed more than a thousand hours of volunteer time to Arlington, focused on invasive plant removal. I have been honored to receive 2005 Arlington Volunteer of the Year recognition, and recent recognition from Virginia Master Naturalists' "Armed and Dangerous: Destroying Virginia's Invasive Species" award. Hundreds of volunteers, County citizens and taxpayers, have been active with the Nature Centers and the Invasives program, and we are all extremely upset about the actions against Ms. Chauvette and Ms. Truong. We will address the FY10 budget proposal itself when the hearings come.

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Steve Young