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State Parks Improve Under Host

Posted on: Monday, 10 October 2005, 21:00 CDT

By John Cheves, The Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky.

Oct. 9--FRANKFORT - As he leaves state government, Commerce Secretary Jim Host concedes that state parks won't turn a profit by 2007, despite his public pledge last year.

"That was too rosy," said Host, a former sports marketing executive whose last day is Friday.

"What I didn't know when I got here was the unbelievably bad condition of the parks," he said. "I'm used to running my own business and turning things around in two weeks. Well, it doesn't work that way in government."

However, the financial news from state parks is hardly dire.

They aren't profitable -- no state parks system in the country is -- but because of higher prices, new fees, better advertising and upgraded facilities, the parks now bring in millions of additional dollars and support themselves better than they used to.

Of its $83 million budget for 2005, the parks system expected to generate 67 percent (up from 63 percent in 2004) and tap the General Fund for 33 percent (down from 37 percent). Nationally, state parks tend to take about half their budgets from taxpayers, so Kentucky is ahead of the pack.

After Gov. Ernie Fletcher hired him two years ago, Host recruited fellow businessmen to run the parks with a corporate mind-set, notably Parks Commissioner George Ward, then a hotel management executive. Despite a few bumps, such as a controversial ban against visible tattoos on parks workers, the officials are winning generally favorable reviews.

Sierra Club activist Oscar Geralds, who leads nature hikes in parks, said he's glad state officials backed off their mission to turn a profit "before they broke anything." He didn't object to Starbucks coffee appearing at lodges, Geralds said, but he did think budget cuts had begun to reduce basic maintenance.

"It was a dumb idea to start with," said Geralds, a Lexington lawyer. "Parks are not there to turn a profit any more than most government services are. They exist to serve the public, to give people a chance to get outside and enjoy themselves."

Cutting jobs, adding fees

Host and Ward might disappointed that state parks won't operate in the black anytime soon, but nobody outside of Frankfort expected it anyway.

The Parks Department runs 17 resort parks, 24 recreational parks, 11 historic sites and two state office cafeterias. Only two of those 54 properties break even: Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park and Green River Lake Recreational Park.

Every parks system needs tax money, said Philip McKnelly, executive director of the National Association of State Park Directors. Kentucky parks -- which, unlike most, do not charge entrance fees -- are unlikely to buck the trend, he said.

"Not even most of the big resort parks generate a profit," McKnelly said. "You need a lodge with at least 100 rooms. You need a season that reliably draws visitors year-round, either way down south on the water, or up north where you have skiing. Kentucky just isn't in that place."

Ward has managed to raise $6 million in fresh revenue this year.

About 100 jobs were trimmed, mostly through attrition. Free golf for state officials and politicians was abolished. Fees were added, such as $3 to launch a boat. Admission, food and lodging prices rose. For example, a lodge room that cost $88 in 2004 costs $94 today.

Nobody likes to dig deeper into their wallets, but business is holding steady, Ward said. This year, resort parks expect to serve 1.2 million meals and 620,000 overnight guests, about the same as last year.

"I think, for the most part, people understand that we can't undercut the private sector," Ward said. "If anything, our price structure was a little low when Secretary Host got here."

And Ward puts millions of dollars back into the parks. He has revamped beaches and trails, renovated lodges, and replaced aging pontoon boats and threadbare bedspreads. The decor at some parks, with orange shag rugs and dull wood paneling, harked back to the funky 1970s -- not the image he's aiming for.

"We didn't even have little bottles of shampoo in the rooms. Obviously, we provide that now," he said.

State Rep. Tanya Pullin, D-South Shore, said she looks for chances to cheerily nag Ward about improving the campground at Greenbo Lake State Resort Park, in her district. She once invited herself on a long car trip with him to do just that.

Overall, Pullin said, it's gratifying to watch the new investments. But she warned that the Parks Department isn't an upscale hotel chain. Ward should be careful with price hikes, she said.

"The people who eat at the lodges, who use the recreational facilities, are likely to be rural families who live around the parks," she said. "So that's something they should keep in mind when they make business decisions about 'increased income flow.'"

Lectures from Host

Host, an aggressive, energetic man, played an outsized role in the Fletcher administration, and he clearly left his stamp on the parks. Most recently, he lectured several top parks officials about cigarette butts and other litter that nobody seemed to be picking up.

It wasn't his first lecture.

"I'm an absolute nut about such things," Host said later.

Yet Host's departure won't alter the Parks Department's business mission, Ward said.

Among Ward's priorities is renovating the four biggest resort parks -- Kentucky Dam Village, Lake Cumberland, Cumberland Falls and Lake Barkley -- so they're "a cut above" the rest and win a three-diamond rating from the AAA travel guide for Kentucky and Tennessee. They currently get two diamonds, Ward said.

Also, the state recently awarded a contract to Koll Development Co. of Dallas to build a large hotel at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. The hotel, to be identified in coming months, will share part of its revenue in exchange for leasing state land. Construction is scheduled to begin in June, according to Koll.

Ward prefers to concentrate on existing parks, but state Rep. Lonnie Napier, R-Lancaster, is pushing the Parks Department to give his district a resort park on Herrington Lake. Napier put $2 million in this year's state budget for a study and land acquisition; he hopes to find millions more in 2006 for land and construction.

"For jobs and tourism dollars, a park is the easier money you can get ahold of," Napier said last week.

The state hiring investigation that plagues the Fletcher administration -- leading to the indictment, pardoning and firing of top aides -- has touched the parks, too, to a much lesser extent than the governor's office and the Transportation Cabinet.

Host and Ward have appeared before a special grand jury investigating hiring practices. Some parks officials whom Ward fired complained that they were targeted by a Republican administration because they were Democrats. Ward denies it and says he only wanted to assemble a professional staff, although heads continue to roll.

One park in particular, Kentucky Dam Village, is on its third manager in 18 months. Ward fired Brian Roy, a Democrat he inherited from Gov. Paul Patton's administration, then fired the man he chose to replace Roy, a hotel executive from Northern Kentucky, calling it "one of those fits that didn't work out."

State parks will continue to advance even after Host leaves because the managerial ranks are being seeded with people who, like him, understand business, Ward said.

"When you bring in new ideas from the private sector, you blend them with the experience of people who have been here for years, and it's a really good system," he said.

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Source: Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Ky.)

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