Underpaid and understaffed, Kern rangers struggle to keep ranks

Dec. 9—Under a circle of trees and standing on a landscaped knoll that comprises the majority of Heritage Park's southern edge, Vito Alvarez scans from left to right, and grimaces at what he sees: a couple of tents, spaced apart, but each ramshackle in their tarp-stick-and-rope frames, to the public restrooms 50 feet away, littered with trash.

Crunching the grass beneath him with the shifting of his feet, Alvarez takes a breath and stares at the steam that is released.

"They make a mess of it all," Alvarez said.

Since retiring, Alvarez makes his monthly visit to the park with his Maltese, named Duke. He has seen it all: every colorful word scribbled in spray paint, every brand of malt liquor, aluminum and glass spilled about the ground. Pointing to the skate park, Alvarez said it was just the other week that someone set fire to the port-a-potty.

While not the only law enforcement in Kern County, the county's park rangers are the understaffed and beleaguered last line of defense for more than 100 parks, campgrounds and public buildings across 8,100 square miles.

Yet to the public, they're largely forgotten.

"Naw, never," Alvarez said when asked if he's seen a Kern ranger at the park.

The issue has come up periodically over the years, as Kern struggles to pay competitive wages for several public safety positions. Sometimes the discussion has been prompted by Kern rangers, who speak up at county Board of Supervisors meetings.

"I am sure all of you have noticed a lack of presence of the Kern County rangers in the parks over the past few months," Kern Ranger Jake Sorenson said at a Nov. 15 county Parks and Recreation Commission meeting. "This is because many of us have left to agencies that pay significantly better."

Those gathered behind him at the meeting, he added, made up 80% of the rangers today. Currently, the department is staffed at 30% — five full-time rangers and nine vacant positions. The agency relies heavily on extra-help rangers, who work part time.

Many of the rangers have left to work for the city of Bakersfield's newly formed ranger ranks, which began under the banner of the Bakersfield Recreation and Parks Department last year.

Despite a smaller budget, city rangers start at a base salary of $30.48 per hour, about 49% more than county rangers' starting pay. This is despite the fact that city rangers are not required to make arrests, follow up on investigations or carry guns, relying on the Bakersfield Police Department for such tasks.

"We get paid the same as a person who works at Panda Express," Sorenson said of county rangers.

According to Leslie Wallace, senior CAO manager with the county's General Services Division, Kern rangers average 16 arrests and eight follow-up investigations per month in their peak season of March to September. They average 12 arrests and two to three investigations, she continued, during nonpeak months.

Their department, Sorenson surmised, does not have the manpower to patrol many of the parks it's charged to oversee, several of which are in the county's 5th District.

The result of a lack of regular patrols, according to Eddy Laine, a local watchdog and member of the Sierra Club's Kern-Kaweah Chapter, is a culture of disrepair and decline. Restrooms are locked due to stolen copper pipes, faucets have run dry, and some restrooms have been rendered inoperable or tagged in graffiti. Rusty playground sets sit atop peeling rubber.

"Yeah, I know by now to use the bathroom (at home) before I leave," said Mira Thompson, an east Bakersfield resident who regularly drives to Heritage Park.

With undulating hills and a clear line of sight, Thompson is comfortable letting her dogs roam. But today, they're leashed. "I think someone dumped some puppies here last night — it happens sometimes."

To Laine, the lack of ranger presence in the 5th District is an extension of inequity in Kern. He argued, along with other advocates, during a July 11 tour of parks that the district, which incorporates east Bakersfield and has among the county's highest percentage of people of color, as well as those who are poor and disadvantaged, is not given equal access to funding for security as other, wealthier districts.

"All Kern County residents deserve access to parks," Laine said. "They deserve ranger protection in their parks."

In his speech, Sorenson said rangers cannot patrol "the inner-city parks," including Belle Terrace, Casa Loma, Heritage, Pioneer and Virginia — all of which are in the 5th District.

In response, then-Kern County Chief Administrative Officer Ryan Alsop explained that the 2nd and 3rd districts have the vast majority of the county's park acreage and generate considerable revenue through their lakes, golf courses and venues.

He also pointed out the already swollen sum — 75% to 80% — of the county parks' operating budget that goes toward repairs, specifically restrooms. Replacing stolen copper pipes in a restroom, for example, can range from $35,000 to $40,000.

Current Chief Administrative Officer James Zervis said the county is currently in talks with the local SEIU chapter to increase ranger wages so that they "are competitive with the city." An adjustment, he added, should likely come before the Kern County Board of Supervisors at its Dec. 19 meeting.

But he doesn't want these negotiations to give the wrong impression: While important, rangers are not Kern's top priority right now. They were also not the city's priority.

The issue has for years run in tandem with other staff shortages in public safety offices in the county, such as the county jail and the Sheriff's Office. Much like rangers, Kern sheriff's deputies have historically been paid far less than their peers statewide.

But with the availability of Measure K tax funds, the Sheriff's Office is slowly replenishing its staff — at 78% as of October — which officials attribute to a 22% pay raise approved in January, as well as longevity pay and a $25,000 hiring bonus.

The county's Measure K tax is expected to rake in about $56 million this year, about half of the city's Measure N tax, which has grossed up to $110 million in a year.

Zervis accused Laine and others of having created an unrealistic expectation of what the rangers are meant to be.

And that standard, he added, is not actually followed within Bakersfield or among other agencies.

"Go to any of these parks in the city, or in the county, and it's pretty rare that you see a park ranger, whether it's county or city," Zervis said. "I don't think any of our 10 other cities (in Kern County) even has rangers."

The better use of public dollars, he said, is for park improvements, creating spaces "that the public wants to be in."

Aside from the financial constraints, many of the real consequences dwell in public perception. Many parkgoers are quick to blame the homeless for issues at parks.

The result is a mounting resentment, in the absence of a mediator present, where residents increasingly turn toward the most visible as the culprits. Few would go on the record and share their thoughts.

Wearing a down jacket, track pants and a beanie, one of the park's few homeless people quietly bagged trash from inside his tent before walking it to the dumpster. While amenable to a conversation, the man declined to be interviewed.

When asked, Zervis dismissed the idea that local homeless people were the primary drivers of vandalism and related crimes at the parks.

"Homeless individuals aren't going to spend their money on spray paint," Zervis said. "They aren't ripping out huge amounts of copper wire."

Alvarez, meanwhile, watched a litter of Chihuahua-mix puppies follow close behind the man, biting at one another's heels. He mentions an incident from a couple of weeks earlier, when a port-a-potty on the opposite end of the park was set afire.

"The homeless are setting everything on fire all the time," Alvarez said. "Every time a building is burning I look and go, 'Oh, it's the homeless, again.'"