Austin Resource Recovery proposes $1.2M plan for encampment cleanup at city parks
AUSTIN (KXAN) — As a way to prevent litter in city parks, Austin Resource Recovery (ARR) proposed creating a team dedicated to performing encampment cleanups regularly at all city of Austin parks, according to a city memo.
In order for the regular cleanups to happen at city parks, ARR’s recommendations will cost around $1.2 million per year, according to the memo. This will cover staffing, as well as “on-going operational funds.”
As of now, the Austin Parks and Recreation Department (PARD) has two full-time employees and two temporary employees to help with “encampment litter and debris abatement,” according to the memo.
This comes after a resolution was proposed by Austin City Council as a recommendation to provide “supplemental litter prevention” at those parks.
The memo said with current PARD staff, the “daily workload to address encampment litters and debris exceeds PARD’s capacity with the current level of resources and equipment.”
“There is also a backlog of work needing to be completed, including a large need to address litter and encampment debris in wooded areas where vehicle access is difficult,” the memo said.
Furthermore, the memo said PARD staff also saw illegal dumping areas as a “recurring issue.”
ARR will assist PARD and will have the “necessary staffing and equipment” to perform those regular encampment cleanups, the memo said.
Additionally, ARR will continue to “utilize existing funds reallocated from a Citywide cleanup contract to support the dedicated in-house team,” the memo said.
Last, ARR will assist the Homeless Strategy Office (HSO) and PARD by implementing the following abatement strategies, as provided by the city memo:
- Work with the Homeless Strategy Office (HSO) and PARD to “prioritize cleanup of encampment sites” by participating in the HSO’s weekly Homeless Encampment Management Team meetings
- Coordinate with HSO, PARD and the Austin Police Department “to increase outreach and enforcement efforts in parks to prevent encampments from occurring or re-occurring”
- Provide “on-going consultative guidance” to PARD on “other programmatic litter abatement strategies”
- Include litter messaging, as well as “other initiatives in public information”
