Special Olympics in limbo due to dispute over funding
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on January 17, 2015 10:32 PM
Wayne County's Special Olympics athletes are in trouble.
They are without an events coordinator and, therefore, without a leader.
The events coordinator would be in charge of the Wayne County Special Olympics, which ceased to exist in its current form in mid-December after the Goldsboro City Council refused to take action on the issue at its December meeting.
Richard Walderman, who used to volunteer as a coordinator for Wayne County Special Olympics, stepped down in 2014 after 10 years of service.
Walderman began asking the council for a replacement as far back as April 2006.
"He ate, slept and lived Special Olympics," said Parks and Recreation Director Scott Barnard.
At the council's first meeting in January, Barnard presented a proposal for a full-time events coordinator, which bristled several council members, as several thought the city would only need to fund a part-time position.
But Special Olympics athletes and Parks and Recreation leaders say it is impossible to properly perform the duties of an events coordinator working only part-time.
"The Wayne County Special Olympics will flounder without this position," Barnard said.
Barnard was unable to convince council members to authorize the new hire, who would oversee more than 1,000 athletes. Several council members indicated they were concerned with spending $38,000 to $55,000 for the salary of the new position, and felt the county should step up to help fund the position.
"Our population is staying flat, if not declining," said Councilmember Gene Aycock. "I'm all for helping Special Olympics athletes, but I think the county should share the burden of the expense and we have to look out for the tax dollar."
City Manager Scott Stevens said Goldsboro the council misunderstood the original proposal made in December.
"The challenge in the Special Olympics issue that our council pointed out is in December they said fund it, and we interpreted that to mean a full-time position," Stevens said. "That's not what they meant. They didn't mean to fully fund a full-time position. I'm not discrediting Special Olympics athletes by saying this, because they're caught in the middle of this, but if 50 percent of them are city residents, and 100 percent of them are county residents, then why should the city fund 100 percent of the cost?"
Stevens said if the city were to fund the position entirely, then they are left vulnerable to the possibility of a city resident asking the council why they are paying for a Pikeville resident to be a Special Olympics athlete when that person does not live inside the city limits.
"It's a human thing to do," Stevens said. "That's where our council fell back to, that anyone who lives in the city is also a county resident and they feel like the county should share the cost of funding the position."
After a tense back and forth at the first council meeting of 2015 about whether or not the county should share the burden associated with hiring a new events coordinator, council members decided to table the item.
This leaves the Parks and Recreation Department having to pull together multiple full-time staffers to cobble together events, paperwork and proper certification for athletes -- a tremendous undertaking, they said.
"There needs to be action taken on this soon," Barnard said. "I hope this doesn't become a football that gets punted back and forth between the county and the city. We need to coalesce around this issue and fix it quickly."
Barnard said the need for quick action is because whoever fills the full-time position soon will have hundreds of athletes "ready to rock." The longer the city and county dispute over funding, the more jaded athletes and parents become, he said.
"We're trying very hard to keep it from affecting the athletes," said D'leeshia Lee, a recreational therapist who sat on the board of Wayne County Special Olympics and is currently one staffer who is working to fill the shoes of the coordinator position.
Parks and Recreation staffers are staring down the barrel of an impending Special Olympics basketball season, and are having to coordinate spaces for events, financial funding and keeping every athlete's certifications and paperwork up to date.
"A coordinator is going to need a lot more than 15 to 20 hours a week to do the job," said Rex Hood, father of Ryan Hood, a Wayne County Special Olympics athlete. "They have to organize local games, secure school participation for fields and volunteers, and they have to make sure each athlete is properly trained."
"I've done this since I was 8 years old," said Ryan, now 34, who has competed in the International Special Olympics for bowling in Ireland in 2003. "It changes lives and it helps athletes reach their goals in life."
Rex said he personally witnessed how Special Olympics changed his son's life for the better.
"It helped his confidence, his well-being, and it did wonders for his self-esteem," Rex said. "It affects his relationships and his personality. I can't describe how much it has done for him."