5 i8 PARKS 



In many municipal park departments and in some county park depart- 

 ments the engineering work is done by the city engineer and the county 

 engineer respectively. In a park department having a regularly organized 

 engineering division the chief executive officer is known as the chief 

 engineer. Except in very large departments where there is a continuous 

 demand for engineering services, this division is likely to be a more or less 

 temporary division, for upon the completion of major construction projects 

 its duties are gradually assumed by the maintenance division. 



3. Legal division. From the very beginning of the work of a park 

 governing authority, legal advice and counsel are likely to be needed. The 

 law under which the governing authority acts may need interpreting, titles 

 of property must be investigated, contracts of purchase drawn, condemna- 

 tion proceedings instituted and carried through the courts, deeds to prop- 

 erty made out and properly recorded, the terms and conditions of bond 

 issues and sales determined, construction contracts drawn and enforced, 

 rules and regulations formulated and promulgated, personal injury and 

 property damage suits defended, amendments to the law or new laws drawn 

 and presented to the proper legal authorities for passage and similar duties 

 performed. The chief executive officer of this division is known as the 

 counsel or attorney for the department. In many park systems, especially 

 in the smaller ones, the legal needs of the department are handled by the 

 city or county attorney respectively, there being no regularly organized 

 legal division. 



4. Maintenance division. The functions of the division comprise the 

 upkeep and care of all properties and facilities, the performance of minor 

 construction work, care and repair of all tools and equipment, and responsi- 

 bility for the storehouse and the storage and issuance of supplies, materials, 

 tools and equipment. The chief executive of this division is the superin- 

 tendent of maintenance. In small systems this work is usually looked after 

 by the general superintendent directly or by a foreman of maintenance 

 (see Chapter XI). 



5. Horticultural division. The propagating, planting and care of plants 

 of all kinds used in park work is recognized as a science and an art in itself. 

 While functionally much of the work of this division is closely related to 

 the functions of the maintenance division, it is, in fact, a form of service 

 that requires scientific knowledge, training and skill of a peculiar type. It 

 is quite correctly placed in a separate division in the larger systems. In 

 some systems this division is called the landscape gardening division. In 

 small systems the functions of this division are performed by the general 

 superintendent if he happens to have horticultural training. If the superin- 

 tendent does not possess this knowledge a gardener is usually employed. 



