BREC laying off 10% of their redundant workforce. Outsourcing many jobs.

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BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - The Recreation and Parks Commission for the Parish of East Baton Rouge (BREC) has moved forward with a 10% reduction in its workforce as part of an ongoing reorganization effort.

Janet Simmons, interim Superintendent of BREC, said the changes are designed to improve service delivery to the community.

“We feel like the delivery service model is going to be much better,” Simmons said. “The team members that are here are realizing that we expect them to be very organized and very good at delivering their particular service to the community in whatever area they’re working in.”

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Redundancies identified after leadership change


Simmons took over the position in June after then Superintendent Corey Wilson stepped down. Since then, she and her team identified redundancies in staffing at the commission’s request.

Last fall, East Baton Rouge Parish taxpayers turned down a tax plan. BREC leaders said the failure of the Thrive initiative had nothing to do with the layoffs at BREC. However, agency leaders refused to answer how much money they think the layoffs will save the public entity.

When asked if prior leadership was to blame for BREC’s current position, Simmons said she could not speak on the previous administration.

“All I can do is come in and look and see what I see and make those decisions based on that,” Simmons said. “I’ve got a great team, brought in two people with me to help identify those areas we needed to fix, and we’re just doing the work.”

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Reorganization efforts continue

Reorganization is at the top of the list for Simmons and her team. Once results on internal efforts are complete, Simmons said pieces will be in place to begin shuffling roles and making adjustments.


“One of the things we’re doing during this process is we’re doing desk audits and making sure we’re positioning everyone in each department correctly,” Simmons said.

Central Mayor and BREC Commissioner Wade Evans highlighted that some employees may have the chance to come back, noting there is a difference between a reduction of force and a layoff or firing.

Simmons detailed positions that could be available, including maintenance crews, cleaning crews, custodian services, and people taking care of animals.

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