Lawton’s Community Enrichment Department has more than 80 employees in 10 divisions who manage “a wide range of city operations” and do so efficiently, Director Larry Parks told the City Council recently.
“Every day, our teams maintain parks and public facilities, inspect neighborhoods, issue permits, conduct construction inspections, mow vacant lots, maintain lakes and cemeteries, deliver recreation programming, and provide aquatic services for the community,” Parks related. “Together, these represent a full-service operation that impacts residents every day.”
Their jobs are to “provide safe, clean, and well-maintained public spaces through strong customer service, coordination, and professional oversight,” said Parks, a retired senior non- commissioned Army officer.
The Community Enrichment budget for Fiscal Year 2026-27 (July 1, 2026 – June 1, 2027) will be $16,471,531.
Parks is the chief administrator over:
•Administrative Services. This department is responsible for supervising planning, budgeting and staffing of parks and recreation activities, including building maintenance, lakes, a cemetery, parks and grounds, recreation, and aquatics. They are responsible for the efficient operation of recreational programs and senior services. This activity is also responsible for meeting the leisure needs of the community through special programs and events other than those offered by other local centers
•Recreation. This activity involves organized events centered around community outreach and continuity. Programming provides a wide range of classes for all ages, abilities, and social groups. Recreation activity also provides funding for the Lawton Youth Sports Authority, which supports programming, staffing, and supervision for youth and adult sports.
•Park Maintenance. This division is responsible for maintenance of municipal parks, playgrounds, and open space. Its activities include mowing grass, playground maintenance, litter control, and support of special events, mowing/ landscape maintenance contracts, and tree pruning in parks. Contract labor provides event support, litter control, and maintenance of public restrooms, mowing of street medians, rights-ofway, city owned vacant lots, and city facilities.
•Building Maintenance is responsible for the predictive and preventive maintenance, repair and general housekeeping of all city-owned facilities, including City Hall, the public library and annex, and several other buildings. The division also is responsible for securing dilapidated structures throughout town. Activities include construction and repair, carpentry, plumbing, HVAC, electrical, contract maintenance oversight, custodial tasks, and special event support.
•Lakes. This division is responsible for providing recreation, conservation and maintenance services in the areas of camping, fishing, hunting, and boating at Lake Lawtonka and Lake Ellsworth. Activities include coordination of concessions, public facility, structure and appurtenance maintenance, and informational services and sale of permits. They provide utilities and water services from three rural water districts for campsites, headquarters, restrooms, pavilions, and coordinate the sale of permits.
•Highland Cemetery. This division is responsible for maintenance of the cemetery grounds, perpetual care of special lots, burials and disinterments, selling of lots or spaces, and maintaining records.
•Museum of the Great Plains. The museum is the only institution of its type with a regional concept of interpreting the relationship of man to a Plains environment. Some of its activities include exhibit displays, educational tours, films and demonstrations, collections and preservation of historical research materials, documents, photographs, artifacts, archaeological research in the pre-history of early man and a publication through its technical reports and the semi-annual Great Plains Journal.
•Aquatics. This activity provides supervision of the new Aquatic Center in Elmer Thomas Park, splash pads, and wading pools.
•Building. This division conducts building structural, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, and land development construction inspections for compliance with city and international codes.
•Neighborhood Services. This division is responsible for inspection of properties to ensure compliance with the nuisance and property maintenance codes adopted by the City Council; logging and investigation of complaints related to high weeds and grass, junk and debris, dilapidated buildings and structures, and other nuisances; ordering the abatement of any such violations by the property owner, and when necessary abating violations not corrected by the property owner, and initiating liens for the recovery of the cost of any such abatement by the city.
‘We exceed peer cities in every category’ Mayor Stan Booker frequently expects city officials to gather information from six “peer cities” – Norman, Moore, Enid, Broken Arrow, Midwest City, and Edmond – and compare the City of Lawton’s performance against theirs.
When Community Enrichment’s budget is weighed against the peer cities, Parks told the City Council, “you will see that across all divisions, Lawton exceeds peer city averages because of how we are organized and operate” compared to them.
“We don’t split our duties and employees across multiple departments like they do, nor regionalize, nor provide at the same level,” he said. “We have far more responsibilities than any of our peer cities. We operate a more comprehensive, centralized, and service-oriented department.”
In Administrative Services, for example, “Our investment is higher because we house critical functions — budgeting, purchasing, programming support, marketing, and customer service — directly within the department rather than dispersing them across the city. This creates greater accountability and responsiveness, but it also reflects higher staffing and cost metrics.”
In the Recreation division, “Higher investment translates directly into broader programming, increased community engagement, and more opportunities for youth and families,” Parks said. Many of the peer cities offer limited or seasonal programming, while Lawton provides “an annual, more robust and consistent experience.”
Across the city’s Park maintenance divisions — “whether that is mowing, maintaining building facilities, or cemetery operations” — the story is similar. “We maintain a large inventory of assets and acreage. Our staffing levels and costs reflect the reality of maintaining those assets at a high standard rather than deferring maintenance or reducing service levels.”
For Building Maintenance and HVAC operations, “The complexity of our facilities requires skilled personnel and proactive maintenance. This reduces long-term costs and downtime but increases upfront staffing and operational investments.”
In Aquatics, “We provide a world class aquatic center, three free wading pools and three free splash pads with several water features,” Parks noted. “We offer far more access and programming than many peer cities. That requires increased staffing, maintenance, and safety oversight, but it also delivers significantly greater community value.”
The city’s Building Division is “streamlined but highly specialized, delivering essential permitting and inspection services with fewer personnel and lower administrative complexity than many peer communities,” Parks said.
Additionally, the City of Lawton operates a “highly proactive and specialized Safe and Clean Neighborhood Services Division focused on maintaining neighborhood quality, improving community appearance, reducing nuisance conditions, and delivering rapid enforcement response throughout the city.” The staff currently numbers 12 but will increase soon by two, he said.
When comparing benchmark categories across all divisions — total budget, salaries, staffing levels, cost per employee, and per capita measures — the pattern “remains consistent,” Parks said.
“We have far more responsibilities than any of our peer cities and deliver services across a broader area served.” And Lawton’s Community Enrichment Department “exceeds peer city averages in every category.”