Cancellation of the 2022 City of Traverse City Summer Day Camp
The City of Traverse City has announced that the 2022 Summer Day Camp Program has been cancelled.
The cancellation of the 2022 program is a result of a lack of staffing for the program to meet regulations set forth by the State of Michigan, which requires a 10:1 ratio. In an effort to attract a larger volume of qualified applicants, the City increased the Coordinator hourly wage by nearly 50% from the previous year, and increased wages for Counselors by over 20%, despite running the program at a loss each year.
By raising wages that are similar to other summer day camp programs in the region, the City still only received 2 applicants to date. The City is unable to allocate additional resources or redirect full time staff toward the program, which would dilute their responsibilities away from park maintenance and daily operations.
“The decision to cancel the Summer Day Camp program has been extremely difficult, especially in light of the childcare difficulties those in our community are facing. Unfortunately, the staffing shortage is not unique to the City or the region, but is prevalent throughout the state and nation. Due to circumstances out of our control, cancelling the program was the City’s only option for the upcoming the season. I would like to extend gratitude to the staff that has been working to create solutions, even though the outcome is not what we were hoping for,” says City Manager Marty Colburn.