Dateline San Angelo

Lily director asks for raise
Cost of maintenance reason for salary proposal

By PAUL A. ANTHONY, panthony@sastandardtimes.com or 659-8237
October 18, 2006

The director of San Angelo's world-famous collection of waterlilies has asked City Hall for more money, saying he cannot afford to manage the aquatic blooms on the salary he currently is paid.

With consistent six-figure offers from cities across the United States, Kenneth Landon, 60, has been in discussions with city parks officials on ways to keep the International Water Lily Collection in San Angelo - its home since its creation in 1988.

''I can't continue to live with the wages they're paying,'' Landon said. ''I told them I'll be here at least through 2007. ... We're trying to work this out in a genteel way.''

Landon was brought on as a full-time city employee in 2002. He is paid about $24,000 per year with benefits, Parks Director Carl White said.

Because the lilies are the centerpiece of Civic League Park, along the Concho River between Beauregard Avenue and Pecos Street, the city pays for its infrastructure, budgeting $3,000 a year for water costs, tank maintenance and the plastic containers that hold the lilies, and $55,000 total - a cost that includes the salaries of Landon and other part-time seasonal workers.

Nevertheless, Landon said, he spends about $30,000 annually buying, growing and maintaining the lilies themselves, using more than $400 per month from his savings.

''He's an employee, and he's eligible for any of the benefits any employee is eligible to receive,'' said Assistant Parks

Director Shane Kelton, who added that the department has engaged in informal talks with Landon about the issue. ''Nothing formal has been brought up to city management.''

The situation appears less acrimonious than two years ago, when Landon and the city bickered over what should happen to the lilies in the event Landon died or stepped down as director. A city attempt to buy 25 percent of the collection angered Landon, who already had expressed discontent over the pace of improvements to the lily ponds.

An agreement between Landon and the city - in which ownership of the lilies in the ponds at the park transfers to the city in such an event - smoothed the matter over.

''I'm pretty confident'' another deal can be reached with Landon, White said. ''He's been hanging in there with us. Our relationship with him has drastically improved since.''

For years, Landon has rejected offers - some ranging as high as six figures - to move his collection to higher-profile locales such as Austin, Denver and Hawaii, saying he likes San Angelo too much to leave.

The collection, a beautiful assortment of rare and exotic lilies that attracts enthusiasts from across the globe, is considered one of the best such exhibits in the world.

Landon had collected the lilies as a hobby until urged by the San Angelo Council of Garden Clubs and then-Parks Director Jimmy Rogers in the mid-1980s to set up his collection for public display. Several lilies on display are new species bred by Landon, with at least one a re-creation of a plant that had gone extinct.

''Offers have always been made for me to leave,'' Landon said, ''but I don't expect to leave.''

source: http://www.sanangelostandardtimes.com/sast/news_local/article/0,1897,SAST_4956_5074787,00.html