GAO to talk to tour guides
The Government Accountability Office will return to Gettysburg next month, according to Association of Licensed Battlefield Guides President Rick Hohmann.
GAO officials visited the Gettysburg military park Dec. 6 and 7 to study how the Park Service’s relationship functions with the Gettysburg Foundation - the private, nonprofit organization raising funds for the new $125 million visitor center and overseeing the project.
Robin Nazzaro, director of Natural Resources and Environment for the GAO, said the House Subcommittee on National Park Service and Public Lands requested the study into National Park Service donations, and specifically the construction and fundraising for Gettysburg’s new visitor center because of the project’s upward spiraling cost.
National Park officials originally estimated the cost of the project at $40 million.
The office’s visit involved a tour of the property and meetings with park staff including Park Superintendent John Latschar, Deputy Park Superintendent John McKenna and spokeswoman Katie Lawhon, as well as Gettysburg Foundation President Robert Wilburn and vice president for development Elliot Gruber, according to park and foundation officials.
GAO officials said last week that they planned to talk to more people in the Gettysburg area, but would not disclose who.
Hohmann said he and a small group from the guide association’s executive council will meet with the accountability office on Jan pay day loans. 17 in a yet-to-be determined location.
Hohmann would not say what he would talk about with the GAO - an independent and nonpartisan federal agency that studies the programs and expenditures of the federal government - but the association has had a public conflict with the park and the foundation.
The groups clashed in June over how guides would be paid and scheduled at the new visitor center.
Park officials could not be reached this morning for comment.
Park officials said a new system - where tourists could schedule tours through a Web site - would bring the park up to date and benefit both visitors and guides by pairing them more efficiently and allowing visitors to pay using their credit cards.
Currently, visitors pay guides in cash at the end of their tour.
Under the proposed system, the Park Service would pay guides twice a month.
Licensed battlefield guides have functioned as independent contractors since their creation, and Hohmann said recently a “clear majority” of them want to stay that way.
Hohmann said Thursday that he felt the guides are becoming like park employees, but “without pay or benefits.”
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