BATON ROUGE — BREC Superintendent Dr. Brooks Williams issued a statement Thursday morning addressing the state of the parish parks department, including recent layoffs, adjustments and the culture he wants to instill going forward.

Williams said the recent leadership changes and other staff changes were made deliberately to make the department more efficient and "direct as many dollars as possible back into our parks system." He said the "period of position eliminations and departures will end, and the people affected deserve care and dignity through it."

The superintendent called out East Baton Rouge Parish, including parts of his own department, for failing to meet residents' expectations. He said "'that's just how things are'" became a reason to lower standards. 

"There is a bigotry in low expectations, in deciding that our employees can’t do better or that some of the people we serve should be happy with less," Williams said.

He also said the department will begin to pay its employees more for the knowledge and skills they bring to the job, and for meeting high expectations. 

"The unspoken bargain of 'we don't pay much, so we don't expect much' is over."

Williams said BREC is investing in having smaller teams of capable professionals rather than larger teams of lower-paid positions.

Overall, Williams said he plans to hold the department to higher standards and better serve the people of East Baton Rouge Parish.

Read the full statement here.