As ASU students and downtown workers enjoy the latest “Lunch Unplugged” concert at downtown Phoenix’s Civic Space Park, Brian Flanigan surveys the crowd search of his only coworker.

Flanigan smiles, trying to mask his annoyance, when he finds TJ Penkoff near the end of a walkway, telling a man to move his car from a spot clearly marked “No Parking.”

“Does he know he’s about to hit a tree?” Flanigan, the Civic Space park manager, calls out.

Penkoff, the recreation coordinator, just shakes his head.

“Parking is a sore subject around here,” Flanigan says.

Keeping vehicles off the park’s walkways is one of the duo’s more mundane priorities — Flanigan and Penkoff, as the sole full-time park employees at Civic Space and Heritage Square parks in Phoenix, said their duties are never-ending.

“Our jobs are really diverse because there isn’t the manpower [there] once was,” Flanigan said.

Because the parks are unique — Civic Space hosts sophisticated audio and lighting equipment and Heritage Square is home to several historic buildings — many of Flanigan and Penkoff’s duties vary from those of typical park managers.

However, their ability to fulfill these unique duties does not equate to job security, as Phoenix officials are proposing further cuts to the parks department.

“We’re hurting big time,” Flanigan said. “The proposed budget cuts are coming up — they’re huge.”

Dale Larsen, director of Parks and Recreation for the city of Phoenix, said it’s possible that either Penkoff or Flanigan could lose his job if more cuts are made.

“We’ve eliminated at least three full-time positions … from the last year,” Larsen said. “This year’s proposed reduction will reduce one full-time position at Civic Space.”

If proposed cuts are made to the Phoenix parks department, more than half of the full-time recreation coordinators positions will be eliminated, Penkoff said.

“Right now, there are about 42,” he said. “If it goes through as it is on paper right now, there will be 14 left. So the chances of even having a job potentially are slim.”

But Larsen stressed that cutting the position is not yet set in stone.

“The services that are on the chopping block are huge,” Flanigan said, “and that’s why this food tax is also pretty critical. The food tax could save some of these positions.”

Larsen said if Phoenix passes a 2 percent sales tax increase on food items, it could account for about $62 million of restorations.

As the only full-time employees for the parks, Flanigan and Penkoff pool their resources to help each other, taking care of nearly every duty within the two parks on a daily basis.

“My position encompasses more maintenance than a traditional coordinator,” Flanigan said. “Basically, you plan events [and] festivals. It’s facility management, working with tenets, clients [and] the public.”

“Other duties as assigned,” Penkoff chimed in, citing the handbook’s all-encompassing and vague definitions. Flanigan laughed at his friend’s joke.

The list of duties continues: working with the community, keeping tabs on groundskeepers, handling food and liquor licenses for on-site businesses, maintaining the plumbing systems, attending construction meetings, marketing, writing press releases and more.

Though the future is uncertain, both Penkoff and Flanigan said they are proud of their work at the parks.

“It’s been a privilege to be a part of this staff, even though it’s challenging,” Flanigan said. “To be part of this park … is so rewarding.”

Reach the reporter at joseph.schmidt@asu.edu