You want a pizza delivered where?

Whenever park manager Ron Zartman has tried to order a pizza, he has to explain that, yes, his house sits in the middle of Fox Island County Park in southwest Allen County.

Since Zartman began working for and living in the park in 1986, he’s never been able to get a pizza delivered to his modest county-owned home.

For Zartman and his colleague at Metea County Park, Bob Dispenza, living on county park land is an adventure and one they are glad to be a part of – pizza delivery or not.

Allen County is one of a few counties in the state to maintain homes for some staff.

The county provides a double-wide sectional home at Fox Island and a farmhouse that is more than 110 years old at Metea, near Leo-Cedarville, for the department’s two park managers.

The county-maintained homes are a benefit that is part of the managers’ compensation. As managers, they are responsible for developing programming, and overseeing maintenance and a group of part-time naturalists and volunteers, Parks Superintendent Jeff Baxter said.

For Zartman and Dispenza, the homes are a both a perk and added responsibility as they and their families are on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For that, they earn $46,000 a year and $41,000 a year, respectively.

Unlike city parks, the larger, more scenic county parks are more likely to keep staff on site, said Steve Waltz, executive director of the Indiana Park & Recreation Association.

Vast areas

County parks tend to cover vast areas, and can include campgrounds, swimming lakes or hiking trails. Providing a home for a staff member allows an around-the-clock presence, he said.

Living on park property is typically a requirement of the job and is provided in lieu of a higher salary, Waltz said.

Allen County has maintained homes since the parks department hired its first naturalist in the mid-1970s, Baxter said.

The park managers are required to live on the property to open and close the gates and to provide an additional level of security.

If someone sneaks onto the property after hours, the managers will remove the trespasser, he said.

A walk in the park

In general, both Zartman and Dispenza enjoy living on the park grounds.

The surroundings are beautiful and peaceful and allow Zartman to run and cross-country ski.

And Dispenza’s four children have enjoyed Metea as an extended backyard – a place to build forts or search for rocks in the creek.

But it’s work too, for all of them.

Dispenza’s children answer the phone, pull weeds and take care of a turtle at the nature center, the family said.

Rita Zartman has greeted confused visitors at her house and has handled an alarm call when her husband was away, she said.

The security company calls Zartman and Dispenza first. The managers’ job is to make sure nothing is on fire, no park building has been broken into and that the heat didn’t shut off.

Living on the park grounds also keeps the managers in touch with what’s happening on the grounds.

Zartman said his jaunts through the park help him as a naturalist. When it’s wet, he can take groups to see the frogs in the ponds. When the owls had fledglings, he knew it and could take the groups to see them as they learned to fly.

For Dispenza, his walks with his wife, Jackie, keep him aware of invasive plants that might sprout on the state nature preserve grounds or broken boardwalks that need repaired, he said.

But during those walks he might also answer questions from a visitor or pick up trash. Those walks turn into work every time, he said.

And Jackie would like to take a walk together without learning the Latin name for a type of moss.

“Just hold my hand and walk,” she said teasingly.

Life in the parks can be an adventure, Dispenza said.

At Fox Island, the Zartmans are visited by deer, owls and loads of mosquitoes, which thrive in the damp woods that border Eagle Marsh.

The Dispenzas have found unusual wildlife at their door, usually left by people releasing the animals.

Animals that were let loose include two African land snails, a turtle native to Florida, cats and woodland creatures.

The family home has also been mistaken as a DNR post. A hunter once knocked on the door holding a freshly killed deer asking whether he could tag the animal there, Jackie Dispenza recalled.

An adventure

But part of the adventure includes the families’ living spaces.

The Dispenzas’ centenarian home comes with the usual quirks of an old home. The foundation is solid except for the crumbling mortar, which lets in mice and spiders. The original kitchen cabinets need replaced after layers of lead paint were found.

Pipes freeze, some wall switches and outlets no longer work, and poor insulation completes the package.

Yet the family has been able to paint the walls to match their tastes and to plant a garden in the back of the house, Dispenza said.

A constant reminder that the family lives in a county facility are the fire extinguishers required on every level of the house, he said.

In contrast, Zartman and his wife, Rita, live in a 5-year-old manufactured home that replaced a sagging, leaking trailer where Zartman lived for years.

The County Council provided $55,000 to buy the home, and the Zartmans shopped around to get the best deal, they said.

Since the home was built, the couple have added a flower garden and bought a yard shed. They don’t make improvements without getting the parks director’s approval first.

“We are very respectful that we are not the last people who are going to live here,” Rita Zartman said.

But more than the house, the park is their home. The couple got married under a favorite oak tree near the house and they had the reception at the nature center, Rita Zartman said.

Their extended family prefers the spot for holiday dinners, birthdays and other get-togethers – even if they can’t order pizza.

aiacone@jg.net