Laserfiche WebLink
Park Department Formation <br />Report to the Elk River City Council <br />October 200 I <br />Page 6 <br /> <br />development maintenance budget ($285,000) and Community Recreation programming budget <br />($64,181). <br /> <br />Finding 3: Recommendations regarding maintenance of existing facilities, programming, <br />planning, and expenditures for capital improvements are currently made by a combination <br />of volunteers and multiple staff representing a variety of City Departments. All <br />recommendations regarding allocation of city resources for parks and recreation purposes <br />ultimately must be ratified by the City Council. <br /> <br />Volunteers currently shaping recommendations include the members of the Park and Recreation <br />Commission. The work of the Commission in turn is shaped by hundreds of volunteers that work <br />in various capacities on park and recreation projects. <br /> <br />City staff that currently shape recommendations include the Park and Street Superintendent, the <br />Parks Foreman, the City Finance Director, the City Administrator, the Director of Planning, and the <br />Manager of Community Recreation. <br /> <br />Finding 4: The current decision making process regarding parks and recreation decisions <br />works adequately in that decisions are eventually made, but the implementation of the <br />decisions is sometimes slowed due to conflicting demands on staff time and related <br />resources. Decisions are also slowed due to the lack of a full-time designated person/or <br />city department that has appropriate training to assume responsibility for coordinating <br />timely responses to park and recreation priorities. <br /> <br />Each of the staff listed above has multiple responsibilities and demands on their time, including <br />some responsibility for parks and recreation. Currently all staff make a good faith effort to move <br />park and recreation priorities forward, but any given effort may have to give way to other <br />Departmental priorities. Given the projected growth in the park and recreation system, increased <br />use by residents of City services and facilities, and the increased demands on current staff, the <br />Commission projects that this situation will not improve unless some key staff are added (see New <br />Department Components and Organization). <br /> <br />Most park and recreational initiatives by their very composition tend to be muki-jurisdictional in that <br />final projects represent a blend of professional financial, planning, programming, construction, and <br />ongoing maintenance staff expertise. Based on Commission review of other Park and Recreation <br />Departments in Minnesota, eventually many municipalities make the decision to hire additional staff <br />charged with the responsibility of implementing parks and recreation priorities. <br /> <br />New Department Components and Organization <br /> <br />To meet the anticipated planning, coordination, programming and maintenance needs, it is necessary <br />that the city target additional staff resources to respond to the demands of a growing parks and <br />recreation system. These additional resources could be created by a combination of new hires and <br />internal transfer/reorganization of existing staff. The current staff has a wealth of experience and <br />knowledge of the City's Park and Recreation System and it is hoped that they would be willing to <br />remain in a newly organized Park and Recreation Department. <br /> <br /> <br />