Agenda - Parks and Recreation Commission - 11/14/2002 - Joint with Horse Care Board

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LM Inside This Newsletter... 1. Bunker Hills Campground/Visitor Cenler is Openl 2. Hardwood Forest Restoration Project C,',mpleledl From The Director: In mid-Oclober I attended the National Recreation and Park Association Annual Congress and F. xposition in Tampa Bay, Florida. The conference is always an excellent opportunity to see the latest products and innovations in the parks and recreation field, network with professionals from throughout the country, and attend a variety af educational sessions. Among the sessions I attended this year included: facilities benchmarklng, pubfic surveys, leisure trends, golf course innovations, revenue making, and effective lobbying, to name a few. One session, which has broad applications, was entitled 'What Makes a Great Park System." The keyhole speaker was Dr. Robert Cramptan, Professor af Parks and Recreation Administration, at Texas A & M University. Dr. Crompton is one of the most well known experts and researchers in the leisure services field. At the 200'I NRPA Congress he gathered a group of high profile park and recreation administrators from across the Untied States lo develop a list of parameters defining a "great park system". The foflowing is a summary of his conclusions from that "think tank": A clear measure of purpose. Park and recreation agencies should have a clear legislative mandate and authority, a mission statement, and core values. We are fortunate in this state to have legislation supporting slate, regional, county, and municipal parks, and a variety of grant-in-aid programs that directly finance park land acquisition, development, and natural resources management. Our 2020 Vision process helped ta reaffirm the long standing mission af the Ar]aka County Park system and clearly articulated our ethos. An ongoing system plan and annual goals. These documents are critical for the efficient distribution of human capital and financial resources for the establishment and ongoing operations of a park system. Anoka County has a solid long term system plan which involved significant pubfic input. The plan has not only sufficiently guided the develop and redevelopment of the parks system aver the past five years, but has helped la justify and support funding from outside agencies. The plan is Implemenled and evaluated through a process of annual goals, development, and accountabilih/. Surc)risingly, tess than 35% of park and recreation agencies in the United States have a system plan that/s less than five years cid. Sufficient assets in land and fundinq to meet the goals of the system. Historically, park agencies have found it easier to find money for new capital development projects than for operations and maintenance.. Dr. Crompton challenges us to combine the capital investment and operations costs into a consofidated budget framework, thus ensuring the capital investment is sufficiently balanced with operations dollars ta maintain the basic system infrastructure. Fortunately, the county has a weft established land base for parks, and has augmented operations funding with outside sources ta ensure that the systemic needs of the system can be met. Equitable access. Quality park and recreation systems ensure that all members of the pubfic have reasonably equitable access to parks, trails, and open space areas. The work of our forefathers in establishing a goad geographic distribution of parksVn Anaka County has met this challenge head on. For the future we must consider how we make our parks more accessible for people of lower economic status, those who are disabled, or those who lack transportation alternatives. Quality park agencies sufficiently meet the needs of all people. '-:' ':i. ~" .'," ' ~ For the ~ure we must consider how we ~ke our parks mor~~ accessible for people of lower econo~c stores, those.whO~re d~sabled, or those who lack ~ans~mat~on alt~a6v~. User satisfaction. Quality park systems strive to maximize user satisfaction through an optimal blend of recreation facilities, customer service, programs, and maintenance. Those agencies who regularly measure participation rates and user satisfaction, through surveys and other instruments, are in the best position, to modify service defivery to maximize pubfic benefit. ' We in Anoka County are fortunate to partner with the Metropofitan Council on annual visitor use surveys. Coupled with on- going efforts to survey customers on quality satisfaction we are in a good position to evaluate and change our services to meet the pubfic needs. 83 P~e 1