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Karl's Local Government Academy Notes - Part 2

March 8, 2007

By Karl Hardy

The following are notes/info from a past local government academy class covering the Parks/Recreation Department. Notes on the class covering the Morris Performing Arts Center, including the Palais Royale, are forthcoming. Expect some interesting info/history and more insinuations of what might happen if the Circuit Breaker Law is not balanced with some additional sources of funding for public services.

Parks and Recreation

The class on the Parks and Recreation Department was held at the O'Brien Recreation Center and was hosted by Mark Bradley (Marketing and Promotions) and Phil St. Clair (Superintendent).

St. Clair stated that two of the biggest issues facing the Parks/Rec Dept are acreage requirements and finances. A national organization (National Recreation and Parks Association-NRPA) sets standards of acreage for the different levels (in terms of population? it was not made explicit or I didn't catch it) of municipalities.

Park Categories
1. Block: 1 to 5 acres;
South Bend has 16 with a total of 24.7 acres. The NRPA standard is 54.13. SB is short 29.41 acres.
2. Neighborhood: 4 to 15 acres;
South Bend has 11 with a total of 227.8 acres. The NRPA standard is 324.76. SB is short 96.88 acres.
3. Community: 15 to 70 acres;
South Bend has 22 with a total of 568.13 acres. The NRPA standard is 737.78. SB is short 189.65.
4. Regional: 70+ acres;
South Bend has none. There is no standard set by NRPA as these are not always feasible for a municipality.
5. Special
South Bend has 7 (including golf courses, Coveleski Stadium, the East Race Walkway) with a total of 469.5 acres. There is no standard set by NRPA.

Because of the 469.5 acres considered to be park acreage by the county, SB comes out as having 138.83 more total acres of parks than is required by the NRPA Standard. The total acreage is used and thus allows the SB Parks and Rec. to fall within the required amount of acreage.

Using the same formula, the city of Mishawaka actually falls short 257.17 acres.

St. Joseph County is considered 2,942.25 acres short of the NRPA standard.

IN State (within St. Joseph County) is considered 2,016.33 acres short of the NRPA standard.

These totals are used in the SB Parks/Rec Dept's creation of a 5 year plan. They work with an estimated SB population of 105,000 and an estimated 260,000 metro population.

Municipalites are not penalized if they do not meet the NRPA standard.

St. Clair stated that the Parks and Recreation Dept tries to work with the Community and Economic Development Cmte. to try and increase green space as part of new developemt/redevelopment. Also, they try to turn 'brown fields' (those ares that are considered unsuitable for other use because of pollution, contamination) into green spaces.

Park and Recreation Dept. Divisions

There are 5 Divisions in the SB Parks and Rec Dept. They employ roughly 120 full-time people with as much as 500 part-time employees during the summer season.

1. Administration
Expenses are $1,260,373. The offsetting revenue comes from $26,536 from "User Fees" and the rest, $1,233,837, from taxes.
2. Maintenance
Expenses are $5,343,024. User fees account for $124,854 of revenue with $5,218,170 from taxes.
3. Golf
Expenses are $1,702,627. User fees account for $1,550,049 of revenue with $152,578 from taxes.
4. Recreation
Expenses are $1,546.301. User fees account for $191,152 of revenue with $1,355,149 from taxes.
5. Zoo
Expenses are $1,728,390. User fees acount for $741,827 of revenue with $986,563 from taxes.

General Recreation Fund (a non-reverting fund; this means left-over funds can be used for capital improvements).

Expenses are $1,089,182. User fees account for $1,318,000. The surplus is $228,918 which is used for capital improvements.

Ultimately, user fees account for 30.6% of the budget with the rest coming from taxes, primarily property taxes. St. Clair stated that this percentage of revenue from user fees has increased from approx. 11% several years ago.

The numeric codes for the various Parks/Rec funds are:

271- East
272- Special Events
401- Coveleski
403- Zoo Endowment
405- Park Capital
730- Cemeteries

Circuit Breaker Law Effects

In 2010, St. Clair states, the "Circuit Breaker Law" will cost the Parks and Rec. Dept roughly $2.6 million.

Older communities, "diverse" communities (St. Clair's term for poverty-stricken areas), and other similar areas will likely be hit the most by the loss of funding.

There is an ongoing push towards "pay for play" by which parks and recreation programs are funded by users without financial assistance from the respective govt entities. This means that in areas where people are poorer and have less disposable income to spend on parks/rec, parks and recreation services will disappear while in wealthier areas they will continue.

Golf Courses- Randy Nowacki

Nowacki has been with the city for 26 years; 11 years as maintenance Superintendent and 15 as golf Superintendent.

City of SB has 3 golf courses; two 18 hole courses and 1 9 hole. 11 full-time employees and between 50-60 part-time employees (mostly during summer months).

The golf courses are open from mid-March through mid-Nov. weather permitting.

Nowacki says that the golf courses are 'strictly pay for play' except for last year when weather issues led to a need to get funding from taxes. During the past 14 years, $2.8 million have been put back into the golf courses in the form of capitol improvements.

Golf Digest rates SB as 16th best area to golf; rating based on # of courses and cost of the product among other factors. Most similarly sized municipal bodies have golf courses, according to Nowacki/St. Clair.

Roughly 95,000 rounds of golf are played each year with roughly 15,000 unique users. Willie Nelson has been known to play when he is in town to perform.

Nowacki states that the maintenance crews use only 'non-restricted' materials (in terms of fertilizers and chemicals) in the upkeep of the courses. No explanation as to what constitutes 'non-restricted' or who makes this evaluation.

Maintenance and Forestry- Terry Conley

This division involves the skilled trades (carpenters, plumbers, etc).

The forestry department takes care of signs/poles in the city in addition to maintaining the trees in the area parks.

There are plans to try and mill storm damaged trees for furniture (hardwoods generally) that are used in the parks/rec dept. buildings.

Some future plans, dependent upon capt. funding, include upgrading/adding drinking fountains, repairing the wooden walkway along the East Race, and additional softball and basketball areas.

Conley stresses that as much as possible, projects are done 'in house' without having to bid out to private individuals/companies.

Zoo - Terry Derosa

Derosa is the new zoo director.

SB Zoo is the oldest zoo in Indiana. Home to approx 400 animals on 23 acres.

The zoo is open roughly March through Oct. Roughly 15 full-time and 15 part-time employees.

The SB Zoo is accredited by the Association of American Zoos and Aquariums; only 212 of the approximately 800 zoos in the US are accredited.

Accredidation is based on animal welfare, housing, training, etc. The intent is to separate 'quality' zoos from 'roadside attractions.'

Part of "behavioral welfare" is 'enrichment' which consists of giving the animals new or different stimuli to entertain/occupy them. Primates get 'daily enrichment.'

The local Zoological Society helps to provide funds that are used to purchase animals and open new exhibits.

Amphibians are dying; apparently there is a fungus that is causing problems across diverse habitats around the world. Each accredited zoo is "adopting" 2 species each in attempt to propigate as many as 400 species in captivity.

Some of the zoo's new animals include: African wild dogs, snow leopards, and a butterfly garden. Derosa spent a fair amount of time explaining how the zoo will be buying butterflies from 'butterfly gardens' located in the Costa Rican rainforest. He stated that this practice is helping to protect the rainforest from 'slash and burn' to being protected by the local farmers so that they can produce butterflies.

Derosa went on to discuss how the zoo is working on behavior training to help with the animals' healthcare; he used the example of a diabetic monkey and big cats that are trained to accept getting shots.

The animals get annual physicals.

Derosa discussed the plight of the Tazmanian Devil whose population has dropped by 75% from eating infected meat as a result of the introduction of dogs and foxes into the Tazmanian Devil habitat.

Derosa is not the only new official at the zoo; they have a new General Curator, a new Vet along with the new director.

Recreation Division - Susan O'Connor

20 full-time employees, 300+ part time employees; 11 facilities with programs in several parks

O'Connor discussed the level of participation with the various programs, specifically the youth oriented classes.

She talked about Afternoon R.O.C.K. a teen drug and alcohol prevention afterschool program that provides first-time employment for teens. It receives funding from the state.

Some participation levels in the Rec. Dept's Special Events:

These programs are supposed to be self-supporting; if the interest does not support them, they don't exist.

Additional Recreation Dept programs/participation in programs include:

(they began to realize they were over time at this point and went very quickly for the remaining bit of the presentation)

Wow, this was long. Thanks for reading.

St. Joe Valley Greens, South Bend, IN