The Eastern Delaware County Joint Recreation District voted 6-0 to approve a professional services agreement with Pizzuti Solutions to conduct a community needs assessment and market analysis for a proposed community/recreation facility. The board approved the contract contingent on the annual appropriation and receipt of funds identified by the member jurisdictions.

The assessment will produce a preliminary program of spaces, conceptual layouts, site evaluation, and cost ranges, and is structured in three phases described in Exhibit A of the professional services agreement. Jim Russell, executive vice president for Pizzuti Companies and manager of Pizzuti Solutions, told the board the project will mix demographic analysis, public engagement, and benchmarking against comparable Central Ohio projects. "We're very excited, not only because we all kind of live in the area, but it's a great chance for us to really continue the work that we're doing in communities," Russell said.

Why it matters: the assessment will supply the board with the program, cost ranges and funding options needed before any design or ballot decisions. The report is intended to inform site selection, operating-cost assumptions and financing scenarios (bonds, tax increment financing, partnerships and philanthropic support) and will produce recommended next steps for procurement and delivery approaches.

Board and staff discussion focused on public engagement methods, program flexibility (to accommodate trends such as changing court sports), potential partner spaces (medical/wellness leases), and financial options. Keith Hall, managing principal of MSA Sport (Pizzuti's design partner), emphasized multigenerational programming and sustained public outreach. Pizzuti's scope includes an online community survey, targeted stakeholder meetings and separate workshops; the team proposed a roughly six-month schedule to produce the deliverables in Exhibit A. Russell and Pizzuti staff noted that funding and the calendar (holiday season) make a November ballot timeline “tight.”

Directives and next steps: the board directed staff to finalize contract language (including an annual-appropriation clause) and to obtain the written funding commitment needed to execute the agreement. Board members and staff will notify their political subdivisions about the appropriation request and help identify key stakeholders for Pizzuti's outreach. The board also discussed creation of a steering or working group drawn from member jurisdictions and local stakeholders to support the project.

The contract amount presented to the board included a small allowance for direct costs; the board approved the agreement and authorized execution once funding commitments are in hand. The motion passed 6-0.

For now, the assessment is limited to the scope in Exhibit A; any additional services, such as detailed partner-lease financial models or full operational budgets, were discussed as possible follow-up work and not part of this contract.