How the Parks Foundation was formed and how it will work: staff outlines history, donations and financial process

At the Aug. 5 Elevate Parks Foundation meeting, Beverly Tucker Knight, director of parks and recreation, reviewed the foundation’s origin and early finances, explaining why the foundation was created, how it will accept donations and how it will work with the city budget and capital improvement process.

Tucker Knight told the board the parks master plan was adopted in 2018 and that, after the passage of Prop C, the city had additional funding to proceed with short- and long-term park projects. In 2022 the city adopted a resolution authorizing a transfer from Larson Ridge House of the Oliver Apartment Building to Oliver Holding Company; that action included a proposed donation for park use. The donor, identified in the discussion as Michael Sansone, preferred to give through a 501(c)(3) rather than directly to the city, and the city engaged Gilmore & Bell to draft articles of…