Parks committee advances Akron Parks Collaborative contract and funds for Prentice and Sherbondi Hill parks

The Parks & Recreation Committee advanced an ordinance authorizing the mayor or a designee to contract with Akron Parks Collaborative without public bid and approved separate ordinances to solicit bids for rehabilitation work at Prentice Park and Sherbondi Hill Park.

Bridgette Anne Briscoe, an Akron Parks Collaborative representative, told the committee the city and the nonprofit have worked together since 2018 and that the organization has “worked on 21 parks overall” and, together with the city, “invested around 3,800,000.0 into our neighborhood parks.” She said the Parks Challenge program expands community leadership, creates friends groups that maintain parks and runs youth maintenance and ambassador programs.

The committee discussed details for two parks included in the year’s program. Jim Ashley, a city staff member who presents contract and project details, said the Prentice Park rehabilitation will include a play space, a walkway, a pump-track feature and site furnishings and landscaping, and noted ongoing coordination with Akron Public Schools for daytime and after-school use. For Sherbondi Hill Park, Ashley described an approximately 10-acre site and said the package under consideration totals about $150,000 for a pavilion, play space, site furnishings and landscaping.

Council members asked for further detail about ward representation among applicants, contractor outreach and youth employment. Councilwoman Namibian asked whether any wards were not represented among the 13 submitted applications; Briscoe said she had not yet reviewed the applications and would report back with ward-level details. Committee members also asked that staff seek minority contractor participation for Sherbondi Hill and that project managers follow up on whether a practice field could be made regulation size (trees near the Sherbondi field were noted as a possible constraint).

Briscoe described program features that are already in place: 10 active “friends” groups created through the challenge process; local youth ambassador and paid work programs (examples cited included a group managed by LYNX at Jewett Park and a South Street Ministries youth crew at Morgan Park); ongoing maintenance support; and small grants such as roughly $12,000 from Summit County Public Health toward the Sherbondi play space. She said Akron Parks Collaborative is also piloting a “nature in our neighborhoods” meadow restoration project to reduce maintenance burdens.

Committee members praised the collaborative’s community engagement and stewardship outcomes, then approved the three items on the committee consent agenda. The ordinances authorize (1) a direct contract with Akron Parks Collaborative for professional and supplemental services related to parks improvements, (2) public bidding for rehabilitation work at Prentice Park consistent with the Akron Parks Challenge, and (3) public bidding for rehabilitation work at Sherbondi Hill Park.

Committee staff said they will return with more granular budget and contractor information as bids and applications are processed and as staff follows up on regulation-size field constraints and ward-level application coverage.