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Alder requests department breakdown of Saint John's Park costs after community listening session
Summary
Committee received a request to compile departmental expenses tied to Saint John's Park (June 2024–June 2025); parks staff described routine maintenance costs and said police‑call volume at the park is comparatively high and drives additional city responses.
The Finance Committee on July 29 accepted a request from an alder to collect and place on file departmental expense totals for Saint John’s Park covering June 2024 through June 2025.
The alder said the request predated a neighborhood listening session and would support the park’s master‑plan process. Parks staff (Melinda) told the committee routine costs — mowing, restroom cleaning and snow removal — are comparable to other parks, but that staff perform park cleanup there more frequently (about twice a week) because of higher usage and persistent issues. Parks staff said the dataset the alder requested does not include benefits (the posted figures were wage costs only) and that a full benefits calculation would depend on which employees are tabulated.
Committee members also discussed police workload associated with Saint John’s Park; staff acknowledged the park shows a larger number of police calls compared with many other parks and said policing is a substantial driver of costs tied to that location. Alder Stevens provided a follow‑up breakdown to committee members by email, staff said, and the committee voted to receive the information and place it on file.
The parks department and committee members noted that master‑plan work and capital investments take time to implement; staff urged that enforcement and service responses remain a near‑term focus while long‑range planning proceeds.
