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Parks and Recreation Seeks Staff, Equipment and a $275,000 Feasibility Study for Youth Sports; Director Outlines Facilities Consolidation
Summary
At the May 14 Laramie City Council work session, Parks, Recreation and Community Services Director Mike Bork outlined department accomplishments, a facilities reorganization, capital requests including a youth sports facility feasibility study, and operating requests for staff and marketing to boost participation and revenue.
Director Mike Bork, Parks, Recreation and Community Services, told the Laramie City Council on May 14 that his department is pursuing organizational changes, modest staffing increases and a capital study to assess youth‑sports and recreation facility needs and potential economic impacts.
Bork said he has centralized facilities maintenance staff to a single location at the former Street and Fleet building to improve preventive maintenance and custodial coverage across 26 municipal facilities. “We had a lot of turnover … coalescing them into 1 location has really made … part of the solution to provide some stability to that division,” Bork said.
Key 2025 accomplishments he listed included HVAC and roof work at aging facilities, conversion of many door readers to remote wireless access, removal of roughly 70 dead or hazardous trees across parks and public areas, completion of Spring Creek Phase 1 trail work and crack sealing/oil coating on about four of the Greenbelt Trail’s 5.5 miles. He said the department will replace about 60 trees this season and deliver plantings for Rotary Clubs Park.
On capital projects, Bork described an active RFQ for a Laramie Bike Park and said the city has released initial planning for an inclusive playground at Optimist Park pending Land and Water Conservation Fund grant releases. He said the Cowboy Field scoreboard replacement and other smaller park upgrades were completed in 2025.
Cemetery operations, Bork said, are managing roughly 14,000 grave sites with a small full‑time crew; the department is placing corner markers in the Potter’s Field section and moving toward improved deed reconciliation and cemetery software. He said columbarium construction rules changed in recent legislative sessions and that updated standards will help future projects.
Mosquito control and integrated pest management work were under way: the department has replaced aging traps, completed a new chemical storage area and finalized a near‑completed lab space for testing. Bork explained that trap counts can be cyclical and respond to spring precipitation and temperature patterns; he said staff are evaluating the mosquito-fee structure and expect to forward recommendations to the Parks, Trees and Recreation board and council this fall.
At the Ice and Event Center, Bork said a new Zamboni and an electric ice edger are on order. He described a planned coordinated replacement of the indoor pool’s UV sanitizing system alongside a sand-filter replacement; staff will present a contract amendment to combine work and reduce mobilization costs. Bork also requested pool‑cover replacements for indoor leisure and outdoor leisure pools to improve energy efficiency and reduce chemical usage.
On the Recreation Center fund, Bork said revenues have rebounded toward pre‑pandemic levels and the department expects roughly $1.4 million in annual revenue this year. He presented a request to implement a phone app for RecTrac (membership and reservations) that will allow mobile access, waivers and reservation scanning at parks via QR codes. He also described a one‑time $40,000 provisional staffing request to create a customer-operations lead tier to manage openings/closings and custodial responsibilities during the staffing transition; the department will assess whether that becomes ongoing as workflows stabilize.
Two personnel requests drew council attention: a full‑time addition at the Ice and Event Center to support expanded programming and hours, and a $50,000 provisional part‑time marketing and intern fund to boost program outreach and recruit interns from the University of Wyoming’s outdoor recreation and hospitality programs. Bork said he expects the extra Ice and Event Center staff to help the facility increase revenue and projected a partial payback of the position’s cost within the first year and full payback within three years through increased programming.
The council discussed a proposed $275,000 youth‑sports facilities needs and feasibility study covering outdoor and indoor sports, potential tournament and tourism impacts, business planning and an economic‑impact analysis. City staff and several councilors said a comprehensive study should include robust community engagement and that an economic-impact estimate could help identify possible revenue bonds, grant partners or tourism board support if construction options are recommended.
Councilors asked about shade at playgrounds, adding benches and approaches to recruitment/staffing. Vice Mayor Richardson and others noted marketing capacity is limited and welcomed Bork’s request for a dedicated marketing resource. Several council members complimented the department’s progress since Bork arrived eight months earlier.
No final votes were taken on supplemental requests during the May 14 work session; staff said they would return with more detailed scopes, contract documents and budget amendments as necessary.
