Parks staff presents draft 2025 recreation programs; commission to review fees before council approval

Parks and Recreation staff presented a draft 2025 recreation-program calendar and a packet of proposed program budgets and fees Jan. 6, and asked the Parks & Arts Commission for feedback before staff forwards recommended fees to city council.

Mikael Stevens, parks and recreation staff, said he organized proposed programs by age group (pre-K, youth, teens, adults and seniors) and color-coded them by feasibility: green items that he could run personally, yellow items that would likely need volunteer help or partner organizations, and red items that would require contracting outside instructors. "Two of the main programs that people wanted to see based off the survey that we did was youth sports and fitness classes," Stevens said, noting capacity limits for a single-staff organizer.

Stevens presented five programs ready to start as early as April–May and said he will bring individual program proposals back to the commission with budget details and recommended participant fees. Any fees the commission endorses will be forwarded to council to add to the city fee schedule; Stevens clarified that the parks department already operates some programming under a separate staff budget and the commission—s role is to review and recommend fees that require council approval.

Commissioners suggested checking the library—s planned programming to avoid duplicating free services and recommended outreach to community groups that could provide instructors, such as the local Ridgeline dance program and an active Indian youth group that has previously hosted dance activities.

No formal vote was taken; staff will return with program proposals, cost estimates and a comparison with existing library offerings so the commission can determine which programs to endorse for fee-schedule submission to council.