Roseville parks staff outline operations, budget and staffing; residents press city on delayed JMC neighborhood park

Parks operations staff gave an update at the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting on the department's scope, budget, staffing and near-term operational changes, and members of a Roseville neighborhood raised concerns about a delayed JMC-built park the city now lists as a 2026 construction project.

Brian Casaluccio, parks manager, said the department maintains 90 parks, 12 facilities including three aquatic centers, and 21 adventure club sites. He said 56 parks are supported by the city's general fund and 34 are funded through community facility districts, and that the department manages joint-use turf areas adjacent to schools under agreements with Roseville, Dry Creek and Eureka school districts.

Casaluccio said the FY26 parks operations budget is $13,300,000, allocated about 47% to salaries, 43% to operational expenses and 10% to internal service charges. He described maintenance programs (agronomic, irrigation, park opening/custodial, landscape, infrastructure, aquatics and event support) and said the department currently staffs 46 employees with a mix of full-time and seasonal workers and relies on contractors and volunteers for additional work.

Casaluccio announced several operational changes: effective Jan. 1 the city will transition ongoing turf and landscape maintenance at 22 community parks from contractors to internal staff; the department plans to open a new soccer complex later in the year and will create a dedicated core staff for that facility; and the operational structure will shift from three regions to four to better distribute workload as the city grows.

He identified challenges including growth-driven demand on resources, staff turnover ("almost 70% of our field staff have worked for the city for just 3 years or less"), supply and price pressures, and an upcoming California water conservation law he referenced as AB 1572 that will require removal of nonfunctional turf in the future.

During the public comment period that followed the presentation, residents from a JMC-built neighborhood said a neighborhood park promised at home purchase has not been built and expressed frustration. Mary Gratton Perez said her community was told a park would be built within a year of purchase but "that's never happened," and she said the parcel, which the city recorded as accepted on Sept. 22, 2022, remains undeveloped and overgrown. Margarine Reynoso (spelled in the record) said she moved there in February 2022 and that construction delays have degraded the neighborhood's pride of ownership.

Parks staff responded that the parcel referenced (identified in staff comments as JM51) is a JMC park, that the master plan is approved and construction documents are under preparation, and that staff's current schedule anticipates breaking ground in 2026 with completion in 2026 if the schedule holds.

Separately, the commission unanimously approved the meeting minutes earlier in the agenda and later unanimously moved to adjourn. The minutes approval motion passed "unanimously," and no roll-call vote names were recorded in the transcript.