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Riverside Discovery Center reports membership growth, animal updates and capital projects; seeks support for upcoming plans
Summary
Riverside Discovery Center informed the council of a 20% increase in memberships year-to-date, completion of staff safety training, ongoing enclosure and reptile-house upgrades, and a 70th-anniversary banquet Oct. 3; no funding decision requested.
Riverside Discovery Center (RDC) delivered an informational update to the Scottsbluff City Council on recent operations, animal-care activity and planned capital and fundraising projects.
The presenter, RDC leadership (identified at the meeting as Kai), reported staff completed firearm-safety training and first-aid training for team members, that membership sales were up about 20% year-to-date while general admissions were down about 6%, and that educational visits have doubled compared with last year. The zoo has undertaken several upgrades: replacement of a large fence at the Muntjac yard, updates to concession and gift-shop equipment through a renewed Pepsi agreement, installation of mini-split HVAC units in the reptile house and planned interior enclosure work to reopen the reptile exhibit.
Animal updates included successful veterinary treatment for a squirrel monkey named Reese, release of swan offspring to the wild in Oregon, and the recent introduction of a younger mountain lion, Jade, to the resident Jasper. RDC also noted the upcoming 75th (70? — celebratory materials referenced both numberings in materials) anniversary banquet on Oct. 3 at the Gering Civic Center and an effort to install a 3-D giraffe sculpture as a donor recognition "Giving Tree".
RDC asked the council to note the ongoing final closeout of a shovel-ready grant awarded in 2020 (staff said closeout work remains) and to anticipate a draft agreement that city staff intends to bring to a future council meeting. Council members asked questions about membership pricing and the status of the grant closeout; RDC said it would provide requested details to staff and council as needed. The presentation was informational and no council action or funding appropriation was requested or taken.
