Parks & Recreation advisory board reports higher youth participation, work plan for FY26

The Town Council heard a committee report from Dave Dobbs, chair of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, summarizing the board's May meeting and priorities for the coming year.

Dobbs told the council the Arizona Soccer Club reported more than 1,800 participants for its recent season and that enrollment is expected to grow with access to Frontier Family Park. The board also received a FY26 budget overview focused on parks and recreation from Deputy Finance Director Dan Olson, and a parks-utilization presentation from data analyst Colleen Baker, who described usage trends and how staff uses data to shape programming and facilities planning.

Board discussion included the field-allocation process presented by Director Adam Robinson and Recreation Coordinator Jeff Molnar, and a mock-up of the Founders Park playground color scheme presented by Parks Manager Michael Elliott. The advisory board approved a FY26 work plan calling for: finalizing youth-sports partnership recommendations and field allocation policies to return to council for review; creating a standardized end-of-season report template for youth partners; evaluating the trails master plan and trail connectivity; and assessing major park renovations as part of the upcoming master-plan update.

Dobbs said the board provided staff feedback on those topics and expects staff to return with policy recommendations and any items that require council consideration.

The council acknowledged the report; no formal council action or budget appropriation resulted directly from the committee report at the May 22 meeting.