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Pleasant Grove parks staff honored with statewide URPA awards
Summary
Utah Recreation and Parks Association representatives presented two statewide awards to Pleasant Grove parks staff — an outstanding professional award to longtime facilities employee Bill and an outstanding adaptive program award recognizing Recreation Director Megan’s work expanding adaptive junior-jazz basketball and other inclusive programs.
Representatives from the Utah Recreation and Parks Association presented two statewide awards to Pleasant Grove parks and recreation staff during the city council work session.
Leanne Powell, Executive Director of the Utah Recreation and Parks Association (URPA), and Mikhail Christiansen, URPA assistant executive director, presented an Outstanding Professional award to Bill, a longtime Pleasant Grove facilities and maintenance employee, and recognized Recreation Director Megan with URPA’s Outstanding Adaptive Program award for work expanding inclusive programming such as adaptive junior-jazz basketball.
The awards ceremony highlighted Bill’s roughly 18 years of service in Pleasant Grove’s facilities department and described him as a constant presence across city properties, from parks to the pool. “Everything about Bill is about service to the community,” Powell said, presenting the Outstanding Professional award.
Powell and other URPA leaders described the adaptive-program award as recognition of a community-driven approach to accessibility. Powell said the adaptive junior-jazz effort began after a parent asked how their child could play, then expanded as neighboring communities teamed up to create sufficient enrollment and program offerings. “Find a way to say yes and then figure out how to make it happen,” Powell said, explaining URPA’s rationale for the award.
Megan emphasized that the program grew out of parent advocacy and a new parent advisory group in Utah County. She told the council the adaptive programming spans multiple activity types — from soccer to dance and aquatics — and credited collaboration across county recreation departments for making leagues and classes possible.
URPA leaders and city staff asked the council to acknowledge the broader city support that enabled the programs and operations. The presentations closed with remarks thanking public works, parks staff, and city administrators for project support and partnerships that allowed the pool and recreation programs to open and expand.
The awards were ceremonial recognitions; no formal council action was taken during the presentation.
