Parks & Recreation asks for two part-time positions, court repairs and equipment replacements

Parks & Recreation Director Rossell asked the board to fund two part-time positions to relieve an overburdened staff and preserve athletic and older-adult programming.

Rossell said the department currently employs seven full-time staff and that athletic programming served more than 2,800 youths last year. He requested a 9-month senior grounds maintenance worker (about 29 hours per week) and a 25-hour-a-week special activities worker to expand older-adult programming and provide succession capacity for an employee near retirement. "If providing funding for this position, we'd be able to keep our athletic staff concentrating on our athletic programs," Rossell said.

Capital and maintenance requests included a Temple Park basketball court renovation (staff used a cooperative contract with Proseal and cited a quote in the packet) and replacement mowers and a Kubota RTV for field maintenance. Rossell said membership fees in 2025 were $31,162 and that tournaments and tourism-generated tax revenues help offset some costs, but those revenues are not always directly attributable to specific maintenance lines.

Board members asked whether contracting neighborhood-park maintenance was feasible; staff said prior studies found contracting more expensive and that responsiveness for athletic events favors in-house crews. For Temple Park, staff confirmed the quote was obtained through a cooperative contract and that Rossell will send fee comparisons and the Proseal quote to board members.

What happens next: staff will provide the Proseal quote and fee comparisons; the board will weigh the staffing and capital requests during the budget process.