Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Parks And Recreation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council signals support for new playground and flags recreation staffing for succession
Summary
Council discussed a Cedar Cove playground upgrade funded by wrap tax revenue and debated adding a recreation program coordinator position: members favored succession overlap if the current manager retires but sought revenue strategies before committing to a permanent FTE.
Council members and staff described an opportunity to use wrap-tax revenue to upgrade Cedar Cove playground and reported that staff will bring a budget amendment to the Feb. 25 council meeting to authorize the work. City Manager Dave Larson said staff found sufficient wrap-tax resources to move forward with the playground this spring.
Separately, staff proposed a second full-time recreation program coordinator to support Curtis (recreation manager) and provide succession planning. Councilors generally favored a transitional hire so a new employee could receive several months of training before Curtis's anticipated retirement, but several said they would prefer any ongoing hire to be tied to additional revenue or a demonstrated path to cover the position's recurring cost. Options discussed included temporary overlap (hire for a training window) or identifying program revenues or sponsorships to make the position sustainable.
Next steps: staff will bring the playground budget amendment to the Feb. 25 meeting and the recreation committee will continue exploring revenue and transition options for staffing.
