Parks Committee recommends five-year survey cycle, asks Council to amend ordinance

The Parks and Recreation Committee of Council recommended that the municipal ordinance governing Parks surveys be amended to assign responsibility for conducting the survey to the Recreation Coordinator and require surveys at least every five years. Chair Mary Berges outlined that the original ordinance (Codified Ordinance Section 276.03) had a five-year cycle that was later amended by Ordinance 119-12 to a ten-year minimum; she said the Commission charged with the survey was dissolved in 2017, leaving the City without a clear administrator for the requirement.

Law Director John Gasior proposed language that would cap the interval at ten years while allowing flexibility, but by consensus the Committee recommended a firmer five-year minimum with direct assignment to the Recreation Coordinator. "By consensus, the Committee recommended amending the Ordinance to assign responsibility for the survey directly to the Recreation Coordinator and require that it be conducted no less than every five years," the minutes state. The Committee plans to forward this recommendation to the full Council for a formal ordinance amendment; no formal Council vote on the amendment was recorded at this meeting.