Parks Master Plan

 In case you want to have some input as to the direction the Carbondale Park District takes over the next several years, here is your opportunity. The Master Plan guides the decisions the Park District makes over the next few years. The city has a similar Master Plan as well and I know of residents that, when the city has made a decision that runs counter to the Master Plan, they have called attention to it and cause the city to reverse the decision.

The consultants for the Park District and the City will be giving a public presentation on Carbondale's Parks and Recreation Master Plan Tuesday, January 21st, 5:30 p.m. at CCHS 1301 E. Walnut St. The public is invited. Please try to attend. 

Marberry Arboretum

 In case you have been worndering what has been going on at Marberry Arboretum, here is the answer:  bathrooms. The CPD got a grant for the Arboretum and has been cleaning up the damage done by the derecho of over a decade ago and redoing the parking lot, as well as installing bathrooms.

Park District Newsletter

 Looks as if the Carbondale Park District wants to make sure its side of the story in the discussion between it and the city council over merging and responsibility for parks within the city. Although the park district has send out mailings over the years, those always focused on programs offered by the District. This is the first one, that I recall, focusing on the Park District and the challenges it faces. 

According to the newsletter, the Park District dates back to 1940 and first assumed responsibility for maintaining several city parks in the 1950s and signed formal leases in 1963, designating the CPKD as the organization responsible for maintaining the properties. As costs of maintenance have increased, the CPKD revenues generated by property taxes have not grown at the same rate, leading to the closure of the BMX park on the south side of Carbondale and deferred maintenance on a number of park properties. With the change in responsibilities, the CPKD plans to allocate more money toward addressing that deferred maintenance 

Council and Park District Meeting

 The joint meeting between the city council and park district proceeded amicably although without any resolution. The city wants to see a proposal from the park district. Of course, this means that the park district has to come up with a proposal, which it has been loath to do. Here is a more lengthy look at the disputes between the two entities. One of the big financial problems the park district has to deal with is Hickory Ridge Golf Course, which, last time I checked, had a huge amount of debt.  If the park district merges with the city, of course the city assumes that debt, which the city may not want to do. Hickory Ridge has been a financial problem for the park district for over a decade and is the primary reason for the shuttering of the park district's BMX track. 

Council Meeting

Special joint meeting of the City Council and Carbondale Park District next Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. at the Garden Grove Event Center on West Main.  That is quite a bit earlier than normal and I would be willing to bet it is an attempt to smooth over the rift that has developed between the two bodies. Unfortunately, due to Illinois open meetings law, the meeting has to take place in public which means neither body will likely be willing to ceed anything from their position. 

Special Joint Meeting of the City Council and Park District

Garden Grove Event Center, 1215 East Walnut Street, Carbondale

Tuesday, April 19, 2022, at 8:30 a.m.

1. Roll Call

1.1 Roll Call for Each Body

2. Approval of Agenda

2.1 Approval of the Agenda

3. Citizen Comments

3.1 Citizen Comments on Matters Not on the Printed Agenda

4. General Business

4.1 General Discussion Among Board Members about Carbondale Parks and Recreation

5. Comments from Council and Board

5.1 Comments from Park District Board Commissioners and City Council Members

Park District Survey

 The Carbondale Park District has a survey up asking for input on your attitude toward and use of park facilities and functions. Should take less than 5 minutes to complete and would help with the ongoing discussions about the future of the Carbondale Park District, esp as it continues talks regarding the city absorbing Park District functions

Carbondale Park District Forums

 In case you would like to have some say on the future direction of the Carbondale Park District, the board is hosts several forums over the next week. Now would be a good time to ask why the District still has a money losing golf course

The Carbondale Park District has undertaken a strategic planning process as part of its 80th anniversary celebration.  The Park District Board of Commissioners is facing the challenge of hard times by envisioning a brighter future for its parks and recreation programs.  

They have scheduled a series of public forums for your input. Help the Park District set its priorities for the next 5 to 10 years!

CARBONDALE PARK DISTRICT STRATEGIC PLANNING 

VIRTUAL TOWN HALL MEETINGS

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2020 – 5:00 P.M.-7 P.M.  

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2020 – 9:00 A.M.-11:00 A.M.  

MONDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2020 – 6:00 P.M.-8:00 P.M.  

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2020 – 12:00 P.M.-2:00 P.M. 

 

ZOOM ONLINE MEETING INFORMATION (ALL MEETINGS ARE ONLINE VIA ZOOM):

• https://zoom.us/j/9031181650 
• OR https://zoom.us/join
  • id: 9031181650
• PASSWORD-1650
• TOLL FREE MEETING LINE-312-626-6799

https://www.cpkd.org/about-us/meetings-materials/

Contact your Park District Commissioners. Let them know your priorities for Carbondale's parks and recreation programs.

Dr Carl Flowers <cflowers@carbondaleparkdistrict.com>

Jessica Sergeev <jsergeev@carbondaleparkdistrict.com>

Carmen Suarez <csuarez@carbondaleparkdistrict.com>

Kirsten Trimble <ktrimble@carbondaleparkdistrict.com>

Jane H Adams <jadams@carbondaleparkdistrict.com>

Dog Park

 After three years of planning, member of the Friends of Carbondale Dog Park and the Carbondale Park District broke ground on the Carbondale Dog Park. Plans currently are to open it to the public in June of 2021.

Joint Meeting

 Joint meeting of the Carbondale City Council and Park District board this Monday at 6:30. Given the back and forth in newspaper letter columns, it will be interesting to see what the two groups say to each other, zoom to zoom.I would like to see the Park District absorbed into the city, removing one more level of administration. Of course, I doubt the city wants to do that, given the current state of the park district's finances. There is still, from what I understand, a significant amount of money owed on Hickory Ridge Golf Course without enough money coming in to cover expenses and pay down the debt.

City Response to CPD

The Carbondale Park District sent a letter to the Editor a few weeks ago, which was published in the The Southern.  Here is the city of Carbondale's response. As the letter from the Citypoints out, the referendum that passed in 2018 did not call for the merger of the CPD with the city but for the two to establish a committee to look at merging the two but certainly not a done deal.

Skate Park

Was talking with a friend about the lack of a skate park in Carbondale. Before it ran into all sorts of financial difficulties with the Splash Park and Hickory Ridge Golf Course, the CPD was discussing putting one into the empty lot behind the public safety center.
About 15 years ago, SIUC had one located back by the tennis course behind the Lesner Law Building but it was located too far out of the way to get a significant amount of use and the university eventually demolished it.

Property Taxes

Carbondale really ought to look at doing something about consolidating property taxes and boards. It has got to be more efficient to have fewer boards and cumulative taxes. Granted the way the state constitution is set up, in order to do things like mosquito abatement, fund libraries and parks, the community has to establish a board and a tax to pay for it but seems to me the city council should start lobbying  the state, in conjuration with other taxing bodies, to simplify the taxing structure. Do we really need a separate Carbondale Park District and a separate Carbondale Township office? 

Hickory Ridge Golf Course

Carbondale Park District announced today that Hickory Ridge Golf Course would open on May 1. Just in case you really wanted to get outside for "a good walk spoiled", as H. L. Wilson put it (not Mark Twain as many people think. There is no evidence that Twain ever said such a thing).

Green spaces

Interesting study on green spaces. Well kept ones reduce crime while ones that communities let get run down attract and increase crime. Good argument for maintaining the park system within Carbondale and, if the CPD cannot provide proper maintenance, having the city take it over.

Park District

Given the attitude that the Park District is taking towards the city, if the article in last Friday's Carbondale Times is any indication, it might be a good idea for the city to hold off on any forth negotiation with the Park District, let the District continue to pile up debt, then see about putting the dissolution of the Park District on the ballot. If Carbondale residents vote to dissolve the Park District, due to its no longer being a financially sound operation, then the city absorbs its functions into the city structure.

Hickory Ridge Golf Course

Given the debt load the Carbondale Park District is carrying, seems like it might be a good idea to sell off or shutter Hickory Ridge Golf Course. There are several other golf courses in the region so I do not see what need Hickory Ridge fulfills, aside from taking up a goodly part of the CPD's budget servicing the debt.

City Council Park District Meeting

The city council met last night to discuss the discussion of absorbing the park district and its functions into Carbondale city operations, rather than continuing to have the park district continue to operate as a separate entity. From what I have heard, despite the discussion about this in the media, only 8 people had enough interest to show up to the meeting.
From what  I can tell, one of the big sticking points to any agreement is Hickory ridge Golf course, which has hemorrhaged money for decades and shows no sign of stopping.  Almost all local school teams have abandoned the course to practice at other facilities so no fees from schools coming in.  The Park District has also maxed out the amount of property tax it can raise without going back to the voters and asking for a tax increase. Given the level of taxes in Carbondale already and with no plan in place to deal with Hickory Ridge, I doubt the Park District could make a good case for another property tax increase.

Not sure how the process would go but seems to me the best thing the district could do is put Hickory Ridge up for sale and let a private developer deal with it and take the revenues freed up from that for some much needed maintenance on other park properties.

Combined City Council/ Park Board Meeting

In case you are free tomorrow night, there is a combined City Council Park Board meeting tomorrow night at the Civic Center, starting at 6 p.m. Looks as if the two groups will devote the major portion of the meeting to a discussion of a merger of the two organizations and what citizens of the community expect of such and what could actually happen. Nothing will likely happen until something is done about the debt load the Park District has on the books as a result of Hickory Ridge Golf Course.

Also on the agenda is a resolution condemning the proposed discharge of waste water by Williamson Energy into the Big Muddy River.

Jane Adams on Park District Referendum

Past councilwoman Jane Adams is running for a spot on the Carbondale Park District board. Since one of the items on the ballot is a referendum on merging the Park District into the City, I emailed for her take on the question. Below is her unedited response:


It’s one of the most important items on the April 2 ballot. Short answer:

Kirsten Trimble and I support the question on the Advisory Referendum that will be on the April 2 ballot: “Should the City of Carbondale and the Carbondale Park District explore merging their operations?” 

We need to know more to commit to supporting a merger of the Park District into the City.

Here’s how we see the issues:

For decades the Park District has faced fiscal crises; in response proposals to merge some or all of the District’s operations have been proposed. Discussions between the City and the  Park District regarding continued leasing of City properties by the Park District have made public the massive amount of deferred maintenance and focused attention on the Park District’s inability to adequately maintain the city’s parks. It’s widely recognized that they do a good job with programming, particularly (but not solely) for children. They also do a good job of collaborating with other units of government.

The Park District's financial inability to maintain our parks for public usage has risen to the level of a true crisis. Given the Park District’s virtually complete reliance on property taxes, merging the Park District into the City may turn out to be the only solution. 

The Park District Board of Commissioners has begun collecting the data to help Commissioners (and the public) determine whether there are other solutions or if merger is the best solution. With adequate data and citizen input, I need to weigh all options before making a final determination that merger is the best option.

Here’s our expanded response:

1. Is merger possible? 
Advice from Illinois' leading municipal law firms shows that, despite very restrictive language in theIllinois Constitution, a merger of a Park District and a municipality is still possible. Here’s how it can be done:

• The Park District can contract with the City to take over Park District operations, including financial management, maintenance, and/or recreational and other programming. The Park District agrees to reimburse the City for some or all the costs of these operations.
• The Park District continues to levy property taxes and pays down its debt. In the case of the Carbondale Park District, it appears this can be accomplished in 7 years.
• The Park District asks the City to annex any properties that lie outside the city limits; the City does so.
• The City Council and Park District Board of Commissioners then submit a binding referendum to the voters seeking a merger of the two taxing bodies. If a majority of those voting approve it, the Park District would cease to exist as a separate taxing body.

2. What would be the benefits? 
From what we currently know, there appear to be more benefits than risks in merging operations:

• There should be cost savings by eliminating duplication, especially in financial management; maintenance equipment, staff, and management; and some staff duplications in programming. The amount of duplication looks as if it will increase as the City takes over Piles Fork Creek Greenway and Trail from the Park District and as it develops more parks and activities in the Downtown area (Founders Park, Town Square Pavilion, the developing event space on Washington Street, and more). 
• Due to its larger size, the City can exercise greater financial oversight and eliminate inefficiencies due to inadequate software and number of staff.
• For the same reason, the City can more easily cover absences of management and other key personnel.
• Due to its much larger and more diversified budget (a variety of sales taxes as well as property taxes), the City can cover dips in income for which the Park District currently must borrow, at relatively high interest rates, with tax anticipation warrants.
• The City Manager has stated that all current Park District staff can be integrated into the City staff with a minimum of disruption.

3. What are the risks?
The greatest risk that we see is that the Park District Board of Commissioners currently focuses entirely on the Park District. The public’s ability to influence Park District priorities might lessen in a merger with the City.

4. Proposed next steps.
We believe this risk can be averted in two ways:

• As long as it remains an elected Board of Commissioners, the Board should undertake strategic planning, set clear priorities, and develop written criteria for accountability. These should guide negotiations between the Park District and the City. Strategic planning and setting of priorities needs to be done whether or not the Park District Commissioners decide to merge their operations with the City.
• If voters approve merger of the two taxing bodies (after bonds are paid off), The Board should be reconstituted as a Parks and Recreation Commission that meets regularly, advising the City Council on Parks and Recreation Department priorities.

In principle, we believe that fewer units of government lead to lower property taxes. Further, 48 of our 50 states have parks and recreation within City governments. Only Illinois and California have (some) independent park districts. Those 48 states’ municipalities offer residents excellent parks. We can do the same if we choose to take that route.

Carbondale Park Commission

5 people turned in petitions to run for seats on the Carbondale Park District board next April:

Kirsten Trimble, Jane Adams, Jessica Sergeev, Brian Matzenbacher, Dan Anderson III

None of the incumbents chose to run for re-election so the race is wide open and the results will certainly prove interesting in 2019-2020 as discussion continues regarding whether to merge the Park District with the City. Currently, the Park board operates as a separate money losing entity in Carbondale, primarily due to the money spent on Hickory Ridge Golf Course. Its primary funding comes from its share of property taxes and whatever money the city contributes to its budget and there is serious talk regarding either eliminating the board or subsuming it into city operations, probably as a free standing commission. The three new members will likely have a lot to say about the future of the CPD.