[0:00] I would like to call this meeting to

[0:01] order of the Urbana Park District Board

[0:03] of Commissioners on Tuesday, August

[0:05] 11th, 2026 at 6:00

[0:08] 0

[0:09] 4:00 p.m.

[0:11] Um

[0:12] at the Planning and Operations Facility.

[0:15] And so, our first item of business is

[0:17] called to order and remote attendance.

[0:21] And so, we do have our executive

[0:24] director, Rachel Lenz, attend attending

[0:26] remotely.

[0:28] Nice to see you, Rachel.

[0:30] But, no commissioners are attending

[0:31] remotely.

[0:33] All right.

[0:34] Um

[0:35] The second item of business is to

[0:37] adjourn to executive session.

[0:40] Um do I have a motion

[0:43] for moving into executive session?

[0:47] >> In accordance with Section 2, Part C,

[0:49] Exception Number 11 of the Illinois Open

[0:51] Meetings Act, I move to adjourn to

[0:54] executive session for the purpose of

[0:55] discussing litigation

[0:57] when an action against, affecting, or on

[1:00] behalf of a particular public body has

[1:02] been filed and is pending before a court

[1:05] or administrative tribunal, or when this

[1:08] public body finds that an action is

[1:10] probable or imminent, in which case the

[1:13] basis for the finding shall be recorded

[1:15] and entered into the minutes of the

[1:17] closed meeting.

[1:19] >> All right, that's been moved and

[1:21] seconded. And we need a roll call vote

[1:23] starting with Flora.

[1:24] >> I.

[1:25] >> All right, that passes unanimously. All

[1:27] right, we are going to

[1:30] meeting down the hall.

[1:34] All right.

[1:35] Um

[1:36] So, coming out of executive session, we

[1:38] do have a motion to make. Do I have

[1:41] >> Yeah, I move to authorize the executive

[1:44] director to enter into agreements with

[1:46] finance finance company upon final legal

[1:48] approval.

[1:50] >> Second.

[1:51] >> All right, that's been moved and

[1:52] seconded. We'll have a roll call vote

[1:54] starting with Sarah.

[1:55] >> I.

[1:57] >> Okay, that passes unanimously. All

[1:59] right, then we will move on to

[2:03] accepting the agenda.

[2:07] » I move to accept the agenda as

[2:09] presented.

[2:10] >> Second.

[2:11] >> All right, that's been moved and

[2:12] seconded. Can we have a roll call vote

[2:14] starting with Laura?

[2:15] >> Hi.

[2:17] Did I say that twice? And it's it's

[2:21] >> [laughter]

[2:23] >> It is and it's been accepted. All right,

[2:25] moving on to Roman numeral five, public

[2:28] comment.

[2:30] Uh

[2:32] I don't see anyone from the public, but

[2:34] I think do we have any UPD No, no staff

[2:37] introductions either. Okay.

[2:39] All right. Item six, um appointing the

[2:43] 2026-2029

[2:44] UPD class. Um

[2:47] Katie, do you want to join us for any

[2:50] discussion? You can

[2:52] come on up.

[3:07] Um so we have before us candidates for UPD.

[3:12] Um

[3:13] Correct me if I'm wrong, we don't we

[3:15] actually still have some vacancies at

[3:16] the end of the day.

[3:18] Okay.

[3:19] Um so we are we'd still be looking for

[3:21] two more people, is that

[3:23] >> I think that would be correct.

[3:25] >> Okay.

[3:28] Does anyone have any questions for

[3:30] Katie? Are questions about the UPD

[3:32] class?

[3:33] So is there one one individual did they

[3:35] drop out?

[3:36] >> Or

[3:37] >> Um

[3:38] they were from the same household

[3:40] and they were concerned about one not

[3:43] being able to make every meeting and we

[3:46] had discussed that that would still be

[3:48] okay.

[3:50] >> Like the other one

[3:51] would not person's position.

[3:54] Right? That's what

[3:55] >> Oh, in the position?

[3:57] >> No, sorry. It was what was discussed is

[3:58] that

[3:59] if the second person could attend.

[4:02] Because UPDC meetings are in fact open

[4:04] meetings. So, they wouldn't be Both

[4:07] members of the household would not be

[4:09] full members of UPDC, but one might be a

[4:11] sub

[4:13] to inform the others.

[4:20] Oh, yeah. Okay.

[4:21] Well, is there a motion to accept the

[4:24] current UPDC class?

[4:26] >> I move to approve the following

[4:27] candidates to serve 3-year terms as part

[4:30] of the 2026 through 2029 class of the

[4:34] Urbana Park District Advisory Committee

[4:36] or UPDC. The candidates are Wanita N.

[4:38] Rogers, Jeremy Walder, Kathy Adams,

[4:42] Nicole Heglund, and Sophia Maine. Maine?

[4:47] >> Mine. Mine.

[4:48] >> I can

[4:50] >> All right, that's been moved and

[4:51] seconded. So, we'll have a roll call

[4:53] vote starting with Sarah.

[4:54] >> Aye.

[4:57] >> Uh aye, and that passes unanimously. All

[5:00] right. Well, we're very excited about

[5:02] this new UPDC class.

[5:04] >> I have a question.

[5:04] >> And then in terms of the two open

[5:06] vacancies, you'll still be accepting

[5:08] applications

[5:09] >> Absolutely. I was going to say actually

[5:10] I was going to have a conversation with

[5:11] them

[5:12] today.

[5:12] >> Oh, great.

[5:14] Okay, great. Fantastic.

[5:17] Thank you.

[5:21] All right. Uh moving along to the Urbana

[5:23] Park District Advisory Committee report.

[5:27] Um

[5:28] There was no UPDC meeting in July. So,

[5:30] um there's none of that.

[5:32] Um and now moving along to the consent

[5:35] agenda.

[5:37] All right. So, as a reminder, all action

[5:39] items and information items appearing um

[5:41] on the consent agenda are considered

[5:43] routine by the board and will be We

[5:46] enact that in one motion. If there's any

[5:49] discussion desired by Commissioner,

[5:51] those can be removed and discussed

[5:53] separately.

[5:54] And so, are there any thing from the

[5:57] consent agenda that Commissioners are

[5:59] interested in removing?

[6:00] >> There's a typo in my name in one of

[6:02] these that need to be removed. Can we

[6:03] just

[6:04] >> I think we can just note that.

[6:07] Yeah, approve with amendment. Is that in the minutes?

[6:12] Okay.

[6:13] The regular

[6:14] I think it was regular board meeting.

[6:18] I think it was page five of that. It was

[6:20] way down there.

[6:23] Okay, thanks.

[6:25] All right.

[6:27] Okay, so as a reminder, I will read all

[6:31] of the

[6:32] record the titles of the items on the

[6:34] consecutive agenda. So, we're looking at

[6:37] item A, approval of the minutes of the

[6:39] July 14th, 2026 regular board meeting.

[6:43] Item B, the approval of the minutes of

[6:44] the July 14th executive session.

[6:47] Monthly reports, that include the

[6:50] administration report, the planning and

[6:52] operations report, the recreation

[6:54] report. Action to accept the

[6:57] philanthropy report and gifts listed

[6:59] with gratitude.

[7:01] Approval of the monthly paid accounts

[7:04] payable.

[7:06] Is that all?

[7:08] Yeah.

[7:09] So, those are So, those

[7:10] Do I have a motion to accept the consent

[7:13] agenda?

[7:13] >> I move to approve all the action items

[7:15] on the consent agenda and accept all the

[7:17] information items listed on the consent

[7:18] agenda in omnibus manner.

[7:20] >> Second.

[7:21] >> All right, that's been moved and

[7:22] seconded. We have a roll call vote

[7:24] starting with Laura.

[7:25] >> I.

[7:27] >> All right, it's been approved.

[7:29] All right, moving on to reports. I will

[7:31] turn this over to financial reports to

[7:34] Laura.

[7:35] >> Thank you.

[7:37] We are going to start with a bit of good

[7:40] news. This will be our first,

[7:42] uh, sharing of fund balance reports that

[7:45] actually has

[7:46] fund balance on it.

[7:48] So, that's pretty exciting news.

[7:50] >> What mountain since did you move?

[7:53] >> [laughter]

[7:54] >> So, uh, these reports, these revenue and

[7:56] expenditure reports show our receipts

[7:58] and expenditures for the prior 12-month

[7:59] period, the budget for the current

[8:01] period, and the preliminary unaudited

[8:02] results

[8:04] for 3 months ending on July 31st of

[8:05] 2026. For those following along in our

[8:08] packet, these reports begin on page 61.

[8:14] All right, starting on page one. This

[8:16] is, uh, we call it fund one. Um, this is

[8:18] all funds excluding the capital

[8:20] improvements fund.

[8:22] Uh, here we note that, uh, revenues for

[8:24] the period were $6,129,688.

[8:29] Um,

[8:30] as shared in last month's meeting, uh,

[8:32] we did receive in the month of June two

[8:34] of our property tax distributions, um,

[8:37] equating to the 49.9% of

[8:41] uh, taxes so far. So, right in line with

[8:43] where we normally are at this time.

[8:46] Expenditures here reflect $3,114,185.

[8:52] And this gives us a surplus after 3

[8:54] months, meaning that there, um, is an

[8:56] excess of revenues over expenditures of

[8:58] $3,015,305.36.

[9:06] Page two is our capital improvements,

[9:08] uh, fund by itself. Here, uh, revenues

[9:11] for 3 months were, um, $297,706.

[9:16] Um, here we did, um, book the final

[9:19] reimbursement from the CEO, uh, in

[9:21] regards to our pedal park, uh, Prairie

[9:23] Place.

[9:24] So, we had received the final $275,000

[9:27] to fulfill that grant.

[9:30] Expenditures $182,220.

[9:34] Um, here we are in a really nice little

[9:36] spot at a surplus once again with uh,

[9:39] revenues exceeding expenditures of

[9:40] $115,486.

[9:46] Page three is fund three and this is all

[9:48] funds of district wide and here's where

[9:50] the drum roll is that in the bottom

[9:52] right we actually have an ending fund

[9:53] balance um

[9:55] all funds $15,773,555.79.

[10:02] Remaining reports uh here are the

[10:06] individual reports for the three working

[10:07] funds of general, recreation, and museum

[10:10] as well as the last page of this report

[10:13] being the indoor pool UIAC fund.

[10:18] Are there any questions on

[10:20] that set of reports?

[10:21] All right, moving on to treasurer's

[10:23] report.

[10:25] This is a report of the amount of cash

[10:27] the district has on a single day, July

[10:29] 31st of 2026.

[10:31] Our 25 funds are listed down the left

[10:33] side of the page and where cash is

[10:36] invested is displayed across the top.

[10:38] Bottom right noting investments on this

[10:40] date $15,937,428.26.

[10:49] Page two then uh the very top section

[10:51] lists the amounts that we have in

[10:52] interest bearing accounts. Of that

[10:54] $15,900,000

[10:56] on hand $13,268,000

[11:00] $937.68

[11:03] is our investments at varying rates.

[11:05] Um we currently have three CDs uh one of

[11:08] which renewed during the month of July.

[11:11] Um rates are going up again so um the

[11:14] three

[11:15] interest rates that we have right now

[11:16] are 3.65, 3.9, and our newest one at

[11:20] 4.15% so we're back up again. That's that's

[11:23] good news.

[11:24] >> Mhm.

[11:25] >> The bottom section here is a list of

[11:27] interfund loans. We did have a little

[11:29] bit of new activity here of $5,100.

[11:32] Again,

[11:34] this is just covering until UIEC we

[11:36] receive the reimbursement from um the

[11:38] school district. They have been billed,

[11:40] so it should be on the way.

[11:41] >> I have a question.

[11:41] >> Mhm.

[11:42] >> I'm just curious in my 16 years in here

[11:45] if the gray box might be going away.

[11:47] >> Would you like it to go?

[11:49] >> [laughter]

[11:50] >> It might be exciting for the next board

[11:52] meeting if it's a it's zero and we don't

[11:54] need the set aside.

[11:56] >> [laughter]

[11:59] » I mean, if we need it, we can have it,

[12:00] but if they're gone and we don't need to

[12:02] hold space for those for that anymore,

[12:04] we can wipe it away.

[12:07] >> [laughter]

[12:08] >> Sorry, there's always There has always

[12:10] been

[12:12] a gray box here holding money.

[12:15] I agree.

[12:16] >> [laughter]

[12:17] >> Sorry.

[12:22] » What that

[12:23] >> The last thing you were talking about

[12:24] was

[12:24] >> Oh, uh in the summer months, the bottom

[12:26] part of this report, we did have a

[12:27] little bit more uh

[12:28] contributed where recreation is um

[12:30] assisting the indoor pool, which is what

[12:32] we normally do May, June, July until

[12:34] >> Mhm.

[12:35] Okay, so that's where the $5,000 amount

[12:37] was.

[12:37] >> That's how much was activity during

[12:39] July.

[12:40] >> Gotcha.

[12:40] >> on that number.

[12:43] over the last couple of months.

[12:46] All right, and then uh page three of

[12:48] this is the last section of the report,

[12:50] and this lists all the distributions for

[12:51] the month of July.

[12:53] Um here we note the vendor payments

[12:54] match the accounts payable in the

[12:56] consent agenda, and the total

[12:57] disbursements of funds, which includes

[13:00] payroll and vendors, is $1,250,482.96.

[13:07] Um the only thing I wanted to make a

[13:08] note of here is that um

[13:10] with uh the receipt of the property tax

[13:13] dollars, um the second one was late in

[13:15] June, um we did pass through to COSR, so

[13:19] you know, we collect

[13:20] >> Mhm.

[13:21] >> um levy on their behalf and then pass it

[13:23] through to them as the administrator. Um

[13:25] because there were two, that's why you

[13:26] see a line here for CUSR special wreck,

[13:28] and it's a it's a big one, 176,500.

[13:34] All right. Other questions on the

[13:35] treasurer's report? Then I present to

[13:37] you the treasurer's report for audit.

[13:40] >> I move to accept the treasurer's report

[13:42] for audit.

[13:43] >> Second.

[13:44] >> All right, it's been moved and seconded.

[13:45] Any further questions? If not, we'll do

[13:48] a roll call vote starting with Sarah.

[13:50] >> Aye.

[13:51] >> All right, it passes.

[13:53] All right, moving along to capital

[13:55] budget report.

[13:56] >> a report here. We just had a few

[13:58] expenditures this month, not a whole lot

[14:00] going on.

[14:01] Um but we do note with an asterisk in

[14:03] the respective column

[14:05] any new activity during the month of

[14:07] July.

[14:08] Um on our first page, this is our 2019A

[14:12] of

[14:13] capital budget, and we had a payment to

[14:16] Permatrak of $4,073.

[14:19] Um this is related to the um additional

[14:21] boardwalks that were getting installed

[14:23] over at the Houghton Wetlands.

[14:28] Next page is our 2026 budget.

[14:31] Um here we paid uh Daktronics $14,728

[14:37] for the scoreboard at Amdocs.

[14:39] And also at the bottom, $10,856

[14:43] was expensed to GameTime for um

[14:47] uh I believe it was a merry-go-round at

[14:48] Carl Park, so it's playground equipment.

[14:52] 2025

[14:55] $3,074

[14:56] was expensed to MCS. This was to upgrade

[15:00] the audio-visual system at the Lake

[15:02] House.

[15:04] And under equipment, we had $54,550

[15:08] um expensed to Morrow, and this was for

[15:12] um another F-150 pickup truck.

[15:18] 2024

[15:21] Um

[15:23] Am I missing something?

[15:32] Well, that's fine.

[15:35] » None of them None of them work.

[15:37] >> Okay.

[15:38] >> Not off the website, off of

[15:39] >> dead. None of that is showing on this

[15:41] version of the packet.

[15:43] >> What? Mine has notes.

[15:44] >> Interesting.

[15:45] >> But I actually got it off the website,

[15:47] too.

[15:47] >> I got mine off the website, too. Website

[15:49] has notes.

[15:53] » I love a challenge.

[15:54] >> 2020-2024 budget.

[15:56] Uh here we had uh a couple of

[15:58] expenditures for Prairie Weaver Park,

[16:00] $49,948

[16:02] expense to Farnsworth. Um this was for

[16:05] phase two, design number four, also

[16:08] renderings for phase three.

[16:11] A little further down, we had um

[16:14] actually this is a split um bill. We uh

[16:17] expense to Kerby and Tucker,

[16:19] um here up above, $5,150.

[16:23] This was towards um some work done at

[16:25] the Carl Pavilion. And uh you'll notice

[16:28] at the bottom another $17,975

[16:30] to round out that bill, was expense

[16:32] under contingency.

[16:34] And also under contingency, $7,650

[16:37] expense to IMEG, and this was um

[16:40] regarding the Poquoson Trails project,

[16:42] design number three.

[16:45] And the remaining budget had no activity

[16:47] in the month of July.

[16:52] And then if there's no additional

[16:52] questions on

[16:57] Thank you.

[16:58] Um

[16:59] if there's no other questions, I'll turn

[17:00] it over to Darren and Andy

[17:03] updates.

[17:05] >> All [clears throat] right, we'll start

[17:06] at Weaver Park.

[17:08] Uh so we had our punch list walk-through

[17:10] with uh architect and uh contractor. So,

[17:14] since our last meeting,

[17:16] uh they've been working on some of those

[17:17] items that are identified in the list.

[17:19] The main thing still

[17:22] that we're working through is the Ameren

[17:24] the final power connection to the

[17:26] building itself and light poles.

[17:29] So we do have a solution at this point.

[17:32] So ultimately Ameren did not like the

[17:34] hand hole that was behind the building.

[17:37] They don't want to have an option where

[17:39] anybody could tie into their electric

[17:41] service before it gets to the meter.

[17:44] So then they wanted that removed

[17:48] and our options were basically to either

[17:49] run a new line with a solid conduit all

[17:52] the way through which would have been

[17:53] very expensive.

[17:55] Or we were looking at doing

[17:58] a unistrut like H bracket that would

[18:00] actually stand up behind the building

[18:02] and have our meter on that which we

[18:04] weren't big fans of either.

[18:06] So we asked to be able to seal the hand

[18:10] hole the pit up basically and have a

[18:13] concrete pad a small concrete pad over

[18:15] it which Ameren has now

[18:17] approved us doing. So we are working on

[18:21] a change order with the contractor.

[18:23] To get that pad installed and then

[18:26] Ameren unfortunately is about four weeks

[18:29] out from when they can then come back in

[18:32] and then do the final connections of

[18:34] service. So

[18:36] Power at site will still be out for

[18:39] at least another three four weeks.

[18:43] And then I think on the right the last

[18:46] meeting

[18:48] we had images of the Baker's Lane trail

[18:51] and then along Washington Street. What

[18:54] was not done at the last meeting which

[18:56] I'm trying to show here is the lighting

[18:58] along the trail.

[19:00] And then they had kind of the main

[19:02] segments

[19:03] of the path along Washington but they

[19:05] had not kind of tied in to where it

[19:08] intersects with the drives or the

[19:10] walkways. So all that uh paving work is

[19:13] done. So, basically it's programming of

[19:15] the light poles and seating

[19:17] um is pretty much it that's left for

[19:19] that part of the project. Um

[19:21] looks really good.

[19:25] Um Laura mentioned the boardwalk, so we

[19:28] are in the closure for Hawk uh right

[19:30] now. Um we have our contractor coming

[19:34] out later this week and they'll actually

[19:37] install the foundations for the

[19:38] boardwalk itself.

[19:41] Um but the boardwalk has not been

[19:42] delivered yet to their um

[19:45] yard, basically. So,

[19:47] I'm hoping that in the next week it gets

[19:49] delivered. They're getting everything

[19:50] set up, so that all they'll have to do

[19:51] basically is get the crane and drop it

[19:54] down and then make the final connections

[19:55] to the foundations that they'll put in

[19:58] uh at the end of this week.

[19:59] So, worst case scenario, if it does not

[20:01] arrive, we'll have a small shutdown of a

[20:03] parking area just so they can drop the

[20:06] boardwalk itself in, but they're kind of

[20:08] taking care of everything they can do

[20:09] without it uh later this week.

[20:12] And then this is a picture from uh last

[20:14] year, actually, but the same crew is

[20:16] back out and this is um

[20:18] what they actually did today. So, they

[20:20] were out there uh starting this morning.

[20:22] Um it's the full um

[20:24] resealant of um the gym floor and the

[20:28] upstairs

[20:29] uh fitness room. So, first coat is done

[20:32] today. They'll be back tomorrow

[20:33] afternoon to do the second coat.

[20:36] And then we'll have 10 days of cure time

[20:38] on on both of those

[20:40] uh spaces.

[20:43] So, next meeting I'll have pictures of

[20:45] shiny uh wood floors.

[20:50] Uh BC Woods bridge. Uh so, we've kind of

[20:53] updated every few months about the

[20:55] progress of this project for the

[20:57] replacement. Uh we're actually out to

[20:59] bid right now. Um bids were distributed

[21:03] uh last Friday. We have a bid opening at

[21:06] the end of this month. We are trying to

[21:10] hit the September board meeting for a

[21:12] recommendation for award. There is

[21:14] potential that we're going to need some

[21:15] more time, and we'll be pushing back

[21:17] that recommendation to October. And a

[21:20] lot of that has to do with making sure

[21:22] um our

[21:23] basically ducks are in a row for all of

[21:25] our grant requirements reporting, that

[21:27] we're hitting our target goals for BEP

[21:30] uh contractors. Uh so, we want to make

[21:32] sure all that's kind of lined up and

[21:34] ready to go before we have something in

[21:35] front of you um

[21:37] for an award.

[21:39] So, once that just kind of overall

[21:41] timing, um

[21:42] once that gets uh awarded and we have

[21:45] contract documents complete this winter,

[21:47] will be the um

[21:49] removal for the trees that are needed to come out as as part of this project.

[21:54] And then, we're anticipating what could

[21:56] be up to 6-month lead time for when the

[21:59] bridge is actually fabricated and

[22:01] delivered. So,

[22:02] that could get us late spring um early

[22:05] summer for when the bridge actually

[22:07] arrives. Um what we did include in the

[22:10] specifications is that the contractor is

[22:12] not to demo the existing bridge until

[22:15] they have

[22:16] or close to ready for the new bridge to

[22:19] go in. We're trying to minimize the

[22:20] amount of time

[22:22] that it's going to be closed as as

[22:24] little as possible, but I mean,

[22:26] obviously there we're going to have some

[22:27] time.

[22:29] So, this may appear uh the next agenda

[22:32] for next month.

[22:35] And uh Payton, I wanted to

[22:37] give an update on some things that she's

[22:39] working for. We have a uh

[22:42] playground that's on our schedule and

[22:44] budgeted in 2026 capital, Sunny Crest.

[22:48] Uh and so, she's put together a timeline

[22:50] where we can do some public input.

[22:53] Uh so, September we're looking at public

[22:55] input opportunity number one. Uh she's

[22:58] identified a neighboring preschool. This

[23:01] is a tot lot.

[23:03] Uh has two to five uh play equipment

[23:06] currently in it. And so we'll work with

[23:08] the preschool, do a sticky dot activity,

[23:11] uh figure out what types of play

[23:13] equipment they like to go to the

[23:16] playground for the most. Uh we'll have a

[23:18] public meeting with a virtual option to

[23:21] provide input, which will have the same

[23:23] kind of questions, what play features uh

[23:25] people would want to see at this park.

[23:28] And then also a fill-in-the-blank

[23:30] activity, which is very similar to what

[23:33] we did for Prairie Play, which is like a

[23:35] Mad Libs kind of thing, too. So, we'll

[23:38] We have a

[23:40] public meeting at the site and a rain

[23:42] date, uh but we're also providing that

[23:44] virtual option, so we'll flyer the

[23:46] neighborhood and then everyone will have

[23:48] an opportunity to give

[23:50] input that way.

[23:51] So, then we'll use all of our our our

[23:54] information from public input number one

[23:57] to put together an RFP and then send

[24:00] that out and get playground options or

[24:02] play

[24:04] piece options from all of our vendors

[24:06] that we regularly work with.

[24:08] And then staff will review those options

[24:10] and come up with a final

[24:12] three or four. This is very similar to

[24:15] King, how we did King playground, too.

[24:17] Um

[24:18] and then we'll do public input number

[24:20] two. So, back to the preschool and back

[24:24] to a public meeting, same kind of thing,

[24:26] except this time it will be actually

[24:28] selecting the new playground itself. And

[24:32] then at that point we'll come back to

[24:35] the board and I anticipate December or

[24:38] January

[24:39] to approve purchase of that equipment.

[24:42] And then this is an in-house

[24:44] installation.

[24:46] So, I'm giving it two three months of

[24:48] lead time for the equipment itself and

[24:50] then we'll have spring construction

[24:53] next year, 2027.

[24:56] So, as we kind of move along, I'll bring

[24:58] more updates to

[25:00] uh the board meeting, but that's kind of

[25:01] what we're looking at right now moving

[25:02] ahead.

[25:06] And that's it. That's all my updates.

[25:12] » And Andy, do we know the sidewalk that's

[25:15] getting put in on Country Club, like how

[25:16] far down are they or how far down that's

[25:18] going to go? Is it going all the way?

[25:21] >> I don't know.

[25:22] >> Right now they're working it's like in

[25:23] front of like Del Puerto heading west.

[25:27] >> My assumption and I don't know, my

[25:29] assumption was it was going to Broadway,

[25:30] but I I don't know that.

[25:36] » Thank you.

[25:38] All right. Uh moving along to the You

[25:41] Belong Here report, Corky.

[25:42] >> Okay.

[25:43] Well, the written report was

[25:45] light. Staff have been really busy. So,

[25:48] I've got a list of a few things here.

[25:50] First want to mention that um

[25:53] the ribbon cutting event for CARE Cares

[25:56] that that currently have it on hold.

[25:58] That we're not going to do September

[26:00] 9th.

[26:01] And as we get further along

[26:03] >> my report.

[26:04] >> Oh, sorry.

[26:06] >> Sorry.

[26:08] >> I'll let Rachel talk about that. I got

[26:10] plenty of stuff to talk about.

[26:12] >> [laughter]

[26:12] >> Um but anyhow, uh it's going to be

[26:14] pushed back.

[26:15] Uh

[26:16] big event we did as a partnership with

[26:18] the Albemarle Police Department

[26:19] Community Engagement

[26:21] um basketball day uh the local office We

[26:25] had

[26:26] um

[26:28] We had three mayor, we had UNCC was

[26:32] there.

[26:33] Why on the Fly kids showed up as well.

[26:37] We ended up

[26:38] supposed to have around 70 kids. I think

[26:40] we ended up with around 90.

[26:41] >> That's fantastic.

[26:42] >> Um so

[26:44] but

[26:45] officers were there and other staff and

[26:47] those agencies that

[26:48] they they played, they had lunch, and

[26:51] then um,

[26:52] they showed a mental health, um, video at the end of

[26:58] because of the name of

[26:59] my head, but,

[27:01] um, anyhow, it was, uh,

[27:03] a good day. It was the second year. We

[27:05] ended up

[27:06] doing it last year by default because it

[27:08] rained at Victory Park.

[27:11] It was a rainy day, so they called last

[27:13] minute.

[27:14] This year we organized it to be at at

[27:16] the Health and Wellness Center, so.

[27:19] Um, anyhow, great event there.

[27:21] We had two play days, King Park. We

[27:23] ended up with 92

[27:25] >> Wow.

[27:26] >> Um, at King, uh, 155 at Larson.

[27:30] Uh, we did a 250

[27:32] year event with the library at It's 30,

[27:35] 35 kids at that.

[27:38] Of course, we had a great Daddy Daughter

[27:40] Dance Day that you were part of as well.

[27:43] Um, just, uh,

[27:45] shout out for the fact that

[27:47] Skate Fest is coming up on Labor Day

[27:49] weekend.

[27:50] Um, September 5th from 11:00 to 4:00 at

[27:53] Dr. Williams.

[27:55] Um,

[27:57] lots of good exciting stuff happening

[27:58] there. I'll give you some numbers.

[28:03] Um,

[28:04] start out with the Health and Wellness

[28:06] Center.

[28:14] As soon as I had it pulled up, I opened

[28:16] another and I lost it.

[28:19] There it is.

[28:24] Um, total number of members in

[28:27] uh, July

[28:29] uh,

[28:30] 2025 we had 734.

[28:34] Total number members in July of 2026 we

[28:36] had 1,917.

[28:39] And both of those do include OSF

[28:43] scholarships.

[28:45] Um,

[28:46] July building visits 25 we had 7,025.

[28:51] Really close this year in 2016 we had

[28:53] 7,141

[28:55] and that does not count

[28:57] our camp.

[29:01] 45 kids every week.

[29:03] >> Is this swipes and individual people

[29:05] paying?

[29:05] >> Individual memberships

[29:07] >> And and

[29:08] they daily passes or whatever, yeah.

[29:11] >> Total revenue

[29:13] last year was 17,447.

[29:17] Total revenue this year is 14,181.

[29:21] But this does not include all of our

[29:24] new

[29:25] We've had Silver Sneakers for a while

[29:26] but now have three or four different

[29:28] programs and those are monthly payments

[29:30] that come in separate.

[29:32] >> Okay.

[29:32] >> So I think that's why you're you're

[29:33] seeing a different number.

[29:36] It'll all catch up when all those

[29:38] >> Payments come in.

[29:39] >> monthly payments come in.

[29:41] So

[29:42] um

[29:45] So yeah, last year

[29:46] we had 32 memberships sold in July and

[29:50] this year we had 144.

[29:53] So things are going really well as Andy

[29:55] mentioned we are

[29:57] um closed at the moment. We are offering

[30:01] uh

[30:02] Rachel was actually able to work with

[30:04] Sarah and and Matt from Champaign. So um

[30:09] I personally told two people that they

[30:11] can go over to Windsor for free.

[30:13] >> How you how are we communicating that?

[30:16] >> We We had been posting it

[30:19] for last few weeks at the site.

[30:22] >> But I didn't like can we get an email

[30:24] about it?

[30:25] >> I don't know if they got it. They should

[30:26] have sent an email.

[30:27] >> I think they might have sent it.

[30:28] >> Brittany was doing that before she left

[30:30] on vacation.

[30:32] >> Maybe I got one. I don't remember. I

[30:34] should look. But I knew that I thought

[30:36] we were doing that and I was sort of

[30:38] waiting to hear. So I'll double-check my

[30:40] emails.

[30:41] >> It's okay. You're watching.

[30:43] >> Martin Center and Windsor.

[30:45] >> Merton and water?

[30:47] >> Yeah. And then, in return,

[30:49] um they will be sending their

[30:51] memberships when they close. They'll

[30:53] have the option of coming to our

[30:55] facility.

[30:57] >> That's great.

[30:59] I think that helps address some things,

[31:01] um

[31:02] you know,

[31:03] with the closing for 2 weeks.

[31:07] Are there like signs on the doors that

[31:09] people go up to use so they know?

[31:12] >> There are for certain There's a sign on

[31:14] there. I did not look to see if it says

[31:17] you can use your membership there.

[31:19] If that's on there or not. If it's not,

[31:20] we'll get it on there.

[31:22] But I I didn't check the sign yet.

[31:25] I've been looking at the numbers for

[31:28] a few weeks for

[31:29] the dates, but I did not

[31:31] I can't remember if it specifically says

[31:33] you can use your membership there.

[31:37] » Aquatics at Crystal Lake Park Family

[31:39] Aquatic Center, um

[31:41] member entries last year was 8,696

[31:46] through July.

[31:47] This year, member entries is 9,713.

[31:52] Um patron patron entries, which is

[31:55] walk-ups,

[31:57] um is 30,110

[32:01] and 25 and 27

[32:03] and 96 this year.

[32:06] Um total revenue

[32:08] um that's been brought in there is

[32:11] 25 It was 245,235

[32:14] and this year it's 246,293.

[32:21] Um

[32:22] >> What's that? Can you read those numbers

[32:23] again?

[32:24] >> Yes.

[32:25] So,

[32:27] the dollar amount for 25 was 245,235.

[32:32] And in 26 it was 246,293.

[32:40] So about same revenue.

[32:42] >> Yes, but that's with

[32:43] more entries, more memberships, and

[32:46] increased fees.

[32:48] >> So the fees changed, the structure for

[32:50] passes changed.

[32:51] So

[32:53] um it's more

[32:55] individualized numbers what we were

[32:57] getting with what we did families.

[33:00] We were getting like

[33:01] grandma, grandpa

[33:03] and the

[33:05] mom, dad, and the children.

[33:07] So we are following how

[33:10] other agencies, including Champaign, how

[33:13] they structure their fees for passes. So

[33:15] I'm guessing that's a little bit of

[33:17] why you're seeing the difference in the

[33:18] numbers.

[33:21] But that's the purpose of the passes.

[33:24] At least

[33:25] followed us.

[33:27] Uh more

[33:28] dollars.

[33:31] than it is

[33:32] >> Cuz before before individuals together

[33:34] under one membership, and now it's four

[33:36] separate memberships, but the dollar

[33:38] amount is

[33:38] >> Cost similar more money to do it that

[33:40] way.

[33:43] Yes, lastly what I'd like to mention on

[33:46] uh where you belong here standpoint is

[33:48] we did a

[33:50] partnership with a donor

[33:52] um and Don Moyer Boys and Girls Club

[33:55] on a swim lesson program

[33:58] um

[33:59] which

[34:00] was really great. The donors were super

[34:03] excited.

[34:04] Um we we've got um

[34:06] they did status you know where the kids

[34:09] were the instructors did where the kids

[34:11] were

[34:12] when they started and where they ended

[34:14] up after the program and it was a huge difference. So

[34:19] um we've also marked down and given a

[34:21] certificate. Marked down on that

[34:23] certificate if they were going to join

[34:24] in to our swim lesson programs. This is

[34:27] the level you're at. This is where you

[34:28] should sign up.

[34:31] They don't get that information, it

[34:32] doesn't matter cuz we test them every

[34:33] time, but at least we're giving them

[34:37] some groundwork for where they should

[34:38] go.

[34:39] >> Do those participant I mean, so when you

[34:42] say we work with the donor, was the

[34:43] program free through the Don Moyer

[34:46] Boys and Girls Club? And then will our

[34:50] we want kids to continue swimming, so is

[34:53] there money to support if needed

[34:55] scholarships or access at a lower rate

[34:58] for our programs as well or will that be

[35:01] a barrier to entry?

[35:02] >> We do always have the Urbana

[35:04] scholarships and then we do have our

[35:06] regular scholarships.

[35:08] Um

[35:09] and ultimately I think there is

[35:10] possibility for this program to continue

[35:12] on through more partnership with the

[35:14] donor.

[35:15] Um they're super excited about it. Um

[35:19] they all got

[35:20] swimsuits, swim caps, goggles.

[35:24] Um

[35:25] so

[35:26] um

[35:28] Don Moyer's

[35:30] So we will reimburse for our staffing.

[35:33] >> Okay.

[35:34] >> And Don Moyer's will reimburse for

[35:36] staffing, bussing.

[35:38] >> Mhm.

[35:39] >> So it's all taken care of by Don

[35:40] Moyer's.

[35:41] >> And do we have a sense of um how many

[35:43] Urbana kids are in that program?

[35:47] >> No.

[35:48] >> Okay.

[35:48] >> I mean

[35:49] I'm sure there are some, but I don't I'm

[35:51] not sure which ones signed up from

[35:54] Urbana to go to Don Moyer's.

[35:56] >> I just also wonder with uh

[35:59] if we're looking if we could I mean I

[36:01] love that program. I'm going to always

[36:02] support support swimming.

[36:04] Uh

[36:05] I wonder with Dream coming with

[36:07] Cunningham, right? Um I don't know if

[36:09] that facility still has a pool, but it

[36:11] used to have an outside pool. If there

[36:12] was Is there a way, right, to work again

[36:15] um with more partners in even doing it

[36:18] if we have the capacity in the indoor

[36:20] aquatic center, you know? Or something.

[36:22] >> And I do believe the donors want to move

[36:24] towards the indoor

[36:26] as well so that we're doing it.

[36:28] Our goal would be to do it before the

[36:29] swim season.

[36:31] So by the time we get it all set up

[36:33] >> So that they're ready to go out to the

[36:35] outdoor pool. Yeah.

[36:36] >> And then they did end up feeling

[36:38] program ended at the end of July.

[36:41] And so they've got passes for the rest

[36:44] of August.

[36:44] >> Okay.

[36:45] Fantastic.

[36:46] >> Um,

[36:48] we chose [clears throat]

[36:49] Don Moyer's originally because

[36:53] there's 176

[36:55] >> Right.

[36:56] >> Um, we've done some partnerships for

[36:59] some of the smaller groups,

[37:01] but we want to make sure we made a a

[37:03] bigger splash.

[37:04] >> Okay.

[37:05] >> For our space. Yeah.

[37:07] >> No, I think going to where the students

[37:09] are or the kids are makes a lot of sense

[37:11] than trying to have to

[37:13] have them always come, but that's great.

[37:15] I think we should

[37:16] work this, feed it into future

[37:19] employment. Oh, for like lifeguards and

[37:22] things like that. Yeah.

[37:23] >> Yeah.

[37:24] Like really encourage them. And we used

[37:26] to do this, but I think this would be a

[37:27] really great way of doing that.

[37:30] Our pipe. Yeah.

[37:35] » So that's all we have.

[37:37] >> Great. Thank you.

[37:38] >> Okay. Did you time that, Rachel? You

[37:39] did.

[37:40] How long was it?

[37:45] » All right. Executive Director's Report,

[37:47] Rachel.

[37:49] >> Okay. I just wanted to mention one more

[37:50] thing

[37:52] that I think belongs in like the legal

[37:55] monitors.

[37:56] And we had a meeting with

[37:58] the Strong Kids Campaign and

[38:00] we are partnering with them for their

[38:03] stuff as well.

[38:04] Um

[38:06] And they didn't finish it, but I don't

[38:08] know what

[38:09] Yeah, they're they're collecting school

[38:11] supplies for kids over in

[38:13] In-Park and so

[38:15] they do work with them to get our

[38:17] facilities

[38:18] located to stuff off of us.

[38:20] Last year they had the arts camp

[38:23] and I covered

[38:24] the finish boxes which is fantastic. And

[38:26] so

[38:28] I think that's what they're trying to do

[38:29] with some of the push.

[38:31] Meanwhile, we don't have any idea of my

[38:32] interns. So it's hopefully we'll be able

[38:35] to take it eventually. Those are the

[38:37] plans anyway.

[38:39] But we really don't have a clue.

[38:41] Anyway, it's interesting.

[38:43] You can stop right here.

[38:45] But

[38:45] and just real quickly, thank you so much

[38:48] for all of these surveys I got back. It

[38:50] was an important meeting that I didn't

[38:51] want to miss.

[38:52] But

[38:53] I also had texted

[38:54] my supervisor maybe

[38:56] a month ago saying there was a financial

[38:58] stability

[39:00] verification program kicking off

[39:02] the day I just needed

[39:04] and so it just perfect storm. But

[39:07] I spoke with my supervisor. I got

[39:09] we had a double meeting

[39:11] at sheltered in place.

[39:13] We did the workshop today. It was

[39:15] maybe at 3:00.

[39:17] And and

[39:18] you know, we're just flexible. That's

[39:20] what we

[39:21] were maintaining. So

[39:22] just a few things I wanted to touch

[39:24] point on.

[39:26] The validity of the election is

[39:28] happening this coming April. We didn't

[39:30] have

[39:31] a six-year choice at the election and

[39:34] then obviously

[39:36] one four-year choice. So

[39:38] um

[39:39] And it's considered circulating

[39:41] petitions on August 25th with the first

[39:43] day of filing

[39:45] on November 16th and the last day of

[39:47] filing

[39:48] on November 3rd.

[39:49] And

[39:50] we have two separate

[39:52] ballot certifications that we must

[39:54] submit. Again, two for the six-year and

[39:56] one for the four-year. So they will be

[39:59] denoted in the ballot

[40:01] separately just for the voters.

[40:04] Um

[40:05] And then

[40:07] we are doing a poll report poll training

[40:10] at the next update meeting

[40:13] on this coming fifth of

[40:14] January. And

[40:16] the campaign concepts is we're just

[40:18] going to be doing the calendar

[41:10] » Is that here?

[41:12] >> Yes.

[41:12] >> Mhm. Okay.

[41:13] >> Yes.

[41:15] They're at 6:00.

[41:17] So,

[41:18] we we're getting

[41:20] February out

[41:21] groups assigned locations and then teams

[41:24] about time to

[41:26] kind of check out the calendars and

[41:29] get themselves ready. So,

[41:31] we are asking one group to try and make

[41:33] it to different

[41:35] outdoor parks in the city of Rome.

[41:37] What was it? September 7th? September

[41:40] 9th?

[41:41] I think it's

[41:42] 9th?

[41:43] Right.

[41:43] 9th? Yeah, so before the

[41:45] >> Before the 4th.

[41:45] >> Yeah. Otherwise, we're hoping to figure

[41:47] all of this out before we have

[41:49] September.

[41:51] And that will be incorporated in

[41:53] our strategic plan. So,

[41:56] >> You were right, it's the 7th.

[42:00] >> But yeah, if you're interested in

[42:01] attending, if you have any

[42:03] errors with you,

[42:04] please let me know.

[42:06] And then,

[42:07] um

[42:08] you all have already been adopted into

[42:10] the fair too, which is great.

[42:11] And we'll see if I have any stops that

[42:13] you want to add and then

[42:14] um

[43:08] » Thank you.

[43:09] >> Mhm.

[43:10] >> Thank you.

[43:12] >> Um

[43:14] President's report.

[43:16] Let me go back to my

[43:18] I will just um reminders. He's not here,

[43:22] but I'll do it in his absence. Uh

[43:24] reminders for the calendar. So, we

[43:26] already talked about the August 25th Up

[43:29] Deck meeting. Um September

[43:32] 1st, 2000 we will have a board study

[43:34] session looking at technology updates.

[43:37] Um and then September 8th is our regular

[43:40] board meeting. Um and a reminder we will

[43:43] have an executive session then on that

[43:45] day to review, right? Um

[43:48] candidates for um

[43:51] We'll be reviewing any applications we

[43:53] come in for the for the board vacancy. Which by the way is wonderfully

[43:58] front and center on the webpage. So,

[44:00] thank.

[44:01] Easy to it's right there.

[44:03] Um

[44:05] And then September 22nd is another Up

[44:07] meeting um

[44:09] and I think Roger Digs is going to leave

[44:10] a

[44:11] Middlebrook history tour and that's the

[44:13] new class kickoff as well. So,

[44:16] um and it looks like we got a lot of

[44:18] activities still happening um

[44:20] as you know, as we we go through. So,

[44:24] um

[44:25] I'll talk about Jazz Fest when it's my

[44:27] turn to report on Foundation. Um or Jazz

[44:30] Walk, sorry. All right. Um

[44:33] So,

[44:35] moving we'll move on to uh liaison

[44:38] reports. The finance study group has not

[44:40] met. Um

[44:44] and so there's nothing to report. Um UPD

[44:47] policy study group, Laura or Sarah, do

[44:49] you want to report?

[44:50] >> We meet again on Monday.

[44:52] >> We met last week.

[44:54] Meeting again next week.

[44:55] >> Okay.

[44:57] So,

[44:57] >> still working through the room.

[44:58] >> Okay. So, well at some point something

[45:00] will come to us, I suppose.

[45:02] >> Eventually.

[45:02] >> Okay.

[45:03] >> Yeah.

[45:04] >> Um the Urbana Parks Foundation uh met

[45:06] yesterday and so I think the big thing

[45:10] is Jazz Walk. You should have received

[45:12] your Jazz Walk invitation in mail,

[45:15] hopefully yesterday or today. I think

[45:17] mine came Yeah, it's a postcard. Um

[45:21] would like as many people, you know, to

[45:23] be there as possible um pending

[45:25] obviously work obligations and things

[45:27] like that. Um

[45:29] so, it will pretty much be the same

[45:30] format as it has been. Rick Murphy will

[45:32] be providing music. There'll be hors

[45:33] d'oeuvres. Um ahead of time ahead of the

[45:37] schedule, so I think that starts at

[45:38] 4:00.

[45:40] Um as in the regular Jazz Walk starts at

[45:43] 5:30.

[45:44] Is that right? 5:30, yeah. So, um the

[45:47] other thing I will say is the Foundation

[45:48] has been a great supporter of also this

[45:51] um

[45:52] King School uh supply with the police

[45:54] office. So, I volunteered to um do some

[45:57] shopping for some of them. So, um I

[46:00] delivered a big a big load of school

[46:03] supplies today to the police station.

[46:05] So, thank the foundation and for their

[46:07] participation um in that. And I think

[46:10] that's kind of the the highlights.

[46:13] We talked a lot about finance stuff

[46:14] that's as well with the foundation. So,

[46:17] that was kind of a big discussion.

[46:20] All right. Um up deck planning study

[46:23] group

[46:25] >> will be meeting again in December.

[46:27] >> Okay.

[46:31] All right.

[46:33] Um there

[46:34] we have no old business that was removed

[46:36] from the consent agenda. So, we'll move

[46:38] along to new business, which is action

[46:40] on resolution 2026-07

[46:44] authorizing an intergovernmental

[46:46] agreement for participation in the

[46:48] Illinois public works mutual aid

[46:50] network.

[46:52] >> Uh yes. So, this is a a group that's uh

[46:55] pretty predominantly uh

[46:56] got public work type agencies. It

[46:58] includes the county, cities.

[47:00] They have opened up the park districts

[47:02] and our uh facility maintenance

[47:04] supervisor Luke Fisher, while working

[47:06] with St. Joseph, had an opportunity to

[47:07] work with this group. He actually served

[47:09] uh a a role uh in in leading

[47:13] the group here locally. But uh when the

[47:15] derecho came through St. Joseph in 2023,

[47:18] he called for assistance and uh was well

[47:21] supported. Uh you can see the force what

[47:22] would have taken them weeks to repair uh

[47:24] took just a couple of days. Um if we uh

[47:28] adopt this resolution, our participation

[47:31] is entirely voluntary. Uh so, you know,

[47:33] we would receive a call. We'd be

[47:35] notified that there is a an emergency.

[47:37] Could be a natural or man-made disaster.

[47:39] And if we have the uh capacity uh to

[47:42] volunteer, we could send our our our

[47:44] staff, uh send some equipment. Um but

[47:46] again, it's voluntary and we would we

[47:48] would pay our staff as if they were to

[47:49] work with us.

[47:50] Um the benefit, of course, to us is if

[47:52] we get a natural disaster, we can call

[47:53] on them. And today, there There a

[47:55] tornado, I think, yeah, Southern

[47:56] Illinois. So, uh it's timely. We're

[47:58] seeing more and more disasters and that

[47:59] is what we

[48:01] uh a good thing for us to participate

[48:02] in. It's very reasonable. It's $250 a

[48:04] year. Uh includes training and an annual

[48:06] conference as well. So,

[48:08] I'd be happy to answer any questions you

[48:09] might have.

[48:12] » With the 150 tornadoes that we've had in

[48:14] the state of Illinois this year, it

[48:16] seems like yeah, and

[48:18] it seems like a very good idea.

[48:23] Do you have a motion?

[48:25] >> Uh I move to approve resolution 2026-07

[48:28] authorizing an intergovernmental

[48:30] agreement for participation in the

[48:31] Illinois Public Works Mutual Mutual Aid

[48:33] Network.

[48:34] >> Second.

[48:35] >> All right, that's been moved and

[48:35] seconded.

[48:37] Um we'll do a roll call vote starting

[48:40] with Sarah.

[48:41] >> Aye.

[48:42] >> All right, and that passes.

[48:45] All right, and now for the

[48:48] what we've all been waiting for.

[48:50] >> [laughter]

[48:53] » Like the

[48:54] welcome Dr. Megan Owens of Blue Sky

[48:56] Recreation to talk to us about our

[48:58] strategic plan and community engagement

[49:01] report.

[49:03] >> Well, thank you very much for having me

[49:05] back.

[49:06] And

[49:08] um

[49:09] you're ready

[49:10] for the reports.

[49:12] Um

[49:12] our the presentation

[49:14] it should take about 30 to 45 minutes.

[49:17] >> Okay.

[49:18] >> Uh and so

[49:21] first I do want to say that your

[49:23] community was very willing to talk.

[49:28] And

[49:30] uh across the stakeholder interviews,

[49:32] across the focus group interviews, and

[49:35] groups, there was about a thousand pages

[49:38] from the transcripts. And so that's a

[49:40] really healthy database just from those

[49:44] interviews. And to me what that says is

[49:47] people were willing to share

[49:48] perspectives and also just have that

[49:51] communication between each other.

[49:54] There was really healthy conversations

[49:56] that happened during the focus groups.

[49:58] And then like we had a really healthy

[49:59] response rate. So, what I'm going to

[50:01] present to you today is an overview. You

[50:06] have a detailed report um that you know

[50:11] details all three data sources.

[50:14] Today what I'm going to focus on are the

[50:16] key findings and how the data informed

[50:19] those key findings.

[50:20] Um and as I go uh please feel free to

[50:23] write down your questions. Um I will be

[50:26] happy to answer whatever question you

[50:27] have. If possible, it might be best to

[50:30] hold that questions till the end um to

[50:33] make sure we can get through everything

[50:35] in as timely of a manner as possible.

[50:38] Um because

[50:40] you're doing great things.

[50:41] And people want to tell you about it,

[50:43] so.

[50:44] All right, as we get started,

[50:46] uh we're going to I'll share the process

[50:49] that I followed. Uh we'll talk a little

[50:51] bit about demographics here.

[50:54] Uh we'll go into the survey results to

[50:56] look at your usage rates, uh parks, mhm,

[50:59] programs, uh the whole lot, and then we'll get into

[51:04] the key findings, which ultimately

[51:06] across the three data points, there are

[51:07] three key findings that I pulled.

[51:10] Uh those

[51:11] may or may not end up being strategic

[51:14] goals for you. That's not really the

[51:16] point of that, but it's really to pull

[51:17] the data together to give you some more

[51:20] um higher level um areas to focus on.

[51:24] Uh so

[51:26] I do want to just very much commend the park district because we again we

[51:31] had a really healthy engagement here.

[51:34] There was approximately 1,200

[51:35] individuals. Um I spent extra time. I I

[51:39] interviewed additional stakeholders.

[51:41] Typically, it's usually around 10 to 15,

[51:45] um but I'm actually I'm really glad

[51:48] we did more because it gave a more

[51:51] complete picture

[51:53] and more engagement. Um, and so we had

[51:55] about 20 entities connected. Uh, there

[51:58] was a really solid push getting that

[52:00] survey out there. So, again, healthy

[52:03] number of um, close to, you know, over

[52:07] 1,100 respondents just for the survey.

[52:10] And then 35 participants across eight

[52:13] focus groups. We had um,

[52:15] six people for focus groups that did not

[52:18] end up attending. Either just didn't

[52:20] show or canceled. So,

[52:23] um, not too bad. The focus group

[52:25] participants mostly did come from from

[52:28] the survey. So, they

[52:30] gave them an opportunity to share more

[52:33] perspective, but then build upon the

[52:35] conversation.

[52:36] So, overall, I think it was a really

[52:38] healthy um, population that we engaged.

[52:42] Okay, so taking a look at our

[52:43] representation, our stakeholder

[52:45] expertise covered a wide range here. So,

[52:49] we see

[52:51] uh, our executives across Champaign,

[52:53] Urbana, and the county that tied into

[52:55] community engagement, social service

[52:57] providers. We had uh, legislative

[52:59] connections um,

[53:02] uh, and we can see uh, here as well. So,

[53:05] a nice round out of experience. Now,

[53:09] with our resident focus groups, uh,

[53:12] at the beginning of the project,

[53:15] the the steering committee did not have

[53:18] a particular group that we wanted to

[53:23] target, but it was more a full spectrum

[53:25] of of interest. And so, we really did

[53:28] cover nearly all areas of the park

[53:31] district, which I was pleased to see.

[53:34] So, all age groups um, and all program

[53:37] area for the majority of program areas,

[53:39] including your just kind of standard

[53:42] park patrons, um your nature

[53:44] enthusiasts, dog owners are represented,

[53:47] and our bicycle riders. So, from a uh

[53:51] expertise and interest area, I thought

[53:54] that that was a pretty strong

[53:55] representation.

[53:57] Uh I want to take a look at the survey

[54:00] uh respondent demographics here. And so,

[54:04] um

[54:05] this is one of the the areas I thought

[54:07] was particularly interesting. So, for

[54:10] your survey, you had a a larger

[54:14] population of that middle age group,

[54:16] which is not typical. Typically, you

[54:20] were usually battling to get that group

[54:23] to participate, and it's usually your

[54:25] older age groups that are more

[54:26] responsive. But, I think that this ties

[54:29] to where the survey was promoted, and

[54:33] especially at your events. So, um

[54:37] this I thought was a really healthy

[54:39] engagement, which then crossed over into

[54:41] the focus groups, which

[54:44] I was also really pleased to see young

[54:47] adult through older retirees. So, in

[54:50] addition to the the interest areas.

[54:54] From a gender perspective, a gender

[54:56] identification, this is fairly typical.

[54:59] It is often times the case that we have

[55:01] more female identifying individuals that

[55:03] respond to our surveys um versus male

[55:07] identifying, so that falls right in

[55:09] line, um which is always an area for

[55:11] improvement, um but it is it is a

[55:13] struggle, and it has been for quite a

[55:15] long time.

[55:16] Um from uh race and ethnic uh indication

[55:20] here,

[55:21] uh first here's our respondents. We had

[55:24] a, you know, uh those who went all the

[55:26] way to the end and answered this

[55:28] question. Um we do see a more dominant

[55:31] white population that did respond, and I

[55:34] wanted to show this in relation to the

[55:36] census. So, this is the latest census

[55:39] numbers for 2025. So, we do see we have

[55:43] a slightly over representation of white

[55:46] identifying compared to the actual

[55:49] census in the community. And so, again,

[55:51] we would want to look back and see

[55:55] um

[55:56] the efforts of where we promoted

[55:59] the survey and if there are areas for

[56:01] improvement upon that. However,

[56:04] um

[56:05] I think we're still

[56:06] you know, fairly solid here.

[56:08] The last one is going to be location.

[56:10] So, where residents these are.

[56:13] Majority is what we want to see is that

[56:15] they were Urbana residents. You had some

[56:17] Champagne and a small number of other.

[56:19] What I found interesting with the other

[56:21] and why I broke it out here is there

[56:23] were a number of individuals that live

[56:26] within the county but described

[56:29] participating in your programs and going

[56:31] to your park. And then you had this

[56:33] smaller number that has Urbana

[56:36] addresses, but they're outside the city

[56:38] limits. So, I'm sure you're well aware

[56:40] of that. You did have a couple people,

[56:43] you know, outside

[56:44] you know, counties, different counties

[56:46] even had a person from Tennessee take

[56:49] your survey, but they happened to

[56:52] have lived here a long time.

[56:54] So, from a demographic standpoint,

[56:57] I think right in line with what we were

[56:59] expecting.

[57:00] And some bonuses.

[57:02] Okay, so let's take a look at some of

[57:05] our usage rates here. One of our

[57:07] questions, and this is primarily this is

[57:09] all tied to our survey.

[57:11] One of our questions was in wanting to

[57:14] know where do people live within

[57:17] proximity to a park. And what we see is

[57:20] nearly 2/3 either live within a

[57:22] 15-minute walk or a 15-minute drive. And so

[57:29] that is Um, know, and we have a small

[57:31] number within um, you know, 15-20 minute

[57:34] walk. So, this, you know, is speaking to

[57:37] where um, you know, the kind of spread

[57:40] of your your parks are located.

[57:43] We changed this question from previous

[57:46] years so that we could see by park what

[57:50] our usage, our visitation rates are. And

[57:54] so, if we look down at the key at the

[57:56] bottom, this burnt orange color is that

[57:59] they didn't answer the question. The

[58:02] kind of what it was looking like black

[58:04] or navy blue on here means that they

[58:05] don't go at all. And then green is a few

[58:09] times a year, and your more variety of

[58:11] colors are your weekly um, more regular

[58:13] visitors. So, I don't think that this is

[58:16] a surprise to you, but your most visited

[58:19] parks are going to be Crystal Lake and

[58:20] Meadowbrook.

[58:22] Uh, we know that those are destination

[58:23] parks people travel to.

[58:25] What is interesting according to this

[58:28] responding group is Blair Park and uh,

[58:30] and Carl Park for neighborhood parks

[58:33] tend to be your most visited. And then

[58:36] when we look down

[58:37] uh,

[58:38] at you know, I know we were just talking

[58:40] about Sunnycrest hot lot, um, but you

[58:42] have some parks where the visitation is

[58:45] quite small.

[58:47] When it when I was in the focus groups

[58:49] with the the residents, there were a few

[58:52] individuals that

[58:54] told me in the conversation that they

[58:56] while taking the survey, they had to

[58:58] open up Google Maps because they didn't

[59:00] know where some of the parks were and

[59:01] they had never heard of them. So, that

[59:04] was just this little interesting

[59:05] anecdote here.

[59:07] Um, but uh,

[59:09] you know, just some information for us

[59:10] to see.

[59:12] This is much easier to see when it's all

[59:13] broken out uh, by park than as a whole,

[59:16] I think.

[59:17] So, we did this similarly for your

[59:19] facilities. And the same

[59:22] um,

[59:22] uh, key here with the colors. And we can

[59:25] see here that at the time that the

[59:28] survey was open uh,

[59:30] your aquatic center and Hawk were your

[59:34] most weekly visitors. That really does

[59:37] align with the season. Like I would

[59:39] expect to see the outdoor aquatic center

[59:41] to be up there as you know frequent

[59:43] visitors. And then we see Anita Purvis,

[59:46] we see Crystal Lake house

[59:49] as your more few times a year. That to

[59:52] me is telling me that those individuals

[59:55] are coming for events.

[59:57] So but depending on when events or

[59:59] specific programs are held that they're

[1:00:01] going to the those facilities.

[1:00:03] But this gives you some insight there as

[1:00:06] well.

[1:00:09] All right.

[1:00:10] We also wanted to know why people are

[1:00:13] participating in our programs and

[1:00:15] visiting parks. So not just that they

[1:00:17] visit, but why are they actually going

[1:00:19] there? And these are this is the

[1:00:20] information I think is really

[1:00:21] interesting for us to know. So from a

[1:00:23] park

[1:00:25] uh a program perspective, by far the

[1:00:28] majority of individuals are going to

[1:00:30] your programs for to address their

[1:00:33] physical health. And then we see the

[1:00:35] next number down is quite a big drop and

[1:00:39] that is they're looking at family member

[1:00:41] benefits.

[1:00:42] These are the programs where I would

[1:00:44] think that they're talking about

[1:00:46] children's programs or maybe even older

[1:00:49] adult programs.

[1:00:51] All right.

[1:00:52] And then something, you know, learning

[1:00:53] something new. So that's a pretty big

[1:00:57] distinction though. And in this question

[1:00:59] we were asking for the top two reasons

[1:01:01] that they participated in programs. Now

[1:01:03] we also asked why they were visiting

[1:01:06] your park. Same situation of asking for

[1:01:08] the top two. This one it has a similar

[1:01:13] uh

[1:01:14] split here of being outside in nature

[1:01:17] has a significant number here of

[1:01:19] responses. And then next down is

[1:01:22] physical health.

[1:01:23] So, how do we take this information

[1:01:26] together?

[1:01:27] We want to recognize that physical

[1:01:29] health is either one or two of the

[1:01:31] reasons that people are coming to you

[1:01:34] specifically for their experience. And

[1:01:37] this core this

[1:01:39] runs along what I heard in the focus

[1:01:41] groups where it's it's both physical

[1:01:43] health for your programs, but also they

[1:01:45] want to do it outside. And they look at

[1:01:48] your parks as contributing to their

[1:01:50] health. So, whether they're actually

[1:01:52] doing a physical activity, they can many

[1:01:55] people are connecting the fact that they

[1:01:57] have green space accessible to them as

[1:01:59] that is a contributing factor to their

[1:02:01] health.

[1:02:03] So, health is a top component here for

[1:02:05] engagements.

[1:02:08] So,

[1:02:10] as we transition here from usage into

[1:02:14] our key finding, I wanted to take a

[1:02:16] moment to share with you

[1:02:20] across the board what I heard in terms

[1:02:23] of the positive feedback, the

[1:02:24] highlights, and praise that individuals

[1:02:27] have

[1:02:28] for the park district as a whole. And

[1:02:30] there's five here.

[1:02:32] So,

[1:02:33] specifically there were three phrases

[1:02:36] that were

[1:02:38] used over and over again. And it it was

[1:02:42] you were a pivotal community player,

[1:02:45] you're a community resource, and you're

[1:02:47] a vital service provider. And so,

[1:02:50] I want to take a moment here just to to

[1:02:53] look at that because

[1:02:55] park recreation programs,

[1:02:58] youth, seniors, none of that's in there.

[1:03:01] They're looking at you as being a hub.

[1:03:04] And that is that is unique.

[1:03:08] That they look at the park district as

[1:03:09] being this kind of organizer, this place

[1:03:12] to go, this resource that is very

[1:03:16] connective for them.

[1:03:19] Uh as we kind of extend this out,

[1:03:22] this was this came through quite a bit

[1:03:25] in the focus group. So, I asked a

[1:03:26] question specifically to the focus group

[1:03:28] participants of if you could talk to an

[1:03:30] administrator, what would you say?

[1:03:33] Everyone always started off with this.

[1:03:35] That you care about the community and

[1:03:39] they're deeply that they appreciate that

[1:03:41] you care about them and that you're

[1:03:43] thoughtful about them. So, earlier in

[1:03:46] your meeting tonight, you were talking

[1:03:48] about how you're planning to go into one

[1:03:50] of the neighboring daycares. The idea

[1:03:53] and the fact that you do deep community

[1:03:55] engagement and connect with groups on

[1:03:58] planning and development has

[1:04:01] created this reputation for you. And so,

[1:04:04] they So, residents and stakeholders,

[1:04:06] even though they

[1:04:08] have ideas for improvements or

[1:04:09] evolution, they recognize it's coming

[1:04:11] from the place that you already have

[1:04:12] that reputation.

[1:04:15] And so, that blends into the amount of

[1:04:17] parklands. So, as people are traveling

[1:04:21] now and relocating, you know, for jobs

[1:04:23] to Urbana, you are being compared to

[1:04:26] where they live or where they travel to.

[1:04:28] And many people realize that what they

[1:04:30] have here in terms of a city park system

[1:04:33] and I'm not saying you as a you know,

[1:04:35] available in a city, that that is

[1:04:38] unique.

[1:04:39] Um so, you're kind you're in between,

[1:04:42] you know, for you have the forest

[1:04:43] preserve type property, but you also

[1:04:44] have the programming, um you know, like

[1:04:47] other nonprofits.

[1:04:48] Uh you have very well-maintained parks

[1:04:51] and that people appreciate that and that

[1:04:54] you have the scope of programming that

[1:04:57] others have

[1:04:59] the inability to provide. So, while that

[1:05:02] is a source of difficulty to provide for

[1:05:05] an entire community, you actually do

[1:05:07] have the ability to provide from,

[1:05:10] um

[1:05:10] you know, young um infant age all the

[1:05:13] way through as old as a person can be to

[1:05:16] participate in a program, and that is

[1:05:18] very much appreciated.

[1:05:20] And so, that leads us to what are they

[1:05:23] telling us for moving forward? And I'm

[1:05:27] bringing in a quote here from one of the

[1:05:29] focus group participants that is that's

[1:05:31] meant to set the stage because well,

[1:05:33] people are very appreciative because you

[1:05:36] have a strong, nearly 120-year

[1:05:39] reputation,

[1:05:41] they also have really high expectations.

[1:05:44] And it's tied to changes in your

[1:05:46] community.

[1:05:48] So, you have a lot of people who are

[1:05:50] invested in this community, who are

[1:05:51] young and passionate, so it's a great

[1:05:54] time to be living in Urbana.

[1:05:56] Now,

[1:05:58] as I've been in all these different

[1:06:00] conversations, digging into the data,

[1:06:03] learning about the community as well,

[1:06:06] I think this is also what

[1:06:08] allowed younger people, that

[1:06:11] 31-to-50-year-old

[1:06:12] age range, to participate at the rate

[1:06:15] that they did. So,

[1:06:18] it's help it's important that you don't

[1:06:21] underestimate

[1:06:22] that that segment of the

[1:06:25] population who is at their point in time

[1:06:28] stretched thin between children and and

[1:06:30] parents or jobs.

[1:06:32] Um, those are individuals that care very

[1:06:34] deeply, but they are also having high

[1:06:36] expectations for you.

[1:06:40] So, as we go here, we're going to talk

[1:06:41] about key three key findings.

[1:06:44] Uh, affordable access is vital, agency

[1:06:47] as a community resource, and for you to

[1:06:51] create bold and innovative strategies.

[1:06:54] So, again, I'm pulling the data from

[1:06:56] across all three data points into here,

[1:06:59] and I'll be sharing where that comes in.

[1:07:02] So, we're starting off with affordable

[1:07:04] access.

[1:07:07] There are two kind of competing

[1:07:09] situations that are happening here.

[1:07:12] Your your economic demographics for

[1:07:15] Urbana have shifted. So,

[1:07:18] uh

[1:07:19] there are more people that have less

[1:07:21] money to work with. So, you're going to

[1:07:24] see an increased scholarship need. And

[1:07:27] for those who can't qualify for

[1:07:29] scholarships, they're looking for

[1:07:31] affordable options.

[1:07:33] On the flip side, what you also do have,

[1:07:35] though, is

[1:07:38] people willing to pay for extended

[1:07:40] services.

[1:07:41] And so, either way, in either direction,

[1:07:44] costs are top of mind for all of your

[1:07:46] residents, and the stakeholders across

[1:07:50] the across the two communities are

[1:07:51] already also feeling that pressure, as

[1:07:54] well. So, when I talked with

[1:07:55] stakeholders,

[1:07:57] most places are

[1:07:59] have increased uh

[1:08:01] requests for scholarships. So,

[1:08:04] everyone's feeling the burden. And

[1:08:06] something that was really interesting

[1:08:08] and surprised me in the conversation.

[1:08:11] So, this came up in stakeholder

[1:08:13] interviews and in the focus groups from

[1:08:15] participants

[1:08:17] is this feeling of shame that

[1:08:19] individuals have. And I want to caveat

[1:08:22] this. The park district is not creating

[1:08:25] the shame.

[1:08:27] How it's the individual when they have

[1:08:29] to ask for scholarship and ask for

[1:08:31] assistance over and over again to each

[1:08:34] agency is battling

[1:08:37] the feeling of shame that they have. And

[1:08:39] they're And as they're asking, they're

[1:08:42] having to navigate that personally. So,

[1:08:45] what the ask was and request really from

[1:08:49] the park for the park district is

[1:08:51] how can access or affordable costs

[1:08:56] affordable fees be built in

[1:08:59] to reduce a person's

[1:09:02] need to navigate that internal struggle

[1:09:05] that they have.

[1:09:06] So,

[1:09:07] these are some things to, you know,

[1:09:09] think about from their perspective. And

[1:09:11] also,

[1:09:12] there is no question.

[1:09:15] You simply are expected to be

[1:09:17] accessible.

[1:09:19] That is the perception that is out

[1:09:21] there, that is a belief, and that is

[1:09:22] simply tied because you are a government

[1:09:24] entity and tax dollars are part of your your revenue source.

[1:09:30] That's never going to change.

[1:09:32] Uh

[1:09:33] but that brings in hard questions of how

[1:09:36] What's our What's our pricing strategy?

[1:09:39] So, let's bring in the survey data here.

[1:09:41] So, one of the questions we asked is,

[1:09:43] "What are the top challenges that your

[1:09:46] household is experiencing?" And our top

[1:09:48] one that was indicated, which actually

[1:09:50] was a big surprise to me, was work

[1:09:52] schedule conflict. So, this was

[1:09:55] particularly tied to the adult

[1:09:57] programming, and this came through in

[1:10:00] the focus groups as well.

[1:10:02] But the second one,

[1:10:04] not too far off, is limited access

[1:10:07] limited money for non-essentials.

[1:10:10] Uh So, what I just wanted to kind of

[1:10:12] take a moment here, though, because we

[1:10:13] did purposely word this as

[1:10:16] non-essential. There's not a great way

[1:10:18] to talk anymore about um discretionary

[1:10:21] income, cuz what's discretionary income

[1:10:23] anymore?

[1:10:25] And if we go back to why residents are

[1:10:28] coming to you for park access, for

[1:10:30] programs, if health is such a big part

[1:10:33] of that, that's actually not

[1:10:35] non-essential.

[1:10:37] Right? And so, how do we communicate

[1:10:40] the benefit that a person experiences by

[1:10:43] spending the money with you? So, just

[1:10:46] like they might have to pay a premium to

[1:10:48] go, you know, for health care, right?

[1:10:51] So,

[1:10:52] that's kind of a a

[1:10:53] side note here. But we We that the top

[1:10:56] uh barriers to participation are these

[1:10:58] two, work schedules and limited money.

[1:11:01] Um now, I will just say in the detailed

[1:11:04] report, I dug in with the focus group

[1:11:06] about program times and I got specific

[1:11:09] times for them that they would like

[1:11:11] their programs.

[1:11:12] So, it's in the report.

[1:11:15] Okay. Last one here uh for from the

[1:11:18] survey data is um we asked also what the

[1:11:21] most important issue that they want the

[1:11:24] park district to address moving forward.

[1:11:27] And we see health and wellness access as

[1:11:30] a top one, but then like neck and neck

[1:11:33] is affordable pricing and youth

[1:11:35] development needs.

[1:11:36] And so, uh

[1:11:38] you know, combined we can we can see the trend in the community and this is

[1:11:42] what I heard as well, specifically with

[1:11:44] the stakeholders, things that they are

[1:11:46] battling with as well.

[1:11:49] Okay, so just a little bit more here

[1:11:50] pulling this data together. And this is

[1:11:53] where some of the recommendations from your

[1:11:56] stakeholders, from your residents uh

[1:11:59] come in. And we have three areas here of

[1:12:02] collaboration, um fee basis expansion,

[1:12:05] and other areas of expansion.

[1:12:09] There is worry, and I'm using that word

[1:12:12] intentionally. There is worry that your

[1:12:14] Hawk scholarships, your OSS scholarships

[1:12:17] for the memberships are going to go away

[1:12:20] after the newness of Hawk

[1:12:23] is over.

[1:12:25] And so,

[1:12:27] people recognize that that was a primary

[1:12:29] reason for building Hawk was to expand

[1:12:32] access to a more populations. And so,

[1:12:36] how to

[1:12:38] it's going to be important to ensure the

[1:12:39] continuation of that.

[1:12:42] Uh the scholarship application

[1:12:44] awareness. There's been a lot of What

[1:12:46] was expressed to me was a lot of

[1:12:48] confusion on how to access the

[1:12:51] scholarships, but

[1:12:54] the access really comes in with the

[1:12:56] timing. And so, when a person learns

[1:13:00] about or hears about the scholarship, by

[1:13:02] the time they complete the application,

[1:13:04] get it submitted, and then hear back,

[1:13:07] and then can register,

[1:13:10] what they've experienced, and this is

[1:13:12] particularly with our day camps, is that

[1:13:14] the spots are filled up.

[1:13:17] If a If a person is applying for a

[1:13:19] scholarship, they're not likely to be

[1:13:21] able to pay the non-refundable rate,

[1:13:24] which is what they perceive as needing

[1:13:27] to happen in order to register. And so,

[1:13:30] they're caught in this cycle. And so,

[1:13:33] the recommendation is, how can the

[1:13:36] scholarship process be adjusted either

[1:13:40] for awareness, or are there spots that

[1:13:42] can be held for them, or are there other

[1:13:45] groups, like you already work with the

[1:13:46] school district, for um approved, you

[1:13:49] know, for the uh easy approval process?

[1:13:51] Are there other groups that you can work

[1:13:52] with um to expand that that process?

[1:13:56] Ex- Uh identifying fee-based expansion.

[1:13:59] So, this goes back to your affordable

[1:14:01] access. So,

[1:14:02] they're recommending that you evaluate

[1:14:04] pricing strategy.

[1:14:06] There has been changes across the

[1:14:08] industry as to how we're pricing our

[1:14:11] programs. For a long time, we were using

[1:14:13] this triangle model with, you know, at

[1:14:15] the tip was our like, you know, uh

[1:14:18] revenue generating and the your your

[1:14:20] specialty programs. Some of those

[1:14:22] specialty programs may not be considered

[1:14:25] specialty programs anymore. They may be

[1:14:27] viewed as um public good.

[1:14:31] And one of those is turning out to be

[1:14:34] day camp um in a lot of communities,

[1:14:37] because it allows parents or caregivers

[1:14:40] to work.

[1:14:41] So, as a whole, what they were talking

[1:14:44] about is, you know, are there decision

[1:14:47] are there opportunities for adjustments

[1:14:49] there? And then thinking about added

[1:14:51] services for a fee,

[1:14:53] uh

[1:14:55] are there things that can be combined

[1:14:57] and you have a little bit more of a

[1:14:58] premium experience people are willing to

[1:15:00] pay for for like a whole experience. So,

[1:15:04] if for example, Hawk memberships could

[1:15:06] include access to the indoor aquatic

[1:15:08] center.

[1:15:10] So, we have some opportunities there.

[1:15:12] The other area was the programs um

[1:15:14] expansion, considering other areas for

[1:15:17] expansion like uh your day camp program

[1:15:19] specifically and outreach. Your

[1:15:21] environmental education is completely

[1:15:24] unique to your agency. No one else has

[1:15:28] that. Everyone wants it.

[1:15:31] So, can you make more money off of this?

[1:15:34] It depends, right? But people, in

[1:15:36] particular stakeholders, are wondering

[1:15:38] how can we benefit? Can you come to us,

[1:15:41] uh you know, as an option? Programs, uh

[1:15:44] people simply

[1:15:46] would like more spaces for that. So, are

[1:15:49] there other organizations you can

[1:15:51] partner with to use their facilities

[1:15:54] um and you run the programs there.

[1:15:58] So, all of this is tying back to

[1:16:00] affordable access and this is front of

[1:16:02] mind for everyone.

[1:16:04] So, as we move forward into our other

[1:16:07] areas which

[1:16:09] have a little bit more um

[1:16:13] uh

[1:16:14] they're not as concrete, I guess I'll

[1:16:16] say, but they're more as

[1:16:20] how you are as an organization. There

[1:16:24] was a lot of conversation that started

[1:16:25] in the stakeholders that then

[1:16:27] transmitted into the focus groups of the

[1:16:31] park district evolving to being of

[1:16:34] service and not just being a service or

[1:16:38] providing a service like a program. And

[1:16:41] the image I have up here is intentional.

[1:16:44] It comes from one of the stakeholders

[1:16:45] and how they were describing their role,

[1:16:47] their entities role in the community as

[1:16:49] being part of a tapestry. So, on the

[1:16:52] left-hand side, you have this really

[1:16:54] beautiful-looking tapestry. Everything

[1:16:56] is, you know, perfectly knitted. You see

[1:16:58] the clear picture. But, it when you turn

[1:17:00] it over, it's extremely messy. But, what

[1:17:03] you actually see here is how the threads

[1:17:06] hold each other together.

[1:17:08] And so, as a government entity, as a a

[1:17:12] community resource, the park district is

[1:17:16] viewed like the city, like the library,

[1:17:19] like the school system, like MTD as a

[1:17:23] vital service, but that you are working

[1:17:26] in tandem to create the beautiful

[1:17:28] tapestry of Urbana. And so, that lends

[1:17:31] to the being of service, not just

[1:17:33] providing a program or services. And

[1:17:36] part of what was expressed is that it's

[1:17:39] not being communicated to the degree it

[1:17:43] should be.

[1:17:45] And so, there were some concerns uh

[1:17:48] across the the two the groups of stakeholders and

[1:17:52] residents that

[1:17:54] UPD is is not represented out in the

[1:17:57] community in the way that they believe

[1:18:00] you should be.

[1:18:01] In my conversations

[1:18:04] uh uh

[1:18:05] with staff and and, you know, Rachel,

[1:18:08] what I was bringing up is it's likely

[1:18:11] you all are out in the community, but

[1:18:14] your story isn't being told.

[1:18:17] And if people don't see you out there,

[1:18:19] they don't think you're representing

[1:18:21] them.

[1:18:22] So, how is UPD out there?

[1:18:26] was some uh challenge that was

[1:18:28] raised as well that

[1:18:32] we go in and we do community

[1:18:34] engagements,

[1:18:36] but then we stop.

[1:18:37] And so

[1:18:39] what people were talking about is they

[1:18:43] love they love being able to provide

[1:18:45] that feedback, but they want to find

[1:18:47] another way or they'd like to be invited

[1:18:49] in another way to stay engaged. So

[1:18:52] whether that's being invited after

[1:18:54] you're done communicating about a park

[1:18:56] development or park project to Up Deck

[1:18:59] or to another community group that's

[1:19:02] connected, but some way to kind of build

[1:19:04] that leadership pipeline um

[1:19:07] would help people feel more connected to

[1:19:09] what you're doing here.

[1:19:12] Specifically from my marketing

[1:19:13] standpoint, there was a lot of

[1:19:15] discussion around information being

[1:19:16] confusing, incorrect, not easy to

[1:19:18] locate, or simply not available or

[1:19:20] missing.

[1:19:22] A lot of this was tied to the website,

[1:19:24] but also just

[1:19:26] this lead this

[1:19:28] is part of what was communicated to me

[1:19:30] in the very beginning of there are a lot

[1:19:32] of people that just don't know about the

[1:19:33] programs and services.

[1:19:35] And that did come through in um in the

[1:19:39] community engagement here.

[1:19:42] And that the current methods of

[1:19:44] communication are just not effective. So

[1:19:46] some people, and I heard this in the

[1:19:47] focus groups, they're actually blaming

[1:19:51] poor marketing on why programs are

[1:19:53] getting canceled.

[1:19:55] Now whether that's true

[1:19:58] that was a part of my focus group. But

[1:20:01] that is some of the perception that is

[1:20:03] out there.

[1:20:04] So let's take a look at the questions

[1:20:06] that we asked on the survey cuz this was

[1:20:08] one of the areas we we wanted to dig

[1:20:09] into. Our first uh diagram here was we

[1:20:12] simply wanted to know where are people

[1:20:14] learning just about things that they

[1:20:16] want to do in general. This is not tied

[1:20:18] to the park district, so that's why you

[1:20:20] don't see your program guide listed on

[1:20:22] here. And what we see is the majority of

[1:20:25] people look toward their friends or

[1:20:28] direct emails and text messages from the

[1:20:30] businesses.

[1:20:32] Um

[1:20:33] and then we asked a follow-up question

[1:20:35] specifically to identify their preferred

[1:20:38] method of marketing from the park

[1:20:40] district. And direct email communication

[1:20:43] was your top uh

[1:20:46] method here. And uh not too far down is

[1:20:49] the program guide. Now, here's a little

[1:20:52] anecdote for you.

[1:20:53] Um

[1:20:54] you can't get rid of

[1:20:55] your printed program guide.

[1:20:58] Uh that is very popular.

[1:21:00] Uh so much so that people read it cover

[1:21:02] to cover. They rip out the page of your

[1:21:05] neighborhood nights and put it on their refrigerator.

[1:21:09] Um but they do appreciate that cuz

[1:21:12] that's not a given as well. And some

[1:21:14] people said in the focus groups even

[1:21:15] that simply getting the program guide

[1:21:17] mailed to them at home is their reminder

[1:21:20] that not just that you exist but that

[1:21:22] there are programs for them to register

[1:21:23] for.

[1:21:24] Um but the I think the interesting thing

[1:21:27] that also came up in our conversations

[1:21:30] and marketing came up organically in the

[1:21:32] focus groups uh was

[1:21:35] that

[1:21:36] social media is necessary but not

[1:21:39] preferred.

[1:21:40] So they don't rely on their social media

[1:21:44] because they they follow the algorithms,

[1:21:47] but they also know you have to be on

[1:21:49] social media. But if you're going to be

[1:21:51] on social media, the stakeholders

[1:21:53] recommended you do more short videos.

[1:21:56] So for instance, just you know, going

[1:21:58] back to what you talked about in

[1:21:59] tonight's meeting, your site updates

[1:22:02] doing a 30-second walk-around of of uh

[1:22:06] Prairie Weaver and putting that up on

[1:22:08] Facebook is a way for people to be

[1:22:11] informed about those updates.

[1:22:13] So that is how people are looking to be

[1:22:16] engaged on social media.

[1:22:19] So let's take a little bit more um depth

[1:22:21] here in that uh we asked, you know,

[1:22:24] other areas of uh marketing and that is

[1:22:28] um your community event calendar, smile

[1:22:30] brightly, Chambana moms are your kind of

[1:22:33] external areas here.

[1:22:37] Okay, so as we also kind of pulled this

[1:22:39] together, there was another area of

[1:22:43] uh challenge that arose in the

[1:22:45] conversations and through the survey,

[1:22:48] and that was that customer service is

[1:22:50] not consistent

[1:22:52] uh in the park district. Except if it is

[1:22:55] about general needs

[1:22:57] or if if a stakeholder's requesting

[1:23:00] Urbana to come to their event,

[1:23:02] that's fine. That's all great. That's where they experience good

[1:23:07] customer service. It's when the requests

[1:23:10] get a little bit more nuanced, and

[1:23:12] particularly what was discussed um is

[1:23:16] facility to facility, the information

[1:23:19] and experience

[1:23:21] differs greatly.

[1:23:23] So,

[1:23:24] uh

[1:23:25] ultimately, what people are looking for

[1:23:28] is to be able to do things at either

[1:23:30] facility regardless of what is done at

[1:23:32] that facility.

[1:23:33] The last area of challenge um for

[1:23:36] customer service came in with the timing

[1:23:38] of communication. So, how close program

[1:23:41] cancellations went out before the

[1:23:43] program was actually going to be held.

[1:23:45] If that was a program that a parent was

[1:23:48] counting on for their child care, that

[1:23:50] really sent their them into kind of a

[1:23:53] tailspin to find alternatives for. But

[1:23:55] then an interesting one came up with um job applications that kind of

[1:24:00] surprised me. So, how timely

[1:24:04] um were the responses were to uh

[1:24:09] like a young person submitting an

[1:24:11] application, or even the process of

[1:24:14] teens

[1:24:15] getting

[1:24:17] the ability to submit an application or

[1:24:20] come to a recruitment experience.

[1:24:23] Um so so there was some of the um

[1:24:26] communication challenges there.

[1:24:29] Okay, so as we looked at our survey, we

[1:24:33] had a question about uh our customer

[1:24:36] service. Uh green is representing that

[1:24:39] they did not answer the question.

[1:24:41] Purple is that they don't know or don't

[1:24:44] use.

[1:24:45] That is actually quite surprising to me.

[1:24:49] And so

[1:24:50] uh that's a fairly large segment here.

[1:24:55] Um

[1:24:55] which could be that they're doing most

[1:24:57] of their registration online than that's

[1:24:58] talking to people or they

[1:25:01] you know, they just can't remember a

[1:25:03] time that they did.

[1:25:04] Um but we so we see here a smaller

[1:25:06] number of people that responded and it

[1:25:08] looks pretty favorable and I wanted to

[1:25:09] look at this a little bit deeper. Um and

[1:25:12] this is one that we had split out by

[1:25:13] facility and um and uh some staffing

[1:25:16] areas. So we can see some strengths uh

[1:25:20] when we combined excellent and good and

[1:25:23] some areas for improvement when we

[1:25:24] combined fair and poor. And so uh we we

[1:25:28] look pretty strong at Anita Purvis

[1:25:30] Neuter Center and Phillips. Um but we

[1:25:33] might looks like we have a some areas or

[1:25:36] opportunities for improvements um with

[1:25:38] aquatics.

[1:25:42] So as we wrap up with community

[1:25:44] resource, the recommendations that we're

[1:25:46] coming to that are coming to you are

[1:25:50] about connection and um clarity. So

[1:25:55] there is no one answer for marketing.

[1:25:58] You have to create a portfolio approach.

[1:26:01] So what all of your your avenues for

[1:26:04] your agency, external, which would be

[1:26:06] your Champaign-Urbana Moms, your Smile

[1:26:08] Politely, but looking at your partners,

[1:26:10] who are your partner entities, like the

[1:26:12] school district, uh like you know, um

[1:26:17] the township, how can they help spread

[1:26:19] the word for you? We talked about

[1:26:21] videos.

[1:26:22] Um and one area that was brought up and

[1:26:26] something to, you know, kind of think

[1:26:27] about here is this concept of agency

[1:26:29] ambassadors. So, if friend

[1:26:31] recommendations are the way people are

[1:26:34] getting in their information because

[1:26:36] that's who they trust, who are your

[1:26:38] friends? Who is your agency friends? We

[1:26:41] call them ambassadors. And can you

[1:26:44] ensure that they are knowledgeable about

[1:26:46] your agency and everything that is

[1:26:48] offered, um whether it's just pertaining

[1:26:50] to a particular group or as a whole, so

[1:26:53] that they can help you spread the word,

[1:26:55] whether it's scholarships, whether it's

[1:26:56] services, or whether it's just informing

[1:26:59] individuals.

[1:27:01] Thinking about connection as engagement.

[1:27:04] So, this comes back to the customer

[1:27:06] service. How can we serve you today?

[1:27:09] There were a few stories shared where

[1:27:12] individuals

[1:27:15] needed that they were offering

[1:27:16] opportunities and the response was

[1:27:19] from the park district was no, thank

[1:27:21] you.

[1:27:22] Without consideration of, you know, is

[1:27:24] it a good opportunity? Or

[1:27:27] you know, thinking about when a person

[1:27:29] when a customer or resident went to one

[1:27:32] facility and wanted to pay the balance

[1:27:34] on a registration and that uh front desk

[1:27:37] staff person was like, well, you can't

[1:27:38] do that here.

[1:27:40] And that was it. And so, the idea of how

[1:27:43] can we serve you today is more about

[1:27:45] that lifetime connection versus just a

[1:27:47] one-time connection.

[1:27:49] Now, you belong here was talked about

[1:27:52] throughout the process and uh people are

[1:27:55] in favor of the transition that you're

[1:27:57] wanting to make that in terms of the

[1:27:59] agency philosophy. What they are looking

[1:28:01] for is

[1:28:03] the next step, which would be the

[1:28:05] actionable inclusive steps. So,

[1:28:07] specifically what came up is your

[1:28:10] registration process as of right now,

[1:28:12] which everyone Everyone was very happy

[1:28:15] that you're changing registration

[1:28:17] systems, because that was that was a

[1:28:19] source of frustration. But, your

[1:28:22] what was discussed is registration as

[1:28:24] it's currently created is not

[1:28:27] accessible.

[1:28:28] So, if you're English as a second

[1:28:30] language individual, um if you are an

[1:28:33] older individual, the the system is very

[1:28:36] difficult to navigate. And so, in the

[1:28:38] report, I provide some more details on

[1:28:40] how to how people are looking for it to

[1:28:42] be more accessible.

[1:28:44] Taking community education and cultural

[1:28:46] representation here is about

[1:28:49] adjusting your language and how you talk

[1:28:52] about what can be done in the parks. So,

[1:28:55] it's important to keep in mind, which

[1:28:57] I'm I I'm I know you're all well aware

[1:28:59] of, is that you have populations that

[1:29:02] change over because you have the

[1:29:03] university, and and we have people move

[1:29:05] around. And so, it is not a given that

[1:29:08] individuals automatically know that that

[1:29:11] the parks are for them. So, if a person

[1:29:14] is moving here from another country, it

[1:29:16] is

[1:29:18] we can't assume that they they know to

[1:29:20] go, because in their country, they

[1:29:21] likely have to pay for access, or they

[1:29:23] simply do not have access. The other

[1:29:25] part is knowing what you can do in

[1:29:28] parks. Like, can you Do you know you can

[1:29:30] go birding in BGC Woods or Crystal Lake?

[1:29:33] That's a given for all of us, but not

[1:29:36] for everybody, especially if you have

[1:29:37] people moving from a more urban area

[1:29:39] down here.

[1:29:40] And then, just the cultural

[1:29:41] representation as well with different

[1:29:44] ethnic artists, or even

[1:29:46] uh ethnic representation in um your

[1:29:49] events.

[1:29:50] And communication for clarity, a little

[1:29:52] bit more of what I was talking about

[1:29:53] with assumptions, um not to assume that

[1:29:57] everyone understands um what a capital

[1:29:59] project is.

[1:30:02] We know capital as large scale. Most

[1:30:04] people know capital as in capital A, or

[1:30:07] the capital of a country. So, how do we

[1:30:10] think about the end user and create the

[1:30:12] processes focused on them?

[1:30:15] So, the last one I have here is on the

[1:30:17] bold and innovative strategies. And I'm

[1:30:20] going to come back to

[1:30:22] this is where often times

[1:30:25] the the perspective of we're already

[1:30:27] doing so much, how do we do more? And I

[1:30:30] don't think that people are asking are

[1:30:32] actually asking you to do more. Think

[1:30:35] some of it was they're just they're

[1:30:37] wanting to see more of your expertise.

[1:30:43] And so, the being a public entity,

[1:30:45] having a very long reputation of of of

[1:30:50] high quality,

[1:30:52] people have those high expectations. And

[1:30:54] specifically, I heard in the focus group

[1:30:56] is

[1:30:57] because you are have already met my

[1:30:59] expectations, I think you can exceed my

[1:31:01] expectations.

[1:31:03] And so,

[1:31:05] what was interesting is also this phrase

[1:31:08] of what is your vision. So, I heard

[1:31:12] often

[1:31:14] people want you to tell your own story

[1:31:18] and not to be in someone else's shadow.

[1:31:23] So, this may be a change from before,

[1:31:26] which also I think goes back to the

[1:31:28] population that was engaged, which swung

[1:31:30] younger. And so, as you are moving

[1:31:34] forward as an agency into the next

[1:31:36] century, they're looking for you to

[1:31:38] evolve collaboratively. So,

[1:31:40] you don't have to go and do all these

[1:31:42] new things, but what are you doing in a

[1:31:44] collaborative way that, you know,

[1:31:47] addresses climate change, addresses, um,

[1:31:50] you know, affordability, addresses, um,

[1:31:53] youth development, all these pieces. You

[1:31:55] don't have to go it alone. You can do

[1:31:58] things alone that you are experts at,

[1:32:01] but what can you also be supportive of?

[1:32:03] And just having to ensure and making

[1:32:06] sure you're always improving

[1:32:08] and not just um staying the same. There

[1:32:11] were a couple big dream ideas that were

[1:32:14] shared that I'll I'll post with in a

[1:32:16] moment.

[1:32:18] Okay.

[1:32:19] So, we had a question on the survey

[1:32:21] about capital project enthusiasm, and

[1:32:24] this is why I brought up the term

[1:32:26] capital project cuz if we look at this,

[1:32:29] nearly half of your respondents weren't

[1:32:31] familiar with your project.

[1:32:34] And then, the ones who were, they had a

[1:32:36] lot to say about their excitement.

[1:32:38] They're really excited about a new

[1:32:40] bridge.

[1:32:41] And they're really excited about

[1:32:43] expanded bike access and the soccer

[1:32:47] fields that are coming and what's

[1:32:48] happening at King Park.

[1:32:50] But, if we had if we change this to park

[1:32:53] projects, you know, does that change

[1:32:56] their what they see on the online? Or do

[1:32:59] we do videos about updates? Does that

[1:33:01] bring them along as well?

[1:33:04] Now, we did ask a question about what

[1:33:05] spaces to develop in the future. This is

[1:33:08] what exactly what I would suspect

[1:33:10] because nature was such a big reason

[1:33:12] that they're going to your park. And if

[1:33:14] you are developing anything, they want

[1:33:15] it to be nature focused. But, this

[1:33:17] community use uh this multi-use

[1:33:20] community space comes up

[1:33:22] um

[1:33:23] here as well.

[1:33:25] All right.

[1:33:27] So,

[1:33:29] ultimately, we

[1:33:30] at the end of the focus groups, having

[1:33:34] listened across these different groups

[1:33:36] and talking to the individuals,

[1:33:38] what I was taking away is more people

[1:33:43] are wanting their to keep their dollars

[1:33:45] local and live local.

[1:33:48] And so,

[1:33:49] this is where

[1:33:51] you your agency is absolutely being

[1:33:54] compared

[1:33:55] to Champaign Park District,

[1:33:57] to the Forest Preserve, to park

[1:33:59] districts up in Chicago.

[1:34:01] You were compared to Atlanta, Madison,

[1:34:03] Wisconsin.

[1:34:05] And part of that's because you have

[1:34:06] people moving about, but also people

[1:34:09] travel, and they also see that

[1:34:13] they have that there's opportunities

[1:34:15] here, they think.

[1:34:17] So, what does that look like for them?

[1:34:19] They want you to stay aware of what is

[1:34:23] being offered, and that

[1:34:25] you are unique,

[1:34:27] but you are also collaborative.

[1:34:30] No one's expecting you to be what you're

[1:34:32] not, but they do want you to be They

[1:34:35] want you to consider what they want. And

[1:34:38] so, this is where program considerations

[1:34:40] about times of day that programs are

[1:34:42] offered, even topics, come into play,

[1:34:44] which are detailed in your report for

[1:34:47] you.

[1:34:48] The community education campaign is also

[1:34:51] where this comes in, and it's more of

[1:34:53] this invitation to participate. So,

[1:34:56] again, something that

[1:34:58] has been We've been talking about

[1:35:00] previously with

[1:35:01] the staff is um

[1:35:05] your signage.

[1:35:07] What languages are used on there? Is

[1:35:09] there braille? And most likely, probably

[1:35:11] what needs to happen is more use of QR

[1:35:14] codes.

[1:35:15] So that that is an accessible way to

[1:35:18] invite people, and so that they can be

[1:35:19] in your parks and do more activities and

[1:35:21] stay longer.

[1:35:23] Uh and having that accessible language.

[1:35:26] The accessible language

[1:35:28] does also really come into play with

[1:35:30] registration processes.

[1:35:32] Um and just feeling like they can um

[1:35:35] take part in that.

[1:35:37] So, this evolution to maintain.

[1:35:43] There were a few people

[1:35:45] that you know, wouldn't have supported

[1:35:46] you

[1:35:48] buy more land.

[1:35:50] The majority did.

[1:35:52] But what they do want is what you

[1:35:54] already have. They want you to keep

[1:35:56] maintaining it like you are, but also

[1:35:58] contemplating at this moment in time,

[1:36:01] and this is frequent, you know, you you

[1:36:03] assess this over and over again. At this

[1:36:04] moment in time, are we providing the

[1:36:06] access in our park? Is it providing the

[1:36:09] experiences for our residents that they

[1:36:10] want? And it doesn't have to be a

[1:36:12] complete redesign, but it's that

[1:36:14] assessment over and over again.

[1:36:16] Thinking about your program, knowing

[1:36:18] what is good and unique for you to do on

[1:36:21] your own, and where you can be of

[1:36:23] service to others.

[1:36:25] Athletic amenities came up specifically

[1:36:28] on outdoor basketball courts.

[1:36:32] Uh so,

[1:36:34] people know that you're also adding the

[1:36:35] soccer fields. Uh they're excited about

[1:36:38] that, but then the restroom access came

[1:36:40] up, which was an interesting one as

[1:36:41] well, because that was about young

[1:36:43] children and older adults.

[1:36:47] So, those are the two groups that need

[1:36:49] it quickly. And there it that will

[1:36:52] enable them to stay in the park longer

[1:36:54] or choose which parks to go to.

[1:36:57] So, that pertains mostly to your

[1:36:58] neighborhood park.

[1:37:00] Um as we kind of finish up here, just

[1:37:03] the inclusive operational practices,

[1:37:05] your communication, your registration,

[1:37:07] and building in a regular program

[1:37:09] evaluation.

[1:37:11] So, every 6 months,

[1:37:13] um you evaluating participant experience

[1:37:16] and needs.

[1:37:17] So, year two dream big ideas. The focus

[1:37:21] group participants specifically hope

[1:37:23] that you maintain the list of those

[1:37:25] dream big ideas that should you have a

[1:37:27] donor or an opportunity for an

[1:37:30] endowment, that you could put it toward

[1:37:33] projects.

[1:37:34] Uh the connective bike pathway system,

[1:37:37] uh specifically expanding the KRT trail,

[1:37:40] was one that was mentioned. So, this is

[1:37:43] not just connecting between parks, but

[1:37:45] allowing individuals to bike across, you

[1:37:49] know, one side of Urbana to the other

[1:37:50] side of Champaign. So, they understood

[1:37:52] that that's part of a collaborative

[1:37:53] process. But,

[1:37:55] basically, what's happening in downtown

[1:37:57] Champaign,

[1:37:59] uh

[1:38:00] the I the project that's um I think

[1:38:04] happening in Savoy for their Civic

[1:38:06] Center, and the closure of the Civic

[1:38:08] Center here, I think spurred this last

[1:38:10] one. In addition to a push from Main

[1:38:13] Street America or Main Street America,

[1:38:15] which is a national nonprofit

[1:38:16] organization to revitalize small

[1:38:18] downtown areas. This one was a really

[1:38:21] interesting one, is that

[1:38:24] people would like a space in downtown

[1:38:26] Urbana where they could gather, either

[1:38:29] that is a park that's being designed

[1:38:31] that people can go to. It's a multi-use

[1:38:34] space, but it's a civic space where

[1:38:37] people can gather. There's lots of

[1:38:38] examples around the country of this, um

[1:38:42] but there was a lot of different

[1:38:44] conversation. So, not just what is

[1:38:47] planned for the Boneyard kind of trail,

[1:38:51] but somewhere located down here where it

[1:38:53] could host a farmers market, it could

[1:38:56] host music, it could host a variety of

[1:38:58] things,

[1:38:59] um or even have a all ages playground.

[1:39:03] So, uh some more details are about these

[1:39:06] two in the report as well.

[1:39:09] So, I just want to close back with

[1:39:13] reminding you have this nearly 120-year history

[1:39:18] that people are aware of, they want to

[1:39:21] be a part of, whether it's them as a

[1:39:23] resident or as a stakeholder, and that

[1:39:26] you you are doing really great things,

[1:39:28] and the people do have high

[1:39:29] expectations, but they know you can

[1:39:31] already meet them.

[1:39:34] So,

[1:39:36] you know, how can you partner, how can

[1:39:38] you be strategic, how can you

[1:39:39] communicate on that information is what

[1:39:42] they shared with me.

[1:39:44] So, I appreciate

[1:39:47] uh the opportunity here, and I just

[1:39:49] provided a few recommend recommended

[1:39:51] considerations that are in your

[1:39:53] executive

[1:39:55] um report here of looking at your

[1:39:57] partnerships, thinking about corporate

[1:39:59] level financial partnerships,

[1:40:02] um

[1:40:03] customer service, and uh

[1:40:07] thinking about uh

[1:40:09] being able to tell your own story to

[1:40:12] step forward and um be unique. Um

[1:40:17] That's what people

[1:40:18] want to see from you cuz they believe in

[1:40:20] you.

[1:40:21] And so, that's what That's what was

[1:40:22] shared with me, and I am happy to answer

[1:40:25] your questions, and I appreciate you

[1:40:27] listening.

[1:40:33] Thank you very much.

[1:40:39] That was a lot to take in.

[1:40:40] >> It was. That's it was.

[1:40:43] But, thank you.

[1:40:44] >> Um

[1:40:45] I'm I'll sit down now.

[1:40:50] » The focus group demographics, how does

[1:40:56] that compare

[1:40:57] uh

[1:40:59] All right, because um

[1:41:03] to the survey? Did we have that

[1:41:04] separately? I don't Like, who with who

[1:41:07] participated in the focus groups?

[1:41:10] >> So, I did not ask focus group

[1:41:12] participants to

[1:41:14] um indicate their demographics.

[1:41:17] Um what I could, but I would be making

[1:41:21] judgments, but I did not ask them to

[1:41:23] disclose that.

[1:41:24] >> Okay. So, you said they were primarily

[1:41:26] came from the survey respondents.

[1:41:28] >> The majority did. I did

[1:41:30] uh do direct invites through some um

[1:41:33] established partners of the park

[1:41:35] district, and there were a few people

[1:41:37] that came to the focus groups from them.

[1:41:40] >> Mhm.

[1:41:40] >> So, it just was a smaller number, but I

[1:41:44] tried to do as much outreach as

[1:41:46] possible.

[1:41:47] Um

[1:41:47] but

[1:41:49] it was a little more challenging.

[1:41:58] » And I did uh

[1:42:00] speak to one person who was in one of

[1:42:01] the focus focus groups, and and she had

[1:42:04] sort of told me that, you know, there

[1:42:06] was that $20 Walmart gift card that was

[1:42:09] and uh

[1:42:11] she she felt like it was maybe a missed

[1:42:12] opportunity because rather than um

[1:42:15] advertising that ahead of time, "Hey, if

[1:42:16] you participate, you can have this gift

[1:42:18] card." She felt like the people in her

[1:42:20] group were surprised about it.

[1:42:22] And then they were, you know, maybe

[1:42:24] wanted it to be from somewhere else, you

[1:42:26] know, other than Walmart. That was they

[1:42:27] wanted a different gift card, something.

[1:42:29] So, I thought that was interesting. I

[1:42:31] mean, looking at like the demographics,

[1:42:33] you know, only you know, 40 out of the

[1:42:34] 960 respondents, only 43 of those

[1:42:37] individuals were identified as black or

[1:42:39] African-American. So, it's like

[1:42:41] clearly we're still not, you know,

[1:42:43] figuring out how to meet people where

[1:42:44] they're at. And I wonder

[1:42:46] you know,

[1:42:47] how different if, you know, if there

[1:42:48] would be a much different in the survey

[1:42:50] results

[1:42:52] if we'd reached a different dem-

[1:42:53] demographic.

[1:42:55] >> So, I I'd like to offer a comment that I

[1:42:58] felt like came up a lot in the overall

[1:43:01] in your 58-page document uh was this

[1:43:04] idea of trust.

[1:43:06] All right, I think that for me that was

[1:43:09] something that was really important and

[1:43:12] um resonates

[1:43:15] uh well, I love this book, The Speed of

[1:43:17] Trust, uh

[1:43:18] because I think it's so important,

[1:43:20] right? One of my favorite quotes is, you

[1:43:22] know, if you trust me, I can say the

[1:43:23] wrong thing and you still know what I

[1:43:25] mean, right? Um but I feel like that

[1:43:28] came up quite a bit in terms of working

[1:43:30] with different groups of people, right?

[1:43:32] In terms of building trust and it

[1:43:34] connected to the customer service piece

[1:43:36] around, you know, um

[1:43:39] I might not

[1:43:40] you might not be the right person, but I

[1:43:42] have a relationship with you, so I'm

[1:43:44] looking for you to help me.

[1:43:46] I also see this with undergraduates,

[1:43:48] right? Like in in my world, like right

[1:43:50] now they value the the person, not the

[1:43:52] entity. All right, they don't trust the

[1:43:54] establishment, they trust the

[1:43:56] individuals. And so that's sort of

[1:43:58] resonated with me and just in terms of

[1:44:00] how we think about what what we do and

[1:44:04] um

[1:44:04] you know,

[1:44:05] that I don't that that was really I

[1:44:07] think helpful. It also um

[1:44:11] connects to some things that I've been

[1:44:12] do- doing personally um after it was

[1:44:16] sort of suggested as we're looking for

[1:44:18] new Up Dec members and new members.

[1:44:21] Uh I'm going to use my commissioner

[1:44:23] comments time. Sorry, it's real.

[1:44:25] Uh it's related, I think. Um

[1:44:28] you know, after Jetty after Jetty

[1:44:29] Rhodes, I saw that they have these

[1:44:31] individual awards that they give to

[1:44:33] their community members, right? What

[1:44:36] wonderful people to try to recruit for

[1:44:38] Up Dec. Also, extremely busy when you

[1:44:40] look at these folks and what they're

[1:44:41] doing, but I asked LaShawn to for people

[1:44:44] that she might who might be good for the

[1:44:46] foundation or for Jetty Rhodes and those

[1:44:48] award winners' contact information. And

[1:44:51] then she gave me a list of like 10

[1:44:52] people. And so I've been reaching out to

[1:44:54] those people, having coffee with some of

[1:44:56] those people one-on-one. Um and you

[1:45:00] know, it was funny, one person was like,

[1:45:02] "Well, I'm really busy, but you're like

[1:45:04] the third person and I don't know you,

[1:45:07] but I know the other people." And so I

[1:45:09] thought, "Okay, I'll just, you know,

[1:45:11] I'll learn more um

[1:45:12] about this." So um I think it's really

[1:45:16] important, right? And I want to encour-

[1:45:18] I want to challenge also the

[1:45:20] commissioners, right? That we should be

[1:45:22] actively recruiting. And so I think this

[1:45:24] speaks to what you were saying. And

[1:45:27] having been on this board for 16 years,

[1:45:29] I have always thought we have undersold

[1:45:32] the incredible work that we do in this

[1:45:34] community. We are very humble and you

[1:45:38] know, quietly working behind the scenes,

[1:45:40] solving all sorts of problems,

[1:45:43] uh you know,

[1:45:44] I just think about like Weaver Park.

[1:45:47] Like that, I mean, we solved a real I

[1:45:50] wasn't even here for that and we solved

[1:45:52] a major like

[1:45:54] drainage problem and turned it into a

[1:45:56] beautiful thing, right? Um

[1:46:00] and so I think I just encourage us to

[1:46:02] think about how we do that and it might

[1:46:04] be hard for us to do that cuz it's not

[1:46:06] how it's not the culture of this

[1:46:07] organization. But um

[1:46:09] >> To tell our story.

[1:46:10] yeah. Yeah, I think

[1:46:12] we just want to do the good work um

[1:46:15] but it sounds like we need to do a

[1:46:17] little bit more in that area. So,

[1:46:20] um

[1:46:26] » [laughter]

[1:46:27] >> And I think that's a that's a challenge

[1:46:29] that many people have, let alone

[1:46:31] organizations, is how do you talk about

[1:46:33] what you do really well and

[1:46:36] um a perspective that I learned a while

[1:46:39] ago that I've tried to work with clients

[1:46:42] on as well is it's not as much about

[1:46:44] bragging about yourself but as sharing

[1:46:46] your expertise. Because if you do

[1:46:48] something really well, that means you

[1:46:50] learned how to do that and other people

[1:46:53] can benefit from that. And so,

[1:46:57] that's where I think the trust comes in

[1:46:59] is

[1:47:00] people

[1:47:01] think that you're doing really amazing

[1:47:04] things,

[1:47:05] not sure exactly what it is,

[1:47:07] but they want to know, but they also

[1:47:10] want to be proud. Like because you are a

[1:47:13] community entity,

[1:47:15] you're part of why they're

[1:47:18] you know, paying more taxes for a nicer

[1:47:20] house, right? Or you're part like the

[1:47:23] school system, right? You're part of

[1:47:24] that and people want to be proud of

[1:47:26] where they come from

[1:47:27] and you're part of why they would be

[1:47:29] proud.

[1:47:30] So, that's part of that communication.

[1:47:33] Um

[1:47:35] and I think that's also where the

[1:47:36] ambassadors come in because it's also

[1:47:40] easier if other people brag about you,

[1:47:43] right? That's where that friends

[1:47:44] recommendation comes in. And it's also

[1:47:46] how you reach different populations.

[1:47:48] I want to go back to Sarah your comment

[1:47:51] about the Walmart gift cards cuz you're

[1:47:53] absolutely right.

[1:47:54] Um everyone was aware that that was

[1:47:58] uh like the benefit of participating.

[1:48:00] That was on the survey.

[1:48:02] Um but oftentimes people don't pay

[1:48:04] attention to it, which is okay.

[1:48:07] However, the wall the location of the

[1:48:10] gift cards was a conver a topic of

[1:48:13] conversation and interesting what what

[1:48:15] is mostly recommended is they wish it

[1:48:17] would have been

[1:48:18] like a coupon for a program.

[1:48:22] So, they would have liked to spend their

[1:48:23] money with you.

[1:48:26] So, this is something to think about for

[1:48:27] the future. So, giving a incentive for

[1:48:30] participating in a focus group is the

[1:48:32] right thing to do.

[1:48:33] Um but I think in

[1:48:35] today's time with your community,

[1:48:37] that's part of that keep your money

[1:48:38] local.

[1:48:45] » It looks like we have some work to do

[1:48:46] with marketing.

[1:48:50] I mean, from what they're saying in the

[1:48:51] survey, the things that people don't

[1:48:53] know.

[1:48:56] » I actually noticed that like about the

[1:48:57] website and talked about that in your

[1:48:58] report. People having a hard time

[1:49:00] navigating the the website and then, you

[1:49:02] know, last night I was like, "Well, I

[1:49:03] sort of want to go and look at the old

[1:49:04] strategic plan." I went to the website

[1:49:06] and put that in the search bar and what

[1:49:07] you know, it seemed like a pretty easy

[1:49:09] thing to come up in the search and, you

[1:49:11] know, I ended up getting there by

[1:49:12] clicking through a few different pages

[1:49:14] and you know, links, but I thought,

[1:49:15] "Okay, that was a pretty good example of

[1:49:17] what should be an easy thing to find."

[1:49:19] So.

[1:49:28] if you have questions that come up

[1:49:31] to you after today, please feel free to

[1:49:34] send them to Rachel. I'm happy to

[1:49:37] respond to questions.

[1:49:39] If you have a question and you're

[1:49:40] wondering, "I didn't see this in the

[1:49:42] report. Do we have data for this?"

[1:49:43] Probably, yes.

[1:49:45] So, I'm happy to go back into the data

[1:49:47] and I'll go look at other things for

[1:49:49] you.

[1:49:50] But,

[1:49:51] my objective for you was to come back

[1:49:54] with usable information, and I hope that is what you can you can do with

[1:50:00] this report.

[1:50:02] And so, I thank you for the opportunity

[1:50:04] to to work with you

[1:50:06] on this project, and look forward to

[1:50:08] more opportunities in the future.

[1:50:10] >> Are you also able to share these slides

[1:50:12] with us?

[1:50:13] >> Yes.

[1:50:16] So, I will send it to Rachel after this

[1:50:18] of how we have to can like this is a

[1:50:20] >> Yeah, as a PDF or whatever is fine.

[1:50:24] » Of course.

[1:50:26] >> Thank you.

[1:50:27] >> Yeah, thank you.

[1:50:27] >> Thank you very much.

[1:50:34] » All right.

[1:50:38] Moving along, there's no action to

[1:50:40] remove anything from the consent agenda,

[1:50:41] and

[1:50:43] so we will move on to comments from

[1:50:44] commissioners.

[1:50:46] >> Real quick, I attended the

[1:50:48] Friday night performance of Frozen.

[1:50:52] Amazing.

[1:50:54] I mean, it was it was incredible. I had

[1:50:57] goosebumps. And then, it's not too late

[1:50:59] to buy your flamingos for the I think

[1:51:02] Friday's our last day to buy the

[1:51:05] flamingos, so don't forget that.

[1:51:11] » Um

[1:51:13] I I want to say I did read the the

[1:51:15] program guide guide cover to cover. I

[1:51:16] was one of those people. I thought it

[1:51:17] looked great.

[1:51:19] Um,

[1:51:21] yeah, I was a little surprised. There

[1:51:22] was one uh section that listed out all

[1:51:24] of the parks and uh

[1:51:26] all the amenities at the park and there

[1:51:28] was there was

[1:51:29] uh a column for ADA accessible picnic

[1:51:32] tables and I was really surprised that

[1:51:34] only two of the parks had that marked.

[1:51:36] Is that really

[1:51:38] >> All right.

[1:51:38] >> I don't think that could be right.

[1:51:40] >> like, "Is that really right? Probably

[1:51:41] shouldn't be too hard to get some picnic

[1:51:42] tables."

[1:51:42] >> Yeah, that would make sense.

[1:51:44] >> So, I just wanted to list raise about

[1:51:45] that. But, yeah, I thought the program

[1:51:46] guides looked looked really nice.

[1:51:48] >> I too read it cover to cover and I am

[1:51:50] also one of those people who use it as

[1:51:52] my reminder to register for things and

[1:51:54] text my friends, "Hey, does anyone want

[1:51:57] to go do X, [clears throat] Y, or Z?"

[1:51:59] So,

[1:52:00] yeah. So,

[1:52:04] All right. Uh

[1:52:06] I think we can call this meeting

[1:52:07] adjourned. Thank you, everyone.

[1:52:09] >> Thank you.

[1:52:10] Thank you.

Urbana Park District Board of Commissioners Meeting - Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Transcript