We’ve had our ears to the wind to catch hints of whether the Parks Department heard our call for pools during the first round of strategic planning meetings in 2007.

Nothing concrete yet — the draft strategic plan still hasn’t been released — but we’ve seen one very good sign.  The Jan 10 Parks Board of Commissioners Meeting Summary lists pools as the second item heard at the public forums:

• "A perceived need for balance between athletic fields and open space
• A desire for more swimming pools.
• A request that Parks evaluate the potential to co-locate community centers and senior center programs.
• A need for better data systems to track and report on activities and to measure performance.
• A desire for more family oriented programs at community centers and more imaginative play for kids.
• A need to enhance our outreach strategy, public processes, and web site.
• A recommendation to increase our resources for marketing
• A recommendation that we inventory our many types of partnerships (with nonprofits, concessionaires, “friends of” groups, other agencies, etc.) and target specific partnerships to enhance service delivery.
• A suggestion that we step up our efforts to coordinate volunteer activities.
• A need to define/categorize parks
• A need to model “green” behavior
• Build on our asset management system, keep it up to date, and build relationships with other departments to ensure information and data systems can be shared.
• A recommendation that we use life-cycle costing in managing our assets.
• A suggestion that we examine our fee structure."

The meeting minutes also summarize Park’s success in soliciting public comments:

• 600 people attended 32 public meetings with Parks staff as facilitators and scribes
• The online survey garnered 1800 responses
• Four staff meetings solicited comments from 850 employees attending