Parks Department presents annual report

Uncommitted funds go to future multipurpose building

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

The Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department presented its annual report Tuesday to staff, commission and Jefferson City Council members.

The report, given at the Oak Hills Golf Center, focused on the department’s highlights from the past year, as well as finances of the department.

Director Bill Lockwood said the department’s fund balance was able to grow in the past year, in part thanks to increased revenues from several programs and facilities. He said a substantial portion of the uncommitted funds would be obligated to the future multipurpose building.

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The department is close to selecting ....

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JCLifer 9 months ago

Combine the convention center money with the Parks and Rec money for a nice big multipurpose building to be used for both purposes!

RobHunterJohnson 9 months ago

I like your Idea! Rob

JCLifer 9 months ago

Hire local union labor to build it too! Pay prevailing wages! Make this thing big, nice, flexible, and located in a good place with an adjoining parking garage. Build something we can all be use for decades and that we can all be proud of. Pull this community together!

Do not build two separate little facilities. This is one heck of an opportunity we have right now to combine funding and build consensus and synergy, as well as additional funding.

Please don't blow this one, city council! Cancel the current RFP, appoint a countywide committee, get the support of the county commission, etc. Take the time to DO IT RIGHT. DO NOT repeat the TRANSFORMATION FIASCO.

thatguyagain 9 months ago

The suggestion to combine a Parks & Rec building with a conference center does not make logistical sense. My assumption is a multipurpose building would be used for things like basketball games. So what happens to those games when a conference wants to book the building? How many conferences have bleachers around the floor? On the surface it seems like a great idea. When some serious thought is given to the concept it becomes logistically ineffective.

JCLifer 9 months ago

We have plenty of school gymnasiums in the area for basketball games. Why can't they just use the local schools' gyms?

JCLifer 9 months ago

If you add up the public schools, the paraochial schools, Lincoln University, and all the churches with gymasiums, you get more than thirty (30) gymnasiums where basketball can be played in this town. How many basket ball games are there that 30 local gyms cannot accomodate this?

asb 9 months ago

30 gyms may seem like a lot but with scores of game and practices every night, it just isn't. And a multi-purpose won't totally solve that issue, but it'll make a dent.

JCLifer 9 months ago

Thanks for proving my point! Four more basketball courts in the proposed rec center will not make much of a dent. If the conference center money is added, there could be more space to have more than four courts. Seems to me if an indoor arena is added, that might include another 4-6 courts in addition to what is being proposed.

This building should go to benefit the entire community. We need to think bigger, and by pooling the two sources of money, in addition to the additional support that is yet untapped, it may be possible to build a very nice combination building that can serve both as a conference center and a community center. Flexibility will have to be very important in the design, but that doesn't mean it cannot be done.

This is jjust too good of a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to miss. We can do it, and the entire project can help pull this town together. Remember all the funding that came out of the woodwork for the Performing Arts Center? They were able to increase the project and add all the bells and whistles because the support was there. I believe the same thing could happen here if a very nice building that can serve everyone was designed and built.

What we have now is an RFP for a tiny conference center that can only be used as a conference center for a group of 500 or so. The Parks and Recreation proposal sounds like another metal Butler Building with a little brick on the front wall, and just four gyms and a small indoor pool.

We still won't have an indoor arena. We still won't have space for 3,000 or so to attend a concert. We won't have convenient parking for either. And there is a good chance that one or both of them will be located in a flood plane. Jefferson City can do so much better.

Now is our chance to grow for the future. Now is our chance to pull everyone together and build something bigger and better than we have before. Now is our chance to build something we can all be proud of.

JCLifer 9 months ago

You want TRANSFORMATION? Here it is!!!

melbrooks 9 months ago

Ask any basketball or volleyball coach how difficult it is to get gym time--at their own school! These facilities are heavily used, and are rarely available.

Perhaps you could attend Parks and Recreation commission meetings and let them know your opinion.

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