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 Eddie, I'll go ahead and read it.

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 Thank you.

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 Work session A PRB21-036, receive a report and hold a discussion regarding the beneficiary

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 of service workshop with 110% reviewing the smart approach to cost recovery.

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 Thank you.

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 I'll go ahead and kick it off.

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 So if you remember over the past, I guess, two and a half years, we've been working on

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 resource allocation, subsidy, cost recovery initiatives for the department.

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 We had approved that last, I guess, January of 2020.

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 And then COVID hit.

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 So things just kind of went to the side at that point in time.

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 But this the earlier this year, we kicked off another process with with Jamie Spock

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 and 110% in regards to a similar process, but a little bit of a different kind of view

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 and approach to it.

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 So we want to try to use all the tools that are available to us to identify ways that

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 we can operate smarter, be more aggressive in certain areas for revenue generation and

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 make sure that we're really pricing ourselves in an appropriate manner based on really the

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 needs and desires of the city and the leadership, whether it's staff, boards as yourself, as

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 well as city council.

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 So Jamie is going to run us through some discussion and some exercise through the through that's

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 part of this cohort that we're in and I want to take the the joint excitement away from

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 Jamie.

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 So I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to Jamie.

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 Appreciate that, Gary.

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 Thank you.

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 And I appreciate all of your time this evening.

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 I'm going to do a quick audio check.

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 Jerry, I'm looking at you.

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 Can you give me a thumbs up that sounds good?

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 All right.

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 Terrific.

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 As Gary mentioned, I'm Jamie Sabak, I'll get into a bit of my background here in a moment

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 concerning my obviously facilitation and leadership of this process from the consulting end.

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 But I certainly want to, again, extend my appreciation to all of you this evening.

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 We often, of course, as you know, have a lot of connection with staff, but we very much

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 appreciate and value the opportunity to meet at any time with representative community

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 members as we go through an exercise around cost recovery.

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 Can you go to the next slide, please?

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 So we're here tonight, of course, as you know, to engage in this rather abbreviated work

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 session, we simply call it the beneficiary of service work session, and we're going to

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 get into some activity in the latter part of this presentation, but I want to set the

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 stage with just giving you a bit of a backstory and some context regarding this process in

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 particular and the approach that this organization is taking.

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 We have been leading cost recovery efforts in the US.

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 We've worked in 40 of the 50 US states as well as Canada over the last 10 years and

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 really carved our lane in this area of cost recovery.

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 And frankly, we think about it a bit differently.

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 And we think about it in terms of local park and recreation systems and local government's

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 commitment to financial discipline and financial responsibility.

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 As you all know, and as Gary just mentioned, we all one of the probably the few times in

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 our history, we will all have been experiencing the same thing.

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 And of course, that was a pandemic, a lot of social unrest and a public health crisis,

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 frankly.

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 And so in 2020, all organizations, frankly, had to rethink how they did business.

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 And we among the many pivoted, if you will, and we had to adapt to the new reality that

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 we were in the midst of.

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 And so while we were doing comprehensive cost recovery projects, which takes six to nine

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 months, they're very immersive, very intensive.

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 We work with a board such as yourself, councils, community representatives, as well as staff.

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 We had to create a more accessible and affordable approach.

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 And we called it very simply a virtual cohort.

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 And the cohorts are an opportunity for organizations of similar size in the same geographic region

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 to work alongside one another, as well as partnering with us in these efforts.

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 You can see this particular cohort consists of, of course, Denton, Texas, as well as Loveland,

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 Colorado, New Braunfels, Texas, and Parker, Colorado Parks, Recreation and Open Space.

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 And since July, we've had 41 organizations sign on to do this work out of 10 different

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 states.

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 So it's really created some momentum.

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 And I think, frankly, as much excitement as can be created around cost recovery as any

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 process can.

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 But we feel very privileged to work alongside these four organizations.

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 And I'm not saying this just because you're on the line.

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 But I will tell you that this has really become the standard bearer cohort.

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 Denton, Loveland, New Braunfels, and Parker have really been exemplary in terms of partners

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 to go along with us in this journey, if you will.

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 Next slide.

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 So a team of five have worked either out front with your staff or have been behind the scenes,

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 if you will, Eric Perrone, Allison Smith, Nick Venditti in the top, Carol Butler in

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 the bottom left, and myself, I'm Jamie Sabak, who have all been working with the staff to

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 facilitate, lead, and, you know, if you will, journey through this exercise.

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 Real quickly, we've got quite a bit of practical experience as well as obviously experience

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 in this particular area.

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 I myself have been in the public park and rec space over 30 years, 20 as a practicing

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 park and rec professional.

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 My last professional position was a superintendent for the city of Boulder, Colorado, park and

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 recreation system.

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 And the last 11 years, I've spent some time in higher education, as well as, of course,

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 serving as a consultant in the field.

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 And as I mentioned, we've really carved out our lane and we focus completely on this type

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 of work.

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 Next slide, please.

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 So our agenda this evening is pretty straightforward.

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 I'm going to do my best to honor the 75 minutes that have been granted with you.

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 I'm going to spend probably about 30, 35 minutes getting into some of the details concerning

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 why is this work so incredibly important to our space today, of course, the local government

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 in general.

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 But more importantly, I'm going to share with you the methodology and the process that we

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 use.

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 And then I'm going to hit a quick pause and ask if you have any thoughts, comments, questions

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 for me before we actually get into the second part of our time together this afternoon,

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 this evening, which is the beneficiary service exercise.

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 I'll share with you what next steps are, and then we'll close with additional thoughts,

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 comments, questions that you may have of me.

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 Next slide, please.

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 So we start here.

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 And what I'm sharing with you, we shared with the staff as we kicked this process off.

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 While we call this the smart approach to cost recovery, and our profession has gravitated

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 to the term or the terminology cost recovery over the last three decades, for us, it's

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 a much bigger, much broader 30,000 foot exercise.

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 And it's really about how park and recreation systems and professionals in particular think

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 about how they're going to manage the finite fiscal resources we have available to us.

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 In the '80s and '90s, we were speaking in terms of limited resources.

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 And today, the rhetoric, if you will, has changed.

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 And we're now speaking in terms of finite resources.

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 We start asking ourselves, how do we rather than asking for more of what doesn't exist,

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 best use what we have available to us?

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 And for us, again, this is an exercise in financial discipline.

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 And for many organizations, this is their commitment to continuing to be financially

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 disciplined while some today are actually now saying, OK, this is the moment in time

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 where we really have to get serious about this kind of work.

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 Next slide, please.

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 So we set the stage with every professional we work with by just simply asking them to

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 ask themselves a bit of a rhetorical question, but at the same time, really charge them with

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 answering this question.

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 And that is whether or not we're smart about managing money.

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 And clearly, we're speaking in terms of smart about managing and investing and spending

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 taxpayer resources.

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 If we've worked in this industry, we understand that we've been privileged to be the stewards

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 of other people's resources.

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 It's not our checkbook, essentially.

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 So we set the stage by asking folks to ask and answer this question, because it does

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 become a pillar, if you will, of this process and this exercise.

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 Next slide, please.

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 In addition, common language is incredibly important.

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 I've been in this field for a very long time, and unfortunately, more often than not, I

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 see professionals and I hear professionals conflate cost recovery with things that it

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 actually is not.

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 We need to understand what cost recovery really represents.

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 Next slide, please.

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 And that is it's simply the recovery, if you will, or the offsetting of the cost associated

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 with delivering services.

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 Now, some organizations may say, well, we're going to recover a portion, a percentage of

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 our overall expenses.

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 Well, others might suggest that there are some services that we need to recover all

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 of the costs associated with.

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 And maybe in some cases, we want to generate excess revenue, so we'll have an excess cost

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 recovery expectation simply because it allows us to reinvest in our own systems.

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 Maybe it's to take care of our infrastructure.

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 Maybe it's to address inequities in our community.

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 But the reality is cost recovery is not solely conversation or an exercise in diminishing

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 service menus.

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 It's not about pricing people out of the market.

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 It's simply a philosophical underpinning for how we're going to invest, again, taxpayer

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 resources.

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 Next slide, please.

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 Alternatively, we need to understand what subsidy is and what it's not.

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 And if we think about it in a very broad stroke or through a broad stroke lens, it's taxpayer

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 resources.

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 Next slide, please.

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 But we also understand, and I think this has become a more granular conversation today because

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 of this past year, that subsidy is really a benefit provided by government.

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 We make choices to provide this benefit to certain populations, certain interest groups,

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 what have you.

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 But it's intended to be a subsidy provided to remove some kind of burden, often considered

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 in the overall interest of the public, and given to promote a social good, affect a common

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 good or an economic policy.

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 And as organizations and professionals go through this work, it begins to crystallize

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 and begins to poke the barrel a bit about whether or not we've been investing in the

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 subsidy resources in the most responsible, effective way.

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 As we think about it, are we investing subsidy dollars in the best way so that we can have

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 the greatest impact on our communities?

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 Or simply, are we doing things as we have been doing them?

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 So again, these become very important definitions, terms for us to understand, and they really

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 set the stage for this work, and I think they crystallize the importance of this work at

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 the same time.

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 Next slide, please.

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 I also think it's very important to provide some context.

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 I believe that all of you would agree that history is the best teacher that we have,

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 and when I started teaching in higher education, I became a better student of our world and

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 our profession.

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 And next slide, please.

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 So it's important for us to understand that our profession was built on the backs of public

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 lands, open space, access.

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 When we were created, if you will, our foundations were public spaces.

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 Boston Common was the first public land in the U.S.

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 It was intended to be accessible for all, and we know that there were many marginalized

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 populations in 1634, but the nobility was that I could go into this park, I could self-direct

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 my activity.

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 I didn't need a local park and rec system to do that for me.

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 I didn't have a yoga class in the park, or there wasn't a playground here or a recreation

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 facility, and so this became the birthplace of our profession.

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 And over time, we evolved like everything else.

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 Late forward 200 years, the National Park Service was established.

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 The most iconic city park in the U.S. came to life, Central Park in New York City, and

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 we started to then see more interest in government-led activities and services.

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 Fast forward even a bit more into the earliest 20th century as a result of the Industrial

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 Revolution, we did see a bit of an expectation that government was going to provide structured

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 activities for us.

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 Let me leap forward again, and in another 40, 50 years, we started to see more neighborhood

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 centers and community centers come to life in certain communities, and unfortunately,

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 what happened in that moment was government was doing okay, and we started to provide

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 more and more services without the expectation that people were going to pay a fee.

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 What happened was, however, we started to add to all the physical inventories, our assets,

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 our infrastructure, and we weren't necessarily putting money away to take care of those assets

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 into perpetuity.

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 Fast forward to 2008, we saw the recession, and that was really when our profession began

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 to think about becoming lean organizations.

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 We were expected to do more with less.

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 Next slide, please.

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 And where we find ourselves today is truly a profession of something for everyone all

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 the time, and we recognize we cannot be that.

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 We recognize we're going to have to make difficult decisions about where do we best invest in

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 order to have the greatest impact on our communities.

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 We also understand that there are far more competitors, frankly, similar service providers

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 today than we've ever had before.

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 Other public sector organizations, the private sector, and nonprofits are providing similar

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 kinds of services to those that public parks and recreation has over time.

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 So this is a bit of a tipping point for our profession to begin to understand again that

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 we have a set of finite resources.

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 We have in many cases accumulated significant physical assets, and we've got to figure out

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 how do we most responsibly use those taxpayer resources so that we become as financially

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 disciplined as we possibly can.

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 Next slide, please.

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 So I'm going to share, again, a little bit more context for all of you this evening as

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 we set the stage for the importance of this work and the methodology that this organization

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 at Denton Parks and Recreation is following in this moment.

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 I'm going to share very quickly a couple of research studies that were done in 2017 by

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 Penn State University, and they've really become pillars for our profession right now

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 relative to how we have gotten to where we are and what this may all mean for us moving

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 forward.

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 As these two research studies were considered, and they were led by Andy Mowen at Penn State

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 University, who was a 20-year park and recreation professional turned academic, he wanted to

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 really dive deep into what was the public sector's balance sheet looking like, right?

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 Every municipal system, the state systems in our country that represented parks and

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 recreation and what he found was what you see on the screen that was representative

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 of how the public sector was managing its resources, and I think it's safe to say that

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 if all of us looked at this and it was our personal checkbook, it was our personal balance

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 sheet, we would hit pause and understand that we were going to have to do things differently.

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 But the public sector was expending at a higher rate than it was actually generating revenues,

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 and this really opened the door for him to begin thinking about the direction he wanted

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 to take these two particular studies.

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00:15:01,340 --> 00:15:02,780
 Next slide, please.

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00:15:02,780 --> 00:15:07,980
 Very simply, the first he did was really to test the hypothesis whether or not parks and

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 recreation was considered an essential service in its community, and while many professionals

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 believe parks and recreation is essential, we also recognize that not everything we do

246
00:15:17,700 --> 00:15:22,260
 could classify or qualify as essential, meaning a must-have.

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 And so he interviewed many folks just like you, policymakers, advisory board members

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 representing communities across the country.

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 He and his graduate assistants interviewed over 810 individuals from different states

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 and different places within the U.S., and what you see on the screen is a very simple

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00:15:39,780 --> 00:15:43,180
 snapshot of the results of what he heard.

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 Ninety-five percent of folks personally used their local park areas, while 99 percent agreed

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 that their communities benefited from local park areas.

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00:15:51,580 --> 00:15:55,180
 These local government officials said that parks and recreation was indeed a solution

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 to some of their top issues, you know, the things that they were concerned about, things

256
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 like preventing youth crime or promoting community quality of life, but they were less likely

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 to view parks and recreation as a contribution to their number one concern, which was attracting

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 and retaining business.

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00:16:09,940 --> 00:16:13,980
 You know, we think about it very simply as affecting the economy.

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 So while six and seven of these folks agreed that parks and recreation was well worth the

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 investment, right, the taxpayer resources being spent on it, they indicated that parks

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 and recreation was likely to be hit with the largest cut in funding when the city, town,

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00:16:27,020 --> 00:16:29,540
 or county suffered budgetary pressures.

264
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 Again, this was in 2017.

265
00:16:32,620 --> 00:16:38,340
 So this really began to challenge us to think a little bit differently about our place and

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 the food chain, if you will.

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00:16:40,540 --> 00:16:42,340
 Next slide, please.

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 The subsequent study he did, and by the way, if you're really interested in more of the

269
00:16:45,740 --> 00:16:48,480
 details of this work, I'm touching on this at a very high level.

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 Both of these studies are available online if you're, you know, interested in digging

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 into the details a bit.

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 But the second study was incredibly profound, and interestingly enough, he titled it The

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00:16:59,660 --> 00:17:03,460
 Great Recession's Profound Impact on Parks and Recreation.

274
00:17:03,460 --> 00:17:07,700
 And there were a number of things that resulted from this, a number of insights that he and

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00:17:07,700 --> 00:17:13,220
 his team were able to share with our profession, with all of us.

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00:17:13,220 --> 00:17:16,980
 But one of the things I think is so important for all of us to understand, particularly

277
00:17:16,980 --> 00:17:21,660
 our boards and our councils, is what I'm going to share with you on the next slide here.

278
00:17:21,660 --> 00:17:25,500
 And there were a number of data points that, again, resulted from this work.

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00:17:25,500 --> 00:17:28,220
 Next slide, please.

280
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 Including what you'll see on the screen here.

281
00:17:30,700 --> 00:17:34,780
 And that is how we were investing or spending our resources.

282
00:17:34,780 --> 00:17:37,620
 You can see this is a bit of an aggregate slide.

283
00:17:37,620 --> 00:17:42,340
 But the suggestion was in the year 2000, we were expending as local park and recreation

284
00:17:42,340 --> 00:17:45,460
 systems $35.5 billion.

285
00:17:45,460 --> 00:17:52,100
 And of that total, 66% was being directed to operating, while 33-34% was being directed

286
00:17:52,100 --> 00:17:53,100
 to capital.

287
00:17:53,100 --> 00:18:00,820
 If we fast forward to the belly of the recession, 2008, we were expending almost $41 billion.

288
00:18:00,820 --> 00:18:05,300
 Now you can begin to see the difference in the percentage being directed to operating

289
00:18:05,300 --> 00:18:08,060
 in contrast to what we were spending on capital.

290
00:18:08,060 --> 00:18:11,540
 So we started to shift more of our resources into operating.

291
00:18:11,540 --> 00:18:13,720
 We were reluctant to make reductions.

292
00:18:13,720 --> 00:18:16,500
 We were reluctant to reduce services.

293
00:18:16,500 --> 00:18:19,980
 We were more willing to defer our maintenance, right?

294
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 Defer infrastructure investments.

295
00:18:22,940 --> 00:18:28,700
 And finally, if you look at 2013, and we obviously are, we're all, you know, with bated breath

296
00:18:28,700 --> 00:18:34,320
 waiting to see what 2021 is going to look like, but we saw a pretty significant de-escalation

297
00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:37,480
 in expenditures between '08 and 2013.

298
00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:40,380
 We expended $32.5 billion.

299
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 But you see now, we were investing of that portion, or that total, 80% of those revenues,

300
00:18:46,260 --> 00:18:51,820
 those resources rather, not revenues, towards operating, and only 20% into capital.

301
00:18:51,820 --> 00:18:57,060
 This has contributed significantly to the infrastructure crisis in parks and recreation.

302
00:18:57,060 --> 00:19:03,180
 We built, we grew, yet we weren't necessarily thinking about the long-term and how we were

303
00:19:03,180 --> 00:19:05,740
 going to take care of those assets.

304
00:19:05,740 --> 00:19:10,540
 And this has really created some challenging conditions for us as a field, as an industry,

305
00:19:10,540 --> 00:19:13,260
 as a profession across the United States.

306
00:19:13,260 --> 00:19:18,620
 As we're seeing organizations now with 400 million, 500 million, in some cases over a

307
00:19:18,620 --> 00:19:23,380
 billion dollars in maintenance backlog, because they were aggressively growing and building,

308
00:19:23,380 --> 00:19:26,900
 and they weren't considering how they were going to take care of those assets once they

309
00:19:26,900 --> 00:19:28,580
 came online.

310
00:19:28,580 --> 00:19:34,060
 So all of these things have really begun to help us understand, better understand the

311
00:19:34,060 --> 00:19:39,020
 importance of this work, and really set the stakes for the conversations with, again,

312
00:19:39,020 --> 00:19:43,860
 community representatives such as yourselves, council members, and so on, about the critical

313
00:19:43,860 --> 00:19:47,980
 importance of us being very thoughtful and intentional and intelligent in the decisions

314
00:19:47,980 --> 00:19:51,260
 we're making in terms of taxpayer investment.

315
00:19:51,260 --> 00:19:52,260
 Next slide, please.

316
00:19:52,260 --> 00:19:59,820
 Now, if we fast forward to today, what we see are a number of analyses, a number of

317
00:19:59,820 --> 00:20:05,220
 surveys and some indicators helping us understand what it is we're in for over the course of

318
00:20:05,220 --> 00:20:07,180
 the next couple of years.

319
00:20:07,180 --> 00:20:13,700
 In June of last year, right in the midst of the 2020 pandemic, our National Association,

320
00:20:13,700 --> 00:20:19,100
 the National Recreation and Park Association, started to do some analyses of what was happening

321
00:20:19,100 --> 00:20:23,500
 in our world, across the United States, parks and recreation systems, fiscal realities.

322
00:20:23,500 --> 00:20:27,980
 And you can see some of the data points on the screen, again, suggesting that we were

323
00:20:27,980 --> 00:20:31,100
 going to be in for a bit of a rough ride.

324
00:20:31,100 --> 00:20:36,380
 The one that's most provocative, as it relates to the last slide, again, from 2017, is that

325
00:20:36,380 --> 00:20:42,020
 one in five organizations have zeroed out their capital budgets, and many of those organizations,

326
00:20:42,020 --> 00:20:45,500
 of course, have large inventories of physical assets.

327
00:20:45,500 --> 00:20:48,500
 Next slide, please.

328
00:20:48,500 --> 00:20:56,740
 We also were privy to additional surveys, such as the one out of Boston University.

329
00:20:56,740 --> 00:20:57,740
 It's the Menino Survey.

330
00:20:57,740 --> 00:21:02,900
 It's rather popular with the International City County Managers Association.

331
00:21:02,900 --> 00:21:07,140
 You'll notice here on this slide that schools are going to take and expected to take the

332
00:21:07,140 --> 00:21:11,460
 largest reduction while parks and recreation was close behind.

333
00:21:11,460 --> 00:21:16,140
 Next slide, please.

334
00:21:16,140 --> 00:21:21,460
 And then in January, the State of Local Government survey revealed that 68% of those responding

335
00:21:21,460 --> 00:21:26,140
 to the survey expected to see moderate, significant, or major financial adjustments being needed

336
00:21:26,140 --> 00:21:28,620
 due to the ongoing pandemic.

337
00:21:28,620 --> 00:21:29,620
 Next slide, please.

338
00:21:29,620 --> 00:21:36,180
 So, again, it really speaks to the importance of this particular type of work in this moment.

339
00:21:36,180 --> 00:21:40,580
 I do want to point out, however, that while many organizations suspect that they're going

340
00:21:40,580 --> 00:21:45,180
 to be challenged from a bottom line perspective, we do have many that have committed to cost

341
00:21:45,180 --> 00:21:50,900
 recovery work, committed to financial discipline, that have remained okay, maybe not as healthy

342
00:21:50,900 --> 00:21:58,340
 as they hope to be, but a neighboring community of yours, Grapevine, Texas, Kevin Mitchell

343
00:21:58,340 --> 00:22:00,100
 is a director there.

344
00:22:00,100 --> 00:22:04,340
 He has committed to cost recovery and he was one of the folks that said, "You know what?

345
00:22:04,340 --> 00:22:05,740
 We don't have to do this work.

346
00:22:05,740 --> 00:22:09,260
 We're doing it because we want to stay fiscally healthy."

347
00:22:09,260 --> 00:22:13,940
 So we understand through our work that we've got a continuum of different kinds of agencies'

348
00:22:13,940 --> 00:22:14,940
 realities.

349
00:22:14,940 --> 00:22:19,700
 And for those that are really in crisis, the city of Napa was charged six months ago with

350
00:22:19,700 --> 00:22:23,360
 reducing 60, six to zero percent of their budget.

351
00:22:23,360 --> 00:22:25,900
 We have some organizations like Grapevine saying, "You know what?

352
00:22:25,900 --> 00:22:27,060
 We've put reserves away.

353
00:22:27,060 --> 00:22:31,380
 We've been smart all along the way, and we just want to make sure we stay that way."

354
00:22:31,380 --> 00:22:35,900
 And we appreciate the fact that there are all kinds of organizations today gravitating

355
00:22:35,900 --> 00:22:36,900
 to this kind of work.

356
00:22:36,900 --> 00:22:39,780
 And of course, that includes Denton Parks and Recreation.

357
00:22:39,780 --> 00:22:44,340
 Next slide, please.

358
00:22:44,340 --> 00:22:48,620
 Just to give you maybe a broader perspective on some of the realities and conditions that

359
00:22:48,620 --> 00:22:54,580
 have been affecting our field for a long time, arguably some of these for two decades that

360
00:22:54,580 --> 00:22:59,820
 have in some ways been compounded based upon the pandemic and social unrest and all of

361
00:22:59,820 --> 00:23:03,640
 the other things we experienced in 2020 and continue to experience.

362
00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:05,220
 We know we have economic uncertainty.

363
00:23:05,220 --> 00:23:07,140
 None of us have a crystal ball.

364
00:23:07,140 --> 00:23:09,460
 People are projecting what may or may not happen.

365
00:23:09,460 --> 00:23:14,060
 We've got economists saying 2021 and 2022 are going to be more challenging than 2020

366
00:23:14,060 --> 00:23:15,240
 and others saying, "You know what?

367
00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:18,620
 I think we're going to be rebounding here pretty quickly."

368
00:23:18,620 --> 00:23:21,060
 So we don't really know what's going to happen.

369
00:23:21,060 --> 00:23:25,060
 We do recognize we've got increasing disparities and needs in our communities.

370
00:23:25,060 --> 00:23:30,700
 We had that before the pandemic, but now a light has been shown on the fact that inequities

371
00:23:30,700 --> 00:23:36,700
 are a part of every community's reality, in some cases significantly more than others.

372
00:23:36,700 --> 00:23:40,480
 We've got a lack of revenue diversification in parks and recreation in general across

373
00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:41,740
 the United States.

374
00:23:41,740 --> 00:23:46,740
 Most of our reliance, of course, is on taxpayer resources, and we just need to simply understand

375
00:23:46,740 --> 00:23:51,940
 that when we have a reliance, a heavy reliance on a particular resource, it increases the

376
00:23:51,940 --> 00:23:53,900
 risk of volatility.

377
00:23:53,900 --> 00:23:57,560
 We have many in our communities who do not understand where their taxpayer dollars go

378
00:23:57,560 --> 00:23:59,420
 and where they may not go.

379
00:23:59,420 --> 00:24:03,500
 We have many that believe that simply by virtue of paying taxes, it entitles them to every

380
00:24:03,500 --> 00:24:08,220
 service that they would like and more without having to pay fees and charges, and we know

381
00:24:08,220 --> 00:24:10,900
 that's not a reality in many communities.

382
00:24:10,900 --> 00:24:16,420
 There are, in some cases, unreasonable expectations based upon, again, I pay taxes therefore these

383
00:24:16,420 --> 00:24:20,940
 are the things that I expect and I desire and I demand and I want of local government.

384
00:24:20,940 --> 00:24:25,860
 We have found out through this year in particular, unfortunately, that many systems do not have

385
00:24:25,860 --> 00:24:27,620
 sufficient reserves.

386
00:24:27,620 --> 00:24:29,100
 Many have struggled.

387
00:24:29,100 --> 00:24:32,460
 Some organizations have actually, some parks and rec systems have actually shuttered their

388
00:24:32,460 --> 00:24:38,860
 systems and hopefully that's a temporary reality, but that did happen because of lack of reserves.

389
00:24:38,860 --> 00:24:42,700
 We recognize again that we have incredible maintenance backlog in our field.

390
00:24:42,700 --> 00:24:48,540
 I mentioned $400, $500 billion maintenance backlogs and every day you pay attention to

391
00:24:48,540 --> 00:24:52,660
 what's coming out of our National Association and there's another organization acknowledging

392
00:24:52,660 --> 00:24:57,540
 that, hey, we are in desperation here in terms of taking care of our assets.

393
00:24:57,540 --> 00:25:01,100
 You know, in some communities, we have struggling competitors.

394
00:25:01,100 --> 00:25:07,340
 We also recognize particularly when small, even if there are competitors, small businesses,

395
00:25:07,340 --> 00:25:13,140
 private sector businesses go out of business, it dilutes the very tax base upon which we

396
00:25:13,140 --> 00:25:14,140
 become dependent.

397
00:25:14,140 --> 00:25:18,140
 So how might we think differently about that and then of course our history and the list

398
00:25:18,140 --> 00:25:19,140
 goes on and on.

399
00:25:19,140 --> 00:25:23,100
 But while it might seem a bit doom and gloom for many of us in the field, we recognize

400
00:25:23,100 --> 00:25:27,420
 this is really an opportunity for us to think differently about how we are again investing

401
00:25:27,420 --> 00:25:28,420
 our resources.

402
00:25:28,420 --> 00:25:31,340
 Next slide, please.

403
00:25:31,340 --> 00:25:37,300
 So this is an exercise as we see it in connecting reality with policy is how do we help organizations

404
00:25:37,300 --> 00:25:41,860
 connect their conditions and realities with the cost recovery practice and policy that

405
00:25:41,860 --> 00:25:46,220
 they may choose to use as their strategy moving forward.

406
00:25:46,220 --> 00:25:51,220
 Next slide, please.

407
00:25:51,220 --> 00:25:54,060
 I also like to share this slide often.

408
00:25:54,060 --> 00:25:59,340
 Some of the staff here have heard me talk about this probably more than they wish was

409
00:25:59,340 --> 00:26:00,340
 reality.

410
00:26:00,340 --> 00:26:05,500
 Nonetheless, most people in parks and recreation, I believe I've been around the block a long

411
00:26:05,500 --> 00:26:08,420
 time, three decades, I can't believe it.

412
00:26:08,420 --> 00:26:12,080
 And most people that gravitate to this work have big social service hearts, right?

413
00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:15,140
 They want to do good by their community.

414
00:26:15,140 --> 00:26:20,100
 And what we need to understand very simply is in order to do the good work, the necessary

415
00:26:20,100 --> 00:26:25,420
 work, affect community needs in our community today, this becomes a bit of a necessary evil

416
00:26:25,420 --> 00:26:27,920
 for some who don't gravitate to the data, right?

417
00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:31,880
 We don't necessarily want to talk about the bottom line, you know, we want to focus on

418
00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:35,020
 community need and social good and all of that.

419
00:26:35,020 --> 00:26:38,460
 But simply it's a reminder for us that this is a balancing act.

420
00:26:38,460 --> 00:26:42,740
 In order to do the good work our communities must have of us in this moment, we've got

421
00:26:42,740 --> 00:26:44,140
 to be able to pay the bills, right?

422
00:26:44,140 --> 00:26:46,180
 We've got to be able to write the checks.

423
00:26:46,180 --> 00:26:52,140
 So it becomes a bit of a foundational way of thinking about the importance of this work.

424
00:26:52,140 --> 00:26:55,580
 Next slide, please.

425
00:26:55,580 --> 00:27:01,100
 So I'm going to share just I'm going to take a few minutes additional of your time here

426
00:27:01,100 --> 00:27:05,220
 and go through the methodology so you understand exactly what the staff's been doing.

427
00:27:05,220 --> 00:27:08,620
 And then I'm going to hit pause in a couple of minutes and open the floor for thoughts,

428
00:27:08,620 --> 00:27:09,620
 comments, questions.

429
00:27:09,620 --> 00:27:14,460
 So we use a methodology as we help organizations and we work alongside organizations create

430
00:27:14,460 --> 00:27:19,900
 a cost recovery strategy that can work by using a methodology called the three-legged

431
00:27:19,900 --> 00:27:20,900
 stool.

432
00:27:20,900 --> 00:27:26,300
 It's been evaluated pretty aggressively and intently over the last couple of years.

433
00:27:26,300 --> 00:27:29,860
 And we're happy to say that organizations are seeing a lot of success with it.

434
00:27:29,860 --> 00:27:35,060
 And fundamentally the idea is we follow these three legs in order to create the seat, which

435
00:27:35,060 --> 00:27:38,820
 is to create a tax investment and revenue enhancement philosophy that makes sense for

436
00:27:38,820 --> 00:27:42,980
 organizations, aka a cost recovery strategy.

437
00:27:42,980 --> 00:27:48,180
 I'm going to break each of these down to give you a little bit more detail concerning what

438
00:27:48,180 --> 00:27:49,180
 each means.

439
00:27:49,180 --> 00:27:52,780
 So if you go to the next slide, please, we're going to look at service categories.

440
00:27:52,780 --> 00:27:55,940
 And next slide, please.

441
00:27:55,940 --> 00:28:01,060
 So service categories very simply provide us a different lens through which to see our

442
00:28:01,060 --> 00:28:02,100
 services.

443
00:28:02,100 --> 00:28:07,300
 We break our systems down very traditionally into service areas like those you see on the

444
00:28:07,300 --> 00:28:09,900
 screen in the white font.

445
00:28:09,900 --> 00:28:13,500
 So you sports, we have a sports division, we have a seniors division, we may have a dance

446
00:28:13,500 --> 00:28:14,900
 or performing arts division.

447
00:28:14,900 --> 00:28:18,180
 With parks, of course, we might have events and so on.

448
00:28:18,180 --> 00:28:21,780
 And functionally and operationally, that makes all the sense in the world.

449
00:28:21,780 --> 00:28:26,340
 But when it's come to us determining cost recovery expectation based upon service area,

450
00:28:26,340 --> 00:28:28,460
 it's created some social values challenges.

451
00:28:28,460 --> 00:28:33,820
 And we unfortunately make assumptions based upon how much we think things should cost

452
00:28:33,820 --> 00:28:38,780
 or how much we think people can pay or what cost recovery should be for different service

453
00:28:38,780 --> 00:28:39,780
 areas.

454
00:28:39,780 --> 00:28:43,220
 So to give you a very concrete example, if we look at the little boy on the left, we

455
00:28:43,220 --> 00:28:47,580
 might suggest that while he's participating in a service like T-Bow that falls in you

456
00:28:47,580 --> 00:28:52,300
 sports, and the gentleman in the middle, let's assume for a moment he's an older adult, but

457
00:28:52,300 --> 00:28:55,220
 he's going to take a learn to swim program for the first time in his life.

458
00:28:55,220 --> 00:28:57,620
 Let's assume this is a bucket list item for this guy, right?

459
00:28:57,620 --> 00:28:58,940
 And he just wants to learn how to swim.

460
00:28:58,940 --> 00:29:00,580
 He's always wanted to do it.

461
00:29:00,580 --> 00:29:03,700
 And let's assume for a moment the little girl on the right, she's part of the dance program

462
00:29:03,700 --> 00:29:06,300
 and she's taking an intro to ballet class.

463
00:29:06,300 --> 00:29:10,340
 Well, we have made arbitrary decisions as a profession around what cost recovery is.

464
00:29:10,340 --> 00:29:16,260
 We might say, well, sports is valued highly in our community or hypothetically, the mayor

465
00:29:16,260 --> 00:29:18,820
 in town is the president of the local little league.

466
00:29:18,820 --> 00:29:22,940
 And so we tap dance around what things should be priced at or how much cost recovery should

467
00:29:22,940 --> 00:29:23,940
 be.

468
00:29:23,940 --> 00:29:27,300
 Alternatively, may we say the gentleman in the middle, while he's an older adult, we

469
00:29:27,300 --> 00:29:31,620
 might say, well, we don't want to charge seniors anymore because they're on fixed incomes or

470
00:29:31,620 --> 00:29:35,700
 they'll go to council or we just assume they can't pay.

471
00:29:35,700 --> 00:29:38,780
 And the little girl on the right, we may say, we might assume again, in some communities

472
00:29:38,780 --> 00:29:43,340
 that performing arts tend to attract a more affluent population, therefore we should have

473
00:29:43,340 --> 00:29:46,080
 a higher cost recovery percentage.

474
00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:50,140
 And I'm being somewhat facetious, but this is in many ways how we have determined cost

475
00:29:50,140 --> 00:29:51,140
 recovery.

476
00:29:51,140 --> 00:29:55,380
 And we've pitted, unfortunately, these services against one another rather than thinking about

477
00:29:55,380 --> 00:29:56,380
 them differently.

478
00:29:56,380 --> 00:29:58,420
 Next slide, please.

479
00:29:58,420 --> 00:30:02,420
 So if we start to see these services through the lens of service categories, we start thinking

480
00:30:02,420 --> 00:30:06,680
 about what services do we offer that are similar in purpose.

481
00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:10,820
 And while we had a U sport, t ball program, a learn the swim program, and an intro to

482
00:30:10,820 --> 00:30:15,060
 ballet class, they could fall under these different service areas.

483
00:30:15,060 --> 00:30:19,020
 But the reality is they're all introductory level kinds of activities.

484
00:30:19,020 --> 00:30:20,420
 So the purpose is the same.

485
00:30:20,420 --> 00:30:23,860
 We're trying to introduce people to certain activities.

486
00:30:23,860 --> 00:30:28,300
 And ultimately what that allows us to do is to see them similarly when we start thinking

487
00:30:28,300 --> 00:30:31,100
 about cost recovery expectation.

488
00:30:31,100 --> 00:30:33,140
 Next slide, please.

489
00:30:33,140 --> 00:30:37,500
 Now one of the resources that was provided to you that we're going to be using here just

490
00:30:37,500 --> 00:30:41,520
 in a few minutes to go through the exercise are the service categories that represent

491
00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:46,400
 all of the services provided by Denton Parks and Recreation.

492
00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:49,860
 I believe you've got 12 categories here, if I'm not mistaken.

493
00:30:49,860 --> 00:30:53,900
 The average is right around 12 of all the organizations we've worked with over time.

494
00:30:53,900 --> 00:30:57,580
 I will tell you the fewest we've ever seen were nine and that was on behalf of the biggest

495
00:30:57,580 --> 00:31:02,260
 system we've ever worked with, which was Austin Parks and Recreation, who had 12,000 courses,

496
00:31:02,260 --> 00:31:04,260
 classes, events and activities.

497
00:31:04,260 --> 00:31:08,300
 The most we've ever seen was 15 and we've seen it from Milwaukee, we've seen it from

498
00:31:08,300 --> 00:31:10,340
 Oregon City and a few others.

499
00:31:10,340 --> 00:31:13,540
 But I'm going to get into the details of each of these categories here shortly and we're

500
00:31:13,540 --> 00:31:17,180
 going to walk through them very deliberately so that we're all on the same page about what

501
00:31:17,180 --> 00:31:21,660
 the categories are, what they mean and we'll provide you some examples of the kinds of

502
00:31:21,660 --> 00:31:25,580
 services that would live under the umbrella of each category.

503
00:31:25,580 --> 00:31:28,100
 Next slide, please.

504
00:31:28,100 --> 00:31:33,100
 So first leg of the store service categories, Denton has a set of working draft of service

505
00:31:33,100 --> 00:31:37,020
 categories we're going to be using to go through the beneficiary of service exercise this evening

506
00:31:37,020 --> 00:31:40,500
 with all of you, next slide, please.

507
00:31:40,500 --> 00:31:44,340
 Beneficiary of service very simply is connecting the dots between the services you provide

508
00:31:44,340 --> 00:31:47,020
 and who it is that benefits from the service.

509
00:31:47,020 --> 00:31:52,060
 I want to reflect back for a moment on the notion of arbitrary decision making, right,

510
00:31:52,060 --> 00:31:57,660
 and just kind of pulling numbers out to say that a cost recovery goal for a particular

511
00:31:57,660 --> 00:32:00,020
 category might be X or Y.

512
00:32:00,020 --> 00:32:04,300
 In our profession, again, we may have been setting cost recovery targets based upon service

513
00:32:04,300 --> 00:32:09,540
 areas like we would suggest that all aquatic services are at 50%, but the challenge with

514
00:32:09,540 --> 00:32:13,180
 that is we have a number of kinds of services we provide in service areas.

515
00:32:13,180 --> 00:32:17,260
 For example, in aquatics, we might have a Learn to Swim program and we also may offer

516
00:32:17,260 --> 00:32:22,420
 a master swim team and we begin to understand that there might be a disconnect here by suggesting

517
00:32:22,420 --> 00:32:28,580
 that both of these categories should be at 50% by virtue of who benefits and as an example

518
00:32:28,580 --> 00:32:33,140
 of what I mean by that, we might believe that a Learn to Swim program in our community is

519
00:32:33,140 --> 00:32:38,820
 significantly more accessible to more people than a master swim team that requires a particular

520
00:32:38,820 --> 00:32:42,300
 ability or skill or mastery in order to participate.

521
00:32:42,300 --> 00:32:48,700
 So we might suggest a Learn to Swim program, next slide please, would be in a beginner

522
00:32:48,700 --> 00:32:55,540
 level category, for example, go back please, there you go, beginner level activities category

523
00:32:55,540 --> 00:33:00,540
 while a master swim team might be in a competitive level activities category and as we start

524
00:33:00,540 --> 00:33:04,660
 thinking about who benefits, we understand that the beneficiary of services for these

525
00:33:04,660 --> 00:33:10,660
 kinds of categories is going to likely be different, next slide please.

526
00:33:10,660 --> 00:33:14,180
 So you have as your other handout, your other resource that we'll use this evening, the

527
00:33:14,180 --> 00:33:19,980
 exercise I'm going to ask you to complete tonight and I'm going to very kindly, gently

528
00:33:19,980 --> 00:33:24,820
 and at the same time boldly ask you not to start this exercise until we get to that place

529
00:33:24,820 --> 00:33:28,340
 in time because I'm going to be sharing some additional information with you that I think

530
00:33:28,340 --> 00:33:34,460
 will help you as you actually complete the activity, next slide please.

531
00:33:34,460 --> 00:33:38,900
 And finally, the third leg of the stool is cost of service and that's where we dig deep

532
00:33:38,900 --> 00:33:44,420
 into the cost of service analysis and identify costs associated with delivering services.

533
00:33:44,420 --> 00:33:48,420
 And what you're going to be doing this evening is helping Denton Parks and Recreation begin

534
00:33:48,420 --> 00:33:51,560
 the evolution of their cost recovery strategy.

535
00:33:51,560 --> 00:33:55,700
 So tonight's contributions, everything that you share this evening, your responses to

536
00:33:55,700 --> 00:34:01,020
 the activity along with the responses we see from the staff are going to allow us to place

537
00:34:01,020 --> 00:34:06,300
 the categories on the continuum from the categories in the bottom left being the service categories

538
00:34:06,300 --> 00:34:11,340
 you believe align most with the common good to the service categories in the top right

539
00:34:11,340 --> 00:34:15,780
 being the categories you believe provide for a more individualized benefit.

540
00:34:15,780 --> 00:34:20,220
 And again, I'm going to get into some significant detail here in a moment about how this exercise

541
00:34:20,220 --> 00:34:23,100
 will work, next slide please.

542
00:34:23,100 --> 00:34:27,000
 So I just mentioned cost of service, this is the last leg of the stool, if you will,

543
00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:31,660
 and this work has been going behind the scenes, if you will, behind the curtain for the last

544
00:34:31,660 --> 00:34:33,020
 eight weeks.

545
00:34:33,020 --> 00:34:37,900
 We've worked side by side with your staff to collect revenue data, to collect expenditure

546
00:34:37,900 --> 00:34:42,900
 data so we're able to ultimately provide to you the costs associated with delivering every

547
00:34:42,900 --> 00:34:45,140
 service within your organization.

548
00:34:45,140 --> 00:34:51,780
 And I have to make a quick call out here, Megan and Caroline have stepped up as your

549
00:34:51,780 --> 00:34:56,860
 project leads, but somebody who's not with us this evening who has really done a tremendous

550
00:34:56,860 --> 00:35:01,740
 job all along the way has been Heather Gray, and I just wanted to recognize the work that

551
00:35:01,740 --> 00:35:07,700
 she has done in working with our team to ensure that we have the right information and data

552
00:35:07,700 --> 00:35:09,700
 to help us go through this work.

553
00:35:09,700 --> 00:35:10,940
 Next slide please.

554
00:35:10,940 --> 00:35:15,940
 I think it's important for all of us who serve our communities, you know, serve in the public

555
00:35:15,940 --> 00:35:20,860
 sector to understand that unfortunately the public sector for many years had its thought

556
00:35:20,860 --> 00:35:26,980
 about costs similar to that of a teenage driver, I often use this example, but unfortunately

557
00:35:26,980 --> 00:35:30,780
 many teenage drivers, probably a lot of us believe the only cost associated with driving

558
00:35:30,780 --> 00:35:34,460
 a car was gas, right, we didn't understand we had to plate the car and we had to insure

559
00:35:34,460 --> 00:35:36,940
 the car and all of these other expenses.

560
00:35:36,940 --> 00:35:42,140
 And that unfortunately again is how the public sector has articulated and illustrated cost

561
00:35:42,140 --> 00:35:43,140
 recovery performance.

562
00:35:43,140 --> 00:35:48,660
 When we say we're at 60% or 70% cost recovery and we have not accounted for all of our indirect

563
00:35:48,660 --> 00:35:54,100
 costs, we're not telling a true story and we're misrepresenting reality and unfortunately

564
00:35:54,100 --> 00:36:00,580
 it's not helping our communities understand what it really does cost to provide services.

565
00:36:00,580 --> 00:36:04,600
 The exciting thing from my perspective and the optimism from my perspective is that we're

566
00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:11,060
 seeing a huge shift now and many public sector organizations are now accounting for all costs.

567
00:36:11,060 --> 00:36:13,200
 Next slide please.

568
00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:18,320
 So once as a result of your work and of course the contributions of the staff, we've plotted

569
00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:22,540
 your categories in the continuum, we've completed the cost of service work, it's allowed the

570
00:36:22,540 --> 00:36:26,860
 project team to determine what they believe to be reasonable and realistic and credible

571
00:36:26,860 --> 00:36:29,580
 and attainable cost recovery goals.

572
00:36:29,580 --> 00:36:36,500
 We'll see the evolution if you will of Denton Parks and Recreation's cost recovery strategy.

573
00:36:36,500 --> 00:36:38,140
 Next slide please.

574
00:36:38,140 --> 00:36:42,460
 So I want to share with you just a couple of examples of what these strategies can look

575
00:36:42,460 --> 00:36:43,460
 like.

576
00:36:43,460 --> 00:36:48,860
 Again, while every organization uses this methodology, all of the strategy continuums

577
00:36:48,860 --> 00:36:49,860
 are different.

578
00:36:49,860 --> 00:36:53,980
 The one you see on the screen just was completed a couple of months ago, this is River Trails

579
00:36:53,980 --> 00:36:56,380
 Park District in River Trails, Illinois.

580
00:36:56,380 --> 00:37:00,580
 You can see their service categories on the continuum from again those in the bottom left

581
00:37:00,580 --> 00:37:05,540
 aligning most with the common good to those in the top right being more individualized.

582
00:37:05,540 --> 00:37:09,980
 You can see their cost recovery targets listed below their categories and these were set

583
00:37:09,980 --> 00:37:13,300
 based upon their current cost recovery performance levels.

584
00:37:13,300 --> 00:37:17,180
 So they analyzed how they're currently doing in order to make intentional and informed

585
00:37:17,180 --> 00:37:20,340
 decisions about what direction they can go.

586
00:37:20,340 --> 00:37:21,660
 Next slide please.

587
00:37:21,660 --> 00:37:26,100
 And another one that's just completed a couple of months ago that I personally like a lot

588
00:37:26,100 --> 00:37:30,600
 is Oregon City, Oregon's financial support and sustainability model.

589
00:37:30,600 --> 00:37:35,900
 And there is actually Mimics Lewisville, Texas's Parks and Recreation, Lewisville, Texas Parks

590
00:37:35,900 --> 00:37:40,980
 and Recreation model in that this organization chose not to call out cost recovery goals,

591
00:37:40,980 --> 00:37:45,100
 they call out subsidy goals, meaning this is how we're going to spend and invest taxpayer

592
00:37:45,100 --> 00:37:46,100
 resources.

593
00:37:46,100 --> 00:37:51,180
 So you can see a subsidy goal there and while we all know it means the same thing, the optics

594
00:37:51,180 --> 00:37:52,180
 are different.

595
00:37:52,180 --> 00:37:56,500
 We're helping our communities understand here's how we're investing taxpayer dollars.

596
00:37:56,500 --> 00:37:59,380
 The other thing I want to point out about Oregon City is very quickly is if you get

597
00:37:59,380 --> 00:38:03,580
 up to the special events category and then skill based advanced competitive, it's just

598
00:38:03,580 --> 00:38:06,140
 slightly right of center.

599
00:38:06,140 --> 00:38:11,240
 They have chosen not to no longer subsidize those service categories, understanding they

600
00:38:11,240 --> 00:38:14,980
 have a huge debt as it relates to infrastructure.

601
00:38:14,980 --> 00:38:20,140
 They can no longer count on the amount of general fund resources they have historically.

602
00:38:20,140 --> 00:38:24,740
 So they're shifting more towards a system needing to be a bit more self-reliant than

603
00:38:24,740 --> 00:38:26,480
 they have in the past.

604
00:38:26,480 --> 00:38:31,260
 And by not subsidizing some of the services that are more individualized in nature, they're

605
00:38:31,260 --> 00:38:36,740
 able to reinvest in their infrastructure and they're also making a very bold commitment

606
00:38:36,740 --> 00:38:40,100
 to inequities in their community.

607
00:38:40,100 --> 00:38:47,020
 They're planning on doing a very aggressive tree planting campaign and marginalized communities

608
00:38:47,020 --> 00:38:48,740
 in Oregon City area.

609
00:38:48,740 --> 00:38:53,220
 They want to build up their needs based assistance program.

610
00:38:53,220 --> 00:38:57,500
 They're currently wanting to commit to the 10 minute walk campaign so that every household

611
00:38:57,500 --> 00:39:00,700
 is within 10 minutes of a public space and so on.

612
00:39:00,700 --> 00:39:03,760
 So they're being very aggressive in their model in this moment.

613
00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:08,220
 But these give you an idea of a couple of the examples of the kinds of strategy continuums

614
00:39:08,220 --> 00:39:09,900
 that result from this work.

615
00:39:09,900 --> 00:39:11,500
 Next slide, please.

616
00:39:11,500 --> 00:39:12,900
 So this is where we're headed.

617
00:39:12,900 --> 00:39:16,660
 Again, I can't understate the importance of your contributions this evening.

618
00:39:16,660 --> 00:39:21,100
 Your participation is incredibly valuable to this process as representative community

619
00:39:21,100 --> 00:39:22,100
 members.

620
00:39:22,100 --> 00:39:25,020
 But you're going to help us plot the categories in the continuum this evening.

621
00:39:25,020 --> 00:39:30,220
 Ultimately, once the cost of service analysis work is done and the goals are set, Denton

622
00:39:30,220 --> 00:39:36,460
 Parks and Recreation will have this updated cost recovery strategy to utilize.

623
00:39:36,460 --> 00:39:37,460
 Next slide, please.

624
00:39:37,460 --> 00:39:39,860
 So with that, I'm going to hit pause.

625
00:39:39,860 --> 00:39:43,060
 And I want to see if anybody has any thoughts, comments, questions before we actually get

626
00:39:43,060 --> 00:39:47,860
 to the exercise.

627
00:39:47,860 --> 00:39:55,500
 Well, I'm not seeing any and I'm not hearing any.

628
00:39:55,500 --> 00:40:00,700
 So I think we should get to it.

629
00:40:00,700 --> 00:40:03,700
 Caroline, are you driving?

630
00:40:03,700 --> 00:40:06,580
 Okay, great.

631
00:40:06,580 --> 00:40:09,020
 All right.

632
00:40:09,020 --> 00:40:13,300
 So we very simply call this the beneficiary of service group exercise.

633
00:40:13,300 --> 00:40:17,540
 And while it is a group exercise, I'm actually being asking you to do the activity independent

634
00:40:17,540 --> 00:40:18,540
 of one another.

635
00:40:18,540 --> 00:40:22,660
 But we're going to bring you back all on screen and we're going to be sharing the results

636
00:40:22,660 --> 00:40:25,140
 with each other and, of course, with me.

637
00:40:25,140 --> 00:40:27,340
 We have adapted, just like all of you, to the new reality.

638
00:40:27,340 --> 00:40:31,820
 We used to do this work in person and now we do it in this Zoom platform.

639
00:40:31,820 --> 00:40:34,060
 So we have found it to be fun.

640
00:40:34,060 --> 00:40:42,060
 I hope that you all find this a bit of fun as well in the midst of a very important and

641
00:40:42,060 --> 00:40:43,220
 serious exercise.

642
00:40:43,220 --> 00:40:45,940
 So if you go to the next slide, please.

643
00:40:45,940 --> 00:40:48,200
 So we're going to start with your categories.

644
00:40:48,200 --> 00:40:50,700
 And some of you may have printed these off.

645
00:40:50,700 --> 00:40:52,300
 If you've got a hard copy, that's great.

646
00:40:52,300 --> 00:40:56,500
 If you've got a copy that you just want to put up on your screen as I walk through these

647
00:40:56,500 --> 00:40:59,420
 that is easier to see, that's fine as well.

648
00:40:59,420 --> 00:41:01,680
 But I'd like to deliberately walk through the categories.

649
00:41:01,680 --> 00:41:04,900
 It's important that we all understand these similarly.

650
00:41:04,900 --> 00:41:08,300
 Once I walk through the categories and the definitions, I'm going to hit pause for a

651
00:41:08,300 --> 00:41:13,460
 moment, see if anybody has any questions for me or for any of the staff on the line who

652
00:41:13,460 --> 00:41:17,740
 actually led the development of this list.

653
00:41:17,740 --> 00:41:21,460
 So we're going to start at the beginning, beginner and introductory activities.

654
00:41:21,460 --> 00:41:25,940
 And I just want to mention as well that these are in no other order right now than alphabetical.

655
00:41:25,940 --> 00:41:27,140
 Okay.

656
00:41:27,140 --> 00:41:33,600
 And these categories again represent the entire service menu of Denver Parks and Recreation.

657
00:41:33,600 --> 00:41:38,680
 So beginner and introductory activities are activities that introduce a skill or practice

658
00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:43,060
 or provide a basic understanding of the fundamentals of a skill.

659
00:41:43,060 --> 00:41:47,620
 These services require little to no experience in order to participate.

660
00:41:47,620 --> 00:41:52,380
 And you can see some of the examples listed there are Adapted Rec, Exercise Class, Sports

661
00:41:52,380 --> 00:41:57,100
 Clinics, Water Tots, Intro Swim, and so on.

662
00:41:57,100 --> 00:41:59,740
 Your next category are your community events.

663
00:41:59,740 --> 00:42:03,860
 These are large scale events that appeal to a broad portion of the community regardless

664
00:42:03,860 --> 00:42:08,340
 of age, regardless of ability skill or family composition.

665
00:42:08,340 --> 00:42:13,180
 These events are highly intensive and typically occur on an annual basis and registration

666
00:42:13,180 --> 00:42:15,540
 is generally not required.

667
00:42:15,540 --> 00:42:20,060
 You can see some examples there include Arts and Jazz Fest, The Blues Fest, Cinco de Mano,

668
00:42:20,060 --> 00:42:23,100
 Fourth of July Jubilee, and so on.

669
00:42:23,100 --> 00:42:25,220
 Next are your community outreach services.

670
00:42:25,220 --> 00:42:31,580
 These services are offered internally or through community partnerships intended to address

671
00:42:31,580 --> 00:42:36,940
 life challenges through maintaining the quality of life, independence, and connection to community

672
00:42:36,940 --> 00:42:41,060
 by linking or providing resources for those in need.

673
00:42:41,060 --> 00:42:45,760
 Examples here are Meals on Wheels, Resource Seminars, and so on.

674
00:42:45,760 --> 00:42:47,780
 Next are your enrichment activities.

675
00:42:47,780 --> 00:42:53,060
 These are activities designed to develop and/or enhance life skills, promote socialization,

676
00:42:53,060 --> 00:42:58,460
 self-sufficiency, usually led through staff and/or volunteer supervision.

677
00:42:58,460 --> 00:43:03,980
 Examples here are tutoring, after school care, day trips, and so on.

678
00:43:03,980 --> 00:43:06,140
 Next are your equity services.

679
00:43:06,140 --> 00:43:10,060
 These are services that focus on addressing community inequities, providing for improved

680
00:43:10,060 --> 00:43:12,300
 access to leisure opportunities.

681
00:43:12,300 --> 00:43:16,980
 Your example listed here is Play in the Park, Mobile, Recreation.

682
00:43:16,980 --> 00:43:20,220
 Next are your intermediate, advanced, competitive-level activities.

683
00:43:20,220 --> 00:43:25,140
 These are activities which provide a structured format in order to advance or master a skill,

684
00:43:25,140 --> 00:43:27,740
 practice, or to compete.

685
00:43:27,740 --> 00:43:32,980
 Examples include sports leagues, tennis classes, dolphin swim team, and so on.

686
00:43:32,980 --> 00:43:38,460
 Second page, the next category, your monitored access, drop-in access services.

687
00:43:38,460 --> 00:43:43,500
 These are your parks, recreation facilities, and activities available for drop-in use,

688
00:43:43,500 --> 00:43:50,340
 are non-registered, non-instructed, but they're monitored by staff and volunteers.

689
00:43:50,340 --> 00:43:56,140
 Examples here are things like lap swim, open swim, fitness rooms, rec pass activities,

690
00:43:56,140 --> 00:43:57,780
 and so on.

691
00:43:57,780 --> 00:44:00,980
 Next are your non-monitored open access services.

692
00:44:00,980 --> 00:44:06,120
 This is open access to your parks, park amenities, and recreation facilities that does not include

693
00:44:06,120 --> 00:44:09,080
 staff and volunteer supervision or oversight.

694
00:44:09,080 --> 00:44:14,580
 This includes things like multi-purpose courts, your playgrounds, fishing ponds, trails, public

695
00:44:14,580 --> 00:44:17,720
 art, your parks, et cetera.

696
00:44:17,720 --> 00:44:19,780
 Next are your private, semi-private activities.

697
00:44:19,780 --> 00:44:24,100
 These are activities conducted in a one-on-one or small group setting designed to ensure

698
00:44:24,100 --> 00:44:28,080
 maximum gain related to a specific topic or skill.

699
00:44:28,080 --> 00:44:33,140
 This includes things like sport, private lessons, personal training.

700
00:44:33,140 --> 00:44:34,280
 Next are your rentals.

701
00:44:34,280 --> 00:44:38,320
 This is space and facility rentals, which provide exclusive use of public spaces and

702
00:44:38,320 --> 00:44:41,580
 places by an individual or group.

703
00:44:41,580 --> 00:44:46,340
 Examples include multi-purpose room rentals, gym rentals, park rentals, pavilion rentals,

704
00:44:46,340 --> 00:44:48,460
 and so on.

705
00:44:48,460 --> 00:44:50,800
 Your 11th category are your resale items.

706
00:44:50,800 --> 00:44:55,520
 This is consumable and non-consumable goods for purchase at various parks and/or recreation

707
00:44:55,520 --> 00:45:00,180
 facilities, things like food sales, beverage sales, et cetera.

708
00:45:00,180 --> 00:45:04,400
 And finally, your special events, these are events designed for a target market, market

709
00:45:04,400 --> 00:45:06,880
 niche, or a specific interest.

710
00:45:06,880 --> 00:45:08,900
 Registration is typically required.

711
00:45:08,900 --> 00:45:15,560
 These are things like athletic tournaments, Halloween carnival, extended trips, and so

712
00:45:15,560 --> 00:45:16,760
 on.

713
00:45:16,760 --> 00:45:21,840
 So those are the 12 categories along with definition and some examples to provide you

714
00:45:21,840 --> 00:45:27,020
 a sense of the types of services provided by the organization under the larger umbrella

715
00:45:27,020 --> 00:45:28,760
 of categories.

716
00:45:28,760 --> 00:45:35,080
 Any questions concerning any of the categories at this point before we get to the exercise?

717
00:45:35,080 --> 00:45:46,380
 All right, hearing none, let's get to it.

718
00:45:46,380 --> 00:45:48,380
 So this is the exercise.

719
00:45:48,380 --> 00:45:49,380
 Please bear with me.

720
00:45:49,380 --> 00:45:51,760
 I'm going to spend just a couple of minutes walking through this to make sure again we're

721
00:45:51,760 --> 00:45:57,360
 all on the same page and then I'm going to hit pause on my end and have you all actually

722
00:45:57,360 --> 00:45:58,960
 go through the exercise, the activity.

723
00:45:58,960 --> 00:46:03,480
 But please, again, I'm going to be very gentle yet bold.

724
00:46:03,480 --> 00:46:06,880
 Please do not begin the exercise until I've finished the instructions because I believe

725
00:46:06,880 --> 00:46:10,880
 there will be some things I'm going to share here that will be very helpful to you.

726
00:46:10,880 --> 00:46:14,560
 So I'm going to start at the beginning, financial resource allocation philosophy.

727
00:46:14,560 --> 00:46:19,960
 Just simply think about that as a cost recovery strategy, provides a foundation for differentiating

728
00:46:19,960 --> 00:46:23,920
 services based on who benefits and therefore who should pay.

729
00:46:23,920 --> 00:46:27,960
 And it's important to note economists in the US economy have differentiated goods and services

730
00:46:27,960 --> 00:46:29,200
 in this manner for decades.

731
00:46:29,200 --> 00:46:31,000
 So this is not our way of thinking.

732
00:46:31,000 --> 00:46:32,200
 It's not a new way of thinking.

733
00:46:32,200 --> 00:46:36,680
 It simply connects the dots between what we provide and who benefits.

734
00:46:36,680 --> 00:46:41,960
 And by determining the beneficiary, it becomes a primary driver for how a public park and

735
00:46:41,960 --> 00:46:47,000
 recreation system just as Denton Parks and Recreation would begin to make informed and

736
00:46:47,000 --> 00:46:50,880
 defensible taxpayer investment decisions.

737
00:46:50,880 --> 00:46:55,280
 Following this particular concept and model, each of your categories, the service categories

738
00:46:55,280 --> 00:47:00,480
 we just walked through, have a specific set of characteristics, which essentially in this

739
00:47:00,480 --> 00:47:05,200
 case are the definitions and examples that provide a rationale for who should pay, whether

740
00:47:05,200 --> 00:47:09,280
 it's the taxpayers, the individuals, or both, and to what degree.

741
00:47:09,280 --> 00:47:14,320
 Ultimately, this allows you to align how you invest taxpayer resources with who benefits.

742
00:47:14,320 --> 00:47:18,120
 But keep in mind, tonight's exercise is solely about beneficiary.

743
00:47:18,120 --> 00:47:24,180
 We're not asking you to determine cost recovery expectations or pricing or anything like that.

744
00:47:24,180 --> 00:47:29,920
 Simply asking you to think about who benefits from the categories of the system.

745
00:47:29,920 --> 00:47:34,400
 So what's important to help here are the two definitions in the middle or the belly of

746
00:47:34,400 --> 00:47:36,160
 page one.

747
00:47:36,160 --> 00:47:40,640
 It's important we understand what we mean by common good and what we mean by individualized.

748
00:47:40,640 --> 00:47:44,880
 Often we use those terms in the public sector, but we really don't get granular about defining

749
00:47:44,880 --> 00:47:46,080
 them.

750
00:47:46,080 --> 00:47:50,760
 So common good services or those services that are accessible, they're of benefit to

751
00:47:50,760 --> 00:47:54,560
 all in a community, and they provide universal value.

752
00:47:54,560 --> 00:47:58,920
 Essentially, these are the services that contribute to the common good and can be characterized

753
00:47:58,920 --> 00:48:04,400
 as essential or your must haves, having community wide interest and far reaching impacts.

754
00:48:04,400 --> 00:48:09,640
 Alternatively, your individualized services provide exclusive benefit to the individual

755
00:48:09,640 --> 00:48:14,120
 or individuals and can include constraints or barriers to access.

756
00:48:14,120 --> 00:48:19,320
 Essentially, these services benefit the individual more than the community as a whole, can be

757
00:48:19,320 --> 00:48:24,240
 characterized as discretionary or your nice to haves with less of a community wide impact.

758
00:48:24,240 --> 00:48:29,760
 Now, real quickly before I give you the final pieces of information that are going to help

759
00:48:29,760 --> 00:48:37,120
 you here, if you are a very literal thinker, I've added some definitions on page two to

760
00:48:37,120 --> 00:48:39,840
 help get even more granular with definitions.

761
00:48:39,840 --> 00:48:43,440
 So if you're wondering what does accessible mean, what does barrier or constraint mean

762
00:48:43,440 --> 00:48:49,280
 in this exercise, what's the difference between community need versus community want, what's

763
00:48:49,280 --> 00:48:53,560
 a discretionary service versus an essential service, we've given you some deeper definitions

764
00:48:53,560 --> 00:48:54,800
 to help.

765
00:48:54,800 --> 00:48:58,800
 So please feel free to use that resource if you'd like.

766
00:48:58,800 --> 00:49:00,760
 So here is, this is the exercise.

767
00:49:00,760 --> 00:49:07,160
 I'm going to ask you to, you're not prioritizing, but you're going to rank the 12 categories

768
00:49:07,160 --> 00:49:14,280
 we just reviewed from the number one category being the category that you believe aligns

769
00:49:14,280 --> 00:49:15,880
 most with the common good.

770
00:49:15,880 --> 00:49:20,920
 Again, that would be the number one category to the category of services you believe aligns

771
00:49:20,920 --> 00:49:23,360
 most with individualized benefit.

772
00:49:23,360 --> 00:49:28,120
 So number one service category will be the one you believe contributes most to the common

773
00:49:28,120 --> 00:49:29,120
 good.

774
00:49:29,120 --> 00:49:32,920
 The number 12 category will be the one you believe is the most individualized and the

775
00:49:32,920 --> 00:49:36,400
 most specialized, and then you're going to work towards the middle.

776
00:49:36,400 --> 00:49:42,120
 Now suggestion, been doing this for a while now, many people find value in approaching

777
00:49:42,120 --> 00:49:46,400
 this from a book ends approach, very simply meaning you'll determine what category you

778
00:49:46,400 --> 00:49:48,360
 believe aligns most with the common good.

779
00:49:48,360 --> 00:49:51,200
 Then you'll determine which one you think is most individualized and then work your

780
00:49:51,200 --> 00:49:52,200
 way towards the middle.

781
00:49:52,200 --> 00:49:58,400
 If you're more of a linear thinker and doer, you'll just go one to 12 or 12 to one.

782
00:49:58,400 --> 00:50:01,280
 The other thing I can't emphasize enough, and I mentioned it before, but I'm going to

783
00:50:01,280 --> 00:50:02,440
 mention it again.

784
00:50:02,440 --> 00:50:06,160
 Please don't self-talk about what you think things cost, how much you think it should

785
00:50:06,160 --> 00:50:10,360
 be priced at, what you think the cost recovery expectation should be, whether you think it

786
00:50:10,360 --> 00:50:12,120
 should be subsidized or not.

787
00:50:12,120 --> 00:50:14,720
 That has no bearing on this exercise this evening.

788
00:50:14,720 --> 00:50:18,720
 Trust me when I say we'll get there as we get towards the finish line of the process.

789
00:50:18,720 --> 00:50:24,080
 But tonight is simply about you determining who benefits from the services provided by

790
00:50:24,080 --> 00:50:25,520
 Denton Parks and Recreation.

791
00:50:25,520 --> 00:50:30,840
 Do they align more with the common good or are they more individualized?

792
00:50:30,840 --> 00:50:36,720
 So any questions before I actually ask you to get started?

793
00:50:36,720 --> 00:50:40,920
 All right, next slide, please.

794
00:50:40,920 --> 00:50:42,680
 So here's what we're going to do.

795
00:50:42,680 --> 00:50:47,400
 With boards and councils, typically the sweet spot to complete this exercise is right around

796
00:50:47,400 --> 00:50:48,400
 10 minutes.

797
00:50:48,400 --> 00:50:49,400
 So I'm going to give you 10 minutes.

798
00:50:49,400 --> 00:50:55,280
 I'm going to put my mic on mute and I want to just give you a little quiet time to do

799
00:50:55,280 --> 00:50:56,280
 this work.

800
00:50:56,280 --> 00:50:59,320
 We'll check in with you in about 10 minutes, see if anybody needs additional time.

801
00:50:59,320 --> 00:51:01,320
 If you do, happy to grant it.

802
00:51:01,320 --> 00:51:02,840
 You really need some additional time.

803
00:51:02,840 --> 00:51:07,280
 We may ask you to just turn your homework in, if you will, to Gary.

804
00:51:07,280 --> 00:51:10,800
 But most folks get this done around this 10-minute sweet spot.

805
00:51:10,800 --> 00:51:16,120
 So I'm going to ask Caroline to advance one more slide, and we're going to put the categories

806
00:51:16,120 --> 00:51:19,600
 on the screen for you in the event you don't have a copy with you.

807
00:51:19,600 --> 00:51:22,160
 And again, we're going to give you a little quiet time.

808
00:51:22,160 --> 00:51:25,920
 I'm going to check back in with you in about 10 minutes, and we'll see how you're all

809
00:51:25,920 --> 00:51:29,800
 doing, okay?

810
00:51:29,800 --> 00:51:41,840
 Any questions before you get started?

811
00:51:41,840 --> 00:51:57,120
 Okay.

812
00:51:57,120 --> 00:52:12,560
 [Pause]

813
00:52:12,560 --> 00:52:28,000
 [Pause]

814
00:52:28,000 --> 00:52:43,440
 [Pause]

815
00:52:43,440 --> 00:52:58,880
 [Pause]

816
00:52:58,880 --> 00:53:16,160
 [Pause]

817
00:53:16,160 --> 00:53:31,360
 [Pause]

818
00:53:31,360 --> 00:53:46,560
 [Pause]

819
00:53:46,560 --> 00:54:01,760
 [Pause]

820
00:54:01,760 --> 00:54:16,960
 [Pause]

821
00:54:16,960 --> 00:54:32,160
 [Pause]

822
00:54:32,160 --> 00:54:47,360
 [Pause]

823
00:54:47,360 --> 00:55:02,560
 [Pause]

824
00:55:02,560 --> 00:55:17,760
 [Pause]

825
00:55:17,760 --> 00:55:32,960
 [Pause]

826
00:55:32,960 --> 00:55:48,160
 [Pause]

827
00:55:48,160 --> 00:56:03,360
 [Pause]

828
00:56:03,360 --> 00:56:18,560
 [Pause]

829
00:56:18,560 --> 00:56:33,760
 [Pause]

830
00:56:33,760 --> 00:56:48,960
 [Pause]

831
00:56:48,960 --> 00:57:04,160
 [Pause]

832
00:57:04,160 --> 00:57:19,360
 [Pause]

833
00:57:19,360 --> 00:57:34,560
 [Pause]

834
00:57:34,560 --> 00:57:49,760
 [Pause]

835
00:57:49,760 --> 00:58:04,960
 [Pause]

836
00:58:04,960 --> 00:58:20,160
 [Pause]

837
00:58:20,160 --> 00:58:35,360
 [Pause]

838
00:58:35,360 --> 00:58:50,560
 [Pause]

839
00:58:50,560 --> 00:59:05,760
 [Pause]

840
00:59:05,760 --> 00:59:20,960
 [Pause]

841
00:59:20,960 --> 00:59:36,160
 [Pause]

842
00:59:36,160 --> 00:59:51,360
 [Pause]

843
00:59:51,360 --> 01:00:18,560
 [Pause]

844
01:00:18,560 --> 01:00:23,760
 >> All right, I'll just do a quick check-in. Does anybody require any additional time?

845
01:00:23,760 --> 01:00:30,960
 [Pause]

846
01:00:30,960 --> 01:00:35,760
 >> I require additional copies because I have messed this one up rewriting it five times.

847
01:00:35,760 --> 01:00:50,160
 >> Okay. You need a little bit more time, Jerry? >> No, I'm good. I'm good to go.

848
01:00:50,160 --> 01:00:56,160
 >> You're good? Okay. All right. >> You know, I know you understand this very well,

849
01:00:56,160 --> 01:01:02,960
 but the more you think about it, the more deeper a hole you dig about what's important and what's not.

850
01:01:02,960 --> 01:01:11,600
 >> Yeah, absolutely. All right. Well, Caroline, I'm going to ask you to stop. Yep, that's terrific.

851
01:01:11,600 --> 01:01:18,400
 And my additional ask is for staff or any others who are not going to be sharing their responses

852
01:01:18,400 --> 01:01:27,200
 with me, if you would kindly take yourself off camera, it'll help me as I count the responses.

853
01:01:27,200 --> 01:01:33,120
 So all right, great. All right. Well, this is how this is going to work. And I hope you

854
01:01:33,120 --> 01:01:40,240
 have fun with this. So what we very simply do is I'm going to work through the top of your list to

855
01:01:40,240 --> 01:01:46,720
 the bottom. I'm going to call out each category one at a time. And simply by showing me the

856
01:01:46,720 --> 01:01:52,000
 appropriate number of fingers on your hands, you're going to tell me which position you

857
01:01:52,000 --> 01:01:56,640
 placed each category in. If you prefer to use paper and pen, that's great. If you want to write

858
01:01:56,640 --> 01:02:02,720
 a one down on a post it and put it up to the camera, that works just fine for me. I'm going

859
01:02:02,720 --> 01:02:06,960
 to ask you to keep your hands up until I make sure I've captured everybody's responses. And while we

860
01:02:06,960 --> 01:02:12,080
 have this recorded, I apologize for that. While we have this recorded, I just want to have to go back

861
01:02:12,080 --> 01:02:16,080
 to the tape only as I need. So I'm going to ask you to keep your hands up until I've captured

862
01:02:16,080 --> 01:02:20,640
 everybody's responses. And then I'm going to go on to the next category. So as an example,

863
01:02:20,640 --> 01:02:25,200
 we'll start with beginner and introductory activities. I'm going to say in which position

864
01:02:25,200 --> 01:02:31,120
 did you place beginner and introductory activities? Hypothetically, if you put it in the number five

865
01:02:31,120 --> 01:02:35,280
 position, you're simply going to show me five fingers. It's going to be that simple. And then

866
01:02:35,280 --> 01:02:41,280
 we'll go through the list of 12 until we've captured everybody's responses. The final thing

867
01:02:41,280 --> 01:02:47,040
 I want to share is if you decide you want a little bit more time to do this, please feel free to do

868
01:02:47,040 --> 01:02:52,480
 that. But I'm going to ask your responses within about 24 hours. If you can get those to Gary,

869
01:02:52,480 --> 01:02:56,800
 he can make sure he gets those to me if you have any changes to your responses. Because sometimes

870
01:02:56,800 --> 01:03:02,160
 you decide, oh, maybe I want to change an answer here and there. So I don't want you to feel like

871
01:03:02,160 --> 01:03:07,280
 tonight's the final answer. If you need a little bit more time, please take that. But just please

872
01:03:07,280 --> 01:03:11,360
 make sure you get your responses to Gary within 24 hours. Because what happens is if it could be

873
01:03:11,360 --> 01:03:16,560
 too much time, it falls off the radar, and I never hear from you again. So I just want to give you

874
01:03:16,560 --> 01:03:19,840
 that option and that alternative as well. David, I see your hand up.

875
01:03:19,840 --> 01:03:22,560
 Yes, how would you like us to show you 11 and 12?

876
01:03:22,560 --> 01:03:29,040
 Well, great question. So 11, very kindly, just put two, you know, put two digits up like this.

877
01:03:29,040 --> 01:03:33,360
 And for 12, do a one and a two. Thank you for asking. I appreciate it.

878
01:03:33,360 --> 01:03:38,720
 All right. You guys ready? And smile and have fun with this. This is fun.

879
01:03:38,720 --> 01:03:44,320
 All right. We're going to start at the top. Beginner and introductory activities. In which

880
01:03:44,320 --> 01:03:49,200
 position did you place beginner and introductory activities? And please hold your responses up.

881
01:03:49,840 --> 01:04:00,320
 So I make sure I get everybody's answers. Great. Thank you. Okay. Next category,

882
01:04:00,320 --> 01:04:03,840
 community events. In which position did you place community events?

883
01:04:03,840 --> 01:04:18,160
 Great. Thank you. You guys are so good at this. All right. Next, community outreach services.

884
01:04:18,160 --> 01:04:25,840
 Which position did you place that category? James, can you back up just a bit so I can

885
01:04:25,840 --> 01:04:38,640
 make sure? Yep. Great. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Next, enrichment activities.

886
01:04:48,240 --> 01:04:58,640
 Diana, is that a two? Okay. Great. All right. Thank you. Next, equity services.

887
01:04:58,640 --> 01:05:16,000
 Great. Thank you. Next, intermediate advanced competitive activities.

888
01:05:18,640 --> 01:05:24,000
 That's the 12. James, is that a one?

889
01:05:24,000 --> 01:05:33,440
 Okay. I'm just going to clarify for everyone. Your number one category should be the category

890
01:05:33,440 --> 01:05:38,800
 you believe aligns most with the common good. Your number 12 category should be the category

891
01:05:38,800 --> 01:05:45,440
 you believe is most individualized. Just clarification. All right. Great. Thank you.

892
01:05:46,960 --> 01:05:50,800
 Your next category, your monitored access drop in access.

893
01:05:50,800 --> 01:05:54,400
 In which position did you place monitored access drop in access?

894
01:05:54,400 --> 01:06:10,640
 Great. Thank you. Next category, non-monitored open access.

895
01:06:17,920 --> 01:06:24,880
 Great. Thank you. Your next category, private, semi-private activities.

896
01:06:24,880 --> 01:06:34,400
 Jerry, can you pull back just a little bit for me? I'm sorry. Yeah, that's 10.

897
01:06:34,400 --> 01:06:41,920
 Great. Thank you. Appreciate it. Alana, can you show me one more time? Great. Thank you.

898
01:06:44,080 --> 01:06:48,160
 Next are your rentals. In which position did you place rentals?

899
01:06:48,160 --> 01:06:51,680
 Deanna, you didn't even have to move much on that one.

900
01:06:51,680 --> 01:06:59,680
 Can you see this? My computer's bad. I got to buy a new computer this week.

901
01:06:59,680 --> 01:07:02,720
 Yep. No, you're good. You're good. Whoever sells computers out there, call me.

902
01:07:02,720 --> 01:07:10,080
 James, I didn't get yours on this one. Rentals. Okay. That's all right.

903
01:07:11,920 --> 01:07:17,600
 All right. We're almost to the finish line. Next, resale. In which position did you place resale?

904
01:07:17,600 --> 01:07:32,880
 I'm sorry, Jamie. That's 10. Okay. Got it. Got it. Deanna, do you have one for me on this one?

905
01:07:32,880 --> 01:07:40,320
 Okay. Great. Thank you. All right. Last but not least, special events. Which position did

906
01:07:40,320 --> 01:07:51,280
 you place special events? All right. Terrific. Thank you.

907
01:07:51,280 --> 01:07:59,920
 Okay. Caroline, would you mind putting the slide deck back up, please?

908
01:08:07,520 --> 01:08:19,120
 Advance to the next slide, please. Next slide, please. All right. So just a quick review,

909
01:08:19,120 --> 01:08:24,160
 reminder that your contributions today are incredibly important to the placement of the

910
01:08:24,160 --> 01:08:29,680
 categories on the continuum. We're going to be taking your responses along with those of

911
01:08:29,680 --> 01:08:34,640
 the staff who participated in this exercise about a week and a half ago. And we're going to be

912
01:08:34,640 --> 01:08:38,800
 plotting the categories on the continuum again from those in the bottom left, aligning most with the

913
01:08:38,800 --> 01:08:43,600
 common good to those in the top right being most individualized. And as you can see on the vertical

914
01:08:43,600 --> 01:08:50,160
 axis there, the intention is that we will begin to have cost recovery goals set so that those

915
01:08:50,160 --> 01:08:55,360
 categories that align most with the common good can justifiably receive more subsidy dollars,

916
01:08:55,360 --> 01:09:00,640
 more taxpayer resource, and have a lesser cost recovery expectation than those categories in the

917
01:09:00,640 --> 01:09:06,160
 top right that will have a lesser investment of taxpayer dollars and a higher cost recovery

918
01:09:06,160 --> 01:09:10,560
 expectation. But this creates a graphic representation and illustration of the

919
01:09:10,560 --> 01:09:14,960
 department's cost recovery strategy moving forward. And we simply refer to it as a continuum.

920
01:09:14,960 --> 01:09:22,800
 Next slide, please. So next step is very simply, repeat message here, we'll be synthesizing your

921
01:09:22,800 --> 01:09:28,240
 responses along with those of the staff from the work sessions that were conducted that will allow

922
01:09:28,240 --> 01:09:33,840
 us to design the first iteration of the cost recovery strategy, which is very simply a beneficiary

923
01:09:33,840 --> 01:09:37,760
 of service model, meaning there won't be any cost recovery expectations or goals on there yet

924
01:09:37,760 --> 01:09:42,240
 because we haven't completed the cost of service analysis. So we'll simply have the categories on

925
01:09:42,240 --> 01:09:46,800
 the continuum. That becomes the beneficiary of service model and the first iteration of the

926
01:09:46,800 --> 01:09:51,600
 cost recovery strategy. And behind the scenes, I mentioned behind the curtain, we'll continue

927
01:09:51,600 --> 01:09:56,320
 to conduct the cost of service work, ultimately getting to the place where that cost of service

928
01:09:56,320 --> 01:10:02,720
 work is finished. We'll meet with Gary and Megan and Caroline and the rest of the team will unveil

929
01:10:02,720 --> 01:10:07,920
 the results of the cost of service analysis, which allows them to see current cost recovery

930
01:10:07,920 --> 01:10:13,280
 performance levels for every service within the system, which also includes how much taxpayer

931
01:10:13,280 --> 01:10:18,480
 dollar is being directed towards every one of those services. Ultimately, that information along

932
01:10:18,480 --> 01:10:23,760
 with some other guiding principles will help that team determine what cost recovery goals can be

933
01:10:23,760 --> 01:10:29,600
 for the foreseeable future. The typical strategy continuum right now is anywhere from 24 to 36

934
01:10:29,600 --> 01:10:36,560
 months. And I'm certain that Gary and team will continue to keep you updated and kind of in the

935
01:10:36,560 --> 01:10:42,400
 loop in terms of the development of that strategy, that cost recovery strategy continuum. So those

936
01:10:42,400 --> 01:10:46,560
 are the immediate next steps in the process. And we're probably about four weeks, three to four

937
01:10:46,560 --> 01:10:54,720
 weeks out from completing this particular project. So Caroline, with that, there's a final slide here

938
01:10:54,720 --> 01:10:58,960
 just as a placeholder to see if anyone has any thoughts, comments, questions they would like to

939
01:10:58,960 --> 01:11:06,080
 share before we wrap up this evening. Yeah, I do if we have time. Go ahead, James. You first go.

940
01:11:12,720 --> 01:11:17,200
 Well, I'm muted. There we go. Now I got it. Okay. Yeah, it just wasn't going, the hand wasn't

941
01:11:17,200 --> 01:11:24,480
 grabbing the thing, right? Probably because I'm a clutch, okay, normally. But I just, how do you

942
01:11:24,480 --> 01:11:30,720
 factor in anything, like went for replacement, like playgrounds, you typically have to replace them.

943
01:11:30,720 --> 01:11:36,720
 You cost, you would put that in there like every 10 years we're going to place a, you know, and then

944
01:11:36,720 --> 01:11:42,080
 you put that factor in when you do the overall cost now. So I'm just trying to figure out, you say

945
01:11:42,080 --> 01:11:50,240
 capital monies. I saw that, but what cost you consider that to be capital or just to be maintenance?

946
01:11:50,240 --> 01:11:58,560
 So right now we're working with the staff to collect the expenditures data that is more

947
01:11:58,560 --> 01:12:03,520
 operationally focused. They will have the opportunity and ability if they want to go down

948
01:12:03,520 --> 01:12:09,920
 deep and start calling out depreciation or connect the dots with capital. They certainly have the

949
01:12:09,920 --> 01:12:16,480
 ability to do that right now. We're keeping it very focused on the operating expenses for the system,

950
01:12:16,480 --> 01:12:22,080
 but our hope and our expectation for many systems, depending on whether or not they want to take

951
01:12:22,080 --> 01:12:26,160
 advantage of it is to really start thinking about the things that you're speaking about.

952
01:12:26,160 --> 01:12:30,320
 How do we connect this to our asset management plan? How do we think about replacement costs?

953
01:12:30,320 --> 01:12:37,120
 And this for us is always a, let's start somewhere exercise because for some organizations and not

954
01:12:37,120 --> 01:12:40,560
 necessarily Gary's crew here, but some organizations, this is the first time they've really,

955
01:12:40,560 --> 01:12:46,000
 you know, dove into the details of these indirect expenses and the capital expenses.

956
01:12:46,000 --> 01:12:51,440
 So this is this more high level, let's get the party started. Let's start collecting this

957
01:12:51,440 --> 01:12:56,880
 information. But our hope and intention with every organization we work with is let's get deeper,

958
01:12:56,880 --> 01:13:00,800
 right? Because all of the things you mentioned are expenses associated with delivering services.

959
01:13:01,360 --> 01:13:07,600
 So absolutely. Good question, James. Yeah, thank you. The guy reminded me of this is,

960
01:13:07,600 --> 01:13:11,120
 it's no good to buy a Cadillac if you can't put gas in it.

961
01:13:11,120 --> 01:13:20,480
 If you can't take care of it, then why get the car in first place? That's, you know. Sure, absolutely.

962
01:13:20,480 --> 01:13:26,560
 Other questions for me, I'm going to certainly pass the controls and Mike back to Gary to close

963
01:13:26,560 --> 01:13:30,480
 tonight, but I want to open the floor for any thoughts, comments, questions you have for

964
01:13:30,480 --> 01:13:37,520
 for me this evening. I mean, just as a thought from me, a lot of these seem to be dovetailing

965
01:13:37,520 --> 01:13:45,920
 together. No, I mean, the rental and the resale and it's like, it's not an either or proposition,

966
01:13:45,920 --> 01:13:51,600
 right? I mean, all these dovetailing together, there's no reason why we can't have community

967
01:13:51,600 --> 01:13:59,840
 events and the resale and you know, it's a it's a it's a great exercise and made my head hurt,

968
01:13:59,840 --> 01:14:07,920
 but I appreciate that where you're going. Yeah. Also is, I'm trying to keep my personal experiences

969
01:14:07,920 --> 01:14:13,440
 out of it that I know I see what I saw in the past and how I've worked in the past with different

970
01:14:13,440 --> 01:14:21,200
 groups. This is a great exercise. I appreciate you doing this. Yeah, you bet. You bet. Thank you,

971
01:14:21,200 --> 01:14:25,840
 Jerry. David? Yeah, just to add on to that, I think one of the challenges I think probably all of us

972
01:14:25,840 --> 01:14:32,800
 have with it is it's very difficult to to kind of eliminate importance because it has nothing to do

973
01:14:32,800 --> 01:14:37,520
 with how important it is, you know, from this exercise and that's it. That's kind of a challenge.

974
01:14:37,520 --> 01:14:42,480
 I know it was for me. Yes, it is. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely, David. Thank you. That's good. Yeah.

975
01:14:42,480 --> 01:14:48,560
 And keep in mind, that's why I often emphasize the word ranking and it is about beneficiary and

976
01:14:48,560 --> 01:14:52,320
 that's why we create service categories. I want you to imagine just for a moment if we would have

977
01:14:52,320 --> 01:14:57,920
 had service areas like youth sports and adult sports and seniors and it becomes a very different

978
01:14:57,920 --> 01:15:03,840
 exercise. So categorization as I mentioned earlier as I walked through kind of the, you know, the

979
01:15:03,840 --> 01:15:09,920
 foundations for tonight, service categories help us diminish social values debates. If I'm a ball

980
01:15:09,920 --> 01:15:14,400
 player, that may be all I'm interested in, right? That's the most important thing to me. If I go to

981
01:15:14,400 --> 01:15:18,720
 the senior center, that's the most important thing to me. If I have a child in an afterschool program,

982
01:15:18,720 --> 01:15:22,880
 that's the most important thing to me. So the categories really level the playing field and

983
01:15:22,880 --> 01:15:30,080
 it allows us to see things a little differently. So yeah, you're spot on. Frances? Simply stated,

984
01:15:30,080 --> 01:15:36,320
 thank you for including us in the process. Of course. Yeah, I appreciate your contributions

985
01:15:36,320 --> 01:15:45,360
 tonight. Absolutely. Alana? Hi, yes. Thanks for having this. One thing I was just thinking about

986
01:15:45,360 --> 01:15:53,440
 is when we're looking at like the three-legged stool for cost recovery, I see that there's a

987
01:15:53,440 --> 01:16:01,200
 lot of emphasis on like the social benefits and the fiscal benefits. So I don't see a lot in here

988
01:16:01,200 --> 01:16:11,040
 about the environmental benefits of the services. So I'm not sure what you mean by the environmental

989
01:16:11,040 --> 01:16:20,320
 benefits. So we know like we're specifically talking about the benefits of, you know,

990
01:16:20,320 --> 01:16:26,160
 the resale. I would say that's more of like an economic thing and then the community stuff,

991
01:16:26,160 --> 01:16:32,160
 kind of like the social stuff. And it's really emphasizing that a lot of the opportunity that

992
01:16:32,160 --> 01:16:38,800
 the parks has is preserving our nature. Of course. And I understand that's non-monitored open access.

993
01:16:38,800 --> 01:16:45,680
 You have it as, you know, an option, but just to like clarify that you have to balance the economic,

994
01:16:45,680 --> 01:16:53,680
 the social, and the environmental throughout. Sure, sure. And yeah, and keep in mind, we weren't

995
01:16:53,680 --> 01:16:59,200
 speaking in terms of social or economic benefit. This was about does a service align with the common

996
01:16:59,200 --> 01:17:05,680
 good, which you might perceive that as the environmental benefits to our community, right?

997
01:17:05,680 --> 01:17:11,360
 The common good versus an individual benefit. So it wasn't, I wasn't, I hope there wasn't a

998
01:17:11,360 --> 01:17:17,040
 misunderstanding about the beneficiary being the common good versus the individual, because there

999
01:17:17,040 --> 01:17:21,920
 really wasn't a reference to social benefit or economic benefit. It was about who benefits in

1000
01:17:21,920 --> 01:17:30,400
 your community. Okay. Okay. Can I throw something in just real quick? Yeah. Yeah, please. As you were

1001
01:17:30,400 --> 01:17:38,880
 going through your presentation, the operational costs struck me. Okay. And I remembered how Gary

1002
01:17:38,880 --> 01:17:46,480
 and Drew, as we're going through all these plans, the more native we go and the more natural we go,

1003
01:17:46,480 --> 01:17:52,720
 it's going to cut the operational costs down. I mean, it's going to require less maintenance.

1004
01:17:53,520 --> 01:18:01,120
 And so that's where I was thinking that the environmental aspect, Elena, came in, that as

1005
01:18:01,120 --> 01:18:08,400
 it's designed correctly and how we have input in the design, that's going to be a huge impact on

1006
01:18:08,400 --> 01:18:13,760
 that. Yeah. And what you're speaking about are the costs associated with delivering services,

1007
01:18:13,760 --> 01:18:20,560
 right? So maybe in Alana's case, you know, we're thinking about conservation, preservation efforts

1008
01:18:20,560 --> 01:18:25,840
 that the organization's making. Those become costs associated with providing parks to your community.

1009
01:18:25,840 --> 01:18:30,320
 Yeah, yes. So we don't have, you're going to notice those categories are the deliverables

1010
01:18:30,320 --> 01:18:35,040
 to the community. They're experiences you provide. They're not the costs. So we don't have maintenance

1011
01:18:35,040 --> 01:18:40,000
 costs in there, right? You know, things James was mentioning, those become part of the cost of service

1012
01:18:40,000 --> 01:18:45,360
 analysis, but they're not services you're providing to the community. They're costs associated with

1013
01:18:45,360 --> 01:18:50,000
 delivering those services to the community. Does that make sense? Yeah. They're the costs

1014
01:18:50,560 --> 01:18:56,640
 associated with deliverables, but they can be transferred to another category that we save here,

1015
01:18:56,640 --> 01:19:01,920
 we pay here, right? Yeah, potentially, depending on the cost, yeah. Yeah, we're not paying Peter

1016
01:19:01,920 --> 01:19:07,200
 so much we can get Paul more money, you know, one of those. There you go. Yeah, yeah.

1017
01:19:07,200 --> 01:19:13,600
 Any other questions for me this evening before I turn it back over to Gary?

1018
01:19:13,600 --> 01:19:19,440
 I have no questions, but I'm really glad I don't have Gary's job to make these decisions. So

1019
01:19:20,400 --> 01:19:25,840
 you go, boy. You're good. There you go. There you go. All right. Well, once again, I very much

1020
01:19:25,840 --> 01:19:32,720
 appreciate your time this evening as a pleasure virtually meeting all of you. And it's, I'm happy

1021
01:19:32,720 --> 01:19:37,360
 that you were willing to do this this evening because it really helps strengthen this work

1022
01:19:37,360 --> 01:19:42,000
 for the organization. So thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Jamie. Thanks, Jamie.

1023
01:19:44,720 --> 01:19:50,640
 So Jerry, I guess to follow up your question that this entire process helps guide us and helps with

1024
01:19:50,640 --> 01:19:58,480
 the decision making process when everything from setting our fees to, you know, justifying fee

1025
01:19:58,480 --> 01:20:06,080
 increases or adjustments, you know, continuing with certain programs. So this really helps us

1026
01:20:06,080 --> 01:20:12,720
 make that decision. Everything from staff to board to city council, you know, especially during

1027
01:20:12,720 --> 01:20:21,440
 budgetary processes. So this is a, it's a big map, I guess, for us to help us in that process.

1028
01:20:21,440 --> 01:20:26,800
 Well, that's why we're here, man. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. So we'll definitely be

1029
01:20:26,800 --> 01:20:31,840
 reaching out with you with updates and summaries here in the near future as we kind of wrap up the

1030
01:20:31,840 --> 01:20:40,240
 cohort. But wanted to appreciate everyone's time as this special meeting. And I guess I'll turn

1031
01:20:40,240 --> 01:20:49,040
 it back over to to the chair. Okay, does anybody have anything else today? I love your bus.

1032
01:20:49,040 --> 01:20:56,480
 It's not mine. It's actually my parents. I let them sit here so that I can borrow it.

1033
01:20:56,480 --> 01:21:03,680
 Okay, well, I guess we'll see each other in a couple of weeks. Jamie, thanks again.

1034
01:21:05,200 --> 01:21:10,320
 Bye, everyone. Thank you so much. Bye. Bye. Here.