It’s too soon to start planning for an Indoor or Outdoor Recreation Complex in Greenville, and one of the barriers is local government that does not communicate or cooperate well enough.
That was one of the main messages from Terry Schwartz from the Lakota Group that the Kingsbury Park District contracted to consult on the two possible projects. Schwartz gave his presentation Monday night to the KPD Board and some local leaders in attendance.
Schwartz also pointed out that the KPD lacks the statistical information to show that a large capital project is justified to residents.
Schwartz did say that from the resident interviews they performed during their week-long visit in early June, a recreation complex is very much wanted in Greenville, however without the statistics in program participation it’s impossible to say if the revenue will be there to make the project successful. Schwartz said that complexes like this should be planned without tax revenue, but with revenue from programs, sponsorships, donations and memberships.
In a suggestion to help local government agencies to work together Schwartz said that the local government bodies should build a smaller project that benefits the entire community. That project would demonstrate to the public that local government is working well together and build the trust needed to raise the money for a larger project.
Schwartz also said that local websites need to be better maintained and offer more online registration, and that money would be saved if local governments would combine their individual publications into one publication put out seasonally with all local information. Schwartz said this would also help eliminate duplication of programs and foster more communication in local government. Overall, the main point from Schwartz at the Lakota Group is that local government needs to work better together and the KPD needs to gather more statistics about their programs before a large capital project should be considered.
Schwartz suggested the KPD needs more staff to offer more programs and that new staff members need to be trained that part of their salaries are funded by revenue from programs being offered. The KPD is likely to visit these suggestions in future meetings. The cost of the consultants was $10,000 to the KPD.
