06-13-16 PARC - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Perri stated that in the future, he wants to continue to improve and expand the impact of the programs. It's not just how we make the East Race a better experience for people; a lot of details go into each program. We are also going to be conducting experiential auditing of our programs this summer, for example we'll take someone from maintenance and someone from the golf course to see how easy it is to register for camps. We are working to increase public - private partnerships. For example, we are looking to leverage about $20 million in private investment along the Riverwalk. So far we've put in about $2.9 million in grant money into what is called the Blue Ways Trail. We currently have an RFQ out to further design the area between Howard Park and the Farmer's Market. The Regional Cities money will be leveraged for that project. We have a few really small parks that people haven't heard of. Some of them have a lot of opportunity for us to recreate them. We find ourselves in a position where we have a few resources. We have some dedicated funding for the ice skating rink, we have a partnership at Howard Park with the Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi's, we have the Regional Cities grant money, and Notre Dame installing the hydroelectric turbine at Seitz Park. All of the capital projects are in the packet on file with the Office of the City Clerk. Councilmember White asked if there is a sense of when the expansion of the Charles Black Center would take place. Mr. Perri stated that they are waiting on the findings of the EPA investigation. We've been meeting with the users of the Charles Black Center to assure them that the funds set aside for Charles Black would still be there for the project. The plans for the Charles Black Center are almost finalized, but the timing of the project will depend on the EPA's investigation. Committee Chair Kelly thanked Mr. Perri for coming, and asked for an update on Elbel. Mr. Perri stated that about a month ago, the USGA Agronomy Team was in town to look at Elbel and Erskine Parks. They have a draft conclusion report that they are putting the final touches on right now. We've found out that our golf courses are in pretty good shape. They are cross referencing their findings with the environmental experts. We'll have those recommendations posted once they are finalized. We just kicked off the South Bend community golf study to look at how to make our operations identify a business model that's sustainable for golf. Consultants from Keegan and Associates were in town from Colorado for a kick off. The consultant used it as an opportunity to show that we were not even functioning at the top of the bottom quartile of golf courses in the country in terms of our financial performance. We've had about 400 people already take a community survey, which is a pretty impressive response rate. We sent that out to as many contacts as we could. We just wanted to know how often they golf, their evaluation of each course, and the types of ideas they may have for sustainable business models. 3