Photo Credit: Randy Burkhardt
While “building more for less” is a familiar mantra, it is now more critical than ever that parks and recreation agencies really explore and embrace how to accomplish this task. Let’s face it—just because budgets are shrinking doesn’t mean the project load has diminished, or that elected officials will stop making commitments to the public that directly affect the way we operate both with capital development and maintenance funding.
Douglas County in Colorado leverages capital and maintenance dollars by creating design and funding teams with the surrounding local, regional, state, and federal governmental and quasi-governmental agencies to construct and maintain major park and trail projects. These are generally large regional projects that no individual agency would have the resources to complete in a timely manner. Any agency that will participate financially or in-kind is included. While partnership groups that plan, design, construct, and maintain large regional projects are not a new concept, the actual application of forming a partnership is something that many agencies will need to explore in these challenging financial times.
Forming partnerships can be challenging, but if agencies can look past petty differences and grasp the bigger picture of providing great parks and trails for the public, the opportunities are substantial.