01/08/1990 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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e e facilities, we don't have enough! And the ones we do have are not well maintained; in fact some of them aren't even in existence, like the old Jefferson Pool. We have many needs today. That's why I am proposing that we create a task force, put together of people throughout the community, from all aspects of this community, to come up with a recommendation for the building and mainte- nance of sports and recreation facilities. The largest map on my left is a reflection of what could happen if we would do this. That map is merely a compilation of the needs that the City has already identified through the Parks Master Plan; what School District 4J has said they would need for sports and recreation facilities; what the Bethel District said they need for sports and recreation facilities; what we hear coming from Emerald Kidsports; and there are many others that would need to be added to that list. On that list are things such as swimming pools, ball fields, soccer fields, the various amenities that make a community highly livable. We need to look at this and come up with solutions and pool our resources in a united way where we work together and not separately; where we become creative; where we involve private business, volunteers, and even the military reserves to help meet the awesome challenge that is before us when we look at the needs we have for facilities in this community. Now let me give you an example of how this could work. We get together and determine that there is a need in a given area. There is a company, the XYZ company that is willing to invest in this community; or groups of companies that say, "yes, we'll pool our resources," and we have something that could be dedicated to those efforts of those businesses who want to see this hap- pen. We use the Army volunteers, the volunteers from the community, to help construct and build it, and then the school districts or the colleges come together with the City and we have found a funding source to make sure that what we build does not deteriorate but is maintained at an adequate level. I am asking the council to take a step when we don't have all of the answers to what this community needs and what we could to do respond to this need of improving our facilities and building more. I am asking the council to appoint a task force that will set priorities for sports and recreation facilities, communitywide, that we will look for creative ways to build the needed facilities within this task force, and then that task force will recommend the funding and the financing, for not only the building, but for maintaining them in a cooperative effort, so we as government entities do not waste dollars that are so limited in providing the same kind of service. If we are creative, this approach will give us improved facilities for less money than we would otherwise pay. We need to create a vision, a united vision, that will challenge our communi- ty. . . a vision supported by funding that is creative in its approach, acceptable to our citizens and from which we can build and maintain our facilities. Let us commit ourselves to making the decade of the 90s a decade in which we build a lasting legacy to our community and to our youth. ~ Now these are two challenges that are critical to the future of our community and to us as citizens, I believe: providing housing that is decent and STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS: MAYOR JEFF MILLER January 8, 1990 Page 5