This week’s Citizens Academy met at the John W. Wells Youth Center to learn about the city’s Parks and Community Services Department, which oversees everything from park maintenance and recreation programs to senior services and major construction projects.
Parks and Community Services Director Joseph Hebert gave an in-depth presentation detailing the department’s responsibilities, improvements and challenges in maintaining the city’s parks and public facilities.
The department is responsible for 81 landscape maintenance districts throughout the city. The districts generate approximately $469,726 annually through fees paid by residents in those areas.
“It’s not nearly enough for the 81 districts,” Hebert said.
The department organizes different community events throughout the year, including the Jolly Trolley, Winter Wonderland, a fishing derby, golf tournaments and Halloween activities for families. It also provides youth programming, adult sports, aquatics and services for residents ages 55 and older through two senior centers.
The department partners with Madera Unified School District and the Fresno-Madera Area Agency on Aging to provide programs for different age groups.
Maintaining the city’s parks and landscaping is another major responsibility. The department includes an administrator who serves as director, and four coordinators who oversee areas such as sports, recreation, events, facilities and senior services. Its staff also includes a 14-member full-time park maintenance crew.
The city maintains approximately 9,250 trees, with some tree-trimming work contracted to West Coast Arborists. The city spends approximately $200,000 annually on that contract.
Other contractors and partners include Sierra Golf Management, Sugar Pine Smokehouse, Community Action Partnership of Madera County Inc., SVS and EMTS.
The city’s amenities include 14 parks, three community centers, a skate park, a community garden, a golf course, three outdoor basketball courts, horseshoe pits, three volleyball courts and the Fresno River Trail.
There are currently several projects underway or have recently been completed.
At Rotary Park, two new basketball courts are currently under construction. At Lions Town and Country Park, the city plans to use remaining funds from the trail improvements to redo the parking lots.
Four additional parks are also in different stages of planning and development.
“I like to say this is the department that has fun, but this is really where the nuts and bolts in the seriousness happens,” Hebert said.“We have to come up with money, figure out how we’re gonna spend that money and actually have some kind of concept to move forward when we apply for grants.”
Funding for these projects comes from several sources, including development impact fees, state grants, federal development funding and private donations. Hebert explained that development impact fees are one-time fees collected from new development and set aside for eligible construction and improvements, while grants allow the city to pursue projects that might otherwise be difficult to fund through its regular budget.
Among the projects discussed, the city received $832,000 through the state’s Clean California program for beautification projects and secured $300,000 from Caltrans for cleanup efforts. The funding will support community cleanup days and upcoming dump days.
Water conservation is another priority for the parks department. The city has started to replace median landscaping with rock to reduce water.