Recreation Fund

The Parks & Recreation Department supports our community’s quality of life by providing safe beautiful spaces to enjoy, enriching events and programs to encourage community building, life-long learning, and opportunities to engage and build relationships.

The Parks and Recreation Director manages day-to-day operations of the Department with support from full and part-time staff and advisory support from the Parks and Recreation Commission. The Parks and Recreation Department provides a variety of programs, classes, services, Child Care, and community events for both Town residents and non-residents of all ages and abilities. Staff prioritize providing quality programs and experiences to participants through well-executed staff-led and contract classes and events. Offerings are unique and affordable, intended to build life-long relationships with families.

The goal of the Recreation Fund is to be self-supporting with the exception of general administrative functions, such as: salary/benefits of the Director, front desk support, legal costs, internet services and some maintenance staff and functions within the department. The Recreation Fund recoups its expenditures through class and program fees, advertising sales, partnerships, sponsorships, and rental/reservation income.

Communication

Consistent outreach:

• Social media marketing, newsletters, and physical and online digital guide.
• Introduction of printed menu of summer camps and classes offered for summer of 2022 and 2023, upgraded afterschool menus of classes/programs.

Website:

• Improvements made to content and navigation for easier navigation.

RecPro (registration software):

• Utilized more of the system’s functionality. Added Summer Camps to day-by-day registration system used for Child Care registration.
• Continued training with RecPro staff as needed

Relationships:

• Continue to strengthen relationships and partnership with School District, community groups, Corte Madera Library, and Larkspur Recreation. When possible, engaged groups to partner and collaborate on events and programs.
• Holiday readings with the library, supporting school read-a-thons, and collaborating with the Lions to host a bar for art receptions, park projects like the new waste/recycling/compost with the Painted Bins project in association with Sustainable Marin.
• Worked with the School District to serve low-income students to provide after summer school care for 35 students and afterschool Child Care for 5 students as part of the District’s EL Program.

Programs/Services

Classes:

• Priority on offering highest quality and largest variety.
• Department offered 261 classes in 2022/23 (66 for adults and 195 for youth), 75% increase over classes offered in 2021/22 Fiscal Year.

Programs:

• Scholarship Program: Developed and implemented scholarship program to serve youth and adults with higher priority given to Corte Madera and Larkspur residents. Awarded 35 scholarship this year.
• Summer Camp 2022: added support of the School District summer school program, served 35 children on full scholarship for afternoons at Camp.
• Child Care: Enhanced registration process to allow flexibility to sign up only for days care is needed, while retaining ability to easily add days as needed.
• Active Older Adult Programming: Offered free or low cost Chair Yoga, Senior Fitness, Seniors in Balance and Senior Walks, along with the return of Bridge and the AARP Smart Driver Course.
• Corte Madera FC (Soccer): Fall youth participation increased, serving 1,234 players between Recreational and Competitive teams. Spring clinics had 553 players. The revenue projection for fiscal year 2022/23 was $750K and as of April 2023, the program has brought in over $820K.

Services:

• Continued our program in coordination with the County of Marin to provide lunch for Seniors and in-person lunch returned mid-year. Bingo was brought back in the morning before the served lunch for folks who wanted to participate.
• Over 220 Tennis Keys sold as of April 2023. Park and Recreation Commission plans to do a test run of Pickleball at the Granada Courts during Spring 2023 to assess the feasibility of striping those courts for Pickleball.

Events:

• Assisted the Community Foundation by hosting a game booth and setting up outdoor family games at the Fourth of July event.
• In October, held a Pumpkin Carving Night with Glow Show and Prizes, with families invited to stay and join the REC Inc. Halloween Dance.
• Partnered with Corte Madera Women’s Club, Jazzercise and community members to hold the Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot 5k. Approximately 250 people ran, jogged, walked, strolled, biked and scootered the course.
• In December held the annual Holiday Home Decorating contest, Holiday Light Tours for Seniors, Letters to Santa, and Gingerbread House Decorating Workshop
• Hosted two art exhibitions
• Held two Egg Hunts in partnership with City of Larkspur: a flashlight hunt at night at Piper Park, and the annual Twin Cities Egg Hunt at Town Park. About 850 people attended.

Adults with Developmental Disabilities:

• Continued to host monthly dances and resumed in-person classes and events that averaged 50-80 people. In-person activities included meetings, a sports event, holiday dinner, and movie nights.

Planning

• Facility improvements: The Community Foundation and Women’s Club purchased a lift for use at the Community Center making it easier to repair lighting and replace blubs and complete other work requiring something sturdier than a ladder.
• Town Park Restrooms: New restrooms have been approved by the Town Council, Planning commission and Parks and Recreation Commission.
• Master Plan: The Town has been working closely with consultants mack5 and RHAA Landscape Architects to update the Parks and Recreation Master Plan. In 2022-2023 the Town completed Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the project.

Staffing

Open Positions:

Following Director Ashley Howe’s departure, Program Manager Tim Barry was promoted to Acting Director. The Department also currently has one Program Coordinator position open. Town Council approved opening a Recreation Supervisor position to create a more even hierarchical structure within the department. That position will be filled to start the 2023-2024 Fiscal Year.

Employee Engagement & Training:

• Continued to host regular staff meetings via Zoom.
• Sent a staff member to the CPRS Annual Conference in San Diego, CA.
• Staff set to complete Food Manager Certification, and Food Handler Certification to better serve our Seniors.

Communication

• Continue consistent outreach: Mail Chimp emails, Facebook, Instagram, Nextdoor, Town newsletter and school newsletters, digital guide, printed class menus to students at Neil Cummins and The Cove schools, and printed guide mailed to residents in Corte Madera, Larkspur, and Greenbrae three times a year.
• Website: continue improvements to content and navigation.
• RecPro (program registration and reservation software): continue to implement changes to improve customer experience, ease of reservation, and fiscal year reconciliation including addition of accrual accounting. Evaluate possible move to a different software vendor with track record in Recreation Management.
• Relationships: Continue to strengthen relationships with school district, community groups, Corte Madera Library, and Larkspur Recreation, and engage groups to partner and collaborate on events and programs where possible

Programs/Services

• Classes: Continue diverse offering of program areas for youth and prioritize quality, safety and variety. Increase number of classes and programs designed for older adults and seniors. Institute the use of a program quality review tool to assess programs that are not effective and add classes that are.
• Programs: Continue to work with Corte Madera FC to ensure our return of revenue is appropriate. Work with The Ranch for Adult Softball program provided at Town Park. Work with Parks and Recreation Commission to determine the feasibility of striping the courts at Granada for Pickleball use.
• Services: Continue to coordinate with County of Marin to provide weekly in-person congregate meals. Maintain annual Tennis/Pickleball Court Key Sales and improve signage and supervision of unauthorized court use.
• Events: Further develop community events such as music, movies, food trucks, etc. Continue to host art exhibitions and consider adding a youth exhibition.
• Adults with Developmental Disabilities: continue to host monthly dances and in-person classes, meetings, basketball, holiday dinner, and movie nights.

Planning

• Facility improvements: The new Town Park Restrooms will be installed in Fall, 2024.
• Master Plan: Continue work with consultants to complete Phases 3 and 4 of Parks and Recreation Master Plan. Plan will be presented to Town Council for adoption in Fall, 2024.
• Improvement to Policies, Forms, and Agreements: Continue to update forms and collateral, develop use agreements for community groups identified in master fee schedule. Translate policies, forms, and agreements into Spanish. Improve forms related to special event permit and film permit, memorial program, and indoor facility rentals.
• Emergency preparation: prepare for emergency evacuation support through regular communication with NRG Coordinator, monitoring inventory list of supplies and food resources/connections, and communications (residents and staff).

Staffing

Continue to evaluate Department’s organizational chart to determine the team needed to fully staff programs, services, and support facility rentals.

Employee Engagement & Training: Continue to host regular staff meetings via Zoom, continue to encouraged team to seek education & training opportunities in general and specifically through the California Park & Recreation Society (CPRS) events, meetings, calls which provide staff with a network of professionals and resources. Continue to encourage team to consider leading education sessions at future CPRS trainings.

In FY 2023-2024, one full-time Recreation Supervisor position is responsible for facility rentals (Community Center, Parks and Fields and Neil Cummins Gymnasium). One full-time Recreation Coordinator is responsible for youth and adult enrichment classes and Rec Inc. One three-quarter-time Recreation Assistant manages Active Older Adults. Half of the salaries are charged to the Corte Madera Sales Tax Fund (for Senior and Youth Programs) and the benefits are charged to Recreation Administration.

There are 5 year round part-time Recreation Assistants, four work an average of 30 hours per week, and one works an average of 15-20 hours per week. Three part-time (30 hours/week) Recreation Assistant positions responsible for programming and facility management are charged to the Recreation Administration account. One part-time (30 hours/week) Recreation Assistant position dedicated to Child Care and Summer Camp is charged to each program based on the season. One part-time (15-20 hours/week) Recreation Assistant position responsible for Department administration and customer service is charged to the General Fund.

There are also 4 seasonal part-time Recreation Assistants who work and average of 30 hours per week and as charged to each program based on the season and activity.

The full-time Facility Attendant II position is 50% funded by the General Fund and 50% funded by the Recreation Administration account.