Starkville officials are asking residents to attend a three-day set of meetings designed to gather public input for its park system’s master planning efforts.
Tonight’s meeting is scheduled at the Needmore Center, located at 610 East Gillespie St., from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Planners with Dalhoff Thomas Design Studio will then meet with the general public Wednesday at the Sportsplex and Thursday at City Hall. Both of those meetings are from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., as well.
Aldermen tapped the Oxford- and Memphis, Tennessee-based consulting firm in September to lead an overall effort to develop a master plan for Starkville Parks and Recreation.
This week’s series of meetings is the second of a five-step process to assess the system, identify future growth and develop recommendations for the future. Previously, the firm inventoried the current park system. After receiving public input, it will evaluate growth patterns, project future usage needs and develop recommendations to maintain the current system and plot out future expansion.
Starkville Mayor Parker Wiseman and Ward 4 Alderman Jason Walker both said public turnout and input is essential to improving the system.
“We’re building the universe of possibilities as we look to invest in our parks for the future. You want to start with broad feedback now and narrow it down through the process,” Wiseman said. “Public conversations need to be front and center in terms of shaping our park system. All of us have ideas about future opportunities, but we know that limited funding will always keep us from doing everything we’d like to do. It’s absolutely critical to the process that we have robust public discussions. Not only does it give the consultants a richer context of the needs, but it also provides an avenue for building the vision for the future.”
City leaders have reached out to various groups that utilize the parks system, including the local soccer association and the advisory group that helped develop recommendations as Starkville took over the once-autonomous department last year, in hopes of generating the needed conversations.
“I hope we can identify the areas where we’re deficient and plot a way to improve. For example, we need to fully understand our amenities — or the lack thereof — for a community our size. This ties directly into how we allocate resources for our system now and possible expansion in the future,” Walker said. “Once we know where we’re at, then we’ll know how to move forward.”
Hiring a long-range planner was recommended by the Starkville Parks Advisory Board, which was formed as aldermen began a process to take over the financially fledgling group.
City getting grip on parks’ late utility bills
Since the city disbanded the Starkville Park Commission last summer, Wiseman made it a priority to pay off the department’s late electric bills.
An aggressive payment plan was implemented then, one in which Wiseman said Monday he was confident would bring SPR even with its Starkville Utility Department arrearages.
SPR now owes approximately $70,000 in back payments, a figure that has dropped from September’s $102,000 mark.
The city has erased SPR’s long-term late payments, the mayor said, after increasing its general fund contribution for the department’s utilities line item.
“I’m optimistic with the timeline we previously set that said we should be completely current by late spring, and that’s at the very latest,” Wiseman said.
In June, Wiseman announced the city would almost double its monthly utility payments to reduce the overall arrearages. For Fiscal Year 2015-2016, aldermen set aside $450,000 for utility payments, which reflected an almost $150,000 increase from SPC line items of the past.
Financial issues within SPR emerged in 2013 after audits showed the department was grossly behind on its electric bill. Aldermen then went on to approve a $100,000 funding increase for the independent commission, but the board was forced to approve a subsequent $60,000 bailout in 2014 with projections showed SPC would not be able to meet payroll and other financial obligations.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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