The City of Humboldt is working toward agreements that encourage partnerships with community organizations on the development of the community’s outdoor recreation facilities. A great example is the contribution of the Water Ridge Park Playground Committee and the Bill Brecht Park Committee. In the case of the former, the group fundraised over $200,000 for the installation of a pickleball court and a substantial playground in Water Ridge Park. The Bill Brecht Park group is continuing its efforts to establish a new inclusive playground on the city’s southeast side. 

The existing city policy, established in 2016, was designed to encourage that kind of participation. At the regular March meeting of City Council, councillors entertained a recommendation to enact a new policy that would broaden the types of projects the city would engage with. The City would also be able to establish specific targeted partnerships that would have their own unique processes and criteria. 

City Manager Joe Day spoke to the recommendation.

“What we found was, as the Director (Mike Ulriksen, director of community and leisure services)  was reviewing some of his policies, was that the Parks Enhancement Partnership Policy was not really that well written in the context of how we actually are going out and speaking with community groups to try and encourage them to partner with the city for different types of enhancements.”

The replacement policy aims to provide more flexibility in how the city can support various endeavours, from playgrounds, to park benches, to memorials. The new policy removes the reference to a $200,000 amount being allocated by the City toward parks partnership projects. Instead, each project will be judged on its own merits and requirements leaving the City with the leeway to review available funding based on factors such as financial conditions at the time of the review. 

The recommendation, which provides a renewed focus on partnership agreements, passed unanimously.