Letter from Mayor McNamara to RPD

To:

Jay Sandine, Rockford Park District

First, congratulations to Martesha Brown and the entire board of the Rockford Park District. Martesha, no doubt, will be an exceptional addition to your board and our community.

I was hoping to join you and speak on the proposed Action Plan 2020 Update of RPO. Unfortunately, due to the last-minute time change of the meeting I am unable to attend, as we have a special City Council meeting after Committee meetings this evening.

I want to thank the board and staff of RPD for the work you have put into this plan. While I am not in favor of the entire plan, I can obviously see the work and energy that went into its development . I do strongly support the board's renewed interest and priority of neighborhood parks. Our neighborhood parks are a great asset and it is good to see RPD is now planning to reinvest and update our parks with more regular maintenance and programming than has occurred in recent years.

I have a number of concerns with the new Action Plan. As mayor of Rockford, which pays 69.5 percent, or approximately $16.5 million of the $23.7 million, of all Park District property taxes, as well as the majority of your fees, I believe it is imperative that you hear immediately my strong concerns.

• Riverview Ice House - The Ice House is an asset in our City. Much work and many partnerships have made our downtown what it is today and the 300,000 hockey visitors to our community plays a critical role, not just for the Park District or the City of Rockford but for dozens of small and locally-owned businesses.

I was born and raised on the west side of Rockford and I joined numerous neighbors in skate nights and hockey teams as a youth. Because significant investments have not been made for many years, I understand the existing R-22 system is now obsolete.

Through numerous conversations with your Director and Board Chair, I understand that for less than $6 million, we could totally refurbish the mechanical systems, the exterior, including the roof, and the interior, including new locker rooms and concessions. This is far less than the proposed $11M to build one sheet of ice in Loves Park. I have offered to assist the Board in securing State and local funds to help make the Ice House an amenity that stays in Rockford for future generations to enjoy.

I understand that you currently "subsidize" this facility. However, you certainly do not subsidize the Ice House any more than Lockwood Park, which is subsidized to the tune of $464,000 (Rockford Register Star).

Lastly, I believe that Ice House provides a unique opportunity to follow one of your top priorities - focusing on youth and teens. Here is a unique effort that could be easily duplicated in our community and impact those who need your services and programs most - https://figureskating inharlem .org/

• UW Health Sports Factory - This was a $24 million regional partnership-one of the most significant in our community's history. I was on City Council and appointed by Mayor Morrissey to be on the special committee to review the building of UW Health Sports Factory.

At each meeting, and through letters of support and public participation at City Council, the Park District Directors, staff and board members urged the City of Rockford to invest heavily in the UW Health Sports Factory. The City of Rockford answered the call, brought millions of state and federal dollars to the initiative, and agreed to pay $825,000 annually.

In addition, the City was told we needed a downtown hotel to aid us in the securing of multi-day tournaments-we then answered this call by investing and helping develop now-open Embassy Suites Hotel and Rockford Conference Center. The Park District paid approximately $3.75 million toward the initial $24 million construction and the City of Rockford either paid the rest or brought the funds for the entirety of this project. To learn of your request to renegotiate this agreement from your Action Plan is disappointing at best and infuriating.

While I always am open to discussion, we must be cognizant of the commitments we made, including those by this park district and board, many of those members and staff remain the same as when the UW Health Sports Factory was brought forward just a few short years ago.

• Clarence Hicks Park - I support additional investment at Hicks Park. However, the new action plan has no financials, no funding sources and no timelines for such investment. I would need additional details and information to ensure that this is not the Park District working to move more resources once in Rockford to Loves Park-eliminating programming at Sportscore 1 only to have them land at Sportscore 2.

• Community Swimming Pools - I join others who were caught off guard by the item that seemed to telegraph the coming closure of neighborhood swimming pools. I believe our community swimming pools are a great asset to our community, providing recreation and an opportunity to learn water safety to residents young and old. I would hope you would exhaust every sponsorship and partnership resource before you close any of the pools.

Overall, I think components of the plan are good. However, I believe the major moves of community investments and resources to Loves Park are shortsighted, rushed and fail to consider where the majority of property tax revenues are derived.

I am concerned that we are being forced to have an 'either or' conversation instead of an 'and' conversation in public. These types of conversations in public pit us, as tax-funded public agencies, against each other when we should be working together. In many ways, it feels as though the Park District is weaponizing investments in our neighborhood parks, stating that we can only have maintained parks in our neighborhoods if Rockford loses major assets such as UW Health Sports Factory, Sportscore 1 and Riverview Ice House.

In addition to my concerns in the new proposed Action Plan, I would state from our experience at the City that it is beneficial to get outside experts to review budgets and allocation of tax dollars. Since joining the City Council in 2013 and now as Mayor, I've seen the City have tremendous success in leveraging outside expertise and counsel.

This occurred under both under Mayor Morrissey's and now my administration. I do not believe the Park District has done this; if not ever, certainly not in recent years. I suggest this not to discredit existing staff, but rather to use a fresh set of eyes with best practice experience as a useful tool and resource to improve operations and finances.

I stand willing and able to work on a task force with you and other community leaders to ensure that we can invest in our parks and continue to be a leader in youth sports and sports tourism. Together we can develop creative options to keep our much-needed major facilities open and enhance our parks and youth programming at the same time.

Sincerely,

Thomas P. McNamara

Mayor, City of Rockford