Nampa Parks and Recreation Department Annual Update Meeting – April 29, 2026
Nampa Parks and Recreation Department Annual Update Meeting – April 29, 2026
The Nampa City Council met on April 29, 2026, to receive the annual department update from the Parks and Recreation Department. The presentation covered the department’s master plan goals, organizational efficiencies, division-by-division accomplishments and challenges, and capital requests for fiscal year 2027. The meeting included discussion of staffing, budget, proposed projects, and revenue models. No public comments were received. The meeting adjourned unanimously.
Discussion Items
- Master Plan Goals (4 pillars): Improving organizational efficiencies; maintaining and improving facilities/amenities; improving program and service delivery; increasing financial opportunities. Specific initiatives include integrated pest management, staff training, asset management software, a new GIS parks dashboard, and a project manager position.
- Efficiencies and Staffing: The department operates with 84% part-time/seasonal employees, saving approximately $23,500 per position compared to full-time. The parks division has experienced high turnover: 21 of 26 employees turned over in the past three years. A third crew lead position was promoted to improve management.
- Tax Subsidy and Cost Recovery: For fiscal year 2025, the recreation division required $3.74 per capita in tax subsidy ($1,232,420 total), and the parks division required $26.58 per capita ($8,759,000 total), for a combined $30.32 per capita. The department achieves 74% cost recovery overall; the golf courses and Harwood Rec Center are self-funded.
- Administration Division: Launched new “Play Nampa” marketing campaign and mascot “Rex” on April 1, 2026. Partnerships with 180+ businesses generated increased cash sponsorships over five years.
- Parks, Forestry, and Cemetery: Maintains 366 acres of parks, 80 acres of pathways, 67 acres of city campuses. Accomplishments include Midway Park phase 3, new AEDs at three parks (donated by Nampa Fire District), CDBG-funded improvements (Critters Court at Lakeview, playground at Optimist Park with artificial turf), and West Park restroom connected to sewer. Future priorities: soccer park (potential property exchange with Nampa School District), new skate park, completion of Midway phases 3 and 4, Lakeview Park shelter replacement, and continued equipment replacement. Capital requests for FY27 include West Nampa pathway grant ($ half), skid steer, trucks, mowers, asphalt maintenance, West Park irrigation phase 3, Lakeview gazebo replacement (historical design for 100th anniversary in 2028), Skyview playground replacement, and $7 million in impact fee requests for Midway phases 3 and 4 (two premier 90-foot turf fields with lighting). Cemetery: Kohler Lawn Cemetery – scattering garden design ready for bid (May 18, 2026), leaf/Christmas tree recycling program (removed 1,000+ cubic yards of compost), capital requests for scattering garden ($478,483 third year) and asphalt repairs ($30,000).
- Harwood Recreation Center: Serves over 500,000 visitors annually. Revenue grew 3% despite rising costs. Challenges: aging facility (built 1994 for 40,000 residents, now serving 123,000), space constraints. Future: expansion concept (15,000 sq ft) requires funding; pursuit of a public recreation center at the former Ford Idaho Center (now CWI) campus. Capital requests: fitness equipment, spa filters/boilers, pool plaster coating, lap pool leak repair ($250,000), combined customer service desk ($25,000 split with recreation).
- Recreation Division & Outdoor Pools: Program participation increased year-over-year for three years. New programs: Run Santa Run, Sunshine & Sound Bites. Grant funds 175 swimming lessons annually for five years. Future: more infrastructure (Midway fields, school gym access) and adaptive sports. Capital requests: Lincoln Pool leak investigation/repair, van replacement (higher roof for senior trips), half of customer service desk.
- Golf Division: Both courses (Centennial and Ridgecrest) remain self-funded. Rounds on target for 128,000 this fiscal year. Completed in-house improvements: playing surface renovations, irrigation upgrades, bridge repairs, green renovations, cart replacements. Centennial fees 20% below Treasure Valley average; Ridgecrest 3% below. Fund balance projected at $3 million entering FY27. Future: golf training facility with simulators at Ridgecrest (design $150,000) – council discussion on potential for Centennial later; 18-hole disc golf course on executive nine; autonomous mowers; capital requests include storage, cart facility repairs, equipment replacement, bed knife grinder ($107,000).
- Council Questions and Comments: Councilman Rodriguez raised credit card fee concerns (built into fees, about 0.25% of revenue). Council discussed project manager position (Chief of Staff Clay Long noted goal to centralize project managers). Mayor and council expressed appreciation for the presentation and department’s work.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes on capital requests or policy changes were taken during the presentation. The meeting was informational.
- Councilman Bills requested a spreadsheet tracking golf course fees across the Treasure Valley for council review.
- Councilman Scog requested a total deferred maintenance figure for the department, to be provided before budget discussions.
- The meeting adjourned on a motion, seconded, with all council members in favor (unanimous).
Meeting Transcript
Which one I rather do. No, I know I rather hear the work. I got two more days that I can go through if I can get the final three time. I wouldn't want the math sale for I'm ready for it. And then we couldn't get the one girls. I'm glad you let me know because the email is what I need to fix on my laptop this morning. Good morning. We're gonna get started with uh our department update uh meeting this morning. And uh so I'm calling the meeting to order and Councilman Reynolds will give the imitation and lead us in the pledge. Dear God, thank you for today. Thank you for watching over us. Uh watch over us and how we treat others as we go through the rest of our week. Thank you for everything you give us. Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. So clerk will call the roll. So today is uh another annual department update and we're gonna hear from Cody to begin with and his team, and we appreciate uh parks and I know the community appreciates uh the efforts of the parks department. So rather than in with good comments, I'm gonna start off and say it's greatly appreciated as far as what goes on throughout the city on the parks and the activity, the maintenance, the upkeep from there, the pre-planning, the dealing with new construction dealing with uh flip-flop of policy from now on from off and on, all those good things. Cody, appreciate it. Thank you, Sweden. It's yours. Councilman uh Bills and City Council, thank you for uh time this morning to give the presentation for our annual update for Napa Parks and Recreation Department. Cody Swander, director of the facility of the department um in this role now just at a year point. So it's been a great year for me. I'm excited to uh have such a great team to work with. Um I have my management team with me here today as we kind of go through the slides. Um we'll kind of introduce those. If you want to go ahead and flip ahead, Jennifer. Um we have uh representation from our recreation outdoor pools um with uh Courtney Mills. Courtney is our new recreation manager. Um she replaced Beech Johnson in February of this year. Uh she might look like a new face to some, but she has been with the City of NAMPA in previous roles in the past. We're serving as the manager of the Harwood Recreation Center, and prior to that in recreation department with programming and uh some of the youth programs. We also have um Tony Blazius, he is our golf manager with us today. He oversees for the four golf divisions. Um Burkey is the current uh Harwood Recreation Center manager. Um Jennifer Ayala Vanderpool is the our business manager for our our department. And Tim Zofrin is our parks and grounds manager, and he's fairly new in his role. He backfilled my previous position overseeing the maintenance teams with uh parks, forestry, and cemetery. All right. Um today's topics, we're gonna go over. We're gonna go over several things. Um part of that is gonna be discussion of our master plan goals. Um we're gonna talk about how those from our 2024 master plan planning exercise our department underwent and how we're working to implement those. Um we're gonna talk about who we are and what we do and our de and how our department is taking a conscious look at the services we provide, how we're doing and whether we're doing the right things. We're gonna look at efficiencies, and that section is going to look at our how our department is doing the most work we can within our budgets and looking at how much tax subsidy is needed to provide our services. We're gonna highlight each of the divisions' responsibilities and accomplishments as we go through each of them. We're also gonna look at our department's future planning for each division's areas, both long and short term. And then we're gonna go through our fiscal year 27 um capital requests.
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