In May 2010, elected officials from Clark County and cities of Battle Ground, Camas, Ridgefield, Vancouver and Washougal established a blue ribbon commission to look at the future of parks and recreation funding and operations in Clark County. Each of the six local jurisdictions participating in the effort appointed two representatives to serve on the commission, which began meeting in July 2010. The commission will meet monthly through February 2011.
The commission's objective is to review the current operational and funding challenges and opportunities in each jurisdiction make specific recommendations to the participating local elected officials concerning:
- Opportunities for greater collaboration in providing local and regional parks, trails, open space and recreation programs.
- How to better pay for, manage, operate and govern local and regional parks, trails, open space and recreation programs.
- How to establish stable, and fiscally responsible funding for these programs.
Each participating jurisdiction appointed two people to serve on the commission. La Center and Yacolt did not respond to the invitation to participate in the commission.
Public Outreach
The commission’s recommendations will reflect the interests, values and needs of the citizens of each participating jurisdiction. To assess the values and needs of the citizens, the commission plans to conduct two significant public outreach efforts:
Fall 2010: Learn about citizens' values and priorities when it comes to parks and recreation services and facilities in each jurisdiction.Winter 2010-11: Gauge public support for the package of recommendations developed by the commission for consideration by elected officials in each jurisdiction.
Citizens from all six jurisdictions will be invited to participate in these comment periods in several different ways, potentially including electronic and paper comment forms, telephone surveys and/or focus groups. More detailed information will be available in advance of each outreach effort.
The commission also will host seven summit meetings with key stakeholder groups, including non-profit providers, charitable foundations, user groups, education providers, businesses, neighbors and others.
In addition, all commission meetings are open to the public, and include a public comment period. Starting in September, the meetings will be taped and aired on CVTV, Channels 21 and 23 and through their website: www.cityofvancouver.us/cvtv/cvtvindex.asp
Every other meeting will be held in the evening to encourage attendance, and the meeting locations will include each of the participating cities.
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