YOUNGSTOWN Park staff, board plan a retreat

Planning is hard to accomplish during the workweek, the director said.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The city park board and staff plan to get away from it all, for a couple days at least.
The five-member board and a few park staffers will go on a weekend retreat next month, said Joseph R. McRae, city parks director. The group will focus on the five-year update to the park board's 20-year plan, he said.
The retreat, scheduled for Oct. 25-26, will be at Punderson State Park in Newbury, outside Cleveland.
The board and staff went on a retreat to Punderson five or six years ago and the time away paid off, McRae said. Improvement projects totaling $3 million to $4 million, plus $1 million more still to be done, were the result of the last planning retreat, he said.
McRae said the retreat is expected to cost less than $1,000.
The department pays lodging costs for commissioners who want to stay over, he said, while staff members will commute. McRae said he isn't yet sure who will be staying over.
He is just happy that commissioners are willing to dedicate a weekend to the effort.
Trying to find the time
Planning sessions are hard to accomplish during the workweek, McRae said. Commissioners and staff can dedicate only about two hours at a time even by scheduling regular planning meetings, he said.
Two days away lets the board and staff consider the future, brainstorm solutions to problems and concentrate on priorities.
"No ringing phones, nobody coming in [to the office]," he said. "You're sitting right there, with it all before you."
The topics will range from broad to narrow, McRae said.
Commissioners will consider the department's vision and mission, he said. But other topics will include reviewing the department's organization chart, which future park improvements to make and relocating the garage from tight quarters at the golf course, McRae said.
rgsmith@vindy.com