PRCF 2022/23 Annual Report

FY 2022 / 2023

MESA CITY COUNCIL

Mesa operates under a charter form of government with citizens electing a mayor and six councilmembers to set policy for the City.

The Mesa City Council believes that its people, not leaders, are what makes a City great and actively works to encourage citizen participation in the decision-making process. Whether it is through neighborhood meetings, advisory boards and committees, telephone calls and letters, or email, the Mesa City Council sets policies based on the input and needs of its citizens.

Vice Mayor Fransisco Heredia District 3

Councilmember Jenn Duff District 4

Councilmember Mark Freeman District 1

Councilmember Alicia Goforth District 5

Mayor John Giles

Councilmember Julie Spilsbury District 2

Councilmember Scott Somers District 6

PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY BOARD

The Parks and Recreation Board is composed of eleven (11) people appointed by the Mayor with the approval of the Council for staggered terms of three (3) years each. The Parks and Recreation Advisory Board shall advise the Council on the operation and development of all City parks and recreational facilities and on the recreational programs of the City.

Jacob Martinez (Chair)

Troy Campbell

Nina Fader

Robert Ingram

Nycole Leybra

Brent Maldonado

Melanie Narish

Orchidia Peterson

Amelia Romney

Jeff Rush

Michelle Streeter

MISSION:

We contribute to a healthy and vibrant community by providing exceptional experiences and services to those who live, work and play in Mesa.

COMMITMENT:

• Being responsible stewards of parkland, facilities and finances, and transparent in how we manage these resources.

• Providing safe spaces and places for people to enjoy and recreate.

• Working together to focus on services that meet the ever-changing needs of our community.

STAYING COMMITTED

Message from the Director, ANDREA MOORE

Mesa Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities (PRCF) is grateful to serve our community through another successful year in Fiscal Year 2022/2023. This annual report shows some of our great accomplishments as well as the various programs that the City continues to offer the residents of Mesa.

As our department continues to grow, we strive to offer new and exciting opportunities for our residents. We are committed to offering opportunities for all citizens. With that vision in mind, we renewed our Certified Autism Center program to continue our commitment to inclusive and adapted activities.

Program participation reached pre-pandemic levels with more youth and adults wanting to join in recreation activities than ever before. By remaining competitive in our staff compensation, we were able to fully staff our programs for all of these participants.

As one of Mesa’s largest water customers, PRCF continued reduced water usage for landscaping to help our community reduce water demand by 9%. Work also continues to add building automation throughout the City’s offices to be more efficient in energy usage.

Revenues reached record levels, especially at the Convention Center and Amphitheatre, totaling over $13 million.

Parks were added through the expansion of the Eastmark Great Park and opening of the new Lehi Sports Park to raise total developed park land to over 2,100 acres.

We saw great engagement in our youth and adult recreation programs with a total participation of 59,053.

It was a great year overall and we are looking forward to serving our community in amazing ways over the next year.

OUR NUMBERS

> FITNESS VISITS

> SUMMER CAMP PARTICIPANTS

> VOLUNTEERS

> VOLUNTEER HOURS

> PARK RANGER VISITS TO PARKS

> SWIM LESSONS TAUGHT

> PARK RAMADA RESERVATIONS

> TENNIS/PICKLEBALL/VOLLEYBALL PARTICIPANTS

> COMPLETED WORK ORDERS FOR PARKS/FACILITIES

> SPORTS FIELD RENTALS

> YOUTH SPORT PARTICIPANTS

> IT ENHANCEMENTS

> PARK MAINTENANCE SPORTS FIELD PREPS

> AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM VISITS

> ADULT VOLLEYBALL TEAMS REGISTERED

> ROUNDS OF GOLF AT DOBSON RANCH

> TOTAL PARK ACRES

> TOTAL DEVELOPED PARK ACRES

> TOTAL BUILDING SQ FOOTAGE

> GALLONS OF WATER IN OUR POOLS

WHO WE ARE

Who We Are

We are the stewards of 5 community recreation centers, 9 aquatic facilities, 4 fishing lakes, 3 dog parks, 2 professional baseball stadiums, as well as the Convention Center, Amphitheater, Tennis and Pickleball Center, Golf Course and Cemetery. We maintain over 2,000 acres of developed parks and open space which includes 209 city parks and retention basins. City buildings maintained by our staff number over 400 and total over 7 million square feet of space.

Department Work Groups

The Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities (PRCF) Department is comprised of five divisions including the administrative team. These work teams provide comprehensive year-round support, programming, and maintenance for a wide variety of facilities throughout the City of Mesa.

Administration

The Administration Division manages critical business support functions such as finance, public outreach, social media platforms, information technology systems, grant writing and implementation, and human resources.

Planning and Operations

The backbone of PRCF, Planning and Operations Division, is responsible for being the stewards of City recreational facilities by laying the framework for and executing projects and maintaining these facilities to standards. The division is comprised of landscape, aquatics, sports fields, parks maintenance, and project management.

Facilities Maintenance

The Facilities Maintenance division provides asset management, building maintenance, and contract management to the City of Mesa’s vertical footprint.

Recreation

Our Recreation Division offers year-round opportunities including aquatics, tennis and pickleball, fitness and outdoor programs, fishing, inclusion services, community events, Park Rangers, adult and youth sports programs, afterschool programs, and day camps when school is out of session.

Commercial Facilities

Our Commercial Facilities Division manages our Convention Center, Amphitheatre, City Cemetery and, along with the management company Paradigm, oversees the Dobson Ranch Golf Course. This division also contains the Citywide Special Events Office that oversees special events in parks and across the City of Mesa.

Aquatics

In FY 22/23, Mesa’s aquatic programs had an exciting and busy year. Skyline Aquatic Center underwent a complete replaster. The pools were drained, and new plaster was poured along with other maintenance improvements during the renovation. The project occurred from midNovember to mid-April.

Aquatics launched their referral incentive program successfully this year by hiring 106 new employees who were referred to us by another PRCF employee. In the spring of 2023, 161 new lifeguards received certification through 5 different training sessions. After all the training, hiring, and onboarding was completed, all pools opened and welcomed 69,685 public swim admissions by patrons enjoying the cool clear waters at city pools. Aquatic instructors provided over 8,113 swim lessons and had 2,874 recreation team participants during the summer.

Aquatics expanded programs this summer by welcoming a new local affiliate team, Topaz Water Polo, as well as starting a new private swim lesson program. The one-on-one learn-to-swim lessons were a big hit with over 100 registered participants. They had Dive-in Movies in May and June. Families enjoyed these events along with the BLOB, which traveled to more pools this year. People also enjoyed hosting their own events at the pools, as Aquatics had over 150 private pool rentals for the year.

AQUATICS

Athletics

Youth Sports

The City of Mesa entered its second consecutive partnership year with the Phoenix Suns for the “Jr. Suns Youth Basketball League.” This year, several enhancements were made to the program, including additional on-court training for coaches and a skills challenge that took place on the floor of the Footprint Arena at the conclusion of the Jr. Suns program. In 2023, 282 youth participated in the Jr. Suns program.

Youth Sports partnered with the City of Mesa Park Rangers to enhance the very popular Archery Program in the three sessions held in 2023. The Park Rangers are certified Archery instructors and each session was at capacity.

The Play Ball program continues to be the most popular youth sports offering with hundreds of participants at two popular locations. This program introduces multiple field sports and emphasizes fun along with variety.

Adult Sports

Adult Sports staff added several program enhancements based on participant feedback. Adult Softball League winners now can receive a voucher to register free for the next season. This has created an increased retention rate and has led to new teams joining the league.

A “free agent” team option was added for adult sports programs where individuals can register without having to worry about

finding other people to fill a team. There have been several teams created from this free agent list for a variety of sports.

There were over 40,000 total participants in adult sports programs this year, with over 463 teams registered for leagues. Adult Sports leagues are played 6 nights per week at 5 different parks across Mesa.

Athletic Field Rentals

The City of Mesa sports field complexes continue to be a highly popular destination for tournaments with teams from around the country and local Community Youth Group leagues. This year, we hosted 67 total tournaments welcoming thousands of attendees at: Gene Autry Sports Complex, Red Mountain Soccer & Baseball Complex, Quail Run Softball & Soccer, Fitch Park (Oakland A’s partnership), Hohokam Stadium (Oakland A’s partnership), and Riverview quad fields (Chicago Cubs partnership). A few of the highlights from these tournaments include the Team USA 14 & Under Showcase and the Team USA All Girls baseball tournament were held at Riverview Park, and the Men’s Senior Baseball World Series, with teams representing 18 states and 3 different countries, was held at Red Mountain Baseball Complex, Fitch Park, and Hohokam Stadium. For the fourth consecutive year, the City hosted the Western Athletic Conference Championship at Hohokam

Stadium, as well as the California Pacific Collegiate Baseball Championships. For the third year in a row, the City hosted the Arizona Interscholastic Association 5a and 6a semi-finals at Hohokam Stadium.

The City of Mesa allocated sports field time to over 30 Community Youth Groups during the year. New processes, policies and procedures developed this year are already increasing customer communication and improving internal schedule management for sports field rentals.

Mesa Tennis & Pickleball Center

The Mesa Tennis & Pickleball Center (MTPC) at Gene Autry Park continues to be the hub for tennis and pickleball play in the City of Mesa.

MTPC hosted 181 tournaments this year including several United States Tennis Association events, several regional pickleball events, three “glow in the dark” pickleball special events, and three open-house events. For the third consecutive year, MTPC experienced an increase in overall program participation (drop-in, leagues, classes, internal tournaments, and reservations) with 79,331 total participants during the year.

MTPC made several enhancements to existing courts including the installation of a new speaker system for the courtyard, new windscreens on several courts, and an updated lounge area.

ATHLETICS

YOUTH PROGRAMS

Youth Programs

The focus of the Fun ‘N’ Fitness mobile recreation unit shifted this year to better engage the communities surrounding six of our most underutilized and often misused parks – Beverly, Escobedo, Guerrero Rotary, Kleinman, Pioneer, and Reed. During these afternoons, 2,361 people participated in Fun ‘N’ Fitness activities. Notably, during the months of May and June alone, Pioneer Park witnessed a substantial engagement, with a total of 741 people taking part in our daily activities!

Volunteer opportunities for teens were available through the Teen Leadership Training (TLT) and Junior Lifeguard programs. Both programs provide participants with opportunities to practice valuable life skills and gain exciting work experience while they volunteer in Mesa summer camps and swimming programs. This year, 70 TLT participants contributed 10,489 volunteer hours at 12 camp sites. Then, 259 Junior Lifeguards contributed 12,565 hours of service at 9 pools.

The City of Mesa held 13 different off-site summer camps for kids ages 6-12 years. Staff worked with Mesa Public Schools to schedule the camps on different school campuses across the City. There were 1,076 unique participants in the school site camps and 1,193 summer camp participants having fun at 3 City of Mesa recreation centers.

Recreation Centers

RED MOUNTAIN CENTER

• Membership packages sold: 16,765

• Visits to fitness classes: 114,856

• Daily visits (drop-in, no membership): 16,302

• Membership package visits (visits from people with a membership): 98,554

• Private rentals: 323

• Rental Attendees: 12,502

• Tenant Partners

º Oakwood Creative Care total attendance: 4,909

º Aster Aging total attendance: 15,157

• Total number of visits to RMC: 165,232

EAGLES COMMUNITY CENTER

• Afterschool monthly average enrollment: 53

• Summer Escape weekly average enrollment: 50

• Private rentals: 268

• Private rental attendees: 7,957

• Daily visits (drop-in, no membership for fitness or open gym): 2,089

• Total number of visits to ECC: 28,122

JEFFERSON RECREATION CENTER

• Afterschool monthly average enrollment: 79

• Summer Escape weekly average enrollment: 50

• Total number of visits to JRC: 16,911

WEBSTER RECREATION CENTER

• Afterschool monthly average enrollment: 52

• Summer Escape weekly average enrollment: 50

• Total number of visits to WRC: 20,939

SPECIAL INTEREST CLASSES

• Total number of people enrolled in classes: 4,779

• Number of classes offered: 853

RECREATION CENTERS

ADAPTIVE

Adaptive

Mesa’s Adaptive Recreation program had a great year! Outdoor Recreation programming returned with the Camp Carley day program, in partnership with the City of Chandler’s Therapeutic Recreation program. On this day trip, 25 City of Mesa participants explored Fool Hollow Lake in Show Low, AZ where they discovered fishing holes, hiking trails, and epic adventures of kayaking, games, and nature led crafts.

This summer, there were 104 Adaptive camp participants. There were also 1,061 participants in Adaptive fitness, sports, and social programs throughout the summer. In June, Adaptive participants starred in an Off-Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast and a You Look Marvelous Fashion Show resulting in unforgettable, inspiring experiences for participants and show attendees.

Other new developments in Adaptive programming were opportunities for collaboration with the Park Rangers for more outdoor adventures including fishing, s’mores and movie nights, scorpion night hikes, friendly outdoor kickball competitions, and scenic hikes.

Park Rangers

The Mesa Park Rangers doubled down on their outdoor and nature based educational programming this year by becoming NASP Archery Certified Instructors and AZGFD Certified Angler Instructor Partners. They offered beginner archery classes to youth and teens, as well as multiple fishing clinics for youth groups. Rangers reinstituted and expanded upon our Low Stakes Family Campouts, aquatic habitat building workshops, and scorpion night hike programs.

In FY 22/23 Mesa Park Rangers recorded 25,242 park visits. They issued 800 total citations, cleared 311 warrants and continued leading the charge in the City’s homeless outreach efforts. They made 34,952 homeless contacts resulting in 4,205 homeless resource assists and over 500 Community Court referrals. They partnered with the Mesa Police Department 10 times to conduct high enforcement co-operative events and 11 homeless outreach events in parks.

PARK RANGERS

FRONT DESK

Front Desk

The Registration and Reservations team is dedicated to helping customers with all their registration and reservation needs. Whether it is signing up for an activity, renting a pool, or booking a park ramada, they’re happy to help. During FY 22/23, over 25,000 calls and 10,000 emails were answered resulting in a total of 59,119 activity registrations.

Mesa Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities Department (PRCF) is committed to ensuring our programs are accessible to our residents by offering at least 50% off in scholarships and fee assistance. This year, our team processed 684 applications for the Mesa Recreation Scholarship, and as a result, 2,591 individuals received program fee assistance. Thanks to the Happy Camper Scholarship introduced in April 2023, 64 children received discounted registration for summer camp. Additionally, the Making Waves Scholarship program provided reduced fees for swim teams and swim lesson registrations for over 150 children.

There was a slight increase in park ramada rentals from the previous year with a total of 2,491 bookings. Some of the most sought-after park ramada rental locations are Riverview, Countryside, Pioneer, Skyline, and Falcon Field parks. Customers enjoy the spacious ramadas, fun splash pads, exciting playgrounds, and wide range of activity courts. With the introduction of online ramada reservations, around 50% of park rentals are now made online.

Special Events

City leadership approved the creation of a new Citywide Special Events Office. The purpose of the team is to coordinate all aspects of special events within Mesa, including the production of City-sponsored events, assisting with City-supported events, managing special event use of the park system, and overseeing the Special Event Licensing process throughout the City.

The new Special Events Office team includes one Recreation Supervisor, two Recreation Coordinators, two Recreation Programmers, two Recreation Specialists, one Program Assistant, and six Recreation Assistants.

During this period, the Special Events Office took over the production of all City-sponsored events – a total of 21 events with a total production cost of $1.25 million. Highlights include Arizona Celebration of Freedom, Merry Main Street, Celebrate Mesa, East Valley Veterans Day Parade, and the MLK Parade.

The Special Events Office also took over the Special Event Licensing process in November 2022, issuing 137 licenses from November 2022 through June 2023. A total of 173 Special Events Licenses were issued in FY 22/23.

SPECIAL EVENTS

COMMERCIAL

Commercial

Mesa Convention Center/Amphitheatre

In FY 22/23, the Mesa Convention Center and Amphitheatre continued to realize record-breaking revenues through targeted marketing campaigns, resulting in greater attendance numbers and larger events.

After removing several decaying 100-year-old trees at the Mesa Amphitheatre, the City erected a 50’x60’ shade structure equipped with LED lights and a misting system to provide much needed shade during the summer concert season and gave new life to the old pines by sculpting three of the trees into music-themed wood sculptures. Wood carver, John Drews, from Aniwa, Wisconsin, and regular exhibitor at the annual Desert Woodcarving show at the Convention Center, was commissioned to create these beautiful works of art.

Convention Center/Amphitheatre Revenues:

$6,524,170

Number of Events: 201

Number of concerts: 13

Total Use Days: 631

Total Attendance: 582,770

Cemetery

Expansion:

An expansion of the North side of the cemetery was completed in February 2023. This added a total of 1,534 grave locations, 1,536 in-ground urn spaces, and six scatter gardens.

FY 22/23 Revenue: $1.52 M

Tree and Turf Improvement Program:

In FY 22/23, the Cemetery continued landscape improvement work by planting 194 Cypress trees and installing over 13,000 feet of new sprinkler pipe.

Additionally, the City of Mesa partnered with the NFL, Verizon, and the Arizona Superbowl LVII Host Committee as part of their Super Bowl LVII Community Greening Grant, along with 150 volunteers, to plant 65 Cypress trees.

GOLF COURSE

Golf Course

Under the management of Paradigm Golf Group, which took over operations in 2019, the Dobson Ranch Golf Course continues to be one of the busiest golf courses in the Valley. The shaded driving range bays equipped with TopTracer Range technology continue to be a major attraction.

Greens Fee Revenue: $4.1 M

Range Revenue: $1.5 M

Total Rounds Played: 91,643

Dobson Ranch Golf Course and Paradigm have partnered with local schools and have invited youth in the community to free clinics introducing them to golf for sport and pleasure.

Rounds Donated to Schools: 5,140

Children Enrolled in Free Junior Clinics: 600 youth ranging in age from 3-18 across 270 clinics

Facilities Maintenance

This past year, Facilities Maintenance has continued to maintain our City buildings both proactively and reactively. Our Locksmiths completed a large E-Key project for the Police Department. The Plumbers replaced the sewer pumps and all the drainpipes for Police Headquarters. Our Carpenters finished a mini-refresh at Red Mountain Police Department that included new flooring, ceiling tiles, painting, and tinting the windows.

We also continued in our efforts to create a more sustainable community. Our Contract Specialists have installed thirty central irrigation controllers around various City facilities. This will have a positive impact on improving water efficiencies and plant health.

Additionally, our Electricians have installed new LED lighting in buildings such as Mesa Arts Center, Museum of Natural History, and Greenfield Water Treatment Plant. The HVAC team added 40 new buildings onto our HVAC EMS system, this helps us monitor and regulate thermostats and energy use remotely.

Work Orders Completed: 8,217

Preventative Maintenance

Completed: 623

Work Orders

FACILITIES MAINTENANCE

PARKS MAINTENANCE

Parks Maintenance

Parks Maintenance (PM) worked hard this year to continue efforts in reducing landscape water use as a result of the drought affecting the Colorado River.

PM was able to reduce watering by 9% from May 2022 to April 2023. PM’s ongoing efforts in the collection of assets and the implementation of tracking work order history against them is proving to be successful. Other City departments are now using the data to quickly access information needed to perform their business. Asset collection is projected to continue over the next four to five years. Efforts in training the PM team to become experts in their field remains a priority.

PM is proud that two of its team members received their Arborist Certification while others participated in conferences and continuing education courses.

• Work Orders Completed: 5,680

• Cleanings at Aquatic Facilities: 183

• Sports Field Preps: 5,723

• Environmental Inspections: 10,694

• Facility Inspections: 3,500

PRCF Project Management

Marketing

The Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities Department (PRCF) Marketing Team worked hard throughout FY 22/23 to take the Department’s marketing to the next level.

It all started with the complete re-design of the seasonal activity guide to mimic a magazine instead of a course catalogue, which has brought a more professional feel to the Department’s marketing approach. Additionally, the quality of the Department’s social media content improved, and the team captured more videos and photos of programs throughout the year and produced 6 videos.

The PRCF Marketing Team continues to train other staff to create content and use social media platforms to promote their department and activities throughout the year.

Social Media Stats : Collective (Amphitheatre, Convention Center, PRCF)

Facebook

FY Jul ‘22- Jun ‘23

FY Jul ‘22- Jun ‘23

Facebook Posts with the most Impressions FY 22/23

Web Stats

FY Jul ‘22- Jun ‘23

Sessions 560,153

Page views

1,128,598

Pages/Sessions 2.02

MARKETING

GRANTS/ SPONSORSHIPS

Grants/Sponsorships

Foundation for Mesa Parks and Recreation $37,500 :

This funding provided Making Waves and Positive Play scholarships, supported an adaptive outdoor family desert adventure club, the renovation of the Red Mountain Center Game Room, expanded Park Ranger engagement programming, contributed to transportation and event costs at summer camps, and more!

Super Bowl LVII Community Greening Grant $4,000

:

This matching grant program was used to plant 65 Cypress trees at the Mesa Cemetery to replace those damaged by storms.

Boeing & Shutterfly – Trees Are Cool Tree

Planting Event $6,600 :

Boeing and Shutterfly sponsored the planting of 20 trees at Skyline Park in support of the Mayor’s initiative to plant 1 million trees by 2050.

Mesa Rotary Club $5,238 :

In honor of 100 years of service, the Mesa Rotary Club donated these funds to replace all 5 benches around the playground at Guerrero Rotary Park and plant 2 trees.

Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian

Community $13,440 :

This grant funded Making Waves swim lesson scholarships and the printing of pool maps and summer passports to help spread the word about the importance of water safety.

Finance

Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities

ANNUAL BUDGET

FINANCE