Parks and Recreation System Master Plan Update (2016) parks_and_recreation_system_master_plan_update_oct | Page 232

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
2016 Strategic Plan
Louisville Metro Parks and Recreation is a legacy agency entrusted with providing the greater
Louisville area with the best in parks, recreation, and opportunities to partake of programs that
bring together all ages and demographics to a setting that is truly inclusive and allows one to
thrive.
In addition, Louisville Metro Parks and Recreation is a nationally accredited agency dating to 2007.
As such, the adopted plans that guide the department are timeless pieces that were drawn up
through a very high level of public involvement, staff engagement, and cooperation and
collaboration with the other Metro agencies.
Mayor Fischer was elected in 2010 and embarked on creating a department in Metro government
that encouraged data collection, analysis of such, and decisions based on the findings to
spearhead change that moved Louisville forward. To that end we have streamlined our department
Strategic Plan to align with the Mayor’s goals. We have quarterly meetings with the Mayor’s
Leadership Team to discuss the department’s challenges, and how we are overcoming them.
The Louisville Metro Parks and Recreation Strategic plan is thus a fluid document that undergoes
updates regularly, with visits from various levels of staff. The document reflects the department’s
goals, objectives, initiatives, and performance measures, in close alignment with what is feasible,
achievable, and what offer positive change for us.
The Strategic Plan that will eventually be adopted in 2016 comprises four main Objectives. They
are:
1. Community Engagement—raise the level of community engagement to new heights
through all forms and covering customer satisfaction, stronger partnerships, improved
branding, and improved patron-focused programming.
2. Manage and Safeguard Assets—with the large list of deferred maintenance the goal is to
identify clearly and chip away at this list so that we offer continued improvement in
managing the fixed assets, the natural assets, and institute a protocol for the
safeguarding of all assets.
3. Operational Excellence—the goal here is to continue to raise the bar on institutional
excellence by improving the staff competency and capacity, adopting and having on
hand the latest in technology, and overall streamlining internal processes so that both
the internal and external customers see a seamless flow to their high levels of service.
4. Fiscal Integrity and Fiduciary Duty—budgets have been a challenge and the hiring
process continues to be streamlined. To that end we have undertaken the goal to raise
revenues through a cost recovery model and plan. The end goal is to show growth in
revenues to help enhance other processes and opportunities within the department to
realize further growth in monetary terms.
The staff group working on this plan has representatives from all layers and covers all the divisions
in the department from parks, golf, natural resources, recreation, communications, amphitheater,
turf, special events, human resources, analytics, infrastructure and engineering, and staff from the
Mayor’s Office of Performance Improvement. The meetings began in November 2015 for the 2016
Strategic Plan and the final draft was created at a meeting with all present on 08 March 2016. This
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