Change of Leadership at CRPD

By SHELLY BLANCHARD, Editor

Grapevine Independent

Three weeks after the City of Rancho Cordova urged a management change at the Cordova Recreation and Park District, a new interim administrator has been appointed.

David Edmonds, who has served as CRPD’s assistant administrator for the past year, was appointed to the post by the park district’s board of directors who met behind closed doors last Wednesday night.

But other than confirming Edmonds’ appointment, board members and staff have remained mum.

What is known that Greg Foell, the district’s administrator for the past four years, is on administrative leave with no official word on his future with the park district.

The action came about three weeks after the Rancho Cordova City Council warned their counterparts at the park district that they had deep concerns about top management at CRPD and urged a shake-up.

Acknowledging that the CRPD serves a constituency that is wider than the city, council members offered help to their counterparts on the park board to establish and adopt “best management” practices they believe are lacking.

“We have serious concerns about the management of the district,” a letter signed by all five of the city council members said. “We believe the weaknesses of concern to our city are affecting park facilities district wide. Without significant management changes and improvement, we are concerned all the district’s parks will continue to lag.”

The letter did not identify their target by name, but appeared to be aimed at CRPD administrator Foell.
But in the wake of Edmonds’ appointment as interim administrator there was little other information forthcoming either from staff at the park district or elected board members.

Contacts for information to board members either went unanswered or were referred to Edmonds. Edmonds limited his comments to confirming his appointment.

In expressing frustration with the CRPD management, council members have cited failure to achieve progress on the promised renovation of White Rock Park, continuing blight conditions at Federspiel Park, lack of a master plan and smaller projects which are funded by grants already in hand, such as renovation of the kitchen at the Cordova Senior Center.

The relationship between the city and park district is symbiotic within the city limits.

While the CRPD is charged with running parks and recreation programs within the city, it is the city council that determines fees on development that actually build parks, effectively controlling the purse strings on much of CRPD’s building projects.

The city has also flexed its muscle in enacting a park renovation fee on new development that will pay for renovation of older parks in the city. Without the city’s help, there is little hope the park district would be able to find the kind of money it will take to bring older parks up to modern standards.

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Posted by Geoffrey Sakala on Oct 6 2007. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.