Author: zeceightinsights_l0pfvg

Why

Verdun Adventure Bound (“Verdun”) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 1999 by Dr. David Snyder. Over the past 25 years Verdun has provided customized experiential learning programs designed to meet the needs of clients and the surrounding community. Programs offered engage youth and adults with opportunities to learn new skills, collaborate, overcome adversity, and to be empowered as individuals and as groups. Verdun provides a space for individuals to get outdoors and disconnect from technology and connect with each other. With Verdun’s popularity and programmatic successes, they sought to conduct market research to aid them in programmatic expansion decision-making.

HOW

Zec Eight Insights was retained in 2024 to research and analyze data around outdoor recreation programming in Verdun’s market. This research was intended to help Verdun’s three-year strategic planning process and provide context for potential program expansions. Specifically, Zec Eight Insights conducted a customized service radius recreation trends analysis, national trends analysis, similar provider and direct competitor environmental scan, and reviewed and analyzed available participation and financial data.

What

The final technical report provides 15 recommendations including, but not limited to, focusing on gateway recreation activities, diversifying revenue sources to reduce the reliance on grant funding, exploring the addition of equestrian and therapeutic recreation core program areas, expanding camping opportunities, and establishing a depreciation schedule and asset/facility replacement cycle.

Reference
Sean McElhinney, Executive Director
Verdun Adventure Bound
(540) 937-4920
sean@verdunadventurebound.org
17044 Adventure Bound Trail
Rixeyville, VA 22737

Why

The National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) Commission for Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies (CAPRA) delivers quality assurance and improvement to accredited park and recreation departments throughout the United States. This operational management system improves their infrastructures; increases efficiency in all activities; and demonstrates accountability within their communities. Implementation of this system strengthens teamwork among department staff, imbeds all aspects of CAPRA into their department’s internal culture, and establishes a continuous improvement mindset for all department activities.

CAPRA is the only national accreditation of park and recreation departments and is a valuable measure of a department’s overall quality of operation, management, and service to the community. Achieving CAPRA accreditation is the best way to demonstrate that your department and your staff provide your community with the highest level of service.

HOW

Zec Eight Insights was hired to provide consultation, project management, and support for Memphis Parks’ attempt to become a CAPRA accredited parks system. Zec Eight Insights conducted an all staff meeting in September 2022 to formally kick-off the CAPRA process. Staff members were organized into chapter teams, each with a leader or co-leader. Over the course of 2023 and into 2024, Zec Eight Insights reviewed and assessed evidence of compliance (EOC), facilitated staff workshops and meetings, and provided overall guidance for the CAPRA accreditation process.

What

Memphis Parks received accreditation during the spring 2024 visit season, becoming only the third agency from Tennessee to achieve this status.

Reference
Amy Collier, CPRP
Strategic Planning Manager
(901) 636-4206
amy.collier@memphistn.gov
2599 Avery Avenue
Memphis, TN 38112

Why

In 2020, Lakewood residents approved Measure L, a local sales tax initiative to raise funds for citywide improvement projects and future needs. Improvements were made across the system including parks, community centers, open spaces, trails, and recreational facilities. Additionally, expansions to recreation and human services programs and community special events were made. As a result, the City of Lakewood wanted to develop a comprehensive Parks, Recreation and Community Services Master Plan that represents a citywide approach to develop goals, guidelines, strategies, and policies based on current and future funding scenarios and projected community needs for the next 20 years.

HOW

Zec Eight Insights partnered with MIG to develop the master plan. Zec Eight Insights focused on two specific technical reports: Maintenance & Operations Assessment and Programs & Services Assessment. The Maintenance & Operations Assessment involved system site assessments, industry benchmark analysis, staff workshops, financial reviews, and existing maintenance practice documentation audits. The Programs & Services Assessment involved a contracted class program registration data analysis, staff workshops, and a financial review.

What

The final recommendations pertaining to Zec Eight Insight’s scope of work include, but are not limited to, reducing program waitlists, adopting additional performance metrics, leveraging the recreation software system to capture space utilization, establishing cost recovery goals, improving maintenance and operations data collection and analysis capabilities, and seeking to implement a unified work order management system.

Reference
Jose Rodriguez
Senior Project Manager | Director of GIS Services
(626) 744-9872 ext. 3050
joser@migcom.com
360 E Second Street, Suite 675
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Why

Holliday Park, one of Indianapolis’ oldest parks, covers 94 acres and offers amenities such as a destination playground, 3.5 miles of trails, historic ruins, and a nature center. It serves not only the surrounding neighborhoods but a broad community with popular events like the summer concert series and a seasonal ice-skating rink. Despite its attractions, Holliday Park faces significant challenges in improving its infrastructure, increasing park usage, and enhancing visitor experiences. Recently, the Friends of Holliday Park worked through an organizational restructure, shifting from a working board with 26+ members to a governing board closer to 13 members. This also came with the transition from the Friends of Holliday Park to the Holliday Park Foundation. Once the transition was complete, it was identified that a Strategic Plan was necessary to move the Foundation towards their goal of managing Holliday Park via a conservancy model.

HOW

Zec Eight Insights was retained to create an actionable workplan as part of the Holliday Park Foundation’s larger Strategic Plan effort. Specifically, Zec Eight Insights worked with staff to organize and prioritize goals and objectives. This included existing programs and projects, capital improvement strategy, and potential long-term hiring/staffing possibilities. Zec Eight Insights then worked with staff to determine the most appropriate time limitations for established goals and objectives.

What

The final technical report identifies a work plan for sustainable growth by highlighting the need for unified management and strategic planning, expanding capacity, and moving toward more sustainable funding methods. The work plan is categorized into operational and experiential strategies.

Reference
Adam Barnes, Executive Director
Holliday Park Foundation
(317) 475-9482
abarnes@hollidaypark.org
6363 Spring Mill Road
Indianapolis, IN 46260

Why

The City of Goshen, Indiana Parks and Recreation operates Shanklin Pool. The pool includes popular amenities and attractions such as water slides, diving boards, lap swims, open swims, swim lessons, pool parties, and has a concession stand onsite with a full menu. The pool is reaching the end of its lifecycle, and the city wants to develop a new site master plan for the aquatic facility.

HOW

Zec Eight Insights partnered with HWC Engineering to develop a site master plan. Specifically, Zec Eight Insights focused on conducting a market analysis to ascertain local market conditions for various aquatic amenities and features, conducted an operations and programming review of the existing and potential site, and developed a five-year financial pro forma that includes staffing, utilities, maintenance, and operational functions required to deliver the final site master plan components.

What

The final operational pro forma was presented in four scenarios based on final client decisions and how the redevelopment of the Shanklin Pool is finalized. The final scenarios include different cost recovery and supply & maintenance cost forecasts which will ultimately be influenced by management decisions during and after final construction.

Reference
Kyle Lueken, Senior Project Manager
HWC Engineering
(317) 981-1258
klueken@hwcengineering.com
135 N Pennsylvania Street, Suite 2800
Indianapolis, IN 46204

Why

The City of Crawfordsville, Indiana Parks and Recreation operates Milligan Park Pool and Splash Pad. Based on the pool’s historical success, the city was interested in exploring aquatic enhancements and desired to develop a Pool Feasibility Study.

HOW

Zec Eight Insights partnered with HWC Engineering to develop a Pool Feasibility Study. Specifically, Zec Eight Insights focused on conducting a market analysis to ascertain local market conditions for various aquatic amenities and features, conducted an operations and programming review of existing pool data, and developed a five-year financial pro forma that includes staffing, utilities, maintenance, and operational functions required to deliver enhanced services.

What

The final operational pro forma was presented that provides management strategies for managing a pool with enhanced aquatic services such as a lazy river, concessions, waterslide towers, and increased maintenance considerations such as chemicals, lifeguards/staffing, and water use.

Reference
Kyle Lueken, Senior Project Manager
HWC Engineering
(317) 981-1258
klueken@hwcengineering.com
135 N Pennsylvania Street, Suite 2800
Indianapolis, IN 46204

Why

Charlottesville Parks and Recreation had never developed a full master plan, just a needs assessment (2007) and community survey (2017) in previous years. In addition to these assessments, the department had developed many localized master plans for specific parks or natural areas. Therefore, the department desired to create a comprehensive Parks and Recreation Master Plan to provide guidance for both short- and long-range planning for the park system by integrating community input, stakeholder and focus group feedback, past and current plans, staff input, and City Council priorities. At the end of the process, the department desired to have clear direction on how to prioritize improvements and connections of current facilities, parks and trails, a buildout strategy, recommendations pertaining to recreation program offerings, recommendations on how best to utilize recreation centers, and recommendations for equitable advancing of recreation and health throughout the city.

HOW

Zec Eight Insights partnered with PROS Consulting and Kimley-Horn for the planning process. Zec Eight Insights focused on performing recreation and service analyses. The process involved conducting an internal staff workshop, analyzing five years of registered program data, studying historical use patterns, and comparing results to industry best practices.

What

The final Parks and Recreation Master Plan included recommendations to further refine the department’s service delivery model, considerations for expanding and divesting programs, ideas for new or expanded core program areas, geospatial distribution of programs offered, and potential partnership/collaboration opportunities.

Reference
William Bassett, Management Specialist II
Charlottesville Parks and Recreation Department
(434) 970-3298
bassett@charlottesville.gov
501 E Main Street
Charlottesville, VA 22902

Why

Local officials had a desire to start focusing more on park and recreation opportunities in Brunswick, Ohio. As part of that effort, they wanted to have a comprehensive community involvement process to identify what residents want to spend money on and/or what local officials should be focusing on. As a result, it was decided to develop a new Parks and Recreation Master Plan for the 16-park system.

HOW

Zec Eight Insights partnered with Designing Local for the planning process. Zec Eight Insights focused on performing operational analyses. Specifically, Zec Eight Insights led the department through a situational analysis and comparison activity. Customized benchmarking was performed related to existing facility levels of service, program areas, staffing levels, funding sources, capital improvement spending, and other operational metrics.

What

The final Parks and Recreation Master Plan included recommendations to further define the department’s level of service metrics while also identifying operational gaps that should be explored throughout the plan’s useful lifecycle.

Reference
Matt Leasure, Principal
Designing Local, Ltd.
(614) 893-7178
matt@designinglocal.com
20 East Broad Street
Columbus, OH 43215

Why

The City of Bloomington Community Farmers’ Market (BCFM) celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2024. The BCFM has changed over the years, with more accelerated change occurring around the Covid-19 pandemic period. As a result, there are more options for both vendors and customers and this new landscape presented an opportunity to take a step back and examine the BCFM. This study provided a comprehensive examination of the BCFM’s operations and future growth opportunities.

HOW

Zec Eight Insights was hired to create an evaluation strategy that would yield actionable recommendations for immediate implementation while also working toward a common future state.

Zec Eight Insights implemented the following customized methodology:

• Collected, compiled, and analyzed previous BCFM evaluation/research reports, participation data/trends, and financial records.
• Created a unique benchmarking form and collected information from six Markets (Ann Arbor, MI; Broad Ripple, IN; Charlottesville, VA; Fishers, IN; Iowa City, IA; and Madison, WI).
• Engaged advisory council members, community partners, and 48 current and past vendors to understand their preferred direction for the BCFM.
• Developed a user survey that generated 124 responses providing key insights into

What

The final BCFM Evaluation Study Report contains eight foundational recommendations and five visionary recommendations. Key improvements/modifications identified through the process include, but are not limited to, enhancing market to vendor communication, increased staff training, facilitating vendor accountability, clarifying the advisory council’s role, and altering the existing point system methodology.

Reference
Leslie Brinson, CPRP
Recreation Services General Manager
(812) 349-3715
brinsonl@bloomington.in.gov
401 North Morton Street, Suite 250
Bloomington, IN 47404

Why

Valpo Parks recently transitioned its agency leadership after 30+ years. As a result, there was a desire to revisit the existing mission statement for applicability to today’s realities. Additionally, the timing presented a great opportunity to create the department’s first vision statement along with core values.

HOW

Zec Eight Insights was hired to facilitate the organizational planning process. Two workshops were held with the leadership team:

• Workshop #1. This workshop focused on mission statement refinement. The existing mission statement was used as a point of reference for how well it aligns with a series of probing questions. From there, two statements were developed and a department-wide staff survey was implemented.
• Workshop #2. This workshop presented the updated mission statement for review and final edit and comment. Then, facilitated exercises led the core leadership team through vision and core value statement development.

What

The final updated statements were approved and ready for marketing/branding opportunities once the department’s agency leadership transition was implemented. This allowed Valpo Parks to usher in a renewed identity (that built upon the previous leadership’s legacy) with the introduction of the new director.

Reference
Kevin Nuppnau, Director
Valpo Parks
(219) 462-5144 x6307
knuppnau@valpo.us
3210 N Campbell Street
Valparaiso, IN 46385