Our first Gateway CEO site visit of the year — and it started with a splash! On Thursday, our Gateway CEO students visited the Collinsville Aqua Park to learn more about the City of Collinsville's Parks & Recreation Department — and they quickly discovered that there is a LOT more business behind a day at the park than most of us ever see.
Parks & Recreation isn't simply about maintaining parks and providing places for people to play. It is a department that has to constantly balance time, money, priorities, people, challenges, and opportunities. And those decisions show up everywhere. Sometimes improvement means a major project like brand new playgrounds and park shelters for family get togethers. Sometimes it's an updated trash can. A new water fountain. Restrooms with locks that can be managed. Finding ways to keep certain park restrooms open year-round. The Parks & Recreation team looks at improvements that create tangible, measurable results — while also paying attention to the little details that improve the experience for the people using those spaces.
And then there's the business side.
- Managing budgets
- Prioritizing projects
- Marketing programs and events
- Finding partnerships and grant opportunities
- Hiring and managing seasonal staff
- Finding revenue opportunities to help offset expenses
- Managing aging infrastructure and increasing maintenance costs
- Using social media, contests, and programs like Rec on the Go to engage the community
The Collinsville Aqua Park alone requires more than 100 seasonal employees between lifeguards, concessions, guest services, and maintenance — essentially doubling the City's staffing needs each summer. And that's just ONE piece of what Parks & Recreation manages.
The department oversees a variety of community spaces and programs, including Willoughby Farm, Collinsville Aqua Park, D.D. Collins House, Mutts on Main Dog Park, Schnuck's Park, Woodland Park, Glidden Park, and the Collinsville Sports Complex.
Each serves a different purpose. Each has different needs. And each requires thoughtful decisions about how to invest limited resources. Students also learned about Willoughby Farm, one of Collinsville's gems, with its focus on education, preservation, and conservation. They heard about senior shuttle services, community programming, marketing efforts, future improvements at the Collins House as an entrance to Uptown, and the City's upcoming first inclusive playground at Glidden Park. And we talked about partnerships, too — including access to grant opportunities through Metro East Parks and Recreation because Collinsville sits within both Madison and St. Clair Counties.
But perhaps the biggest takeaway was this: Parks & Recreation is a business-minded operation serving a community.
The “customers” may be residents and future residents rather than traditional customers walking through a storefront, but the principles are remarkably similar.
How do you create value? How do you market what you offer?
How do you respond when something unexpected happens?
How do you prioritize when there isn't enough time or money to do everything at once?
How do you create an experience that makes people want to come back?
And perhaps most importantly... How do the decisions you make today impact the community tomorrow?
Our students got a behind-the-scenes look at just how much thought, planning, problem-solving, and leadership goes into something as simple as showing up at a park to play or spending an afternoon at the Aqua Park. Because the things we enjoy in our communities don't just happen. The behind-the-scenes decisions make the difference.
A strong Parks & Recreation system also has an economic impact on a community. The quality of parks, programs, facilities, and public spaces can influence how people experience — and ultimately how they view — the community they live in or are considering calling home. A business owner that looks for an area that will thrive with their businesses or services.
What looks like a park on the surface is actually a whole lot of planning, people, budgets, marketing, partnerships, maintenance, problem-solving, and vision. And that's exactly why these site visits matter. We're teaching our students to look beyond what they SEE and start asking: “What makes this work?”
Thank you to the Kimberly Caughran, City of Collinsville Parks and Recreation Director for sharing your passion, experience, challenges, and commitment to our community with Gateway CEO. Our students left with a much bigger perspective on what it takes to serve a community well.
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