Mayor pausing Parks Reorganization plan to further engage community
In order to give all stakeholders more time to review details and prepare for next steps, Mayor Sean Reardon announced today that he is pausing the Parks Department Reorganization by pulling the administrative order. The plan, originally filed with the City Council on August 8th, would move the majority of the Parks Department’s responsibilities into the Department of Public Services (DPS), with additional assistance from the Parks Commission, the Mayor’s Office, and Newburyport Youth Services.
“We believe that the plan has continued to improve throughout this process, and additional time will help us reach a threshold at which we will achieve broad community support,” said Mayor Reardon. “I thought the Neighborhood and City Services meeting on September 20th was very productive, and it showed that there was a path for getting near unanimous support from the City Council for this plan, which is my goal.”
The City Council referred this plan to the Neighborhood and City Services Committee, which recommended it unanimously for approval to the full Council on September 20th. The City Charter requires that at least one public hearing is held on the plan, and the Council conducted a hearing on August 23rd that was continued on September 13th.
The Mayor plans to use this time to advance conversations with the Parks Commission and begin a visioning exercise in order to understand what support they want for their prioritized objectives. It also allows for time for a new Friends Of type group to be formally started, which would be a key part of the fundraising operations for the parks as mentioned in the Mayor’s plan. That group is in the process of defining roles for each of their Board members and compiling a mission statement. The next version of the plan can also include more details on needed budget transfers and drafts of amendments to the Code of Ordinances that are needed to advance the administrative order.
“My office also has a few other ideas that should be attractive to the Council and help with the overall operations in the City,” continued Mayor Reardon. “We look forward to continuing the conversation with key stakeholders and coming back to the Council, and the community, with a further vetted plan, one that will have even broader support.”