A difficult financial landscape is causing both residents and our local governments to tighten their budgets. In Chapel Hill, the town’s Parks and Recreation Department is adjusting its facilities hours – which helps keep costs more efficient, but leaders say also addresses bigger goals of the parks crew.
The updates, as announced on Monday, shift many of the opening hours to indoor recreation facilities and community centers back by one hour. Some closing times are bumped up by one hour too. The shift also formalizes that many facilities – like the Nate Davis Sr. Gymnasium and Homestead Aquatic center – will close for town holidays like other departments and the Chapel Hill Public Library.
Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation Director Atuya Cornwell said some of these updates date back to last year’s budget discussion and described it as the latest step in many updates to the department’s operations. That included having Recreation Division Manager Jonathan Ray go through the data to look at visitor trends and examine regional Parks and Recreation departments to see where Chapel Hill’s hours differed from others.
“We had kind of already, internally, started thinking about that from a ‘best practice’ lens,” Cornwell told Chapelboro. “Our Comprehensive Parks and Recreation Master Plan process is still going on…and in that process, [Ray] has been working closely from an analysis standpoint. So, [it is] definitely rooted in us looking at it from a proactive lens and making sure we’re continuing to offer the experiences we know our community likes – but also looking at the sustainability standpoint.”
The Homestead Aquatic Center is one of Chapel Hill’s most trafficked indoor recreational facilities. (Photo via the Town of Chapel Hill.)
According to the town government, the changes could save about $70,000 in staffing costs a year. And Ray pointed out those savings are not from positions going unstaffed, but from Parks and Rec using its employees more efficiently.
“When you look at a move from 5:30 a.m. to 6 a.m. at Homestead Aquatic Center,” he said, “I think what people don’t realize is that 30 minutes really translates to about 2.5 hours of staff time because of the number of staff it takes to operate a pool safely. And when we look at the number of people who visit, we have less than 3% of our visits happening before 6 a.m., So, that’s a pretty big investment in staff time when we’re not really serving the bulk of our user groups.”
Another example, Ray said, is the Chapel Hill Community Center going from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays to 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays.
“On paper, that’s our most significant change,” he said. “But again: the data just suggests that nobody was really coming at 9 a.m. when it opened, and then people weren’t coming after 8 p.m. when it was open [until] 9 p.m. during the week. We just weren’t seeing the visits to justify that.”
Cornwell also pointed to the Hargraves Center’s hours being slightly scaled back during the weekdays, but the attached Nate Davis Sr. Gymnasium will still being regularly open and a place where community members can get questions answered or receive help.
“I think another piece to drive home is that we’ll still be programming and having those internal programming opportunities,” the parks and recreations director added. “Just because [the website] might be saying Hargraves is going to be closed, if we have a program or a function from our adaptive recreation team – or a community art program – we still will be able to facilitate that and accommodate those rentals that there’s a lot of great interest in.”
The changes are not immediate – as the indoor facilities’ new hours will be effective on Monday, July 6 in the new fiscal year. And Cornwell said while the changes may mean a new routine for some residents, the Parks and Recreation crews will be ready to create the updated routines together.
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
Chapel Hill Announces Adjusted Hours for Indoor Recreational Facilities and Centers Chapelboro.com.
Hence then, the article about chapel hill announces adjusted hours for indoor recreational facilities and centers was published today ( ) and is available on chapelboro ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Chapel Hill Announces Adjusted Hours for Indoor Recreational Facilities and Centers )
Also on site :