Letter from the District Administrator

February 24, 2023

Hello Carmichael Community!  First and foremost, I want to thank all of those who supported Measure G last November.  To have over 67% vote in favor of the General Obligation Bond was amazing, and it puts us on a road to a new era here at the Carmichael Recreation and Park District. The entire CRPD staff, Advisory Board and the Measure G Committee want to thank you!

As CRPD moves forward, we take the responsibility of the funds that will come from the bonds very seriously.  We will be transparent as all our meetings are open to the public.  Funds will be spent on deferred maintenance and new projects only.  No bond money will fund CRPD staff positions.  As we shared during the campaign, the bonds will be sold in 3 stages.  Each will be about $10,000,000 with the first coming this March.  We have 3 years to spend that money, and then the next series will be sold.  I’d like to give you a brief update on what we’ve been up to since Measure G passed.

• One of the first things we worked on after Measure G officially passed was drafting the by-laws for the Bond Oversight Committee (BOC).  The BOC will be made up of seven district residents and will look over the financial spending of the bond to make sure it meets the scope of the projects we will undertake.   The Advisory Board approved the by-laws for the BOC at their February 16th meeting and for those interested the applications for the positions will be on our website by May at www.carmichaelpark.com .
• The approval of projects from the bond proceeds will all go through the Advisory Board, as they approve our Capital Improvement Projects each fiscal year.  If you are interested in being part of the process, please attend our monthly board meeting either in-person or online, as we provide a hybrid meeting each month.  As you can imagine, between deferred maintenance and projects from the Master Plan Update, we must prioritize what is done with the funds, and it’s important to hear from the public.

Let’s also take a quick look back at 2022 and then focus forward on what is to come in 2023 for CRPD!

We are finally getting back to “normal” with our programs and special events.  Last spring, combined with our local partner the Kiwanis Club of Carmichael, we had our Breakfast with the Bunny event.  We then were able to bring back the fireworks event and with collaboration with our neighbors at Mission Oaks Recreation and Park District, we started the Carmichael’s Red, White, and Blue Celebration on the first Saturday in July.   The turnout for both those events was amazing, and we received a lot of positive feedback.  We also took part in the Carmichael Improvement District’s new event for the whole family, Barktober!   We will continue to reimagine other special events in 2023 and beyond as we grow our partnerships to bring fun events to the community.

Our success over the years has been because of the hard-working CRPD Staff and Advisory Board.  While the pandemic caused us to cut back staff to balance the budget, we are emerging from that now and the future looks bright.  We’ve had two new professionals join our staff and an internal promotion over the last year. We welcomed Tyler Tulowitzki and Miranda Ellis to our team this year as well as promoted Clinton Salas to a Lead, all of whom will help take the district to the next level.  On the Advisory Board side, we said goodbye to longtime Director Mike Rockenstein, who completed his term limit, along with Director Brooke Judd. Director Rockenstein was instrumental in getting the district through some very tough times and was a key member of the Measure G committee.  Director Judd was always there for the youth of the district and was a big supporter of our partners at Project Lifelong.  We appreciate both Director Rockenstein and Director Judd for their support of CRPD over the years!  We want to welcome our newest Advisory Board Director, Martin Ross, who is looking forward to bringing his experience and knowledge to the board.    As we move forward, we encourage all to visit the district’s website to receive updates and learn how to get involved.
 

Take care!

Mike Blondino