Jodie Adams, director of the Springfield-Greene County Parks Department, was elected president of the board of trustees for the National Recreation and Park Association in October. She's been on the executive committee of the national group's board for three years and also is a former president of the Missouri Parks and Recreation Association. She has served the local parks department for 35 years, including almost three years as director.
Q: What is the purpose of the National Recreation and Park Association?
A: We serve city and county municipal parks and recreation departments across the country, and we represent them on everything that might affect them, such as planning and funding mechanisms. We work on public policy with Capitol Hill. We also work with the states' parks and recreation departments and the state governments, as well as the national parks through the Department of the Interior.
Q: What does the election of Barack Obama as president mean for parks development, and how does your position factor into that?
A: President-elect Obama is looking at creating a national program that will put people back to work, similar to the Works Progress Administration. Areas that they've been talking about nationally have been anything from roads to bridges to schools to parks - those types of public projects. I get in on the information early, because ... I'm able to receive information on trends in real time. I am directly connected to everything coming out of Washington, D.C. - grants, funding, planning tools, new equipment - (which) lets us better serve the residents here.
Q: What is the biggest issue park departments face nationwide?
A: I believe the biggest issue is capacity. We have a lot of people working in parks, but the challenge is handling the capacity load of the public. When the economy is in serious trouble, people more than ever depend on their local parks to provide service to them and give them a place that they can gather safely and be with their families.
Q: With the troubled economy, how do parks balance growing need with shrinking budgets?
A: You try to make sure that your public officials know how many people you serve. You also have to make them understand that when they cut funding, they are cutting service to the general public. Also, we collaborate and partner more than ever with local community agencies and organizations to try to offer the services. We highly depend on volunteers to help us, and that helps with some of the load to serve residents.
Q: The local parks department's city funding was cut by nearly $1 million this fiscal year - what does next year hold?
A: I really don't know about future funding. We've been asked to budget at the same level that we were this year, both by the city and the county, and we will do that. Right now, I think everything stays at status quo as far as what parks and facilities are open. We'll take a look at some areas and try to raise more sponsorships and grants. We've been doing it for years, but we're really beating the bushes on that now to see if we can re-implement anything we've lost in services or facilities.
Dame Chiropractic LLC emerged as the new name of Harshman Chiropractic Clinic LLC with the purchase of the business; Leo Kim added a second venture, Keikeu LLC, to 14 Mill Market; and Mercy Springfield Communities opened its second primary care clinic in Ozark.
