California Association of Recreation and Park Districts
President's Message
December 2014
Wow, what an election! Although I didn’t have to run again this year there were many of our Districts’ Board Members as well as local legislators that did. Some were re-elected and some were replaced. (All of the current CARPD Board Members that ran were re-elected to another four-year term.) This means there is a new crop of Special District Board Members, Congressional Representatives, State Senators and Assembly Members to get acquainted with; and we need to let them know what CARPD is all about. Our organization strongly relies on the legislative process to help run our Districts effectively and efficiently. Our organization needs the help of legislators when it comes to creating or supporting certain bills or propositions that can benefit Special Districts. We can help Board Members and District Administrators become better at what they do. And, that’s one of our main goals every year.
We are fortunate to have the passionate service of our Legislative advocate, Ralph Heim, for another year of service. With his help, we have drafted a communication form letter to introduce our organization to our representatives. It should have found its way to your District already. Please send it to your local representative as soon as possible. Ralph will be at our conference in May to answer all of your questions.
A thank you is in order to all our CARPD members for getting their membership dues paid. We are 64 district’s strong and growing. I invite all newly elected officials, Board Members and their District Administrators to attend our Annual Spring Conference in beautiful South Lake Tahoe May 14-16, 2015. This CARPD Conference is guaranteed to be one of the best ever with the possibility of more interactive events like a group hiking trip and a beautiful scenic sunset lake cruise for our Sponsors reception. We are in the process of planning our informative breakout sessions so they will offer the most popular and up-to-date information for everyone. Once again we will be featuring our very popular Board Member and Administrators Round Tables that always seem to stir the waters a bit. This year we are looking forward to a very special and popular keynote speaker, (although not yet finalized) this person will be someone sure to leave us all with long lasting memories. Also, thanks to the sale of raffle tickets, CARPD will be awarding three full scholarships to some of our Districts that have never attended the conference before.
Remember, we are always looking for better ways to serve our members. If your District has something to share, whether successful or challenging, we would appreciate hearing from you. For instance, I recently had the opportunity to try out a new sport. My District (Cordova Recreation and Park District) has implemented a brand new 18-hole FootGolf course at our existing golf course. I found it a sport for all ages and genders. I had a blast playing the game and ended my round with a 20 yard birdie. You can send your story or comments to our Executive Director Pat Cabulagan at pchabulagan@capri-jpa.org.
I look forward to communicating with all of you in the near future and thanks again for being a member and supporting our organization.
Rick Sloan
CARPD
President, Board of Directors
