Recently, Parks & Recreation Director Cole Stephens provided the City Council with an annual update. Stephens explained his department has responsibility over parks and trails, recreation, the City Cemetery, City Facilities, community events, and other public properties (rights-of-way). He said they also work with citizen boards such as the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, Historic Preservation Commission, and the Recreation, Arts, Museums and Parks Advisory Board (RAMP). 

Stephens said the cemetery dates to 1865 and is the oldest public property being maintained. He discussed annual history on interments (tracked back to 1983) and said there were 172 interments in 2023 and they are on track for the same in 2024. He said the vacant Cemetery Sexton position was recently filled and he is excited to move forward. He said currently they are doing burial space sales as need only in effort to prolong the life of the cemetery. 

He discussed plans for the replacement of older sections of the irrigation system (for problematic sections dating back to 1950) and plans to include Phase I and Phase II of the Memory/Cremation Garden Area. Stephens discussed plans/expansion/additions for the Cemetery and said, “if they keep up with current pace, they will be out of space within 10+ years.” He said they are landlocked but could consider other City-owned parcels or options.

Stephens discussed the growth of the parks system, including maintenance of 166.39 acres of developed and 201.66 undeveloped Parks and Public properties. He addressed staffing challenges. He said four of the six full-time parks employees have been with the city three years or less, requiring a great deal of training to gain institutional knowledge and have history with the big picture. He expressed thanks for the seasonal employees that make or break them every year. He reviewed completed, upcoming, and future projects and said “they are constantly looking for water conservation projects and ways to reduce water consumption in turf and landscapes.”

Stephens said the Recreation Program does an amazing job with its amount of needs. This year, they offered programs age 3 up to adult, of any age and ability; the goal being to capture all ages and interests. He gave a summary of the 2024 Program list and said coordination with Davis School District gym space continues to present challenges for indoor programs, such as Jr. Jazz. “This year we will have to limit the number of kids we can have play due to court space availability,” Stephens said. He said they will continue to work in conjunction with the school district to ensure everyone that wants to can participate. 

“Overall, recreation programs served 13,846 individuals from September 2023 to August 2024,” said Stephens. “With the largest program being soccer, followed by Jr. Jazz basketball.” He said they maintain a total of 80,100 of facilities space, entailing everything from custodial services, HVAC systems, general maintenance and improvements. 

The Council thanked Stephens and his staff for doing so much with limited staff. “Parks and Recreation bring a community together,” Stephens said and “he is grateful for the volunteers for making community events happen and undertaking service projects in the parks and cemetery, coaching teams and assisting with sports, and making Kaysville the great place that it is.” λ