City of Meridian Blogs

By Steve Siddoway

Meridian Parks & Recreation Director

• Had 2,344 total registrations for recreation classes and camps last year.

• Offered 157 different classes/camps in 648 separate sessions in the past year, from fall 2010 through summer 2011.

• Hosts a variety of different classes at the Meridian Community Center, from art and dance classes to new offerings such as violin camp, preschool tumbling, family martial arts, woodworking for kids, and more.

• Provided scholarships to recreation programs through the “Care Enough to Share” program to 23 Meridian residents in the past year, since fall 2010.

• Reserves 15 picnic shelters in 11 different parks.

• Had 4,286 players on 371 teams in our sports leagues last year.

• Used over 1,200 hours of gym time last year for volleyball, basketball, and dodgeball.

• Included 108 teams (1,355 people)—the maximum number available based on current field space—in the Spring Softball league.

• Had 1,100 people play on volleyball teams this past winter and spring.

• Hosts a Movie Night in Settlers Park every Friday night in June, July, and August.  That’s 13 free, family-friendly movies available in the park this summer.

• Hosts 5 different major community events every year, including CableONE Movie Night, the Barn Sour Races, Independence Day (4^th of July) Festival, the Community Block Party, and Christmas in Meridian/Tree Lighting Ceremony.

• Has already helped coordinate 38 other “event days” for special events hosted by other organizations in parks this year…so far.

• Had 149 people register for the Barn Sour Fun Run, 6K, and 10K races this year.

• Currently maintains 189 acres of developed park land in 19 different sites, including 1 Regional Park, 4 Community Parks, 6 Neighborhood Parks, 3 Mini-Parks, and 5 Special Use Areas.

• Had only 38 acres of developed park land in 4 different sites in the year 2000.

• Currently owns another 184 acres of additional park land that will be developed in future years.

• Provides 2.5 acres of park land per thousand residents in Meridian, with a goal of providing 4 acres per thousand.

• Will open a new 60-acre park, Julius M. Kleiner Memorial Park, near Eagle and Fairview Roads next year.  This park is a donation from Mr. Eugene Kleiner and the Kleiner Park Trust.

• Maintains 9 miles of multi-use pathways, ½ of which is in parks and the other ½ throughout the community.

• Manages over 2,000 trees in our urban forest system, from park trees to downtown trees.  This year we will add over 1,000 more trees in Kleiner Park.

• Received nearly 3,000 hours of volunteer service from community members last year.  Thank you!!

These are just some of our numbers and fun facts at Meridian Parks & Recreation.  We hope that you are part of these numbers, or soon will be!

Sincerely,

Steve Siddoway

Meridian Parks & Recreation Director

By Keith Watts, CPPB, Purchasing Manager for the City of Meridian

The Idaho Public Purchasing Association is planning on hosting a reverse vendor trade show at the Meridian City Hall in early 2012.  What is a reverse vendor trade show?  This is a trade show where the tables and booths are manned by buyers not sellers.  These buyers will be the actual purchasing staff from many state and local agencies.  The vendors, consultants and contractors (Sellers)  roam the show and get visit with the actual people who conduct the procurements for these agencies.  These sellers can provide information and the capability on their companies while gaining valuable insight on how the different agencies conduct their procurements.  IPPA is also planning on presenting classes for both the public buyers as well as the sellers.  These classes will also offer a question and answer period.  Please continue to visit the City’s Purchasing web page as more information will be coming later this year.