In 2025, we excelled inoperational excellence, innovation, leadership, and community impact.
Parks
Installed new parking lots at Lindsay Gardens and 11th Avenue Park.
Utilized seasonal contractors for irrigation and rodent control to support a smoother spring startup and free staff capacity.
Added three wide-area mowers and improved tree-watering equipment to increase operational efficiency.
Improved coordination with Fleet and Facilities through committee meetings, service reports, and enhanced communication.
Re-established and re-chartered the Parks Safety Committee, contributing to a reduction in incidents by year’s end.
Collaborated successfully with University of Utah Baseball during expansion and construction at Sunnyside Park.
Planning and Design
Approved to pursue a $49M second issuance of the Parks Bond, which will be dedicated to construction projects reflecting community-identified needs.
Hired four new landscape architects, strengthening in-house design capacity.
Completed the first phase of Division Standard Operating Procedures.
Prepared more than 20 projects to begin or continue construction in 2026.
Cemetery
Reclassified and hired a new Office Facilitator to improve administrative efficiency and customer service.
Finalized the Friends of the Salt Lake City Cemetery agreement, formalizing community partnership and stewardship support.
Developed and installed kestrel boxes as a natural solution to help reduce gopher populations.
Innovated and deployed a gopher CO machine to address infestations while minimizing risk to non-target wildlife.
Contracted for extensive pothole repairs to improve site safety and accessibility.
Removed a long-standing dirt pile to enhance site appearance and visitor safety.
Coordinated and supported the burial of LDS President Russell M. Nelson.
Honored and facilitated the burial of World War II veteran Larry Holding, ensuring dignified recognition of his service.
Events
Delivered a full season of community events citywide, maintaining strong attendance and positive public feedback.
Streamlined event logistics, including check-in systems, vendor coordination, site layouts, and post-event reporting.
Expanded partnerships with local artists, musicians, businesses, and cultural organizations, strengthening community representation and economic benefit.
Developed standardized event templates and planning tools to support efficiency and future scalability.
Golf
Set revenue records across all six golf courses, achieving the highest number of starts in 25 years.
Successfully hosted three amateur and professional championship events at Bonneville Golf Course in August.
Increased participation across men’s and women’s golf leagues at all courses.
Served more than 1,000 youth through junior golf instruction programs.
Engaged more than 300 women through introductory and instructional golf programs.
Achieved the most successful holiday gift card sale in division history, with more than $750,000 in December sales.
Removed several tons of dead trees and limbs across all six courses to improve safety and course conditions.
Park Rangers
Maintained full staffing for most of the year, onboarded a new Ranger Lead for the Jordan River area, updated operational and accountability standards, and secured approval for second supervisory position.
Delivered 1,212 hours of training, including customer service, de-escalation, conflict resolution, and emotional intelligence.
Conducted cross-training with SLCPD Social Work teams to improve collaboration on homelessness and public safety.
Completed Wilderness First Aid training to strengthen emergency response capabilities.
Developed philosophy statements for customer service, public safety, and education to guide program consistency.
Enhanced operational efficiency by creating tools to improve patrol planning, resource allocation, team communication, and safety management.
Participated in bi-weekly North Temple community meetings to address local concerns.
Supported major citywide events, reinforcing Park Rangers’ role as trusted public-facing ambassadors.
Regional Athletic Complex
Completed the 2025, 191-day season, with 8,759.5 reservation hours 4,380 games (averaging 547 hours of use per field).
Generated $746,570 in annual revenue.
Welcomed more than 200,000 visitors.
Hosted 30 tournaments and major events.
Attracted teams from 39 states, with 19 events drawing out-of-state participants.
Generated a record-breaking $25.7 million in economic impact.
Hosted regional, state, national, and international competitions across soccer, rugby, lacrosse, ultimate disc, and cross-country.
Supported marquee events including NCAA Cross Country Regionals, Mayor’s Cup Soccer, USAU Regionals, and international rugby training camps.
Trails and Natural Lands
Completed organizational restructuring to improve operational efficiency and internal communication.
Initiated development of a multi-agency Memorandum of Understanding with the four public landowners of the Foothills Natural Area to coordinate management.
Utilized recommendations from the Foothills Plan evaluation to initiate a zone planning process to balance recreation and ecological protection.
Volunteer and Stewardship
Maintained more than 40 active community collaborations.
Engaged more than 2,400 volunteers across 83 stewardship sessions.
Completed over 6,200 volunteer labor hours.
Planted 2,446 new trees and native plants.
Removed more than 2,500 pounds of invasive weeds.
Installed 265 tree wells.
Removed approximately 4,570 pounds of trash from the Jordan River Trail.
Urban Forestry
Responded to more than 3,300 service requests from residents.
Removed 1,768 trees and planted more than 1,900 new trees.
