The Productive Parks 5-Minute Podcast

A park cleanup event can be an excellent opportunity to address maintenance needs for your parks while getting the community involved. Community park cleanup events can help the maintenance team catch up on less skilled work like trash cleanup, weeding, removing invasive plants, and other beautification projects.

Don’t let that opportunity go to waste! A poorly planned cleanup event can mean work wasn’t completed correctly and the ...

As a park and recreation agency, we all come to this crossroads…should we keep repairing older playground equipment, or is it time to replace it?

You want to provide the best play environments for your community but probably have budget constraints and a maintenance backlog. Still, the repairs are starting to get more expensive and frequent. Is it time to finally replace the playground equipment? 

In this episode of the Productiv...

Is your park maintenance team dealing with issues? Are there things that constantly nag at your park and recreation agency? Well, you are not alone. As much as you’d like to think other parks departments have it all together, they are likely struggling with at least some challenges. 

Despite parks and recreation agencies coming in all different shapes and sizes, they often encounter similar challenges. From aging infrastructure to ...

Communication. We do it every day. Conversations, phone calls, emails, and messaging…It seems nonstop. Yet communication remains to be one of the greatest challenges within many organizations–including parks and recreation agencies.

Technology may make communicating with one another easier, but it doesn’t necessarily make us better at it. Interactions among supervisory staff, administrators, and front-line workers need to be clear,...

Winter usually means more people spending time indoors–and coming to your indoor recreation facilities, gyms, and workout centers. The weather conditions, additional programming, and increased foot traffic can all impact how staff need to maintain these facilities. 

The challenges recreation centers face during the winter can be addressed with some planning, procedures, and maintenance routines. Also, training staff can help create...

Harsh winter weather can be hard on recreation facility exteriors. If you are a facility manager, you’ve seen how freezing temperatures, heavy snow, high winds, and other winter weather can cause damage and hazardous conditions.  

Luckily, with some planning and preparation, you can reduce the risk of common issues recreation facilities face during the winter. Help make sure your exteriors stay resilient throughout winter, and the ...

It can be an exciting time when parks and recreation agencies invest in computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software. But it can also be a challenging time to adopt CMMS software. 

After all, change isn’t always easy. Maintenance staff may not initially adopt CMMS software. It can be a stressful transition as the staff learns how to use maintenance management software.

Spending time upfront with training, collaboratio...

Now that the weather is starting to turn and some parts of the country are starting to face more wintery conditions, you may ask yourself if your playgrounds are ready for the change of season.

Late fall is a critical time to ensure playgrounds remain safe and functional during the winter. The playground inspections and preventative maintenance you do now can go a long way to ensure issues are addressed before the lead to more comp...

Picture this…You started your maintenance team seasonal hiring. You found some perfect new additions for your maintenance department. 

What happens on their first day? What kind of maintenance training is available during the onboarding process? Do they watch some standard videos that every new hire watches? Do that shadow an established maintenance staff for a few days? Are they left to their own devices to figure it out?

We all k...

Park maintenance is the backbone of a dynamic parks and recreation agency. The varied duties of a parks maintenance worker help ensure that recreation programming, special events, and visits to parks and facilities are safe and positive experiences for the public.

However, many people don’t understand all the responsibilities of a park maintenance worker and the skills necessary to complete them. 

So today, we are answering the que...

In the perfect world, your maintenance team would have all the funding and resources you need for general operations, necessary repairs, and special projects. 

And then there is reality.

More often than not, budget constraints keep teams from doing everything that needs to be done. Backlogs of work pile up. Small issues get missed. Emergency repairs are needed.

Managers have to become creative to stretch their budgets or secure add...

Most people work better when they have a clear path to follow. When they understand what needs to be done and why. Unfortunately, not every agency has focused short- and long-term goals that give a sense of purpose and unity. 

You may have heard of key performance indicators (KPIs) before. But do parks and recreation agencies really need KPIs?

In short, Yes!

Parks and recreation agencies with clear goals and key performance indicat...

How important is inventory management for parks and recreation?

We often take our inventory for granted until we unexpectedly run out of something...at the worst possible time. Or maybe someone orders too much of something, and there is nowhere to put it. Then, inventory comes into full focus.

Being proactive with inventory allows your agency to take the mystery out of storage closets and cabinets. Effectively managing inventory al...

Maintenance management software can automate some processes and organize a maintenance team, but how does it pay for itself?

Computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software is an investment for a parks and recreation agency. As with any investment, you want to see it start paying off as soon as possible.

You may be surprised at how quickly your agency will start seeing a return on the investment. When a maintenance team ...

When a parks and recreation agency chooses maintenance management software to help streamline operations, individuals often have ideas about what the software can and cannot do.

Some may think choosing computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software will solve all their problems. Others may believe that “Big Brother” will be watching over them, tracking their every move. 

After all, change can be a difficult thing. When ...

With record heat reaching through most of the country, it’s crucial to keep your staff and visitors safe from the excessive temperatures. 

Maintenance staff working outdoors in the elements exposed to heat, humidity, and sunlight are especially vulnerable. Being aware of heat-related illness symptoms allows staff to monitor themselves, their coworkers, and any visitors exposed to prolonged periods of heat.

In this episode of the Pr...

For parks and recreation maintenance teams, it’s the middle of the busy season. Everyone is probably feeling the strain. Workers have to manage heat, special events, and more visitors–along with their other regular duties–to ensure parks and properties are looking and functioning their best. 

Most maintenance managers have been through this chaotic time before. But they want to go through it better this time around. Is it even poss...

You know the sound as soon as you hear it…the whir of a leaf blower doing its job.

Despite the name, leaf blowers can help with various cleaning and clearing tasks. And if you work in parks maintenance, they are likely one of your trusted tools throughout the day. 

And, like most landscaping equipment, they need regular maintenance to operate at their best and last their longest.

In this episode of the Productive Parks 5-Minute Pod...

We’ve all been there. Somebody calls off. An emergency repair is needed. Something breaks down in the field. In these instances and others, maintenance managers have to make tough decisions about what tasks to do and what needs to be deferred. 

With a growing list of deferred maintenance tasks, more things start slipping through the cracks, and even more work gets deferred. Soon, your team is in over its head with deferred maintena...