City Council Hears Updates on HARP Board & Recreation Department

On Tuesday, October 21st, the City Council was pleased to hear progress updates from the city’s Parks and Recreation director, Amber Magee, and the city’s History, Arts, Recreation and Parks (HARP Board). The all-volunteer board includes Chair Casey Davis and Mark Stetchschulte, a candidate for city council this year.

Key Takeaways from the Meeting

The Parks & Recreation department:

• Continues to see uptake in youth and adult recreation opportunities across all offerings, receives positive revenues from the programs, and believes they are offering a high-quality product for the relatively lower costs, compared to neighboring jurisdictions.
• Is facing a budget crunch for 2026, but has cut costs and increased revenue this year;
• Is eager to make capital improvements to parks, including Citizens Park and Walker-Branch Park, should financial funding mechanisms be found;

The HARP board has:

• Finished a third edition of the Edgewater History Book (buy it on Amazon!);
• Applied for a grant for a new mural in town (they want community input!);
• Continues to sort through hundreds of artifacts from the city’s history at the civic center.

The city’s communications & events team has five major priorities for 2026 – including to strengthen the use of the Ask Edgewater App so citizens know they can communicate directly with a staff member. You can download it!

Parks & Recreation Updates

The city’s Parks and Recreation Director, Amber Magee, briefed the city council on increasing uptake of the city’s recreation programs and the status of parks across the city. Her update included:

• POSITIVE REVIEWS | The city averages 800 uses of recreation facilities per month, has had more than 100 attendees per month at programming for those over 55, and nearly 500 participants in youth sports. Magee reported continued positive reviews of the facilities and programs from residents.
  
  
• C.R.E.A.T.E SCHOLARSHIPS | “Connecting Residents of Edgewater with Activity, Teamwork & Engagement” scholarships are available for any student who needs financial support to participate in Edgewater’s youth sports programs. You can learn more about the youth programs and the scholarship program.
  • There are no fees for several after-school programs the city runs, and fees are significantly lower ($35) in Edgewater for other youth sport programs in the area.
• BUDGET CRUNCH | Costs for running facilities, retaining vendors, buying supplies, and paying staff within the parks and recreation department are projected to go up in 2026, in line with broader economic trends — that is creating a budget crunch for the department and the city more broadly.
  • Magee gave several examples of contracts the city terminated this year to cut costs, including — for example — deciding to not outsource laundry services.
  • Magee noted that the city’s adult fitness classes are not fully recovering their costs, in part because there are several private fitness offerings in and near Edgewater.
  • Recreation fees may slightly increase next year to help the city balance its budget, according to Magee, who believed such fee increases would be justified given the quality of programming offered by the department.
    
    
• MASTER PLAN | The city’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan calls for capital investments to improve parks across the city. Funding mechanisms for them have not been found, however. Mayor Steve Conklin wanted the public to know their input and feedback during the comprehensive plan process was appreciated and still on the mind of staff and elected officials.
  
  
• 2026 PRIORITIES | The Parks & Recreation team will prioritize safety, compliance with the Americans with Disability Act (ADA), regular and deferred maintenance, subsidized after-school and senior programs, library partnerships, and improvements to sidewalks at Citizens Park.
  
  
• WALKER-BRANCH | There is a master plan for Walker-Branch Park, but there is not a revenue stream or grantor to execute the plan.
  • The park, located next to the civic center, is run in partnership with the city of Lakewood, which may have some funds to make improvements, according to
  • The original cost of Phase I of the park’s master plan was $1.1M, but may now cost $1.5-$2M to execute, given rising costs in the economy.
• PARK @ 26TH & KENDALL | The city has added picnic tables to a small “pocket park” at the corner of 26th and Kendall; the mayor and staff are interested in continuing to make improvements.
• HORSE SHOES | Residents can reserve the horse shoe courts at Citizens Park for $12/hour (do so on Play Edgewater). “Horseshoe Larry” maintains the courts for the city and hosts weeknight events and Sunday tournaments.
• TENNIS COURTS | The city may consider asking the school district about making the tennis courts at 24th and Pierce street available for public use; they previously were open to residents who had contacted the city for a lock code, but were closed due to vandalism concerns.

HARP Board Updates

The city’s History, Arts, Recreation, and Parks (H.A.R.P.) board includes Casey Davis, Melissa Denis, Alex Donaldson, Lauren Klepac, Kelsey Lindsey, Daniel Thies, and Mark Stetchschulte. Edgewater residents can provide input to the board by email (contact information is available).

At Tuesday’s meeting, Chair Casey Davis provided an update on recent progress made on the city’s board. Those updates included:

• HISTORY BOOK | Lauren Klepic led a process this year to revise a history book about the city: “Edgewater, Colorado: 120 Years of Growth, Resilience, and Community Spirit.”
  • The third revision included community input and resulted in 42 adjustments.
  • The HARP board hopes to revise the book each year. You can purchase it.
• MURAL | Kelsey Lindsey is spearheading a project to do another mural project in Edgewater.
  • The board submitted a letter of intent for grant funding for the project;
  • The board will know by November if they are awarded resources for the project, after which they will seek community input on how the mural should honor the community’s history and values
• ARTIFACTS | The HARP board established a systematic process to deaccession items from the city’s museum;
  • Mark Stetchschulte developed criteria to evaluate whether historical items in the city’s possession should be discarded (for example, if there are duplicates, of poor quality, lacking context, available online, or not related to Edgewater)
  • The HARP board has been working through troves of articles and artifacts at the city’s civic center, and brainstorming what to do about them.

• GUIDING PRINCIPLES | At the encouragement of city council member Hannah Gay Keao, the HARP board adapted a three-page overview with “guiding principles” to inform the public and other stakeholders the role of HARP, which is primarily to advise the council on history, arts, recreation, and parks related topics.
• 125/150/250 CELEBRATIONS | Next year will be the 125th anniversary of Edgewater applying for its home rule charter status with the state. It coincides with the 150th anniversary of the state and 250th anniversary of the country’s founding. The Mayor has issued a “charge” to celebrate the anniversaries.
  • The HARP board has been considering ideas, like a time capsule, license plate covers commemorating Edgewater, a set of charms reflecting the city’s top locations, and post-card like recipes shared with residents.
  • The Mayor encouraged the HARP board to continue to brainstorm on ideas, and offered his own: inviting local businesses with historical significance to Edgewater to participate in the year-long celebration; he noted, for example, that Lakeview Lounge used to be Edgewater’s Post Office.

Communications and Events Department

The city’s Communications and Events Director Kalah Hardt briefed the council on her department’s priorities for 2026 which are to:

1. Increase in city mailers and promotion for services, programs, and important resident information.
2. Increase in city engagement at local business events.
3. Continue growth and local engagement at city-hosted events.
4. MaintainADA accessibility standards
5. Increase AskEdgewater App use.

The App, which readers can download, allows residents to contact a staff member about any issue directly, among other features.