Sumner Rec Department still going strong after 25 years

In the late 1980s, Sumner High School athletic director Tim Thomsen found that without a city-run parks and recreation program, the athletic programs at Sumner High were lacking.

“We wanted to improve the athletic programs,” Thomsen said. “We felt we needed a recreation program. The cities of Bonney Lake and Sumner didn’t have the money to fund their own rec department, so we settled on it as a co-op in the school district.”

On April 15, 1991, the cities of Sumner and Bonney Lake and the Sumner School District partnered to formally establish the Sumner Recreation Department.

The rec department charges a participation fee for participants in the adult classes, youth sports and other programs the department hosts. The school district keeps the participation fees, and uses its HR department to run background checks and keep personnel files for coaches and volunteers in the program.

When the program started, the district had both cities pay $14,000 for their portion of the partnership. Now, each city pays $25,000.

“It’s not particularly expensive for us to have a rec department,” Sumner Mayor Dave Enslow said. “I believe University Place (a similar-sized city) pays up to $700,000 per year. It’s a very good deal. It’s a big community effort.”

After 25 years, Enslow and Thomsen both agree the program is still going strong, even with the Gordon Family YMCA opening this past year. Instead of seeing the Y as competition, rec department officials see it as parallel programs benefiting the community as a whole.

“We haven’t seen our program slow down with the (opening of the) Y,” Thomsen said. “The rec department raised a whole generation that demanded a facility like the Y.”

Ultimately, Thomsen says, the rec department pays off due to the fact children come into the district’s athletic programs with some experience playing organized team sports.

“In the 80s, we saw two league championships,” he said. “Since then, it’s changed dramatically, with one, two, three or more league champs (in different sports) each year. We’ve seen our success and our standings improve.”

Last year, the Sumner School District profited $120,000 as its role as the lead agency of the program, according to Steve Sjolund, the district’s Educational Support Services officer.

While the rec department has seen great success, after 25 years the agreement is now up for renewal. Before making any decisions, the city of Sumner has posted a survey on its website to see what citizens want out of their recreation department.

Enslow says after 25 years, he is hopeful the program will continue.

“I hope it continues,” Enslow said. “There are a lot of resources in the program.”

To take the survey, visit http://ci.sumner.wa.us/recreation-program-survey/.

This story was originally published February 16, 2016 at 3:35 PM with the headline "Sumner Rec Department still going strong after 25 years."