In this column two weeks ago, I talked a lot about the services we provide here at IVGID. I stated:

“The bundle of services we provide here at IVGID are a combination of must-haves, such as utilities, and nice-to-haves such as parks, open space and recreation. It wasn’t IVGID that requested that we provide those nice-to-haves — it was the community. When the private sector wanted to sell off our beaches, they convinced IVGID to take on this responsibility. In fact, the original Facilities Fee was created in order to finance and maintain our beaches.

“When the private sector was not operating our local golf courses and ski area at a level commensurate with the values of our community, IVGID purchased these venues at the behest of the community. The Facilities Fee became the vehicle to purchase and operate these venues at a level desired by the community.

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“When the community had the opportunity to leverage county funds to build a Recreation Center, after considerable community dialogue, IVGID agreed to take on the responsibility.

“The ongoing operation of our venues has always been a compromise between running venues cost-effectively and operating venues in a manner consistent with the values of the community.”

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Periodically, it is critical for us to review all those nice-to-have services and determine whether the current mix of amenities, facilities and programs are still consistent with the current and future values of our community.

And that is why we periodically update the Master Plans for all of venues and for our programming.

We last updated our overall plan for our Community Services function back in 2000. The road map established back at the turn of this century resulted in many of the facility improvements and well-attended programs we have today.

Over the last five years, we’ve been busy updating specific aspects of the Master Plan including:

Tennis Center Facilities Assessment and Master Plan (August 2016)

Beaches Recreation Enhancement Opportunities Plan (February 2016)

Diamond Peak Master Plan (August 2015)

Championship and Mountain Golf Course Facilities Master Planning (2012 and 2014)

While each of these are critical components to our overall plan, we are now embarking on a more detailed analysis of the other core areas of Community Services including:

Youth and Family Programming

Adult and Senior Programming

Recreation Center, Health and Wellness

Aquatic Programming

Open Space, Trails and Special Interests.

And by the way, we have a lot more open space and trails than most people realize! I will talk about that more in a future column.

The next step in finding out more about community programming needs is to ask the community. And we are off to a great start!

On Wednesday, November 30, over 100 of your neighbors attended the first Community Open House on the Master Plan. We received great feedback. We started the session by providing all of the attendees with wireless keypads for a digital survey.

These keypads were then used to get audience feedback on a variety of questions. Everything from respondent’s age, sex, and housing status to asking which facilities they frequent the most and which facilities are in most need of improvement. We also asked respondents opinion on the quality of service we currently provide.

And in case you were wondering, the respondents were equally split between male and female, closer to age 65 than age 25, mostly homeowners and nearly all were full time residents of Incline Village.

The respondents were able to immediately see the results of each question. After this initial public session, attendees were able to go to input stations related to the programming areas noted above. At these stations they could talk to our IVGID team one on one or as a group about their views on specific activities and programs.

We received a lot of valuable information, and will be continuing to gather more feedback through surveys, focus groups and another Community Interactive Workshops this summer (Save the Date for Saturday, June 17 – more details to come). We will be exploring every possible means to ensure that all stakeholders have a say in the future services provided to our community.

You will certainly hear more about the Master Plan in future columns and there is a lot of detailed information for your perusal on our website. Just go to the “Resources” section of our website and click on the Community Services Master Plan page.

In the meantime, if you have any questions about the Master Plan process or want to provide us with feedback, just contact us: CSMP@IVGID.org, or Misty Moga, our Communications Coordinator at mab@ivgid.org.

We look forward to working with all of you to plan our future!

“GM’s Corner” is a recurring column from Incline Village General Improvement Distinct General Manager Steve Pinkerton, who will discuss issues and offer updates regarding various district matters. He may be reached for comment at steve_pinkerton@ivgid.org.