Playing Smart changelabsolutions.org | kaboom.org 37 the gym, the city will repair it if the city is at fault; if not, city staff will let the school know so they can be aware of the issue. “The formal legal agreement was a little more daunting than we anticipated,” Zizman says. Circulating drafts of the agreement among the city board of aldermen, the city attorney, the board of education, and the board’s attorney took six months from the start until signing. “But we all agreed that even if we didn’t have a formal agreement signed before basketball season started, the schools would let the verbal agreements stand as we worked out the details.” One sticking point, she says, is that the schools wanted to name which city staff would be responsible. The city preferred using titles in case people changed jobs. The final agreement listed names for the senior parks staff but identified everybody else by titles. The agreement will need to be renewed after every school year. The shortterm approach works best for Hernando because the community isn’t sure how big its programs will be from year to year. The city’s youth basketball program (ages 8–17) was the first to benefit. A men’s basketball league started using the gyms in spring 2012. Other sports – both youth and adult leagues – can use the gymnasiums in future years if they need the space. The city/school agreements weren’t Hernando’s first experience with formal use agreements. Since 2009, the city has had a formal agreement with a private landowner in the city. He has a field that is currently for sale but goes unused otherwise, and the city needed space for its fall soccer league. The legal document in place asserts that the city can use the field until it is sold. The parks department maintains the grounds and keeps it up to the owner’s standards. The city must notify the owner of its usage schedule, but this can be done verbally. The owner is indemnified while the city uses the property but is responsible for what happens outside of the programs. The city’s soccer program has increased by 50 people each year since the agreement was put in place. Unlike many communities, which build their joint use agreements after rounds of public input, Hernando didn’t publicize the new agreements with the city’s schools. “Most people think it’s just the schools being friendly and letting us use their gym,” Zizman says. “But without the joint use agreements, we wouldn’t have the league.” During the process, the schools asked what they would get out of the agreements. At first, the schools thought they would be facing a greater hassle with maintenance and safety issues, getting little in return. The city reminded the schools that the parks department waives fees to the city’s parks and pavilions for school field trips.
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