Although these new members had an idea of what they would like to see the Recreation Board accomplish within the 
community of 217 people and the passion to achieve those goals, they were unclear about how the Recreation Board should be set-up and where their responsibilities within the community started and ended.
I attended a meeting in Kelliher on December 14, 2016, along with Jaret Dezotell, Community Consultant with the Prairie Central District for Sport, Culture and Recreation (PCDSRC), and facilitated the start of the Recreation Board Development process.
During that initial meeting, members of Kelliher Recreation Board went through a community review checklist to better understand how the Recreation Board operated within the community and discuss if changes were needed to that system. The members discussed the Recreation Board bylaw, the recreation flowchart, financial responsibility of the Board, community volunteers and so much more. They started the process of establishing a mission and vision statement for the Kelliher Recreation Board and really delved into what their mandate was and where their responsibilities aligned with the community.
They identified that there was a lack of recreation programming within the community for people of all ages and addressing that need was going to be their first goal. They also identified the need to enhance the community park and improve the aesthetics of the community. With that, the Kelliher Recreation Board had their mandate for what they would try to achieve in the community and moved forward to accomplish those goals.
As this newly energized group started to put their plan into action, they realized that there were several organizations and groups within the Village of Kelliher that all played an important role in their community’s recreation delivery system.
Wanting to fully understand every organization’s responsibility in the recreation delivery system as well as wanting to create a communication network between these groups, the Kelliher Recreation Board once again approached PCDSCR and the Saskatchewan Parks and Recreation Association (SPRA) to see if they could facilitate a meeting with all the recreation stakeholders in the community.
On June 13, 2017, Jaret Dezotell and I facilitated another meeting in Kelliher. This time, about twenty people representing several Kelliher organizations including the Recreation Board and the Village of Kelliher, met to discuss Kelliher’s recreation delivery system in its entirety. This meeting really demonstrated the vast number of recreation opportunities available within Kelliher, spotlighted the immense amount of work that volunteers are doing and opened up communication lines between organizations that may not have been as fluid in the past.
SPRA and the Prairie Central District for Sport, Culture and Recreation are very pleased to offer support to the Kelliher Recreation Board and the entire community. The Kelliher Recreation Board’s commitment to their community will allow them to have unlimited success in achieving their goals.
Clint McConnell is a field consultant with the Saskatchewan Parks and Recreation Association, and is based in Humboldt, Saskatchewan. For more information, you can contact him by email or call (306) 682-5265.
