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Dunedin City Department Getting Renamed

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By Mark  Schantz | The Suncoast News

Published: June 27, 2008

DUNEDIN -- What does the words "leisure services" mean?

Few people understand the term, said Vince Gizzi, the recently appointed director of the city's Leisure Services Department.

When he tells someone he works for the Leisure Services Department, Gizzi said, he often has to explain what the department and its staff do.

The city, however, is taking steps to end the confusion.

Assistant City Manager Harry Gross, who for several years headed the Leisure Services Department, said when he was director many times the city would get calls from sales people and solicitors thinking Leisure Services was the name of a business.

Bringing back the name the department had years ago, Parks and Recreation, will better suits its mission, Gross said.

The name leisure services conjures up more passive activities that might be suited for senior citizens or cruise ship patrons, Gizzi said.

The name Parks and Recreation better unites all the services performed by his department, Gizzi explained. The services include providing recreation for all age groups assisting at events, operating Dunedin Marina and overseeing numerous parks throughout the city.

Parks and Recreation is the standard term in use by city and county governments around the country so the name change would bring the city department in line with this, Gizzi said.

The name change will likely be codified when the city's fiscal 2009 budget is adopted, in late September, Gross said.

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