Simple steps to passing a levy.

The success of a campaing levy is often determined by how well one does one's homework. One of the best ways to prepare is to conduct and extensive leisure facility study, preferably with the help of a consultant to ensure an unbiased study. The leisure facility study should involve citizens, public officials and your parks and recreation staff. The study should inventory and collect the demographics of the community, existing facilities and programs, participation levels and facility usage, future program plans and needs and inventory the community's recreational opportunities. The study should also include a citizen's attitude and opinion survey, and income and expense review, a program analysis and space requirements. The study should conclude with a statement of needs and conclusions and a statement of recommendations. This approach will establish strong credibility, clearly show your recommendations were based on sound research, and that there is public support for the project.

The timing as to when to go on the ballot needs to be considered. Do you want to be on the ballot at a general election, a primary election or a special elections? There are pros and cons to each. Also, you'll want to research any other issues that will be on the ballot with your past election issues and upcoming issues. You most likely will not want to be on the ballot at the same time as the school board or other major issues. You will need to work with the board of elections to follow the ballot process procedures and work with a lawyer to develop the ballot language. The county auditor will work with you on determining the mileage. A property owner's tax increase chart will visually help the voter understand the impact the levy will have on their taxes.

After you've done your homework and have gained the complete support of your council, board, administration and staff, you're ready to develop your campaign strategy.

The first campaign step is to form a "committe for recreation." The committee should be comprised of your board members as the leaders, recreation supporters and key staff. You can recruit your committee through recreation enthusiasts in your community, senior adult members, youth association participants, volunteers, service organizations and anyone and everyone that has an interest.

The next campaign step is to develop a campaign goal based on what you want the campaign to produce. Such goals can include:

* To meet the voters' need of information to make a decision.

* Show the voters that your recommendations are the most pragmatic and the best economic solution to meeting the community's need for recreation facilities.

You need to budget the campaign. Anticipated budget expenses include printing flyers, postage for flyers, mail-house expenses, yard signs, balloons, ribbons, refreshments for the galas and miscellaneous expenses. You also need a "citizens for information" fund. A 501C3 Foundation is an excellent means to run the funds through. Fundraising is critical for success, so appoint a strong fundraiser. Remember, no public funds can be used for the campaign.

The committee should develop a schedule outlining key tasks to be completed. The schedule should include the timeframe for: fundraising, neighborhood meetings, public hearings, a campaign kick-off gala, bond squads, committee canvasing, yard signs and displays, phone bank and a direct mailer.

Next, the committee must determine its public. Which audiences must the campaign message reach to produce the goals? In an aquatic situation, this could be your pool users, your lesson program, your swim team, your master swimmers, passholders, senior adults, special populations and special interest users.

Based on your goal and your public to be reached, you should develop a theme. Ask, "What is the basic idea to be communicated?" You want the theme to be clear and concise, requiring little to no explanation. Brain-storming is a great way to generate lots of theme ideas. Also, researching themes across the country and using an already established theme is a good alternative. "Vote yes for recreation...a bond for all ages" was the theme used by the City of Kettering, Ohio.

The next step is to develop a public information campaign. In this step, the committee determines which methods of communication would be most effective in reaching the targeted public. Flyers play a major part in the public information campaign and should include information about the project, answers to most often-asked questions, a sample of the ballot with the issue number. If money is available, the flyer should be directly mailed to all households in the community. Feature articles should be written for your department's newsletters, brochures, senior adult newsletters, any personnel newsletters and any city's citizen newsletters distributed to the public. Cable T.V. will often run an informational piece on the project.

Set a press conference and invite newspaper, radio and television representatives to share the project and to answer any of their questions. Community presentations with an open forum format should be made available to neighborhood meeting groups, special interest organizations, service organizations, school meetings, sports organizations, city departments, and other organizations wanting a presentation.

A very useful tool in the public information campaign is to prepare a slide show in which you can visually show and explain the project in detail. Promotional materials play a major part in the campaign. Promotional materials can include ribbons to be worn by staff and ribbons to go around supporters' trees, lightposts and car antennas, with buttoms to be worn by the staff that say, "Ask Me about My Ribbon." Balloons are a way of promoting the levy. Coordinating campaign colors are also important so that people can relate colors to your issue.

A phone hotline can be very worthwhile to provide general information and answer the public's questions regarding the issue. A number to get further information should be included.

Your "citizens for recreation" committee can be broken down into functional committees. Committee suggestions include a sign and displays committee, a community canvas committee, a bond squad committee, a writing and advertising committee and a phone bank committee.

The sign and display committee would be responsible for securing two-sided, 2' x 2' yard signs and finding property owners to place a sign in their yard. The committee should develop a form to include what to do if the sign needs repair, a contact phone number, sign ordinance regulations and a reminder to remove the sign within ten days after the election. The sign committee could also be responsible for putting two-sided 4' x 8' signs in main intersections and visible locations throughout your jurisdiction. The committee would also work with local business and restaurants to put promotional signs on their marquees, and work on displays at recreation complexes, libraries, citywide special events, large corporations, shopping centers and school open houses. The night after the election a "thank you" should be strung across the large signs, thanking people who voted for the issue.

The community canvas committee would be responsible for going door-to-door to promote the levy. To tackle this major undertaking, dividle the community into precincts and assign a captain to each precinct. The captain would be responsible for securing the volunteers necessary to cover the precinct. You can get a registered voter's list from the board of elections so that you would be visiting only registered voters within your area. A training session for community canvas volunteers is critical. Training should include what to say and what to do and how to respond to comments. Develop a script and give an assistance sheet to the volunteers, along with informational flyers to be left with the citizens. Formulate a master map of the progress of each of the canvassers.

A unique committee that can get a lot of press coverage is a bond squad committee. The bond squad is a group of individuals of all ages that dress crazy, make lots of noise, sing songs, carry signs, pass out balloons and literature and answer questions about the issue. They can be visible at football games, soccer games, department stores and any major event. Also, the bond squad could walk at major intersections promoting the issue.

The writing committee is responsible for recruiting supporters to write editorials to newspapers, encourage endorsements, develop the direct mailer for households and mail letters to park users, family users and passholders informing them of the issue and requesting their support.

The phone bank committee should be responsible for calling individuals to see if they are aware of the issue and if they have any questions or comments. The phone bank committee is responsible for finding a location with lots of phones, recruiting and scheduling volunteers, obtaining a registered voters list and cross-reference with the city-directory for phone numbers, and developing a script for callers. An effective time for the phone bank committee to make calls is between 7 and 9 p.m., two weeks before election day. It is very critical that knowledgeable staff are on-site to assist volunteers when questions are asked.

Other considerations that the committee should consider are previous election results. You can obtain this information from the board and elections. The information can break down the precincts as to how they voted, and you can examine the pockets of positive voters versus negative voters within your community. You'll then know how to design your campaign around your voters.

Before the election, it is extremely important to encourage non-registered voters to register and vote. This includes your patrons and your staff. Also, encourage the use of absentee ballots for college students and for patrons, often seniors, who might be leaving the area for the winter.

The key to a successful campaign is to ensure that you have done a good job establishing the need, have built solid community support through the use of community representatives and have had constant media coverage. It is critical that all staff are informed and kept up-to-date on the progress and that consistent information is being given out at all times. Be sure to log all comments from the public. And don't forget--win or lose, an appreciation night for campaign workers and staff is much deserved.