Parks & Recreation Advisory Committee

MINUTES Parks and Recreation Advisory Meeting Recreation Center February 19, 2015 Present Meri Heggie – Member Derek Benavides – Members Tito Mata – Member Jerry Hatley – Member Anisa Gonzalez – Member Chris Patterson – Parks Director Damaris McGlone – Asst. Parks Director Carlos Velica – Parks Staff Arturo Mancias – Citizen Absent Leo Rosales – Parks Chairperson 1) Meeting called to order by Parks Board Member Mrs. Meri Heggie at 12:11 p.m. for Parks Chairperson Mr. Leo Rosales, who was not present due to illness. 2) Approval of minutes • Minutes of last meeting (November 13, 2014) approved on a motion by Mrs. Meri Heggie, seconded by Mr. Tito Mata, motion carried. 3) Chairperson’s Report • No report at this time. 4) Public Comment • Board member Mr. Mata commented that there will be a huge State Kickball Tournament held in July at Oliveira Park. 5) Director’s Report • Parks Director Mr. Patterson commented that he and Assistant Parks & Recreation Director met this morning with Assistant City Manager Stephanie Reyes to discuss the current and future vacancies for the Parks Advisory Board Committee. Hoping to have at the next Parks Board meeting the Roberts Rule of  order discussed and maybe have someone from the City Secretary’s office come in and do a presentation on the proper procedure. • Commented that he would like to discuss with the Parks Board members, status on projects before they get started. • Reported that they should have a draft by April 15 for the Parks Master Plan but might be extended until May due to other issues that may have come up. • Parks Director commented that the Sports Park Domes are moving along and should have ground breaking by Spring of 2015. Also commented that the Department is working on Block Grants and would like to get together with each Board member or email him with any ideas they might have for park improvements before submitting the grants. Mr. Patterson also commented “We are doing things that we never did before, working on many projects and Damaris has been a great asset to our department in helping us with the transition”. • Assistant Parks Director Damaris McGlone commented that the Parks Master Plan Visioning workshop with PRO’s Consulting was held last week and will be having another meeting in April. Also having a meeting today with Office of Grants Management to discuss the Homeless Resource Center. Gave a brief update on the “Overnight Homeless Shelter” which went out for RFP’s but no one showed any interest, so now it is going to become a Brownsville Community Resource Center and should be completed by July 2016. Reported that she recently attended a Nature Tourism Historical workshop and will also be attending the Urban Parks Alliance Conference in April, to be held in San Francisco. The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) applications are due tomorrow for the Youth Homeless Resource Center. We are also in needs of replacing the a/c units at the Gonzalez Park gyms. 6) Discussion Period • Discussion on the status of the Dog Park (Anisa Gonzalez) Board member Mrs. Gonzalez commented that citizens are getting upset due to the fact that the fence at the park needs to be repaired at the bottom and dogs that are loose are going underneath and getting into the park. Mrs. Gonzalez recommended of having maybe extra fence installed for the larger dogs, to keep them separated from the smaller ones and suggested of having trees planted at the park to have some shade and install some restrooms for the public as well. • Parks Director Mr. Patterson commented that he would have Parks Operations Manager Mr. Bill Payne get an updated report on the dog park submitted to the Parks Advisory Board members. 7) Adjournment – meeting was adjourned at 12:53 p.m.