Parks & Recreation Advisory Committee

MINUTES Parks and Recreation Advisory Meeting Recreation Center April 02, 2015 Present Leo Rosales – Parks Chairperson Derek Benavides – Members Tito Mata – Member Meri Heggie – Member Anisa Gonzalez – Member Damaris McGlone – Interim Parks Director Carlos Velica – Parks Staff Roxanna G. Rosas – Grants Writer Marina Zolezzi – Director of Office of Grants Management Absent Jerry L. Hatley - Member 1) Meeting called to order by Parks Chairperson Leo Rosales at 12:03 p.m. 2) Approval of minutes • Minutes of last meeting (February 19, 2015) approved on a motion by Mr. Derek Benavides, seconded by Mr. Tito Mata, motion carried. 3) Chairperson’s Report • Chairperson Mr. Rosales commented on the powerlifting tournament held at the Recreation Center back in December 2014, which had a positive feedback from the parents and the community. Wanted to thank Mr. Mata on behalf of the Parks Advisory Committee for running the tournament, also Interim Parks Director Damaris McGlone, the Parks staff with helping out, the Mayor and city officials as well. • Mr. Mata commented that he would like to promote a mother/daughter walk, introduce kayaking to the community; with all the Resaca’s Brownsville has and maybe hold a kayaking event and also have in the fall have a powerlifting competition as well. • Chairperson commented that activities and events by the community need to be expanded; having a kayaking event at Dean Porter Park would be nice. Also commented that too many Parks Advisory meetings are being cancelled or rescheduled. A report of projects or/and events going on should be submitted to the Advisory Committee for review by the Director and meetings should be held regardless whether the Parks Director is present or not. 4) Public Comment • No public comment. 5) Director’s Report • Discussion on KaBOOM Playground grant Interim Parks Director Damaris McGlone introduced Marina Zolezzi – Grants Director and Roxanna Rosas, Grants Writer to the Parks Advisory Committee in attendance. Ms. Rosas commented that she has been working with the Parks department on getting grants and have apply for a grant in 2015 to KaBOOM, a non-profit organization that builds playgrounds. She gave a presentation on KaBOOM Playground, which has identified an organization seeking to invest $90,000 in Brownsville through the Build It with KaBOOM! Playground Grant Opportunity. The City of Brownsville must own the land to construct the playground, there will be a community-wide competition between districts to identify the land for the playground to be built, as well as the City of Brownsville must agree to provide a financial contribution of $8,500. The Build It With KaBOOM! Playground grant will allow the Brownsville community committee to design it in one day, which will be in September and then have the community members participate on Build Day in November, which would also take one day as well. See attached information. Ms. Rosas would like the Parks Advisory Committee to make a recommendation on which parks they would like to utilize for the KaBOOM playground grant. • After a brief discussion among the Parks Advisory Board members, they were all in agreement to select four (4) parks for the KaBOOM grant. The four (4) parks that they selected were; Garfield Park, Central Ave Park, FM 511 Kickball field Park and Monte Bella Trails Park. • Board member Mr. Benavides suggested that they present to the City Commission the recommendations of the four (4) parks and have them review it, to see which Park would qualify for the KaBOOM Playground Grant. • Ms. Rosas commented that they will meet with the City Commission at the next City Commission meeting and inform them of the grant. • Damaris reported that Mr. Chris Patterson has resigned from his position as Parks Director and that she was name Interim Parks Director. • Interim Parks Director reported that improvements are being done at the Oliveira kickball fields, preparing them for the state tournament to be held in July of this year. Also addressing the issues of the removal of the fencing done at the kickball fields at the request of the Little Miss Kickball organization with the help of Public Works department. Commented that she is working on the issues at Oliveira Park as well as with all other leagues, making sure they all are following the guidelines. 6) Discussion Period a. Discussion on having the Parks Advisory Committee involved in the hiring of the new Parks Director and give a recommendation(s) (Derek Benavides) • Board member Mr. Benavides commented that he would like an answer of either yes or no for the Parks Advisory Board Committee be involved in the process of reviewing applicants and giving their recommendation for the hiring of the Parks Director.  • Interim Parks Director commented that she check with Human Resources and City Management for clarification and was told that it was not the roll of the Parks Advisory Committee to be involve with the hiring of city personnel. She suggested of emailing the Parks Board members links of other Parks Advisory Committee’s guidelines and responsibilities. b. Discussion on Weight room. (Tito Mata) • Mr. Mata commented that the previous Parks Director had committed to building a weight room at the Recreation Center, wanted to know the status on it. • Interim Parks Director commented, “ the department doesn’t have the qualified staff in training for weight lifting but as discussed before, the department is willing to support this but Mr. Mata needs to provide qualified volunteers to facilitate”. Mr. Mata suggested that he could have volunteers do the training. • Parks Chairperson suggested to Mr. Mata to do a proposal on the weight lifting program and submit it to the Parks department for review. • Parks Chairperson requested that the Parks agenda be sent to him for review before submitting it to the City Secretary’s office for posting. • Parks Chairperson asked if there were any new information on the Sports Park Complex. Interim Parks Director commented “ not at this time”. 7) Adjournment – meeting was adjourned at 1:20 p.m.