Parks, Recreation & Tourism Advisory Board

CHESAPEAKE PARKS, RECREATION AND TOURISM ADVISORY BOARD Meeting Minutes April 6, 2023 This meeting of the Parks, Recreation and Tourism Advisory Board was held on April 6, 2023, at the Indian River Community Center. Chair Leedom called the meeting to order at 6:35 p.m. ANNOUNCEMENTS None. ROLL CALL Ms. Fuqua took the roll. Attendance reflected a quorum with 11 voting members present, 6 were absent. Members Present: Christine Arrasate, James Brown, Donna Cannatella (non-voting ex- officio/CCC, Jean Carideo (non-voting ex-officio/GBBWHF), Susan Dixon, Paula Faivre, Phil Johnson, Annette Kelley (Vice Chair), Bob Leedom (Chair), Patti McCambridge, Richard Pippin, Casey Shackleford, and Neta Stephens Members Absent: Catina Bondhill, Bryan Carey, Kevin Cole (non-voting ex-officio/CPS), Chris Lowie (non-voting ex-officio/GDSNWR), Terrence McDuffie (non-voting Youth Liaison), Deloras Freeman, Susan Starkey, Michael Williams, and Jessica Woodyard City Staff Present: Mike Barber, Monica Christiansen, Thurman Diamond, Kim Murden, Shawn Hopson and Cori Fuqua MINUTES: A motion was made by Mr. Pippin and seconded by Ms. Arrasate to approve the March 2, 2023 minutes as presented. The minutes were unanimously approved by the board. HEARING OF CITIZENS: None. SPECIAL PRESENTATION: Special Events Ms. Brittany Owens, Parks, Recreation and Tourism Manager, gave a PowerPoint presentation with an overview of special events and event planning for the department. REPORTS: a. Ex-Officio Reports: • Great Bridge Battlefield & Waterways History Museum – Ms. Carideo gave the following updates: o The Annual Revolutionary Beer Festival is coming up on April 15th at the Khedive Shrine Center. Please buy a ticket for this fundraiser and help to support the museum. It’s a fun event!  o The school groups that have been coming through this year for tours are mostly local which is wonderful. The entire 4th and 5th grade from Butts Road come through on multiple tours! Mr. Barber said that the increased attendance has not gone unnoticed. The department asked for a schedule of events to make sure that the trash was emptied, and everything cleaned up for the groups by City staff before and after events. • Chesapeake Conference Center – Ms. Cannatella gave the following updates: o There are several events coming up in April: The Reptile Easter Egg Hunt for adults on the 8th, Sports Club monthly luncheon meeting on the 10th with Monica Christiansen as the guest speaker, the Sheriff’s Senior Support Services Seminar on the 12th and 13th, the Girl Scouts at Lunch with Chef on the 14th, the 900 Men Strong awards breakfast on the 14th, the Handcrafted Jewelry Expo on the 15th, the Reverend Dr. Brenda Boone gospel choir concert and buffet dinner on the 16th, and more in the second half of the month! Check out the calendar of events on our website for a full listing. Mr. Barber added that the lunch that was served at last month’s State of the City address was outstanding and received many compliments as the best banquet meal ever! • Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge – None. • Chesapeake Public Schools – None. b. Tourism Report – Ms. Murden gave the following updates: • Staff just got back from the African American Travel Conference in Cleveland, Ohio. We will be holding the national conference here in Chesapeake next April. Next is a state-wide tourism group AAA blitz to Ohio and then next week will be state welcome center visits. • Hotel occupancy remains strong for Chesapeake. We are still leading but it is starting to level out. • Please refer to the Tourism section in the Department Report for additional updates. c. Parks and Recreation Reports – For more information, refer to the Department Report and Park Project Updates. • Recreation & Environmental Services – Mr. Diamond gave the following updates: o The Senior programs division is planning the modified Senior Games on Saturday, May 13th at the Indian River High School football/track stadium. More information to come. o We have a new gym floor at Western Branch Community Center. Deep Creek is currently in the works. Next will be Great Bridge, South Norfolk, and Indian River. River Crest, Dr. Clarence V. Cuffee and Camelot have already been completed. It takes about a month to replace each floor. • Events & Misc. – Ms. Christiansen gave the following updates: 2  o Bus Tours are scheduled for April 12, April 15, May 12th, and May 13th. We will be visiting different parks on each date and there are still spots available so if you are interested, please sign up. o We are now offering a new youth Archery Clinic at Great Bridge Community Center with our Parks Manager who is a certified archery instructor and looking into adding an adult clinic. • Grounds Services – Mr. Hopson gave the following updates: o Earlier than usual warmer weather has necessitated starting up the spraying and mowing. EGGspedition is coming up and we are preparing the participating parks in advance. o Athletic grounds have been busy with spring sports field maintenance. o We have been doing a lot of projects with contractors such as painting, power washing, lining parking lots, installing guard rails, etc. o Paramont ball field has been completed and teams are now using it. o Staff has been conducting playground inspections and repairs and working with contractors for installation of any parts or equipment replacement. o Sheriff’s work force is up and running with mowing and cleanups. o Lots of light repairs and installations going on – City Park, Greenbrier Middle, Jolliff Middle to name a few. o New signs have been installed at Newton Neck, Centerville, and Consolvo. o Sidewalk projects are taking place at 17 parks to connect existing sidewalks to park amenities. o A new basketball stanchion was installed at Western Branch. o We are working with the vendor to re-do the poured surface at Destination Playground. d. Director Updates: Mr. Barber gave the following updates: • Conference Center – The management contract is out for bid. The current 5-year contract expires on June 30th. VenuWorks is anticipated to be one of the prospective candidates submitting a bid. • Arboretum – The bids closed for the farmhouse renovation and only one bid was received for about $1M. It was double what our estimate was, so we are going to have to re-evaluate, then figure that out. • Northwest River Park –We are now into color selections for the new ranger station and getting specs ready so we can hopefully get it out to bid this summer. It is going to be a beautiful building. The campground opened on April 1st. • Pool – We will be meeting with the architect and submitting a list of things we are looking for and some conceptual ideas we would like to see. Public meetings should be happening later this summer. 3  • State of the City took place at the Conference Center last month with around 800 attendees, as well as the Environmental Awards luncheon with about 140 attendees. • Gold Star Memorial – Most of the deeper concrete was poured and the remainder should be poured next week. The actual memorial pillars should be delivered the first week of May. The unveiling is planned on May 28th, the Sunday before Memorial Day. It is going to be a beautiful complement to the Chesapeake 911 Memorial. • Historic Village – We are very close to the state historical services approving the Cornland design plan. We met with the permit folks today about how we can expedite getting the Cornland school open first. • Indian River Park – We met with the Bikes and Trails Committee. We will continue to try and work through issues with all groups, but everyone must communicate and work together. • Budget – The City Manager released his proposed FY24 operating and capital budget to City Council and the public last week. We asked for several new support positions for the Historical Village and Cornland school. We also asked for a Project Manager position that will likely be added into the amended budget. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: • Review of Bylaws and SOPs – Mr. Pippin, Mr. Johnson, and Chair Leedom met and reviewed the Bylaws and SOPs. They recommended a few updates and changes which are self-explanatory and indicated in red. The board received both documents in advance by email and hard copies at tonight’s meeting. Chair Leedom asked if there were any questions or discussion on the SOPs and there were none, so he asked for a motion. Ms. McCambridge made the motion to accept the board’s recommended changes to the SOPs and it was seconded by Mr. Johnson. There was no discussion and the board voted unanimously to approve the motion. Next up was the Bylaws. Ms. McCambridge made a motion to accept the board’s recommended changes to the Bylaws which was seconded by Vice Chair Kelley. After discussion, it was decided to add the following changes under Section III Board Membership: paragraph F. – correct July 30 to June 30; remove paragraph H since it says the same thing as paragraph G but referencing a percentage for attendance (in paragraph G) is preferable to a number. Ms. McCambridge amended her motion to accept the recommendations with the additional changes. Vice Chair Kelley seconded the motion. There was no further discussion and the board voted unanimously to approve the amended motion. NEW BUSINESS: • None. HEARING OF BOARD MEMBERS: • Ms. Shackleford heard a rumor that Heritage Park may not have any horse interest. Mr. Barber said that was a bad rumor and that he is meeting with the architect again on April 21st. The equestrian improvements also are in the budget. She said she attended the Horse Appreciation Day at the Dismal Swamp Canal Trail, and the trail 4  was in great shape. She also said she had a couple of friends that went riding at Staunton River and they are filling in low-lying areas on the trails with some sort of concrete pavers and it was great. She will send pictures to Mike Barber to consider for use at Northwest River Park. • Ms. McCambridge wanted to thank Jean for inviting the Cornland School board to the museum so they could look at the displays which were designed by the same architect/design team that the board is using for the Cornland school. Kwame Alexander spoke to the 300+ Chesapeake Forum attendees at the Chesapeake Conference Center last night and it was wonderful! • Ms. Faivre saw on Facebook that the TBR baseball group is looking for a site to a host a tournament for 100-120 teams in 2024 and contacted them to consider Chesapeake. She will give them Ms. Murden’s contact information so they can get in touch with her. She then asked if pets are allowed at the fields? Mr. Barber said that we discourage pets, especially around the dugouts and bleacher areas for safety reasons, but generally they are allowed if they are leashed. • Mr. Johnson said that Fun Forest was built in 1995. Next month it will be 28 years old. We are probably getting close to having to replace/rebuild the older parts. Mike said it was submitted this year to be in the 5-year plan. • Chair Leedom congratulated Mr. Barber and staff as they were highlighted quite a bit in the Mayor’s State of the City presentation. He also talked to some pickleball people who were interested in starting a dialogue regarding stand alone designated pickleball courts. Mr. Barber said it is in the CIP and some are already planned in the budget for Jolliff Landing. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 8:07 p.m. NEXT MEETING: The next meeting will be on Thursday, May 4, 2023, at the Deep Creek Community Center, 2901 Margaret Booker Drive, at 6:30 p.m. Minutes submitted by Cori Fuqua, Secretary 5