Parks, Recreation & Tourism Advisory Board

CHESAPEAKE PARKS, RECREATION AND TOURISM ADVISORY BOARD Meeting Minutes October 5, 2023 This meeting of the Parks, Recreation and Tourism Advisory Board was held on October 5, 2023, at the River Crest Community Center. Chair Leedom called the meeting to order at 6:32 p.m. ANNOUNCEMENTS Mr. Pippin presented a check for $2,000 from Chesapeake Jubilee, Inc. to Mr. Barber as a donation to the Parks, Recreation and Tourism Youth Scholarship Fund. At a yearly cost of $65 per child per program, this donation will provide cost assistance to many children. ROLL CALL Ms. Fuqua called the roll. Attendance reflected a quorum with 11 voting members present, 6 absent. Members Present: Christine Arrasate, Donna Cannatella (non-voting ex-officio/CCC, Susan Dixon, Paula Faivre, Deloras Freeman, Phil Johnson, Annette Kelley (Vice Chair), Bob Leedom (Chair), Richard Pippin, Susan Starkey, Michael Williams, and Jessica Woodyard Members Absent: James Brown, Catina Bondhill, Bryan Carey, Jean Carideo (non-voting ex- officio/GBBWHF), Kevin Cole (non-voting ex-officio/CPS), Monte Jenkins (non-voting Youth Liaison), Chris Lowie (non-voting ex-officio/GDSNWR), Patti McCambridge, Casey Shackleford, and Neta Stephens City Staff Present: Mike Barber, Monica Christiansen, Thurman Diamond, and Cori Fuqua MINUTES: A motion was made by Ms. Arrasate and seconded by Mr. Pippin to approve the September 7, 2023, minutes as presented. The minutes were unanimously approved by the board. HEARING OF CITIZENS: None. SPECIAL PRESENTATION: Brent Vinson, Parks and Grounds Services Supervisor, gave an overview presentation on Parks and Municipal Grounds Services. REPORTS: a. Ex-Officio Reports: • Chesapeake Conference Center – Ms. Cannatella that the work at the Conference Center is nearing completion. The exterior is being repainted now, and the parking lot has been resurfaced and repainted. If you drive by, let her know what you think.  Opening day is November 2nd and there is a private event for 1,100 people scheduled! To see upcoming events, visit the events calendar. b. Parks and Recreation Reports • Recreation – Mr. Diamond o Housekeeping has three new carpet cleaning projects at the General District Court, Juvenile District Court, and the voter registrar building. o Indian River Community Center’s gym floor renovation, wall painting, etc. has been completed and the gym is open again. South Norfolk Community Center’s gym floor renovation is starting now and is the last to be completed. o Three of our community centers (Western Branch, Cuffee and Great Bridge) were designated as potential shelters due to the possibility of the tropical storm coming through in late September. This entailed a lot of pre-preparation from the gathering of supplies including, food, water, blankets, and cots, staging it, etc. o Therapeutics is in the process of planning the Chesapeake Abilities Pageant that will take place next January. If you know anyone who would be interested in participating, let them know that registration is now open. o The Senior Pig Pickin’ was very successful with over 300 registered! • Events – Ms. Christiansen relayed the following event updates: o Restaurant Week is coming up October 13-20. For participating restaurants and menus, check out the listings on VisitChesapeake’s website. o Celebrate Trees is this Saturday, October 7th at the Arboretum and will include all kinds of tree-related activities and educational opportunities. o Deck the Hall preparation at the Municipal Center will begin next Monday! o Great Bridge High School tennis courts are scheduled to be resurfaced in the coming weeks. Hickory and Deep Creek high schools will be next in the spring. Schools requires that 6 courts at each location be dedicated to tennis only but we are looking at some options to be able to add pickleball courts with removable nets within the current court footprints on the additional courts. It’s not guaranteed that it will work, especially at every site, but we are trying to be creative. o Holiday Craft Show vendor spots are full! GoChesapeake is sponsoring swag bags to give away to shoppers at the show while supplies last. d. Director Updates: Mr. Barber gave the following updates: • The Trash Can Painting Contest was held last Saturday and there were over 40 trash cans painted. It’s become quite popular. The painted cans held up very well last year and provide splashes of color and personality to the parks. Pictures are featured on our Facebook page and voting for the contest winner ends tomorrow. • Culpepper Landing Park property has finally been accepted into the park system from the developer but there is still some work that needs to be completed as far as 2  drainage and site cleanup. We’re meeting with the community in November to go over the Master Plan and get input. Hopefully we will have some amenities installed by early spring next year. • Ballahack Boat Ramp area improvements have been started which will include improvements to the parking lot and installing some shade structures. Funding is from a VDOT grant which was around 12 years in the making. • Blue Heron Landing Park property clearing has begun, and park development will take around 11 months to complete. It will have a board walk, living shoreline and kayak launch ramp and will be a great addition to the Indian River area and our park system as another water access site. • Work on the first phase of the Historic Village should begin in the next couple of weeks and includes starting the parking lot and stormwater pond, and renovation of the Cornland School inside and out including exhibits. Work has to be completed within 210 days which would bring us to late spring of 2024. There will be a groundbreaking ceremony in the next 3-4 weeks and the board will be invited to attend. • Tomorrow is the City Employees CARES Picnic at City Park for employees and their families. PRT is running it this year and we’ve already received around 1,400 employee RSVP’s. • Youth Basketball – We’re still having a problem with getting basketball officials. We were finally able to get it out for bid and have creatively constructed it to be very flexible and are hopeful that it will be successful in attracting those that would not be interested otherwise. • Budget Planning kickoff meeting is tomorrow morning. It will be challenging this year to keep up with the services with the cost of those services increasing. There will be some cuts across the board city-wide and decisions will have to be made. • For more information on department activities, refer to the Department Report and Park Project Updates. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: • Athletic Rules – Chair Leedom said that the Rules Committee will be getting together in the next week or so to review the citizen (coach) requests and make recommendations to the board and Mr. Barber. NEW BUSINESS: • Chair Leedom reminded the board that Officer Elections will take place at the December meeting. Last year the current officers ran unopposed, so no ballot was needed. If there are multiple board members running for an office, a ballot will be necessary, so preparations need to begin this month. A nominating committee is needed to contact board members to find out if anyone has an interest in running for Chair and/or Vice Chair. Ms. Woodard and Ms. Arrasate volunteered to contact board members and bring their results to the next meeting in November. 3 HEARING OF BOARD MEMBERS: • Vice Chair Kelley asked if there is going to be a “buddy system” for the Chesapeake Abilities Pageant contestants and Mr. Diamond said yes, there will. Ms. Kelley said she would be interested in volunteering to be a buddy. • Ms. Faivre shared that on Sunday, October 5th, there will be a fundraising event for the family of the boy that was killed by a hit and run driver and it will be held across from Hickory Towing on Battlefield Boulevard. It is posted as a Facebook event so please share and attend. • Mr. Johnson made a clock for Monica for her retirement, and he will present it to her at next month’s meeting. He then presented Mr. Williams a clock as a thank you for all that Tidewater Winds does for the community and Hampton Roads. • Mr. Williams thanked Mr. Johnson and said he is grateful to be a part of this board. The Pinocchio project entails performing to approximately 6,000 third grade students in the area. Every child will get a copy of the Pinocchio book that goes along with the classroom lesson plans. Then they will get to come to the concert and see our 55- member concert band on stage with the puppet performance by Rainbow Puppets, and narrated by Kathryn Barrett, a channel 13 news anchor broadcaster and voiceover artist. Also, the offer stands again this year for two free tickets to interested board members for the Winter Winds Holiday Concert on December 4th at the Sandler Center. If anyone is interested in going, please let him know. • Ms. Cannatella said she would not be at the meeting on November 2nd because it’s opening day for the Chesapeake Conference Center. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 p.m. NEXT MEETING: The next meeting will be on Thursday, November 2, 2023, at the Rokeby Center, 1709 Rokeby Avenue. Minutes submitted by Cori Fuqua, Secretary 4