Parks, Recreation & Tourism Advisory Board

CHESAPEAKE PARKS, RECREATION AND TOURISM ADVISORY BOARD Meeting Minutes January 4, 2024 This meeting of the Parks, Recreation and Tourism Advisory Board was held on January 4, 2024, at the Portlock at South Norfolk. Chair Leedom called the meeting to order at 6:31 p.m. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Chair Leedom led the Pledge of Allegiance. ANNOUNCEMENTS Chair Leedom welcomed new board member, Ed Bradley. His wife, Linda, accompanied him as a guest citizen. Ed and Linda Bradley are long-time active volunteers for the City of Chesapeake. ROLL CALL Ms. Fuqua called the roll. Attendance reflected a quorum with 11 voting members present, 6 absent. Members Present: Christine Arrasate, James Brown, Donna Cannatella (non-voting ex- officio/CCC, Jean Carideo (non-voting ex-officio/GBBWHF), Kevin Cole (non-voting ex-officio/CPS), Deloras Freeman, Phil Johnson, Annette Kelley (Vice Chair), Bob Leedom (Chair), Richard Pippin, Susan Starkey, Neta Stephens, Michael Williams, and Jessica Woodyard Members Absent: Paula Faivre, Monte Jenkins (non-voting Youth Liaison), Chris Lowie (non- voting ex-officio/GDSNWR), Patti McCambridge, and Casey Shackleford City Staff Present: Mike Barber, Thurman Diamond, Shawn Hopson, Kim Murden, Tina Coup, Meghan DeSanto, and Cori Fuqua MINUTES: A motion was made by Mr. Williams to approve the December 2023 minutes, and it was seconded by Ms. Stephens. The minutes were unanimously approved by the board. HEARING OF CITIZENS: None. SPECIAL PRESENTATION: Tina Coup and Meghan DeSanto gave an overview presentation on the Human Resources/Payroll division of the department. REPORTS: a. Ex-Officio Reports:  • Chesapeake Public Schools – None. • Chesapeake Conference Center – Ms. Cannatella distributed handouts for two upcoming events: the Home Show on January 6-7 and the (Lego) Brick Universe convention on January 13. The Princess Ball is coming up on February 14. There are still tickets available, but they normally sell out so get your tickets now. The Chesapeake Regional Health Foundation gala is on January 20 with the theme “The Lights are Bright on Broadway.” Our new Chef starts on Monday, and we’ll be looking at Lunch with Chef again but will keep everyone posted. To see more upcoming events, visit the events calendar. • Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge – None. • Great Bridge Battlefield & Waterways Historic Foundation – Ms. Carideo gave the following updates: o The Camellia Society was at the museum learning about tea on the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party a few weeks ago and the gift shop was selling tea at 15% off which equaled tea with no taxation. o A Tavern Night was also held which was very successful, and it featured interpreters, a tavern keeper serving Colonial drinks (which tasted awful!), and other entertainments such as games. o The speaker series (four speaker events) for this year is starting in February and a fundraising event is planned for that month as well. Please check out upcoming events on the website and come out to support the Museum! • Youth – None. b. Parks and Recreation Reports • Tourism – Ms. Murden gave the following updates: o With Monica’s impending retirement, Ms. Murden temporarily took over the oversight of the special events group. They did a great job in November and December. Everything was well-attended and overall December was a great month. o The Conference Center looks amazing with the updates! o The Peake Holiday promotion went very well and the shopping bags we gave out were very well received. o As featured in the Virginian Pilot, two of our trails at the Arboretum and Northwest River Park were named as one the 10 Best Winter Hikes in Hampton Roads. o Two of the Tourism sales managers will be heading out soon to two trade shows to kick off 2024. o Hotel rates are still good but have leveled off, but occupancy numbers are still strong. Our Average Daily Rate continues to increase, which helps with profitability. • Recreation – Mr. Diamond gave the following updates: 2  o Recreation programs are doing well, and instructional programs are offering new and exciting things. The Parents Night Out in December didn’t pan out so in mid-February we are planning an E-Sports gaming night at Deep Creek Community Center and are hopeful that will bring in more interested participants. We’re also finalizing offering a class with the Virginia Opera. o Stay and Play numbers are holding steady. o Our Therapeutics Division has had some wonderful events, and they are planning for the 2024 Chesapeake Abilities pageant which is coming up on January 14th at the Conference Center. Please join us. o In the housekeeping area, we are working with some contractors now. Contracts are up in February so we’ll see how many will come back. We have a full-time housekeeping position currently posted. o The Senior Holiday Luncheon was a wonderful event. We are planning to expand the attendance numbers for next year and have a plated lunch rather than a buffet to better serve our seniors. We will also have the entire Conference Center ballroom space next year. We are looking into some other improvements to be able to accommodate a much larger crowd and will hopefully eliminate serving issues we ran into this year. • Grounds – Mr. Hopson gave the following updates: o During the wintertime, Athletic Grounds are working on putting new player benches and spectator bleachers together, field renovations, power raking and turnover, creating new bases, putting in outfield fences, and assisting schools. Greenbrier Sports Park is getting new lights. Centerville is getting some new lights as well. On the parks side, they are working on tree cleanup, elevating limbs, mulching, putting new wood fiber down in the playgrounds and inspecting the playground equipment, replacing rusted playground parts, and painting others, replacing rotted and broken wood in picnic tables and benches, and a lot of other maintenance items. We cleaned up the brush around the ponds at Deep Creek Park, replacing campground firepits and other maintenance at Northwest River Park on the trails and an experimental concrete disc golf pad replacement. We’re pretty close to full capacity as far as employee positions are concerned so that’s a good thing. d. Director Updates: Mr. Barber gave the following updates: • Youth basketball starts on Saturday and there are more than 1,000 kids signed up. Fortunately, we were able to accommodate almost everyone on the waiting lists. We were able to find officials for the 12-, 14- and 16-year-old age groups so will only have to staff the 10 and under age groups. • Deck the Hall/FaLaLa Land – Mr. Barber had a call from a woman who said she’s lived in Chesapeake over 80 years, and she has never been prouder of her city. She drove by City Hall with her friends a couple of times a week and it was such a great experience. She said you all don’t realize how many people you touch that don’t call 3  and let you know, and how little things like that can mean so much to a lot of folks. While Mr. Barber didn’t realize it at the time, it turns out the caller was Sid Oman’s widow, Lillian. Sid served three terms as Chesapeake mayor in the 1980s and was known as Mr. Chesapeake due to his public service and love for the city. • Budget Meetings – We have an operational budget hearing meeting on January 19. Our capital budget meeting was last month, and it went very well. Fingers crossed on the Urban Forestry plan, that’s a big one for us moving forward. We’ll keep you posted. • Blue Heron Landing Park work is moving ahead. The test pilings were completed. Permanent pilings are in the process of starting. Construction might be a little behind schedule, but the park should still be able to open later this year. • NWRP Ranger Station – The proposed bid is finally in purchasing and the City Attorney’s Office and should be released for bids in the next 30 days. We’ll be so excited to get that project going, hopefully by spring. That will probably mean a temporary office will have to be set up at the park for staff to work out of. • Arboretum – The bid closes in a couple of days. We had a good meeting with around 6 groups that were there that day and we’ll be very interested in seeing the bids that come in. Restoration of the barn starts on January 20, and it is long overdue as well. • Sunray – One of our contractors should be able to start work within the next couple of months, once plans are formalized, and we hope it will be completed later this year. • Historical Village – Everything seems to be going well and on schedule for the Cornland School renovation to be done in May. There are a few more things that have to be worked out with the visitor center but that should be going out to bid in early February. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: • None. NEW BUSINESS: • Department Organizational Chart – Chair Leedom said that his organizational chart is from about four years ago and is out of date. Could the department provide an updated one for the board members? • February Meeting – Mr. Barber said that the Planning Department will be coming to the next board meeting to give an update on the City’s comprehensive plan. It’s also the time when we hold our annual Tourism/Hospitality meeting and we’ll be inviting those partners to attend. It will be a similar format to the meeting for the yearly athletic rules review. HEARING OF BOARD MEMBERS: • Ms. Stephens said she read in the paper that a firm in New Orleans has come up with a plan for the Elizabeth River industrial section. Is there a new park planned somewhere around there? Mr. Barber said not really as a part of that particular plan but sometimes what they’ll do is identify areas that could be potential parks or have 4  potential connectivity. This plan ended up going down the Dominion corridor as well but a lot of it is conceptual at this point. What it most certainly shows are some ways that some of the parks and trails could be better connected. We also have the new Newton Neck park near the Veterans Bridge ready for development, but funding will not come through for that until 2027 and then we can do more like adding some walkway bridges etc. There is also a space farther down Dominion that is a proposed park space. • Vice Chair Kelley went to the Battle of Great Bridge with her stepson for the first time this year and they both really enjoyed it. She tried to go to the Holiday Brass but mistakenly arrived an hour early. Also, she agrees with Mrs. Oman about Deck the Hall. She drove past a number times and it’s wonderful. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 7:46 p.m. NEXT MEETING: The next meeting will be on Thursday, February 1 , 2024, at the Chesapeake Conference Center, 700 Conference Center Drive. Minutes submitted by Cori Fuqua, Secretary 5