Coralville Civil Service

Meeting Minutes for Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting 11-21-2022 Meeting called to order at 7:04 p.m. In attendance, Commission members Fevold, Mount, Tawil, Goulding, Graham, Council Person Jones, and City staff Proud, Erickson, and Buhmeyer. There were no official meeting minutes for the month of October due to no quorum. A meeting recap was submitted of the tour of the rehabilitated 860 Quarry Road which is serving as the costume and prop storage, rehearsal space, and education classroom space for the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts. Budget Overview Part 1 Proud, Erickson and Buhmeyer gave an overview of budget asks that have been prepared to date. Meetings have not yet been held with Finance Director and City Administrator. The review was as follows: Common to all budgets – slight increases in gas lines for vehicles, showing a 25 to 50 cent increase in part time staff wages to continue to catch up to local competition wage of $15 to $16 per hour. Building Maintenance – would like to reinstate the full time custodian that was cut as part of Covid cuts in July 2020 now that Library and CCPA are back to fully functioning. Asking to increase the part time employee in current budget from 16 hour per week to 20 hours per week and to extend from 30 weeks per year to 50 weeks per year. This will help with covering vacations, helping free Building Maintenance Coordinator, Kim Davis, up for projects, and will help with taking on 860 Quarry Road restrooms and Pavilion cleaning, which we’ve taken in house. Budget ask also includes starting a fund in reserves for the replacement of City General Fund buildings HVAC controller system which is being phased out. Estimated cost for replacement is $400,000 over next 6 years. Ask is $50,000 for FY24. Forestry – Ask for a new Grade III Trails Technician which will focus on trails and outdoor facilities that support trails such as trailheads, fix it stations, dog waste stations, trash, trail maintenance. Reduced part time employee ask in favor of full time employee ask. Budget also includes $80,000 for new or gently used skid steer and attachments. Total cost estimated to be $130,000. Equipment cost would also have funding input from stormwater and from existing parks reserves. Parks – Funding ask includes cleaning and repainting tennis courts and adding lines for 8 pickleball courts, also includes repair of gas detection system and upgrade to HVAC controllers that goes with that project. Also moved a position from Forestry to Parks budget because of where that position works. This decreases the Forestry budget the same amount. This budget also has a transfer of $9,000 budgeted to move over to Engineering for a GIS position. Pavilion - asking to reinstate the 25% of a full time position cut in July 2020 for Covid. Budgeting reserves to replace chairs which will be 20 years old this spring and to start reserve to replace southeast side of parking lot that is deteriorating. Recreation – budgeting 50% of reinstatement of Rec Center Supervisor and a new Coordinator position at Rec Center. Focus for these positions to work in tandem on 5th – 8th grade activities, management of “dry” side of Recreation Center and staff, contract programs, staff recruitment and engagement, respite and oversite on some weekends at Aquatic Center and helping with staffing, staff scheduling, and HR functions, especially in summer. Coordinator position budgeted to start in October FY23. We’d like to get a person started in FY24 budget year so that when the district adds the 6th graders in Fall 2024, we have staff with experience, partnerships, and relationships formed which will accommodate the extra numbers we anticipate after school. This budget also is asking to return 7.5 hours of the 35 hours cut of front desk staffing so our afternoon receptionist can be at desk 5 days a week instead of 4 and extend 30 minutes per day on other days. Recreation budget also has budgeted for updating the master plan for the Recreation Center. However, this likely hinges on if the school district is ready to master plan for new indoor pool and share cost. Softball – no changes to this budget. Any increases are due to the change in staff member over this area going from single to family health insurance. Streetscapes – have reduced the maintenance line and equipment line, big focus for FY24 is to get this area full staffed and make better headway on care of streetscapes. Council Report – Council is beginning to work on budget and that will be main focus over the next couple of months. Director’s Report - staff are working on ash tree removal notifications and removing ash trees at Coral Court which were planted as part of a streetscape permit in the early 2000’s. Otherwise, we are finishing up outdoor projects and working on budget prep. Staff have also been involved in 150th planning and events. There are several Park and Rec events that the 150th Committee would like to add on to for the anniversary celebrations throughout the year. Long time Parks and Recreation employee, Gwen Sheeley, passed away on November 5. Gwen served as the Assistant Recreation Director for over 30 years and retired in 2001. She left a wonderful legacy behind in Parks and Recreation . She was the brainchild behind Music in the Park, a beloved program that ran for over 15 years alongside Farmer’s Market. She was known for special events like the Harvest Moon Festival and Souper Bowl Sundae party. She also developed a number of marketing campaigns like the Highway 6 initiative “A Classy Strip is Worth the Trip” and “Dig It Now, Love it Later”. She also created Recyclesaurus Rex” the City’s recycling mascot. She will be honored with a tree planting and memorial stone in S.T. Morrison Park in the spring. Council Member Reports Tawil – asked if some arborist classes could be taught to help residents know what to watch for in their trees and how to take care of trees. Buhmeyer will look at this as part of Parks classes for spring activity guide. We’ve been working on having the parks team share their knowledge with the community and this would be a great topic. Mount – asked if the tennis court backboard could be moved to the other courts as it is often not available because of the pickleball courts on same court. Staff will look at this for spring. Also suggested that we could look into Kirkwood Social media classes or Social media club for help in sodial media marketing and training. Graham – congratulated Buhmeyer on Better Together 2030 Bravo award for work on singletrack trails and starting the core4 event in Johnson County. Commission adjourned at 8;50 pm.