Coralville Civil Service

Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting Notes: April 17, 2023 Meeting was called to order at 7:03 p.m. at the Coralville Recreation Center. All members were in attendance: Tawil, Graham, Goulding, and Mount (by phone), and Councilperson Jones. Motion made by Graham, second by Goulding to approve the minutes for the December 19, 2022. Motion was made by Tawil, seconded by Mount to approve the January 23, 2023 meeting minutes. Both were approved. The Commission elected Tawil as Chair and Graham as Vice Chair. Proud indicated she’d speak to Mayor and City Clerk Johnson about getting the empty position posted for applications. Commission discussed a request from Johnson County Public Health to become a community with Smoke Free Parks. The current Iowa’s Smoke Free Air Act does not address outdoor park spaces except for special events or places where people gather for concerts or other special events. The county has received a state grant to work on educating communities about the harm of using tobacco and smoke free nicotine products in park settings and to encourage each individual community to adopt a Smoke Free Parks policy. Proud shared some background on current practice. In 2008, the Commission recommended going smoke free in all Coralville parks. This recommendation went to City Council and they rejected the recommendation, citing they’d like to stick to the state law only. Practice is to post No Smoking Signs at large special events, to post no smoking signs at outdoor bleacher areas, and to provide no smoking information on outdoor sports schedules. The Commission discussed pros and cons of putting this recommendation forward. Graham commented that it was interesting that the state put forward grant money to address tobacco and smoke free nicotine products instead of just addressing by updating the 2008 law. Goulding added that a smoke free rule overall for the parks would be clearer. Graham said that since all other Johnson County communities have adopted smoke free policies, it is weird to be the only city in the county that hasn’t adopted a smoke free policy. Proud commented that this would apply for all parks, indoor facilities are already covered by the 2008 Iowa Smoke Free Air Act. The only place under Parks and Recreation that smoking would be allowed would be out on the golf course, away from the club house. The City will be eligible for some grant funding from the County to help pay for the signage if a policy is adopted. Signage would be placed at park entry points, playgrounds, and shelters. Proud will speak with City Attorney, Kevin Olson about whether a policy or ordinance would be appropriate. Policy allows staff to invite people to leave the park if not willing to comply. Ordinance would allow a criminal citation to be given if not willing to comply. Commission discussed that the intention of being smoke free seems to be more about general awareness of not using tobacco products and not about criminal prosecution. Proud will also discuss intent with Susan Vileta from Johnson County Public Health. Jones shared that the budget hearing for the FY24 budget will be held on April 25. The error the state found in the roll back and subsequent change to correct, resulted in about a $400,000 change in less money for the City. A few requests were not honored for Parks and Recreation. The Recreation Coordinator Grade J position will not be moved forward nor the increase in hours for the 2nd clerical staff member during day hours. Increases were also no approved for a few operating lines. Jones extended a thank you to all the staff for their hard work on the budget process and also his compliments to all the department heads for the way they worked together. Proud reported that staff discussed the pass replacement price brought up at the January meeting by Corey Washpun. It was felt that a fee needed to stay in place for replacement passes but price was reduced from $10 to $5 for replacement pass. The first pass remains free. Staff also experimented with taking a photo of a pass. This did not work with the scanner but have started making a color copy of the pass when it’s made for a student so they can keep this as a back up copy. Staff also discussed whether a staff member should look up a pass. Staff’s recommendation is to require the use of the pass scanned in. If staff are looking up passes to enter, it takes attention away from other duties and defeats the purpose of keeping track of one’s own pass. Staff make every effort to help recover a pass and if a family can’t afford to replace a pass, or lost in a move or similar situation, we’ve taken that into account and replaced the pass. There are also three times, each a week to ten days long, during the year when the pass replacement fee is waived. Staff are involved in supporting the 150th Anniversary activities. A great event was held at the Coralville Public Library on March 26 celebrating Life and Times of Coralville that had over 200 people attend and was well received. Several Park and Rec staff helped plan and implement the event. Staff is also highly involved in the Coralville RAGBRAI hosting efforts so any projects are carefully considered for timing this summer with some projects being scheduled for after RAGBRAI. Commission Comments: Graham commented that the Basket Auction was great. Tawil had no comments. Goulding commented he’d attended the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Providence Rhode Island which had in attendance over 100,000 people. He said it was such a great sense of unity and sense of community with all the civic groups marching in the parade. Meeting adjourned at 8:15 p.m.