PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY BOARD

City of Elko PRAB PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY BOARD 6:30 PM, Thursday, March 16, 2023 1751 COLLEGE AVE, ELKO, NV 89801 I CALL TO ORDER Colby Curtis, Chair, called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. II ROLL CALL Present: Colby Curtis Jim Conner Lynette Davis Harmony Stahl Danny Story Fred Beitia Absent: Ashlyn Greener Katie Neddenriep Spring Robinson Andrew Storla Staff Present: James Wiley III PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE IV APPROVAL OF MINUTES Colby Curtis, Chair, asked everyone to review the minutes for July 21, 2022 and then someone can make a motion. ** A motion was made by Member Davis, seconded by Member Story to approve the July 21, 2022 Minutes. The motion passed unanimously. (6-0) V COMMENTS BY THE GENERAL PUBLIC March 16, 2023 Parks and Recreation | Minutes Page 1 of 5  There were no public comments. VI NEW BUSINESS VI.A. Review, discussion and consideration of potential priority projects for the Parks and Recreation Departments and matters related thereto. FOR POSSIBLE ACTION This item is on the agenda to allow the public and the Advisory Board the opportunity to review and discuss potential priority projects within the Parks and Recreation Departments. A list of potential projects and estimated costs will be provided for discussion and consideration. James Wiley, Parks and Recreation Director, explained we do this annually. We are looking for a recommendation to take to City Council. He went over the estimated budget for Recreation. He has identified some projects as high priority for this year. The shade shelter at the BBQ pits was torn apart by a windstorm last year. The estimate is $100,000 to replace. The SnoBowl project is one that has carried over from last summer. We had $100,000 budgeted for that but it will require more funds to replace all the parts on the lift that need replacing. Another project up there is to build a pole barn to store equipment but that project has been set aside for another time. The Sports Complex Phase 2 is another big project. The City is looking to go to bond for about $10 million. He estimates the project will be around $12 million. The idea is to use $2 million cash from the Recreation Fund and bond the rest. He have asphalt in parking lots that need to be maintained and some funds are set aside for that every year. We also set aside funds for weed abatement. The Golf Course will get $180,000 from the Recreation Fund this year. Youth Recreation Fund has never paid for itself and they estimate about $100,000 to keep the program going. This fund also pays some bond payments and Air Alliance payments to SkyWest. He offered to answer any questions. Colby Curtis asked how much is spent for parking lot maintenance. Mr. Wiley answered it depends on what is needed. Sometimes they spend the entire $50,000. Jim Conner asked what happened with the lift. Mr. Wiley answered it was an electrical and a mechanical failure. Harmony Stahl felt these budgets are never really for the Recreation Fund. We are supporting the Airport and the California Trail bonds. From her perspective, she finds it frustrating to find the room taxes that people bring into the City are automatically obligated to items that are loosly related to recreation, rather than allowing this board to make decisions that could really enhance the recreation in the City of Elko. Can we put more money towards a splash pad, pickle ball courts, updating the handball courts, or more items? Mr. Wiley said the justification is most of these expenditures generate room tax and that is what the fund is for. City Council ultimately has the final say as to how it is allocated. Ms. Stahl wanted her frustrations on the record. March 16, 2023 Parks and Recreation | Minutes Page 2 of 5 Mr. Curtis asked about the Air Alliance funds. Jan Baum, City Manager, explained the City paid off the Airport Bonds and now the same amount of money that used to go to the bond, is being set aside for an Air Alliance. It will be a non-profit set up in the community to help fund air service at the airport by helping pay the minimum revenue guarantee to SkyWest. Mr. Curtis asked if the County will help pay for that? Ms. Baum answered they are not right now but they have had some discussions about it. The County is interested in participating. Room tax comes in and goes to several places. One place it goes to is the Recreation Fund. Fred Beitia noted a lot of money goes to the Convention Center. Mr. Wiley agreed and that has been part of the Recreation Fund from the beginning of the Convention Center. He has questioned why this fund is called the Recreation Fund but it does fund things that don't seem to be part of the Recreation Fund. Mr. Curtis said his hope that we get the event center soon that can fill the hotel rooms. As this room tax grows, that the Parks Department gets the majority of the room tax increases. ** A motion was made by Member Stahl, seconded by Member Conner to approve the tentative budget. The motion passed unanimously. (6-0) VII UNFINISHED BUSINESS VIII REPORTS VIII.A. Staff Reports Update on Boys and Girls Club Projects, Update on Swimming Pool, Update on SnoBowl, and Update on Sports Complex Phase 2 Design. James Wiley reported he met with Boys and Girls Club, along with Jan Baum, Nikki Johnson and some representatives from the Swim Team. They are well underway with design. They also had a community meeting to go over recommendations with the public. Our goal is to get a new pool out of this. It is planned to have at least one gym. The Boys and Girls Club will hopefully have more meetings before it is built. Danny Story asked if the $400,000 annually will come out of this fund for the pool? Mr. Wiley wasn't sure which fund will pay it. The pool gets paid out of the general fund, so maybe that will be where it will remain. March 16, 2023 Parks and Recreation | Minutes Page 3 of 5 Colby Curtis reported he met with Rusty and Rick Wittington regarding tennis. During that discussion, he learned the Rec Center is planned to have one gymnasium. The event center is planned to have permanent bleachers instead of folding ones. The main floor area, rather than it being dirt, it will be a sports court with 4 basketball courts. In the corner, where the chutes will be, they will have 4 pickle ball courts. There will be times those will be taken out and do big concerts. The pool will have two pool areas, indoor and outdoor. Mr. Wiley said they are doing this within their budget. He was surprised that there would be an outdoor pool but they are trying to get the most they can for the budget allowed. Jim Conner asked if there was any more talk of an indoor track. Mr. Curtis said that was part of the discussions but there is nothing concrete yet. It may be incorporated under the bleachers. Mr. Conner said he was part of the planning of a Recreation Center for many years. They wanted to create a center for all ages and for everyone. He felt Mr. Bahr could benefit from the work that was done during that time. Mr. Wiley reported they lost a boiler at the Swimming Pool. Geothermal is still down. They are down to one pool. That building is done and it makes zero sense to him to keep dumping money into that. His hope is that the new pool is up and running soon. Mr. Curtis asked if the City was on track for the Sports Complex. Mr. Wiley answered yes. The outdoor pool needs to be replastered but we are not going to do it. The Polar Plunge is this Saturday and it will really be POLAR. The SnoBowl had a good season but there was a malfunction with the lift that caused an evacuation. They spent some time repairing that and got it working. There was an inspection but then a glitch in the safety system hit and closed the SnoBowl for the rest of the season. We will get it back up and going for the next season. We will have an archery shoot this May. The Sports Complex design is at almost 100% design. We have a fairly decent estimate on the project, just shy of $12 million. If we bond for $10 million and use $2 million from the budget, we can pull this off. We will build a full-sized baseball field there for the High School. We will be adding a bit more natural grass in the common area to maybe accommodate soccer or football fields. Danny Story asked if some of the money will go into the existing fields to help fix them? Mr. Wiley answered yes. There is still a lot of ice on the grass but it looks like the grass wintered pretty well. There is a little mold. The re-sodding looks good. The problem down there is when the fields get dry and the salts come to the top. We have been working on that for a long time but they have been treating it. Mr. Story asked if there will be a crows nest. March 16, 2023 Parks and Recreation | Minutes Page 4 of 5  Mr. Wiley answered not in this phase but he is looking at a way to fund it later down the road. He has been talking to the High School about their wants. He hopes to have the drawings in the next week and ask Council for authorization to go to bid in the first meeting in April. Mr. Story asked if the old ball fields would go away when the new fields are completed. Mr. Wiley thought that was the case with the Kump fields but probably not the case for the Herrera field. He felt there would be a push to break ground on the pool side. Mr. Story was upset because we are losing two fields from the original plan and will uproot two fields before fields are ready to play. There is a misunderstanding that we are relocating fields but that sports complex was already designed for play. It was going to be built already. Mr. Curtis disagreed. Before Mr. Story was on the board because when we did the feasibility study, the Herrera field was the location that was chosen for it. With the Master Plan, it was decided to build the Sports Complex knowing we were going to be putting a new pool on the Herrera fields. Mr. Story argued that according to the study, we needed 4 new fields by 2012 and 6 by 2020. In reality, we are only gaining the four that we were due in 2012. Mr. Wiley said we are looking to do a new Master Plan because of all this. We will be starting that process shortly. It won't just be about sports fields. There will be opportunity to put in your opinions. VIII.B. STAFF REPORTS VIII.C. BOARD REPORTS IX SCHEDULE THE NEXT PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY BOARD MEETING Mr. Wiley said we are supposed to meet in April. Then the next meeting would be July. Mr. Curtis suggested meeting in May. It was decided they would meet May 18, 2023 at 6:30 p.m. X COMMENTS BY THE GENERAL PUBLIC Collette Wickersham asked about the sizes of the other two fields, other than the high school fields. Mr. Wiley answered one will be a 325 foot field to accommodate younger players and adult softball. Then we will have a 250 foot field to accommodate little league and girls softball. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. March 16, 2023 Parks and Recreation | Minutes Page 5 of 5