Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting

MINUTES PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING CITY OF MONTEREY Thursday, August 26, 2021 7:00 PM COUNCIL CHAMBER AND ZOOM TELECONFERENCE MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA Commissioners Present: Crampton (arrived at 7:06pm), Gibson, McCarthy, Panetta, Schmidt, Spangler Commissioners Absent: McEwen Staff Members Present: Assistant City Manager, Parks and Recreation Director, Recreation Manager, Sports Center Manager, Park Operations Manager, Recreation Coordinator, Administrative Assistant CALL TO ORDER Chair Gibson called the meeting to order at 7:00pm ROLL CALL PUBLIC COMMENTS None. PUBLIC APPEARANCE 1. Recommend the City Council Amend Resolutions 19-114 and 20-031 to Commit 5% of Parks and Recreation Fees for the Purpose of Parks and Recreation Facility Maintenance and Improvement, and Revise the Master Fee Schedule to Increase Parks & Recreation Fees by 5%, Effective December 1, 2021 (Not a project under CEQA Article 20, Section 15378 and under General Rule Article 5, Section 15061) Action: The Parks and Recreation Commission recommends the City Council commit 5% of Parks and Recreation Fees for the purpose of Parks and Recreation facility maintenance and improvement, and revise the master fee schedule to increase Parks and Recreation fees by 5% effective December 1, 2021 (6-0-1, McEwen absent). Commissioner Gibson asked if the maintenance cost factored in water and sewer fee increases. Director Larson said increases to utilities were not factored in. Commissioner Panetta inquired if the 5% would be dedicated to the specific facility. Director Larson explained that the 5% will go into category types. Assistant City Manager Rojanasathira gave the example of ballpark fees not going to a specific field, but will go towards all ballparks. Commissioner McCarthy asked for clarification that the 5% cannot be tapped for use by the general fund. Director Larson confirmed, yes, the 5% will stay in Parks and Recreation. Assistant City Manager Rojanasathira stated this fund will help supplement what the general fund contributes to Parks and Recreation.  Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes 8/26/2021 7:00:00 PM Commissioner Panetta inquired as to how staff came up with 5% as the amount. Director Larson said staff calculated the numbers from 1% on up but found that anything less than 5% wasn’t generating enough revenue to make an impact and found that anything higher would be too cost prohibitive for our participants. Commissioner Schmidt asked if this was based on last year’s expenses and if we will revisit this in the future, perhaps at the end of the fiscal year. Director Larson said we took actual numbers from 2016-2019 and projections for this fiscal year and if the commission wants to revisit this in the future we certainly can. Commissioner Crampton stated that 5% barely covers the rate of inflation. She asked how staff comes up with the fees for non-Sports Center programs and what percentage of this fee would be paid from non-residents. Director Larson said program fees are not on the master fee schedule and are set by our department based on market rate, competition and cost recovery so these fees fluctuate quite a bit. Manager Leon said approximately 50% of our participants are non-residents. Commissioner Spangler asked what the value would be to possibly increasing the fees to 6% or 7% and have 5% of that going towards the maintenance fund, but having a higher raise now so we don’t have to raise them so regularly. Director Larson said it could be considered but we would need to look at possibly being priced out of the market. Manager Leon said that up until 2014 we used to raise fees annually but after a several year hiatus, we did a 10% increase in 2019. Now that we’re in the re-building process and trying to get participants back and not wanting to price ourselves out of the market, we would ideally start looking at fees more consistently. Commissioner McCarthy inquired as to why this issue has been raised now. Director Larson stated this has been a priority for quite some time but then the pandemic hit and the focus was redirected. We are now facing the fiscal reality of maintenance costs and the ability to maintain our facilities. There were no public comments. Commissioner Gibson thinks the 5% is modest. Commissioner McCarthy is very surprised that there were no public comments. Assistant City Manager anticipates public comments when this goes to Council. On a motion by Commissioner Spangler, seconded by Commissioner Crampton and carried by the following vote, the Parks and Recreation Commission Recommends the City Council Commit 5% of Parks and Recreation Fees for the Purpose of Parks and Recreation Facility Maintenance and Improvement, and Revise the Master Fee Schedule to Increase Parks and Recreation Fees by 5% Effective December 1, 2021: AYES: 6 COMMISSIONERS: Crampton, Gibson, McCarthy, Panetta, Schmidt, Spangler NOES: 0 COMMISSIONERS: None ABSENT: 1 COMMISSIONERS: McEwen NEXT MEETING Wednesday, September 8, 2021. Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting Minutes8/26/2021 7:00:00 PM  Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes 8/26/2021 7:00:00 PM ADJOURNMENT Chair Gibson adjourned the meeting at 7:35pm. Respectfully Submitted, Approved, Karen Larson Donna Gibson, Chair Parks and Recreation Director Parks and Recreation Commission Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting Minutes8/26/2021 7:00:00 PM