Health, Recreation & Events Committee

TOWN OF MOUNT PLEASANT, SOUTH CAROLINA RECREATION COMMITTEE Monday, February 4, 2019 Municipal Complex, Committee Meeting Room, 3rd Floor 100 Ann Edwards Lane, Mount Pleasant, SC 29464 Minutes Members Present: Gary Santos, Chair; Tom O’Rourke, G. M. Whitley Staff Present: Eric DeMoura, Steve Gergick Mr. Santos called the meeting to order at 9:24 a.m. 1. Approval of Minutes from the December 3, 2018 meeting Ms. Whitley made a motion to approve the December 3, 2018 minutes. Mr. O’Rourke seconded the motion. All were in favor. 2. Public Comments None 3. Approval of the 2019 Blessing of the Fleet Beneficiaries Mr. Gergick said every year The Blessing of the Fleet event has charities that it supports. He said the Committee had some read ahead information they were given about the event. He said the Magwood family along with Town staff reviews applications from different charities. He said they look at the goals of the charities but also their ability to provide volunteers in support for the for the event because it takes a lot of people to run the event at Waterfront Park. He said the 32nd Annual Blessing of the Fleet the Town staff and the Magwood family recommended the following non- profits to partner and receive the net proceeds for the festival: East Cooper Land Trust and Southern Paws Animal Rescue. He said they both are worthy charities in the area and their applications were reviewed and they are be able to supply support needed for event. Mr. Gergick said that the dollar amount for that support is not determined until after the event. He said this was revenue from the sales that the event generates, and that amount is split between the two charities. He said this was a  Recreation Committee February 4, 2019 Page 2 of 6 recommendation to Committee and he believed it ends up requiring full Council approval. Mr. O’Rourke said the Committee was given those two names but asked if there was a long list that was eventually brought down to those two by the committee. Mr. Gergick there were other charities that applied as well. Ms. Nicole Harvey, Special Events Manager, said there were approximately ten applicants. She said that many of them were recent recipients. She said she did not believe East Cooper Land Trust had been a beneficiary since she has been here, and this would be her ninth Blessing. She said they usually let the Magwood ladies have a lot of input into this process. She said they started the festival 32 years ago and they just wanted to spread the love a little. Mr. O’Rourke said he knew the amount was determined after the event but asked if Ms. Harvey knew the amount last year. Ms. Harvey said it was $5,976.74. Mr. O’Rourke asked if that was for each of the ones that received it. Ms. Harvey answered in the affirmative. Mr. Gergick said if they had the information, he had forwarded them there was a list for the past ten years with amount given to each charity. Mr. O’Rourke made a motion to take to full Council the 2019 beneficiaries of East Cooper Land Trust and Southern Paws Animal Rescue approved by the Blessing of the Fleet Committee. Ms. Whitley seconded the motion. All were in favor. 4. Approval of changes to Farmers Market Advisory Board bylaws Mr. Gergick said the Farmers Market is operated by an Advisory Board made up of farmers, vendors, and members at large. He said there was a change they would like to make to the bylaws that was outlined in the information that had been forwarded to them. He said previously the Board was made up of five members with a requirement for three of them  Recreation Committee February 4, 2019 Page 3 of 6 to be farmers. He said there had been some difficulty to have three farmers on the Board and they would like to make a change to by bylaws to reduce that requirement to only two of the members representing farmers, one member represent the food vendors and two members at large with a preference given to an additional farmer if there is a farmer available to represent the Board. He said that was the primary change being made in the bylaws. He said the other minor change was previously it said terms would expire in the month of November and now would be more specific that the term shall expire on November 1 or reasonably thereafter. He said those were the primary changes that they wanted to make to the bylaws and were seeking the Committee’s approval. Mr. O’Rourke made a motion to approve the changes recommended to the Farmers Market Advisory Board bylaws. Ms. Whitley seconded the motion. All were in favor. 5. Program/projects update Mr. Gergick said programs are going very well. He said they had the information on youth and adult sports, tennis, swimming and Senior Center membership. He said that youth sports are up considerably over last year. He said that the numbers they have on the report are for sports that have taken registration in January. He said they have other youth sports that are still going on. He said they did not have a meeting in January, so December numbers were not reported at the time. He said in addition to the numbers on the current report they have youth basketball which has 1,829 participants which was up over 100 people from the year before. Mr. Gergick said that youth wrestling was up to 102 participants. He said that program had really taken off as they were only at 50-60 participants and it had been growing from 80 to 90 participants and now it was at 102. He said youth swim lessons are up. He said that tennis membership was down, and Senior Center membership was down from last year. He said the sock hops are extremely popular and said they cannot wait to get to where they bring them back to Town Hall. He said they had been holding them at Park West and in the future, they would be able to split them at Park West and some here at Town Hall. He said they  Recreation Committee February 4, 2019 Page 4 of 6 had been held at Town Hall traditionally for years. He said participation dropped off a little when they first moved to Park West, but it had been picking up again. He said they had 336 participants the last time. Mr. Gergick said they unveiled two sculptures for Art on the Half Shell and made their debut at the Boone Hall Oyster Festival. He said they are very nice-looking oysters and are going to be placed at different places around town such as Memorial Waterfront Park. He said they are hoping it will draw more interest from the community and they would get some other applicants. He said it was a selective process and they do not just take any applicant. He said the Culture, Arts & Pride Commission (CAP) reviews those and make selections that are high quality to make sure it would be well received by the community. He said the Recreation Department had visitors from the Commission for Accreditation of Parks and Recreation Agencies (CAPRA). He said they had a great visit being here Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. He said they had a chance to see our facilities and asked a ton of questions and staff was able to respond and give them great answers. He said he wanted to publicly recognize all the work that went into preparing for that. He said he wanted to also recognize that he viewed it more than a Recreation Department accreditation as it was truly a Town accreditation. He said many of the standards in the process dealt with areas from across the Town. He said they had the Police Department, Purchasing, Risk Management, Emergency Management, IT, and Planning helping with information about land acquisitions and ordinances they must follow. He said it was very well done and the Department received a ton of support from all the counterparts with the Town. He said upcoming events were a Sock Hop on February 8, Family Fun Night at the swimming pool, and Summer Camp registration starts February 25. He said that was always a big day in the Town at all the registration locations. Ms. Whitley said she wanted thank Ms. Harvey and the Culture, Arts & Pride Commission for all the hard work for Art on the Half Shell. She said it was an idea she had during the campaign of bringing more art to the Town of Mount Pleasant and it would not have come to fruition without their hard work in helping the idea develop and evolve into something that would be workable for the Town. She said it had been well received and  Recreation Committee February 4, 2019 Page 5 of 6 she had heard so much positive feedback from fellow Town Council members and people in the community. She said she was hoping this could become something that they could spread throughout the Town and partner with local businesses in the next phase to have the oysters in their business store front. She said to also be able to market it as one can go all over Town and take pictures with the oysters and have it be a fun thing for the Town of Mount Pleasant. Mr. Gergick thanked Ms. Whitley for the support of that initiative. He said it was going to be very popular and was expecting it to be very well received similar to It’s Raining Art. He said they put that on display at several locations and Town Centre came to the Commission and said they wanted to have it at thirteen or fourteen different locations. He said it draws people into that area. Mr. Santos said two of the things he liked was the wrestling which when they first started, they had 107 children. He said the room at Wando was not large enough to handle all of them. He said the participation dipped but now it was back up and he was glad to see that along with swimming lessons. He said swimming lessons are fantastic with over 100 more people learning how to swim and it was not only great for health wise, but it saves lives. He said that was something very important for the Department to do and it saves lives and thanked staff for being able to get so many people swimming. Mr. O’Rourke said he wanted to make a comment on the accreditation. He said they do not just hand the award out. He said he believed now with Mount Pleasant there are only four recreation department in the state of South Carolina that are accredited. He said he had been through it and seen the standards that must be met. He said for Mount Pleasant he agreed with Mr. Gergick that the Recreation Department needed information from Planning, Police, and other department to be able to meet the standards. He commended the department for going through it as it was not fun, and it was hard. He said those going through it wonder why but at the end when they have the accreditation there was a pride there that they deserve. He said he wanted to commend Mr. Gergick, the  Recreation Committee February 4, 2019 Page 6 of 6 Recreation staff, and the rest of the staff for pulling through it. He said he knew Ms. Pam Ragland helped a little. Mr. Gergick said Ms. Ragland did help and was wonderful to have. He thanked Mr. O’Rourke and said he appreciated the comments. Mr. Santos said that Recreation would be able to join the Police, Fire, and the Building Division. He said the Town is just adding on and getting better. Mr. Kevin Cunnane, 3032 River Vista Way, Mount Pleasant said he wanted to talk about an accreditation issue. He said that something came to his attention with the Fire Department accreditation which he said he alluded to at the Council Retreat. He said there was a nice report issued and the chiefs that reviewed the department were here for a period of time. He said that then he learned there was a couple of whispers about things they did not like, and they did not make the report. He said that was extremely alarming. He said if they told Mr. Gergick or any staff member if something appears during the accreditation that alarms someone on that panel it should be reduced to writing to protect Mr. Gergick and the staff. He said the issue he was talking about was an issue that could kill someone, and it did not make that report. He said he was not saying that the parks accreditation was like that but if there are negatives that are uncovered during it, they should be reduced to writing and Council should know about it. He said if they do not know about it then they cannot correct it. He said that there are benefits for accreditation whether he agreed with it or not. He said the issue was is if there was a negative that pops up during that vast inspection process, the policy makers and high-level staff need to know about that. He said there should be no whispers during this process. Mr. Santos said they do not whisper in the Recreation Department as they have a lot of yelling but no whispering. 6. Adjourn There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:39 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Karen Bedenbaugh, 2/4/19