Parks and Recreation Advisory Board (Formerly Parks, Rec and Senior Services)

City of Royal Oak Recreation Department 1600 North Campbell Road Royal Oak, MI 48067 248-246-.3180 Minutes Parks, Recreation and Senior Services Advisory Board Thursday June 8, 2018 at 7:00p.m. Mahany/Meininger Senior/Community Center 3500 Marias Avenue Royal Oak, MI 48067 Meeting called to Order 7:01pm. Members Present: Tim Ciechorski, Maya Harris, Paul Kanan, Mike Ripinski, Mark Ryan, Jill Robinson, Commissioner Macey Also Present: John Fedele, Superintendent of Recreation, Greg Rassel, Director of Rec. & Public Service, Don Johnson, City Manager Members Absent: Kaila Huehner, Jeffrey Plachta, Camille Thompson I. Approval of Minutes: May 3, 2018 – Correction on name Stephanie Comptos. Correction on Tim’s comment that there was not much “public comment” but was a good public turnout. Motion by Tim Ciechorski, seconded by Jill Robinson to approve May minutes. Motion passed unanimously. II. City Commission Comments: Commissioner Macey discussed going through the budget process, explains the Finance Director walks through the budget from last year and highlights any changes to the new budget. There is a public hearing on at the commission meeting on June 11, 2018 and a Normandy Oaks 90% completion presentation at the commission meeting on June 11, 2018 as well. III. Public Comment: - Mike states that this is an advisory board, the board can make recommendations to commission for changes. Open’s public comment with a 3-minute time limit. - Ann Gardner: Member of the Mark Twain Dog Park and talks about a fundraiser for improvements to the dog park, the broken gate and trash issues. Sent a letter to the Mayor, and newspaper which positive feedback. Mentions that the city pays a 3rd party contractor to empty the  trash receptacles and they haven’t been doing their job. Mentions that people don’t buy a key fob because they know the back gate is broken and can get in from that way. The area back of the gate is park of Mark Twain Dog Park and members of the park pick up and take care of the back area. It is the most used Dog Park in the city and tall grass has been an issue. - Sarah Kindinger: Mark Twain Dog Park, talks about the future of the dog park and get a better understanding of responsibilities. Proposes enhancements be done since the members pay $50 a year plus a key fob for access to the park with about 200 members equals $14,000/year. Mentions proceeding with enhancements with a board so we can work together to make the park better. - Mark Comptos: Mentions that the Normandy Oaks Park is being mowed except for the South East park of the park. He asked whoever was mowing why they were not being mowed and the “mower” said it was because of the silk fencing that is still up and was unsure whether construction was still on going. - Stephanie Comptos: Elks Park, mentions from previous minutes that grant money can’t be used for it, so can we fundraise money for it. Basketball court is used every day / all day and the cars exceed the capacity of the parking lot. Without upgrades the park would look terrible next to a nice looking Normandy Oaks Park next to it and we should enjoy the park safely. - Brad Hobbs: Dog Park, mentions that people are interested in making it better. We have been detached from a group that initially had it and people want to “pick the ball back up.” End Public Comment IV. Business: a. P&R Budget Review: Greg states that the budget for FY 18-19 is $1.3 million dollars with plans to use cell tower money to replace/add lights to Worden Park, upgrade playground at Kenwood Park and tennis courts, upgrade the parking lot at Mark Twain. The donation of the Inman family has come in and there is a block grant going towards Cody Park, Grant Park, Waterworks and Barton North. Basset park will get an upgrade through donations and repairs from the resurfacing of the Campbell Rd project. The department has been contacted by another party for another contract for a new cell tower with a location of TBD.  Mike asks could the cell tower money be used for the lights at Worden Park?  o Greg states that if (emphasis on if) money goes through w/cell tower it can be. The cell tower reps change their mind once proposal is presented. b. Grass mowing/cutting: Commissioner Macey asks how much is spent on mowing in the Spring?  Greg states that he doesn’t have the exact numbers in front of him now. “Greg reads e-mail from Rich Ray”  Greg states that he’s been here for 20 years and there is always a 3-week period we fall behind on because of the Spring weather. o Paul states that with the wet grass you either tear up the grass and create divots or get stuck o Commissioner Macey states that this has been going on for 8-weeks o Don mentions that the parks have been too wet to mow o Commissioner Macey states that she has been to the parks and the parks have been bone dry and that it seems as if staff thinks residents don’t know what “dry/wet” is. “Greg continues to read Rich Ray’s e-mail” o Greg lists the parks that are the wettest: Get a list of these parks! Mentions that the parks are cut on a rotation, if they get to a park and the park is too wet to be cut they move onto the next park in the rotation. It took 3 days with 6 people to mow down parks because it is more than just grass- have to pick up debris, trash and broken limbs around mowing area. Memorial day took longer because we had to take extra time to clean up the graves. o Paul asks whether or not we raise the decks or do we go in with a backhoe to clear up debris? o Greg says the decks are raised higher o Paul mentions that with lower deck level it can create grass chaw or makes mowing slower since you have to cut the grass slower. o Greg mentions that ROFC contracts out Worry Free to mow the soccer fields since they like their grass shorter. o Macey notes that Whittier Park was one of the dryer parks o Greg mentions that we try not go in and cut wet parks because it will create divots. A new mower crew, 3 guys, trailer, and maybe a pickup truck would cost about &80,000. We could contract it out  but the contract service may not gear up staff wise for a month of work. o Mike mentions that the city hires students every year for season help during the spring/summer and it seems that this year there is shorter staff and tougher to get staff. o Jill asks what is the solution to this? It seems as the numbers have been going down every year o Greg mentions that we get reports from certain parks every year and when it rains it puts us back at square one. When it rains we can’t do much with the parks Baseball and softball fields tend to get priority over other parks because they are being used for games on a daily basis. o Mark reminds everyone that the employees are seasonal employees and not full-time employees as full-time employees could be more expensive. o Don mentions that the City of Royal Oak is on a very high-water table and is built on a swamp. If the land was dry there would be housing on those lands rather than parks. o Paul says we can do a community outreach but other than that can’t do much with the wetness of the grass. “Mike reads second letter from Rich Ray” o Mike mentions that it is not just park mowing the crews are doing there are a lot of mowing going on. o Paul states that the boulevards and such are mowed a couple times a year and can move on from those once the growing season slows down. o Commissioner Macey states that this issue happens every year and the answer is there are short staff. If we had twice as many people, we can mow in 1-week cycle rather than 2-week cycle. o Paul states that more people can’t help the wetness in months of Spring months. o Mike states that if the commission wants to do a budgetary review and maybe increase funds for more people. Can we get a motion for this? o Commissioner Macey asks what can we do to make mowing a 1-week cycle? o Greg mentions that having one more man mowing is like having one more man at the Alamo. When hiring contractors you’re pulling the moral out from my crew because it feels like we are going against my crew. o Tim asks what a complete crew is? o Greg states that 3 people. o Commissioner Macey wants to give more money to get more people. o Mike states that he doesn’t think it is a problem of people working or the number of workers o Don states that the problem is the drainage of the parks. With more staff it would not solve the issue the parks are wet. We are now in the second week of June, so the parks are being mowed. o Tim asks if the weather was dry this whole time would parks have been mowed by now? o Greg responds that they would be close as more and more seasonal staff are coming on board. o Don mentions that we have even lowered the age to 17 years old for seasonal employment, but the kids are still in school during the Spring months and there are also limitations on what they can/cannot do. o Tim asks if part time employees can be promoted to full time employees? o Greg states that we have hired some part-timers when positions become available. o Don says that they still have to go through the hiring procedure, they do not get special treatment even though they were hired as part-timers before. o Commissioner Macey asks if 1 more full-time employee will help other than mowing o Greg responds absolutely. o Mike mentions that in the winter they pull people from different crews too. o Tim asks what the cost of a full-time employee? o Greg: $80,000 includes benefits o Jill motions to recommend the city commissioners consider hiring another full-time employee at the Department of Public Service and Parks and Forestry for next budget year fiscal year 18-19 o Second by Tim with an amendment that he would like to read “at least one full time employee but let the board know that they need more than 1. o Jill amends motion to at least 1 more full-time employee. Second by Tim. o Mike states that he is in favor of proposing in principal but still comes down to weather. No matter how many people are staffed, I don’t see this fixing the issue if we can’t fix the weather. I won’t support it.  o Commissioner Macey agrees with Mike on the rain but the day the park is dried there would be 1 more person to mow. o Paul mentions that the extra employee can be used whenever o Greg confirms that the extra employee can be used to do whatever, there are a lot of special events going on, park improvements etc. o Jill states that there is plenty of work to be done for another staff member o Mike reminds everyone that this is new money for another staff not an allocation of funds. Doesn’t see it as a solution. Maybe adding another Parks staff is not where the city needs another staff. o Mark states that the number of years he’s been here it happens every year for short period of time. Staff has been cut back year after year and it can’t go any lower. Having a crew would do a lot more than usual. Hiring staff just for grass issue I wouldn’t support but would support staff to doing multiple jobs. o Mike states that the item on the agenda is about grass mowing Vote: Paul Kanan, Mike Ripinksi and Mark Ryan voted not in favor Tim Cierhorski, Commissioner Macey and Jill Robinson voted in favor - Tied vote, motion did not pass c. Mark Twain Dog Park: Greg states that the department will follow up with the contractor to get trash picked up. The department was contacted to another contractor but never followed up with us. We are currently using pet butler. The problem with the industry is not a job any one inspires to do. - Mike asks about the gate issue?  Greg states the gates work, the electronic magnet is broke again, which is the third time it has happened. It gets fixed and then breaks shortly after non-members would also jump the gate however, the front gate functions as normal.  Mike remembers talking about the issue with the magnetic system breaking and it being an ongoing issue. Asks if the back gate can be closed? o Greg states that we would look into it d. WIFI Installation: Greg states that he has talked to IT Director and it will be installed by the end of the calendar year.  - Don states that whatever the IT Director has scheduled will be when the WIFI gets installed but has other priorities. e. Cell Tower: - Mike states that this has already been discussed is there any other comment? Location is TBD  Commissioner Macey asks if there is anything we can do? o Greg responds that there is nothing that we can do, just brought it up to make everyone aware  Tim asks if the money from the tower goes to the park? o Greg states that that is the goal  Paul ask how long the tower is up for? o Greg states that the tower is up anywhere between 20-30 years and it pulls in about a couple grand a month.  Paul reiterates that it is a land contract and we get interest on it V. Items not on the Agenda: - Commissioner Macey asks how much it is to resurface a basketball court?  Greg states that it depends on whether or not it is a resurface or just coating it but it can be anywhere between $10-15K - Commissioner Macey asks if there is ping pong in the senior center?  John states that there is not  Greg mentions that they did at a time, but tables broke and storing them became an issue. - Commissioner Macey asks about the Ball ‘Till You Fall Kickball Tournament  John states the kickball tournament will be held on Saturday Aug. 4th cost for a team is $200, 3 game guarantee and all umpire costs and awards are paid for with the team fee. VI. Upcoming Events a. Royal Oak Art Fair July 7th and 8th - Mike adds that the Art of Fire show is this weekend June 9th and 10th downtown. - Commissioner Macey suggests we meet at a park or golf course for a discussion - Greg and Mike state that they will take it into consideration - Mike suggest we do a group golf outing late July early August at the Royal Oak Golf Course.  - Don mentions the Bike Rodeo has been rescheduled due to the weather - Tim reminds that Whittier Park ribbon cutting for the Inman Memorial will be August 26th b. Woodward Dream Cruise Next Meeting: Thursday, September 6, 2018 at 7:00p.m. Motion by Mark Ryan, seconded by Paul Kanan to adjourn at 8:15 p.m. Motion passed unanimously. Respectfully Submitted, Approved, John Fedele Paul Kanan John Fedele, Superintendent of Recreation Paul Kanan, Secretary