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 September 6, 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, Jeffrey Plachta, Commissioner Macey Also Present: John Fedele, Superintendent of Recreation Members Absent: Kaila Huehner, Camille Thompson, Jill Robinson, Greg Rassel, Director of Rec. & Public Service, I. Approval of Minutes: June 7, 2018 – Motion by Mark Ryan, second by Tim Ciechorski, unanimously approved II. City Commission Comments: Commissioner Macey discussed the commissioners talk a lot about the budget at Commission meeting. Commissioner Macey advocates for a mulch replacement program states parks only get mulch if enough community members get together to help spread the mulch. There is no proactive branch/tree trimming program but DPS is very good at being reactive to calls when there are down limbs. The commissioners are wondering why they are not hearing this from the Parks and Recreation. Commissioner Macey states maybe having indoor exercise equipment, fix ADA compliant swings in parks and reiterates that the City Commissioners are waiting to hear from the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. III. Public Comment: - Kenneth Collins: Makes a complaint that the Pickle Ball Courts and players are too loud at Upton Park. Kenneth was wondering why Pickle Ball was not on the agenda for this meeting after requesting it to be on the agenda.  Board makes a motion, passed unanimously to add Pickle Ball Noise Complaint to item “H” on the agenda.  - Janice Wagner: Makes a statement with an issue regarding senior’s communication problem. Janice states that seniors do not know about the programs we have to offer and suggests a flyer that is attached to the residents’ water bills.  Ripinski suggest a review to approve the cost to put a flyer in water bills.  Fedele states that there is a quarterly insight that reaches 34,000 address with activities ranging from youth activities, to adult activities to senior activities and even school board functions. There is also a senior newsletter that the senior centers’ staff publishes.  Ryan states that even though there is the insight and the senior newsletter that reaches a good number of residents if they choose not to read them, we cannot force them to read the programs we have to offer.  Cierchorski asks who designs the Insight and if the cover can showcase senior activities.  Fedele states that the Recreation Dept. designs the insights and the cover for each season has different covers that correlate to the major function/activity going on in that quarter but will investigate adding a different cover to incorporate the seniors. - Janice Wagner also states she doesn’t know why there is a pre school center in the Senior Center and recommends that room would be great for having indoor fitness equipment since there are no areas for indoor fitness equipment throughout the city.  Ripinski suggests trying to come up with ways for better communications and make sure we have “senior communication” topic on next meeting’s agenda. - Friends of Mark Twain Dog Park: The park has seen an uptick in membership. There are two sets of rules that conflict w/ each other. They put together a new set of rules and conduct (new rules and conduct was given to Advisory Board). Would like to have a new sign with all the rules stated on it closer to the parking lot. They are still having issues with people coming up asking to get in because they lost their key fob. Suggest the board “approve” the new rules handed out at meeting.  Fedele recommends not voting on the new rules now and give time for the board and other members to read over the rules carefully and come back next meeting with a review/suggestion.  Ripinski agrees and recommends having this on next meeting’s agenda.  End Public Comment IV. Business: a. Mark Twain Dog Park Update: Fedele states that after talking over with previous dog waste company we have learned that they have disbanded and are no longer in the business. The City has contracted a new dog waste company in Doggy Scoops which will pick up waster two times a week during the summer months and once a week in the winter months. The new company has also supplied new waste barrels to the park. It is the cities understanding that the new contractors building the adjacent apartments will also be installing a fence covering the perimeter of the park.  Ripinski states that he has gone to the park recently and talked with a couple users, both new resident and recurring, and they both really enjoy the park and its recent improvements  Commissioner Macey states that the Friends of Mark Twain Dog Park is doing a lot of great work, trails are mulched and are looking good. Commissioner Macey recommends having a new sign with rules made and having a review of the new code of conduct/rules. b. Royal Oak Golf Course Cart Path/Parking lot paving update: Fedele states that the request for repaving of the parking lot and cart path was given to the Engineering Department to write up the specs for the RFB. The Recreation Department is still waiting for the specs from Engineering and once the specs are received will move forward with the bid process.  Ripinski states that he is quite frustrated and upset with the news and was told the specs were already drawn up and ready to go. Ripinski states that he is not happy that this is being drawn out more and more and wants progress to start moving forward on this and this should have already been approved.  Fedele states that the recent update regarding the specs was from the week of August 27th. States that the department is just waiting and will move forward with the RFB as soon as the specs come in.  Ryan states that even though it is frustrating, there is not much to do but wait for the specs to come in. c. Normandy Oaks Park Update: Fedele states that the progress for Normandy Oaks Park is moving a long with the bid process to begin in December with construction starting sometime in the Spring. The City will be receiving the Splash Pad components to DPS around the last week of September. Fedele states that excess dirty from the Robertson Brothers has been moved over into the area and the early stages of the sledding hill are on site.   Ripinski ask if there will be a fence that would be around the mound of dirt for the sledding hill to prevent residents from using it during the winter and asks if we can get an update on this.  Commissioner Macey states that the housing on the corner of Normandy are almost done and ready for moving in. d. Outdoor Fitness Equipment Update: Fedele states that the City received a substantial funding from CDBG. The department decided to upgrade the current equipment and add outdoor fitness equipment to four neighbor parks, Grant Park, Waterworks Park, Cody Park, Barton- North Park. The decision was made to coincide with the “Re-think Royal Oak” and provide outdoor fitness equipment that was accessible to all areas of Royal Oak Residents. The fitness equipment is state of the art equipment where you can scan the fitness boards and receive a workout or learn different ways to use the equipment presented at each park. Each park has different components to the fitness equipment but there are still some similar aspects in each. Fedele states that one of the goals is to create an outdoor cross fit class for residents who wish to receive instructed workouts as well. Fedele also states that along with the addition to the outdoor fitness equipment, the existing play structures will be provided with new artificial turf fall zones which will replace the existing fibar fall zones.  Ripinski explains how neighborhood block grants work and that each park is designated as a neighborhood park and certain grant funds can be used towards those parks. We may want to have equipment like this in all our parks but some parks in the City are not neighborhood parks like Starr Jaycee. e. Worden Park Lights Update: Fedele states that the city has received a sum of money from its lease agreement of the cell phone tower on the Worden Park baseball/softball fields. The current light poles are made of wood and have shifted over the years thus creating insufficient lighting for the fields. Fedele states that the department has been working with Musco Lighting and Techline Sports Lighting, two of the leading sports lighting companies in the nation, to come up with a plan to replace the existing wooden light pulls and replace them with metal poles and replace the wooden brackets with metal ones as well. The department is deciding on whether we want to go with LED lighting or HID lighting for this project and are awaiting cost comparison specs as well as energy efficient comparison specs from both companies and will decide after receiving the requested material.  Ripinski asks when the project is expected to be worked on and completed   Fedele states hopefully late October right after the fall adult season but can be moved up and re-arrange scheduling for the fall adult season if need be. f. Ice Arena Cooling Condenser RFB Update: Fedele states that the mandatory walk through for the RFB has been conducted and of the 5 companies that attended the walk through, only two, Serv-Ice and LJ Rolls, submitted bid proposals with Serv-Ice submitting two alternative bids. Fedele states that the condensing tower is still operating but not operating at the efficiency it is supposed to be operating at and the life span is roughly 25 years for the tower.  Ripinski asks how old the current tower is?  Fedele states that it is anywhere between 30-40 years old  Fedele states that the department is waiting for efficiency specs from the proposed bid and another alternative bid between two condensing towers. Once the efficiency specs are submitted the department will decide on which tower to purchase.  Ripinski asks if this was budgeted for?  Fedele states that it was budgeted as a capital outlay project for Fiscal Year 2018-2019. g. Ice Arena General Manager Change: Fedele states that the previous Suburban Sports Group has informed the department that General Manager Cal McGowan will be replaced by Amaan Archer. Fedele states that Amaan Archer has worked at the ice arena before and is well qualified for the job. h. Added agenda item, Pickball discussion: Commissioner Macey states that pickleball is played on tennis courts with a ping pong type ball. It has become very popular and the Upton Park tennis courts were converted to pickleball courts by the pickleball group when the tennis courts were not being fully utilized. Commissioner Macey states that they run tournaments every Thursday or Friday and put on one large tournament in August. Commissioner Macey states that there are some options to help with the noise, but these options don’t eliminate the noise they just reduce the noise. Some of the options are using a softer ball, softer paddles or putting up wind screen type noise reducers but are very costly. There was a tournament on August 26th at Whittier during the Inman ceremony and the tournament used the softer balls and the noise was minimal.  Ripinski recommends having the pickleball members come to next meeting and give their side of the story. Pickleball is growing all over the nation.  Fedele states that the pickleball community helps with fencing repairs to Whittier Park Pickleball Courts they have also added a new gate to Upton’s Pickleball Courts. They currently use the dampen ball but having them use a softer paddle will take away the competitive nature of the sport.   Commissioner Macey suggest finding out about the parking at the park and if there are any solutions?  Ryan states that parking at this park is what it is. Could it be nicer to have less parking and be more convenient? Yes, but there are other parks that have double sided parking in the neighborhood.  Ripinski suggest talking about permit parking and how you need to have a permit to park on the streets. V. Items not on the Agenda: VI. Upcoming Events a. Barktoberfest September 14th and 15th b. Downtown Park Community Engagement Oct. 6 & Nov. 3 c. Halloween Spooktacular Kickball Tournament Oct. 20, 2018 Next Meeting: Thursday, October 4, 2018 at 7:00p.m. Motion by Mark Ryan, seconded by Paul Kanan to adjourn at 8:31 p.m. Motion passed unanimously. Respectfully Submitted, Approved, John Fedele Paul Kanan John Fedele, Superintendent of Recreation Paul Kanan, Secretary