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, February 4, 2021 at 7:00p.m. Zoom Royal Oak, MI 48067 Meeting called to Order 7:01 PM Members Present: Sarah Kindinger, Commissioner Melanie Macey, Mike Ripinski, Crystal Chow, Susan Anderson, Joseph Vukich, Ryan Ross, Also, Present: John Fedele, Superintendent of Recreation, Aaron Filipski Director Public Works, and Recreation Members Absent: Maya Harris, Kari Woloszyk I. Approval of Minutes: Motion Commissioner Macey, second by Mike Ripinski. Unanimously approved II. City Commission Comments: Strategic planning took place over the previous weekend. Proposal of a facilities manager discussed how we measure user satisfaction with residents. Create a centralized system to log work orders across city. CDBG funds offers a different way to spend money on our parks but there are only 4 more parks left to complete on the CDBG list, need to start thinking outside the box to fund those parks outside of CDBG City Manager create partnerships with business and community, work with ROFC for park drainage since they installed drain tiles at Red Run Park. Senior Senior side in terms of money, fund programs for the center and AARP i.e. paved paths through arboretum. Senior outreach – set up a phone # designated to give out detailed information if someone were to call. III. Public Comment: Janice Wagman – thrilled to hear about the senior communication plan with the phone number idea. End Public Comment IV. Business: a. Downtown Park Task Force Appointment - Sarah nominates Crystal Chow, 2nd by Commissioner Macey  Discussion: Ryan Ross express interest in task force as well. Sarah Kindinger to step down from her role on the task force - Appointment of Crystal Chow unanimously passed. b. Parks and Recreation Year in Review - John Fedele goes over report attached in meeting’s agenda - Commissioner Macey asks how much better did the golf course do? - John Fedele states the course made $80,000 in net income and usually operate at a break even or loss sometimes. c. Senior Outreach - John Fedele states that as well as using the phone number to utilize WROK channel. Display phone number on every slide and have scheduled programming on certain days and times that display items related to senior outreach. - Commissioner Macey found someone to create a volunteer outreach program. Currently discussing plan of action with said person. d. Budget Topics - Joseph Vukich asks if the board can help with getting the community together and utilize the downtown space with restaurants better.  Board advises Joseph to reach out to the DDA and public comment at City Commission meetings. - Mike Ripinski mentions the golf course has had improvements to the parking lot and cart paths and would like to see improvements made to the clubhouse - Crystal Chow echoes Mikes request also would like to see an emphasis on operations and maintenance as new features come into the parks, these features will have a cost to maintain and operate. - Commissioner Macey agrees with Crystal, installing cooler items in parks but maintenance is important because we no longer have similar items to pull from in parks. Always been an advocate for more staff stating these services have the highest impact on the city and need to be mindful of the increasing maintenance and service of parks. Request to tear down golf course and build a new building. - Sarah Kindinger appreciates the creativity brought to parks and long term thinking of the PIP fall zone materials.  - Joseph Vukich suggest thinking of the long-term budget needs. Asks if there is a history of any ballot initiatives to increase maintenance and operations. - Mike Ripinki states that the subject of a millage has been floated from time to time but is a touchy subject. To get a rec center or golf clubhouse going to need to look at alternative resources. Sterling Heights recreation millage passed overwhelmingly with support. - Commissioner Macey suggest that this board can create an exploratory millage board to advise how to get this process going.  Mike Ripinski echoes that using the upcoming master plan is an integral ingredient and should include future funding. e. Art in the Parks - Joseph Vukich would like to brainstorm on ideas to celebrate the parks to draw attention to them by using art. Generate relationships with schools and community. Contests, using social media and Commission for the Arts as well as the Royal Oak Arts Council. - Commissioner Macey – create a subgroup from board to discuss art in the park ideas. f. Staff Report - John Fedele states that the 3 classes that are currently running at the Salter Center and the couple of classes running at the Senior Center are receiving positive feedbacks regarding the protocols in place to keep the residents safe in participating and enjoying the classes. V. Items not on the Agenda: Sarah updates everyone that the AARP Task force is in a discussion to create a plan to meet in the upcoming weeks VI. Upcoming Events Valentine Day Cookie Kit Sales – Wednesday February 10th and Thursday February 11, 2021 Irish Tavern pop-up meal Wednesday March 10, 2021 Next Meeting: March 4, 2021 Adjourn: Motion moved by Mike Ripinski, Second by Crystal Chow unanimously at 8:35 pm. Respectfully Submitted, Approved, John Fedele Maya Harris John Fedele, Superintendent of Recreation Maya Harris, Secretary