Parks and Recreation Meeting

Parks, Recreation and Community Services Commission Meeting – September 7 th , 2022 This meeting was called to order at 6:00 PM by Chairperson Diane Huckins . I. ROLL CALL Commissioner Jeff Allen Commissioner Jeff Ahern Vice-Chair Erin Thomas Chairperson Diane Huckins Commissioner Zatkin – absent Commissioner Ahern Commissioner Anderson II. CALL TO THE PUBLIC None III. APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES a. Approval of Minutes Correction of the minutes – Page 3 of the packet approval of the meeting minutes. The calendar. Should read September, not October. Minutes are approved with this change. Motioned by Commission Allen Seconded by Vice Chair Thomas All Is None Apposed IV. Agenda Items a. History Project Laura spoke about the history project. Commission Gregory Mcnafee, did all the research and put together the history project. This project came forth because the history of Sahuarita is vague. He has spent lots of time on this project. Once printed there will be pictures included. This will go on our website and other publications for the town. Huskins - Learned a lot and was very interesting Commissioner Allen - Is he affiliated with the town? Laura Hester – He is an outside contractor. It was an open bid, and he won the contract. He is a great historian. Hoping he will do an in- house presentation closer to the finalization. b. Sewer Line Project Dylan Pruitt presented a power point on the sewer line. See attachment in the packet. Commissioner Allen – What happens to the old system? Does it drain and abandoned? Or is it ripped out? Dylan Pruitt – It will be pumped out and crush the tanks and fill them and leave them in place. Laura Hester – This is fun because this lets us proceed with the splash pad. It is not in this packet because we just received the preliminary drawings. We are very excited because we will be able to do more than what we thought.  Vice-Chair Thomas – This is going to open up opportunities for our community. Thank you. Chairperson Huckins – It helps us, but also the town when they see new things being built, when we had years of nothing. It is encouraging, and let’s hope it continues. c. Inclusive Playground Laura Hester presented power point presentation. See attachment in the packet. We are expanding the playground. In total, there will be 42 elements. Chairperson Diane Huckins - Do you know the time frame of when we it will begin? Dylan Pruitt – not exactly sure, just released the first invoice. Possibly 8-10 weeks Chairperson Diane Huckins – Weather permitting too. Again, something to look forward to. Commissioner Allen – Are we self-building? Or will they have their own crew? How is that going to work. Dylan Pruitt – As soon as it arrives, we get the permits, and the crew arrives and put’s it together. Laura Hester – They are actually going to do everything for the new playground. We also qualified for a grant to make this all happen. Commissioner Allen – This should be a quick turn-around. Laura Hester – Yes, we should have it done and operational in about 8 weeks. Commissioner Thomas – What about maintenance? We will maintain it in-house. Dylan Pruitt – We will be maintaining it. Our staff is highly experienced. Laura Hester – They have warranties as well. This new rubberized surfacing will last a long time, with shade. Commissioner Thomas – Even in Arizona? Laura Hester – Yes. Commissioner Thomas – Are we allowed to go out and see it being built? Laura Hester – Yes of course. There will be temporary fencing. Chairperson Huckins – Are we going to have a Grand Opening? Laura Hester – Yes, with prizes. V. COMMISSIONER AND DIRECTOR REPORT ON CURRENT EVENTS a. Director Updates NRPA – a rare opportunity for our department – usually not in this area. Because it is local, our office will send nine staff members. National Fitness Court – We had a Grand Opening. Mayor, Vice Mayor, Sahuarita Police Department, Newspapers, and Council members attended. We are now running fitness courses. Rosemary has taken the lead on the National Fitness Courses. It has proven to be very popular. Mayor and Council are very happy. Quail Creek Municipal Memorial Park – We are in the process of installing three poles with American flags including a community service project which will add planting. We have commissioned an artist to create a memorial art piece. Will be the same style we did at Los Arroyos. We are also working with the Air Force base so they can add to the design. The artist is amazing, and we are very excited. Quail Creek Crossing is almost finished and the Grand Opening will be sometime in January. It will give us easy access to our park. It will be a great addition to the town. Updates on events: Barkarama – September 17, 2022 Star Dazzle – September 23, 2022 Park and Play – September 10, 2022 Teen Cuisine - September 7, 2022 Sports Fundamentals Tot Time Fitness Orientation Senior game club night – NEW – Mondays beginning September 01, 2022. On the park's side, we have the initial drawing of the splash pad; we will provide you more information as we get it. Process of a new park's maintenance building. We have many employees with limited space. Scoreboard project – Grant – Copper Hills will provide the board – we were going to have three boards. However, with the cost of materials, we did two. We have many new, talented, young professionals in our department. We have new staff on the park's side who have received their backflow certifications. On the rec side, we are working on getting certifications. We are focused on training our staff appropriately. We are about to launch a new website. Everything will be accessible to all via the internet. Musco integration will also be online. Facilities, ramadas, and fitness classes will be available online. We are venturing to other social media, including tik ok. Opportunities may be available in the future where we can purchase some land. Possibly an aquatic center in the future.  Parcel 30 will be a trail park with ramadas and some fun features for everyone to enjoy. Possibly a recreation center. We are working hard to think outside the box with funding and not using taxes. I am hoping to bring you some great news within the year. Our goal is to possibly have a recreation center in the next five years. Commissioner Allen – Do we know what the estimate on sewer charges on splash pad? Dylan Pruitt – Not hard costs yet, but it will be a recirculating system. Commissioner Allen – Do we have certified playground personnel on staff? Dylan Pruitt – Yes, I am, and my foreman Alex will have his soon. Commissioner Allen – Town – Inclusive playground – possibly using the word “participatory” instead of inclusive. Laura Hester – I was at that meeting and yes terms in recreation change frequently. Everyone should be able to participate. One last thing, our next meeting is in December. We will have our master plan meeting – first draft will be presented to you. Berry-Dunn will be here again. It will be an open forum to come see the preliminary draft. Then we will present the draft to council that following Monday, Dec 12, 2022. Commissioner Thomas – What was the date you said? Laura Hester – December 7, 2022, will be our next meeting Commissioner Thomas – when is the Comm Serv with the planting? Dylan Pruitt – Sept 10 – There will be a cooperative project with JustServe at Quail Creek. All other parks there will be clean-ups happening. VI. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS The master plan first draft will be presented. VII. ADJOURNMENT This meeting was adjourned at 6:33 PM by Chairperson Diane Huckins .