Board of Park Commissioners

BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING MINUTES City Hall, 11th Floor Park Conference Room 455 N. Main January 9, 2012 3:00 p.m. Present: Bryan Frye, Tom Roth, Andy Solter, Cindy Claycomb, Cynthia Landers, Randy Brown Absent: Jennifer O’Connor Also Present: Doug Kupper, Director of Park and Recreation, Christina Butler, Clerk, Don Harrison, Golf Division Manager, Elizabeth Harlenske, Assistant City Attorney, Bryce Mumford President Frye called the meeting to order at approximately 3:00p.m. PUBLIC AGENDA None. REGULAR AGENDA Item 1A: Approval of Minutes Motion by Roth, second by Claycomb, IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE the regular meeting minutes of the December 19, 2011 Board of Park Commissioners’ Meeting (6-0). Item 2A: New Issues for Consideration None. Item 3A: Review Golf Powerpoint Presentation and DAB (District Advisory Board) Meeting Schedule Frye reviewed the schedule for the DAB presentations and explained to the Board why they had to present to the DABS, stating that City Council had asked that the recommended proposal be brought back to the DAB. He also noted that Council member Longwell had asked for a committee to study outsourcing/privatizing. Brown noted he had spoken to Council member Meitzner. He stated that Meitzner thought the Park Board had done a great job and he was recommending approval of the Park Board’s proposal. Kupper noted that the Park Board had been asked to have the DABs vote on the proposal. Frye stated that there seemed to be some confusion as this should not be a “vote” issue, but rather a “receive and file”. He stated that he did not plan on taking a vote at the DAB meetings, just to advise the DAB of the Park Board’s recommended proposal. Kupper noted that staff had submitted the Agenda item to City Council conservatively to include a vote in case the Park Board wanted a vote to be taken at the DAB meetings. Page 1 of 6 Landers asked why the Park Board was being asked to take the issue back to the DABs. Kupper replied that it could have been to receive more input from the DAB on the issue. Solter stated that in the past, City Council wanted to share the information and recommendations at the DAB meetings. Kupper stated that most likely the DABs would want to take a vote on the issue, but they would not necessarily have to vote on it. Claycomb noted that the Park Board Commissioner presenting to the DAB should start the presentation by noting that this is a “receive & file” issue, not a “vote” issue. Frye agreed. He asked if a golf advisory committee would be formed. Brown stated Council member Meitzner had requested that a golf advisory committee be created. Brown asked who was to appoint members to the golf advisory committee. Kupper stated that the golf advisory committee should have a Park Board Commissioner serve as a sub- committee chair and include current golfers. He noted that the issue would go back to City Council in March or April and once it was approved, a golf advisory committee could be formed. Landers asked if City Council would include the Park Board if they appointed a committee to review outsourcing or privatizing. Frye stated the City Council and City Manager would most likely make the appointments to the committee. Kupper added that they could use Park Board Commissioners, but they could also use others. Kupper then suggested reviewing the presentation slide by slide. Brown noted he was pleased with the way staff had adjusted the CIP dollars. He asked if there were any secret shopper results to be reported. Harrison responded that the information had not been shared. He noted that a follow-up would be done in the spring by the same secret shopper. Claycomb asked if the Golf division had hired someone to do the secret shopper or if it was a City employee. Kupper stated the secret shopper was a City employee and this was done in order to have the opportunities/challenges noted for training needed for the Golf staff. Page 2 of 6 Landers asked if there were any results to share since increasing the marketing efforts for the Golf courses. Kupper stated that there was nothing to report yet since the weather was unfavorable in the summer when the new marketing launched. Claycomb stated that due to the increased attention to the Golf courses from this issue, they may need to wait until the spring to see true results. Frye noted that once the DAB presentations were completed, there will have been 15 public meetings on the Golf issue. Solter noted that this had been an astounding manifestation of energy due to maintaining the status quo of the golfers. He noted the Park Board was beginning to understand the Golf Division more whereas they did not understand it in the beginning. He felt it was a good process and the Park Board had done a great job. He felt this should serve as a springboard to continue doing good work and carry out the PROS plan. He noted that the Park and Recreation Department had the support of Misty Bruckner from WSU’s Hugo Wall School. Kupper noted that the Recreation Division would present their strategic plan to the Park Board at the February 13th meeting. He stated the division had worked with Bruckner for a year and they had assigned people for various strategies and objectives and had measurable goals for each of them. Frye thanked Bryce Mumford and Don Harrison for their work on the Golf project. He stated he hoped this would be good for the golf division as well as the golfers. Harrison thanked the Park Board for their patience and time on the issue. Item 3B: Park Board 2012 Goals Frye noted that he had created a draft of the 2012 Park Board Goals for the Board’s review/comments based on suggestions and recommendations from previous discussions on the goals. He noted that the newsletter for the PARC Fund (Park and Recreation Community) would be a good opportunity to show the successes of the Park Department and he asked how often it would be published. Kupper replied it would probably be printed quarterly. Frye suggested the Park Board should give an annual report at the DAB meetings. Kupper noted that the City Council would review the CIP at January’s workshop. He stated if all went well, City Council would approve the CIP. He suggested the Park Board Commissioners visit with their DABs to see what they would like to do with the CIP money. Page 3 of 6 Frye moved on to Goal 2 regarding golf course operation. He suggested adding a Goal “C” to name an advisory committee for golf. Claycomb asked when the revised fee structure would go into effect. Kupper said he could not implement the fee increase until the proposal was presented to the DABs and that this could take an additional two months. Solter asked if discussion had taken place regarding who would serve on the advisory committee. Kupper stated he hoped someone from the Park Board would be on the committee. Frye moved on to Goal 3 regarding relationships with partners and stake holders. He noted that based on comments in previous discussions, he had added the CIP to Goal 3. Frye noted that Goal 4 would remain on the 2012 goals as a carryover from 2011. He stated that Goal 5B had been accomplished with the hiring of Stacey Hamm as the Marketing Director for Park and Recreation. He stated there was still a need to focus on grants due to budget constraints in Park and Recreation. He noted that Goal 6 was also a carryover item from 2011 maintaining focus on the river bank. He concluded that Goal 2 was new and the other goals were streamlined for 2012. Solter suggested the Park Board work with the Recreation staff to see how successful the recreation programs were….similar to the work that had been done with the Golf Division. He stated the kids in the community needed more opportunities and a community service provided for them. He stated that at one time, he could call the recreation staff and tell them he had a group who would like to have recreation for their kids and staff would go out to the community and provide recreation programming. Frye asked if that would be included in the presentation from the Recreation staff at February’s Park Board meeting. Kupper noted that it could be a 2012 Park Board Goal and it would be successful because his Recreation staff already had this in their Strategic Plan. Solter asked if it would be possible to move income around from “A” to “B”. Kupper explained Kansas Cash Basis Law to the Board. He noted that the Recreation budget was $2.3M which had been reduced from $4.3M. He stated he could not spend more than that amount because it would be against Kansas law even if he created a plan to have revenues of $2.9M. However, if he made revenues of $2.9M he could make the argument that his future budget should be $2.9M. He noted that this was the situation he was in with the Recreation Division. The $2.3M budget may have been overspent in 2011 in order to provide an additional session of programming in the Winter. He noted the Recreation division had generated more revenue than ever, however they may have overspent the budget. He stated the goal is to generate more revenue than expenditures so the budget could be increased the following year. Landers suggested seeking grant opportunities with Koch, Cessna, and Spirit. Solter asked about the relationship between the City and the YMCA organization. He stated they were serving more underserved children in the state. Page 4 of 6 Kupper noted the relationship with the YMCA was identified in the PROS plan and that Recreation would partner with the YMCA on programs where it would be mutually beneficial. Solter stated he would like to add a point D to Goal 1 of the 2012 Goals to assist staff in sustainability of the recreation programming. The Board agreed to add this item to the Goals. Kupper noted that the Strategic Plan included a plan for financial sustainability for the Recreation Division. He stated this plan would be a fluid plan that would be reviewed and updated as needed. Frye asked if any other revisions needed to be made to the Goals. There were no additional revisions noted. Motion by Roth, second by Landers, IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO ADOPT the 2012 Board of Park Commissioners’ Goals (5-0, Brown absent at time of vote). Claycomb asked to have the 2012 Goals sent to the Board members and posted on the website. Item 4A: Updates from the Director and President Frye noted he was grateful for the nice weather and was happy to see people enjoying the parks. He had visited the Miracle Field at Orchard Park to see the progress and it was coming along nicely. He stated the league had received a donation for uniforms from Play It Again Sports. He stated this field was created for children with physical challenges to be able to play baseball. He stated he had also visited Meridian Dog Park and noted that it is almost completed. Kupper added that the two dog zones would be useable by Spring 2012 and this would be the third City owned dog facility. Frye complimented Park and Recreation staff on the PARC newsletter. Kupper noted the CIP would go to City Council for approval. He also noted that Lonestar had given a $15,000 trails grant to the Park and Recreation Department to connect sidewalks on Maize Road to enable citizens to walk from their neighborhoods to the playground. Claycomb noted the fencing was up for the Fresh Air Baby Camp. Kupper stated they were preparing for the reconstruction of the roof. Kupper noted that City Council would review and hopefully approve the funding to renovate the Ice Center upstairs level. He stated that Genesis would own and maintain the fitness equipment and the City would pay a maximum of $750,000 for the construction. He stated there would be a membership fee for the facility and current Genesis members would have to pay an additional fee to work out at the Page 5 of 6 Ice Center’s fitness center. He also noted some of the walls would be moveable glass to accommodate figure skating events. He commented that this would be a better use of the 3,500 square feet of space on the upstairs level. He also noted that some of the restaurant equipment would be moved to the Boston Recreation Center for Butler Community College’s culinary classes. Kupper stated that the status of Osage Recreation Center was still uncertain because the Kansas Urban League was still in communication with the Southwest Neighborhood Association. Frye asked Kupper about the proposed sports complex near Stryker Complex at 29th and Greenwich near K-96. Kupper noted that it would be a 20 court sports facility and the promoters were going to City Council to pursue a STAR bond for the project. Item 5A: Issues on the Horizon None. Item 6A: Adjourn There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at approximately 4:30pm. ______________________________________ Bryan Frye, President _____________________________________ Christina Butler, Clerk Page 6 of 6