Board of Park Commissioners

BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING AGENDA City Hall, 11th Floor Park Conference Room 455 N. Main August 20, 2012 3:00 p.m. Present: Bryan Frye, Andy Solter, Jerry Warren, Tom Roth, Cindy Claycomb, Randy Brown Absent: None Also Present: Doug Kupper, Director of Park and Recreation, Christina Butler, Clerk, Elizabeth Harlenske, Assistant City Attorney, Brad Koehn, Citizen PUBLIC AGENDA None. REGULAR AGENDA Item 1: Approval of Minutes Motion by Solter, second by Frye, IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE the minutes of the July 16, 2012, Board of Park Commissioners Regular Meeting (6-0). Frye noted there was an error on the agenda and that Continuation of Prior Business Item 3C. Easement Request for Auburn Hills (John Philbrick) should be in New Business as Item 2C. Item 2A: Tommy Allen: Consideration of Naming Park/Recreation/Path Kupper stated that in 2007 the family of Mr. Tommy Allen requested that the Park department name a park, recreation center or path after him, however he was still living. Mr. Allen had been appointed to the Board of Park Commissioners and was crucial in the creation of the last few recreation centers. He retired almost 20 years ago. Many people attended this meeting in 2007 testifying on Mr. Allen’s behalf and asked Kupper to appear before the City Council with the family’s request. The request was rejected since Mr. Allen was not deceased. Policy 13 required that the person be deceased prior to having something named after him. This ruling was brought back to the Park Board and it was decided to retain the naming idea until the time of Mr. Allen’s death. Kupper stated that Mr. Allen passed away a few months ago and brought the request back to the Board as an option to name the river corridor. Frye asked if there had been any communication with the family. Kupper responded that there had not been any communication with them. Claycomb asked about the minutes from a previous meeting mentioning Auburn Hills being named after him. Kupper stated that was an idea that had been suggested. Claycomb asked which path was being suggested to be named after Mr. Allen. Kupper responded it would be the bike path north of Kellogg on the east side of the Arkansas River traveling thru Sim Park, to where it crosses the River again. He stated that if it went to City Council, it would have to be clearly marked. He also noted that Mr. Allen was the advocate for the 1st corridor bike path. Frye asked which District would be included. Kupper responded the path would involve Districts I, IV and VI and it would have to be mapped out. Motion by Frye, second by Brown, it was UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO direct staff to draft the designated area for the named path and present to the Board at the next meeting for formal approval prior to going to the green sheet process (6-0). Frye stated he felt it would be good for the Board to see the area. Claycomb noted they would vote on the issue at that time. Item 2B: Change Date for October Meeting. Frye stated there was a need to move the October Board meeting due to a schedule conflict for Kupper. He suggested moving it to October 22 at 3pm, stating he did not want to move it earlier in October due to retreat in September. Motion by Frye, second by Claycomb, it was UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO move the October Board meeting date to October 22, 2012, 3pm. Item 2C: Easement Request for Auburn Hills (John Philbrick) Philbrick stated that Westar had approached Property Management seeking easements near Auburn Hills. He stated they currently have a 10’ wide easement with existing lines on West 135th Street adjacent to Auburn Hills, however they need to replace power lines and poles and were asking for a 50’ easement thus expanding on to City property. He stated there were two (2) pieces they were looking at which would be approximately 0.43 acres and they asked if the Park Board would give it to them. He noted the Board could ask them for payment in exchange for the property. He stated he had an appraisal and it could be $2,000-$3,000. Frye asked if there would be poles in the easement. Philbrick responded there were poles with high power lines in the 10’ easement already. Kupper noted there was a transformer at the intersection of 13th Street North and West 135th Street. He stated Westar needed a wider easement for the 20’ cross arms thus the need for the 50’ easement. Claycomb asked if Westar could do whatever they wanted with the property if the Board voted to give the additional 50’ easement to them. Philbrick replied that they could. Frye asked if they would take any parking places from the Auburn Hills’ golfers or inconvenience the golfers. Kupper responded that he did not think they would. He asked if it was the wish of the Board to ask for payment in exchange for the easement. Frye asked if they had requested payment in the past. Philbrick responded they had not requested this from Westar. Frye stated that any money received would go to the Golf Enterprise Fund. Brad Koehn asked if the City would maintain the easement. Frye responded yes. He noted he felt the Board should ask for a fair rate for the land. Motion by Frye to approve the easement request and direct staff to receive payment for the exchange. Claycomb asked what would happen if Westar denied the request for payment. Kupper responded that Westar would have to stay within their current 10’ easement. The motion was seconded by Claycomb and passed UNANIMOUSLY (6-0). Item 3A: Golf Update Kupper stated that the Golf Advisory Committee had been meeting on a regular basis and had narrowed in on a Scope of Service for the Request for Proposal (RFP) and they were also fine-tuning the legal requirements. He noted there was a sticking point with some of the committee members regarding cancellation clauses because they were concerned a management company would not want to come in and invest money if the City could cancel the contract. They felt it was not fair to the vendor. Brown stated that there should be precedents in other City contracts to look at. Kupper stated they were working through it. He noted the committee had determined that the Golf Division should put together a business plan to compare to the RFP respondents. The committee had requested that the Golf Division’s business plan be submitted to the committee on or before the due date for the RFP respondents. They would use the Golf Division’s proposal to gauge whether the committee should stay with the City or move to a privatized management company. Frye noted that the respondents’ proposals needed to stand on their own. Claycomb stated she was glad to hear about the business plan because she was afraid it was going down the road of outsourcing. She stated that when the Board first put together the Golf Advisory Committee, she thought they were to look at golf operations and decide how to proceed. Frye stated he thought the committee should look at outsourcing to see if that was a viable option for the Golf Division, but that it should be lockstep with the Golf Division plan. He felt that the committee felt City Council wanted this as the priority. Claycomb said that was not from her council member. Frye stated they may get proposals back that might be nowhere near what the Golf Division is currently doing or they could find out they have been leaving money on the table. He noted if the committee gets one or two proposals back and there is only a minute difference from current operations, there may not be any reason to go forward. Claycomb asked when they would get the RFP to review. Kupper said they could not show the Board the RFP until it becomes public. He noted that the City Manager has a Staff Screening and Selection Committee (SSSC) and process with representatives from the City Manager’s Office, Purchasing, Legal, Public Works, Planning and Engineering. He noted that the City Manager could approve having additional members on the SSSC and Kupper had recommended two (2) members from the Golf Advisory Committee and two (2) members from the Park Board to be members of the SSSC. He asked who the Board felt should be on the SSSC representing the Park Board. Claycomb asked how the business plan would fit into the RFP process. Kupper responded the business plan would be reviewed prior to reviewing the RFP respondents’ proposals and would be compared to theirs. Claycomb asked if the RFP would mention the debt service. Kupper responded yes and that there would be a Scope of Services including the debt service. He also noted the respondents could offer ideas about what to do with the debt service. Motion by Solter, second by Claycomb, IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED to appoint Frye and Brown to the committee (6-0). Brown noted he was to be on the Golf Advisory Committee prior to becoming sick. Frye asked if everyone was still getting golf rounds updates. All members responded that they were getting them. Claycomb noted that she had been to all of the courses and they looked great. Brown said he had been playing on other courses in the area and they did not look so great. Frye noted they had enjoyed success this year and would have to sustain it. Kupper reminded the Board that they would have to go to City Council to get the next $1 green fee increase approved. Brown noted marketing could be helping the rounds numbers. Kupper stated they had generated approximately $150,000 new revenue through the new marketing campaign. Brown asked if they could get a report on what had worked and what did not work for marketing the golf courses. Frye reminded the Board that the Golf CIP would be on the City Council agenda the following day because there were things that had to be taken care of immediately and the total CIP dollars being requested was $1.1million. Claycomb noted that the model would not work if they did not keep the $1 green fee increase as recommended. Frye noted that they would affect the CIP. Claycomb said it would affect the debt payment. Warren asked if they would review the $1 green fee increase prior to going back to City Council. Frye responded yes. Item 3B: Recreation Update – Karen Holmes Solter noted he felt recreation was a critical function of what the Board does and he thought they should do something similar to what they had done for the Golf Division. He noted he did not have an issue with what the Recreation Division was doing, but he just wanted to know if they should examine what others are doing and see if they should do things differently. He asked Holmes to speak to that subject. Kupper noted that maybe this could be discussed at the Board retreat because he thought they had that as a building block for the retreat. He also noted that the LERN (Learning Resources Network) Conference was attended last year by Holmes and Barbara McGuire (Programming Coordinator) where they learned about other types of programming and best practices of other municipalities. He stated they were going back in November. Holmes added that the LERN Conference was extremely beneficial because they learn how to market their programs and create new programming. And they also learn how to run the Recreation Division like a business and make money. Solter asked if the best practices is a part of the conference as well. Holmes responded definitely. Kupper added that the NRPA Conference was attended by staff as well where they discuss best management practices for at risk programming and community wide programming. Solter asked that the Board touch on what is necessary at the retreat and once the Recreation staff has attended the November LERN Conference, they come back to the Board to review what they have learned. Kupper stated that Wichita is on the cutting edge on the recreation side. He noted that Phoenix had closed several recreation centers and pools in the past few years and had just recently re-opened some of them with positive results. Frye stated the Board had asked for monthly updates. Kupper responded they have a monthly brag list on the Recreation centers successes. Solter stated it had been four to five years since the Board had reviewed the recreation programming and would like an opportunity to review it. Holmes distributed the Fall Activity Guide and commended Stacey Hamm (Park and Recreation Marketing Director) for her work on the guide. She noted that 50,000 Fall Activity Guides would be mailed which would include all existing customers. She noted that she previously had given an update on fees and charges and the new revenue policy which the Park Board had approved and City Council had approved the previous week. They had reviewed pricing and fees and noted she would be meeting with staff to make sure prices stayed within what the market could bear. She noted it was her experience that when you increase fees incrementally, then it is better to raise revenue. She stated that base on the new revenue policy, cost recovery needed to be increased by 5% and this year cost recovery had been increased by 7% based on information from the budget analyst. She attributed this to what the Recreation staff had been doing. Holmes then stated that the Aquatics committee had met last Friday and similar to the Golf Advisory Committee it was comprised of citizens who have an interest in the Aquatics programs. She noted that the Director of Hutchinson Aquatics was also on the committee and he had gone through this same process with his aging pools. She also noted that a Fellow from the City Manager’s Office, Jason Earl, was on the Committee. She noted they would be meeting again in a month. Claycomb asked how the committee was comprised. Kupper said he allowed Holmes to get committee members from the community. Frye asked if the money that would have been spent on Country Acres and Edgemoor was put back into the Park budget. Kupper responded that they had recommended this, but the money that would have been saved from closing those two pools was used to balance the City’s budget. He noted he was anxious to see what the Aquatics committee recommends. Holmes stated the committee was working on surveys to take to the DABS and was looking into the possibility of using a service like “surveymonkey”. She noted there were two situations the Aquatics committee was faced with: 1) ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) upgrades to pools are estimated at $500,000 in order bring all pools into compliance and 2) aging structures. Holmes suggested “5 Minutes of Recreation” as an agenda item for the Park Board meetings in order to have staff do a presentation on what they are doing. All agreed to this suggestion. Item 4: Updates from the Director and President Frye stated there was a new Board of Park Commissioner appointed for District I, but he had not been sworn in yet. He noted they should have a full Board by the September meeting and would like to determine a nominating committee. Roth and Claycomb volunteered to be on the committee. Motion by Frye, second by Warren, IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED to have Roth and Claycomb as the nominating committee (6-0). Kupper stated that the City Council had approved the Auggie Navarro pergola to be built at Sim Golf Course. Kupper stated that City Council had approved the Recreation Revenue Policy as well. Kupper noted that the Golf CIP would go to City Council on Tuesday, 8/21/12, and in September the CIP Request for $1 million for Recreation Facilities’ Improvements would go to City Council. This would cover improvements to recreation centers to include security systems, roof repairs and replacements. He noted that City Council had approved changing $180,000 for Osage’s picnic shelter to get restrooms for the interactive water fountains, ball fields, and tennis courts. He noted they were moving forward with improvements there so if they proceeded with KETCH they would not be bombarded with clients from the amenities. He stated they were working with Public Works because some of the money would have to be used for roof repairs to make it habitable for KETCH. He stated they were still in negotiations with KETCH and the Southwest Neighborhood Association is involved with the agreements to work with KETCH. He hoped to have the agreement in place by the end of the year with a plan for 2013. Warren stated he appreciated the work that was being done at Osage. Kupper noted that the Buffalo Park designers would be bringing design concepts in October. Kupper stated that RDG would be returning next month for the Crystal PrairieLake design and they should be 80% complete on the design plan. Claycomb noted that the ribbon cutting at Meridian Dog Park would be September 15 at 9am. Solter noted that he was amazed at the beauty of the trees lining the river and Kellogg. Kupper said they have lost many. Solter commended Kupper and his staff. Frye reminded the Board that the next meeting would be September 22, 2012 at a location TBD probably around 9am. Kupper said they usually start at 8:30am for regular business and then move to 9am for the retreat. Frye asked Board members to send him suggestions for agenda items. Item 6: Adjourn There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:40pm. ______________________________________ Bryan Frye, President _____________________________________ Christina Butler, Clerk