Board of Park Commissioners

BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING MINUTES City Hall, 11th Floor Park Conference Room 455 N. Main September 8, 2014 3pm Present: Bryan Frye, Tom Roth, Ron Allen, Cindy Claycomb, Hoyt Hillman Absent: Steve Hieger, Chris Highfill Also Present: Marty Miller, Interim Director of Park and Recreation, Elizabeth Harlenske, City Assistant Attorney, Christina Butler, Clerk, Gary Farris, Lisa Klaassen, Stacey Hamm, John Philbrick. The meeting was called to order at approximately 3:00pm. PUBLIC AGENDA None. REGULAR AGENDA Item 1: Approval of Minutes Motion by Claycomb, second by Roth, IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED toapprove, sign, and file the minutes of the August 11, 2014 Board of Park Commissioners Regular Meeting (5-0). Item 2A: Election of Officers for Board of Park Commissioners Claycomb stated that she and Hieger discussed this and presented the slate of officers as Frye for President, Claycomb for 1st Vice President, and Hieger for 2nd Vice President. Claycomb stated that all Board of Park Commissioners’ nominees had been contacted and agreed to the slate of officers. Motion by Frye, second by Roth, IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED to accept the slate of officers as Frye for President, Claycomb for 1st Vice President, and Hieger for 2nd Vice President (5-0). Item 2B: City Tree Sponsorship and Education Program (Stacey Hamm/Gary Farris) Gary Farris introduced himself as the City Arborist. He and Stacey Hamm, Park Marketing Director, had worked on this Tree Sponsorship and Education Program. He discussed the City’s tree canopy Condition and noted that there are dead, dying, and decaying trees all over the city. This situation is due in part to the drought conditions in 2009, 2010 and 2011. The extreme drought and temperatures stressed the plants and diseased them. Since 2011, the Forestry Division has removed 20,000 trees with more dead and dying. Reforestation efforts have dwindled due to budget cuts. The average number of trees planted for the past three years is 556 and most of those have been male cottonwoods grown in-house. The Forestry Division is working to expand the species grown in-house. The City’s tree canopy is considered over-mature with tree loss far exceeding the planting rate. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS MEETING September 8, 2014 Page 1 of 7 Hamm stated they had researched other cities to see how they are dealing with this situation. They discovered that Tulsa, OK, has established a non-profit organization, Up With Trees. Hamm and Farris would like to create a tree promotion and base it on the Tulsa program. They would create sponsorship levels. They would like the first site to be in Riverside Park. They would like to partner with the Recreation Division and offer classes on trees and educating residents on “the right tree, in the right place”. It could be a four-week class and they hope to generate volunteers to help with the program. Hamm will look into water bill inserts and transit advertising for the program. There will be a City 7 interview with Farris to educate the public about the trees in Wichita. Frye asked Farris what percentage of the City trees are ash trees. Farris responded he guessed it would be about 5%. Frye asked whose budget would be affected. Farris responded the Park and Recreation Department. Frye asked if the cottonwoods that are to be planted would be cottonless. Farris responded yes and stated they should plant two trees for each one removed. Frye asked why they chose Riverside Park as the first site. Farris responded because it is in a central location with many people who drive by there. There are a lot of trees there, but they are removing many of them. Hamm added that sponsors may want to have a park near their own location. McGuire stated that Riverside is a signature park and it is full of old trees. They would like to keep a balance in the signature park of green space. Hillman stated that he had approached Kupper, former Park Director, each year about planting trees, but Kupper had stated that he did not want to have a budget for planting trees. Hillman suggested that maybe this should be on the fall agenda. McGuire added that a SLEP (Service Level Enhancement Plan) was submitted to purchase trees and for the tree removal and pruning program. He stated that his division had tried to address the re-forestation for the whole canopy and it will be submitted again. Miller added that this is the beginning of the campaign and they need to let the public know there is a crisis. They would like to involve car dealerships, retail companies and other and incorporate them in the program. They are doing the Channel 7 interview to let the public know about the tree situation. The office takes tree calls every day. Hamm stated that educating the public is important. They would also like to work with developers to plant a tree when they build a house. Frye stated that he thinks the education is important. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS MEETING September 8, 2014 Page 2 of 7 Roth asked if planting the proper trees be a part of the class. Farris responded yes. Frye asked if Botanica has a similar program. Miller responded that they put out a lot more water than the City does. McGuire stated that they had a Westar partnership with the Reliabilitree program. The Department was given $50,000 one year, $25,000 the following year and nothing since then. Frye asked if the golf course trees are funded from the golf fund. Hendricks responded yes. Hamm asked the Board to send ideas for a program name to her or Farris. Frye suggested ICT/ I See Trees. Item 2C: Westar Request for Dr. Glen Dey Park (John Philbrick) Philbrick stated this request was started before Kupper left the City. Westar has requested a 50’ easement and offered $0.25 a foot for a total of $73,725. They will not impact the football fields or the irrigation lines for the fields. Miller asked if Westar wants to change the easement size. Philbrick responded that Westar currently has a 10’ easement and wants to go to a 50’ easement. Frye asked if it will change the view at the park. Philbrick responded that the poles will be slightly different. They will be double stacked, but in the same corridor in the same alignment. Claycomb asked if Westar is asking to replace the poles. Philbrick responded Westar is requesting to widen what they will be on, but not what they are using. Hillman asked if Westar could put money into the Reliabilitree Program as discussed earlier in the meeting. He stated the City needs that more than the $75,000. Philbrick responded he could go back to Westar with this suggestion. Frye asked if the money would go to the General Fund. Harlenske responded that yes, it goes to the General Fund. Claycomb asked if the Board could ask for money for the tree canopy program instead of cash. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS MEETING September 8, 2014 Page 3 of 7 Frye added that Westar is offering money, so to them it probably does not matter where it goes. He suggested that Philbrick go back to Westar and say that the land could be theirs, provided they give Reliabilitree money for trees. Harlenske suggested the Board ask Westar to just purchase trees for the parks. Frye added that it could be “seed” money to start the new tree program. He asked Philbrick if he thought this would work. Philbrick responded that he was not sure it would work, but he could ask Westar and see if they could do something like this. Frye stated that Westar could get the requested easement and have offered a dollar amount for it. He stated the money would still be going to the City, whether it be in the General Fund or in the new tree program. Hillman stated he would encourage Philbrick to talk to Westar to see if they would help to establish an on-going process for the initial $75,000 for the new program for planting trees. He suggested they could possibly match funds in the future. Frye asked about Westar’s timeline. Philbrick responded they were extremely under the gun, but that has slowed now. He stated he would talk to them. Frye suggested that Hamm and Farris could approach Westar with Philbrick. He would like to see if Philbrick could create a partnership to get this new program off the ground. Hamm added that Westar could be the first sponsor. Item 3A: Proposed Ordinance for Alcohol Exemption for Douglas River Corridor Gazebo (Drury Hotel) (Elizabeth Harlenske) Frye stated that Harlenske provided the verbiage for the proposed ordinance. He asked if it includes the west bank from Douglas. Harlenske responded no. She added that if the Board wants to do that, they would need to do a separate one because it will not include the river unless the Board wants to have it included. Frye asked if it would have to go to City Council if this meets approval by the Board. Harlenske responded yes. Frye asked Harlenske to confirm that it would not include the treed area. Harlenske responded yes. She stated that it will be west to the river bank, east to the Drury Plaza parking lot, south to the bridge and north approximately 510 feet. This area will only be exempt when there is an event. Motion by Frye, second by Hillman, to approve the ordinance and prepare for the City Council BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS MEETING September 8, 2014 Page 4 of 7 meeting. Frye added that patrons will still have to fill out a community use special permit. This would be the same as the other current outdoor area exemptions. Harlenske stated that there will still be no alcohol on the river. The motion passed unanimously (5-0). Item 4A: Recreation Update (Karen Holmes/Lisa Klaassen) Klaassen introduced herself as the Linwood Recreation Center Director. She stated that archery classes have been offered since the Recreation Division started offering classes. They created a land use agreement with Wichita Archery and offered classes through the Wichita Archery group. The classes are offered in spring, summer and fall and the instructors are nationally accredited. They have competitions and tournaments they can participate in. All classes offered are filled to capacity. In 2013, they offered an additional class and they still filled to capacity. Of the revenue, 100% goes to the Park Department because Wichita Shooting Stars does not take a cut of the revenue. All instructors are volunteers and there is no equipment expense. In 2011, the revenue was $1500. In 2013, the revenue doubled due to the additional class. They are currently working on a facility use agreement to use Goldenrod Community Facility as an indoor range in the winter months. Wichita Shooting Stars would get to do their own programming out of the facility as well as the Recreation Division classes. There is also discussion regarding having tournaments and summer camp classes. Hillman asked if they have considered doing it any other parks. Klaassen responded no and added that Watson Park is offering workshops with their own instructors. Hillman added that Watson is looking at adding archery. He received an email from Mike Hundley and they are looking at the Adopt A Park program. Hamm noted that the agreement is on the Park website. She stated that generally the Adopt A Park agreements are for park clean-up. She will email the agreement to Hillman. Item 4B: Golf Update (Troy Hendricks) Hendricks introduced Darrell Court as the new Golf Professional at Auburn Hills. He noted that Court worked in Enid, OK as the Head Golf Pro for eight years and he is familiar with a golf enterprise fund. Hendricks reviewed the Rounds Report for August. He noted that the average high was 93 degrees and the low was 69 degrees with created less stress on the grass. Rounds increased 3% year-to-date (ytd) and revenue is up 3% ytd. Expenditures and encumbrances are down and producing a net increase of 9%. When comparing rounds to the PGA Performance Track for July, City of Wichita Golf exceeds them with the exception of Clapp. The pros and superintendents are doing an outstanding job. The equipment at all courses is old and wearing out, so they have come up with a plan to replace equipment in the next few years to keep the equipment up and maintain the golf courses. The golf enterprise fund made two payments to debt services in 2013. The Budget Analyst recommends not making the second payment to debt services. The golf enterprise fund made almost $310,000 last year to debt services. They will be paid out in 2035. Frye asked if the golf enterprise fund could potentially have an additional $120,000 this year. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS MEETING September 8, 2014 Page 5 of 7 Hendricks replied yes. Frye asked if they would still have enough to make the debt services payment and have enough to start the year. Hendricks responded yes and they could use the additional $120,000 to purchase equipment. Frye noted this will go to the Golf Advisory Committee (GAC). He asked if there were any other big expenses planned for the rest of this year. Hendricks responded no. He added there is an RFP for the bathrooms at Sim. Frye stated that the weather is cooperating and the rounds are good to see. Hendricks noted that they made up some rounds in May. June was bad because of the rain. July and august were great. Frye stated that the next GAC meeting is scheduled for September 16 at Tex Consolver Golf Course. 4C: Updates from Director and President Frye stated that the City Manager is not ready to make an announcement on the Director position yet. Interviews were held two weeks ago with two candidates and there should be an announcement soon. Frye noted that a water station was installed at Meridian Dog Park and asked if that has helped. Hamm responded yes. Frye asked if there was an update on the Riverside lot encroachment issue. Miller responded that his staff was doing a peer consulting process which started last week. They are doing a survey of the encroachments and categorizing them. This will be submitted to the City Manager and then to the City Council in a workshop. They will also look at cities across the country to see what they are doing with these types of issues. Claycomb asked if the one in Riverside is on hold. Miller responded yes. Claycomb noted that the resident had painted the back of the fence. Hillman stated that because the Park Board members appoint people on the Golf Advisory Committee (GAC), he was starting a process to replace Ron Marnell with Cindy Menard. Frye noted that Hillman had advised Marnell he wanted someone living in his district to be on the GAC. Harlenske noted that committee members did not have to take an oath because it was a committee. This is an unusual committee because it was usually done by ordinance. Former Legal Director, Rebenstorf, had suggested in the minutes of the establishment of the committee that it should have BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS MEETING September 8, 2014 Page 6 of 7 limitations for the committee. However that was not done. It also stated that the appointments should be done in conjunction with the respective Council Member. Frye stated that the committee was born out of the public meetings where people asked to have a committee comprised of golfers. He stated there probably needs to be more structure going forward and may need to establish limitations. He asked if there are other committees they could mirror. Harlenske responded she was pretty sure there are other committees to mirror. Frye stated he would like that information and could review that with the new Director. It could be put as an agenda item for the future. Hillman stated that Cindy Menard will now be the GAC member instead of Ron Marnell who does not live in the district. Item 5: Adjourn There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:20pm. ______________________________________ Bryan Frye, President _____________________________________ Christina Butler, Clerk BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS MEETING September 8, 2014 Page 7 of 7