Board of Park Commissioners

BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING AGENDA City Hall, 11th Floor Park Conference Room 455 N. Main Wichita, KS 67202 August 10, 2015 3pm Present: Cindy Claycomb, Hoyt Hillman, Chris Highfill, Tori Deatherage, Troy Palmer Absent: Patty Vizzini, Ron Allen Also Present: Troy Houtman (Director of Park and Recreation), Michelle Haun (Clerk), Elizabeth Harlenske (City Assistant Attorney), Alan Taber, Troy Hendricks, David McGuire, Warren Mccoskey, Shana Appelhanz, Mickey Lara, Jeff Clark (Staff) Claycomb called the meeting to order at 3:00pm PUBLIC AGENDA None. REGULAR AGENDA Item 1: Approval of Minutes Motion by Hillman, second by Highfill, IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED to approve, sign and file the minutes oUuly 13, 2015, Board of Park Commissioners Regular meeting. (5-0) Item 2A: Review of Golf Division Business Plan (Troy Hendricks) Houtman stated that the City Manager asked us to look at the 2013 Golf Division business plan and provide an update. Hendricks stated that equipment replacement costs and the change to season pass and green fee increases still needed to be added. Houtman stated that there are decision points that the Park Board will need to make on page 46. We should discuss these items next month. We will take this to the Golf Advisory Committee next week and then take itto council after we. discuss it next month. Hendricks stated that once we have the final information from budget we will send out.an updated copy. Rounds played in the past decade have trended downward. The decline in rounds, locally and nationally, is because the industry has become stagnant. The golf enterprise fund has substantial debt. Based on current payments, debt service will not be repaid until 2035. A question asked in the update is, "What do we need to do to maintain what we have?" If we focus on debt service repayment we will not have any courses or equipment left to maintain once it is paid off. The most recent survey we conducted says that the number one thing that golfers look for when deciding where to play is course BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS MEETING August 10, 2015 Page 1 of 6 condition. We have focused on customer service training and have utHized secret shoppers as wen. We continue to work with multiple youth golfprograms, including SNAG. The Air Capital Classic recently provided us with $15k worth of SNAG equipment. We continue to work on pace of play, based on recommendations by the Golf Advisory Committee. We have determined that fivesomes are the biggest issue for pace of play. We would like to eliminate them during peak season. We have seen an increase in group lessons. In 2016, we will scale back the number of City golf tournaments from 11 to six and make them higher quality tournaments. Our leagues continue to grow, MacDonald is working with Envision to teach visually impaired persons to play golf. We did not do any TV advertising this year, but will pick back up next year. Discounts have.had a negative effect on revenue. Basically, discounts moved full green fees rounds to discounted green fees rounds. Evaluating season passes has shown that they are a good thing for golfers. We are working with Visit Wichita. and will get an ad placed in their magazine. The ad will be a hotel stay and play package· with Auburn Hills .. Footgolf has done fairly well so far. We only have 20 of our new golf guides left, of the 10,000 we started with. The Early Bird special has gone over very well. Next year we will offer a players card in place of our other discounts. It is a punch card that will be purchased for $75 and be good for afternoon discount play and discount range balls. Claycomb asked if that will replace season passes. Hendricks replied no, it will not. Club Prophet Systems has recommended Gallus Golf app for us; Gallus Golf will be doing a presentation for the Golf Advisory Committee on Wednesday. We are proposing to increase· all season passes in 2016, except high school, student, young adult and family passes, by $20 .and senior passes by $25. In 2011; a $1 increase at all courses, with a $2 increase at Auburn Hill. With additional increases over the following three years. We are looking for new revenue opportunities: pitch and putt planned at Clapp, work with Stormwater on a retention pond at MacDonald and use the .dirt for a driving range. In 2011, the Park Board approved moving $1.1 million.of CIP funds to the Golf Division. There is a list showing the improvements that were made with that money. There is also a five year plan showing that we need $4.8 million for additional improvements and upgrades. Our maintenance equipment and golf carts are getting old. We.estimate needing $3.6 million over the next 10 years to replace it all. One of our biggest constraints is the Affordable Care Act, limiting the number ofhours that seasonal staff can work. The rising cost of operations includes full-time staff merit increases and benefits. We would like to host more tournaments, but other courses allow them to bring in their own alcohol. We are looking for ways to offset the cost in order to bring the tournaments to our courses. Houtman asked Harlenske who enforces that. Harlenske responded that the Wichita Police Department enforces the CMB. Golf Professionals individually hold the CMB license. Sand Creek may hold their own liquor license, Most Golf Professionals won't assume the liability for a liquor license and the City won't hold one either. Hendricks stated that the large equipment used at the courses is leased through the Central Maintenance Facility. There is supposed to be a 10 year rotation on the.equipment. Based on the age of the equipment that was traded out in December, We have overpaid CMF by approximately $174,000. We will be meeting with Public Works this Friday to work out a 15 year plan at a reduced fee. We need get Council support for the proposed fee increases. When Auburn Hills was built in 1995, City Council said that the Golf Division would pay $2.7 million and a TIF district would be.set up to pay the additional $2 million of the estimated $4�7 million cost. The TIF district was never set up and the total cost ended up at $12 million. The Golf Division has already paid close to $6 million into debt service and would like BOA.RD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS MEETING August 10, 2015 Page 2 of 6 to ask for some of the tax money generated from the Auburn Hills development to use for maintenance and equipment replacement. Claycomb stated that the Park Board will review all the information presented and come back to discuss at the next meeting. Item 3A: Park Board President Election (Troy Houtman) Houtman stated thafhe had metwith Hillman, Deatherage and Highfill. Highfill contacted the board members to find out if there was any interest. As a result, they narrowed down nominations for President to Hillman and Deatherage and Palmer as VP. Claycomb asked if we need to have a. first and second VP. Harlenske stated yes, according to the by-laws. We must slate one person for each position. Highfill proposed to have Deatherage as President, Hillman as first VP and Palmer as second VP. Palmer made a motion to accept the slate. Hillman asked for discussion. He stated that he.has proven that he can do a lot for the City, such as clean up at the river shoreline. He can also raise money. He initiated the fundraising for the floating dock behind Gander Mountain. He also initiated the boat ramps at Woodland Park. Harlenske stated that a paper vote is required since the slate was not accepted. Hillman made a motion to nominate himself for President. Harlenske stated that the results of the vote are Deatherage for President, Hillman for first VP and Palmer for second VP. Item 38: Proposed ordinance change regarding alcohol in the downtown parks (Beth Harlenskel Harlenske stated that this proposal is to clean up an old ordinance. The ordinance did not allow possession ofan open container ofliquor or CMB in our parks. Our parks were never exempted pursuant to state law. It also needed to address that Heritage Square Park has a long-term lease and add to the ordinance forthem to regulate themselves. This change will allow for possession of an open container for licensed community events.and events with written consent from the appropriate City official and also exempted City parks from the ordinance. Motion by Highfill, second.by Hillman, IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED to accept the proposed ordinance changes regarding alcohol in the downtown parks. (5-0) Item 3C: Park Property Encroachment Policy (David McGuireI Mccoskey stated that board member Allen had previously asked what other agencies are doing for enforcement. He spoke with Naperville, Illinois and Johnson County Park Departments. Both have pretty strict ordinances and policies, but deal with the encroachments slightly differently. Naperville, Illinois sends a uniformed officer and then sends a letter of legal counsel. Johnson County starts by sending out an informational letter, then sending an officer and finally legal action. Naperville, Illinois has had their policy for less than five years. The first three years were very busy. Johnson County has had their policy for a lot longer. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS MEETIN� August 10, 2015 Page 3 of 6 Claycomb stated that since Naperville, Illinois has had their encroachment policy for less than 5 years, their situation would be more like ours where they adopted a policy after encroachments already happened. Mccoskey stated that they have accepted large fees to allow existing encroachments to remain. McGuire stated that the City Manager had concerns about how we would approach this. He suggested juststarting with a l_etter. He was concerned a.bout not starting a media frenzy and wanted us to think about how we want to initiate this. Houtman stated that the City Manager didn't think a strong arm would be a good way to start. We should focus on encroachments causing safety concerns and blocking access. We would document and work with the soft encroachments, issuing a permit for a small fee. Hard.encroachments, we would send letters and move forward with enforcement. McGuire stated that the. City Manager was ok with moving forward, but wanted the Park Board to look atthe approach. Harlenske stated that when it is decided to let someone keep something they have placed or planted on Park propertythey would need to sign an agreement stating that they assume responsibility for whatever they have placed, or planted. McGuire stated that the next step is for law to review the ordinance. Claycomb asked if that will include availability of a minor park encroachment permit. McGuire stated that it will. He also needs to make sure that the $70 application fee that the City Manager wanted is included as well. Claycomb stated that there are two pieces, one being the ordinance and the other being how are we going implement the ordinance. Hol/tman stated that we will bring an update to next month's meeting. Item 4A: Recreation Update (Mickey Lara/Jeff Clark) Lara stated that we have started a new football league, the Youth Frontier Football League. This league is completely different from our other league. It was started for kids that may not have the athletic ability to play in competitive leagues. This league will play at different locations. The rules are different and it will focus mainly on the fundamentals of the game. Registration is for individuals, not for teams. Hillman asked how longit'lasts. Lara stated eight weeks. Clark stated that the Tennis Center's biggest event, the "All Woody Tournament" is coming up. All play is with wooden racquets. There will be music and $1 beer. Looking at revenue and expenses since 2007, the first five years had dramatic increases leading up to dips in 2014 when we losttwo major tournaments. We are looking to host.some new.tournaments, if the opportunity arises. At this time we BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS MEETING August 10, 2015 Page4 of6 are on pace to do better than last year. Item 4B: Golf Update (Troy Hendricks) Hendricks stated that it rained 16 out of 31 days in July. Rounds are down 14% for the month. Year-to­ date rounds are still up 1% and revenue is up 5%. Auburn Hills was affected the most by the rain because they are in a flood plain. Claycomb stated that you can see that the business plan reflects what golfers said they wanted in 2011. Better greens, not clubhouses. Hendricks stated that we are still looking for course modifications for LW Clapp. Item 4C: Golf Advisory Committee Update (Troy Hendricks) No update Item 4D: Wichita Parks Foundation Update (Chris Highfill) Houtman stated that they had a meeting to review 4th of July. Park Foundation made a little money on the event. The Foundation provided scholarships for 20 kids to go swimming. ICTrees is getting a lot of donations and funding for trees, they expect to plant 150-300 trees on private property this fall. The Poker Tournament fundraiser is this weekend at Botanica. Item 4E: OJ Watson Park Committee Update (Hoyt Hillman) Hillman stated that he was waiting to hear from Brian Hill about CIP funds. Troy met with the Friends of OJ Watson Park. The Fishing Tournament on September 19th is moving ahead. We have several sponsors already. That same afternoon there is a get together at Herman Hill. Houtman stated that the CIP draft plan should be presented next month. Item 4F: Aquatics Committee Update (Tori Deatherage) Deatherage stated that there was a meeting last week. Three options were discussed, the indoor center, replacing four pools or repairing current facilities. There is another meetingthis Friday. Houtman stated that they will look at the three options and determine what will work best. We still need to meet with the school district, the YMCA and the swim club. We had to put plans on hold this summer until we hire a superintendent and project manager. Item 4G: President Claycomb thanked Houtman for his·support over the last three months. Deatherage will start in September. Houtman recom.mended moving the retreat to November. Item 4H: Director Houtman stated that there wm be more information next month aboutthe confederate flag. We will need to decide if there should be another memorial put in place. We are working with Slawson, the developer, at Cadillac Lake. We received the draft contract. Working to get it on the next Council agenda. It will be a passive park. The land has been donated by the developer. We are applying for a $200,000 Knight Foundation grant for the development of the triangle area near the new library. The grant would be in addition to CIP funds, The Knight Foundation would like to do something big in BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS MEETING August 10, 2015 Page 5 of6 Wichita. We have talked to them about Naftzger Park and the triangle area. We are filling three positions. Our new recreation superintendent should be in place before the next meeting. There are three candidates for the managementanalystposition which will be in for second interviews next week. Interviews for the assistant recreation supervisor position interviews are also coming up. L-7i£s=, Item 5: Adjourn There being no further business, the meeting was·adjourned at approximately 4:57 pm. Tori Deatherage, President Michelle Haun, Cler BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS MEETING August 10, 2015 Page 6 of 6