Board of Park Commissioners

BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING MINUTES City Hall, 11"' Floor Park Conference Room 455 N.Main Wichita, KS 67202 January 11, 2016 3pm Present: Tori Deatherage, Hoyt Hillman, Cindy Claycomb, Chris Highfill, Ron Allen Absent: Patty Vizzini, Troy Palmer Also Present: Troy Houtman (Director of Park and Recreation), Elizabeth Harlenske (City Assistant Attorney), Penny Garding (Clerk), Greg Olmer, Mark Lowry (Staff). Deatherage called the meeting to.order at 2:59pm. PUBLIC AGENDA None. REGULAR AGENDA Item 1: Approval of Minutes. Motion by Claycomb, second by Highfill, ITWAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED to approve, sign and file the minutes of December 14, 2015, Board of Park Commissioners Regular meeting. (5-0) Item 3A: Adoption of New River Ordinance (Mark Lowry) Mark Lowry presented updates to river ordinance changes previously presented. Hillman stated that Gander Mountain would like permission to use the river for casting demonstrations when no other events are happening. Deatherage· stated citizens can cast from shore but not from boats. Harlenske stated that the ordinance would need to be changed to include special request authorization verbiage. Houtman stated that since it is currently unlawful, it will be difficult to make an exception now. Claycomb asked about page 6 of.the Ordinance where there is reference to "no wake speed" but the definition has been eliminated. Harlenske responded that we can add the language of "in excess of 5 miles·per hour." Claycomb asked on page 11, do we need to include per incident or violation. Harlenske responded no, it is not a continuing infraction. Claycomb asked on page 5 regarding tie up, what can be ·used as a tie up if there is no tie up available and they can't use trees etc. Houtman stated that the size of boat being used wUl_be small enough it can be dragged up on shore. Hillman stated on Section 7, to change "direction" to "director". He also stated in Section 23 there is mention of fees. Typically non-profits would not be able to afford paymentof fees. Lowry responded that the fee has been taken out. Hillman stated that they may see conflict with the term "watercraft" and the Police Department may not be clear. He recommended excluding canoes and kayaks from description. Claycomb asked if that would cause issues later in the ordinance. Deatherage, stated it is all inclusive Harlenske stated that she will add the words "kayak" and "standup paddle board" to the listing of watercraft in the definition. Russell Ike, President of Arkansas River Association, 7050 E Lincoln asked on Section 9-29-040- Direction of Traffic, can the verbiage be changed to "power boats"? This section makes it illegal if needing to gather items on river. Harlenske stated it would only come into play if there was an incident. The Police Department does not have a boatto be on river to provide enforcement. Harlenske will take out Section. 9-29-040 and renumber the ordinance. Ike asked ifit is jllegal to fish in the fish ladder. Houtman stated yes. Ike stated that as a non-profit, he would like to see nonprofits exempted from the ordinance. Motion by Hillman, second by Highfill, IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED to approve the. river ordinance as amended. (5-0) Item 4A: Recreation Update (Greg Olmerl Olmer presented preliminary year-end attendance and financial numbers. Fiscal year numbers will be final in the next couple weeks. Claycomb asked about the numbers that are-down from the previous year. Olmer stated that 2014 was an election year and that fees were raised on summer camps. He recently met with the City Manager on the reorganization plan. He also stated they are stjll working on the Strategic Plan and PROS plan. These plans include strategiesto increase partnerships, increase community education, efficient use of part-time staff and increasing exposure through social media and community special events like Fly-A-Kite, etc. When looking at facility upgrades, if we can improve. amenities room by room instead of complete renovation we can start working on those. Item 4B: Golf Update (Troy Houtman) .Houtman stated the Golf Division has done great this year. The new Golf App has been launched. We are seeing increases in play even though 2015 had more bad weather days. Next week we will be presenting the Golf Plan at the Council Workshop. Item 4C: Golf Advisory Committee (Troy Houtman) Houtman stated the January meeting coming up. The focus has been on the presentation to Council which has taken a majority of the time. Item 4D: Wichita Parks Foundation Update (Chris Highfill) Houtman stated there has been a push to bring on more board members. 6 new members have been identified. The Foundation will have a full board in February. The National Park Foundation has provided help in recruitment.and will be providing training. Work on the Fourth of July event has started. Monday night will be a fireworks display after the Wingnuts home game. The Hyatt Lawn will have bands playing. We are striving for a casual night out; nothing too involved. Item 4E: OJ Watson Park Committee Update (Hoyt Hillman) Hillman stated that during the Polar Express event the train did not work but there were lots of kids present, it was a nice.event. The new train engine has been ordered and is being constructed now. Brian Hill will go take pictures at Chance. Eight new kayaks have been ordered. They will belong to the City but will be used at Watson for OK Kids day. They will be an additional money maker. The picnic tables need fixed to keep them from sliding into the lake. Recently there have been two female bald eagles nesting on island. We are expecting visiting males.this summer. Item 4F: Aquatics Committee Update (Troy Houtman) Houtman stated the Aquatics plan is close to being finished. He will be looking at what goals were assigned to Park and Recreation by the Council. Some low overhead ideas include splash pads. We will be looking into renovating/dissolving some pools to put in larger splash pads. We will be utilizing demographics to determine locations. We will bring to the Board next month, the Council workshop in February, and adopt in March. The funds will be available in 2020, so we will be soliciting vendors in 2019. HiUman liked idea of a co-meeting with City Council. He would like Park Board members present at Council Workshops on the January 23 to support any question answering. Item 4H: Director Houtman stated the accreditation process is continuing. The site visit will be in June. He will ask someone from Park.Board to be present during that visit. The documentation will be finalized in March. Part of accreditation is to have a completed PROS plan. As staff, we have been reviewing. We had a meeting on Saturday and will continue meeting on Saturdays going forward until finished at the end of month. We would need to have feedback from Board by end of month. We will then take to MIG (consultant) to revise and update the document. Hillman asked for a copy of the documentation to review. Houtman stated he is working with Genesis and the YMCA to do a large spin bike day at Lawrence Dumont Stadium with 200 spin bikes. Two sessions are scheduled for 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. we•wil.I invite media to come out. Item 4G: President Deatherage stated Patti Vizzini has resigned from·the Board. She represented District II. If anyone knows of someone who might be interested in her seat on board, please let them know. Next month, Councilmember Jeff Blubaugh from District IV wants to discuss aUowing bicycles in Pawnee Prairie Park. Houtman will contact equestrian folks to attend the February meeting. Deatherage stated she will be absent at from the February meeting and that Hillman will chair. Item 5: Adjourn There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at approximately 4:08 pm.