Board of Park Commissioners

' Board of Park Commissioners Regular Meeting Minutes ,,. Monday, September 11, 2017 3:00 - 5:00 P.M. 455 N Main 0 I T Y 0 F City Hall 11th Floor WI C.H I TA Park & Recreation Conference Room Wichita, Kansas 67202 Members Present: Cindy Claycomb, Eddie Fahnestock, Hoyt Hillman, Bill .Ramsey, Tori Deatherage Absent: Troy Palmer, Ron Allen City Staff: Troy Houtman (Director, Park & Recreation), Elizabeth Harlenske (Assistant City Attorney), Penny Garding (Clerk), Greg Dimer, David McGuire, LarryHoetmer, Troy Hendricks, John Philbrick, Jeff Vanzandt Guests: Tom West, Nancy Compton- First Tee Item Descri11tion Call to Order Cindy Claycomb, President, called the meeting to order at approximately 3:00 p.m. At this time the.re is no quorum Claycomb introduced Eddie Fahnestock, the newest member of the Park Board, representing District II. Public Comments Calvin Kupp, 1845 N Fairmount, WSU Rowing Association. Our season has started and we have just under 60 student athletes. Excited to be on the big river. Racing starts in October and _then spring is the championship season. Lookingforward to moving into River Vista in the spring. Houtman stated he and Coach have talked about ways to make sure the water levels stay constant. When there. are repair projects that:are needed, we have been notified, but are not part of the prior decision. We are working on that. He is curious about the knowledge on campus of the upcoming Open Streets event. Kupp responded he has not heard about it. If there is something happening that we can help spread the word and connect the University community with the greater Wichita Community, we are all for that. We want to be good partners, whether it be the local Fairmount Community or the Wichita community in general. Houtman added he has been working with Ted Ayres and is getting the three university presidents together to kick off the Open Streets event. Houtman has handouts he will provide to share with students. Houtman stated between the Ark River Coalition, WSU and the City next summer the river.is going to. be very active. Deatherage joined meeting at 3:06pm. Quorum exists now. lA Approve Minutes Recommended Action: Approve, sign and file minutes of the August 14, 2017, Board of Park Commissioners Regular Meeting. Motion by Hillman, second by Claycomb, IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED to approve, sign and file the minutes of the August 14, 2017 Board of Park Commissioners Regular Meeting,(4-0). 2A Kansas Gas Service/Cathodic Protection Easement- Larry Hoetmer/Tom Briceland/Jarrod Mendicki BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING September.11, 2017 Page 1 of _8  Hoetmer shared diagrams from Kansas Gas·Service. He then stated they have a history requesting these cathodic protect.ion easements in the past. These are anodes that the gas service puts in and it is a maintenance system for the gas service so the gas lines don't corrode and rust. They previously had a ground bed in North Woodland Park, diagrammed in the magenta color. Tom Brice.land and Jarrod Mendicki 'from Kansas Gas Service are.here. Together we have walked both of these sites. They are fairly non-invasive. They are solid steel and are four feet below the surface. The'areas where they have proposed to put these are in open spaces. The area diagramed for North Woodland Park is a 50' x 500' request. The only thing existing in this space is a soft ball field that has not been utilized for any league play. The second request would be in Big Arkansas River Park. We ha.ve had previous work done here, There is a rectifier located by the street that will be removed. They have requested the designated open space. One thing that has been discussed with them is that this may be a potential future development of the access point. We are comfortable with approving this request. John Philbrick stated these·are common and we have approved several in parks in past years. We are trying to document where all of these are in the parks. One aspect of the agreement is if there is a major development, Kansas Gas Service has agreed they will relocate the ground bed out of the area. Although, it would have to be fairly significant and be several feet underground, the boat landing will not have any impact on it. Hillman inquired if they would be installed by driving a stake into the.ground and pushing it through, or do you take a core sample, take it out and put something in it. Mendicki responded they. will drill down and pull out a sample. They want to ensure thatbefore it is done, when it is sent to KDHE, they are'not hitting anything in the water lied or the water shelf below. Then they will insert it and cover it ba�k up, Hillman added then, particularly in North Woodland Park, itis a historic sight, if artifacts are hit, would we be notified. because that is potentially an archaeological.dig site. Hillman then inquired about the red highlighted rectifier at the bottom.and the one at the top; both will be taken out? Mendicki responded the one at North Woodland Park will be replaced. The.one at Big Ark River Park will be completely removed. Hillman inquired what will be done with,the homeowner on the south siae of 21st . Mendicki responded there will be nothing dealing with 21st Street or the homeowner. Claycomb inquired about path impacts during con_struction. Hoetmer responded there will not be any impact to paths during the construction. Philbrick added that is one of the reasons the location in North Woodland Park; the existing array could impact the path. This location was chosen to avoid impacting any improvements, Motion by Claycomb, second by Deatherage, IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED to allow Kansas Gas Service this easement to insert the.Cathodic Protection in North Woodland Park and the Big Arkansas River Park. (4-0). 2B Update of First Tee Building MacDonald-Golf Course- Hendricks Houtman introduced a great opportunity that we have been working on for some time. This is an opportunity that we have not seen before. There is a lot of support from stakeholders in the City. Hendricks stated a couple.years ago Tom West and Nancy Compton approached us about utilizing some of our golf courses for First Tee training. They have been·using Tex Consolver and MacDonald Golf Courses and they have been working with the McAdams group at MacDonald. They currently work outof an office atTerradyne. Their goal is to be more centrally located within'lh_e community. They have approached us and talked about this some last spring. We've talked.aboutit with the Golf Advisory Committee. They would like to relocate to MacDonald Golf Course, onthe·space:along Roosevelt just south of 13th street. It is BOARD OF·PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEITING September 11, 2017 Page·2 of 8 the open area were we do not have anything between the maintenance building and the street, They visited with a couple City Council members and the City Manager this past May. We have been working with them on an agreement. The document you have today is a highlight of that agreement. Tom West, 27 E Stonebridge Circ. Chairman of the Board, First Tee. First Tee is a national organization.that was started by the five main governing bodies of golf: USGA, PGA, PGA Tour, LPGA and Augusta National. Their goal was to create an organization nationally to introduce golho youth. It quickly evolved into using golf as a tool to introduce the kids to the nine core values, or life skills: honesty, integrity, perseverance, patience, etc. They have built their entire curriculum based on that. The.focus has not been just youth'in general because country club kids get exposed to this. What they wanted to do, as a national organization, was to focus on underprivileged kids. Kids that don't have opportunity to learn golf, but also life skills values. It has evolved into about180 chapters. Wichita started about two years ago. We have three locations: Terradyne, Tex Consolver, MacDonald. The more.successful chapters have their own facility. His concept is to take a piece of land that is not used and try to partner with the Park Board to figure out a way we can use it as well as the park and golf system within the City of Wichita. Simply, First Tee will build the facility; not just the building and parking lot, but the actual golf facility itself, the greens, bunkers, practice tee box, etc. This would be our way to demonstrate we want use of property and how we would program it for the kids. Visuals of the design concept were displayed. Basics of the agreement are for compensation of $1 per year we.have the availability of the space and to use the property for our programming. Generally it is on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, both mornings and evenings not generally afternoon. The public will have access to it as well. Between the three facilities we do programming for about 250 kids. MacDonald'.s location is important in attracting more youth. We_do three types of programming. We have the life skills experience, the national school program (we had 52 schools.this year) where the PE teachers use·the First Tee curriculum as part of their core training. We will affect about 400 kids per school; that is about20,000 kids. We partner with other local youth organizations like Boys & Girls Club. During the school year we do life skills training for about 160 kids. Throughout the summer there is about 500 kids. Eventually we want to grow that to the YMCA and similar groups, including Wichita Children's Home and Rainbows United. This will be our headquarters and core of what we do. We will have methods of transportation to bring in as many as 700-1,000 kids throughout a.summer program. Hillman inquired about staffing. West responded we will have offices for our Executive Director, Nancy Compton and our Program Director, Corey Novascone. We have a whole staff of certified coaches. We have very strict rules within First Tee regarding the number of coaches per kids. The ratio is 6:1 Kids to Coach. We have to have Assistant Coaches to aid with kids needing to leave the practice range. Hillman inquired about the.driving range, it appears there are 15 places to hit the ball. West responded the distance is about 150 feet. Therewill be plenty of room for public access. We won't use all of it. Hendricks stated.they will have their buildings. The. restrooms will be public accessible. There will be a range ball machine that can be paid by credit card. The parking lot will be open but will be locked at night. We will provide all the range equipment, balls and ball pickers. The revenue from the range ball saleswill come to Golf. We will take care of maintenance. We will mow the range, maintain the greens and practice bunker. We wiUmow, apply fungicide and fertilizers. Two greens this size will not cost us much. We will take care of snow removal and maintain shrubbery around the parking lot. For us, wanting to partnerwith them is because they are trying to create new golfers. If they are utilizing one of our public facilities that is where they will continue to play. First Tee starts k.ids at a younger age than what Wichita Junior Golf Foundation does. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEmNG September 11, 2017 Page 3 of 8  Hillman inquired if there is.a fence along Roosevelt.to contain the targets. Hendricks responded along Rooseveltthere is the fence that was put in a. couple years ago. On the street side of that fence we have 15 f o6tcottonwoods already. Based on the way the tee is oriented they will be hitting away from that area. Claycomb inquired about building.maintenance. TheywiUtake care of the building, even those public restrooms? Hendricksresponded we will clean them at night-like we do at the rest of the parks. Claycomb inquired where does First Tee's funding come from. West responded it all comes strictly from individual donations,and a few foundations. We generate very little revenue. What we. do generate comes from fees that we charge the parents. We charge $70 for a summer session. However; we live under a mandate from First Tee that says, 'if a child or their parents have no ability to pay, they are still involved in the program. We anticipate that the more. and more inner city kids we get, it is going to be unfunded. We·are going to have to continue to raise money every year. The.national schooi program costs us. We provide all.the equipment, training, cu.rriculum and oversight to 52 schools. That is a good sized burden. Claycomb stated she hears the confidence that you can raise funds to build this,building. West responded one of the things they are doing is working with some partners, Tom Dondlinger is working on the cost estimates. He will be able to get materials and .some labor donated. We plan on going through a capital campaign if we have to, We hope to find some kind souls to take care of it. Claycomb.inquired if they are moving their whole operations from Terradyne to here? West responded yes, Terradynewill be for programming only. Houtman stated there are two items. This is the agreement with First Tee; We wantto get Park Board support on the concept_and agreement. There is a contract we are·finaUzing. Harlenske will talk about CMB and alcohol concerns with managing the operations ofour alcohol license and First Tee will have their own. Hendricks stated Vanza_ndt put the outline together on the term.sheet. Vanzandt stated there is one correction on the term.sheet. Following the termination of the agreement, the building will revert back to the ownership ofthe Park Board, not Park Department. Houtman. stated this is simi]ar to the.Wichita Rowing Association building,over by the Tennis Center. If and when.they build this, it is the same situation, they will build it and when they vacate it, it becomes our property. Hoetmer expressed support for the project. Motion by Hillman, second by Fahnestock, IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED to accept the proposal from First.Tee and work with them to enter into this.lease. ·(4-0). 2C Alcohol Ordinance Amendment - Harlenske. Houtman stated the second part ofthis is First Tee wants to do some fundraising on site. However, we have a blanket liquor license.across the golf course, It only provides Cereal Malt Beverage consumptionand saies. They need something a little different What:is proposed is when they build this, it becomes a separate address. The blanket liquor license will still include everything on the golf course, with the exception ofthis address. This will give them the ability to serve at special events or do different things beyond CIVIB, Harlenske stated the golf courses all have CMB only licenses. You can't serve, possess or consume alcoholic liquor on premises that are licensed for CMB only. We.have·to get rid of the CMB license that exists there now. Because it is public property, undentate law, it has.to be exempted by ordinance by City Council. It is Park Board property so it needs to be approved by you before it goes to City Council. Vanzandt confirmed a separate add-ress: 1034 N Roosevelt..MacDonald wil.1 have its CMB license. When this is built they can resubmit their CMB license with the new diagram excluding this location by address. That area would then be unlicensed. Then with your approval the location would be submitted to City Council for BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING September 11, 2017 Page4of8  ordinance approval that exempts it from the prohibition against consumption of alcohol. When that happens Firs Tee would then be free to get a temporary permit and alcoholic liquor could be.served, consumed or possessed on those grounds. She has confirmed this with the attorneyfor the state Alcoholic Beverage Control. He said yes, that would work fine. This would allowthem the freedom they need for fund raising events. The 2017 Kansas legislature made some major changes in alcohol laws. The Law Department has been directed to get those changes incorporated in our local ordinance in front of Council. We are taking changes to.Council in October. Some of the changes are in the section that exempts public property. She wants to be able to put this location in so we don't have to go back to Council again. The exemption would be in section 4.04.045 of the City Code. The exemption would be the First Tee building and outdoor patio; to be located at 1034 N .Roosevelt. Harlenske stated she will also specifically, by name, exempt Reflection Park down town. There is a big blanket of exemption for all publicly owned property from the west curb of Main, the south curb of Douglas to the Fly-over. That was done to.incorporate.all publicly owned parking lots for tailgating for lntrust Arena events. Reflection Park is included in there, but there was some confusion and in order to make it very clear, it is being added in as well. It will be exempted when there is a special event or community event and with permission of the Park Director. Claycomb inquired if that would be the same thing on the First Tee building. Harlenske responded no, it will be exempted all the time because they are leasing it. Ramsey joined meeting3:51 pm Motion by Claycomb, second by Deatherage, IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED to add 1034 N Roosevelt.and Reflection Park to the Exemption Ordinance Section 4.04.04s of the•City Code involving consumption of alcoholic liquor on public property. (4-0 with one abstention). 3 Naftzger Park - Houtman Houtman stated the project has slowed down. We are still waiting for a final design. We will bring thatto Park Board when we get it. There are some little things to be resolved. It is almost certain we are not going,tomeet the NCAA timeline. We met.with NCAA Committee and have come up with a Plan B. There will be a really great festival feeling by the lntrust Arena that we are working on. 4 Recreation Update (Greg Olmer) Olmer provided a highlight of August events. • Sunrise and Sunset Floats .- Fridays/Saturdays - 25 kayaks and 10 SUPs along the Arkansas River • Barry's Recreation Station - Thursday August 17th 6-8 p.m. Riverside Park. (SO) • Dog Days of Summer-College Hill Pool • Monday August 21st (20% of gate: $312) (120-150 dogs) • Barry's Recreation Station - Saturday August 26th 9-11 a.m. Free Tennis lessons/WSU­ Fairmount Park. Houtman scheduled some photo shoots on the river highlighting the kayaks and SUPs. We got some really good footage. Ramsey inquired who is liable if there is an accident. Olmer responded they each sign a waiverwhen they register and again on-site. Those in kayaks must wear PFD. Those on SUPs do .not have to wear it, but must have one on their board. Harlenske added we also have recreational use immunity. Houtman added the SUP is a third-party contractor. He:has to have his own insurance as welL Shared the City of Wichita -Activating the Arkansas River Downto.wn video BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING September 11, 2017 Page 5 ofB  Houtman added next summer we will.activate it a lot more. The video is not justto promote this activity but to promote Wic_hita aswelL The vi�eo .is being shared with Visit Wichita, WDDC and other folks. You will start seeing images and still pictures from this in some of the commercials on TV and other places. Olmer highlighted the Free Tennis Clinic event presented by the WSU Tennis Team at Fairmount-Park. Upcoming Events • Wicked Island (Watson Park) Opens Sept. 29th -Halloween 8:00 p.m,-11:30 p.m. • Saddle Up and Ride,l'awnee Prairie Park - Saturday Oct. 14th 10 a,m.-2:00 p.m. Lessons/Trail Rides/Pony Rides - Ages S+. Houtman stated this program·ming is coming from discussions that we are.not allowing horses in Pawnee Prairie Park. We partnered with a vendor to provide horses and lessons. We are high_lighting equestrian use with programming.and promoting the park. • Open Streets ICT - Sunday Sept. 24 - 12-4 p.m. - Barry's Crew will be. handing out Frisbees. Openstreetsict.com Claycomb added this programming is great! Great vision and leadership. 5 Golf Update (Troy Hendricks) Hendricks stated rounds are down from 2016 by 2%. Auburn Hills is up 5%, Tex Consolver is up 1%, LW Clapp is down 8%, MacDonald is down 10% and Sim is down·2%. MacDonald is due to conditions and fairways, We have been doing some re-sodding of the fairways. We've done some Facebook.live posts to make everyone aware of improvements to conditions there. Revenue is down <1% from last year. Our net income is down 33% but going through the 203 Reports, we have been paying one of our fund.payments to a different fund. We paid $76,000 towards one of our debt service funds. He has asked Budget for information on what that is for. If you add that back in.We would be within $5,000 from lastyear at the same time. Rounds for August are up significantly over 2016. Revenue is down a little bit. Expenditures are up. He is asking Evelyn to explain. The weather has been great; August's average .high temperature was 87" and the low was 65". According tothe National Weather Service, we have had 2.2" rain, last year we had over 8". Hillman inquired about the $234,000 from.August, 2016 it appears to be an anomaly. Hendricks responded that was-when they charged us in June the $176,000 in debt service and then credited it back in August. Ramsey inquired how can we .have such increased rounds in 2017and lower revenue. Hendricks responded we have more season ticket play and more discounted rate. Houtman added we are trying to find the sweet spot Mr. Hendricks and his staff are spending time analyzing and researching. 6 Golf Advisory Committee Update (Hoyt Hillman) Hillman stated the committee has met.with two of three customer focus meetings. At MacDonald there were 3 that attend and at Auburn 45 people attended. The third will be at Sim. We have received some good feedback. We'will probably increase fees and even things out. We should see more income next year from same number of players. Claycomb inquired if the GolfAdvisory Committee Will provide a summary and recommendations to the Park Board so they can make recommendations to Council. Hillman • BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING September 11, 2017 Page &of 8  responded they will probably provide recommend through Hendricks. He added that the next meeting at Sim tomorrow. One thing that was mentioned at MacDonald was why there is not an east side senior league. That has already implemented. They played last Thursday and had 20 people participate. 7 Wichita Parks Foundation Update (Troy Houtman) No report. 8 OJ Watson Park Committee Update (Troy Houtman) Houtman stated there are no updates regarding programming. The haunted island will be kicking off next month. There are some construction projects we are trying to get implemented. 9 Aquatics Master Plan Update (Troy Houtman) Houtman stated since the last meeting the Aquatics Master Plan got an extra $4M. The next step is focused on impiementing in District I. The obvious locations are the two existing pool locations,so we can maximize our dollars.on an existing structure. We will need guidance and acceptance from District I on where they want us to go. We have been meeting with DABs on the other locations trying to get feedback on designs and themes for the splash pads and two pool upgrades. We want to get an architect and designer to do all of these at the same time. Then, as dollars come avai.lable we can take the plan off the shelf and bid and implement them. Hopefully by December we will have an RFP from designers to spend the $22M. We have one project in 2018 to open in 2019. Claycomb inquired if that is McAdams. Houtman responded yes, that is why we need to figure out where t.he $4M is going. Claycomb inquired which DABs have been attended. Olmer responded all but District I and District VI. District VI is scheduled for September 20. District I was postponed due to the changes that were .happening. That will probably happen in October.. Houtman added we are relying on Councilmember Williams and other community leaders to help us decide where they want it. We have given them facts and information, all the data and reasonings, so they can make the best judgement possible. Claycomb inquired if there had been any feedback from the District I meeting that was to bring folks together to talk about the future. Houtman responded he has not received anything. Deatherage inquired where the $4M came from. Houtman responded there is a ceiling on how much debt we can incur. They increased the bond for this project"by $4M. Claycomb added the date is 2021. We have $700,000 set aside for the splash pad for McAdams. If they wantto choose to have a pool there they now have increased it from $4M to $4.7M. We still need to close out Edgemoor, so thereare some dollars there. too.. One of those.two is probably where it is going to go. Claycomb inquired if there is a splash pad planned at Edgemoor. Houtman responded no. 10 President's Update (Cindy Claycomb) No update. 11 Director's Update (Troy Houtman) Houtman stated at Pawnee Prairie Park there is also a lot of trail running. The County Sheriff's Department approached us and want to use Pawnee Prairie Park for a fundraiser for Special Olympics. We are looking at trying to implement that in the spring. They will have a foot race of 100-200 people going through the trails. The proceeds will go to Special Olympics. Houtman shared some great awards. We were designated for an award through ALSA for the design of Pracht Wetlands. On Friday Houtman is going to Sioux Falls, SD to accept the award. Through the Local Chapter of the NAACP, Larry Dennis is being recognized for his 41+ years of service, it is their Legacy Award; and Mr. Layton is'being awarded the Person of the Year award. Houtman and Townsend will be attending the NRPA Conference on September 25 in New Orleans,. LA. They will be doing a presentation on homelessness. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING September 11, 2017 Page 7 of&  Greg Olmer is leaving the department. He has accepted a positon as Director in Euda, Texas. He will be leaving on September 28. Claycomb asked Houtman to speak about the $GM Hyatt funds and the funds that were awarded to Park & Recreation. Houtman stated not all $GM was awarded. Councilmember Williams set aside her District I funds to the theater and a couple other programs. Councilmember Clendenin, District II, set aside about $500,000 to go towards different grants that people can apply for. Several of those grants will be park related. One will be Fabrique upgrades for about $100,000. Councilmember Meitzner, District Ill, $100,000 will go toward the Harrison Park parking lot that supports the dog park. We still need to find some matching funds to finish the parking lot. The remainder of his $1M will go towards the "Doc" hangars. District V's $1M will go to Pracht Wetlands. We can start doing the boardwalk. District IV's $1M will go to Pawnee Prairie Park for increased trail amenities, increasing the parking lot for equestrian use and signage. Hillman inquired on how the Stryker project is coming? Houtman responded there is $22M from Star Bonds going to that project. We just finished selecting the design firm. Next month he will provide a more detailed report. The next thing we will do with the design firm is create the contract. Hillman asked about soccer. There are a number of soccer fields around the city. He has noticed south of the Extension Office on Ridge and also the one at Mt. Vernon and Lincoln, both have periodically had trash piles on them. Do we have contracts with the groups who use those fields that they are supposed to clean up afterwards? Houtman responded yes there are contracts for usage. The expectation is they put all their trash in the trash cans. What happens quite often is they leave and the trash can gets blown over or knocked over after they left and no one knows about it. Since we contract most of our mowing maintenance we don't know about it until someone complains. It's not efficient or customer friendly. Ramsey inquired about the dog park on Meridian and the honoring of K-9 Rooster. Houtman responded we have ordered the plaque and will let everyone know when it is ready to install. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at approximately 4:39 p.m. The next regularly scheduled meeting will be held on Monday, October 10, 2017. p �� Cindy Claycomb, President BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING September 11, 2017 Page 8 of 8