Board of Park Commissioners

Board of Park Commissioners Regular Meeting Minutes Monday, February 12, 2018 3:00- 5:00 P.M. 455 N Main City Hall 11th Floor WICHITA Park & Recreation Conference Room Wichita, Kansas 67202 Members Present: Troy Palmer, Tori Deatherage, Bill Ramsey, Hoyt Hillman, Lawanda Deshazer, Eddie Fahnestock, TyTabing City Staff: Troy Houtman (Director, Park & Recreation), Penny Garding (Clerk), Elizabeth Harlenske (Assistant City Attorney), Stacey Hamm, Troy Hendricks, Brian Hill; Angela Buckner Guest: catvin Cupp, Russ lcke Item Descrl11tion call to Order Troy Palmer, President, called the meeting to order at·approximately 3:03 p.m. Palmer welcomed Ty Tabing to the Board. Mr. Tabing shared information about his background. Public Comments calvin Cupp, 1845 N Fairmount, WSU Rowing Coach - It is a great time to remind the board of how important their support is for the program and how much we appreciate the support Park & Recreation and the City have given us over the years. As we expand what we are doing. whether it is practice, collegiate racing or other eventswe hope to host, being able to coordinate usage of river and knowing when it is up or down is important. We are looking forward expanding that partnership, especially with this group, to help make it so all ·user groups can do that and know when they can. Palmer inquired about the River Vista Development_ Project. Cupp responded it is getting closer every day. The dock is in and ready. Most of the landscaping on the outside of the stonework.is complete. Palmer inquired if they would be. ready for Riverfest. Cupp responded it is all dependent upon when they get the occupancy date. Houtman stated he has been·getting questions about whafis going to be offered and what are the prices and hours. He asked Cupp to share that information as it is developed. Cupp responded they are working on that and have one opportunity to open the space and want to do it right. They want to make sure information is locked in before it is released. When that information is available, Parl & Recreation will be one of the firstto know. You will be a great resource to help promote·and advertise what we are doing. Hillman inquired about Key Construction, who has been working on the park side of that operation. There are three monuments, two plaques that belong to the fountain and a low unitthat was identified for Ackerman's Island that will need to be restored. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGUlAR MEETING February 12, 2018 Pagelof.10  Russ lcke, 7050 E Lincoln, Arkansas River Coalition - The Coalition use of the river in Wichita is limited to one New Year's Day float. In addition there are several Twilight floats scheduled in the summer, Knowing when everyone is on the river and when.it is up and down and the dams are down would be a benefit. 1 Approve Minutes Recommended Action: Approve, sign and file minutes of the January 8, 2018, Board of Park Commissioners Regular Meeting. Motion by Ramsey, second by Fahnestock, IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED to approve, sign and file the minutes of.the January 8, 2018 Board of Park Commissioners Regular Meetlng.(7-0). 2A NRPA- Park Friends (Houtman) Houtman stated.he sent information to the .board on what is happening from'the National Recreation and Parks Association. On their website you can do a search for the "Friends of" and become a member. When you become a member you will receive lots of information ahd details on future plans and philosophies regarding their programming. It would be good as board members and connects you to the things the departmentis doing. Palmer inquired how state conference was. Houtman responded it went welL There were over 400 park an.d recreation professionals from across the state. Additionally there were over 100 vendors, selling everything from playground equipment to sports equipment. It was three days and at least 50% of the speakers were from Wichita. The Keynote Speaker was from WSU, along with the Athletic Director presented a session. There were four from our department and several others from the City. Three people from our department received award_s: .David McGuire rece.ived the Administrative Leadership Award, Gary Farris received the Park Professional Award and Lisa Klaassen received the Recreation Professional Award. 3A Naftzger Park (Troy Houtman) Houtman stated we are moving.forward with the design again. About five months ago we requested and received input from the community, which we shared with the architect. They are putting all of that information into a new draft. Houtman is making a special request because they will be in on March 22. Houtman is asking for a special meeting of this board to do a presentation. He will also be going to Design Council and doing an evening session with the community. He wants to do it all in one day. Houtman is asking' the board to hold an extra March meeting on that day at the same meeting time and place. Palmer inquired if there needed to be a vote? Harlenske responded if everyone agrees and can be there it does not require a vote. Garding will send out notice. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING February 12, 2018 P�ge 2 of 10  Palmer inquired if it is the same designer/group that did the first design. Houtman responded yes. They took the best of all four original renditions and added the public input and put together a new rendition to share with you. Deatherage inquired if there was any more of a timeline on this project? Houtman responded we selected a contractor to do the work. Palmer added before you have a design? Houtman responded yes. We don't have a price but a firm·has been selected. Deatherage asked how a contractor is selected without having prices. Houtman responded they are.selected by their qualifications. Pal.mer asked how that could be done if we don't know what the.design is in order to know what qualifications are needed. Houtman responded we are park.and recreation professionals and know what kind of construction they need to do, whether it is concrete work, water features, etc. With a developer that is part of the project or in house staff, we selected the group that brought the best presentation, has the.most experience and has done this type of work in the past. Deatherage inquired what makes this process different than how we are doing the playground at Pawnee Prairie Park. Houtman responded at Pawnee Prairie Park we were asking for the design. We could have asked for construction folks and who has playground experience. Then look for the.best qualifications for that. Palmer inquired who was on the selection team. Houtman responded it was Public Works, Economic Development, Larry Hoetmer, etc. 4 Recreation Update (Stacey Hamm) Hamm presented the Winter Session Highlights. Some of the classes at our Centers have maxed out. • Edgemoor o Ballroom Dancing-18 students (9 couples) o Country Line Dance - 19 students (individuals) o Tots Ballet & Tap -12 students • Boston o Youth Gymnastics was full o Acrobatics {new) was almost full • Linwood o Six classes have filled to maximum so far • Ballet & Tap - Beginner • Ballet & Tap - Intermediate • Gentle Yoga • Intro to Drawing • Vibrational Sound Healing Workshop {new) • Weight Training for Women • Ice Sports o Mid-Western/Pacific Synchronized Skating Championship - 2,000 skaters competed • Lynette Woodard o At 90-100% of enrollment for winter session B6AR0 OF PARK COMMISSIONE-RS REGULAR MEETING February 12, 2018 Page 3 of 10  Buckner added o Six classes have had full registration • Tiny Dancers • Hip Hop Tots • Tiny Fitness • WeeHoops o Budgeting Basics - free class - 12 students o Valentine Treats had 9 students o 15 Classes had .80% enrollment • Orchard o Kripalu Yoga has had 3 of 4 classes fill o Become a Beekeeper - 4th year to offer and always full o Beginners Guide to the Cloud (new) - Two offerings and both filled The Winter session is going really well and ends March 9. Spring class registration will start March 19. Tabing stated these seem to be the good end of programming, is this part of a larger report that includes everything else. Hamm responded she will have a full report when the session ends. At that time we can pull all the classes we offered and what percentage were cancelled and then those.that made at minimum and at maximum. DeShazer inquired if classes are by quarter. Hamm responded we offerfour sessions per year. Winter goes from January 19 to March 9, Spring starts the end of March and runs through about mid-May. Summer then starts the first week ofJu_ne and so on. DeShazer inquired about the class sizes and is 15 a good number? Hamm responded it varies per class. DeShazer asked how do you determine what makes a good number. Houtman responded the minimum and maximum as set by the instructor. Hamm added some of the numbers are set based on added expenses. An example is Buckner's recent Valentine class, there was added expense to that by buying supplies. She knows how many students she has to have·minimum to cover those costs. Buckner added a response to Tabing's question. So far, the Winter Session actively has 188 classes going, which is 60%. Only 18% have been cancelled. We still have 23% pending. This Winter Session has been our best ever. 5 Golf Update (Troy Hendricks) Hendricks stated rounds are down 21% from 2017, due to extreme cold in January, Revenue. was only down 15%. Net revenue was better, we lost $152,000 in 2017 and only $137,000 this year. Staff is being diligent in controlling expenditures and seasonal staffing. All staff is being required to email"Hendricks with repairs needed and costs. Expenditures are being cleared through Hendricks prior to any purchase. 6 Golf Advisory Committee Update (Hoyt Hillman/Troy Houtman) Hillman stated the committee met but did not have the rounds information atthe time of that.meeting. An election of officers was held. There was discussion about rounds and other similar things. We hope to benefit from the recent price increases and new carts. There was also talk about plans to introduce an annual rate for BOARD OF PARK.COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING February 12, 2018 Page4 of10 people and would the golf carts be included. The.decision was to leave the carts separate. Overall they think the courses are going to be in good condition. They have been able to purchase an extra lawnmower. Palmer inquired about how much the yearly pass going to be, Hillman responded they have not determined that yet. They were thinking around $70/monthly, but have not voted on it yet. Hendricks added there has not been a vote on any price structure yet. They have talked a bout between $70 and $90 for a singleJndividual with maybe $100 for a family of two adults and up to three children, a senior pass around $65, probably a young adult (up to age 30 or executive type pass) at around $65-$75 and then maybe a student pass forthose under age 17 for about $10. Hillma.n added the thought is that $800,000 to $1,000,000 could be made per year with a good price structure over what has been done in the past. Hendricks.added the theory behind it is that of fitness clubs. You pay and then you play or you don't. The idea is to get them something where they don't have to come in and pay any additional money. Deatherage asked if we would contract them for a year. Hendricks responded yes, and there would be a penalty if cancelled within the first year. After the first year it would then become month to month. Fahnestock confirmed that carts are not included. Hendricks responded yes, carts are not included. Deatherage inquired if it is then unlimited play with no other restrictions. Hendricks responded the only restrictions would probably be with the seniors. The seniors would probably still only be allowed to play on weekend and holiday afternoons. Palmer inquired then are they encouraging seniors who play a lot to get regular pass. Hendricks responded it is still discounted much more than the regular pass. Seniors are used to it. Up until about 10 years ago seniors could not play on weekends at all. Fahnestock inquired about the cost of a cart. Hendricks responded it depends on which course you are playing, A cart is $12.50 per person for 18 holes and $7.00 for 9 holes. Fahnestock then added if you had two people it would be $25. Hendricks added greens fees at.Auburn Hills on weekdays are $27 for 18 holes and its $32 on weekends. And, it is $19 for 9 holes. Fahnestock stated Tallgrass .has a deal going on right now for a young executive itis $ 99 with a cart.. You might be battling that a little. Palmer inquired if that was for a year. Fahnestock responded yes. Palmer inquired if there. had ever been diswssion about Willowbend and getting some kind of crossover discount, would you even want to. Maybe even with Terradyne. Fahnestock added some type of Concert Golf type of deal. Hendricks responded that is similar to what Tallgrass has. They are part of the Great life network, which you can buy your membership there and then have so many places you can go play in Kansas City for a small fee. We have that same scenario with five golf courses. Palmer added if we could get Willowbend, Tallgrass or Terradyne or some of those not heavily played courses to give us a discount it would be very enticing. Hendricks stated it.has been done. Three or four years ago Willowbend and Reflection Ridge did that. But Willowbend hosts so many tournaments it was of no benefit to members at Reflection Ridge other than they had all the people from Willowbend coming over to play because they only had to pay cartfees. They were losing their tee times because Willowbend was hosting all the events. They cancelled. s·oARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING February 12, 2018 Page 5 of 10  Tabing inquired about the background on the Golf Advisory Committee? Was it created for a specific purpose? Is it kind of an annual assessment of the program? Hillman responded they are doing an annual assessment, with the assistant ofthe City Manager. But, they meet every six weeks and make recommendations on rounds and make suggestions on pace of play and a variety of pricing and recommendations on tee times. Hendricks added it became permanent after 2011- 12 when the City was considering outsourcing the golf courses to a management company. The committee was formed to look into that and evaluate the RFPs that came in, with assistance from Finance. The committee has stayed in place since then to address issues that come from the community. Houtman added they help with poiicy regarding the operations ofthe golf courses. They are stakeholders that are very involved and knowledgeable with the courses. They·meet every six weeks. They report to their findings, suggestions and ideas to this board. Deatherage ad_ded each district has an appointee on _the committee. Palmer advised Ta bing and Deshazer they are the appointer oftheir district representative on the committee. 7 Wichita Parks Foundation Update (Troy Houtman) Houtman stated the Foundation.met at Retreafa couple weeks ago. A lot of things were worked out regarding goals .and operations. They changed a few of their bylaws. Plates for Parks is moving forward. The Foundation will manage the marketing, record keeping and all other processes on that. They are still working on the July 4 event. This will be .their fourth one. Hillman inquired if the.Foundation be workingwith the license plate office, who handles the staffing for that? Houtman responded the Hcense plates are sold at the tag office. They will provide a report about who,made the purchases. The Foundati_on will then thank them and encourage them to get involved. When it is time to renew, we give them a reminder. Also, after they have made the purchase it is our responsibility to get them the information for their IRS deduction. Hamm added the state"will send them an email. It will be a month behind. In March of 2019 we will get an email with a .list of who purchased in February and the dollar amount. Then they will mail us a check. In March, those who purchased in February will receive their tax donation letter. Palmer confirmed that none of it will be ready until next year. 8 OJ Watson Park Committee Update (Troy Houtman) Houtman stated the master plan was developed about four years ago and we have been working on addressing all the items. As we have been doing that we noticed there are some things we can do better and'make some adjustments. We Want to look at redevelopingthe committee. to revamp the master plan. The industry has changed, there are other opportunities and there are other things that become a priority. Hill provided an update on what has been completed on the plan • Train engine and additional coach • Train track crossing installed • ADA Fishing dock completed • Upgraded outdoor restrooms BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING February 12, 2018 Page 6of10 ' . • Replaced the Yellow Brick Road • Kayaks - 500 uses lastyear • Mini golf improvements - all 18 holes up and running • Permanent trash cans • Tree Screening - added 120+ trees along perimeter Current initiated projects • Irrigation line from the Water Center - 3-4 weeks to start • Concession stand improvements· • Indoor shelter upgrades • Miniature Golf turf should be done by first of March • Playground benches added • Train switches will be removed. Upcoming Projects • Newindoorshelter • Pony shelter • Erosion control • Splash pad The proposed CIP schedule. Proposed CIP Schedule Racommandml Captbll Im nRl8mmdl: 201 2018 2019 2020 2021 2112 TOTAi. Curren12010-l027 CP We would like to reform the Watson Park Steering Committee. It is time to look at the plan, reevaluate and are we still going in the right direction. There are some things we need to add in to it. We would like each Park Board to ajlpoint one member to that committee. We would like to meet in the next month or two to get this going. Hillman stated there were a number of picnic tables that ended up being moved around or washed out in the past. We had talked about creating pads for them or BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING February 12, 2018 Page7oft0  even restoring or moving some of the pads that had been washed out. What has been done with those? Hill responded the first-part of the project has been completed, we have 40 new picnic tables at the park. We are in the process of assembling them. Some will be put into shelters as replacements and the rest will be placed around the park, replacing the old wooden ones. Two tables have been replaced on pads. There is one pad that needs to be pulled out·of the lake. We are talking to Hoetmer about if more pads are needed or additional shelters. This is part of why we want to get the Steering Committee back together. Palmer stated when x_o\i say you want us to appoint, if they are interested, can they be on.it instead of appointing . . . -�-someone. Hill responded yes, Hillman was part of the original committee. Houtman stated it would be great if each district, within the next two weeks, e_mail to Garding who your appointee might be. Hill touched on it briefly, that some of the current ideas are out of scope of the master plan. Two new shelters was not part of the original master plan, the splash pad was not part of the master plan. We need the committee to get together to support these ideas and bring them to the Park Board so you can support it or not. Deatherage inquired if the appointee should be from their district? Houtman responded that would be great, but even more so would be someone who is familiar with O.J. Watson Park. Tabing inquired if CIP funding is predictable. Houtman responded the situation at OJ Watson.,is we are guaranteed these dollars through 2024. We are matching the projects with the dollars. What we are looking at is some of those projects changing and prioritizing over something else. Bottom line is it will probably be the same, but we are going to ask for maybe a little more, but based on year by year,these dollars are committed to OJ Watson unless something horrible happens. 9 Aquatics Master Plan Update (Troy Houtman) Houtman stated on Friday we sent out the Request For Qualifications for design for three pool renovations with the possibility of a fourth pool in District 1, and seven splash pads. We hope to have the proposals back in a month. We will then set up an evaluation panel and would like to have someone from the board on that panel. Palmer added this is just designing all of them now so we have that expense now. Houtman added the overall budget is $22M. We are.looking at about $1Mfor design and then there is money allocated to each·_one of those locations and sites which also includes demolition. We have a sequence of years for these projects as well. We are designing all at one.time is so we get one designer designing everything all at the same time and have plans on the shelf. Each year as the. project comes up we can pull those documents and bid and execute. Pa_lmer inquired if you need just one person from the board. Houtman responded typically we have one person from the board, one from the Law Department, one from Finance, one from other departments. Harlenske added the Manager has a policy on who must be on each review panel. Palmer inquired when it was. Houtman responded we are about five weeks out to panel evaluation. From there we will shortlist to two or three designers who will come back and give a presentation. We will use the same panel to see the presentation. The final company will be selected from there. Palmer asked for volunteers. Deshazer volunteered to be on panel. 10 President's Update (Troy Palmer) Palmer stated he has no updates at this time. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR ME£T!NG February 12, 2018 Pagel of 10 . . ' . 11 Director's Update (Troy Houtman) Houtman stated currently there is an exhibit at Exploration Place that is featuring our Forestry Division. There is a traveling exhibit called Rescue and they have added a local flavor to it, which is our Forestry group. Houtman stated on February 27 at 9:30.a.m. is Council Workshop. We will be getting a presentation from WSU about their athletic field usage study, including inventory o1 fields, conditions and what are the. field needs in the community. They will also com pa.re to like cities. It would be great to see some Park Board members in attendance. It will be held in the 1st Floor Board Room. Palmer inquired if there is.a way to get reminders of meetings and dates. Garding will send. reminders going forward. Deatherage inquired how long the Workshop will last. Houtman responded this one should be about a half-hour to forty-five minutes. Houtman provided ail update on the hiring of the Recreation Superintendent. Friday was the first round of interviews. We did telephone interview with eight candidates. He will narrow it down to the top four. Hoping to do face-to-face interviews two weeks from this coming Friday on March 2. He would like to have two members from the Park Board sit on a panel. Palmer and Ramsey volunteered to sit on the interview panel. There are four candidates so that is roughly four hours. He will set up three different panels: stakeholders, which will include Park Board members; executives, Houtman's peers; and a panel of staff. Palmer asked about the number of applicants. Houtman responded there were over 1.00 applicants. Once weweeded out the non­ qualified we had nine candidates to look at. One withdrew so eight were interviewed. Palmer inquired who did the telephone interviews. Houtman responded it was himself, Deputy Chief Stuart Bevis, Ian Hutcheson (Management Fellow) and two park and recreation professionals: the Park and Recreation Superintendentfrom Derby Recreation Commission and the Superintendent from Hutchinson Recreation Commission (both are director level. peers). Ramsey inquired if interview training would be required to be on the panel. And if we have already done .it do we need to do it again? Houtman responded if you have already done it you won't need to do it again. We will want those on the panel to have the training, We will ensure there is someone on the panel to direct everything. Hillman stated it has been since.mid-November since we have had a full board and we normally have a winter retreat to plan the following year. He is suggesting sometime in late March or early April and pick a Saturday everyone can make and coordinate that. Palmer inquired if a Saturday works for everyone to do a retreat. Ramsey inquired about how long a retreat usually lasted. Hillman responded usually 8:00 a.m. to Noon. Harlenske added it was on a Friday last year. Deatherage added she would prefer a weekday. Ramsey added Saturday would be better for him but can make a Friday afternoon work. Deshazer added Saturday works better for her. She will have to take vacation time to be away from work, but will work with the consensus. Palmer inquired.if it would work if it was from 4-6 p.m. Deshazer responded even 3-7 p.m. would work, Ta bing inquired about how it was done in the past, is there a facilitator? Deatherage responded it is more like this type of meeting with an agenda ofwhat we want to cover. Palmer stated itcould sometimes be done BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING February 12, 2018 Page 9 of 10  . ' . . in less than four hours. Houtman stated is just a matter of him and Palmer planning the agenda. The board consensus is to meet on Friday, March 23, 2-6 p.m. Houtman suggested Botanica for the location. Garding will make the arrangements. Adjourn There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at approximately 4:10 p.m. The next regularly scheduled meeting will be held on Monday, March 12, 2018. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING February 12, 2018 Page 10 of 10