Board of Park Commissioners

Board of Park Commissioners Regular Meeting Minutes Monday, April 9, 2018 3:00- 5:00 P.M. 455 N Main 10111''¥ OP City Hall 11th Floor 111:'I CH I TA Park & Recreation Conference Room Wichita, Kansas 67202 Members Present: Hoyt Hillman, Bill Ramsey, Ty Tabing, Tori Deatherage, Eddie Fahnestock, Troy Palmer (unable to participate in discussions due to not yet being reappointed as a.member of the board) City Staff: Troy Houtman (Director, Park & Recreation), Penny Garding (Clerk), Elizabeth Harlenske (Assistant City Attorney), Stacey Hamm, Troy Hendricks, David McGuire, Angela B.uckner Guest: Vernette Chance, Elizabeth Bishop, Alejo Cabral Item Descri11tlon Call to Order Bill Ramsey, 1st Vice President, called the meeting to order at approximately 3:03 p.m. Jamie Buster, Deputy City Clerk, issued Oath of Office for new term to members: Hoyt Hillman, Bill Ramsey, Ty Tabing, Tori Deatherage and Eddie Fahnestock. Each member subsequently signed the Oath and Acceptance Letter. Announcements There were no Announcements. Public Comments There were no Public Comments. 1 Approve Minutes Recommended Action: Approve, sign and file minutes of the March 12, 2018, Board of Park Commissioners Regular Meeting. Motion by Tablng, second by Fahnestock, IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED to approve, sign and file the minutes of the.March 12, 2018 Board of Park Commissioners Regular Meeting (S-0). 2 New Items for Consideration There were no New Items. 3 Continuation of Prior Business There was no Continuation of Prior Business. 4 Recreation Update (Stacey Hamm) Hamm stated March kicked off our season of events. We had Bunny Blast & Egg Hunt - March 24 -Watson Park - 2;000+ attended. - $5 per carload- Net $1,104 revenue. Light Up Reflection Square-March 29 - approx. 50 attended-Marth 30 - about 400 people attended throughout the evening - March 31-about 50s55 attend. They were great events. Recreation is planning more like this forthe summer. Houtman added this is one of the Up the Ambition events. This is one of five or six, with this grant coming from the Community BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING April 9, 201B Pag:e 1 of 5  Foundation. There was $2,500 to help pay for the upgrades, entertainment and activating the park. We also received a grant which was used to light up the skate park. Tabing is working on one to activate the river. Hamm stated Spring classes are underway. We are still taking registrations for classes starting later this month. We are working on the summer guide now. In May we will have a better registration report. The summer classes will start the first week of June. Houtman added we have a cycle event next Saturday at Lawrence Dumont Stadium. It was postponed from last weekend. We are partnering with Genesis and will have 200 spin bikes. There are two sessions, one starts at9 and the other is at 10:15. Hillman stated there is also a city clean up event. 5 Golf Update (Troy Hendricks) Hendricks stated rounds·are down y-t-d 7% rounds. Revenue is down about 15%. Encumbrances are·also down 15%. Net income is actually a 16% improvement, even though it is in the red. Our net income is about $44,000 better at the end of the first quarter than we were a year ago. Staff has done a_great job of controlling expenditures. We are hoping to get better March rounds are up over last year. For just the month itself, $95,000 better than.last year. Houtman stated we signed off on the First Tee agreement at Council last Tuesday. We are moving forward with the construction. It is First Tee's project, we are there to support them and get them going.. The driving range won'_t be operational until about a year from now. It will take a year for the process to be put in place. Palmer inquired about when they would start classes. Hendricks responded they are hoping to have permits and start turning dirt in mid-May and have the construction done in mid-July. A portion of the project will be sodded and the rest will be sprigged. FirstTee is hoping to start programming in the fall at the facility and then open Spring 2019 for public use. 6 Golf Advisory Committee Update (Hoyt Hillman/Troy Houtman) Hillman stated he was unable to attend the meeting but received a report from the Vice Chair and also listened to the recordings. Rounds are what was presented. Tom West gave a good presentation on First Tee. The cost is going to be about $1.2M. Their building will be considered a learning center. It will be an afterschool event area. They are expecting to have computers and will invite kids in to work on homework and hit a few balls afterward. They will have an indoor classroom with artificial turf and a putting green for winter and two outdoor hitting bays with garage doors. They are doing some fundraising now. They have received great support from several contractors. Annual passes were also discussed. They will come up with a pass plan at the next meeting. Houtman stated there is an internal committee that is evaluating the golf system. They met last week and a_re finalizing the report. We will share that report with this board and the Golf Advisory Committee. It will be sent via email first and then it cah be discussed at the next meeting. It should be done in the next week or two. 7 Wichita Parks Foundation Update (Troy Houtman) Houtman stated there is good news on Plates for Parks. It has gone through all of the committees and has been approved. We are now waiting on the Governor to sign it. We are trying to coordinate having the Governor to come to Wichita to sign the bill into law. We are trying to coordinate with the Pracht Wetlands project. If we are able to get the Governor here we will include the board on the invitation. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGUtAR MEETING April 9, 2018 Page·2 of s  Hamm has been working hard on July 4 event. We are looking for one or two more sponsors. If you have a leads on·sponsors., let Hamm know. There are a couple new board members transitioning in. Hamm added they are taking applications for Summer of Discovery scholarships at Edgemoor. They will be hosting a couple scholarship days at Edgemoor in April. This year they are asking for financial information, either taxes or six months of pay stubs. Those scholarships will be Initiated around May 7. Tabing inquired about Plates for Parks. How much does the Foundation get for each plate? Houtman responded $50. In order to getthe bill in place we needed a pledge of 1,000 plates and they got close to 2,000. If we do get 2,000, at $50 per plate, that is $100,000 that would go towards a capital project and help pay for some of the administrative costs of operating the Plates for Parks program. There are administrative duties that have to happen, a non- profit certificate so they can deduct it from their yearly taxes. And also keep them.informed of the projects going on. The state will no longer have the metal stamped plates, they will be flat plastic and are digitally printed. The flag plate will start in January. We will start promotions in November and December. 8 Pawnee Prairie Park Update (David McGuire) Houtman stated Councilmember Blubaugh has requested this update be provided at his DAB. McGuire stated there have not been lot of changes this month. The adjustment that needs to be made to the benches will happen wh.en decide where the bike path and walking trails will go. f The bid we got with.the solar light came back at$29,000 or one concrete pole, a light fixture and· a solar panel. We have decided to rebid and run conventional electricity instead of solar. The locations for the dog watering stations will be determined after the trails are in. ABC Creative has been selected to build the playground. They are working on getting the final costs put together. There is going to be some drainage issuesthere. A structural engineer has been hired to look at the bridges and provide an estimate on replacement or rehabilitation. More information will be brought to the next meeting. Trees shrubs in Areas B & C up on Carrwood we are going tie in from the street to the Prairie Sunset Trail. We plan to.meet next week to meet outthere to make sure it is a· safe crossing. It is the same at the south end figuring out how to transition into the trail system from Carrwood. We might have to. do some additional tree work to make it all fit. Some of the signs and kiosks have been ordered. Once we get the playground designed it should go in by the first of the.summer. We should be building trails by mid-summer. We hope to be done by August or September. 9 OJ Watson Park Committee Update (Troy Houtman) Houtman stated there was a request that every board member appoint a committee member. They met but he.has not had a chance to get briefed on that. There was discussion on making adjustments to the OJ Watson Master Plan. There are things being looked at to reprioritize. There will be an update next meeting. 10 Aquatics Master Plan Update (Troy Houtman) Houtman stated on Friday, the week priorto last, three design teams came in and did their presentation. We have chosen one, but it is not official so he can't share yet. He will send an email as soon as it becomes official. Palmer added it was a great meeting. They were really good teams and the one that was chosen is the right one. Houtman stated the presentations BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING April 9, 2018 Page 3 of 5 were all from the master plan, which goes to Council. They make approval based on recommendations. Hopefully next month we will have.a contract signed. Then we can work on design late May, June and July. We still have not decided on location f or the poolin District I, we are waiting on Councilmember Johnson on that. We will bring ideas and designs to. board. Hillman asked ifthe same design will be used on all splash pads. Houtman responded we put on the RFP the mechanics will be identical on all the splash pads. We are looking at a 2,000-2,500 foot print. Each neighborhood will have a unique design, drawing on the creativity of the designers. Some designs will use the existing shell ofthe pool being incorporated into the design. We will be using the bathhouses from the existing pool into the designs. We gave them some strong skeleton items to follow. Elizabeth Bishop, 8518 E Long Lake Vernette Chance, 10316 E Countryside Circle, stated there were eight in the original group that worked to try to salvage McAdams Pool. Bishop stated she has talked with Houtman expressing her concerns that the Aquatics Master Plan is inadequate for a city of our size. She would like to'see more community support come forward. The progress is good. She would like to see a splash pad incorporated along with a pool for that area, especially if it can be kept separate so you can utilize the splash pad with no admittance charge. Houtman responded one of the ideas was similar to that. It was a double gate, so while the pool is open the splash pad would be open, and you would pay an entrance fee to get in. When the pool is closed the gates are switched and give you access to the splash pad. We are looking at pricing as a part of the design discussion. Bishop stated one thing we want to bring is that we are committed to working with this long term, Also from the standpoint of promoting pool and making sure that it is highly utilized. We will be working with the community on an ongoing basis. Chance stated they submitted a plan to Lavonta Williams and has since been transferred to Council member Brandon Johnson. We held a Reunion party and had about 400 in attendance tryingto prove th_ere is support in the McAdams community for something in that park. On the first day of spring break Cindy Donaldson, from the original committee, received.a grant from Devaughn James for $500. Her.plan was to invite student to a Spring Break Ba.sh. We had 138 children in the rec center. People will come out, ifis a matter of getting their trust. We need to get more kids involved in this. Actually setting up committees and include kids on them. Our business plan has written for months. Bishop added they would like to see support for actual programs at the pools. Bishop stated she did support the Plates for Parks amendment. She would like to be invited to the signing. Houtman respon_ded they are more than welcome to attend. Chance added we are going to have some events this summer like movies in the park underthe trees. Houtman responded that as a department we,are very supportive_of all th.ese things. This isn't just happening in District I, it happens in all communities. We are talking to the folks from My Neighbors, they are working in Council member Clendenin's district. They had a meeting today talking about taking over some of our program. We are supportive and want to work with these folks, itjust takes communication and time to meet. The sooner we put these meetings and discussions in place,. the more we can have an outcome atthe end. There is only so much he_can do as the Director, he.takes direction from Council. As a board that is influential with council, you hear from your constituents and share with your councilmembers. We provide feedback and direction, but it is their decision and their choice. It.is upto Councilmember Johnson to decide the right location for the District I swimming pool. It is going to be important that the community steps up and participates in a big impact. Chance stated their concern is that it has been sitting there so long that people who signed on are going to lose•interest. Houtman added whether it is at Edgemoor or McAdams, BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING April 9, 2018 Page4 of_S