Board of Park Commissioners

Board of Park Commissioners . Regular Meeting Minutes Monday, December 10, 2018 3:00- 5:00 P.M. C I T• Y n O F 455 N Main City Hall 1'1 Floor Board Room WICHITA Wichita, Kansas 67202 Members Present: Bill Ramsey, Hoyt Hillman, Troy Palmer, Alejo Cabral, Eddie Fahnestock, Tori Deatherage Members by Telephone: Ty Tabing City Staff: Troy Houtman (Director, Park & Recreation), Penny Garding (Clerk), Elizabeth Harlenske {Assistant City Attorney), Troy Hendricks, Reggie Davidson Guests: Dale Geter, Cindy Renard, George Kolb Item DescriQtion Call to Order Troy Palmer, President, called the meeting to order at approximately 3:02 p.m. Announcements There were no Announcements. Public Comments There were no Public Comments. 1 Approve Minutes Recommended Action: Approve, sign and file minutes of the November 19, 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 November 19, 2018 Board of Park Commissioners Regular Meeting (7-0). 2 New Items for Consideration There were no New Items to consider. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGUtAR MEETING December 10, 2018 Page 1 of 17 3A MacDonald Golf Course RFP Houtman stated we have gone through the process of sending out the Request for Proposal. We received one bid and it was presented to the Review Committee. They looked at it last Tuesday and this past Saturday morning. They have a presentation they want to share. 1. Dale Goter, 2625 W Cornelison, stated he is part of a group that was organized as a product of the discussions on the MacDonald Golf Course sale. He will be sharing the presentation with two other group members. He recognized committee members: Anthony Jenkins, Cindy Renard, Nancy Knopp, George Kolb, Rick Navarro and Rod Hoover. Cindy Renard, 1110 Royal Road. Presently we have five unique courses and five unique markets. They are positioned well in the four corners and center of the city. All of these courses work together as one, support one another and are the cornerstones of their surrounding neighborhoods. It is the common goal of the citizens of Wichita and the Park Board to be good stewards of our park lands. The ad hoc committee is concerned citizens and golfers who care about the future and viability of golf in Wichita. Now is the time to take the steps to ensure quality golf for generations to come. Wichita has the opportunity with the First Tee program and Wichita Junior Golf to grow the game exponentially. With the learning complex at Mac and with LW Clapp the east side of Wichita could become the breeding ground for the next generation of golfers. We are only three years away from the start of these young golfers hitting our courses as high schoolers. Now is the time to plan for the future. We need to explore options at building our golf system to accommodate and welcome not only the upcoming youth but golfers of all ages. One thing that has been clear from the past year of turmoil within the golf division is that there needs to be a big change. We can no longer afford our current model. That is why the ad hoc committee is advocating to engage an outside entity to provide an independent and unbiased evaluation of our system and operations and to look at the options to enable our system to flourish. Goter stated the reason the committee is here is because this idea came forward. If you weren't talking on selling MacDonald he would be playing golf today. That is the thing that got our attention; that things are so bad that we are thinking about selling one of our primary assets. That is a dramatic move. We want the Park Board to take the lead in advocating for a quality golf system. We need people with some authority and some.status to do that. We all want the same goal. We talked about how we got here. It is a recognition that the current golf system is not sustainable. There was a golf sustainability study but it failed to identify any reasonable solutions. Rounds are decreasing, although there is a reason for optimism as Cindy noted. Revenue is declining and expenses are BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING December 10, 2018 Page 2 of 17 increasing. The quality of MacDonald and Clapp have declined over the past years and that has been a contributing factor. We are looking at management model that is flawed. It is a top down model. Golf professionals at the respective courses have skills and talents that are not fully utilized to benefit the system. The pros feel they need to be empowered to responsibly operate their courses. There are no incentives for the course pros to promote their facilities. There is no clear evaluation process to measure the effectiveness of the course operations and profitability. We don't see the pros have performance objectives or incentives. Their objective should be to improve each golf course. Each course is different and requires unique strategies. Sixty percent of the Enterprise Fund goes to administrative costs. Are they excessive or appropriate? Are there unrealistic demands on the Enterprise Fund to pay debt? The big one is the $SM at Auburn Hills. Auburn Hills has contributed so many tax dollars to the City of Wichita, far beyond the expectations of that $SM debt. The marketing strategies have not been effective. There needs to be greater interaction with the golfing public and a much more proactive promotion of social golf. Social golf is the key to expanding the number of rounds played at our courses. A better customer friendly environment would help. Customer services has always been a challenge and there is room for improvement. They are budgeting to revenue. It is a very limiting strategy. You are never able to get progressive about investing in your courses. Course conditions have to be improved. They have declined over the past years. There may be some missed opportunities for increasing revenues. George Kolb-13529 E Buckskin Court. We are not telling you anything you don't already know. We are too close it, we need someone to come in with an objective point of view and give us a critique of the current management model. What it looks like, how it is operating, is it efficient, is it the best possible model we can put together. This City does not have a vision of what golf is in this community. We have no objectives, we are willy nilly trying to sell golf courses. First it is Clapp then its MacDonald. We ought to take a more proactive focused approach to delivering golf services in this community. The question cannot be answered appropriately, how many golf courses can this community support. We are asking that you bring in an outside organization who specializes in this who can give advice on the appropriate mix of courses, marketing, strategic plan development for the golf system so it can get off to a good start. There needs to be a review and a critique of our current operating model. A strategic plan that has goals and objectives in terms of what the system can support needs to be developed. Then, how do we implement a marketing plan that will attract more golfers, support our junior golfers and begin to create a future for our golf system. We want you to take this seriously. We want you to take a look at it. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING December 10, 2018 Page 3 of 17  Whatever the recomme.ndations that come out of the independent study, you need to take a serious look at it and a serious try to implement it. We have tried in the past, implemented some things and it has not worked. We need someone else to take an outside look at it and tell us what we need to be doing. Geter stated the bottom line is the same thing we said originally, it would be great for the Park Board to help lead in a different direction. 2. Golf Advisory Committee/Troy Hendricks Hendricks stated the Golf Advisory Committee met a couple weeks ago to talk about what their recommendation to the Park Board should be. The goal of the Golf Division is to provide high quality golfing opportunities to every citizen and provide golf at a cost that is of value for our patrons and provide excellent customer service and support the youth and seniors of our community. That has been the mission statement for as long as he can remember. It hasn't changed and is what they continue to strive for on a daily basis. The City of Wichita has offered municipal golf for 100 years. Facilities are distributed throughout the metro area and meet the needs of our citizens. Facilities are open year round and offer a variety of designs, characteristics and challenges. Currently the City operates five exceptional golf courses: Auburn Hills, Arthur B Sim, LW Clapp, MacDonald and Tex Consolver. The Golf Division's future was set on July 6, 2018, at a special Park Board meeting. A motion was made and seconded to close LW Clapp on September 30, 2018. That passed 4-3. This vote created a future four course system of MacDonald, Arthur B Sim, Tex Consolver and Auburn Hills. These facilities will still be distributed throughout the metro area to meet the needs of the citizens of Wichita. This decision was not to create additional competition with the sale of MacDonald Golf Course. The golf sustainability study recommended the closing of LW Clapp. The golf sustainability recommendation was a four course system that improved our projected operating losses from being almost $600,000 for 2019 to being just over $33,000 for the system, which would be almost a $570,000 savings for the year. When the Park Board voted to close, this is what the understanding was based on the sustainability study and everything that is incorporated through it. We have multiple partnerships throughout the community. We have been in partnership with the Wichita Junior Golf Foundation since 1974. They have been working with the Board of Park Commissioners to bring affordable player development and youth programs to this city for the last 44 years. This has always been a verbal commitment, not in writing. The Park Board has allowed this organization to continue operating these programs at these golf courses. The first year these programs were held at MacDonald, Arthur B Sim and Pawnee BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING December 10, 2018 Page 4 of 17 Prairie, which is now Tex Consolver. Courses have been added over the last 44 years: LW Clapp, WSU, Echo Hills, Hidden Lakes, Clearwater Greens, Pine Bay, Auburn Hills and Sierra Hills. Some of those facilities have left the program. Currently programming is only at the five city municipal golf courses. In 2018, 530 juniors participated in the program. That is a 22% increase over 2017. The Golf Division will continue to meet the needs of the Wichita Junior Golf Foundation programming for east side citizens with the scheduled closing of LW Clapp, even with this 22% growth. We still have capacity to take those kids in the program at MacDonald Golf Course. With the closure of Clapp and the possible sale of MacDonald we do not have the ability to meet those needs now or in future years. We continue to market for them, we handle all their registration through our website, we maintain their website. We now own it and do everything and update everything as they would like to see done with all their programming so it is current and up to date with everything they are doing. We also partner with the Wichita, Goddard, Maize and Bishop Carroll high schools. Auburn Hills hosts Maize South and Bishop Carroll. Tex Consolver hosts Wichita Northwest, Eisenhower and Goddard. Arthur B Sim hosts West and North. MacDonald hosts East and Heights. With the scheduled closure of Clapp, South will be moving to MacDonald. We also work with some of the independent schools and Collegiate, if they have kids that are looking at playing golf that are not able to play at some of the private clubs they will come and use our courses on occasion. With the potential sale of MacDonald we will not be able to meet the needs of these schools. We will have three schools that we will need to find a place for them to go to or have to take the three schools that are not part of the city of Wichita and ask them to go away. These are the things we need to look at when looking at the possible sale of MacDonald Golf Course. How will it affect all of our partnerships? We entered into a partnership in the last couple years with the First Tee of Greater Wichita. It was to increase player development at MacDonald and Tex Consolver. We created a public driving range on the east side of MacDonald which will be opening in the spring or early fall. We are working with them to develop the next generation of golfers in our community. The Green Grass program reached over 240 juniors in 2018 with programs at Terradyne, MacDonald and Tex Consolver. We are always looking for new partnerships and ways to grow the game in the city of Wichita. We have worked with Envision and started programming in 2014. In 2018 we hosted a clinic for 49 golfers who are blind or have vision impairment. They had a fantastic time. This program is provided at no cost to Envision. The Golf Division subsidizes it and we donate the facility for them to be able to do this program. If MacDonald were to BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING December 10, 2018 Page 5 of 17 go away from our system, there will be no place for them to do their programming in the future. Our biggest partner is the City of Wichita. They worked with us when we needed golf carts, they helped provide funding of close to $1M to purchase golf carts in 2017. We use the Park Department divisions: Forestry, Recreation and Park Maintenance. When we have MacDonald golf course multiple fence repairs. Pad Maintenance staff repairs those fences at a substantially less cost to us. Forestry has come in to take down trees that are no longer alive or are a detriment. They spent approximately 16 weeks at MacDonald in 2017 removing trees and cutting out dead limbs. The estimated cost would be around $180,000-$200,000 if a tree company came in and did the work. They did this for us because we are part of the Park Department. Finance does all of our budgets for us. We work with the Purchasing Department when we need to purchase chemicals. We use the purchasing cards which makes it more convenient for our staff when they need to make purchases. We work with Human Resources for posting jobs and taking care of all the benefits for our staff. When we have things that come up we work with the Law Department. Even though people believe the City isn't there for us, they really are. Under the current pass system we have 1,422 passes sold in 2017. That generated about $285,000 in revenue, the co-pays the pass holders pay generated around $434,000 in revenue. Combined that is $720,000 and is about 28% of our revenue for the year. These pass holders generate about 38% of the rounds played at our golf courses. In 2019 we are going to propose a new fee structure that will generate approximately $216,000 of additional income, which will eliminate the copays for the season pass holders. They can come out and play at no cost. We will continue to provide affordable golf to the public; annual passes; driving ranges and training facilities; PGA professionals to provide affordable lessons, who will offer the most player development programs in the area; we have the largest cart fleet in the area and we will continue to offer multiple platforms of social engagement for golfers through our mobile app and website. We met with the superintendents about developing some shorter tee systems at the City courses to accommodate those that feel like the red tees are too long. We want to continue figuring out how we can capitalize the stormwater drainage for MacDonald Golf Course. We want to continue to improve course conditions at all courses. Part of that is being done through converting fairways from cool season grasses to warm season grasses such as Bermuda. We continue to market BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING December 10, 2018 Page 6 of 17  player development programs. We want to enhance the player experience through using our technology. Our mobile app is in the top 12 in the world from the company that develops it. We want to continue to promote the Play 9 initiative. Palmer stated this recommendation still falls in line with the sustainability study, which this Board voted to close Clapp. We don't have any control over Clapp, it is still open. Houtman responded you do have control over the land. That is land you can sell if you wanted to. At this point that is not anything that has been suggested. You can make recommendations to Council and staff regarding operations. We would take those into consideration and work those within our operational guidelines. We want to keep you involved and informed on all the operations. You do not have control over day to day operations. Palmer stated six months ago we voted 4-3 to close Clapp. Which, according to the sustainability study and what Mr. Hendricks just presented, by not having Clapp would put us in a better situation, which was the purpose of why we decided to close Clapp. Houtman responded the direction we received is to continue to move forward with a master plan for Clapp to see what that will turn out to be and at that point in time that should help dictate what the final decision of Clapp Golf Course will be. We met several times with an internal group of staff. We will be working on doing community engagement to deliver that message to the public and get feedback from them on what that greenspace could be. Would it be an additional park, could we put a splash pad there, could it be a dog park or could we put disc golf there? That is the process we are looking at in the next 3-4 months. We have dates already scheduled and committees already set. We hope to put that plan to action right after the new year. Palmer stated it still, like it did six months ago, makes sense to close Clapp. Ramsey asked Mr. Hendricks on the agenda it has you as Golf Advisory Committee/Troy Hendricks. Are you doing your report as the Golf Advisory Committee or as the Park Department? Are you the liaison for the committee? Hendricks responded he was asked by the GAC to make the presentation. Ramsey confirmed Hendricks is not a liaison for the committee because he has some pretty serious questions for the Committee. Fahnestock stated this provides a clearer vision for the golf enterprise system moving forward which is what we as a Park Board wanted. 3. RFP Subcommittee Houtman stated we received one bid from GreatllFE Golf. It was a bid for $850,000 for the sale of the course. There were some other items also included BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING December 10, 2018 Page 7 of 17 regarding a percentage of the sale of any amenities that would happen to be put in place there. That was not a huge number either. They did have some other ideas regarding putting in some new amenities and working with the neighborhood in putting some other upgrades to the area. We met last week on Tuesday and shared that information with the committee doing the research. We wanted to do more discussing and thinking and finished the meeting on Saturday morning at Botanica. They did come up with a recommendation. Fahnestock thanked everyone involved in the process, especially Mr. Houtman, Mr. Hendricks, Mr. Rigby, Ms. Walker, Bill, Alejo, Debbie, Cory and Tom. And finally to GreatLIFE for seeing this process through. Based on the purchase price, the proposed improvements, the overall uncertainty of what this could mean for public golf in Wichita and the strong desire to provide a quality product to the community, the selection committee unanimously recommends we reject the proposal to sell MacDonald Golf Course and operate as a four course golf enterprise system. We feel the golf system can be sustainable if we continue to improve our overall efficiency in terms of marketing and operations, make necessary capital improvements to entice golfers to play and stay, such as concessions, merchandise and all that. And, improve communication between the Golf Advisory Committee, Park Board, City Staff and Councilmembers. With the number of golfers in Wichita we felt we would be competing for rounds and revenue if we accepted the proposal. We also want to see how the migration of golfers from Clapp to MacDonald will affect the sustainability of our golf system. He also would encourage those involved in the Clapp master plan to strongly consider a driving range and practice area to be utilized as a catalyst site for First Tee, Junior Golf and beginner level golfers of all ages. We need to come together as a united front and challenge all Wichitans to get out and play golf so that this system can be sustainable. The possibility of losing the relationship with the First Tee would be catastrophic. The First Tee and Junior Golf are the future of golf and 'we need to continue to nurture and cultivate those existing relationships so that we can thrive in the future. Ramsey stated going through this process has been real eye opening and unfortunately Mr. Goter, you have solidified the opinion that we don't run golf courses very well. The golf system needs a lot more support than what it has. If the City says we want to support golf, then we need the people who have the authority to make allocations of funds stand up and say "we support golf." If they don't do that, he can't promise we will have the same result next time. We do not have the authority to allocate funds for this, we can only make recommendations. We need support by the City. You can request to speak to City Council on any Tuesday, they control the money. We have to take what is put in front of us and make decisions based on that. Ramsey stated he is BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING December 10, 2018 Page 8 of 17  disheartened with the Golf Advisory Committee. They are out there to help push _us in the right direction and give us recommendations. They knew when we were closing Clapp that we needed a lot of changes to the golf system. They waited until MacDonald before they said let's do a master plan. The Golf Advisory Committee needs to step up and make their voices heard to us. You have someone on the Park Board who has appointed you, please speak with them. If you are not talking to us we don't know what your recommendations are. MacDonald is an amazing asset to this city, nobody here want to lose it. He motioned that we reject the offer, and move forward as is with the recommendations of the RFP Committee. Motion by Ramsey, second by Palmer, IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED to reject the offer and move forward as is with the recommendations of the RFP Committee (7-0). Tabing left meeting 3:39 pm. Houtman stated we will go through the process of letting the bidders know of the outcome. Through these meetings we have had some of the best discussions we have ever had about golf. It was impressive to share the table with three members of the Golf Advisory Committee and three members of the Park Board to get to the facts and the right information. There has been a lot of misinformation and misinterpretation of some of the information that is out there. We were able to talk through all of it and have a good understanding of where the system is and where we want to go. From here this is only the foundation of where we need to go to make improvement to the golf system. Renard stated the meeting before last with the GAC they made a motion to bring in an independent review body. The same recommendation by the ad hoc committee was proposed today. She would encourage the board to take that under consideration and act on it. Palmer responded they will take it under consideration, but it would cost money. Deatherage inquired if it is standard protocol for the rest of the board to not receive the proposals if you are not on the selection committee. Houtman responded we could have provided those today if you wanted them, we could still provide those if you still want them. Typically once the subcommittee meets you work with them and they make the presentation and bring it forward, which is what is typical of city operations. Goter inquired if you would recommend that we take our recommendation to pursue independent study and go to Council. Palmer responded that is where it will have to start. Goter added you are turning down our overture they helped us ... Ramsey added he agrees that we need to be advocates. We don't get to BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING December 10, 2018 Page 9 of 17  make budget decisions. Goter added we have your endorsement of the idea that it would be useful to go to Council and say the Park Board agrees that is the path you should take. Your Golf Advisory Committee made that recommendation that you ... Palmer stated we made that recommendation six months ago when we decided to close Clapp that we needed to do a study. Six months later we have handed it off to the City. It is up to the City Council to handle it. Houtman stated what we are working on is focused on Clapp. We talked about focusing on Clapp and getting community engagement about what we can do with Clapp. Ramsey responded Goter stated we need that to happen for the golf system as whole. They are looking for an outside third party to come in and evaluate and make recommendations. There-are going to have to be funds allocated to make that happen. Deatherage inquired if we know roughly how much that would cost. Houtman responded almost a year ago it was a quick phone call and talking somewhere in the neighborhood of $50,000-$100,000. It depends on how in depth they want to get. Renard added with the National Golf Foundation, she talked with Ed Getherall about a month ago and he estimated $25,000-$45,000 depending on the in depth report. Palmer stated we can make a recommendation. Hillman motioned that we recommend an independent outside review of the golf system. Ramsey second. Unanimous vote. Motion by Hillman, second by Ramsey, IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED that we recommend an independent outside review of the golf system. {6-0) Goter inquired if that will then get formally presented to council? Palmer responded yes. Houtman stated it will be placed into the Minutes and then from those Minutes it will be shared with Council. Palmer stated they will then let us know if they will consider it. Audience member inquired if they could be informed of the timeframe of when that will be presented. Palmer responded you will know when we know. Deatherage added the Council agenda is public and you can go online and check it. Several of the audience members exited the meeting at approximately 3:50 p.m. 3B Bylaws - Harlenske Harlenske stated she sent out, with 10 day lead time as required by the Bylaws, the proposed bylaws. She sent a clean copy and also what is called a delineated copy that shows what is changed. She incorporated everything asked for at the last meeting. We are changing the time of elections because of the appointment change. She did not secure from the board by what month the nominating committee should be appointed. She took what was in the current bylaws and applied to the new month. The nominating committee will be appointed in April and present the slate of officers at June meeting and have elections. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGUlAR MEETING December 10, 2018 Page 10 of 17  Motion by Ramsey; second by Deatherage, IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO approve the proposed bylaws. (6-0) Harlenske stated per the bylaws these have to go to Council to be approved. Palmer made a motion to adjourn the meeting and inquired if anyone had any objections. Ramsey asked if there was anything to be presented on Pawnee Prairie Park or Aquatics. 8 Pawnee Prairie Park Update (David McGuire) McGuire stated we are trying to implement the signage program. We are working to get the kiosk signage prepared, what the rules will be and what the signage is going to look like. If you go through the presentation handout you can see the changes being talking about. We are close to getting the bike trail done they have completed the lower loop. Now they are working on the west side of the park where the bike path goes up towards the north end of the park. Once they get that completed they will start putting in all the signage. We are getting closer to getting the project done. Weather will impede the finishing of the bike path. We just need to implement the start up. Ramsey stated he has had numerous inquiries, did we take down all the • signage already? McGuire responded no, we have had some vandalism. We put up signage that said the equestrian trails were not open to any kind of bike usage. We put "no bikes allowed" and had fiberglass delineators and other signs and they got taken down. We are trying to replace those. We also put some signage at the main entrances to the park that says please be respectful, we have not opened up the bike path yet, it is not ready for bike usage. We are having bikes in the park and equestrians using the bike trail already. The quicker we get the trails done we can get the signage out which should help alleviate all that. We might have to patrol it for a while to get control of the situation. Houtman added one of the biggest issues has been the vandalism. We did a huge effort to make sure we had good signage out there. Next thing you know we find all of our restrictions on bicycle signage have been torn apart and all over the place. We are finding some of the equestrian people riding their horses on the paved area already. The biggest step is going to have to be a lot of education. We might need people out there to help teach and show how to use. We want to go to the DAB and talk to them to let them know what is going on. That is going to be postponed but as soon as we get all the signage in and everything is in place we want to hit on some educational efforts on how to use park. McGuire added we can do some programming going out and having a walk or run and educate this is the area you use. Then have an equestrian event and invite them to come out and this is the area you get to use. Then have a bicycle event and this is the area you get to use. It is going to take a while to get it going. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING December 10, 2018 Page 11 of 17 10 Aquatics Master Plan Update (Troy Houtman) Houtman stated a few months back we did a presentation to the Council Workshop and presented three options. One option was going to be the upgrade of four swimming pools and adding eight splash pads. Option 2 was to have one giant water park and then 10-12 splash pads. The last option was to upgrade and operate six swimming pools and establish six splash pads. We are getting more information on option 3 about what those six pools would look like. The majority of those dollars are going into the operations and mechanics of the swimming pool, the pumps, the filtration system, the disinfectant system and all the upgrade needed to meet ADA code. We are hoping to have that all together after Christmas and make some presentations to the City Manager and Council. In February or March we will take it to the Park Board as well as all the DABs making sure everyone knows what the options are. Then take it to Council so they can vote on it in April or May. 4 Recreation Update (Reggie Davidson) Davidson stated October was a busy month with fall fun festivals. 'Edgemoor had one of the bigger ones with over 5,000 attending. Woodard had a new event, a cheer showcase, where the cheerleading squads from several teams came to show what they can do for a fundraiser for center to help offset some of the scholarships offered to kids who want to participate in our programs. Night with Santa was successful with over 2,000 attending. This year they incorporated some entertainment with some of the groups in the community and the mascots from Police, Fire, Hockey and Park and Rec. We finished out the summer well. Athletics had some large events, including one of our largest softball tournaments that had close to 80 teams. People came from the Oklahoma and Kansas City areas for the event. There will be some new things after the first of year as well. Palmer asked how the Polar Express is doing. Houtman responded it is sold out. They had to add several extra sessions. We tried to accommodate the waiting list. 5 Golf Update (Troy Hendricks) Hendricks stated rounds are down 8% ytd. At the end of May last year we were down 15-16%. Revenue is down 7% and expenditures are also down 7%. Net income is much better than last year. The big difference is that we have made all of our internal services payments to the City other than to Fleet and IT. Palmer asked Houtman how we start the conversation about the debt service for Auburn Hills.· Houtman responded staff has made that recommendation several times, whether it has been at budget time or discussions about what we want the golf system to look like in the future, where our vision is. We have not made a debt payment the past two years. It just extends it, we are not paying interest and we don't get penalties. To relieve us of that debt would be huge. It would help us with $250,000-$300,000 a year to replace equipment and do other things. It is not going to break us but it is something we would like to have. We have shared that with the BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGUlAR MEETING December 10, 2018 Page 12 of 17 City Manager and Finance and we share it every year at budget time. That decision is made at Council level. They are aware of it but maybe they need to be more aware. There may be a greater discussion to have with Council and the City Manager. What are unintended consequences of relieving the debt? Apparently there are folks depending on that $SM to be infused into other CIP projects. Palmer asked how we can find out what the property was purchased for and then what the sites sold for, what is the financial impact of all those homes that have been sold. He is confident the money the City has made probably outweighs the debt that is left. Houtman stated they shared that information with the Golf Advisory Committee. We have had at least 4-5 meetings with that topic. We have had Mr. Manning come and explain the debt on the expenses it took to build the golf course and what are the economic impacts. Some of that is speculative regarding whose opinion you want to look at. We can set a meeting with Mr. Manning so you can hear that perspective as well. We can do a workshop with the Park Board as well. Palmer stated like the Golf Advisory Committee, we have these conversations year after year, we talk about how we have this debt that we have to continue to pay. He understands we are not paying it, but as soon as Clapp closes and if MacDonald does what it does and starts to make money, the City is going to want their debt service payment. We are still not going to put any money back into our golf courses. We are still going to have this conversation in a year, two years. Houtman responded it is not about serving popcorn or changing the furniture, we need to come up with a way that is going to get us revenue. Not just an extra $100,000 here or there, but millions. Or we need to find how quality of life initiatives and dollars can go back into the golf courses. Also, into the swimming pools, rec centers, parks and library. There are a lot of different needs out there. We've taken some steps to make the golf fund sustainable, but there is still a lot to do. He agrees that there are certain opportunities we cannot take advantage of at this time. We have shared those frustrations. If we are given a directive to continue to pay the debt service, that is the directive he is given and he can't change that. Palmer stated the conversation has to keep happening. The only way this system is going to ever amount to anything is if we start putting money back into it. Ramsey stated the City needs to stand up and say we support the golf system and we want to have golf in Wichita. This would be one way to do it. Palmer added it is going to take us and the Golf Advisory Committee, more than 11 th floor. Is that to the City Manager or City Council first? Houtman responded it is being strategic about it but also being diplomatic about it. is having some good discussions. We learned a lot at our Tuesday and Saturday meetings. The group was very interested in learning about all the ins and outs. Having that sit down conversation with the City Manager, Mr. Manning, and maybe a couple Councilmembers, to sit down and talk about it. We have the information and have shared the facts. Palmer responded he does not know if this Board has seen the BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING December 10, 2018 Page 13 of 17 facts. Houtman responded we can do a presentation or a workshop and share all the information given to the Golf Advisory Committee with the Park Board as well. Palmer asked that at our January meeting we get this information, factual information of what the sales were, what the purchase was, so we can take factual information to talk to whoever. Having those facts could go a long way. Houtman added there is a lot of information regarding what happened and how the debt came into place. That is good information that we shared with the Golf Advisory Committee. Regarding what the value is, it keeps coming up to the repayment of the golf course that is subjective, it depends on people's personal view on that. You need to hear both sides to have a better understanding of it. Palmer asked who is both sides. Houtman responded opinions from people like Mr. Schodorf and Mr. Ferris, about why the debt should be forgiven. Mr. Goter had that in one of the bullet points he talked about today. You can hear the opinion from the Budget office of what that actually means. Palmer stated getting us that information first then we can figure out. Those guys have great opinions and they have great wordsmithing on which way to lean. It would be beneficial for us to look at it and have our own conversation about it and then decide who to talk to. Houtman stated at the next meeting we could have Mr. Manning go over the whole process, the debt service, how it came about and why it is there. Mr. Ferris would be great person to talk about his perspective on the value of what has happened at the golf course, that it has paid for itself already and why the debt should be forgiven. Anthony Jenkins asked Houtman about one of the meetings with Mayor Longwell and Mr. Layton, the Mayor said the debt service means nothing to anyone. It is not hurting anyone, it is there whether you are paying it or not. What do you think he meant by that. Houtman responded he is all for getting rid of the debt. We have been asking for it for years. He does not have the authority to get rid of it. It has to come from the Council. From the Mayor's perspective it is $SM on a $200M capital projects year. On a 10 year capital budget we are looking at billions of dollars, so $SM out of that doesn't hurt anything. Forgiveness of that is as simple as a stroke of the pen. You will hear that perspective from Mr. Manning as well. He is relying on those dollars, he has to balance and is expecting those dollars to come up from a certain way. Until someone tells him to do that, he is on this directive until someone tells him otherwise. Palmer stated the Mayor looks at it is not hurting anything, not doing anything today. Today the golf system is losing hundreds of thousands of dollars so the chances of that money being repaid today is slim so he is saying it is not hurting anything for it to be on there. But, the second the golf fund starts making money, they are going to get a little more interested in getting some of that debt paid back. As long as it is on our books the second the golf system starts making money they are going to start wanting it. Houtman stated the less overhead there is for the golf system the easier it is for them to operate and be sustainable. Everyone BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING December 10, 2018 Page 14 of 17 knows you have to reinvest. Palmer added we are not. Even in their current structure, unless we start paying debt services we are not going to be putting money back in our golf courses. Houtman responded we have, but not using enterprise dollars. We used $1M for golf carts. We used other capital dollars for renovations to some of the courses. We are working on the cart path at Auburn Hills and that is not coming from the golf fund. Palmer stated this board would like to see the information, it would help with those conversations. Houtman stated we will provide that information to you. Deatherage stated in addition to the information on the Rounds report she would like to see information on new things being worked on, whether it is marketing or cutting down at Clapp or MacDonald's club house is completely bare. We should know more of that kind of stuff in addition to the hard numbers of revenue. Palmer asked if it would be possible for the golf pros to provide an update of what is going on at their course to be included in Hendricks' report. Hendricks responded he gets the information from the pros and superintendents and can include it. Houtman added maybe Fahnestock can come to their staff meeting to listen and then present some o that back to the Board. Palmer does not want to put that on him. Houtman responded it doesn't have to be every time, but maybe one time. Fahnestock responded yes, just communicate the date and time he will try to make it work. Moving forward if he can get a bullet point highlight of things. Deatherage added if each course could give a couple good and a couple bad things. Ramsey asked if we could get some kind of better report on the Golf Advisory Committee. We are not getting the full impact of their discussions or understanding of what has been happening. It feels like we are getting knee jerk reactions. Deatherage asked if it would be possible to send the board's information to the Golf Advisory Committee. We've told them we are disappointed in their communication, just kind of an extra nudge to look for who your appointee is and reach out to them. We've kept who's been there in the past because we rely on their expertise. But if they can't fulfil their job and stay in contact with us maybe we need to reconsider who we have on the committee. Houtman added there are a couple things to consider. There are a few members that are going to resign, we will need to fill those spots if that is what we really want to use that group for. When they first were developed it was more to focus on customer service, giving a little feedback on greens as well as some minor operational items regarding the golf courses. Now they are into major policy decisions. How much do you really want them involved and what are your expectations from them? We need to hone in on that. If it is policy issues there has to be more communication. When we have been sending information, Garding sends to both Golf Advisory Committee and to the Park Board. We can send a list of names of who they are assigned to. There needs to be some BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING December 10, 2018 Page 1S of 17 ' really hard thoughts on what we want the Golf Advisory Committee to do. They need some clear direction from the Park Board to make that happen. Ramsey stated that is a great point. Is there any kind of mission statement for Golf Advisory Committee? What is their role? Houtman responded not really. The Golf Advisory Committee was set up as a temporary committee, just like the Aquatics Master Plan was a temporary committee, to address some of these things and get feedback. For one reason or another they stayed very focused and together and really felt like their role was very large. Hillman stated the Golf Advisory Committee used to report directly to City Council. Through the City Manager and Finance they had access to,all of the finance records and could understand what was going on. The current structure hasn't, in the last several years, allowed that. That ' has made a big difference. If you don't know what you are promoting or why you are promoting it that is going to change your viewpoint. If we are going to get involved in this, at some level, some group, whether it is the Advisory Group or the Park Board, needs full access to the finances. He does not know if this group wants to get that deep into it. It might be better to go back and assign that to the Advisory Board and seek some valuable new members. Houtman responded we have given them full access to any kind of financial information. We have given them every single document they have asked for. We have provided a lot of staff time. He disagrees with Hillman, we really spent a lot of time making sure they had every single piece of information they asked for, every resource they asked for. Hillman responded something simple, just the water bill from every club. That was denied repeatedly. He was told numerous times that the information was not available, it is not broken down. Hendricks responded the water bill is sent to the Controller's Office. They put it on a spreadsheet and it is spread out over the golf system, based on OCAs. We don't actually get a water bill like you get at your house. Houtman added but you get what is charged to each golf course. It really doesn't matter because the whole golf system pays for it anyway. Hillman added that is just one example. It became difficult to get full information. Houtman stated he disagrees. If someone came to ask for that he would make sure it happens. Houtman read the mission statement from the Bylaws for the Golf Advisory Committee. It states committee members are appointed by or removed by their respective Board of Park Commissioner representatives approved by the Park Board. It also states the committee members shall communicate with their respective Board of Park Commissioners members on a regular basis. In their bylaws it says that they are appointed by the Park Board and it talks about they need to have communication with their Park Board Representative. Harlenske added they also developed a specific attendance policy in 2015. Ramsey stated he would like to have a copy of the Bylaws. He inquired if there is no stated purpose. Harlenske responded there is a Mission Statement and read the mission statement. Houtman stated a few years ago when there were questions regarding customer service, how the golf BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING December 10, 2018 Page 16 of 17  courses were operated, they conducted secret shoppers, there was training on how to do better customer service. That was what the focus of the Golf Committee was about. Not necessarily overarching policy decisions. Ramsey stated it would behoove Fahnestock to go over that with the Golf Advisory Committee and let them know what their role is. Based on conversations with several of them, their belief is that it is more than that. We do want recommendations from them. There is some misunderstandings. Palmer stated it would be a good idea if we know who our appointee is. Ramsey stated as part of our retreat we all agreed we would reach out to our Golf Advisory Committee member. 12 Director's Update (Troy Houtman) Houtman stated our state conference is at Hutchinson at the end of January. We have two staff members and one council member winning awards. Cindy Claycomb was nominated for her work not just as a Councilmember but also as a Park Board member. Daniel Sack won the Athletic award and Houtman won an award from the Administrative Branch of KRPA. 6 Golf Advisory Committee Update (Eddie Fahnestock) No Update Provided 7 Wichita Parks Foundation Update (Troy Houtman) No Update Provided 9 OJ Watson Park Committee Update (Troy Houtman) No Update Provided 11 President's Update (Troy Palmer) No Update Provided Cabral asked to have a moment at the next meeting. He has been working with the Director of the Arts Partners. They work with using art to teach kids about STEM. One of the things they are working on is reimagining and reengineering parks and what they look like for kids. She wanted to present what they are working on to the Park Board. Palmer responded yes we can put that on the agenda. Adjourn Motion by Deatherage, second by Ramsey, IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED to adjourn the meeting at 4:31 p.m. Meeting (6-0). The next regularly scheduled meeting will be held on Monday, January 14, 2018. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING December 10, 2018 Page 17 of 17