Board of Park Commissioners

Board of Park Commissioners Regular Meeting Minutes Monday, June 10, 2019 3:00 - 5:00 P.M. C I T Y 0 F 455 N Main WICHITA City Hall pt Floor Board Room Wichita, Kansas 67202 Members Present: Bill Ramsey, Hoyt Hillman, Tori Deatherage, Ty Tabing, Eddie Fahnestock, Alejo Cabral Members Absent: Troy Palmer City Staff: Troy Houtman (Director, Park & Recreation), Penny Garding (Clerk), Elizabeth Harlenske (Assistant City Attorney), David McGuire, Reggie Davidson, Troy Hendricks, Gentry Thiesen Guests: Tara Nolen (Tobacco Free Wichita) Item Descri�tion Call to Order Bill Ramsey, pt Vice President, called the meeting to order at approximately 3:03 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 May 13, 2019, Board of Park Commissioners Regular Meeting. Motion by Ramsey, second by Hillman, IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED to approve, sign and file the minutes of the May 13, 2019 Board of Park Commissioners Regular Meeting (6-0). 2A Renaming of Big Arkansas River Park Ramsey stated the proposal last month was to rename the Big Arkansas River Park to the M.S. Mitch Mitchell Floodway Park. There has not been any public input. Houtman stated he has received positive input. Ramsey stated he moves that the Big Arkansas River Park be renamed as the M.S. "Mitch" Mitchell Floodway Park. In support of said motion and in accordance with the requirements of Policy #13, he set forth the following observations: • M.S. "Mitch" Mitchell is deceased; • During his lifetime, M.S. "Mitch" Mitchell made significant contributions to the betterment of the City of Wichita by promoting economic development and minimizing flood damage by working tirelessly to promote the construction of the Wichita/Valley Center Floodway, now designated as the M.S. "Mitch" Mitchell Floodway. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING June 10, 2019 Page 1 of 18  • Mitchell was the Flood Control and Maintenance Supervisor for the City Council Flood Control Office for Sedgwick County and the City of Wichita from 1958-63. He had the vision to construct the project to divert floodwaters from the Wichita area. Known as "The Big Ditch" the project was constructed from 1950 to 1959 under Mitchell's supervision. The 18 mile long diversion is one of the largest in the nation is credited with saving the city from flooding many times as well saving lives, preventing millions of dollars in property damages and allowing for growth opportunities. • Mitchell no doubt contributed to the well-being of the Big Arkansas River Park by diverting the floodwaters that would have covered the park during times of extended and heavy rain. M.S. "Mitch" Mitchell clearly meets the requirements of City Council Policy #13 to qualify for the renaming the Big Arkansas River Park in his honor. Motion by Ramsey, second by Deatherage, IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED to rename the Big Arkansas River Park to the M.S. "Mitch" Mitchell Floodway Park (6-0). Houtman stated they would take the Board's recommendation to Council on July 9. They will use a lot of the information from the motion to create the agenda item. 2B Re-vamp Alcohol Ordinance Houtman introduced Gentry Thiesen, Senior Management Analyst, Park & Recreation Department. She will be sharing information regarding all of the special events we have been having with lots of requests for alcohol. The process is very cumbersome. She will be asking for motion and recommendation to request an ordinance change from City Council. Thiesen stated the number of requests for special events where attendees may consume alcohol in parks are increasing. Most recently was the Margarita Madness 5k Run at Southlake Park. State statute and City Code prohibit the consumption of alcohol in most city parks, but KSA41-719 allows City Council to grant exemptions on properties they hold title to. Some, but not all parks, currently allow the consumption of cereal malt beverage, or CMB, and 6% alcohol, but an exception to the ordinance must be made for any other types of alcoholic liquor to be consumed. The process of getting an exemption approved by City Council is lengthy and made complicated by the differences in allowances of alcohol in each park. Our proposal is a change in the ordinance that would make the Director of Park & Recreation and the Chief of Police the authority in offering exemptions. This would eliminate the need for City Council to offer exemptions to the ordinance in the case of special events only. Permitting requirements would remain the same, including that the applicant provides a map of the consumption area, security arrangements for the event are detailed and any road closures are made known, insurance is provided and the licensing fee is paid. Some considerations that have been made include the feasibility of the proposal being discussed with the Law Department as well as Councilman Brandon Johnson, District I expressing an interest in a change to the ordinance. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING June 10, 2019 Page 2 of 18  Hillman asked what Councilmember Johnson's interest in changing the ordinance is. Thiesen responded he is in favor of it. Houtman added an example is the planning for Juneteenth at McAdams Park. There are a lot of questions because part of McAdams is a city park and the other parts are owned by the Board of Park Commissioners. There was a lengthy discussion trying to find who the owners were, what locations the event was going to be on. It is a week-long celebration. We had to take the exemption to Council. It was lengthy and complicated. This would simplify those situations. Hillman stated if the Park Board approves properties they own and the City Council approves properties they own, it is pretty straight forward. Houtman responded this is an operational item and Park Board really only makes recommendations in these regards, they are not changing the ordinance. Through operational aspects we have the authority to do that on either piece of property. It gets complicated with different pieces of property with the different types of alcohol. It would speed up the process if the Park Department Director as well as the Chief of Police have the authority to do that. It makes things simpler for the applicants because then they are not waiting another month. A lot of times it is a situation where they need to get the approval sooner rather than later. We have different types of meetings for Council, the last Tuesday of every month there is no Council Meeting, the meeting prior is Consent Agenda, and usually includes a Workshop. That is two dates they miss and it gets very complicated with the scheduling. If staff had that authority we could streamline things much faster. Hillman thanked him for the explanation. Motion by Cabral, second by Hillman, IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED to adopt the recommended ordinance change proposed by staff (6-0). Houtman stated this recommendation will also be on the July 9 Council agenda. 2C Annual Election of Officers Ramsey stated the First Vice President and the Second Vice President are supposed to bring a slate to the meeting. In previous elections we just put people out there. We have to vote for President, First Vice President and Second Vice President. We also have six members here, what do we do in the event of a tie? Harlenske responded you have to have a majority to elect, with a tie you would have to just keep voting until you get a majority. Ramsey stated he has two members to recommend for President: Eddie Fahnestock and Hoyt Hillman. He then asked if there were other members to put forward. Tabing asked for clarification on making recommendations on the seven member and among ourselves decide. Harlenske inquired so there is no slate. Ramsey responded that is the slate we had for president. Harlenske explained the slate process. Ramsey responded the last couple years we have just put out some names and then voted on them. Harlenske stated if you have more than one for each office you need to do a written vote. Ramsey asked if anyone had any additional recommendation for president. Cabral stated Tabing. Tabing inquired if this is decided today. Ramsey responded, yes. It is voted on now. Tabing inquired if Palmer remains on the board BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING June 10, 2019 Page 3 of 18  but no longer would be president. Ramsey responded yes, they had talked with Palmer and he did not want to continue as president. Tabing asked Hillman if he had served in one of these roles previously. Hillman responded yes he has served as vice president on two different occasions. Paper was distributed for each member to cast their vote for president. Ramsey stated the three nominees are Fahnestock, Hillman and Tabing. Deatherage inquired if the newly elected president takes over at the next meeting. Harlenske responded it states upon election. They would take over now. Garding read the votes as President Fahnestock - 3 Hillman - 2 Tabing-1 Fahnestock assumed the role of president for the remainder of the meeting. Fahnestock stated he would put Ramsey as First Vice President. Are there any other nominations? The First Vice President steps in the absence of the President. Harlenske added also disqualification or disability of the president. First Vice President Ramsey- unanimous Motion by Fahnestock, second by Hillman, IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED to accept Bill Ramsey as First Vice President (6-0). Harlenske stated the Second Vice President, in the absence or disqualification or disability of the president and first vice president shall perform the duties of president. Fahnestock confirmed that is currently Deatherage and put her as nominee for another term. Second Vice President Deatherage - unanimous Motion by Fahnestock, second by Ramsey, IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED to accept Tori Deatherage as Second Vice President (6-0). 3A Smoking in Parks Houtman stated Nolen has a presentation today. She sent links to documents as well. Tabing stated he would like to express his support for the concept and ultimately he will make a motion as the discussion carries forward. Tara Nolen, Tobacco Free Wichita, thanked the Board for allowing the conversation to continue. As a follow up to the last time they had a discussion, there were several questions. She started with the statement from the National Recreation and Park Association. Their mission is to advance parks, recreation and environmental conservation efforts that enhance the quality of life for all people. In 2016 they made a statement that they believe prohibiting tobacco consumption and use at public BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING June 10, 2019 Page 4 of 18 parks and recreation centers will protect visitors, especially children, from unhealthy behaviors and exposure to second-hand smoke. As well as prevent millions of cigarette butts and filters from being left behind by tobacco users that can harm the environment and cause fires. They felt strongly about this and have since made several other statements about it. In October 2016 they did a park pulse survey where they surveyed about 1,000 adults over the age of 18. They found that nearly 4 in 5 Americans or people that responded to that survey supported policies that prohibit the use of tobacco products at parks and recreation centers. This is not a new concept, they have been working on it for a while. They are finding people are generally supportive of it. Last week on June 5 they released an article discussing youth e-cigarette use and how park and recreation organizations can actually help end this what has been deemed as a vaping youth epidemic by the surgeon general. They cited e-cigarette use, in the 2018 National Youth Tobacco Survey, done by the CDC, has risen among high school students by 78% between 2017 and 2018. And from 2018 until the day the article was written over 1 million teens had also begun using e-cigarettes. Their thoughts are that adding all tobacco products to these policies and helping educate parents, pre-teens and teens with negative health outcomes are going to help prevent this type of tobacco use. One question from last time was about different trends around United States. It was difficult to find specifically policy versus ordinance because a lot of different municipalities call ordinances policies and some even call ordinances resolutions. The organization that used to track that, Americans for Non-Smokers Rights, stopped tracking in October 2017, due to funding changes. At that time they had noted about 1,500 municipalities had smoke free park policies, theirs did not include policies that prohibited all tobacco products. They did not include whether it was just designated smoking areas or those that cover a certain amount of feet from playgrounds or ones that covered areas during youth events. For reference when the NRPA released their statement in September 2016, they cited 1,200 parks at that time so from September 2016 to October 2017, it increased by at least 300 more municipalities. That study in 2017 only included five Kansas municipalities. We currently have 24. She was able to breakdown by ordinance versus policy. There are 17 in the state of Kansas that have ordinances, seven that have policies. Also included is information on those and how they penalize infractions of that. Seven of those use ejection, they can ask you to leave the park. Two have ejection and fines. Five of those start out with fines; one of them the fine for tobacco use in parks is $250; and one is just a misdemeanor. Nine, including some of the policies and ordinances, do not have any type of noted penalty structure, other than what is required by law. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING June 10, 2019 Page 5 of 18 They have still been doing work in the community. We have focused a lot on the litter clean up in parks. They are concerned about the litter aspect, but it is also a great way to show how many people are actually using tobacco right next to where the kids are playing. She shared a graphic showing flags, not just trash but a person standing there smoking or using tobacco right next to where the children are playing. The graphic shows Seneca Park on April 19, Earth Day. They found over 370 butts in about 30 minutes with about 13 volunteers. The next graphic shows Sleepy Hollow Park on May 11, right after some heavy rain. They stopped counting at 1,000 butts when they were cleaning that up, and that was in about one hour. You brought up special events with alcohol; there are some special interest groups that have commented about not wanting all tobacco products included in parks because of certain events that may include tobacco sponsors or tobacco products. This would be something you could easily ask for some type of permit as well. They recently were at the Open Streets ICT Nomar, Love Your Community event and just recently were at the American Heart Association Heart Walk, trying to get support for the potential Tobacco Free Parks ordinance. Students showed a banner that people had signed supporting tobacco free parks. Fahnestock stated that Nolen had mentioned 78% of teenagers use some sort of e­ cigarette. Nolen responded it had increased by 78%. Fahnestock asked how they get those numbers. Do you poll the teenagers? Nolen responded those are completed by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. It is a national youth tobacco survey. Most states are involved every year. It is a randomized selection. They only use data they can say is a correct sample size. It is very statistically sound data and is available on line. Fahnestock also inquired about the pictures of the flags representing the cigarette butts. Is there any way the rain could have washed that into the area? Is the wind going to affect it at all? Do you actually believe 78 people are standing next to the slide and smoking? Nolen responded they had not cleaned up that park before, there could have been some movement of some of those things. If you look at it in comparison to the other parks they have cleaned up. It is most likely people standing there smoking. Houtman added it could be other situation as well that the wind is blowing or the water is taking butts away as well. David McGuire stated on Sleepy Hollow Park, Wesley hospital does not allow smoking on their campus so all of their staff that smokes will go over to that park bench or picnic table. Fahnestock stated he understands it being around the bench, but one of the pictures looked like it possibly could have blown in or washed through there. To Houtman's point as well, it could break even. Kim Neufeld stated that is the playground that has to be used by the Ronald McDonald House families who stay there. That is the real issue, you have the employees using it and then you have the out of town families who are going through crisis, that is their only place to play. Deatherage inquired if we have tried enforcing the littering issue in that park. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING June 10, 2019 Page 6 of 18  McGuire responded no. Deatherage added littering is already illegal and if we want to keep the cigarette butts out of there, shouldn't we send someone over to do that before we create a new thing we are trying to police. McGuire responded just in enforcing it is finding staff to police it. Tabing stated in his opinion one of the things that is helpful would be the self-policing that takes place. If your kids are playing on that playground you can at least point to a sign saying there is no smoking allowed here. Instead of having resources present, the self-policing element has to be embraced for this to work. He asked Nolen, Kansans property rights and our history in this state, how did it get through these other smaller towns. Do you have background on what the process was and who the advocates were and how they raised awareness? Nolen responded it was mostly youth and we have a couple here today who want to speak. Julia Cox stated banning cigarettes from parks really positively impacts everyone who goes to the parks. It will help the children be more healthy and lead them away from bad habits. It will help the environment. It will help pets there who could possibly ingest cigarette butts and get sick. As a youth going to those parks and seeing people smoking was her first introduction smoking. The logical thing in her mind is to ban it because it helps if the parks are supposed to be a place for people to enjoy themselves with their families and have fun, then they should be safe too and help children stay away from bad decisions. Ramsey asked how much tobacco is in an e-cigarette. Nolen responded it depends on the manufacturer. Ramsey asked "tobacco?" Nolen responded yes, it is considered tobacco. The FDA deems it tobacco. It is a derivative of nicotine which is a derivative of tobacco. Ramsey stated so it is nicotine. Nolen stated yes it is deemed tobacco by the Food and Drug Administration. Tabing stated in the information you sent, he was struck by the life expectancy difference between the community around West High versus Andover. There is a 17 year discrepancy in the life expectancy. It seemed like an interesting context in terms of people in lower income areas being exposed to things. It becomes a self-fulfilling reality. Can you speak to that? Nolen stated she can speak to what they know with the marketing practices in the retail structure. There was a study in 2014 that showed where the tobacco retailers are in Wichita. Almost 50% of them are in the six zip codes with the lowest annual household income. If you go to the Andover/Goddard areas where those tend to be higher incomes per household, there is about 2%. There is strategic placement of where tobacco is sold, how it is priced in those six low income zip codes. It is cheaper, therefore, keeping people buying it, even when they don't have the money to buy it. That is what we know on how it impacts low income neighborhoods. There are a lot of studies with social determinants of health and how it impacts people and their tobacco use. When you are talking about a public place like a park, where it is free and everyone can go, it is one more way we can try to encourage healthy behaviors by prohibiting tobacco use for everybody. Tabing inquired of staff, all of the great things underway at the parks with splash pads, swimming pools and those kinds of things, at this moment, smoking is allowed at BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING June 10, 2019 Page 7 of 18 swimming pools and splashpads, is that correct? Is there a zone in a larger park where that is prohibited? Houtman responded he thinks it is allowed. Harlenske added the only place it is prohibited is at athletic fields. It is just a policy, that was never codified into an ordinance. McGuire stated we have signs at some of the football fields. Nolen added some of the dog parks are smoke free as well. Brie Pringle, American Heart Association. With the AHA, she has been able to see first-hand, the work to end all tobacco and nicotine addiction by first minimizing the use of all combustible tobacco products and ensuring that e-cigarettes do not addict new generations to nicotine. They call it the tobacco end game. Reaching the end game and preventing the usage among youth requires policy, which you, the Park Board can help us make it happen. Tobacco use is still the #1 preventable cause of death. We are seeing a lot of strides with the reduction and use and yet it is still the #1 preventable cause of death. Tobacco use, even outdoors is harmful. The Surgeon General has clearly stated no amount of second hand smoke is healthy; no amount of second hand smoke can be deemed okay. Numerous studies have also labeled second hand smoke as a toxic air contaminant and a source of outdoor pollution. For everyone you saw and every flag you saw, odds are that was a person who smoked it and then left it there. If Wichita was to adopt a tobacco free policy for its parks and trails it would benefit everyone. It will create a healthy environment, support individuals who are trying to quit and those individuals who have quit. These tobacco free policies will help change the community norms. We already have athletic fields that do it and we do it at the schools. If we are already protecting our families and children it makes sense that we should protect them at the other places we want them to enjoy. We have to consider when children see these e-cigarettes or smoking, it is going to normalize behavior and that is why we need to consider all tobacco products in this because normalizing any of these behaviors is just going to continue the epidemic. We don't have the research yet to say whether or not second hand smoke or second hand vaping have detrimental effects. Tabing stated when we discussed this previously we kind of got bogged down on the penalty side. For today's purpose are we discussing the penalty or do we defer that to City Council and talk more broadly about the philosophy. Houtman responded from staff's perspective Deatherage mentioned how often are we going to send someone to enforce these rules. Whether it is littering or smoking or alcohol, breaking glass, etc. it is difficult to do that. We are looking at more and more resources to make that happen. He met with Chief Ramsay talking about neighborhood folks that spend time in the park and becoming eyes and ears for the police department to help activate some of these ideas, so if there is someone smoking in the park we can call the police department to enforce the rule. Specifically what rules and penalties could be has not been discussed yet. That may be a deeper discussion with Council. Staff is looking at is there support of the philosophy of not having any tobacco in parks or forms thereof. What might be the BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING June 10, 2019 Page 8 of 18  restrictions of using tobacco in the parks? Is it a different level for different places? We are looking for support to take it to Council for further discussion at that level. Fahnestock asked if the Board needs to vote on this today or is this more broad? Houtman responded you do not need to vote. Eventually we will have to take it to Council. It would be to our advantage as staff and as the Board to say here is what our stance is and what we discussed. Here are some of the options we are looking at. Some form of recommendation from the Park Board would be a good idea, it is not required though. Hillman stated taking it as a philosophy is the best way since we don't have an enforcement arm within parks. He feels the Board should vote and refer it on to City Council. Ramsey stated he hopes the irony is not lost on anyone, we just voted in to loosen alcohol while trying ban tobacco. Tabing stated situationally, the alcohol pertains to events, this is day-to-day, 365 per year. It is apples and oranges. Ramsey responded we are loosening one and banning another. Cabral stated we are changing the process and streamlining. The actual substance of what it is that people have to go through to be able to have alcohol at a park isn't changing, now we are putting it in Houtman's and Chief Ramsay's hands. We are not loosening it. Ramsey responded if we are looking at this as a role model for our children, what's the difference? Cabral stated multiple studies have been done over extended periods of time that show that second hand smoke damages you. Ramsey responded taking it back to the morality, we are trying to be a good example, role models and lead the way; why one and not the other. Cabral stated you still can't drink at a park, you have to have an exemption for that. Ramsey stated agreement, so why aren't we banning it. Why are we saying that's okay but we are going to ban tobacco. Cabral responded we haven't said its okay. Ramsey stated you can go get a permit. Tabing added one policy is 24/7, day in day out when parks are open; the other is incidental to something that is triggering the need to have alcohol pertinent to a larger event. Ramsey responded what is the difference between being a role model doing one thing and not the other. Tabing responded he is more interested in the 365, 24/7 than these one offs that happen for events that are so important to the parks. Ramsey stated this is also not applicable to golf courses, correct? We are in the process of trying very hard to get youth golfing in Wichita. We have made many advances on that, First Tee. If we are banning smoking in our parks why are we not banning it on the golf course? Cabral responded we can, this is up for us to decide. That is the conversation we are having. Ramsey added you really can't do one and not the other. You can't say it's okay for the kids to be around smoking at the golf course and watch everyone smoking but not over here. Cabral responded (inaudible) makes it okay. Ramsey responded but that is what this is saying, what they want us to recommend. Tabing stated he disagrees, he would like to put forth a motion to ban smoking in Wichita parks. Hillman stated he agrees with Mr. Ramsey. If we put anything forward as a motion, it would be a philosophy, not a rule or a reg and certainly not enforced because he too sees the hypocrisy in this process. There are many people that chose to smoke, and it is legal. We can ask them to stay 20 or 30 BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING June 10, 2019 Page 9 of 18 feet away from their child while they are in the playground. We can't control what they do in their car or their homes. This is a different issue. We certainly can't force the parents so far away from a child activity area that they can't observe and watch the safety of their child, whether they smoke or not. This is a conundrum. Fahnestock confirmed Tabing made a motion to ban all smoking in Wichita Parks. Tabing stated he should add the word "broadly", to establish the philosophical position of the Board, recognizing that there are a lot of details to be sorted out, whether it pertains to golf courses, whether there are exemptions or penalties, etc. It is a philosophical position. He would make the motion that on a philosophical basis we do not support smoking in Wichita public parks. Cabral second. Ramsey stated he fully agrees he does not want people standing around smoking around kids. He fully supports the indoor smoking ban the state has in place. There has to be a middle ground. He is okay with putting up signage saying "youthful lungs at play, be considerate, try not to smoke." Or, recommending a no smoking zone around playground equipment where the children are going to be. If you consider some of these parks, they are massive areas. We need to think about how we do this so that it actually makes the impact that we are being told we want it to have. Specifically we are trying to avoid that directly around the children which congregate in the playground areas. He could get behind a zone surrounding playground equipment that says there is no smoking inside this zone, you have stay outside of that. Cabral stated he challenges the idea that children just hang out around playgrounds. You have schools that are on or near park property where children cross the park to get to and from school, rec centers, ball fields and such. Ramsey stated they walk on public sidewalks too. Cabral responded that is not our ordinance. Parks are designed for families and children. Ramsey stated all families even those that smoke. Cabral responded that is true, but that is something that is causing damage to other families. Parks are a thing that relate to public health and things of that nature. It doesn't make sense that we don't adopt a policy that bans it across all parks. Ramsey inquired including golf courses. Cabral responded yes. If we are calling out the hypocrisy of it then lets include golf courses as well. If we are trying to stop this based on hypocrisy then include that too. Tabing added hypocrisy is common place in today's world at many levels. Also, think about tennis courts and basketball courts. There is a whole lot of activity, it is not like the people that are going to be impacted by this are just on the jungle gym. They are throughout the entire park. Looking at just around the play area is missing the larger picture. Hillman stated we went out of our way to set up the grills and other things away from the children's areas. We know for a fact that the barbeque grills generate a lot of carcinogens, the same kind that are in tobacco smoke. Most of us enjoy a grilled steak and ingest and put up with it. There is some common ground that we can settle somewhere in between. That is why he suggested simply taking this as a philosophy to City Council. They are going to have to deal with the issues. Ramsey stated he has heard what has been said. He did not say that is just where they hang out, he said that is where they congregate. That is where the bulk, the BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING June 10, 2019 Page 10 of 18  kind of people we are talking about. The children that we are talking about, they tend to congregate around the playground equipment. If you want to encourage proper behavior let's set up a zone. It gives us what we are asking for with some bite. Harlenske added it gives us something to enforce. You can't enforce a philosophy other than to say "please don't do that." Ramsey stated we can still set up a smoke free zone around playgrounds that has bite and enforcement, while still allowing the people who don't like that to be able to go in and use the parks as well. That way not everybody is penalized. Everybody has something. He could get behind something like that, but cannot get behind a complete ban of all of that. If the State wants enact that or the City wants to enact that, wonderful. Tabing stated it is his understanding City Council is supportive. They are waiting for us to take a position and go from there. Ramsey responded then we need to give them our recommendation so they can move forward. He made a substitute motion that we would enact a tobacco free, 20-foot zone around all playgrounds. Hillman second. Harlenske added by way of clarification you would want that in the form of an ordinance. And you are going to have to put some sort of demarcation which means staff would have to go out and mark that. Ramsey responded he thinks majority already have it. He went around to a few of the parks and looked at the playgrounds. The vast majority already have a demarcation. They are outlined in some way. Harlenske stated police are going to look for a bright line; and the judges and anyone who enforces it is going to say is it marked. Just like when you have alcohol at an event, you have to have a bright line saying no alcohol beyond this point. Houtman asked how the other municipalities that have them deal with zones. Nolen responded it is usually a designated area for smoking, not a specific area around a playground. They usually specify where people can smoke, it is easier to enforce. Some of them have 100 feet perimeters. She is unsure if any have them as close as 20 feet. Typically they like to say 25 just because the distance second hand smoke travels. Fahnestock stated the report say Emporia has a 20 foot radius around playgrounds and 25 feet in Atchison. That is just on the first page. Tabing stated they are all ordinances. Nolen stated she could follow up. Houtman stated they have those distances but do not necessarily have those barriers around them. Nolen inquired if any of those have enforcement. Tabing responded ejection in Emporia and graduated fines in Lenexa. Ramsey stated it is not our responsibility but the City Council's to determine what those enforcements are to be. Houtman stated with the police department as well. We have had some situations where there are certain distances for certain things. Not everything has to be marked. We use some common sense and common judgement on some of these things. Fahnestock stated getting back to someone's point that was mentioned earlier, it gives this teeth, they have the ability now to ask them to move away from their children. He agrees with Ramsey on this. When we talk about broad philosophy and common ground, this is a tremendous common ground. It is very hard to ban all tobacco products in such large areas. It is very difficult to have an indefinite ban. You can't bring it in. A lot of people in the community that use our parks do smoke. We are not up here BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING June 10, 2019 Page 11 of 18 advocating for people to smoke. When we talk about common ground we see it in other communities already in Kansas. He thinks a 20-25 foot barrier that allows the people to self-police. Ramsey asked to clarify his substitute motion. The substitute motion would be that the Park Board recommends a 20-foot tobacco free zone surrounding any playground within the City parks. Harlenske asked Tabing if he accepts the substitute motion since he has the original motion on the floor. Cabral had seconded the original motion. Ramsey stated we have always voted on the substitute motion first. Fahnestock stated he was under the impression that you handle a substitute motion first. Harlenske stated no, Tabing needs to accept your substitute. He has the floor with the motion and a second. Tabing stated he would still like to keep this as broad as possible and let staff and City Council get into the details about 20 feet 25 feet, exactly what makes sense. But, philosophically take a position similar to what Hillman has said and suggested for broad declaration from us. He stands by the motion that is on the floor. Harlenske stated we will vote on that and then Ramsey can make your own motion if his motion fails. Ramsey stated that is not how he has ever done it. It has always been you vote on the substitute motion. But we want to do whatever is correct. Hillman stated it is Roberts Rules. Hillman stated from a different perspective, maybe it would be easier to designate a bench 25-30 feet away from a children's area as a smoking optional bench with a cigarette thing there, rather than try to open up the entire park. That would narrow it down specifically and the parents could still see the children. Those are the kinds of things parents need to have access to. We can't force them not to smoke. We don't have the enforcement policies among our structure here. Rather than open it up to the other 99% of parks being open for smoking, we could go with the philosophy that we would have designated areas and a designated smoking optional bench around the children's area. From a maintenance standpoint of it would be easier and might require the movement of a few benches or the designation of a bench, but that is it. Fahnestock stated agreement with Hillman that something should be 20 or 25 feet away, whatever Council decides. We don't need to limit ourselves right now to a bench or something, leave it to staff. Cabral asked in terms of second hand smoke, is it children or adults that are more impacted. Nolen responded children because their lungs are younger and more susceptible. The two studies she sent reference something to that effect. Cabral stated he hears what the Board is saying about we can't tell parents not to smoke. It sounds like we are caring too much about the smokers and looking at the CDC website they report that about 15% of adults smoke. It sounds like children are the ones that will be affected the most. In his mind he supports Tabing's and Hillman's idea of a tobacco free park. If someone wants to smoke.... Ramsey stated so because a segment of the population is only 15% of the population we should disregard them? Cabral responded he is not saying disregard them, but the health of children that these spaces are predominantly designed for. Not just the playgrounds, it is the basketball courts, the walking paths, the bike paths. Those spaces are designed for families, many of whom have children. It does not make sense that we put their health at risk for the sake of BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING June 10, 2019 Page 12 of 18  the comfort of 15% of the population. Ramsey stated so the minority doesn't matter? Cabral responded this is a choice that somebody makes about smoking. You are making a choice for your life it should not put at risk the health of children. Deatherage stated there is a big difference between park land and a playground. That is a lot of space that is park land. Having a philosophy and non-enforceable philosophy of not smoking on the playgrounds, having the signs saying "young lungs at play," the people that are not going to respect those signs are not going to respect a policy anyway. So why waste staff's time and everything else trying to put something in place that's not going to be followed if they don't want to. Tabing responded it goes back to self-policing. Wouldn't it be nice if the woman who mentioned waiting in line at OJ Watson had been able to ask the gentleman to put out his cigarette. Deatherage responded if she had a sign to point to, that is perfect. Ramsey added she could have said it right then and there. She had the option to say that anyway. Deatherage added the policy won't make a difference to people that are not going to follow it. What's going to happen if they say "no, I'm not going to put it out", are we going to call the police and try to have them come out? They will be long gone and that cigarette long put out by then. Tabing stated you can find exemptions and exceptions to all of these, the one percent, what about this scenario. But we are looking at the public good and the majority of people are benefited by having smoke free parks. He is amenable to creating some kind of exemption zone, with the input of City Council and looking at what others are doing to establish a designated area where you can smoke. But the overall park would be a no smoking park. He could amend his motion to contemplate these designated areas to allow for smoking and then again let City Council and staff weigh in those details and revisit this later. Deatherage asked where do we draw the line in creating policies, making laws of how people are living their lives. Tabing responded in these positions that we are in, that is what civic leaders do. You make these decisions for the better of your community. How is this different than anything else we look at? Tabing asked if he should restate his motion. Harlenske stated we have a substitute motion for a 20- foot zone around playgrounds. Ramsey stated a 20-foot enforceable tobacco free zone around all playgrounds within the City parks. Fahnestock added Hillman seconded. Harlenske asked Houtman if playgrounds are defined. Does staff have a definition of a playground? Houtman responded we have the playground area that typically has a fall zone which has mulch or some kind of poured-in-place so you can definitely tell what the playground looks like as the area. Then an extra 20-feet beyond that to enforce that police are going to have to use their best judgement. We are not going to go out and create a fence around it, we have around 100 playgrounds. Within reason the police officers can enforce this with their own best judgement and look at what a 20-foot buffer looks like. Hopefully with self-policing the parents or visitors or guests who come use the park will respect that. We see where the cigarette butts fall. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING June 10, 2019 Page 13 of 18  Fahnestock stated he has always been under the impression you vote on the substitute motion first. Harlenske stated okay, let's do that. Fahnestock stated we have a motion on the table, seconded by Hillman. Tabing stated this isn't keeping it broad. Why not 30 feet, 10 feet. Ramsey responded he doubled what the state requires for doorways. Tabing responded that is arbitrary, he would prefer to do a little due diligence before just putting that number out. Ramsey stated he would be amenable to changing to a tobacco free zone surrounding playgrounds. Hillman stated he would accept the substitute wording. Ramsey added without a specific footage. City Council can figure that out. Tabing stated what we are really addressing the tennis courts, trails, ball parks, that basketball courts, those would not be impacted by this, correct? Ramsey responded he is talking about playgrounds. Tabing added the playground is a jungle gym, slide. Ramsey stated playground equipment. Deatherage stated basketball courts and everything else can be self- policed. Ramsey added that is what is going to happen anyway. McGuire said it earlier, they don't go out and enforce it because they don't have the resources to do it. Tabing stated that is why he would prefer a broad position by this body and allow experts in the field to come back with us and say we want to establish designated zones where you can smoke. Let's look at different scenarios and carve out that exemption, but in general our position is what we have already discussed. Deatherage stated we keep dragging it along when we can make a specific decision and be done with it. Tabing asked if she preferred the arbitrary number to the dragging it along. Deatherage responded yes. Ramsey added he took away the arbitrary number and said "a zone." Deatherage added Council can figure out what that zone is. Tabing asked then why not keep it just broad. Look at McAdams Park the playgrounds is about 15% of the whole park, so you have the pool, the basketball courts, the this and that, not applicable, they would not be impacted by what we are discussing, correct? Ramsey responded correct. Ramsey added and neither would golf courses. Fahnestock stated we have a motion and a second and called for a vote. Motion by Ramsey, second by Hillman, IT WAS VOTED to recommend a tobacco free zone surrounding any playground within the City parks (4-2). In Favor - 4(Fahnestock, Ramsey, Deatherage, Hillman) -- Opposed - 2(Tabing & Cabral) Houtman stated if and when we get direction from Council, we will put your recommendation forward. 4 Recreation Update (Reggie Davidson) Davidson shared May updates. Boston Recreation Center is having the free meals program in conjunction with USD 259. Monday-Friday from 12:00-12:30, kids in the community can come in and get lunch free of charge. Tech camps, offered in conjunction Youth Technology out of KC, are doing really well. We have about 15 different camps, and 11 have made the minimum number. Evergreen Recreation Center has been busy. They hosted the Dia de los Mad res celebration. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING June 10, 2019 Page 14 of 18  They also work with USO 259 hosting some of their events throughout the year. Their end of year kindergarten class celebration was held on site with about 120 kids participating. They also kicked off the awareness about the food program offered at that location as well. As part of that program we are able to offer morning and afternoon snacks as well. Summer Activity Camp kicked off on May 28. We had 418 kids participate in the program for the month, averaging 104 kids per week. We get funding from Housing to offer scholarships for some of those young people. Camp runs from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and is $40/week. Hillman inquired if when the kids are in the pool do they teach them to swim. Davidson responded they are looking at some grant funding to teach some swim lessons. Linwood Recreation Center kicked off Summer of Discovery camp. The first week there were 72 campers. In previous years SOD was for 6-13 year olds and we had very few 13 year olds and had more of the younger ones trying to get in and we were are capacity. We adjusted the schedule this year for the age range to 6-12 to better accommodate the community needs. The Summer Archery program had 24 students and generated $768. Linwood was the host site for summer camp training. We had all of the camp counselors onsite for orientation with HR as well as coordinating getting the fingerprint and background checks that were implemented this year as well. Orchard Recreation Center has one of the higher numbers for the Summer of Discovery program. Through some marketing we have several new families. This year we have three camp counselors who were previous campers there. We had a busy month with building rentals as well. Kiwanis generated $1,900 and $1,100 at Orchard. OJ Watson Park kicked off the volleyball program this spring and into summer. We had 18 teams for the spring season, the most ever for a spring session. They also partnered with the Wichita Police Department to host a fishing event for veterans. They had 30 veterans participate in fishing clinics, lunch and instruction from Kansas Wildlife. OK Kids Day for May was held on site. New This Year to raise awareness about our programs we did some digital billboards around town. They were well received and we got calls from individuals that offer classes and those interested in classes. We did a three week campaign leading to up to summer camp registration starting. Tabing asked about Open Streets Nomar, do you have any metrics, was it a success from the District's perspective? Houtman responded they estimated about 10,000 people attended. It was a great collaboration. We had nothing but great comments. We are getting ready for the next Open Streets on September 22. We are looking at two events per year and maybe working up to three events a year. 5 Golf Update (Troy Hendricks) Hendricks stated rounds are down 13% from last year, revenue is down 14% and overall net income was down 4 78%. A lot of that is due to the excessive rain. We are tracking equal to 2008. At the end of September 2008, we had 20 inches of rain; at BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING June 10, 2019 Page 15 of 18 the end of May this year we are at 19.69 inches. We had a lot of rain this May with 12.64 inches but that is not rainiest month of May. In May 2008 we had 13.14 inches. 2008 is the rainiest year on record with over 54 inches of rain. Wichita Junior Golf Foundation lessons started last week. Registration is up 15% over last year with 611 participants. That is with four golf courses instead of five. Shamrock Scramble was full, Tex Turmoil was full, the Employee Hook A Kid On Golf tournament and had 64 players for a 9-hole scramble and was full. Our Hook A Kid On Golf tournament at Auburn Hills had 25 teams. The First Tee of Greater Wichita held a golf marathon on April 22. They raised a little over $23,000 to pay for youth golf. If they come out to play anytime during this summer, the First Tee is paying the greens fees for those kids. All of the player develop programs have been sold out. Staff has had difficulty trying to get them all in because of the rain. Golf Mania the first of May was rained out and rescheduled to the end of May. We had about 300 people attend at Auburn Hills. They had the Recreation bounce house and the Snag-o-potamous was out. We had five golf vendors there allowing people to demo clubs. We provided hot dogs, chips and drinks. Everyone seemed to have a very good time. The next day they first local qualifying in Kansas for the national Drive, Chip and Putt. As you advance through the program, in September the winners go to the regional program and move on to the national event that is held at Augusta National next April. We have a lot of good things going we just need to dry a little bit. Houtman stated a couple weeks ago we did two presentations to Council Workshop. One was the Clapp Transformation and the other was on annual golf passes. We had a lot of good feedback and positive vibes. Next Tuesday we are going to Council to get motion and support from Council to close Clapp and create a park. We will be asking for dollars to create a master plan for Clapp. We will see what they suggest doing with that. He added a footnote in the CIP Budget for next year for Clapp to do a master plan. We will see how many dollars we get for that and how quickly we can get it transformed into other items and what a park could be there. We are also putting in the request for Council to support changing our passes. We are getting a lot of positive feedback for that. This is the same as we got from the Golf Advisory Committee. Ramsey stated he has been told there are problems with the bridges at Clapp with all the rain. Hendricks responded one of the longer bridges that is closer to Mt. Vernon & Bluff, the last big bridge by #4 tee box and #5 green. The west abutment collapsed when we had the rain over Memorial Weekend. We have a work around, using the old bridge, around the old tee boxes closer to Mt. Vernon that were abandoned years ago because everyone was slicing into the streets and hitting cars. Houtman stated this is one of the reasons we are looking at this. If we are going to put this BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING June 10, 2019 Page 16 of 18  investment it would have to be in all the bridges. It is not the facilities fault, we are also not having as many golfers come to our golf courses. If we are serious about taking care of the rest of the courses it is time to put the money into those courses and not into Clapp. It is basic business. 6 Golf Advisory Committee Update (Eddie Fahnestock) Fahnestock stated these guys are doing a terrific job. Golf is in a good place across America. We are seeing a bit of a Tiger effect. We are selling out junior camps, we are raising $23,000 for the First Tee kids and junior golfers so they don't have to pay a greens fee when they want to go play. He encourages everyone to get out, the courses have dried out and greened up beautifully. 7 Wichita Parks Foundation Update (Troy Houtman) Houtman stated Fourth of July is the big project they are working on right now. They are almost at the halfway point for Plates for Parks. They are getting about a $20,000 check from the State, which will come back to the City because they fronted the money for that. There will be a presentation in June or July with the Parks Foundation giving the $20,000 back to the City. A lot of people are waiting for their license plate renewal and then will change it over to the flag license plate. We are at about 500-600 plates out there. 8 OJ Watson Park Committee Update (Troy Houtman) Houtman stated they have worked on the design for the four-season shelter. When the design is completed they will work on bids for the construction. 9 Aquatics Master Plan Update (Troy Houtman) Houtman stated last week was a great win. Brian Hill did a great job doing the presentation. We finally have some concrete direction going with the six pool six splash pad plan. We are finishing the design. There are some artists on board helping with the aesthetics. We should have that done by the end of July. If we get construction documents by the end of July and August we will be going out to bid for construction in August or September and hope to get three new splash pads and three new swimming pools completed by next summer. If not, then we have the flexibility to keep the old ones open until the new ones are completed. Now to get the right contractors with the right construction skills to make this this all happen. 10 President's Update (Eddie Fahnestock) Fahnestock stated since he was just elected he does not have much. 11 Director's Update (Troy Houtman) Houtman stated we had ribbon cuttings over at Pawnee Prairie Park and at Pracht Wetlands. Harrison Dog Park will hopefully be completed in July, the rains have hindered the final items. We finished Seneca Park pickleball courts. Ramsey stated we had said we would contemplate having one of our meetings at the Tennis Center. He would still in favor of doing that at some point. Houtman responded the Tennis Center has a small lobby. We can do that, he will get with board president to see what is on agenda for July and maybe we could do that in July. BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING June 10, 2019 Page 17 of 18  We could also do it on a tennis court in the bubble. Houtman added if you have ideas of other locations to have the meetings at, we can do that. 12 Adjourn There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at approximately 4:40 p.m. The next regularly scheduled meeting will be held on Monday, July 8, 2019. Eddie Fahnestock, President BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING June 10, 2019 Page 18 of 18