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2007/11/19 Parks and Recreation Commission Agenda Packet �pHNERT f'ggA Vl E®ARTMENT..' x,FoRS ROHNERT PARK PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION AGENDA Monday November 19, 2007 6:30 p.m. 6750 Commerce Blvd., Rohnert Park To any member of the audience desiring to address the Parks and Recreation Commission: If you wish to speak on an item under discussion by the Parks and Recreation Commission, you may do so upon recognition from the Chairperson. After receiving recognition from the Chairperson,please walk to the rostrum located in the front and center of the room and state your name and address for the record before making your presentation. CALL MEETING TO ORDER PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE • Roll Call: ['Armerding ❑ Aronis d Bird [Black [Griffin • Approval of Minutes—9/17/07 & 10/24/07 • Acknowledgment of Recreation Department staff's report on the posting of the meeting's agenda. Agenda has been posted in three public places: Community Center, Public Safety Building and City Hall, and on the City's Website. • Unscheduled Public Appearances for public comments on items not listed on the agenda, or on agenda items if unable to speak at the scheduled time. 73.t67 r" 35� ,�,3�� '� y Z �§o- 4 Item#1 Scheduled Public Appearance: Bob Thompson wishes to update the Commission on progress made to"Beautify Rohnert Park". Item#2 Work Session with City Council:Action item if necessary The City Council requests a work session with the Parks &Recreation Commission before one of the Council's regularly scheduled meetings.The meeting of January 8 or January 22, 2008 has been proposed for this work session.The Commission is asked to consider these dates.The primary topic of this meeting will be the PROS Parks& Recreation Master Plan, so the completion date of this project needs to be taken into consideration. Item#3 Youth Field Use Fees: Discussion only. Staff proposes an increase in the fees charged to the local youth sports organizations to help offset the actual costs of maintaining and lighting the fields.The Commission is asked to discuss the methodology used in setting these fees. Committee 1. Golf Course Committee Reports 2. Park Sponsorship/Adopt-a-Park Committee Page 1 of 2 Rohnert Park Parks and Recreation Commission November 19,2007 Matters to/from Commissioners Adjournment. Next meeting: December 17, 2007 6:30 p.m. Disabled Accommodation: If you have a disability which requires an interpreter or other person to assist you while attending this Planning Commission Meeting,please contact the City Offices at (707) 588-2236 at least 72 hours prior to the meeting to insure arrangements for accommodation by the City. Please make sure the Planning Department is notified as soon as possible if you have a visual impairment that requires the meeting materials be produced in another format (Braille,audio-tape,etc.). Page 2 of 2 • OE Recognizing Our Community: The Quest to Beautify Rohnert Park i) can Ont 'tW orld. Inc.,a 501(c)(3)nonprofit organization,has partnered with Bob Thompson,a visionary and volunteer Dreamworker,(who also happens to be a mail carrier in Rohnert Park),in his quest to beautify the city. While delivering his route,Bob noticed the appearance of his home town is slipping. Rohnert Park isn't what it was in the 1980s-fire hydrants are faded and peeling, curbs once red are now pinkish in color,weeds have overtaken once beautiful areas. Maintenance is even overlooked in a variety of the more public of areas. So Bob started talking to business owners,and many are listening..,and making changes on their properties to bring Rohnert Park to a new level. We at Dream One World., Inc. are now actively involved in making the public area changes happen much faster,by offering tax deductible receipts for those who donate through us. Donations will be used for painting of fire lane curbs,fire hydrants,planting flowers,native trees,and shrubs,cutting weeds,getting the garbage off the streets, etc. Like the Adopt-A-Highway and Adopt-A-Park programs,we envision creating "Adopt-A-Street,""Adopt-A-School-Garden/Nursery,""Adopt-A-Community- Garden,"and a wide array of other similar programs. Our dream is to create a model for other towns in California,across the country, and around the world to emulate. We invite you to participate! Please visit the"Rohnert Park Project"page at et` w:dreat'ionewrir d.org for additional information. To learn a little more about Bob,please visit the`Bob Thompson"page. Then see what you can do to help brighten up sour own location in Rohnert Park, and consider donating through us to assist the public areas. With many helping,we can bring Rohnert Park to an even greater glory than when it was first built. All it takes is a little effort and a lot of heart. Thank you, 1;%t6sm One \c t-id,Inc. P.0 tstis:123.5.tion€:f sa,s 'i5403 7ti-,-5"5_^,7€i7 s wsi-.tlreannonew•nrid:or£ Special thanks to Fez Atiaw of Minuteman Press Rohnert Park,for printing of these flyers. 707-588-9990 448V .mmprp.com Dream One World,Inc. 7 ...a nonprofit to change the world. Bob Thompson Volunteer Dreamworker D 8 E 8m off E Q info(adreamoneworld.org 1531 Griffin Way 707.292.3114 Rohnert Park,CA 94928 www.dreamoneworld.org WINERT INTEROFFICE MEMO 19 _ X62 From: Guy Miller, Recreation Services Manage r :1),FitliitittENT-- To: Parks and Recreation Commission Date: November 12, 2007 CA L I F O 'P' Subject: Youth Sport League Field Use Fees Since the city's inception there has been a strong desire to support local youth sports by subsidizing them in providing maintenance services and utility costs on our ball fields. While this plan was commonplace in the pre-Prop13 area many cities have come to the realization that they are no longer in a position to provide such subsidies to these leagues. Under our current process the leagues pay a per-player fee which helps offset the cost of operating the athletic facilities. Unfortunately these per-player payments fall far short of the actual costs of operating and maintaining the ball fields. Additionally, not all sport leagues have a comparable number of players which creates an inequity in the percentage of actual costs paid by the various leagues. In the 2006-2007 fiscal year the city paid over$16,000 just to provide lighting for the fields yet only received$7,000 in league fees. The current trend in youth sports is to expand the playing seasons so this deficit will only grow higher in the future. Additionally the cost of landscape maintenance and field preparation has also increased, adding to the costs borne by the city. Due to these escalating costs a new fee structure should be considered. Several Northern California cities were polled and most charge by a per-player fee, hourly fee(for lights), or a combination of both. Many received significantly higher fees than Rohnert Park due to their pricing structure. Since there is no standard method of establishing fees several alternatives can be considered for Rohnert Park. 1. Hourly Fee: Since Rohnert Park has so many facilities this concept is problematic. The local baseball league booked 14,200 hours of field time in 2007 and paid a use fee of$2000. This represents an hourly rate of only 12 cents per hour. Rohnert Park Girls Softball booked 5,300 hours and paid$800 which represents 11 cents per hour. Rohnert Park Youth Soccer booked 5,800 hours and paid $4,300 which represents 17 cents per hour. As you can see there is little consistency in the amounts the groups paid per hour and the hourly rate is too small to be useful. 2. Per Day Fee: Again,we are dealing with very small numbers and a discrepancy between the amount each type of group would pay. For example,baseball pays $1.19 per use while soccer pays $4.43 per use due to a shorter season and more players. There is no useful correlation that can be used to equitably establish fees. 3. Hourly Light Fee: This is what many cities use but with the data we currently have it is difficult to determine what a meaningful hourly fee might be. An example is that baseball booked 840 hours of lights at Alicia Park alone last year while the PG&E bill was only$1361 for the year. This means the average hourly cost for lights was only$1.60. Logic would tell you that this is not correct. We may be able to determine the hourly cost to burn lights by consulting PG&E but this requires further study. It will also be difficult to determine the actual time used by each group because of the fluctuations of sunset due to seasonal changes and daylight savings time. 4. Increase the Per-Player Fee: There is an inequity among groups when we charge a per-player fee. Example: Cal Ripken/Babe Ruth and Youth Soccer used a similar amount of field time but paid $2,000 (500 players) and $4,300 (1075 players) in field use fees respectively. Girls Softball, which has the fewest number of players pays only$800/year(200 players)but costs the city almost$4,000 in lights. To be fair we should actually charge different per-player fees for each type of sport group to equal the actual cost of the lights. 5. Extra Light Fees: It is difficult to determine exactly how much of the utility costs associated with a particular park is a result of ball field light use. Many of the PG&E meters in the parks feed multiple facilities such as tennis courts and perimeter lighting. With some research and agreement we might be able to come up with a supplemental light fee to assess the groups to offset the actual costs. Conclusion After struggling with the different concepts we have determined there is no ideal method of assessing fees for the use of the ball fields. Perhaps the best method would be to assess the groups their share of the actual costs of the lights at the end of each season. This is not without its problems but pre-season agreements with the groups might make this work. It is important that we allow enough advance notice for them to adjust their registration fees accordingly before incurring the increased costs. The youth sport groups can easily pass on the costs to their participants without undue hardship. Additional consideration should also be given to allow selected sport groups take over some of the maintenance of the fields to help offset the costs of maintenance. 01-114ERT 4- INTEROFFICE INTEROFFICE MEMO19 62 From: Guy Miller, Recreation Services Manager To: Parks &Recreation Commission IMPARTMENT Cc: Senior Staff GALJFogtz'P Date: November 14, 2007 Subject: Monthly Highlights ADMINISTRATION • The PROS Committee is nearing the end of its task of creating a Parks & Recreation Master plan. Working with MIG Consultants,the data gathered over the past two years through surveys and public meetings will be used to chart the course of future development of recreational facilities for years to come. • Playground RFP: Due to limitations in the City's purchasing ordinance the playground RFP's have been delayed. The projected cost of each playground exceeds the $50,000 limit called-out in the ordinance which means the projects would have to be submitted for competitive bid. This is problematic with playground equipment since there are so many different styles, configurations, and components available. A competitive bid would severely limit our ability to acquire some of the state-of-the-art and creative installations available in today's market. Hopefully, an increase in the purchasing ordinance upper limit can allow us to purchase through existing cooperative purchasing agreements and allow us to select a product based on functionality and not price. • The Community Center ADA upgrade and truss replacement project is completed. A rotting support truss was replaced and the entire center was upgraded to current ADA standards. A large part of this project was the construction of new restrooms which look great. Special recognition should be given to Donna Abeln who took personal ownership in the project and was invaluable in scheduling the work with the contractor. • Recreation Department and Public Works personnel have scheduled weekly meetings to help coordinate park and facility maintenance projects with public use. These meetings have been very helpful in establishing park maintenance priorities. Some of the results can already be seen in our local parks. • The Recreation Department recently upgraded its registration and facility reservation software to the latest version. Part of this upgrade was to transfer the processing of credit cards to a separately hosted processing site. This will greatly increase the security of the credit card transactions done by the department. The upgrade will also allow the Callinan Sports &Fitness Center to begin to offer automatically renewed monthly memberships early next year. A new membership proposal will be forthcoming. Page 1 of 3 SENIOR CENTER • On the Road Again with Martha in took 15 folks to the San Francisco Opera House. Everyone seemed to enjoy the trip. On their way home, they stopped in Sausalito for lunch. Profit...$89.00. • We had two Indian Casino trips. Profit.... $400.65 • Fun after Fifty conducted their First Afternoon Bingo Party with cash pay outs. This event will take the place of the Country Fair. They held the Fair each year as a fund raiser for the club; but over the years the excitement for the event disappeared. Thus, Cash pay-out Bingo! The turnout for the Bingo Party was great for the first time around, and the club looks forward to next year's event. • The Senior Extravaganza was terrific as usual; the audience enjoyed every minute of the afternoon. Profit...328.00 • The Senior Center hosted our First Volunteer Appreciation Dinner at the Community Center. It was a huge success! I want to thank all our City Officials and my staff for helping make the evening so special. • Rehearsals began for the Variety Show. After holding auditions, we invited two new folks to join the show. • We held four informational seminars...Reverse Mortgage, Improve your Hearing, Hospice, H.I.C.A.P. and the first of two Flu Shot Clinics. We also scheduled two AARP Drivers classes. • The Center has partnered with Travel with Friends for special traveling trips. We took the seniors on a Reno Overnighter. We visited Boomtown, spent the night at the Silver Legacy, and next day went to the Nuggett in Sparks. We had a great group traveling with us. There were lots of laughs on the way up and even on the way back, even though we didn't have a lot of winners. (FYI...we had folks joining us for the first time,having found out about this trip from the Activity Guide). Profit...$450.00 • In the last two months, our AARP tax-aide Center(which is open every Friday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.)has helped 125 with tax issues or problems. The volunteers have worked over 150 hours. Our staff applauds them! CALLINAN SPORTS & FITNESS CENTER • Traditionally November /December are our slower months. We started our membership specials on November 1 and hopefully many more people will join us in January. • CYO Basketball, RCHS Basketball and Apache Soccer are now in full swing at the Sports Center. CYO Basketball has made their home mainly at the Mt. Shadows Middle School Gymnasium. So far everything has been running smoothly with few staff and/or scheduling problems. • Our Summer and Fall Softball Leagues have finally hit their last ball. Both seasons were successful although we seem to have fewer teams each year. We don't see a back filling of young players at all. This seems to be the same problem other Recreation Departments face. Drinking at the games is always a problem, although Page 2 of 3 we did not have too many complaints this year. Overall this was a good softball year with not too many field issues,umpire or scorekeeper no-shows and/or rain-outs. • The spa in the women's locker room has been shut down many times in the past few months (it is leaking badly). The decision has to be made what to do next with a piece of equipment that is now well over 20 years old, and no longer repairable. Needless to say that many members are very unhappy about this situation. • We hired a new 1560 position for the front desk. This will help us to be more consistent with our paperwork and customer service. Currently we have good group of employees working. YOUTH PROGRAMS, CONTRACT CLASSES, SPECIAL EVENTS • Community Garden: The gardeners continue to work their plots and harvest their crops. They have also been working hard on the"Food Bank"plots, donating over 100 pounds of fresh vegetables each month to the food pantries in the county. To celebrate, the gardeners held a"Harvest Party"in October,where they shared dishes that were created with the bounty of their gardens. • Holiday Arts & Crafts Faire: Vendor applications continue to come in. We are filling up quickly, and we sold out of jewelry spots the first week of October. The Ceramics Studio's annual sale coincides with the Arts & Crafts Faire. In the past, they have used Meeting Room 2 for their sale. This year they will fill Meeting Room 2 and the Lounge with items created in our studio. A portion of the sale price goes back to the Ceramics Studio to help offset the cost of tools and other supplies. • We are starting to put together our Winter/Spring 2008 brochure. Class proposals are coming in from returning instructors, and we have added some new instructors. The brochure will be published the week of December 10 with registration beginning December 17th. • We held a very successful Veterans Day Celebration. The Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, American Legion, Community Band and Rohnert Park Chorale all helped to honor our veterans. Page 3 of 3