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2007/01/22 Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes ROHNERT PARK PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES January 22, 2007 The Rohnert Park Parks and Recreation Commission met this date at 6:30 p.m. for an adjourned meeting at the Rohnert Park city offices, 6750 Commerce Boulevard, Rohnert Park. The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m. with Vice Chair Black presiding. Roll Call Present: (4) Commissioners Aronis, Bird, Black, and Griffin Absent: (0) None Also present for all or part of the meeting was Recreation Services Manager Guy Miller. Approval of Minutes—Upon motion by Commissioner Griffin and second by Commissioner Bird,the minutes for the meeting of December 11th were unanimously approved as submitted. Unscheduled Public Appearance/Public Comment—James Stevens, former Parks and Recreation Commissioner, dropped by to let the commission know he would be available any time they wished to consult him, and he to say he enjoyed the 20+ years he served on the Park and Recreation Commission. He thanked the city. Vice Chair Black said the commission hoped he might continue working on some of their committees, and he agreed to do that. The Commissioners thanked him for his years of service and said they would miss him. Manager Miller advised the Commission that after 22 years of service to the City, former Commissioner Stevens has been nominated for the annual California Parks and Recreation Society's Community Volunteer Award. He will be presented with the award at the annual banquet in February and all the commissioners will be invited. He stated that Mr. Stevens had served longer than any other Parks &Recreation commissioner. Oaths of Office—Recreation Services Manager Miller administered the Oath of Office for Commissioners Aronis, Bird, Black, and Griffin. Election of Chair and Vice Chair-Vice Chair Black opened nominations for Chair. Commissioner Griffin nominated Commissioner Black which was seconded by Commissioner Bird. There being no further nominations, Commissioner Black was unanimously elected Commission Chair for 2007. Chair Black opened nominations for Vice Chair and nominated Commissioner Griffin in recognition of his 15 years of service. The nomination was seconded by Commissioner Bird and unanimously approved. Committee Assignments - Chair Black reviewed the existing list of commission committees. . She suggested the Commission may wish to wait until their next meeting to finalize the assignments when they have a full commission. She pointed out that if the number of commissioners is reduced to five,the maximum number of committee members they can Page 1 of 6 Rohnert Park Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes—January 22, 2007 have on each committee is 2 with an alternate. The following committee assignments "1 were made pending the appointment of a fifth commissioner. Aquatics Committee—Chair Black said she doesn't remember this committee ever meeting since she has been a member and asked if this is a committee that can be called as needed. Manager Miller explained many of the committees haven't met because a decision,regarding either budget or scheduling, had to be made immediately, and the timing didn't work out. He agreed that this is a committee that would meet on an"as needed"basis. Bicycle Committee—Manager Miller stated this is a city committee that does meet regularly, and the assignment would be as a liaison for the Parks and Recreation Commission. Chair Black asked if anyone was interested, and Commissioner Griffin volunteered. Budget Committee—The Commission determined this is a committee that will meet if necessary. Children and Families Committee—This committee has never met. Dog Park Committee—Chair Black advised this committee is still active. She and Commissioner Griffin said they were still interested and agreed to ask former commissioner Jim Stevens if he might wish to become an ad hoc member. Golf Course Committee—Commissioners Bird and Griffin said they were still interested in sitting on this committee. Park Audit Committee—Chair Black said this committee needs to drop down to two members. Manager Miller said they will still need to meet, and he would be making a park audit report later in the meeting. Chair Black suggested because she and Commissioner Griffin are available to visit the parks during the day, they could continue on the committee. Commissioner Aronis volunteered to be an alternate. Park Development Guidelines Committee—Chair Black said this committee is pretty close to being finished with the guidelines. She suggested continuing with the same members since former Commissioner Tom Hansen had agreed to be an ad hoc member. Park Master Plan Committee—The Commission agreed to eliminate this committee since the Park Audit and PROS Committees are covering the responsibilities of the Park Master Plan Committee. Park Sponsorships Committee—Chair Black will continue on this committee and Commissioner Aronis agreed to be the other member. Page 2 of 6 Rohnert Park Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes—January 22, 2007 Park Watch/Adopt A Park Committee—Chair Black stated this committee hasn't met. Manager Miller said that the Adopt-A-Park has been rolled into the Park Sponsorship Committee and recommended eliminating the Park Watch. The Commission agreed. Parks, Recreation and Open Space (PROS) Committee-Manager Miller advised that at tomorrow's meeting, the City Council will be recommending that the entire Parks and Recreation Commission be part of the PROS Committee. Senior Activities Liaison—Manager Miller advised that this should be changed to Senior Citizens Advisory Commission Liaison. Commissioner Aronis agreed to be the liaison, and Commissioner Griffin said he would be alternate. Skate Park Committee—Manager Miller said this will be an active committee in the future so he recommended keeping the committee. Commissioners Griffin and Bird volunteered. Sports &Fitness Center Committee—Manager Miller said there will be a need to continue with this committee. Commissioners Bird and Aronis volunteered. The Commissioners agreed that the committee assignments can be changed when a new commissioner is named. Volunteer Program Committee—The Commission agreed that this is not an active committee Youth Sports Committee—Commissioner Griffin said this committee used to attend the annual youth sports meetings. The Commission discussed attending some of the city's youth league board meetings. Commissioner Griffin and Aronis volunteered as committee members, and Commissioner Bird agreed to be the alternate. Creeks Committee—Commissioner Griffin said he would like to be the liaison to this committee, which is not a commission committee. Enforcement of Posted Park Rules—Miller said he doesn't have an update because the proposal is still being looked at by the city's legal counsel. Chair Black asked when the report is received if they will be able to find out what the consequences are if someone is cited for failure to follow the rules. Manager Miller said he isn't sure if that will be part of the recommendation,but he will find out. He said the Commission will need to come up with a standardized set of park rules. Parks and Recreation Commissioners—While Manager Miller set up a power point presentation, Chair Black thanks former Commissioners Butler,Hansen and Stevens for their years of service on the Parks and Recreation Commission. Commissioner Butler served for four years, Commissioner Hansen for three, and Commissioner Stevens for twenty-two years. She said there were all amazing volunteers and she will miss working Page 3 of 6 Rohnert Park Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes—January 22, 2007 with them. She welcomed Commissioner Aronis and is looking forward to working with him. Playground Renovations—Manager Miller presented a slide show of the playground equipment at three city parks that he is recommending need renovation. He pointed out that the equipment at all three parks is between 15-20 years old. He stated the City has received $208,000 through a grant that can be used in the next year, and he thinks that will be enough to do two or three playgrounds. The three parks he is recommending are Benicia, Honeybee and Colegio Vista. He pointed out that a safety check was done of all city parks in 2000 and some of those issues will need to be addressed. He stated the money would need to be committed in the next two months so the projects can be finished by the end of the year. He explained how the renovations could be done using joint purchasing contracts and how they work. He advised there will not be any grant funds in 2008 although there could be some money available when the city begins new development. Commissioner Aronis asked if any GSA contracts might be available for park renovations. Manager Miller said there might be, and Commissioner Aronis explained how GSA contracts work. Commissioner Bird asked if this could be tied in with the park audits. Manager Miller said it can,but there is a little sense of urgency with this because the city looks at capital improvement projects to fund in February and March. They could put place holders in the CIP list such as playground renovations and come up with specific projects after that. '1 Chair Black said she remembers 3 small parks that looked really bad and suggested that perhaps some small improvements could be made. The first park is the Lilac Tot Lot, such as adding a sand digger toy. Commissioner Griffin asked if this was one of the areas being considered by the City Council for a neighborhood community garden. Manager Miller advised that decision hasn't been made. Commissioner Griffin said he had attended some City Council meetings where this had been discussed. Chair Black said the second park was Lydia and the last was LaCrosse. She clarified that they can't vote on this matter tonight but can add it to next month's agenda. Review of Bark Monitor Program—Chair Black gave Commissioner Aronis some background on the proposed Bark Monitor Program. She told the Commission while working on this project they have learned that people aren't reading the signs in the parks, and one of the ideas they came up with was to illustrate the signs to make them more noticeable. They approached Matt Reid, a professional artist, to come up with some ideas and passed out some of his preliminary designs. The committee is trying to use humor to make the signs more noticeable. Manager Miller said he printed up a rough draft of how art would be used in the Bark Monitor Program,which he passed out. Chair Black said the next step would be to talk to Public Safety representative and asked for the Commission's agreement to do that. The Commission agreed that the Chair should move forward with the program. Page 4 of 6 Rohnert Park Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes—January 22,2007 Park Audit—Manager Miller passed out a draft of the park audit that he has been working on so that the Commission would have a general idea of what will be included in the report. He discussed incorporating the 2000 park safety audit into this new audit. He suggested that if each commissioner could visit 3 or 4 parks to make notes on what items from the 2000 audit have been cleared and what haven't, they could report back to him so this information could be included in the new audit. Chair Black said she would like to finish the audit as quickly as possible, and because they are available during the day, she and Commissioner Griffin would be able to do a lot of the visits. If any of the other commissioners are interested, they could also participate. Commissioner Bird offered to visit D Park, and it was agreed that committee members, Commissioners Griffin and Black, would visit the rest of the parks. Committee Reports: PROS—Commissioner Griffin reported he had attended the last meeting as a visitor. Manager Miller stated those minutes were included with their packets. He reported that February 1 is the community forum for any citizen to give input for future park and recreation facilities. The meeting will be at the Burton Recreation Center at 7 p.m., and the public is invited to attend. He referred to the minutes and the three questions they will be discussing. (A copy of the minutes is attached to the original copy of these minutes.) Manager Miller said he had put together a draft for proposals which is being looked at by the city's legal department. Park Development Guidelines—Chair Black reported this committee didn't meet. She said she believes they only have one or two meetings left and then they will be making their presentation to the commission. Matters from Staff: Parks and Recreation Commission Members—Manager Miller advised there is a matter on tomorrow's City Council agenda to reduce the Parks and Recreation Commission from 7 to 5 members. Playground Renovation—Manager Miller reported Public Works are still working on Sunrise Park. The playground is done but they are doing some turf repair. Caterpillar Park is finished. He explained the orange fence around the Sunrise Park soccer field is because they used the sand that had been removed from playgrounds to renovate the field. CPRS Community Service Award—Manager Miller informed the Commission that this year's dinner will be held in Napa and they will be honoring former Parks and Recreation Commissioner, Jim Stevens. He advised that he will contact them with more specific information. Page 5 of 6 Rohnert Park Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes—January 22, 2007 Matters from Commissioners: Commissioner Aronis—Chair Black asked new commissioner,Nick Aronis, to introduce him and to share why he wished to be part of the commission. Commissioner Aronis state he has lived in Rohnert Park for 17 years and is still raising 3 kids, 2 in college and 1 in high school. He's a retired coach of youth basketball and baseball and spent about 12 years coaching children in the community. He was part of the Cal Ripken Baseball League group that renovated the Benicia Park baseball field and he is very proud of that. He coached travel baseball and has had the opportunity to travel to a lot of other communities, including last year when his team took 4th place in a tournament in Hawaii tournament. He is a principal in a rec. group in the office industry. He said he hopes to continue the good work of the commission and is proud to be a citizen of Rohnert Park. Parks and Recreation Commission Meetings—Chair Black reminded staff that the commission's meeting time needs to be changed to 6:30 p.m. in the next activity guide. Staff will make the change. ADJOURNMENT—There being no further business before the commission, the meeting adjourned at 7:45 p.m. Chair Black Gu er, Recreation Services Manager Secretary Page 6 of 6