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2003/09/15 Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes� ffi& f- ARK PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES OCT 1 0 2003 September 15, 2003 The Rohnert Park Parks and Recreation Commission met this date at 7:30 p.m. for a regularly scheduled meeting at the Rohnert Park city offices, 6750 Commerce Boulevard, Rohnert Park. The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. with Chair Stevens presiding. ROLL CALL Present: (7) Commissioners Bird, Butler, Carlson, Griffin, Hotaling, Rogers, and Stevens Absent: (0) Also present for 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 August 18`h were unanimously approved as submitted. UNSCHEDULED PUBLIC APPEARANCE/PUBLIC COMMENT Bonnie Black, 1065 Hawthorne, said she had a correction on the Commission's August 18a` minutes under Unscheduled Public Appearance/Public Comment regarding her report on the Best Friends Canine Club. The minutes stated that "approximately two thirds of the club members are seniors living in local mobile home parks." Mrs. Black clarified that approximately two thirds of the dog owners who come to Golis Park each day live in local mobile home parks. Mrs. Black submitted additional liability release and acceptance of responsibility forms for some new club members. She explained the club turned away five dogs due to aggressive behavior or for not being neutered. The club will also be asking one club member to leave due to the aggressive behavior of the dog. Club members have agreed that they will not accept any un-neutered dogs or dogs with aggressive behavior. She reported she had prepared some fliers for the Recreation Department with information on the Best Friends Canine Club, which was in response to requests the department has received from the public. She stated the new fence for the Golis Park baseball field has still not been installed. Recreation Services Manager, Guy Miller, advised that installation is supposed to begin this week. Mrs. Black said that the park is getting crowded on weekends due to fall baseball and 1--11-N youth soccer. She reported club members have observed that the condition of the fields Page 1 Rohnert Park Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes September 15, 2003 isn't good. Members have called in sprinkler problems they've observed, but the problems haven't been fixed. She said before this gets worse, she hopes something can be -1 done. Chair Stevens asked about the condition of the grass on the soccer field, and Mrs. Black replied the grass near the tree line, where it is shady, is very spongy. They have also observed some areas where the sprinklers run continuously as well as some bad divots on the baseball field. OLD BUSINESS Defining Parks & Recreation Commission Futures Responsibilities — Ad Hoc Committee Report — Chair Stevens referred to Commissioner Rogers' ad hoc committee report regarding reorganization of the Commission. (A copy of the report is attached to the original copy of these minutes.) The Chair referred to the proposal to produce revenue for Rohnert Park and asked if the Commission wished to continue pursuing the proposal since in the future it may not be necessary for the city to find ways to raise additional revenue. Commissioner Bird said he believes the Commission should go ahead with event planning since they don't know what will happen with the proposed casino, and the Commission needs to define their current responsibilities and goals. Commissioner Carlson said she does not feel ready to make some of the recommended changes outlined on the committee report, specifically recommendation #3: dissolving all of the standing committees and #4: adopt a system of short-term subcommittees. She said she believes that recommendation #5 regarding setting up a volunteer system is a big change, and she feels the city would need to hire someone to oversee a volunteer system. She stated she would need more clarification before agreeing to the recommendations. Commissioner Griffin said he thinks that the recommended changes would change the Commission to something similar to the Families and Children Commission that the City Council recently dissolved. He said he thinks that before proceeding any further, the Commission needs to bring these recommendations to the City Council to get some direction. Commissioner Butler said he doesn't believe the recommendations mean that the Commission would be doing the actual work of setting up events and volunteers but would be more of an oversight commission to plan the events, but not doing the actual work. He said he would like to seethe Commission move towards this because it is important to move forward. Commissioner Hotaling said when the ad hoc committee met, she had volunteered to take on the volunteer program as long as she could get some direction on the position. She said she believes it is an important program. Chair Stevens said in Santa Barbara they had a volunteer coordinator who worked for the recreation department and coordinated about 5,000 volunteers, but he believes it was a Page 2 W Rohnert Park Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes September 15, 2003 paid position. He asked what direction the Commission wished to go and if they thought it would be okay for a commission member to oversee the program. Commissioner Rogers recommended that the Commission decide whether they are going to expand the role of the Commission into the community service area. She said she would like to come to a consensus of the direction the Commission would like to go and then take this to the City Council to see if they agreed. Commissioner Carlson suggested going to the City Council first to see if this is the direction the Council wants the Commission to go before proceeding. She said some of the committee's suggested responsibilities have nothing to do with overseeing parks and recreation, which is what the Commission has done in the past. Chair Stevens said he is seeing some reluctance in blending the human services and parks and recreation areas. He thinks if people volunteer for the commission they may only be interested in one area or the other and the two areas may not blend. He said he was not always sure what the Commission of Youth and Families (C.O.Y.F.) or Families and Children Commission (F.A.C.C.) responsibilities were. Commissioner Rogers pointed out that F.A.C.C. was dissolved and rolled into the Parks and Recreation Commission. Commissioner Rogers made a motion that the Commission formally become the Community Services Commission, add the volunteer and event planning responsibilities, and become a more action and project oriented commission. Commissioner Butler seconded the motion. Discussion followed, and Commissioner Griffin said he would like to wait until they have gotten the City Council's approval. He stated the Council has not seen this recommendation and does not know about the changes being proposed. He said he is against getting rid of the Commission committees. Commission Carlson said she wants to go slow and thinks they need to go to the Council to see where they are before going ahead. She thinks the wording of the motion is changing to whole make-up of the Commission and emphasized she would like to go very slow before making this change. Commissioner Bird said he thinks they need to meet with the Council and City Manager Leivo to see what he envisions, find out what goals the Council might have for the Commission and whether they want to include the human services responsibilities. Commissioner Bird said he agrees with becoming more action oriented but feels they need to know what the Council and City Manager Leivo want from them. Commissioner Griffin said he had spoken to the council member who appointed him and he doesn't know anything about this proposal, so before proceeding, he would like the Council to be informed. He said he agrees with adding some responsibilities but doesn't think they should eliminate any current responsibilities. Page 3 Rohnert Park Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes September 15, 2003 Commissioner Butler said he agrees they should not eliminate all the committees but believes there are some committees that could be removed such as the Bicycle Committee, which hasn't met since he was appointed as the Commission's liaison to the committee. He said he believes the extra responsibilities were chartered when the Commission was expanded to seven members. He agreed that they should talk to the City Council to see how they wish the Commission to proceed. Commissioner Rogers said she is willing to withdraw her motion but thinks the Commission needs to have an idea of what their responsibilities would be because she believes it is important to move forward. Commissioner Butler withdrew his second followed by Commissioner Rogers withdrawing the motion. Commissioner Rogers then made a new motion that the Commission take the plan for expansion of the Parks and Recreation Commission to the City Council which would include the following recommendations: (1) expand the Commission to include community services, (2) adopt the idea of becoming more project or action oriented, (3) look at moving ahead with the volunteer system, and (4) review their standing committees to see if the list can be shortened. Commissioner Butler seconded the motion. Commissioner Carlson objected because nowhere in the recommendation does it mention anything about parks and recreation. It needs to say somewhere what the recreation and park responsibilities are. Commissioner Butler stated that the motion is recommending --1 expansion of the Commission's responsibilities not taking any away. Chair Stevens clarified that the point of the motion is to discuss the role of the Commission, and Commissioner Rogers agreed the intent of her motion is to get input from the City Council. Commissioner Bird said he does not see any of the roles of the Commission being taken away and gave an example where volunteers could help in city parks. He pointed out field conditions may not improve unless the groups using the parks provide some volunteers to help work on them. He mentioned he does not see the city having the money to correct the situation. He stated he doesn't see the recommendations in the motion taking away from the Parks and Recreation Commission. Commissioner Griffin said he sees a motion that is dividing the Commission. He would like them get together again to see if they can come up with another set of recommendations since he doesn't believe they are that far from agreement. The Commission discussed whether they could schedule a work session and still comply with the Brown Act. Commissioner Rogers said she is willing to table her motion if the Commission wishes to set up a work session. Page 4 Rohnert Park Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes September 15, 2003 After further discussion, Commissioner Griffin called for the question. The motion passed by the following vote: AYES: (4) Commissioners Bird, Butler, Rogers and Hotaling NAYES: (3) Commissioners Carlson, Griffin and Stevens Chair Stevens said he will contact the Mayor to find out when they can meet and will notify the Commission. The Commission discussed the City Manager's original presentation proposing the change of the Parks and Recreation Commission to the Community Services Commission. Recreation Services Manager Miller referred the Commission to their copy of the Commission's July minutes, which includes a copy of the City Manager's PowerPoint presentation. Commissioner Griffin mentioned that the City Manager had offered to provide a copy of the Economics Research Associates (ERA) report to the Commission, which they have not received and he requested that staff follow up. Recreation Services Manager Miller clarified that the ERA report refers to an economic development strategy plan for the city and is not related to the change in the commission's role. He said he would follow up on getting copies of the report for the Commission. Commission Goals for 2003 — Chair Stevens said he thinks the Commission can still come up with some recreation oriented goals even if their role has not been decided. He said he has noticed more and more problems in the city's parks and asked whether the Commission wished to discuss park safety. Recreation Services Manager Miller read through the list of proposed goals which the Commission discussed at their June 2003 meeting. ,(A copy of the proposed goals is attached to the original copy of these minutes.) One of the proposed goals was to reduce vandalism in the parks. Chair Stevens reported he had contacted Public Safety for crime statistics in city parks, but he hasn't been able to get the information. He said he would like to see statistics for crimes that either began or ended in a park. The Commission discussed the purpose of getting the statistics, which they felt might help to find ways to make the parks safer. They discussed raising the height of shrubs, reducing the height of berms and widening the park paths so police cars could drive on them. Commissioner Griffin referred to the proposed goal of supporting a better working relationship with the Cotati/Rohnert Park Unified School District and asked Recreation Services Manager Miller about the current relationship. Manager Miller reported that the school district has taken over the landscape contract responsibilities for school facilities and that there still needs to be some discussion between the city and the district so it is clear what each agency's area of responsibilities include. Page 5 Rohnert Park Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes September 15, 2003 After this discussion, Chair Stevens suggested it might be better to table discussion of their 2003 goals since the Commission's role may change. Commissioner Butler made a motion to table discussion of the Commission's Goals for 2003. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Carlson and unanimously approved. STAFF REPORTS Monthly Reports and Department Highlights — Chair Stevens asked if the increase in revenue for youth summer camps would counter balance the decrease in revenue for the Sports and Fitness Center memberships. Manager Miller said that these areas are separate and would not offset one another. Commissioner Griffin asked the status of getting help from Public Works for repairs of the Sports and Fitness Center equipment. Manager Miller so far the equipment is getting repaired adequately. Commissioner Rogers asked about attendance in the department's after -school program. Staff explained that the Community Center site has been discontinued this year due to dwindling attendance in the 2002-03 school year, and transportation service is no longer being offered. The Ladybug site currently has between 15-18 children and the Burton site has approximately 10 children. Some discussion followed. Commissioner Rogers also asked if opening the University of Sports has affected the Sports and Fitness Center's revenue. Manager Miller said he believes it has affected it some and informed the Commission that the Sports and Fitness Center will be doing utility bill mailers to residents and advertising at Sonoma State University. Chair Stevens asked if the new S.S.U. fitness facility would affect Sports and Fitness Center attendance. Manager Miller responded it would depend whether Sonoma State opens their facility to the public, but he is sure it would affect Sonoma State student participation at the Sports and Fitness Center. He said he is not sure when the S.S.U. facility will be built. Manager Miller referred the Commission to the Senior Center monthly report for August and stated that quarterly reports from the Community Center and the Sports and Fitness Center will be prepared for discussion at the Commission's October meeting. He advised he may be able to prepare aquatics statistics for 2003 but will not have any financial data yet. COMMISSION COMMITTEE REPORTS Golf Course — Commissioner Carlson recapped the last Golf Course Committee. She reported one of the main areas of discussion was use of private golf carts and the agreement that current cart owners will be grandfathered in so they can use their carts as long as they wish but their use cannot be transferred. She advised the committee will still be discussing use of carts by other Rohnert Park residents. Page 6 Rohnert Park Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes September 15, 2003 She reported the committee will continue to meet every other month and may cut back to quarterly meetings. She also reported that a city auditor had checked the financial statements, but CourseCo does not want to release the statements to the public, and the Committee members did not see them either. MATTERS FROM/FOR COMMISSIONERS City Fields — Commissioner Carlson said that since January 2001 the Commissioners attending the annual field use meeting have been hearing from the youth league representatives about the conditions of city fields. Since the city has lost even more staff, she asked if the city has a different contractor maintaining fields. Manager Miller responded that the Public Works Department oversees the landscape contract, but the Recreation Department gets the complaints. He said the condition of the fields is due to performance of the landscape contractor and inadequate supervision by Public Works as a result of having very few people left in the department. He explained that with all of the changes in personnel, there is no one sitting down with the contractor to discuss the condition of the fields. Commissioner Carlson said this upsets her because many families move to Rohnert Park because of the many parks and fields, and she doesn't know how the City will maintain their reputation as being friendly to families and children. Park Security — Commissioner Griffin asked about hiring security companies to patrol the parks, and Manager Miller said the City has hired private security companies to patrol the parks as a supplement to police patrols. He reported Public Safety is in the process of hiring several new police officers and he isn't sure how this will affect the private patrols. Commission Goal — Chair Stevens said he would like to add as a Commission goal the construction of an indoor pool at the Sports and Fitness Center, which was also mentioned by City Manager, Carl Leivo, at the Commission's August meeting. Commissioner Carlson pointed out that this project is on the list of capital projects. Manager Miller stated that the indoor pool was addressed in the ERA report that the City Manager reviewed at the August meeting. Chair Stevens pointed out the benefits for seniors of having an indoor pool. Commissioner Hotaling mentioned that there is an indoor pool in Cotati at the 24 Hour Health Club and it is always packed. ADJOURNMENT - There being no further business before the Commission, the meeting was adjourned at 9:02 p.m. Chair Stevens C� --`1 Secretary Page 7 r Guy ITiller Recreation Services Manager