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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/25/2005 PRC MinutesCITY OF DIAMOND BAR MINUTES OF THE PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION HEARING BOARD ROOM OF S.C.A.Q.M.D.ITHE GOVERNMENT CENTER 21865 Copley Drive AUGUST 25, 2005 CALL TO ORDER: Chairman Lyons called the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the SCAQMD/Government Center Building Hearing Board Room, 21865 Copley Drive, Diamond Bar, California 91765. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Phil Williams led the Pledge of Allegiance. 1. ROLL CALL: Present: Chairman Nancy Lyons, and Commissioner Ling -Ling Chang and Benny Liang. Commissioner Dave Grundy arrived at 7:25 p.m. Vice Chairman Marty Torres arrived at 7:45 p.m. Staff Present: Bob Rose, Director of Community Services; Anthony Jordan; Parks and Maintenance Superintendent; Ryan Wright, Recreation Supervisor; Krista Berentis, Recreation Coordinator; and Marisa Somenzi, Administrative Assistant. PRESENTATION OF 2005 CITY YOUTH BASEBALL SPORTSMANSHIP AWARDS: RSIWright presented the award to four teams as an incentive for players, coaches and fans to demonstrate positive support and to place the emotional and physical well being of the children ahead of a personal desire to win. RECESS: Chair/Lyons recessed the meeting at 7:05 p.m. RECONVENE: Chair/Lyons reconvened the meeting at 7:20 p.m. MATTERS FROM THE AUDIENCE: None Offered. CALENDAR OF EVENTS: Listed on the agenda. 1. CONSENT CALENDAR 1.1 Approval of Minutes of June 23, 2005 Regular Meeting. C/Chang moved, C/Liang seconded to approve the Consent Calendar as presented. Motion carried by the following Rall Call vote: AUGUST 25, 2005 PAGE 2 P&R COMMISSION AYES: COMMISSIONERS: Chang, Chair/Lyons NOES: COMMISSIONERS: None ABSTAIN: COMMISSIONERS: Liang ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: Grundy and VC/Torres 2. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS 2.1 Recreation Program Report — RS/Wright C/Grundy arrived at 7:25 p.m. Chair/Lyons asked how staff intended to recognize the 41 Volunteens at next month's meeting. RS/Wright said he understood that Margot Suarez, Recreation Coordinator/Day Camp was researching how many hours each person had put into the programs. All of the Volunteens will be recognized and there is a stipend for those who worked above and beyond what was required. Chair/Lyons said she was very impressed with the Volunteens and felt they did a lot to assist the City. CSD/Rose stated that traditionally the City provides a certificate and stipend. RS/Wright said that staff was also working on a dinner or special night out thank -you. Chair/Lyons felt the Volunteens deserved a nice presentation because the City would be hard pressed to run its programs without their participation and support. 2.2 Diamond Bar Community Foundation Oral Report -- C/Chang. C/Chang reported that with the City's help the Foundation presented backpacks to YMCA youth at Diamond Point Elementary School last week. The Foundation is looking to hire a part time staff person to take care of some of the Gala's loose ends. The Gala is slated for December 3 at the Diamond Bar Center and the Foundation is looking for a hot food caterer for the event. 2.3 Library Task Force Oral Report — Chair/Lyons. Chair/Lyons reported that the Task Force did not meet fast month. The last she heard was that the Library Bond Act might be on the ballot in April or June. CSD/Rose said the Council would not be making its decision until after November. C/Grundy was concerned that the issue did not move forward in November and wondered if November would be too late to plan for April. ClGrundy asked that staff convey to the Council his disappointment that the matter was not placed on the November ballot and that there would be even more disappointment if the issue missed the April ballot. C/Chang believed it was a strategic move to place the matter on a later ballot to avoid the City having to pay for a special election. In the meantime the Council was weighing the issues to determine what might make the initiative successful. C/Grundy explained that at the last Task Force meeting most of the Friends of the Library attendees wanted the matter placed on the November ballot. His personal opinion was that it might be better to wait until AUGUST 25, 2405 PAGE 3 P&R COMMISSION April but the consensus was that it should be placed on the November ballot. If the City misses April he was sure that the Friends of the Library would be very frustrated. He agreed that the City should fall within a regular election cycle and not hold a special election. CSD/Rose said that both April and June would be considered special elections for D.B. Chair/Lyons recalled that during the City Council Study Sessions the consultant indicated there was not enough time to educate the public were the measure to be placed on the November ballot and she felt the Friends were okay with that. It seemed to her that it would be somewhat risky to place the measure on the April ballot if it were the only D.B. issue because residents would feel it was a waste of money. VC/Torres arrived at 7:45 p.m. 2.4 C.I.P. Program Report — CSD/Rose a. Trail & Trail Head Development at Sycamore Park — Under Construction and scheduled for completion by October per CSD/Rose. b. Picnic Shelters at Pantera Park — CSD/Rose reported that this project was part of about five median projects and that the contractor had until the end of November to complete the project. The contractor said he expected to begin work at Pantera Park in September. G. Sycamore Canyon Park ADA Retrofit Phase I I — CSD/Rose indicated that there were two small components left to completion. d. Sycamore Canyon Park ADA Retrofit — Phase III — CSD/Rose reported that Council was scheduled to receive a presentation from Hirsch and Associates at the September 20 regular meeting. e. Starshine Park Retrofit — CSD/Rose stated that the project was considered complete. However, when the Water District inspected the drinking fountain they required installation of a backflow prevention device even though the fountain included such a device. The landscape design firm is donating the device and staff will install it. PMS/Jordan said there was about a one to two-week turnaround and he would most likely place the order next week. Lorbeer Ball Field — CSD/Rose said that CM/Lowry was attempting to resolve this matter with the PUSD Superintendent. g. Larkstone Park Conceptual Plan — CSD/Rose said he sent the list of desired amenities to Richard Gould, JCC, developer for the project. CSD/Rose outlined the conceptual plan for the park to the Commissioners using the conceptual drawings. CSD/Rose responded to C/Grundy that the park could use South Point parking or the small lot as well as street parking for about 20 AUGUST 25, 2005 PAGE 4 P&R COMMISSION spaces. 2.5 Parks Report — PMS/Jordan updated the Commission on the progress by Valleycrest. CSD/Rose reported last month that the City was experiencing a severe decline in the quality of work by Valleycrest due to a change in their personnel. Things began to improve when Valleycrest hired a new manager who recently left the company. However, the branch managerfor Valleycrest stepped into the area manager's role and has been managing the D.B. account very responsively. PMS/Jordan stated that the City asked for proposals from other contractors to take over Valleycrest's work and the cost savings are not as great as initially anticipated. Therefore, staff believes it would not be prudent to change contractors at this time. PMS/Jordan updated the Commission on walkthroughs completed at Heritage, Maple Hill, Ronald Reagan and Pantera Parks and said that staff was making considerable progress on the punch list. Chair/Lyons asked if the rubber play surface at Starshine was repaired. PMS/Jordan responded that the contractor repaired the tears in the rubber play surface and staff was working with the contractor to get warranty documentation for the play material. C/Grundy asked if the City planned to install bollards or fencing to prevent damage at Pantera Park and CSD/Rose responded that staff was considering a PVC split rail fence with openings along the parking lot and that cost bids would be acquired before making a final decision. C/Chang left the meeting at 8:10 p.m. 3. OLD BUSINESS: 3.1 Update of Facilities Use Document. There were no suggestions or recommendations from the Commission. CSD/Rose asked the Commissioners what they thought about requiring a certain percentage of D.B. residents to be a part of the organization in order for the group to be eligible to use the City's facilities. C/Grundy said that those groups that did not qualify could be given the last opportunity. C/Grundy asked how staff could verify the percentage and CSD/Rose responded that probably the best way would be to scrutinize past records. CSD/Rose offered that perhaps only D.B. based participant -only programs would be authorized free use of facilities. C/Grundy suggested that such a change would have a significant impact on the current programs and he would be more comfortable with the full Commission present to make such a consideration. He tended to favor giving preference to the D.B. based teams. However, it seems no different from staff's proposal to exclude the non -City based teams. If staff was comfortable that most of the allocations would go to City -based teams and AUGUST 25, 2005 PAGE 5 P&R COMMISSION most of the other allocations would be excluded due to lack of space at least it would be giving other groups a chance as opposed to specifically excluding them. Chair/Lyons suggested inviting the president of each organization to the next Commission meeting to discuss this matter and then make a decision at the following meeting, if appropriate. C/Grundy said he was not enthusiastic about inviting comments. VC/Torres felt the primary issue was that D.B. had been courteous to the organizations outside of the City and it worked for the most part but at the same time it had created a lot of extra work for CSD/Rose and staff. When there were problems it was usually with the outside groups that try to use more than the allotted times thereby creating ill will within the D.B. based groups. He would favor tightening the policy if it would make life easier for staff. His frustration is with coaches that have team members who reside outside of the City. CSD/Rose responded to VC/Torres that he was more concerned about what was fair to the teams and organizations that represent D.B. because he believes those groups should have first shot at the facilities. Fields get used and used up and it costs the City about $20,000 a year to fix heavy use damage. The other consideration is whether staff needs to monitor the groups. D.B. has strived to be all things to all people and he said he was not certain that the policy needed to be that accommodating. Chair/Lyons recommended staff obtain copies of the policies from adjacent cities. VC/Torres said that Irvine for example has a residency requirement of 80 percent and the problem is how to enforce the policy and whether it is less costly to leave the policy as is. The travel teams are a business and they pay coaches for their services whereas AYSO and D.B. Little League are not businesses because the coaches volunteer. He asked if the City would be able to distinguish between paid and non -paid coaches. C/Grundy suggested that staff ask other cities what mechanism they use to verify residency. RCBerentis said that Anaheim requires 51 percent residency and that the city has different fee categories. The first priority category is resident/non- profit i.e. AYSO, Little League, etc and the next category is non-resident/non- profit. The residency verification is done from the roster. However, individuals alter the rosters. C/Grundy asked if the City kept a list of residents. CSD/Rose said the only list the City has is a list of property owners. 3.2 Update of Commission Handbook There were no changes recommended. 4. NEW BUSINESS: None AUGUST 25, 2005 PAGE 6 P&R COMMISSION 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS: C/Liang felt the "Concerts in the Park" series was a very successful event this year. Although he attended only a couple of the concerts he felt everyone enjoyed the concerts and special events. C/Grundy asked his fellow Commissioners to support him by sending a message to Bob Zirbes and his family the Commissioners hopes, thoughts and prayers for a full recovery. The Commissioners concurred. Chair/Lyons said she enjoyed looking at the easy to read financial summary. She asked staff to send another "thank -you" letter to Round Table Pizza. She reminded staff that she had asked last month to have the Youth Master Plan put on each subsequent agenda for a status update to the Commission. CSD/Rose reported that there was nothing new to report this month. He said he would add the item to the agenda. VC/Torres asked what feedback staff received regarding the joint venture Youth Volleyball Program. RS/Wright said there were about six to eight participants from D.B. CSD/Rose said staff would make a full report at the next meeting. ADJOURNMENT: Upon motion by VC/Torres seconded by C/Grundy and with no further business before the Parks & Recreation Commission, Chair/Lyons adjourned the meeting at 8:40 p.m. Respptullj Submitted, Attest: