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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/28/2011 PRC MinutesCITY OF DIAMOND BAR MINUTES OF THE PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION THE GOVERNMENT CENTER HEARING BOARD ROOM DIAMOND BAR, CA 91765 J U LY 28, 2011 CALL TO ORDER: Chairman Roberto called the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. in the SCAQMD/Government Center Hearing Board Room, 21865 Copley Drive, Diamond Bar, CA 91765. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: C/Owens led the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL: Present: Commissioners Dave Grundy, Ted Owens, Vice Chairman Lew Herndon and Chairman Dave Roberto. Absent: Commissioner Benny Liang was excused. Staff Present: Bob Rose, Community Services Director; Anthony Jordan, Parks and Maintenance Superintendent; Christy Murphey, Recreation Superintendent; Alison Meyers, Community Services Coordinator, and Marcy Hilario, Senior Administrative Assistant. MATTERS FROM THE AUDIENCE: Irene Kim, 24231 Softwind Drive, thanked the Commission and staff for their timely response in addressing her concerns about connecting the two park trails. She asked if there were any plans to connect to the Schubarum Trail and CSD/Rose stated there are plans but that it may not happen in the near future. Ms. Kim said that she and many people who hike on a daily basis have said they would appreciate a connection because it would add to the quality of life in D. B. CALENDAR OF EVENTS: As presented in the agenda. 1. CONSENT CALENDAR: 1.1 Approval of Minutes for the May 12, 2011 Study Session. C/Grundy moved, VC/Owens seconded, to approve the Minutes of the May 12; 2011 Study Session as presented. Without objection, the motion was so ordered. 1.2 Approval of Minutes for the May 26, 2011 Regular Meeting. VC/Herndon moved, C/Grundy seconded, to approve the May 26, 2011 Regular Meeting Minutes as presented. Without objection, the motion was so ordered. JULY 28, 2011 PAGE 2 P&R COMMISSION 1.3 Transmittal of updated Trails Map to Commissioners — Received and Filed. VC/Herndon suggested adding the new City Hall address on the Trails Maps and he felt that a copy of the maps should be printed in the City Newsletter at least once a year. C/Grundy asked if the map was available on the City's Website and CSD/Rose responded affirmatively. 2. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS 2.1 Recreation Program Update — RS/Murphey C/Grundy asked about the site of the Battle of the Dance excursion and RS/Murphey said she believed it was held in a hotel in Anaheim. C/Owens asked about the next senior softball game to which RS/Murphey responded that the next home game is scheduled for Thursday, August 4 at Peterson Park at 10:00 a.m. VC/Herndon asked if the Summer Day Camp enrollment was at 95 percent and RS/Murphey responded yes. She shared that the first couple of weeks, one of the school districts, PUSD, was not out of school yet, so there was a slightly lower enrollment during that period. VC/Herndon asked why the net revenue for the contract classes did not take into consideration the indirect cost of staff, facility maintenance, printing, etc. RS/Murphey reiterated that in staff's financial reports, only the direct costs are included because staff works on other programs and projects as well. Chair/Roberto asked if staff could project those costs. CSD/Rose reiterated that part of the printing cost is the City Newsletter and none of the full time staff costs are included in the programs in the financial evaluation. The City's philosophy is to break even on direct program costs. The cost evaluation is based on revenue goals as part of the budget process, as well as the additional costs other than full time costs as listed in the City's budget. Everything the City does regarding the programs is subsidized and if every cost was included, the City would have to charge rent for the building, the bond and insurance that is paid on the buildings, maintenance costs, etc. All of these costs could be factored in toward setting fees to be recovered; however, that would exceed the market demand for what folks would be willing to pay for these programs. People pay taxes and believe they are entitled to affordable recreation programs and do not want to have to pay that a second time. Staff is attempting to reflect the budgeted costs to the City Council for this program in the financial report, not all of the other costs that the City incurs in order to make it possible for these programs to exist. Only the direct costs are included. Chair/Roberto asked about travel costs and RS/Murphey responded that it was for one person to attend training for contract classes which included enrollment, hotel and incidentals. JULY 28, 2011 PAGE 3 P&R COMMISSION VC/Herndon asked how the Commissioners are to evaluate these kinds of programs if they are not privy to the true costs. It seems to him that the Commissioners should have a better idea about the true costs. Chair/Roberto said that on its face, it appears to be a positive revenue and the comment states there are other costs that are associated which represents a negative to him. It may be better to communicate to anyone reading the report to know that the City is subsidizing these programs so the public understands they are getting something at a lesser than actual cost. This would help them realize the benefit to them. C/Owens asked if the City had a subsidy level policy for the fee programs. CSD/Rose responded that there is not a City Council adopted policy; it is more a matter of when the programs originally began. Each program had a philosophy about what amount it would recover and each year during the budget process, those are the factors that staff works with. For example, many cities require 100 percent recovery for adult excursions but because D.B. uses Prop A Transportation funds to pay for the buses, the recovery for the bus cost is only 70 percent. Staff may be able to add that philosophical discussion as part of the evaluation so that there is understanding about what staff and the City Council is attempting to achieve with respect to each of the programs offered. This would enable the reader to more clearly understand that there are other costs involved. When D.B. first began its contract classes program, the City was a very "facility poor" community. That was prior to the City having the Diamond Bar Center, Heritage Park, etc., therefore, it appeared that the subsidy of the classroom rental space was a cost of doing business. However, it was not the City's intent to recover the cost for the rental of the facilities in the program costs. The costs for rental of facilities have significantly decreased since the program began. There was a time that the budget was over $100,000 for rental facilities and that is now down to about $19,000. The rental fees could be included as direct costs for this program. Staff can add these factors in the program report in the future. VC/Herndon asked if staff would follow up on that and CSD/Rose responded that he would. 2.1.1 PowerPoint presentation — Summer Day Camp/DB4 Youth in Action — CSC/Meyers. Chair/Roberto said that he would like to be reminded about upcoming events for DB4 Youth via e-mail. VC/Herndon asked if the camp kids repeat week after week and CSC/Meyers explained that the majority of the kids come all 11 weeks, but there are new kids as well. Some kids only sign up for certain weeks of the year and some go on vacation. VC/Herndon stated that he assumed the activities change from week to week and CSD/Meyers responded yes, the activities are not repeated JULY 28, 2011 PAGE 4 P&R COMMISSION over and over because many kids attend each week. Every week there is something new. VC/Herndon said he was extremely impressed with both of these programs. Staff does a phenomenal job and it is obvious that the kids really enjoy the activities, C/Owens asked if the July 15th Teen Night Out was the biggest turnout that DB4Youth has had. CSC/Meyers said it is difficult to know because last year's trail hike included a large number of kids who were spread out so much that a true count was not possible. It appeared that there were about 200 teens at that event, whereas in the past, there have been closer to possibly 150 who attended. The turnout was very good and she hopes to keep the same venue for next year. With more publicity, she hopes to attract even more teens. C/Grundy asked if Teen Night Out was targeted toward middle school. CSC/Meyers responded that it was targeted toward high school age students; however, middle school youth are also welcome. C/Grundy asked if, in the past, dances had been for the middle school and CSC/Meyers responded yes. C/Grundy asked if this is the one event that the City has for high school kids or if there are other programs for high school kids. CSC/Meyers responded that this is the only event the City has for the high school teens. C/Grundy asked if there were plans to expand offerings for the high school. It appears that Teen Night Out is very popular and it seems there might be an appetite for more. CSC/Meyers responded that staff would love to see more things happen for the high school teens; however, it is a matter of what, where and how. CSD/Rose interjected that the "how" CSC/Meyers refers to is the budget. 2.2 Parks Report — PMS/Jordan 2.2.1 Power Point Presentation on Park Walkthrough — Pantera Park — PMS/Jordan. In reference to the slideshow, C/Grundy asked how successful it has been to try to do fill-in in areas of the park where the bushes have been beat down by foot traffic. PMS/Jordan explained that the stand of shrubs at the batting cages is the original stand of shrubs that was placed in the area when the batting cages were installed. Staff has not replaced any shrubs since that time and this will be the first attempt at trying to re -grow the shrubs. Along the Bowcreek Drive side of the park, there were issues with people parking along that side of the slope and there were a lot of wear patterns through the shrub area. Staff planted Diosma shrubs and behind those, Pyracantha was planted. PMS/Jordan explained that with the right plantings, foot traffic is usually deterred. However, if people choose to walk on the bushes, no matter what, there is not much that can be done about that. JULY 28, 2011 PAGE 5 P&R COMMISSION CSD/Rose shared that staff had the same problem behind the bleachers at Pantera Park and solved that problem the same way as the Bowcreek Drive problem. 2.3 Status of CIP Projects — CSD/Rose 2.3.1 Silver Tip Mini -Park — CSD/Rose stated that with the plans being approved by L.A. County Community Development Commission (CDC) for this project, plans and specs were made available to contractors this past Tuesday. The bid opening is scheduled for Thursday, August 25, with award of contract at the first City Council meeting in September. 2.3.2 Washington Park — CSD/Rose explained that this project has been out to bid for a few weeks and 34 contractors have picked up plans and specs. Bids are due back next Tuesday, August 2 for bid opening. The goal is to have the award of contract on August 16, with construction commencing sometime in September. Within the plans and specs, there are spaces for about 100 tiles to be done by the kids. Once the contractor is on board, there will be a ground- breaking ceremony and the neighborhood kids will be invited to make handprints on the tiles at that time. 2.3.3 Sycamore Canyon Park Trail — Phase IV — CSD/Rose reported that staff just received the sign -off from the geotechnical engineer. Approved plans were received today and staff has advertised that plans and specs are available for sale tomorrow. Bid opening for this project will be on Tuesday, August 23 with award of contract the first or second Council meeting in September. VC/Herndon asked if it was normal to have so many contractors bidding on the one project — the Washington Park project. CSD/Rose responded that it is an extremely high number. It will be interesting to see how many will actually turn in bid packages. Many times, contractors will see there are so many bidders that they will drop out. 2.4 Parks Master Plan Update — CSD/Rose CSD/Rose reported that the Parks Master Plan was adopted by the City Council on July 19. The final corrections were submitted this week and rather than providing another printed copy, the consultant will provide an electronic copy for staff to verify the corrections. Staff asked to have until August 3 to conclude the final review. He believed the only corrections that needed to be submitted were on the trails, as discussed this evening. As soon as the document is approved, printing will commence with 25 copies being printed. The document will be placed on the City's website and will also be made available on disc. CSD/Rose congratulated the Commission on its completion of the Parks Master Plan process; moving JULY 28, 2011 PAGE 6 P&R COMMISSION the plan forward, completing its review, and making the recommendation to the City Council. Once the City Council received the document, he heard only praise about the quality of the work done to put the document together, as well as, the public comment and outreach efforts which resulted in a very usable document. He thanked the Commission for sticking with the process for three years to get it prepared for Council approval. 3. OLD BUSINESS: None 4. NEW BUSINESS: None 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS: C/Owens thanked staff for the PowerPoint presentation and for hosting the very successful Teen Night Out. C/Grundy thanked staff for great presentations which are very informative for the Commission. The presentations also show what a great job staff is doing in the field and in creating such high quality programs. He received feedback on the 4th of July event and wondered if there was a miscue at the end when the music continued and the fireworks abruptly stopped. CSD/Rose shared that he learned from the fireworks show provider that the shooting team made an effort to do an alternative grand finale, which had to do with wiring fireworks together so that they would all go off together. Just before the fireworks ceased, there was a big hiss and that was the alternative grand finale. Staff has since instructed the provider to stick with the traditional grand finale because the alternative grand finale was a flop. C/Grundy said this was the first time he and his family sat in the back and the sound was barely audible and they could not hear any announcements or speakers. When he saw the fences surrounding the construction areas, he thought traffic would be bad when folks were trying to leave at the same time; however, he was pleasantly surprised that traffic cleared out rather quickly. Overall, the show was very good and he thought last night's Concerts in the Park was good as well and thanked staff for the nice job on the summer programs. VC/Herndon said he too attended the 4th of July event and was very impressed with the number of people who were at the event, which shows a lot of community interest and participation. He asked if kids from other communities participated in the Teen Night Out and CSC/Meyers replied that staff has no way of determining that; however, staff does know that kids from D.B. invite a few kids from other cities. She is familiar with the majority of the kids, so she knows the majority are D.B. residents. VC/Herndon shared that at the concert last evening, he saw people who were visiting from La Verne. He is not sure that the City realizes how much the free entertainment provided means to folks. He believes that during these economic times, it is an essential outlet for folks who have no other means to participate. Chair Roberto echoed all previous comments and thanked staff for a great job staff does for the community. JULY 28, 2011 PAGE 7 P&R COMMISSION ADJOURNMENT: VC/Herndon moved, C/Owens seconded, to adjourn the meeting. With no further business before the Parks & Recreation Commission, Chair/Roberto adjourned the meeting at 8:08 p.m. The foregoing minutes are hereby approved this 25 Thi day of F;ckW ST 2011. Respec ully u mitted, //,, O` ,SECRETARY Attest: L(�I' () �_ __ - DAVE ROBEIRTO, C Al MAN