Library Board - Regular Meeting

this meeting for Apache Junction Parks and Recreation Commission. It is Wednesday, June 3rd, 2026 at 6 p.m. Please stand and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you so much. May I have roll call, please?

Judy Borey.

Here.

Frank Schoenbeck.

Here.

D.L. Kine. Here. Lamont Klepper.

Here.

Felicia Madrid is excused. Manny Vega.

Here.

And Heather Moeller. Here.

Thank you. All right, the commission may at this time take single action on any or all items listed as consent agenda items. These include acceptance of agenda and acceptance of minutes. Any members of the commission may remove any item from the consent agenda for discussion and cause a separate vote on the matter later in the agenda.

With my mom as well.

Sold out and it has been sold out. I think for the last couple of years. We also had kids to Park Day and that was to celebrate national kids to Park Day. And again, it's very warm that day, so we were very happy to have 80 kids come out and families come out and play on that day. Our summer is in full swing. Our sports camps have all started or will be starting in the next couple of weeks. We have a variety of sports camps. Our summer camp started on Monday, and that is down at Cactus Canyon Junior High, so they have their own space. And that program is thriving. Our youth basketball league started this month, and that is at the Multi-Gen Center. And our adult golf league started. Believe it or not, they golf in the morning out there.

I would think that it is too hot, but they will be going through July in that program. Okay.

Yes, that is our staff training to me being very boss-like. So I had to throw one in and make fun of myself. But on May 16th, we did have that. We call it our all-staff training. And we bring in our summer. We peak with our part-time staff. And we have almost 100 part-time staff on with the pool being the most. We hired almost, we did hire 60 guards. But by the time the hiring season was done, we were just under 60 guards. And then the rec leaders making up the remainder of that number. We bring them all in. We spend the whole day together just going over personnel and all the safety trainings and program trainings and all that good stuff.

One day is not enough, but it is our big day that we get to celebrate all of our part-time staff.

which also leads me to that Sonic, again, I think I mentioned this, but Sonic is sponsoring our staff spotlight. This is their third year in doing so. So they provide gift cards and swag, and in return we do a little bit of marketing for them, but then it drives our staff to go to Sonic during the summer. And so each week we will be recognizing the top talent on our team, and you'll be able to see that through Facebook. And then they also get to share it and their friends and grandparents and stuff all love to see that kind of stuff.

Our pool is opened.

We have officially started with open swim and our first lesson of swim lessons started on Monday. It is evening swim lessons for the first two weeks and then we move into day and evening swim. Our first and second session of swim lessons are completely full. Our third session of swim lessons is almost completely full with only spots for star babies and star tots. We are currently working on trying to open up more spots in that third session, but we'll see. Fourth and fifth session lessons do not open until June 18th. So again, we kind of hold back so we don't have everybody registering for every single session. So we hold back those last two. So if we have an individual who was not able to get into any session, we get them into one of those fourth or fifth sessions. Our goal is that every child can at least get one session of swim lessons every summer. Our pool counts, our high pool counts every day have almost been over 200. So that means like open swim. one given the peak point we've had anywhere from 200 up to 350 at one given time so that's not unique users but that is every day that we've got that open swim we've got over 200 swimmers in there at any given point what's the capacity capacity is about 400. thank you Our first team talks with our YAC advisory council, they are up on YouTube. So our youth advisory council students interviewed some top folks in city management and directors and interviewed them with questions. What do they do? Do they like their job? You can find those different team talks on the city's YouTube channel. So I invite you guys to check those out. I want to invite you guys to America Waves. So that is on June 10th at 10 a.m. I am promoting a library program. I want that to go on record. So the library is hosting America Waves at the Complex Park. It is a weekday. We will be providing flags, and the idea is everybody will be out there at the same time.

Or you can do it from your home.

Just go out and wave your flag all at the same time. And that will be at the complex park. But Parks and Rec will be there to give out free popsicles to anybody that is there too. So we are working with the library. With the pickleball courts open, though some of you had mentioned, if you want to learn, we do offer free lessons once a month. I believe our instructor is taking off next month, but you can find that information on our registration page or our Facebook page. I will tell you that the people of pickleball are more scary than the actual game itself because some of them are pretty intense players. But if you were there, you saw me out on the court, and if I can learn to play, anybody can learn to play. It is a very fun sport, and I do encourage you guys, if you have any interest, to take us up on the offer for those free pickleball lessons.

And then Dave mentioned the rodeo grounds.

Eventually when it is cooler, because we do not want to have any more open houses or grand openings for the next couple of months, but we will be looking to host a grand opening, like an open house in the fall. The rodeo grounds has already been opened. It's not a ribbon cutting, but it will be to invite folks to come and look and see what that space could be used for. So we'll keep you updated on that. And then the last thing I want to share with you guys is just a little bit of information on 4th of July because that is our next biggest event coming up. So just a couple of reminders and a run of the day. At 7.45 a.m., we start celebrating with a volleyball tournament at the pool. We take the first eight teams on site to register. Some years we max and we have a waiting list and some years we get six teams. Then we will have a free swim from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and that is courtesy of our friends at State Farm. Aaron McDermott has sponsored that. Usually that is a payday, but he has sponsored that day to make it free to our community. Then at the Superstition Shadows Park, not on the football field. We have not had it on the football field for many years. At the park itself, we host our 4th of July event. The gates do open at 6, and that's when I recommend you being there if you do not want to have to walk a super long way. So to say that you have to get there right at 530, I don't believe that to be true. There's ample parking at 6. The gates will open. Please don't bring any of your own fireworks, alcohol, or tobacco because it is school property. And then our fireworks, weather permitting, go off at 8.30. So if you choose to watch them from your house, because that's easier and you can actually see them, as long as the weather is permitting, 8.30 will be launch time for those. And we will be having free watermelon as our local Apache Junction Little League has sponsored watermelon for as long as I can remember. We'll have games and activities for the kids. All of it is free. We have maxed out on our food trucks, so there will be food there, and you will have to pay for that. But other than that, that is my report, unless you have any questions.

There's a band, yes or no?

Live music, and it is the same band that we had last year. Are you sure?

The kids were, okay.

So it is a band that we've had before. It's Over the Line? Yeah, Over the Line will be performing. Thank you for reminding me of that. Oh, it was the same band as the last time I worked. I had last year off. Yes, yes, understandable.

Any other questions? Your free pickleball classes, are they once a month?

Yep, they are once a month, and they're usually the same. We just started it a couple months ago, so I can't remember if it's the first Saturday or Friday, but it is in our activity registration. I just can't think of it off the top of my head.

And the time is?

I will find out, and I will email it out to you guys. Or I might find it by the end of this meeting. But I didn't come prepared with that. I just thought of it when Dee mentioned that she would like to play, but it was a little intimidating. Still a lot intimidating. Yeah. Kim is a great instructor, though. So she teaches kindergartners. She can teach you. I mean, I didn't mean that. I just meant she's very patient because she teaches kindergartners.

I'm probably more stubborn than a kindergartner, though.

So I did look. It's the second Saturday each month at Prospector Park from 9 to 10 a.m. Pre-registration ensures your spot. It's for 16 and older.

There you go.

Thank you.

All right.

Well, thank you very much, Demi. All right. So we've got some old. No, we don't. Yes, we do. Presentation, discussion, and final consideration on proposed changes to the Apache Junction City Code, Volume 1, Chapter 4, Fees, Article 4-1, Parks and Recreation Fees Scheduled. Management Analysis, Riley King will present. Present.

Good evening. I am here tonight to bring back our final recommendation for you guys to look at, ask any questions, and if you feel, vote on. So just the background. So we do have to, the state mandates us to look at our fees every five years to see where we land. Here are the meetings that we've come to and brought all of this information for you guys to see. Just as a reminder, we are recommending to increase the following fees. So MGC rental fees, sports fields, Ramadas and open spaces, our personnel fee, our alcohol permit, and our rodeo arena and prep fee. And then we are also asking to add new fees for our new amenities at the rodeo event center. So our pavilion, drag camp fees, RV space, hookup fees, portable stalls, and stall bedding. For our facility entry fees, we are recommending that we increase 10% for the MGC memberships, but we want the day passes to remain the same. And then we are not recommending any changes to our aquatic fees or our recreation program and activity ranges. I am going to bring up our potential fee schedule changes that you guys got to see last meeting. There was a few that we had blanks on, so I wanted to bring those to your attention. So our electrical for vendors, so that was one that we were still looking into. So we landed on 125 for our east side and then 150 for the south side. So when you're at the rodeo grounds, the vendor walkways, the east side has electrical outlets. Those are 50 amp outlets and there is less of them. When you go to the south side, those are 20, outlets and there's about 35 ish of those on that side. Um, and so that is why there is two different price, uh, the price difference for the east and the south side. I think that was the only one that we had, we're still researching. The rest, we have not changed anything else on this, unless it was a spelling error or we highlighted something that shouldn't have been highlighted. So we fixed those also. In your packet, you also saw the red line version of the code. We do have to include that for you guys to look at. It is the exact same as what this is. It's just the clean version that would be in our city code for you guys. So the next steps would be you can approve these changes as presented, or you can request for us to bring back changes for your next meeting for approval. We will take, once you guys approve them, we will take it to city council for their discussion. We do have to post it for 60 days and hold a public hearing before we can do final adoption. And then we're anticipating that these changes and updates will be in place January 1st of 2027. So at this time, I can answer any questions you guys may have for me.

I think it's a really excellent job of presentation. The number of ways it's presented, it's very easy to understand what's going on.

Thank you.

The red line version, the other version, it's really, really well presented. And the fee increases are reasonable. 1% per year is basically what we're talking about. And we'd all like to see inflation at that rate. So I think it's... My opinion is I think it's ready to go.

I want to, I'll make a quick comment too. I think very exactly what Frank said, like the fees are just very consumer friendly, you know, very community friendly, you know, small fees, although it's been a long time since we've, you know, adjusted fees, but, you know, I think just minimal, you know, no huge impact. So just really want to give a lot of credit to the team for, you know, putting that together.

Thank you.

Madam Chair, I move that the Parks and Recreation Commission recommend the City Council changes to the Apache Junction City Code, Volume 1, Chapter 4, Fees Article 4-1, Parks and Recreation Fee Schedule as presented by staff.

Thank you. May I have a second? I'll second. Thank you. May I have a roll call, please?

Lamont Klepper.

Yes.

Felicia Madrid is excused. Manny Vega.

Yes.

Judy Borey.

Yes.

Frank Shanebeck.

Yes.

D.L. Kine. Yes. And Heather Moeller.

Yes. Okay, and the motion passes. Awesome. Thank you. Looks like there's no new business. Looks like there's no call to the public. All right. So commissioners, if you have anything to suggest or recommend being added to the next agenda, again, we're not discussing any topics. You just have any questions that you would like follow up on. Now's your time to throw it out there.

No?

Okay. All right then. So then we got our, I'll need a motion for the selection of meeting dates, times, location, and purpose, please.

I move that the Parks and Recreation Commission hold a regular meeting on August 5th, 2026 at 6 p.m. in the City Council Chambers located at 300 East Superstition Boulevard.

Thank you. May I have a second? I'll second that. Thank you. And may I have a roll call, please?

D.L. Kine. Yes. Lamont Klepper.

Yes.

Felicia Madrid is excused. Manny Vega?

Yes. Yes.

Judy Borey?

Yes.

Frank Schoenbeck?

Yes.

And Heather Muller?

Yes.

Okay. And that motion passes as well. Thank you.

All right. Well, hot dog. It looks like we're going to adjourn this meeting at 625 p.m. Thank you so much for attending.