Parks and Recreation Commission - Regular Meeting

All right the September 14th meeting of the city of Fullerton Parks and Recreation Commission will now come to order at 6 o'clock Would the secretary please take roll?

Yes Sure McKendree is out today by stir Freeman here Commissioner Maldonado Commissioner Talavera not here yet and Commissioner Kim Here, thank you.

I'll now ask Commissioner Maldonado to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Please stand Thank you. Do we have any department updates from staff this evening.

Yes good evening Vice Chair and members of the commission. Today it's been the commission has asked in previous meetings about our urban forestry plan which is actually going to be our first presentation. So here we have our landscape manager David Bishop and arborist Julio Jacobo. So I will allow them to introduce themselves and they'll move they'll advance with the presentation tonight.

Good evening. My name is David Bishop I am the landscape manager for the city of Fulton. Excuse me I am a little under the weather. Six full-time employees. That includes our tree division. We have two supervisors. One is for the trees, and one is for landscape. We have three irrigators that take care of the whole city. We got two lead workers, one equipment operator, and then the rest are all senior maintenance. So basically, we have 36 people that take care of the entire city when it comes to the landscape and tree division. We do have WCA, West Coast Arborists, that helps us out and does all of our tree trimmings. They've been with us over 20 years. exceptional company, tremendous when it comes to emergency calls. They're on the spot within half an hour, 45 minutes to take trees off of cars, take trees out of streets, whatever we need. Really responsive. When we had that little tornado we had earlier in the year, they were out two or three weeks. They were in our town, three, four crews taking care of trees that were down. So they're very responsive. We take care of over 30 miles of trails, over 100 medians, 52 parks we do installations we do fencing we do cement we do signs we do love fullerton we take care of all the trash cans in the city we empty all the trash cans seven days a week so have a great crew i like to brag a little bit about them we do have a little here he's going to talk about the trees i've been with the city for 19 years julio's been here for We do have a supervisor in the landscape division that's retiring next year. He's put in 38 years with the landscape division the whole time. Probably about 60% to 70% of all the public work employees started in landscape at one time. And they've moved their way up to other divisions, promoted or just transferred over to another division, got licenses and whatever. So we're kind of a breeding ground, which is very nice, very good to have. So we are lucky to have Julio. He could tell you a little bit more about his background, but he just got his municipal arborist, which is very rare, very hard to get. He is track certified, so he can check out trees and tell you exactly what's going on with the trees. It's a very hard job. I did the job for a while, a year or two, and it's not a fun job sometimes. A lot of complaints. It's like nine complaints to one compliment, but he does a great job. He keeps his cool when sometimes it's hard to. We do a reconstruction. I don't know if he's going to talk about it. We do have a sidewalk reconstruction program. So engineering comes up with some money every year. And so we do get a lot of complaints with lifted sidewalks. The street department will ramp, they'll paint, or they'll grind. But then they also put it on the list to get sidewalk reconstruction, where they take out the whole sidewalk and put a whole new sidewalk in. And there's also a sewer program that holds onto the trees, which they put that in place so if you get on the sewer program you have the right clean out at your house is to protect the trees root system so will come out once a year We'll clean out that sewer, and it's in place so we don't have to take out the tree. Because I know the tree roots go into their sewer pipes. And the first phase is like, hey, we'll come out there once a year. We'll clean out your pipes. It could be Christmas Day. We'll clean out your pipe if it's overloaded from our roots. So it's a great program. We have a great relationship with Ernie from Fortin Heritage. I talk to him every week or so. And we take care of our preservation zones. And he's going to, Julio mentioned it, but we are a 45-year tree city, which basically means we're in the top 10, and we are one of the first in the whole state of California, probably the top 10 of California, 45 years. So that's a pretty good thing to brag about. And we do an Arbor Day every year, and we plant about 20 to 25 trees every year for Arbor Day.

But enough of me rambling.

Here's Julio.

Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you, Dave, for that introduction. So let's begin. So I'm going to do a quick update on our urban forest management plan. Since it was approved leave year 2024, we would like to showcase the improvement that the team has made, not only myself, but my inspector, the maintenance workers, and management team. So a little bit of the purpose of the urban forest management plan is to realize the optimum public benefits of the trees on the streets. So trees are not only for esthetical purposes but they're assets on their own. So another one of the purposes to integrate the street tree planting and maintenance with our urban elements and amenities as I said the trees are not only statically but are part of the assets and provide benefits when they're well maintained. Promote efficient cost management for the city forest and reduce risk management associated with trees. This is done through our cycle, our pruning cycle that is over two to four, around two to four years and we're going to talk a little bit more about it. provide sustainable reliable means of managing our community forests so through systemic pruning weekend we're able to reduce the risk of the trees while maintaining our goals and our canopy coverage. Create and maintain a unified urban forest resource. This is a little bit more complicated to achieve. We're working on it, meaning that we're trying to repurpose some of the wood that is being removed from the city. Next slide, please. So the summary, just iTree data, it's a program where you can basically put your numbers and then it will come up with a series of numbers, really important numbers from what trees provide. So we have around 35,000 trees. And in terms of canopy coverage, this will cover around 23, 8.5 acres. The most common species of trees here in Fullerton are magnolias, the one that is on the left, almost probiflora, which is in the middle, which is commonly called Chinese elms, and creme myrtles, the one with the reddish-pinkish flower on the top right. The percentage of trees are less than six inches in diameter. It's about 17%. So we have a pretty robust, mature tree inventory in the city, which is good because the larger the trees are, the more benefits they provide throughout the years. Oxygen production, this number can fluctuate greatly depending on the sources, depending on several factors, but it's about 1.9 thousand tons per year. That's what the IT data showed. We have planted over a thousand trees in the last couple of years. Next slide, please. So the first that we're going to talk about, it's the master plant tree palette, which includes more drought-tolerant species. So on the right side hand, we can see oak tree, the middle, sycamore tree, and the right-hand side, the redbud tree. These are currently included in the palette. And I'm really happy to see that most of the, or at least probably 90% of the trees that we're currently planting are drought-tolerant species. We made an inception for the California grant. The California grant trees that we planted a couple of years ago, this is because they have very specific needs that we have to meet. So that's why not all of the trees were native, but some were native, some were not native, but they were appropriate for our needs. Next slide, please. So the tree planting. So total sites, 50,000 sites. This is not to be confused with the 35,000 trees that we currently have in the imagery. 35,000 trees are currently on the streets. Around 6,000 we have in parks and 10,000 or the remaining of the sites are vacant sites, stumps and some other sites that are not suitable for planting or some other data that we have that is relevant for us. Our goal is to plant 250 trees per fiscal year. Next slide, please. So for the fiscal year 2024 and 2025, we planted 293 trees. So the dots that are all over the map are the sites where we planted the trees for that fiscal year. Next slide, please. For year 2024-2025, we planted 292. Again, those dots are just showing us all the trees or the locations where trees were planted. Next slide, please. California grant, so we planted 500 trees through this grant, through this program. Again, these had really specific requirements for us to plant. And they were targeting locations that are mostly disadvantaged communities, which it's mostly around the south part of the city. A lot of the trees that we're planting were what we really need, where we have more vacant spots, where we have more issues with heat, with pollution. So again, we greatly focus on the south part of the city. This is the California grant program. This was done around approximately two years ago, and this is separate from our 250 tree goals that we planted every year with California native trees. Next slide, please. Our pruning cycles, our pruning cycle consists about every two to four years. That depends on the tree needs, on our goal. So we're pretty lucky or fortunate to say that we have been pruning the trees almost every three years, sometimes two years when we're ahead of schedule, where we can have trees pruned a little bit more earlier in the cycle. For the fiscal year 2024, 2025, we printed almost 50,000 trees for that single fiscal year. Next slide, please. We're year 2025, 2026, a little bit more over 9,000. And this depends on a lot of factors, the type of tree that we're planting, some other things that we're doing with our landscape, I'm sorry, with our trees. We're starting to do a little bit more of assessments, of research, of treatments just to improve our overall treatment. Next slide, please. So I want to talk a little bit more about the training inspection process. How do we process requests, removal requests, training requests, any type of training that's submitted to the city. So first of all, the service request is submitted by residents, an employee, a contractor through a city app or website. Next, field inspection. It's done by a certified arborist that's including myself or my inspector, which also is a certified arborist. Then we come up with a recommendation. What's the best approach under these specific circumstances for the tree? Is it pruning? Is it monitoring the tree? Do we have to do further assessments or use some other tools? And after we come up with a resolution, then we notify the requester. We try to do phone calls. We try to email them back. knock on the door, talk to the residents. Or the last scenario, we just place a door hanger on the door, just notifying what we're going to be doing next in our phone number, just in case people have any questions. Next slide, please. Urban wood policy trees that are removed may be repurposed for their highest use. This includes personnel limited to lumber public spaces for wildlife. So again we're slowly trying to integrate this in our daily management. We will have encountered some pushback and some drawbacks meaning that sometimes it's hard to leave wood on certain spaces. Again, we're trying to implement a little bit more, and we're trying to also repurpose some of the wood that is being removed through some sort of craftsman, sort of stuff like that. Next slide, please. So canopy coverage analysis, just to put this into perspective, the Orange County canopy coverage averaged around 19.54%. Fullerton has currently about 27.28 in average. So those are the spots that we have lower canopy coverage. We already took a look into those areas, but unfortunately we don't have sites, we don't have easements, we don't have spots available to plant. So that's going to be really hard to increase. But whenever there is opportunity to put trees, we'll do so. Next slide, please. The Tree City USA, I would like to talk a little bit more about what the Tree City USA is. This is a designation that it's given to cities that require certain, that meet certain requirements. The first of all is to have a tree border department which we have our tree department that it's within our landscape department. The next one is the public tree coordinates which we have in our municipal code and it's in line with our forest master plan. The next one is to have an annual expenditure of $2 per capita, which that complies with our current budget, and have an Arbor Day observance and proclamation. So it's not only about how many trees we plant or how many trees we remove. It's a whole process of how we manage the trees overall. Next slide, please. And also, as part of our ongoing efforts towards continuous improvement on the update of our current master plan, we're developing a public-facing website that highlights the many benefits that our urban trees provide. This is in the last stages of development. So we're working with West Coast Arborists. It's the company that's helping us develop the site. We are currently the last, just checking some details and hopefully we can get it up and running in the next couple of weeks. Next slide please. So this is how it will look. This is the tree benefit website where we can have visualization of the heat, how is our trees helping with the heat. Also some other data like carbon storage, where to run off. And there's also a cool feature where you can see the trees and actually the projected shadow into the building so the residents can be able to see the shade that the trees are providing. And I believe that's the last one. The last one that I wanted to talk about, we are, in October is when we open up our planting season, meaning that we'll be receiving requests from the residents to have a tree planted. So if you want to have a tree, please let us know, communicate with us. Best way to approach it is to send a service request. So we'll put it on our planting list. And hopefully around by the end of the year, beginning of next year, we will hope to have all the trees on the ground. Sometimes it's difficult because of the holidays are approaching and the staff material is not really available. But we'll try to do our best to start around the end of this year or beginning of next year. That's all I have. If you have any questions, I'm more than happy to answer.

Commissioners, do you guys have any questions or comments?

That is amazing work you guys do. 36 people taking care of a whole entire city. It's really something. There's a couple of questions I have just about some of the most recent projects. One that's been brought up was Bassanchary Creek repavement. Just what was the justification for it? Or at least do you guys know anything about the Bassanchary Creek?

No. You mean in regards to the trees or the overall project?

I may have to come back on that one. Apologies. No problem. OK. So there was one I've been talking to a few neighbors. And one shared that his tree is heavily diseased. And I have some photos maybe I can share with you guys. And he said that like essentially that trees roots keep growing into their plumbing we get the they get their plumbing Essentially cleaned out once a year But they're terrified of like the tree becoming so diseased that it branch falls on one of their children or in their car something that they just can't afford to fix essentially and Would you say like their their resolve would just be to submit like a ticket with you guys to see if they can get the tree removed or what would be the What would be the process?

Yes, the best approach will be to submit a service request. Once we receive the service request, then we'll check it out. This is case-by-case scenario. We use several methodologies and mitigation options in order to keep our trees. Of course, keep it under a certain level of risk, which is continued with the risk management. procedures. Again, we have to check the tree. And once we come up with the resolution, we get in contact with the residents. In some cases, when there is plumbing involved, the residents can file a claim for that. Sewer, we have our sewer program, which it's, as Bishop said, once a year. and sidewalk, also the street department. We are in contact with the street departments. They have also several measurements like ramping the sidewalk, grinding or rebuilding the whole sidewalk. But again, that's a whole process. Once the street department has decided that the sidewalk needs to be rebuilt, then we come up with an assessment on before, during, and after construction to make sure the roots are, there's enough root system left on the tree to keep it in place to be healthy and to reduce just the risk of overall falling.

Okay.

Understandable. Thank you.

Another one I had, so the three trees that we're primarily planting, What was what was the justification for planting those specific like for example the Chinese elms and the others Were they just more were they cheaper or Because I've heard a lot from a residence from essentially asking for more native trees I don't know if Chinese elms are native or

No they're not a native. But I mean it's it depends on the goals you're trying to achieve. I mean Chinese elms are great trees that are fast growing. They're really resilient. They can tolerate different type of prunings. So it's a good tree. Just in year I believe 2024 when it was approved that we are trying to highlight our California native trees. So then it's when we started. It's not that we didn't have California native trees in the past. It's just that we're highlighting, we're trying to incorporate more California native trees now and on. There's some cases where we won't plant California native trees. Again, that depends on the situation. We have to take consideration the parkway utilities, underground utilities, overhead utilities. the if it's a circle district street and all those types of things that we have to take into consideration again it's case by case scenario but generally speaking we're trying to highlight the California native trees.

I see. OK. So it's like ongoing policy now to essentially plant more California native trees.

Yes, we're trying to bring back the California energy.

Okay, gotcha. And then those in itself would also be drought resistant. Yes. Yeah, okay, gotcha. Thank you so much. For the most part, yes. For the most part, yes. Depending on what the people actually are requesting or want based off the e-service request. Okay, and then so that and then oh I had another question about canopy coverage You said it was a kind of a challenge to bring up canopy color coverage for let's say South Fullerton How and what challenges are you guys facing Specifically because if we're focusing on the south where let's say planting more Trees can bring like a heat sink and bring down the temperature, what are the challenges that you guys are facing that are like barring you from making that kind of investment?

So the California grant program, that was primarily only for the south part of the city. Now with our planting program, which is within the city, where we're trying to plant around 250 trees each year, this is citywide. It's not restricted to a certain part of the city. Now, the southeast and the southwest part of the city, the challenges that we're having, they are heavily industrialized, meaning that we don't really have space to plant trees. So it's going to be really hard for us to plant trees on those areas.

OK. Let's go with that. Would you happen to have any update on whether whether there is going to be any like restoration to the Hillcrest Duck Pond. I've had some people infer about that. Some people that belong to like that veterans association by.

I don't I don't think that's part of the forestry plan but I can get you an answer on that.

So we got that. Let me come back if anybody has any other questions. Commissioner Kim, do you have anything?

Yes, thank you. Very nice presentation. Thank you very much for that. The questions that I have are issues that may not be necessarily covered here in this presentation. The questions I would have is as a tree gets older, I mean, obviously, as it branches out, it provides more coverage and shade So I think one of the factors we're facing is time, right? And maybe that's what the issue is for the south of Fullerton. But in those industrial areas and parking lots, I know a lot of municipalities have been requiring curb cuts in the parking lots and planting of trees there. Is there such a program to require that? That would be one question that I have.

Not that I'm aware, but I'm not sure. It would be wonderful to have that program in place to add more trees to that area, but that's something that I'm looking forward to.

Okay. When you do plant trees, do you have a measure or an assessment of what it really costs to plant per tree?

Yes, we have a rough estimate. It depends on the size of the tree and the – Yeah, pretty much it just depends on the size of the tree. Roughly, generally speaking, a tree that is a 15 gallon may cost around 160 per tree. And I also would like to mention, whenever we plant a tree, we survey first the parkway. First of all, just to make sure we have enough space. There's no concrete or bricks that are covering the parkway. Once we have determined that we have enough space, we call underground service alert just to locate the utilities. Because we're not going to plant the tree that it's on top of utility. So we'll try to space them out. So that way we avoid further issues. So that's again, that's why sometimes it's a little bit lengthy process. We take all these issues, all these factors into consideration just to give the trees a better chance to survive and to be really an asset and not only an assistance for the residents.

So I would imagine the $160 is really just the cost for the tree. Yes. Because everything else you're talking about sounds to me like it would be a great deal of time, effort, and coordination of all the departments to plant a single tree. Exactly. I would love to see kind of an estimation of what the total cost would be. I do think that personally the trees are important for the assets that they are and the beautification aspects. But in a presentation like this going forward, I would love to understand what That that total cost would be because it's not just a cost for your department per se it's also a cost for other departments the utilities the you know the Yeah, so other departments that would come into play Yeah at this point we know what we know what the cost is of the installation like or we'll say a 24-inch box is $300 so that's for the tree and the installation and

After that fact, then we also put a price on what that tree is worth over the years. So we can look up in our data and find out a tree that's been there for 20 years is worth $17,000. It's got a price tag on each tree. So if something does fall, we have an assessment of cost of that. When it comes to other departments, and we don't really know what other departments would charge and what we have as a whole of all that, I really wouldn't know how to start with.

yeah i think i think trying to pin this to a particular cost factor on on a budget is is one issue and and some of it is um very difficult to assess right i'm just trying to get an estimation yeah because some trees are having problems with people having problems with their sewer pipes yeah that would be more expensive because obviously our crews are coming out absolutely trying to fix the sewer pipes yes or the residents you know curving and all that sidewalks yeah that'd be a tough one to pinpoint down but yeah

yeah absolutely the city of Fulton does have an old infrastructure which also includes the trees which is an old infrastructure which is a great benefit but also a bad benefit because the trees are older yeah things pass away after a while sure so some of our trees are you know 50 60 70 80 100 years old which is great but we also have our problems with that yes absolutely with that um

I WOULD LOVE TO UNDERSTAND YOUR PROCESS OF IDENTIFYING TREES THAT ARE AT RISK, NOT JUST FOR THE TREES THEMSELVES, BUT FOR THE RESIDENTS. I KNOW SUMMER TREE FALL IS, BRANCH FALL IS AN ISSUE, AND IT CAN, AS YOU'VE TALKED ABOUT IN YOUR PRESENTATION, IT CAN BE OF CONCERN TO THE RESIDENTS, FALLING ON CARS, NOT EVEN IN JUST A STORM, BUT ALSO or a tornado, as you mentioned earlier, but in just summer tree drop, branch drop, it's sucking up more water, getting heavier. The trees may not be quite as healthy and the branches just fall. All right.

Well our West Coast arborist like we said two to four years when they go out there they assess the tree and they give us back the data of what trees are healthy what trees need help what trees are structurally I see the one or not. Okay. They look they're kind of eyes our ears. We also look on the residents because we can't be out there. Like I said you know a few people. Yeah. We see it when we're out there but it's hard to look at 40,000 trees. Sometimes we'll get a resident that'll call and say, hey, this limb's been broken and it's sitting in my front yard for four days. How come you guys haven't picked it up? And we'll say, have you called anybody? Have you talked to anybody? So we can't be out there on every single street and every single tree. We have 30, you know, 35,000 trees. It's pretty hard to look at 39,000 trees every day. So it's a fun job, but it's a tough one. It's challenging.

I see. Okay. Yeah.

And when it comes to your question about the three trees, we have more than just three drought tolerant trees. He just put the three trees up there for the PowerPoint. But yeah, we have a list of numerous trees.

Thank you.

Did you have another question?

Yeah, I have two more questions.

Sorry, my question is for One question I'm getting a lot outdoors is In preparation of the El Nino that's coming just increase amount of rainfall Are you guys doing any kind of mitigation for kind of these trees or are you guys anticipating any kind of? Service disruptions kind of thing

So one of the goals of having a routine pruning cycle for years is to eventually and slowly be structurally pruning the tree for these types of events. So that's one part. And again, when West Coast Harvest is out there trimming, they let us know if they see something that needs immediate attention or if something needs to be corrected on that time, they will do it. Second, when we do a tree risk assessment to a tree, we take into consideration the weather. We take into consideration the current weather, extreme weather. So we take all that into consideration. So when we decide that a tree needs to be removed, we take into consideration tree risk assessment principles very seriously. And that means it's weather, the species profile, the structure of the tree, the targets are around, the frequency of the targets. So there's a series of features that we have to go through in order to come up with a conclusion with a qualification of the risk of the tree and then with the final conclusion if the tree is worth being removed or it's worth being preserved or what medications we can do in place in order to reduce the risk.

Thank you for that very detailed answer.

What is it?

And then the last one I had, which was, it was brought to me someone who visits Byron Park. They said that one of the trees that they had planted during Arbor Day had been removed. And they wanted to just know why, if you guys had any information about that.

I think they might be talking about the oak tree.

It was a live oak tree.

Yeah it was a live oak tree that was planted where the construction area is going on. So we had to remove that tree because I think at the end of the day we realized I believe the school district has an easement where it's part of the property of the of that piece of land. So we just took the oak tree and we put it somewhere else.

Okay awesome.

Thank you so much.

No really. Well it's still good use. At least it got reused I guess. OK. Well yeah. Thank you for everything you guys do. Thirty six people. Wow. It is way smaller than I thought the actual department was.

Two departments actually need three people out of those 36.

We're budgeted for 36 people on staff right now we have 34. OK. So yeah. Wow. It's a chore.

Well, I'll echo their comments. Great job on the presentation, and you guys do a lot of work. I only had one question, easy one, I think. You said October is kind of the season to put in tickets for planting for residents. Is there any kind of marketing that's happening with that? How do we let residents know, like, hey, this is the season. If you want a tree, how do you request it? Do you know what's happening with that?

Yeah, so last time we advertised in social media. We're going to do that this year. If people that are listening, they can start sending some requests. We'll take it, but we'll do some advertising and some publicity in regards that we're going to start opening our planting season in October.

Okay. And you said the service request. I'm just assuming that's through the Fullerton app. Like that put in a request to that. Yeah, that's the best way. Okay, perfect.

That's it To answer your question about are we getting ready for Nino? Yes, we are we've beefed up on a lot of our chainsaws. We've had safety meetings Sandbags every October we set out sandbags, but we're gonna send them out even more this year It's gonna hit the fan It's gonna happen anyways, no matter what we'll have our trees down we do have our EOC and DOC and at the public works yard. So when it does, the whole public work wide get involved. It's not our 36 people. It's the whole 200 people or 180 people we have in our public works. Everybody comes on board just like we had during that little tornado. We all stepped up. We all went out with the trucks. We all assessed it, called back in what was hot spot, what was not that bad of a spot. So yeah, we've been through it. Hopefully it's not as bad as they anticipate. Yes. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. We'll now move on to the next presentation.

All right. Kudos to our landscape team and our arborist. I know you guys have been wanting that presentation for a couple months. So there's a lot of good information there. Going into our department update for the month of September it kind of wraps up our summer program. So in this presentation you'll see things that Towards the tail end of August there'll be a couple of summer activities as we prepare for the fall season. So next slide. All right, first off, we have our first annual Fall Smash Pickleball Doubles Tournament at our tennis center. This is an exciting time for us as we have eight pickleball courts there. The tournament will be on October 17th from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. There will be legitimate referees to avoid any issues or any questionable calls, but We are charging $60 for residents and $70 for non-residents, and that includes your registration for both players. In addition to that, we have some social media out. The scores will not be, and I'm going to mispronounce this, but on Duper, they will not be reported, so your rating will not go down or increase. I just want to throw that out there. I know it's a serious sport. So we will have some vendors, some music, food, and some good prices. So our tennis center reservations for the last month was 295. We see an increase. It's been really hot, at least the tail end of August, early September. But we see a very high use of the pickleball courts in the evening hours. And then our tennis court reservations are about 1,200. Class participants, 240, 44 there. And our private lessons are 145. So the tennis center is the place to be. I feel that we don't say this enough, but we do validate the parking if you attend the tennis center. I know that can be a little scary as you're entering the St. Jude parking lot, but we do validate. And then also this this commission and I apologize this commission approved the as part of the pickleball the nursery project over by the school nursery for an additional parking location with the walkway that leads into that leads from the parking lot into the tennis center or safe walk. So that that project has been completed. And then we had our Friday Night Live series on Fridays in August. This was our first concert. We had a car show four Fridays in a row. I think the last two Fridays we were battling, number one, the heat and two high school football games. But if you were there, it was a great time, great music. We had a diverse group of band selection. We had different food trucks every day. And then this year, we partnered with the Rotary to sell alcohol. So that was a good additional amenity, and I think everybody in attendance enjoyed it. That was our Friday night live concert, four Fridays in August. Just a couple more pictures of some of the nights there.

Sorry, there's a flying for me.

All right, our night market has concluded. Our award-winning night market ended first week of September. We hosted a national night out. We had multiple bands, about 26 weeks of this great event. Different vendors on average between 40 to 50 every night. um great opportunity just to enjoy thursday nights the beer garden at the fullerton museum and it's just if you were out there um you you know you probably had a great time buying one of the waters or this was um rice pudding we had hot foods strawberries in a cup we had it all so it was a really good time and some farmer vendors if you've missed out we will be back in april Just like in six months. It's crazy. Upcoming events in the fall, we will have our Oktoberfest. That's to take place. And I will pull up the date. I believe it's the 29th. October 29th. This is our Halloween event for the city. At the downtown plaza. Dress up. We have different vendors as well. And then just all the vendors are. The kids get to trick or treat. So it's really a lot of candy. And a lot of fun. And we have our Puptoberfest. I apologize. And that actually switched the date. And that is on October. October 11th is going to be our Puptoberfest. That's the Sunday. And this is one of our very popular events at the Hunt Library in celebration of Oktoberfest. But we do it with dogs, dog races, dog walk. And then we're going to partner again with our Rotary to sell beer. And we have a German band. that will play. So it's a really fun time, and who doesn't like to come out there with their dogs? And then we have our health fair, which we actually switched from the spring to October this year. It's on Saturday, October 24th at the Fullerton Community Center. That's geared towards our senior programming, but it's a general health fair for our community. All right, our recreation programs, wrapping up our summer camps. We had our outdoor equity grant. They went to the L.A. Environmental Learning Center. They're on their tail end in the last quarter of their programming. But it's again this is a free program to our community kind of in the Richmond neighborhood and they get to explore the outdoors. And that grant's finalizing within the next year. At the Hunt Branch Library our programs have kick started. We have our My Little and Me Crab Time about five families. This is your like a parent and me activity time. We have the Siesta Sound Bath and the Life Skills for Kids and those two are contract classes. Life Skills for Kids is an etiquette class which is actually a really nice class to have in our offerings. And at the Hunt Branch Library as well, you have the library that's open Tuesday through Thursday from 10 to 4, and those are very popular as well. Our last couple of weeks of Camp Hillcrest, we made it happen, made magic happen, and we went to Disneyland. So this was a really fun, sold-out week. And it's just, it's a great opportunity, I think, for staff as well to enjoy. Going on a summer camp excursion to an amusement park is hard. So this was definitely not, hey, I'm going to Disneyland trip. This was like, I'm going with Disneyland with 12 kids under my supervision. Now that's challenging. But our staffs, you know, they're rock stars. And I think they had a really good time. So looking forward to next summer, we have a couple of just like one day adventure day play dates coming up on non-school days. We also, part of our programming, we have our intergenerational program. We wrote letters to our seniors, like a pen pal program this summer, which was also part of our senior camp. So that was nice to incorporate our kids and our older adults. For older adults programs in September, we have our music and movement, our composition 101. We do have a sip and paint celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. Coping with grief and loss, we continue to host our morning trail hikes and our smart money class. So these are either staff ran or we have sponsors hosting these. And we did host our Grandparents Day celebration this past Friday at the community center. So it's an opportunity for the kids to attend with their grandparents. And they had arts and crafts. There was desserts, cute photo backdrop, and a DJ. So just different ways that we can continue incorporating our intergenerational programming at the community center and celebrate everybody. And we do have an event coming up along with the seniors. It's our Fullerton Senior Follies. This is kind of like their talent show, and that's on Thursday, September 24th from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Very, very popular event.

And for our private rentals continue to ultimately blossom at the community center we had 45 reservations and that included anything from weddings birthday seminars and celebration of life. We also actually hosted this past Saturday Assemblywoman Quirk-Silva's retirement in the morning there. So we we have it all. And ultimately it was the peak of our summer vacation intense heat and transitions into a new school year. So. We had our Hunt Branch Library with eight reservations. And again, that's birthdays, baby showers, weddings, and various meetings. We also have some consistent church rentals on the weekends that help with our, you know, meeting our revenue goals at these facilities. In our gymnasium and fitness August recap, we had 51 gym reservations and our drop-in participants for the fitness room was 1,316. And last but not least, we actually transition our Fullerton fund into a full digital version. So this was a big step for us. And in the next presentations, as we kind of touch on budget, you'll realize this was a cost saving measure for us. There's costs associated to marketing, or sorry, for print and postage. So this is very exciting. This is actually, it's been the work of, it's a team effort in getting the information on the recreation guide, but it's designed by our staff, Mia Peru, shout out to her. She gets all the information, puts it together, and we're able to create this digital guide. So totally done in-house. And we're looking to now do four additions a year versus the three additions since there's some cost savings there. It just pushes everything up a season. But it looks good. And we're always looking for suggestions, things you want to see in there. Please let us know. And that wraps up our department update for the month of August. So thank you.

Thank you, Christian. Commissioners, do you have any questions?

Just one or it's not even a question it was a thank you for bringing up the parking thing for pickleball I know that was their principal concern from what I remember it's about just parking so it when I went on the opening day it didn't feel like so much of an issue it was really hot but there was it was a It wasn't super tough to find a parking space. But great work. I'm happy that things are going out. And just from the number, it seems like 1 fourth of everybody who's visiting is for pickleball. So I imagine, and it's only opened two months ago, so it's only going to get higher from here once word really gets out for time. So fantastic work. I'm really, really, really glad to see that. And then finally, I do want to bring it up. I don't know if this is the right time to bring it up, but the Pop Warner email you guys sent, is that... Would that be relevant to this one or.

I can briefly touch base. You did receive an email of an incident with Pop Warner. It's still an ongoing investigation so the information that you received is the information that we have access to. But part of it's highlighted in the letter. This was just a you know informational letter. It's a. It's part of the field allocation policy. So deem to the extent we have the discretion discretion to allocate a strike one strike two based on our policy strike to just warranted information a letter of informational letter or sorry informational letter to the commission and about the incident. This was non kid related but ultimately it was representatives of the organization as they were as highlighted in that.

So we're still waiting for the investigation to be completed and then from there the commission can recommend.

It's just informational right now. We can always just have a conversation at a future meeting or if you want us to bring something back and it's kind of voted amongst everything or we can have a conversation offline. But ultimately based on our policy it's The information that we had access to at the time. Yes. Gotcha. The information based on like the like the investigation side is not going to change of what occurred. If that makes sense. Yeah. To allow us to warrant the two strikes and then send that information to there are the two violations and provide that information. Yeah. To the commission. OK. Thank you. You're welcome.

I'm very excited about Puptoberfest. My dog loves it every year. So who knows what she's going to be? Watch out. All right, thank you.

Not so much a question, but a comment to say that I was very impressed. I went by Union Pacific Park, and I saw a small pickleball court there, and I saw a young man and his younger brother both carrying pickleball rackets early in the morning to the court. And they were very much from that community, and I thought it was a great sight. So I want to condemn. commend you guys all for for having putting all that in place i think it's a great community asset so

I just had a couple questions for the pickleball the just. How is it and it seems like it's doing well is it trending in the right direction the way you guys have hoped.

Yes I can say a few comments and I bet you has more information but ultimately we've seen I think it's based what's expected. The the mornings are kind of light. So part to parking it's no issue. The tennis courts are heavy in the mornings because there is a nonprofit group, Friends of the Fullerton Tennis Center, that actually get together and play. Pickleball, not so much. On the contrary, in the evenings, pickleball's full, right? So there's not enough hours as people want. So the entire facility is very busy. So we're looking to – there was actually a social media – from like a social media influencer recently that visited that we came across that visited the tennis center and for the pickleball specifics I think people are starting to hear about it and that's why I want to reiterate that parking is you know there's it's free parking. We validate the use of the pickleball courts and it is a non membership facility but you do have to reserve the courts for rental and we can do it on site or you can do it in advance. but yeah i think it's uh etch and his team um kate who's the coordinator there have been proactively you know taking steps to bring in more and more people um each month and i think the heat played a factor for sure but overall it's just good foot traffic it's good is there any thought of any kind of signage to by the entrance of the of where they have the lift gates i know it's it's

Hospital property, I assume.

But like right now we're thinking of putting because we have the advertisement billboards. There's a couple locations. There's one at the Korean War Memorial. There's another site over by Cal State Fullerton and Gilbert Park. So we're thinking about putting banners at those locations. And then there's also the billboards on the freeways. So we're kind of working on doing that advertisement there as well. I meant signage for the free parking.

Like for like right where, where are you walking? Cause when I drove in the first time I was like, Oh, do I have to pay to be there? And I think I should have known better, but like, it's just, it's like you said, it's a little daunting, like right in that section. It's like, you see all the medical stuff in the parking fees and you're like, Oh shoot, do I have to pay?

Yeah, we can have that conversation with St. Jude because it is kind of a partnership. They employ the guards that are there, so we can discuss with them on a couple options where they can see that if they're going to the tennis center, it's getting validated.

Yeah, I mean, it would be nice because my first time I drove up there, I just went up there and I just did a full roundabout. Sure goes like, oh, I can't park there. But if there was like they have their signage and then maybe on the right side of it or something like that I don't just have to assess to look into potentially to have some kind of signage that is specifically saying Like park here for the tennis center, you know And then and then the guards can help say yeah, that's as long as it gets validated right and then The the digital parks and rec guide I think that's awesome It's If it's done right and marketed right, you will likely see an increase in your participation. With my experience in Garden Grove, we did that. We started in 2020. When during COVID hit, we went full digital, which a lot of people did. But then a lot of people went back to print, and we never did. We did a postcard for a little bit of time and realized the postage on that was almost just as expensive. So we went full digital. And instead of spending it on postage and all that, we sunk that money into marketing. Um, and we've had an increase across the board every season since, um, and we're, we're, we're at numbers pre COVID. So that's, that's, it's not just like us, not just the bounce back from COVID it's we're actually pre beating the numbers we had pre COVID. So it's, it's, I think that's great. Um, and if you, um, are you doing like a, doing your own marketing or you're hiring a marketing firm or anything like that with the saving, the cost savings? so um we're doing home marketing okay yeah i'd obviously we're in tight money constraints right now but i would i'd highly recommend taking some of that cost savings and putting that towards towards marketing like hiring a firm um that there's a lot of them out there that can help and we do that and it's it's they they take care of all the marketing side of it they just kind of link to our accounts and it's professional it's tracking you can get all kinds of analytics see what works see what doesn't a lot more than what we i mean that's their full-time job is to figure out what works what doesn't um and it's you know kind of outsourcing it to the professionals and it's not much like we started out with a couple thousand dollars in an issue um and it's it pays itself back in no time so it's kind of an investment but there's definitely a return on it especially for the community because all of a sudden you're getting more Participation communities getting more use out of it, so I'd recommend that with with the marketing on that Okay Find where we're at now. There's no more presentations, correct We'll now move to the public when I move to the public comment portion of the meeting This is the time for members of the public to address the Commission on any items of interest to the public that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Parks and Recreation Commission Other than those items listed on the agenda, if there's anyone here who would like to speak, please come forward and state your name to address the record. For the members of the public calling in, calls will be queued up and muted until prompted by staff to join in. During public comment period, callers will be asked to please clearly state their name for the record. As a... Let me see. State their name for the record as it appears on the screen. So with that, we'll go to public comment.

Good evening, commissioners. I would like to start off by thanking Julio Jacobo and David Bishop for their presentation. And it's very clear that we have a hardworking public works department, as evidenced by Dave coming to speak, even feeling a little under the weather. I would like to say that this is the. Second time which. There has been an urban forest management plan update that has only happened because I've prompted the city council was the last time that there was an update given in October of last year that only happened because I repeatedly requested it. Same thing with this commission. In both times, my request was not met at all. The information that was presented tonight, very basic information that you can find if you look up Fullerton urban forest management plan, these are kind of the tree count, the species. This is stuff that's very basic stuff. I had requested that this commission have a discussion on the systemic deficiencies of the urban forest management throughout town. There are things that in this realm of arboriculture, of tree care, a lot of these concepts can seem very abstract. You think, oh, tree risk management. Well, our contractor is going to have their grid pruning every two, every three years. They're going to see the tree at that time. Well, you know, and there are sometimes cases that structural defects in trees are spotted in those cases. But ultimately, we completely lack a thorough and comprehensive inspection process for our park trees, especially our trail trees. If you go along a lot of the Fullerton Loop, there are large 60, 70 foot tall dead trees, including along the Fullerton Creek Greenbelt. I had complained multiple times at recent City Council meetings and this commission about large dead eucalyptus trees at Acacia Park along Fullerton Old River Road and I just saw recently a Facebook post that somebody said wow an entire tree had had failed and was blocking the road these are these trees that I've been complaining about for months I am currently the resident in Fullerton that is going around very painstakingly and passionately documenting and making these observations, this department, they don't engage with me, unfortunately. I've been trying to meet with Julio Jacobo for nearly two years now, just a one-on-one meeting, and I haven't really, I haven't received that decency, unfortunately. I think he's a great guy, great arborist, but he, unfortunately, there are so many systemic deficiencies and inspection standards planting standards a lot of the trees that have been planted have there's been dozens of trees that have died and others that are the recent plantings that are not thriving so I would like to say that I wish I could have spoken to the presentation because I have many other concerns that are very pressing to report to this commission I'm one of the only people the only person in the audience you know so unfortunately I I'm out of time, but I would like to request if I could have just maybe 30 more seconds to finish. Is that all right with you? 30 seconds. Thank you, sir. Over at Bassetry Creek near the intersection of Lancer and Bassetry Road, unfortunately, over 3000 square feet of natural blue line stream designated protected stream in Fullerton was paved with cement. Unfortunately, our public works department decided, and I'm looking into this because it does not seem that the proper permit, which would be a lake and stream bed alteration permit received from Fish and Wildlife, that would have permitted this project to legally happen. This Bassentry Creek is the largest Creek watershed entirely within Fullerton city limits. Of course Brea Creek is a much larger watershed but that starts in Diamond Bar and Chino Hills. Bastion Tree Creek is a significant waterway that has been unfortunately neglected and forgotten. And this recent paving In a creek where, mind you, for other watershed restoration projects like the duck pond, they removed concrete and cement out of the creek channel. This is very unfortunate. And to me, it seems that this project was completed illegally. So I would like this commission to look into this near the intersection of Lancer and Bassentry. There was erosion control issues at that site, which could have been remedied using sustainable methods, such as using riprap boulders and mortar at key locations. But what would happen was 3,000 square feet of pavement in the creek bed in Binks. So I urge you to look into this. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any people online?

I do not have anyone online.

OK. We'll now close public comments. We'll now move to approve the consent calendar for the meeting of August 10th, 2026. Are there any commissioners that wish to pull an item from the consent calendar? If there are no items to be pulled, is there a motion and a second to approve the balance of the consent calendar? Commissioners, please state your name as you motion.

A motion to complete the consent calendar. To pass the consent calendar. Excuse me.

And a second? I'll second. Okay. Will the secretary please call roll?

Commissioner Maldonado?

Yes.

Commissioner Kim?

Yes.

And Vice Chair Freeman?

Yes.

Thank you.

We'll now move to the regular business portion of the meeting. I'd like to call item number 4 to order. Is there a staff report for this presentation?

Yes. Good evening. This is for the proposed memorial tree kiosk and bench donation program expansion. So we do have a presentation that is being cued right now. All right. So in our Parks and Recreation Department we have a memorial bench tree and kiosk donation program. It was brought forward by I believe Councilmember Zahra and Mayor Jung to explore the possibility of expanding that. Right now it's a memorial program looking to expand it into a donation program including a donation program. My apologies. So next slide please. So a little bit of background, there was an initial resolution 9701 that was passed in 2005. It allowed for memorial donation of trees and benches. It was only a two warding options and when we talk about warding, it's in memory of That would be one of them, and then there's a secondary kind of sentence, and then the name. A lot of people like to do this program at a park, something that was visited, and a way to honor a family member, friend, or anybody in the community. Then Resolution 1037 passed in 2010, which allows for memorial donation of trees, benches, and kiosks. So there's multiple wording options there. And also there's recognition of United States military service. So we were able to expand the program a little bit. And then next slide, please. These are some examples of recent donations when we talk about trees. On the left-hand side, you have Gilman Park. So we work with our landscape team, identify number one, and we'll go through the steps. But this case, it was a tree with the plaque there installed. And then the second one is Hillcrest Park, and that's an example of a bench. And next slide, please. So the process for this program and application is submitted to the Parks and Recreation Department. The location selection based on the park site or public site is staff works with the resident to identify the location. Sometimes it's at Laguna Lake. Sometimes it can be at Hillcrest Park for example or on a trail site. We review the location with Public Works and for their final approval if it's not impacting any like water irrigation lines or any if it's next to if it's a tree that the roots once it grows it's not going to impact any of the landscape. We also then those are submitted to the commission for review. They're usually on consent. calendar and these ultimately are presented to the Parks and Recreation Commission and it's installed. If approved then the item is ordered and we work with our public works and the patron to and for installation date. Next slide please. This is our current program the cost. I know there was a question about cost. It's a bench with the plaque. It's $3,200. It includes the memorial plaque, parts and installation, the maintenance, labor on that, one bench replacement, and 20-year life expectancy. And the replacement bench fee is $2,000. Then we also have a tree without the plaque, and that's $1,000. Includes parts and installation, maintenance, one tree replacement if necessary, 20-year life expectancy, and the replacement of the tree fee is $220. And that's just based on the box size of the tree. So that can vary, but usually it's like their mid-level box size, which is the cost at 220. And then the kiosk with plaque, it's 3,500. That includes the memorial plaque, parts and installation, maintenance, one kiosk replacement, 20-year life expectancy, and replacement of the kiosk is 2,200. Next slide, please. In front of you is to expand the program. Also including these following options, and that's a bench without the plaque, that's $2,800, includes the parts installation, maintenance, one bench replacement if necessary with a 20-year life expectancy, and then a bench fee is $2,000. Then we have the tree with plaque, $1,400, the plaque, parts of installation, maintenance, one tree replacement, 20-year life expectancy with the replacement fee for the tree, And then a kiosk without the plaque, which is $3,100. That includes the memorial plaque, parts installation, maintenance, kiosk replacement, and then the kiosk's fee of $2,200. And the reasons why we wanted to propose to expand the program, in addition, I think, and again, this came up in conversation about someone wanted to donate a tree without actually making it a memorial tree, but it was limited only to memorial donations. And then We want after the commission we would present this resolution to the council that would authorize the city to accept donations for trees benches and kiosks for both memorial and general community or park enhancement purposes. I'm happy to answer any questions and that concludes the presentation.

DIRECTOR DEWOLF. We'll start with Commissioner Kim it's time.

Could you describe what a kiosk looks like?

Yeah, so a kiosk would be the fundamental mistake an etcher has. We've mostly installed benches and trees. Give me one moment. I can come back. If you don't mind, I'll come back to you. I'm thinking it's a, there's different like informational kiosks that we have throughout the trail. I see. Okay. Got it. That have like the little door and you can place signage. Okay.

Understood. So I'd like to understand why the cost of a tree is planting a tree is is thirty five hundred dollars or thirty two hundred dollars and then the replacement or the bench the replacement of that is two thousand dollars is that just

The hard cost for the bench.

Okay, so that's the cost for the bench. And so it's just the replacement of the bench itself, unscrewing it off of the pad, putting the new one on. Correct, yes.

Is that correct? Yes, because the initial install includes like the maintenance and the time and the administration. So from beginning to end of the installation, similar to the question you asked of our landscape team, the replacement is the actual just hard cost of the bench itself.

WHEN I READ THROUGH THE PROPOSAL IT SAID THAT THE GIFTER, THE PERSON GIVING THE GIFT IS TO COVER ALL THE COSTS OF THE MATERIALS, THE INSTALLATION, THE ONGOING MAINTENANCE AND ADMINISTRATION OF THAT GIFT. HOW IS ALL THAT CALCULATED AND WHY SO MUCH AND THEN I SEE ALL THESE OTHER CATEGORIES EXPANSION ARE THERE PEOPLE THAT ACTUALLY WANT TO GIVE A TREE WITHOUT ANY SIGNS WITHOUT ANY I MEAN I UNDERSTAND THE MEMORIAL ASPECT OF PUTTING A TREE FOR A FAMILY SAY TO HONOR SOMEBODY WHO'S PASSED. I'VE SEEN THAT MANY TIMES IN MANY CITIES. DO PEOPLE REALLY COME AND OFFER A TREE?

I believe they have recently to just donate, right, for a tree or a bench at their favorite park that might not have a bench. So, yes, and that's, I think, what the direction to bring this back. I see. Because we – I don't believe the public, unless you're looking for a donation for a memorial program, are aware that we have already something written policy-wise for a tree, bench, or kiosk donation. Okay. But with the expansion is removing that memorial piece to it, as you shared, they can just donate a tree to the city for their canopy or a bench. Now, in regards to the cost, our staff, our analyst, Rachel, she's identified kind of the hard cost and worked with our landscape team based on time. Because every time our landscape team does a project in their database, they identify how many hours it takes in it. IT PROVIDES THEM WITH THE TOTAL COST, LIKE LABOR COST, SUPPLIES COST. SO THAT'S WHERE THAT FORMULA OR THAT NUMBER HAS BEEN CREATED BASED ON THE FORMULA THAT SHE'S WORKED WITH LANDSCAPE ON. BUT REPLACEMENTS ARE HARD COST. OKAY.

SO JUST KIND OF GOING BACK TO THAT ISSUE. is a maintenance cost how is that handled do you forecast what it would cost to maintain that that bench or that tree over the next say 10 or 20 years and is that funding set aside to to in a reserve or is it just kind of a one-time you know upfront cost that you take in and then and then essentially Throw the maintenance costs into future budgets without Correct.

Yeah, it's a it's it's not a set-aside fund like a holding account. Yeah, I mean, it's a one-time upfront kind of cost To my at least in the last three years. We only had new Installations not so much on your replacements but But I can identify ways to keep that maintenance, like long-term maintenance costs, and explore ways where it's part of the funding aspect of it versus it becoming like a future budget item. And I can share that with the team.

Yeah, I think it's just from my perspective, just trying to understand... You know, are we taking on liabilities in the future? I mean, I know that we have our own tree planting operation and program, and I understand that. And probably the number of gifts are not going to be quite significant. So it's probably not a big issue. But, you know, when you buy, say, a grave site by California law, You know it's not just the cost of the grave site, but it's the 15% tag on for the perpetual maintenance of that that goes into a fund, so I was wondering whether whether that that type of situation is there or not, but.

what I'm hearing is no yes we don't have that in our current program either it's just kind of a one-time cost based on future projections and I know that our team has worked with landscape on because we work in and identifying and then like tree selection for example and then the inventory of the type of benches that we currently own in the city and different items like that thank you

I have one clarifying question, which is so for the sponsorships, or at least the donations, there would be protections from avoiding it becoming like an ad, right? Or for example, if Starbucks were to donate a bench, would it be a bench presented by Starbucks? Or are there any rules preventing that?

DIRECTOR HERSEY- Let me confirm I don't think it's highlighted exactly on like presented by.

DIRECTOR DEWOLF- That would just be my one my one thing is just if let's say private businesses were to start donating when they get like potentially free advertising I wouldn't say free they're donating but it is. Advertising nonetheless of. This tree by Jackie O. I don't know.

And that's a good point if it's not included if the commission would like us to include that we can add some verbiage into the resolution.

I would say so yes.

I don't know I'm a little torn on that honestly because like if we're going to get a lot of local businesses to donate benches and trees and stuff like that for our community. And it's all done within a certain parameters of whatever the plaque is donated by whatever. I think that as long as it's kept within some parameters, then it's hard to turn away community donations of that nature, like native trees, benches, kiosks that actually help the community. I would hate to be like, no, you're Starbucks. You can't donate it.

Right. I see what you're saying.

Because businesses, local businesses, even if they are franchises, do help our community and they donate and they sponsor. And it's not necessarily free advertising in the sense because they're paying for it up front. I mean, yeah, it's going to be there a while, but it's like I don't think we're going to have a flood of that either, to be honest. I think having some parameters might be all right, but I wouldn't say to prevent it, in my opinion.

Right. For the one that like essentially started this all was it through like a church or.

I don't recall the exact kind of direction but to clarify a few things and I my mistake it does say that the expansion of the program would highlight the donation of that organization business. So that that would be part of the policy. if adopted as is.

Is there parameters when it comes to the plaque? Like the logo or whatever can only be so big and like, so it's not like the... I assume the plaque's got to be a certain size.

Yeah, the plaque has to be a certain size. And it's highlighted here. It's a memorial plaques shall be allowed on kiosk and benches shall be appropriately sized to fit kind of a 4 by 12. Standard wording limited to the following, dedicated to, donated by, in memory of, in loving memory of, dedicated to the memory of, given in loving memory, in celebration, in honor, in honor, in tribute to, in appreciation, in grateful appreciation. For military services, we would do birth and death dates and then the military service organization or affiliation. So it'd be dedicated to or donated by.

So the only thing I would recommend is to put in some specifics about dimensions of logos, right? If they're going to, say, donate it by whatever, and it's Starbucks or McDonald's or whatever, some franchise, like if a logo is going on it. To have some specific parameters to fit because it said I think you said some language about appropriately sized to fit within 4x12 I think you should narrow that to like unify it and have it uniform across every plaque when it comes to a Sponsorship logo or a logo going to be placed on it. I should say Like if they're just gonna write the name Starbucks, then that's fine

So you do want to allow four logos but unify it or no logos?

I would be fine with it because this is just me personally. It's up to the commission as well. Like for me, if you're going to get all these community businesses, local businesses to donate chairs and trees and stuff to our parks, I don't see the downside in that. Even as long as the logo is, like it says, appropriately sized or unified. Across all plaques like so it's the same no one's no one's logos bigger than another you know so there's no politics involved there's no favoritism shown it's just same size everybody across the board if the logos of all that's my opinion thoughts.

No not as to what you gentlemen are talking about I think uniformity is fine. that the issue that i would have is more commercial versus resident residents uh... it's a memorial for somebody as a service to residents of the community that want to remember or dedicate something you know, to a family member, to a service member, to something for the public recognition, I think that's fine. I think it's altogether a different issue for a commercially driven company to, say, set up a commercial logo on there and then the city picks up the ongoing maintenance cost there. I would have issue with that. And I'm not saying that that would necessarily become a significant issue in the future, but I think it is something to make a distinction of.

But it does say businesses are allowed to donate, correct?

Sorry, let me get the specific language. And then just also a point of clarification, and I apologize, I misspoke earlier. The current expansion program would be COST NEUTRAL FOR THE CITY. SO THERE WILL BE A RESTRICTED ACCOUNT TO ACCOMMODATE FOR MAINTENANCE, LONG-TERM MAINTENANCE. SO IT'S INCLUDED IN OUR AGENDA REPORTS. I APOLOGIZE.

SO IT WOULD BE A SEGREGATED ACCOUNT TO PAY FOR.

AND A RESTRICTED DONATION ACCOUNT TO BE USED FOR ANNUAL MAINTENANCE AS NEEDED IN FUTURE REPLACEMENT.

THANK YOU FOR THAT CLARIFICATION, YES.

AND GOING BACK TO THE BUSINESS, IT STATES THAT The expansion of programs. It's allowed donations recognized person group organization event community benefit or general support of Fullerton parks and rec while preserving the city's authority to determine whether what and where it would be installed. So general support may fall under businesses. It doesn't restrict it.

DIRECTOR DEWOLF. Just previously you mentioned you said you listed memorial businesses like you actually said

I will locate it for you and confirm.

I mean, I guess the fact of the matter, whether it says it or not, I guess there needs to be some direction given potentially about how we feel with having a corporate logo. I think I've made mine clear that as long as it's uniform and it's It's done. Well and every every business gets the same treatment. I don't have a problem with that because I Don't want to turn away enhancing our parks because there's a McDonald's arch on it It's like again, but I don't want to be a big advertisement, but you know four by four little logo on a six-foot bench I think that We're having a tree That far outweighs the negatives, in my opinion, to be able to sit there at the park with your family on a bench that you're going to be covering up the logo anyways.

Right. I would agree with uniformity of, yeah. I don't know about logos, but I suppose it doesn't. I guess if everyone's getting the same amount of treatment, whether you're McDonald's or Night Owl or something like that, everyone should be treated exactly the same in terms of their output. So yeah, I guess I would agree.

Any other comments? Do we need a motion or anything with that?

With this one?

Oh, yeah.

Public comment for this, too, obviously.

All right, I'd like to invite those members of the public who would like to address the commission on this item to come forward.

Hello again. I have provided a lot of input on this policy when I was on the Parks and Recreation Commission and I had a lot of concerns regarding the actual quality of nursery stock selected for these memorial trees and the usually lack thereof, of proper structural pruning to guide the growth of these trees into a sustainable, healthy, mature canopy. I just find it so interesting that these kind of very basic questions, like we're planting memorial trees that residents are intending as a very thoughtful gesture. But in a lot of cases, these memorial trees are not well managed. And if one of you guys were to think, well, the first program started, what, 2005? How are those trees doing all these years later? Well the only person that knows unfortunately is me because I'm the only one who's really that interested. Over at Hillcrest Park there is a there is a memorial tree which is clearly one of the first ones of this program because you know the woman who was dedicated to unfortunately passed in 2006. And that plaque, I have photos of it. It's a liquid ambar cultivar rotunda that's near the Red Cross building. And that tree has performed so poorly because of, first of all, poor species selection. It's not a native tree. It's an East Coast native tree, you know, acclimated to much colder, wetter climates. Also, the management of the tree is terrible. It's gotten injuries to its root crown from lawnmowers, from string trimmers over the years. And also, the plaque has just gone missing. And obviously, nobody cares or notices. It's been 20 years. The woman's name was Ina Carey and the only reason why I or anybody you know presently might know that is because I have photographs of this tree over the past six, seven years and many other memorial trees. I mean for that matter even though they weren't planted under this policy the city had neglected and allowed to die an entire World War II memorial grove of redwood trees at Hillcrest Park. So that's 55 redwood trees that the city was actually notified in 1995 by a landscape architect. Hey, city of Fullerton, these redwood trees are very important. They're dedicated to World War II servicemen who died, who were Fullerton residents. And they weren't dying from natural causes or old age. No, they were dying because of neglect. There were invasive plants, ground covers such as English ivy that were climbing up and choking out the canopies. There was soil compaction. That was Riverside Landscape Architect in 1995. So... The quality of management of memorial trees in Fullerton is not good. And if you go to cities like Irvine, they only charge $400 to plant a memorial tree. We're charging up to $1,400. And so I hope that you guys are asking these questions. How is the actual quality of management? It's not good. And I would know because I'm the only person that actually goes and finds these trees years later. So thank you.

Thank you. Do we have anybody online for comments?

Okay, we will bring that back to the Commission That does bring up an interesting point of like since these companies are technical or nonprofits whatever are donating these Canopies or whatever or other greenery would If they were to say like we're interested on replacing the tree would they get like Preferential treatment or priority service since they're they're the ones that are kind of paying for it or does it? because in that it is the example of Hillcrest Park like The World War two memorial was pretty dilapidated for a while. It did take a lot of advocacy and a lot of work to get that done to get it refurbished. But what would stop the new ones the 1400s and everything else from falling in that same trap.

DIRECTOR DEWOLF. Are you referring specifically to trees Commissioner Maldonado or all the donate all the item amenities within the donation program.

I think it's communication.

It's staff being informed that a plaque is missing staff being informed that a tree. So I think it starts there because we don't have a follow up program of maintenance related for our items in the sense of the bench. We get we get reported a lot of the information through the app that then we address if there is a damaged bench anything that we're made aware of that may become a liability. at a public space we we intent and remove. So how is the in regards to prioritize a organization that donated once that wants to replace that item. Of course and I think that's why there's verbiage within the policy to allow for replacement. But it's based on communication so. Staff has not proactively visited all the donations or memorial benches trees to ensure that there is a plaque. However there are those that are donating the trees the benches or are visiting those sites if they identify that there is an issue within their like the donation future years down the road and inform us we will definitely act on that.

DIRECTOR HERSEY- Right. They'll be more likely to get that fixed because they're. DIRECTOR HERSEY- We just need to be. DIRECTOR HERSEY- Reporting on that. DIRECTOR HERSEY- We just need to be informed. DIRECTOR HERSEY- Right. DIRECTOR HERSEY- Yes. DIRECTOR HERSEY- OK. So what you're saying is that we need a parks master plan to really audit the system. That's my opinion. But okay. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Commissioner Kim. No comment. Thank you. So, yeah, I think it's wise that they, you know, they do look into just making sure that the donations are taken care of. But you're right. I think the majority of the people who donate them are the ones who are going to report on them the most. And unfortunately, with the resources that we have, we're probably not going to be able to have a team dedicated to go out and just inspect them all. But with that, we do need to make a motion. And so I don't know if anyone wants to make a motion with the considerations that we talked about or add anything to it. But now is the time if anyone would like to do that.

Sure. I'll make the motion to make that recommendation council with the stipulation of uniformity to all the plaques in the sense that if a logo were to be added, it would have to be in a mandated same size as every other logo, if that makes sense. No bigger arch for McDonald's just because they donated more than Jack in the Box. Correct.

OK. Whatever. But, yeah.

Would you like to try to summarize that a little bit so I can put that in motion? Essentially just approving and then stipulating that for their plaque that if any company were to put a logo, that they would have to be in a standardized size so that every company would be uniform in that size.

Do we have a second?

Yeah.

I'll second the motion to recommend this to council with the stipulation of having a uniformity, specified uniform dimensions when it comes to logos on donation plaques.

Commissioner Maldonado? Yes. Commissioner Kim?

No.

And Vice Chair Freeman.

Yes.

Thank you.

OK. We will now move to item five. Is there a presentation for this?

Yes I have a brief presentation on this item. This is our fiscal year 26 27 parks and recreation budget that was recently adopted. This is an informational receive and file document but I want the commission to be aware of some of the changes we've made deductions and budget accommodations that we've included for this upcoming fiscal year. So a little bit of background at our August 18, 2026 city council meeting, we did the city did approve their operating budget and capital improvement program for the fiscal year 26 and 27. In that approval, there was a balanced general fund spending plan, ultimately with some budget. As you all are aware, the city does continue to face the structural imbalance between ongoing revenues and expenditures. To address this challenge the budget incorporated approximately 6.9 million dollars in operating personnel reductions including the unfunding of 26 vacant positions, service and program modifications or other expenditure reductions. So as well as revenue adjustments and one time budget solutions.

That's the general kind of state of the budget and we're going to

share and highlight some information for our Parks and Recreation Department operating budget. So based on what was approved, this is what our department organizational chart would look like. We do have a deputy city manager. It would lead a deputy director of Parks and Recreation. And then we still have a manager with the divisions of Special Events, Recreation, Parks and Administration. So based on that's how we're setting up our just staffing organizational within the Parks and Rec Department. Next slide shows our accomplishments in the past year. We successfully conducted a formal RFP process for a new golf course management company. We led a community driven Kaboom playground build at Union Pacific Park. We replaced the synthetic turf at Lions Field transformed two tennis courts into eight pickleball courts at the tennis center. We increased our revenue at the downtown plaza increased our programming for seniors including a senior summer camp. We executed various special events throughout the year including Veterans Day which was which made its return last year. And we won a CPRS District 10 award for Thursday Night Market which is California Parks and Rec Society in Orange County as part of District 10. Next slide please. Department goals and initiatives and these are just a few for the upcoming years to complete the Independence Park revitalization project. Develop a comprehensive parks master plan which we're actually in the evaluation of all the submittals. increase the department revenue and facilities and field rentals, expand the class offerings in the department, and increase our park pavilion rental options. Most recently we've only allowed rentals at very few of our park pavilions even though we have you know, a large quantity. They might not be in the best location, but I think just based on the need and the ask from the community, we've expanded that program if they wanted to rent a park pavilion in their neighborhood and to develop a robust sponsorship prospectus for our events. Next slide, please. As highlighted these are some of the notes from the city budget. I do want to highlight that the priority was to continue to fund core municipal services and that was accomplished with the changes that were made. Next slide please. Our parks and recreation budget. This is kind of a snapshot of what was submitted. It gives you an idea of the 24-25 actuals, 25-26 adopted, the projected for 25-26 and the proposed 26-27. In the proposed there's going to be a slight difference to what was actually adopted from the operating budget. But you can tell that we had budgeted 21 full-time positions leading up to this year where we are now at 15. The non-regular hours, those are our part-time staff. We kept that consistent just based on our needs and our programming. The salaries and benefits, the maintenance and support of our department which has decreased about a million dollars from last year. our capital and outlay and then subtotals with our total operating budget. Next slide, please. So for Parks and Recreation, we have total expenditures of $10,665,000 with 73. That's our adopted. We're expected to make about $6,421,000 in revenue with kind of a net general fund subsidy. Not just general fund, but multiple funds, $4,243,000. So our budget is supported by 60% of our revenue. To that 60% is a lot of our golf course activity and all our programs. Next slide, please. So our operating budget as I shared previously our operating budget there were some reductions that an already small you know compared to other departments budget it does impact us. We identified citywide operating reductions totaling 1.8 million to reduce our operating services programs and events. This includes eliminating the annual first night event for the upcoming year or at the end of this year, fireworks only 4th of July for next year, and reducing community programming to achieve savings of $700,000. This also included the Fullerton Fund, which is only going to be produced in a digital format. And to the commission's remarks early on, the savings, this was a full cost savings. So there wasn't any funding left for marketing or any other. promotional services. And then we did reduce the security services at the Fullerton Community Center to help achieve the target budget. So if you've been to the community center previously and even the Hunt Library, we no longer have security, EES security on site. Next slide, please. Personnel changes, a couple of personnel changes. The Parks and Recreation Department unfunded several positions, including the parks project manager and specialist, public information specialist, parks and recreation coordinator, and a supervisor, along with an admin analyst. The reallocation of salaries from to water and dam funds and a reduction of library's staffing. So we identified that in the water there's a water enterprise fund and we take water payments across at FCC and based on the actual like staffing levels and our programming for those payments we were able to allocate additional or reallocate some salaries there. And along with the Brea Dam fund with staff working increasing their task and their task load over at the tennis center and with the golf course we were able to reallocate those funds that are in general fund. And we did reduce the hunt library staffing which initially it was with the goal of having more programs at the hunt.

We have we've had to scale back so that's reduced the part time staffing there.

There was one enhancement in the department, which was an upgrade of a parks and recreation manager to deputy director of parks and recreation. This was made as a possibility of merging with the library department to have a director kind of to set up the department if that were to happen in the future. But at the time, we still have two parks and recreation managers. That summarizes kind of our budget and I'm happy to answer any questions.

All right that's relatively easy.

Yeah I don't have anything as well as well done reporting and it is what it is when it comes to that. Oh actually one small question all the. The positions that were unfunded, those were all vacant positions, correct?

Correct, yes. So the coordinator was a previous vacancy and then supervisor with Chewy Sandoval leaving the agency, that position. So yeah, they were all vacant.

Okay. No one's lost their jobs. No. It's just kind of a hiring freeze for those positions.

Well, they're fully unfunded, so we don't have them on our, like, to hire. Yeah, we don't have the budget for them. Okay.

Actually, I do have one question. If, you know, obviously, I think a lot of the departments are stretched thin with staffing, and I know how that can affect an organization. Running the group Is there a role that you think is very important that is not being addressed currently? And if you could identify that role, what do you think the most important would be? And this is just an opinion so. Yeah.

No I don't. I think our I know our staff do a great job in the multiple hats they use. But I based on I think which staff you ask everyone has a pretty heavy workload however as a department i think the need would be on the at the coordinator level just to help support the programming and events that we're doing some of the department or in our department we have a supervisor coordinator structure but having additional coordinators would help support that ongoing day-to-day program special events This last summer we had one of our extended part time working like the market and special events. But having that I think the coordinator there would assist in some of the also resources that they may have access to versus a part time staff. DIRECTOR HERSEY- I see.

OK. Given a particular need not for any particular position but some somewhere that you you deem is important in the future. is given the current budget is there an ability for you to request. To the council to for an expansion of of headcount or is it just completely closed off.

No I think everything's part of the ongoing conversations and kind of reevaluating our department. We are as shared in the accomplishments or sorry in that one of our priorities were revitalizing Independence Park. With that comes the gymnasium. So there will be additional staffing needs there to cover the gym operations because we fully we fully expect it to be very popular facility with gym rentals classroom rentals and then also overseeing kind of the playground. So it will be it will be active. So if there's right now based on how we're structured the need would be towards Independence Park. DIRECTOR DEWOLF.

Thank you.

DIRECTOR DEWOLF. For the I guess my larger question I would ask is how are you guys avoiding burnout with a reduced staff. I know it's funny.

No I think it really there's kind of our we measure our impact right. And I so through kind of how I operate with our staff is kind of honest conversations weekly meetings to see what i can assist with some of creating priority and tasks for them kind of from the supervisors to the coordinators and sometimes we have a lot of you know go-getters great staff but it's understanding what is the priority at that moment, right? And kind of reevaluate our efforts in certain areas while still providing great customer service, but also being honest on our timelines with the public for their requests. And I think that helps us. Previously it was like, yeah, we'll get that done. Yeah, we'll get that done. But now adding a timeframe to those requests assist us in the burnout and then just personal development and allowing you know encouraging all the off-work activities of them just enjoying themselves even from from my end to the supervisors to the coordinators unless it's an urgent need that when they're not in the office that they're enjoying themselves so they can feel refreshed when they come in And they're here Monday through Friday. So and even some on weekends. So being able to as their manager being able to be aware of those situations and knowing my staff well enough to have those conversations and that and then just that vulnerability between us.

Okay. Yeah I guess that was kind of. That's kind of my principal concern is you have the arborists that had 36, and now they're at 34. And potentially you could maybe go lower. Who knows? And then you guys are reducing your staff. So it feels like everyone's being stretched pretty thin. So my concern is just a revolving door of city employees. They'll gain experience and then they'll leave to Buena Park or Anaheim. And I would rather keep you guys here. Since you know the area pretty well, and you're very good at it But that makes a lot of sense, so thank you. Thank you for honesty Well that was Okay Since that's just receiving file.

We'll move on to our next item which is staff communication and Commissioner comments, so there any matters from the Commission commissioners our comments are limited to no more than five minutes per Commissioner I

My well, yeah, I wanted to talk about the gentleman said before before he had left about the The Bassinchury Creek thing that was on Lancer and Bassinchury. I was kind of trying to ask the arborist about that. I didn't know enough of the information. Is there any additional information on that project that you're aware of.

I'm actually unaware of the project itself. So I made a note to check in with our public works team. Depending if it was I know it mentioned Creek So interestingly enough with the county with the city so just highlighting where it's I believe it was Lancer and Bassencher and I know we have a lot of storm creeks there. Right. So we'll I will follow up with the commission but it's up most likely a public works project if it's on the city or any city department.

Other than that no no other update. Thank you guys for your excellent work as always. Commissioner Kim anything.

Nope.

Thank you. Thank you. And as always, keep up the good work, especially with less of you. It's sad seeing only the two of you here right now, but I get it. Got to have that balance. But great job. Keep it up. You guys have our support. Please know that we're here for you as a community. And we will move to, well, actually, the next part, are there any matters from staff you brought up?

Nope. Nothing to report.

Thank you. All right. Since there's no more items the meeting will adjourn at 7 53.

Thank you.