Parks and Recreation Commission - Regular Meeting

I'll make a motion to start the meeting. I'll second it. Okay. Um let's start with the pledge of allegiance. [Music] I pledge algiance 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. I will take roll call. Kate Smith here. Dennis Kapalinsky here. Sharon Parka here. John Jones here. Bridget King here. Jennifer McConnell, Robert Smith, Kathy Copchek here, Rob Jones. Erica, are the three that are absent excused? Um, I Yep. I have Rob, Robert, and Jen. Um, yeah, she might have told me that. We'll excuse those. I don't have a pen that works. Okay. Questions or comments regarding the agenda? Hearing none. Would somebody like to approve it? I'd like to approve the agenda. A second. Uh, all in favor? I opposed. 6. Um, questions or comments regarding the minutes? You know, I did just want to add because I wasn't here. I had shared the update in the email. So, I know it says there were no updates, but I just wanted to note that there was a parks and recck director report sent in the email before the meeting.

So, do we need to go back and change the minutes? Is that what you're saying? Yeah. I just want to note that there was I mean really it should just say report was submitted via email. Okay. Do we have to okay the uh addition? Yeah. All right. I'll make a motion to approve the addition of of Erica's addition to the meeting notes on February 25th. I'll second it. All in favor? I opposed. 6 presentations. Yeah. So, I was just uh I'm hoping we're going to be able to get it up here. I did not uh get it uh kind of last minute, so I I know they're working on it right now. Um I don't know how many happened to see last night. Anybody? I saw it. Yeah. So, I don't know. I mean, I can Oh, they're so good. Thank you. Um I don't really want to rehash it. It's about 40 minutes, but I mean, why don't you guys tell me what you would like to uh hear about this or did you see it? No. And Kate, didn't No, I saw it. Or Yeah, you were there. Oh, I was driving when you were on, but yeah. What's that? I was driving here when you were on, but yeah, I listened. Okay. So, do you guys want me to go through it? What? What the budget? The Yeah, it's a presentation on the parks and wreck budget. Uh maybe a condensed version I would like to see. Could you give us a cliff notes? Yeah. Well, let's go quickly through it. Um so we'll just go to the next slide. So what it is is a brief overview and then a dive into the three parks. So maybe what I can do is

really center on the Radcliffe. That's the one with the most uh changes. and I'll share like the impacts um from the deduction. So, uh we can go to the next slide. Uh I'll skip my uh opening speech on that. Um we can skip that. Uh we can just dive in. There's three slides about I will say um I'm going to talk about this one for a minute. Um you all know we've had uh $3.2 million reimbursed with all the investments. Uh there's three more million in progress. Uh so there's been a lot of investment in the last year and um we've seen programs grow and expand. Um and I shared last night uh a number of 30,000 people that have scanned at the front desk. So those are parks and recreation members coming in for activities or park and wreck type things, drop in, some of it's just walking. Um, and that does not count the thousands that are uh 30,000 over how long? One year, one year. The opening year, I will stress. Um, so that does not count the thousands that come in for F FRC, food pantry, tea lab, head start, any of the private rentals, any uh like cheer or like um kind of special events. I I assume you don't count when the grade school kids come over either. No, it doesn't count them. There's a lot that's missing. So, that's a pretty remarkable number considering all that it doesn't capture and that it was an opening year where we were just making memberships and uh under construction, you know, as far as that. So, next slide. Um I highlighted the city park upgrade. I don't know if you all have been out and seen the addition uh was installed last week. So, together with the, you know, the first project that wrapped up last year, that was almost $600,000 of

capital improvements for that playground. Um, and you all know about the 314,000 visitors to City Park. Uh, it's just a huge destination uh that people are visiting. Next slide. Um, I just wanted to highlight all the volunteers. So, there's all the existing volunteers, you know, making the food pantry run, the um oh, what's the other one? The thrift, the thrift shop. Um, and all of the volunteers like yourselves and the commission, our commission on aging. We have all the community nonprofit groups that have volunteers. Um all of these volunteers um you know are filling in gaps in the community to connect with uh you know connect with people, add joy, uh just create fun things to do. Um it's really one of the remarkable things about Garden City is the you know the depth and engagement of the residents. Um the other kind of additions this year been the junior volunteer club and our volunteer workdays that we're going to be uh talking about today. Uh so next slide and then this is just that reminder. We have eight parks, two facilities and the budget is spread over three departments. Next slide. Um so this is a a really kind of overview of each of the departments individually. And so we see in the left column parks I rank Radcliffe. We see in the middle column uh what was approved last year which was in July. Um you can see Radcliffe was 1.3 million. And then when you move over to the right column, that's what's being proposed this year. Uh that would be effective July 1. So we see um you know a $513,000 reduction in the entire parks and recck department. The brunt of that coming out of Radcliffe. Um that's a 23% reduction. So it's a significant cut to

the department. We see uh 1.7 is what we're working with. So next slide. Uh this is where it it gets into budget sheets. This is the 757 the parks. Um I think really all I was sharing in here um explaining some of the line items. Um the the reductions in here are are minor but there is one significant loss. We are losing one full-time person who was split between parks and the ice rink. Um and that along with some reductions in operating um is where we see some reductions in this budget. But by and large, um, you know, we're gonna, as I said last night, it's not like people are going to use the parks any less. Uh, we just have a little bit less resources, uh, to do our job to keep them maintained and monitored. And we are gaining uh, it's not in here, but I was told by city manager that there is an addition of a maintenance line because that was something um, I had been asking for. I think our council member out here, uh, King had been asking for. Um because it's really tough. We don't have any maintenance line. Uh so when we do our park work days, those wood chips, all the materials and supplies, even small purchases like we want to do, um a field dragging this year, it's $6,000. But when your budget's 10 and you have to buy all the toilet paper, uh cleaning supplies, doggy bags, you know, for a park with 300,000 people coming to it, it just it's not a lot to work with. I mean, $10,000 for eight parks is not a lot to work with. So, um, so that's kind of the highlight on that. We can go to the next slide, uh, which was, um, I think an overview of that particular line or that department. Um, really the true reduction is about 40,000. And I just already talked about all that. So, we can go to the next one. So, ice rink, I know no one can read any

of these. Again, these are the budget sheets right out of the BSNA. Um I was again just explaining in here we're uh we have a pretty good revenue source at the rink through ice rentals, concessions, open skate, um you know um advertising, those sources. Um and in here really the only reductions are uh again in staffing and I think a little bit less in operating. So the next slide just gives that overview. So again, we see the approved budget last year was 546. Um it's been amended and where we're projected and then what's being proposed for next year is uh 523. So about 23,000 less. So again, really that's coming from the loss of that full-time position split between the two departments. Um same hours of operation there as well. So then the next slide uh introduces us to Radcliffe. So, I start with the snapshot again. Um, we saw 1.3 last July. When I started here, I said, "Oo, that's a nice budget." Um, and then quickly we realized there were some positions I couldn't fill. We couldn't hire any part-time people. Um, so throughout the year, we've already cut almost 300,000 out just actively trying to bring the cost down. Um, but so we're going to come in just over a million. That's that projected column. But to the right of that, the proposed is 877,000. So, you know, that's that reduction of 439,000. And then the revenues, uh, which are pretty good. Um, you know, in 24 25 um the the expected was around 500,000. We're going to come in a little bit short, although I think we're going to be a little higher than this projection. We just have to wait and

see. Um, but the projections are still high. So, this is the hardest thing that I'm dealing with is we've cut our staff, but our projections are high. Um, I think that's based on the ideal that we want to go out and create more revenue through either renters or things that don't have operating costs with them. Um, so I think that is the hope and the potential that Radcliffe has because we have a lot of empty space. So, the next slide is going to dive into the expenditure budget. And I know you can't see this closely, but the highlighted uh things that I've put there on the left side are the areas where all these reductions are really happening. It's really only three areas. The staff um which is where 75% of that department budget uh reduction is. There's a materials and supplies is cut in half. And then uh this one I'm really happy about. Maplewood Utilities was moved out of this budget. So that was just sitting in this budget because I think I don't know people didn't know where to put it or whatnot, but those uh were being you know charged as our operating cost and now they've been moved out. So those are the three areas that um we're gonna or that I actually dive into in the next slide is the staff one. So, when you talk about staff, there's full-time and there's part-time. Um, and a combination of those is reducing about 333,000. Um, which is both the direct staff wages and then all the associated wages with them. So, there's benefits associated with full-time people, but even part-time staff, there's almost a 7% cost uh that an employer has to pay on social security, Medicare, and unemployment. So even part- timerrs have these additional fees that are beyond the hourly wage. Um so in total it's a

44% reduction in staffing cost. So this is why you're going to see the changes in operational stuff. Uh because when you take away staff it they take a lot of things with them. So the next slide is going to um I guess the numbers tell one story. Well what does it mean all these cuts? So, you know, currently at Radcliffe, there's between 25 and 30 people on the payroll. Some of them work three hours a week as a dance instructor. Uh, some of us are full-time. Um, myself and the dance express coordinator are going to be the remaining full-time staff there. Uh, the building manager, the senior coordinator, and the rec specialists are all being moved to a part-time position. Um, in addition, the part-time staff is being cut, um, I think by about half as well. So, um, the next slide is this really amazing chart that is just a way of trying to understand where we are. So, the left is all of the staff positions or titles or roles, however you want to look at that. Um the light green is showing what we currently um are operating with. So it's showing the uh number of hours per week for our full-time people. And then the way part- timerrs are, think of it like one big pot of money and then you have to pay for all these different things um in different roles. So each role does not have its own specific budget. They're just sort of in the same bucket. Um, I always try to point out or I've been pointing out the food pantry coordinator does come out of our parks and recreation staffing. So, some people don't realize that. Um, we don't, you know, obviously gain any programming from that, but that's part of the services that we provide. Uh, we are keeping all of the dance instructors. So, once you start subtracting some of those numbers, what's left is a very,

very scaled back, very thin part-time staff. Um, you know, there's really two buckets that I'm working from. There's a full-time bucket that's in a transition year because some of the staff have benefits until September. So, they're in the full-time uh sort of accounts, but eventually they're going to be in the part-time. And so, what needs what I am waiting to see what will happen is what staff are going to leave and who's going to remain. And then we may um be shifting all of these around based on uh who's left. So if a full-time or a coordinator as they're going to now be called leaves, um we'll probably look to you know build out more of the other hours um or hire like a a version of those positions. Um next slide. Um, so the summary really is a significant staff reduction full-time and part-time. This is really a downsizing of the department, the downsizing of services. There are some key changes expected this year. So, hours of operation, programming, and revenue capacity. U, the next slide I think is going to uh we're going to talk about revenue before I get into the service changes. Um, you know, again, Radcliffe generates revenue through program registrations, through um, we have a series of grants. Um, rentals, obviously, concessions. Um, I think our target, yeah, our target's been around 500,000. We're not going to quite get there. Um, I also noted on this slide, there's a a grant that comes in and it's not represented in this budget. it goes into a different budget that's 20,000 that's dedicated for senior activity coordinator. Um so I just like to recognize that. Um but the

next slide um we start looking at well what does this mean? So with that sort of staffing reduction um you know one there's a lot of things we can do better. We can streamline be more efficient. Um there's definitely things that I've seen where, you know, I'm like, "Okay, we could probably uh, you know, just do better with with our resources." Uh, so we're going to do that first and foremost, but for the immediate period ahead, it's going to be a little rocky. Um, these are the areas that are impacted. So the next slide is the hours of operation. So before we had any reduction efforts, um, so pre-Marchch, we were open 68.5 hours a week. So, Monday through Thursday, 8:30 in the morning to 9:00 p.m. Friday was 8:30 to 8 and Saturday 9 to 4. So, what we're looking at for summer, which is really coinciding with um a construction season, we're scaling back um to a Monday to Thursday from 9 to 2. So, that's a pretty significant reduction in time that's available for the residents to come in. Um really what this is reflective is we don't have a strong evening program like the dance throughout the uh school year. You know we sort of build around that program in the summer. It's much slower. Uh we don't have capacity to staff for uh programs that aren't generating revenue. Um and again it's partially due to construction. the fact that uh my role is still heavy in grants and heavy in uh construction and we're just so so thin. So uh the hope is to make it through the summer uh reassess what do we have and basically come back in the fall close to what we're operating now. Um that would be the 8:30 to 9:00 p.m. Monday to Thursday. Uh Friday 9 to 1, Saturday

9:1. So, that doesn't mean that there might not be rentals or things beyond those hours or special events that we would do. They're just not part of the drop in hours. Um, and drop in I usually mean like open for walking, open to go in the game room, uh, spaceport I'll talk about later or or fitness room. Um, so, you know, when you look at how many hours we were open, it was 3500. Uh, this year coming up, it's going to be 2500. So that's about a 25% reduction in hours. Uh pretty significant. So the next slide um oh I think it just kind of summarizes this point. So summer is really being looked at as a construction and a reset period uh to uh restructure the department uh start planning for the fall and you know just dealing with what is a resizing and a re um yeah downsizing I guess um it does you know appear and it is reduced availability and accessibility for community use um and it's primarily affecting unscheduled drop in activities. ities. Um the next key service change is uh building management and this is really related to a full-time building manager who was really working above 40 hours every week now going to 29 and some of the duties associated are all of the uh management pieces in managing a 78,000 foot building. So all the opening and closing protocols and procedures, our security stewardship, uh reporting like accidents, incidents, after hours support, maintenance coordination, the staffing, so everything from scheduling, supervising, uh training, um and general ownership of the building. Uh in addition to to those kind of things that really go beyond parks and wreck, those

are just uh maintaining that building. Um, this position is responsible for our registration software, the money handling, concession purchasing and stocking, um, the emergency action plan, and a whole bunch of other things. Um, I like to point out that we do provide overhead support to other programs that benefit from our uh, supervision and oversight. So F FRC food pantry veterans the Wayne County Metro TAB and the program like the AARP tax services um you know this is all these are things that this department has been providing um as part of our service to the community. uh we just don't generate revenues from those things. And at a time like this when we're being uh downsized, uh these things are going to be impacted because we're just not going to have the capacity uh to do it at the same level. Um next slide. So, you know, key service changes, you know, we're trying to figure out how to manage the fact that we're going to have less oversight um in building wide supervision. Uh we have renters that are in there on the weekends when we're not in there. Um coordinator staff is going to be asked to cover the front desk shifts. Uh which ultimately means less times for, you know, programming and rental coordination because all of those things take time. Um not having a full-time staff assigned to manage and care for the building is really going to just leave a lot of things falling, I'm sure, to myself and my role. Um, you know, I remember hearing when the city bought this building from Schoolcraft, they had two full-time maintenance people on site and, you know, we don't like maintenance. We don't have maintenance. We don't even have like a person uh, you know, to care for the building. So, um, I've already felt the extra work just in

our, uh, people trying to get their hours to 40 hours. So, I think it's going to be, um, it's going to take a lot of extra time. uh for myself and it's really not parks and recreation related. Um so I think that'll be a challenge. Next slide. Um youth programming, you know, we have uh a Rex specialist who's primarily focused on growing uh programs for youth and kids. Um and we've seen a lot of things added. Um, you know, this is everything from classes that are year round, uh, the summer camp, activities, holiday events, and this has been an area it's been really fun to see, uh, growing, and it's so fun to have the kids in the building. We had 120 sign up for the Daddy Daughter, which was the biggest turnout um, they've ever had, which was fantastic. Um, and so the next slide, you know, basically, you know, our goal is to keep as much as we can. Um, I think it's going to be rocky in the next few months, but we're going to stabilize um the position to to be in a part-time role. We can still do a lot of great things with a part-time role. It's just going to take a little adjustment and we're going to have to start with our really successful programs and hopefully try to build from there. So, that's the outlook on the youth programming. The next slide, uh, is going to talk about our senior programming. Um, again, we had a senior programmer for many years that was part-time at 29 hours. Um, so we know that we can still do a lot of great things with that. Um, but to give insight into the position, this position handles multiple grants that provide funding for this program. It brings in um the uh senior alliance grants and there's a evidence-based disease prevention program that uh does like a reimbursement. So all those arthritis exercise classes that are uh donation based so free or you can make a

donation. So there's a lot of paperwork involved in that. Um our coordinator is managing the fitness room activity, the silver sneakers, the memberships, uh all the reporting that she has to do for the grant. And then of course um this is where I think a lot's been added the uh the events like the lunches and the trips. Um and this person is also the liaison to the thrift store and the commission on aging. So it's a pretty full position. Um again the next slide we'll just talk about um you know the goal is to maintain the majority of classes. As I said we know that we can do a lot of great things with part-time people. Um it just we're not going to be able to do the same level because there's 11 less hours. Uh, I think there's a little more instability when you have part- timerrs from year to year. Um, we know like trips and lunches and two bingo classes are really what's being right now uh put on hold until we can stabilize and look to uh, you know, we can look to grow either with volunteer support from the commission on aging or different ways people want to assist in this. So that list up there was a list I had shared because I know I think there was a lot of online uh concern about what was being cancelled and what wasn't. So there's a list. The longer list is everything that's staying. The shorter list are the things that are like on hold. Um either they are uh just things that were added when the position went to full-time or time consuming or again are more of a loss. Um and we would need like additional funding to make those go. So that's the status with senior programming. So the next slide uh just to oh okay so now spaceport in esports um currently spaceport operates 32 hours a week. It has been free for kids um the whole time it's been open. Essports has been getting used by the Garden City

School District. Um they have a high school team and then a middle school club. We do not have funding at this time to maintain the current operation past Memorial Day. Um, with that said, we are exploring partnerships with the schools uh to help us at least well, they've agreed uh at this point to help pay for the memberships of the gaming memberships. So, it's around $4,000 just to keep those active because once we shut those down, um it'd be very difficult to get it back up like easily for anything. So, they're going to do that. Um, we're looking at some unique um trying to think creatively like how can we keep this open. We know that uh it's going to need to move to a membership style of some sort. Uh we've talked to some staff who've been working in that room about independent contracting with us. So, a different sort of employee arrangement where they kind of become an entrepreneur and could propose a membership. Um, and we do some kind of split so that they make the majority of that money, but we just get enough to cover some of the overhead. Um, so we're hoping to have something so we at least have it open after school during the school year. We'd like to see it available for parties because we have had interest in those. Um, you know, it's really hard seeing some of these things that uh it feels like we haven't had a chance to really get them going. Um so you know all I can say is we are trying to think creatively and keep uh open to possibilities um you know that may come forward and just doing it differently to keep it open but essentially the city just doesn't have these kind of funds to pay for things that aren't self- sustaining. Um and so the next slide I think is just going to summarize

um significant operational changes based on the available budget seeking uh a soft close which is that 9 to2 I mean that's 20 hours a week that's you know pretty scaled back um and it's not that like I'm not going to be working there. Um but again there's just so much construction and other projects related to the grant. Um, I think this is uh just a necessary sort of resetting of expectations on us and a chance for us to kind of re uh structure what we're going to look like in the fall. Um, and looking to rebuild and, you know, get to what is the full potential. So um the next slide I think just shares um you know one of the things people often ask or express is you know are we expected to to meet our cost um because we generate revenue there's sort of this assumption that we must be able to meet cost and um the NRPA which is the National Park and Recreation Association they are our uh you know our industry leaders um you know they're quite upfront. There is no standard that can be applied across all communities. Every community is different. They're a different size. They have different amenities and they you know have different values. So it's not that useful to do. But you can look and compare yourself to communities of your size. Um one of the numbers that I'm always interested in is the cost recovery. That's you know the relationship between your revenue and the operating cost. So, uh, 25% is the average cost recovery for cities our size. So, that means for every $100 the city's investing, um, the department is generating $25 of revenue. So, a 25% cost recovery. So, the next slide is going to show us where we fall. And I

did this by by departments and then a total. So, our parks which are primarily nonfee, right? We don't part we don't charge people to go to parks. Uh we have some revenue sources like the really softball and pavilion rentals. Um so it's a pretty low cost recovery. Um but overall the net cost or the net loss is 254,000. So that's what all the residents are paying to have eight parks available um you know for all the different ways people use them. Um, in the ice rink, we see a higher cost recovery rate, you know, double the average for a city our size in that particular department. I think that's because ICE, you can sell it. Um, there's a lot more revenue potential and of course there's still a net loss of 240,000 to the uh that the city residents are paying. And then Radcliffe is coming in around 45%. So a pretty I mean it's a pretty good cost recovery rate. That's 17. you know what it's 20% higher than the average and when you combine everything together we're at 42% which I think is pretty good. um the net loss. So, this is the amount all the taxpayers are paying uh is just over a million dollars. And you know, that is of course a million dollars doesn't get you as much as it used to, but I mean a million dollars if you spread that out for every individual resident of like 27,000. It's $40 a person uh you know, a year to to generate a million. And obviously families have more than you know, one person. that's not how taxes are spread, but that's just an illustration of, you know, to me, um, the value that residents are getting for these services. Um, uh, so that's just, you know, something to think about, um, when people are questioning, uh, should we be making more or, uh, you know, just eliminate

parks and wreck? Um because one thing that this also is showing is if you eliminate um I mean when you make cuts in parks and wreck so many things go with it like revenue um and services and so it's not just uh a straight cut um you know you cut 1.8 um out of there but then you would lose 750,000. So anyway, I won't get into I'm starting to go off track, but um the next slide I think is the very last slide um moving forward. So you know what I'm left with, what our department's going to do is uh work hard, try to regain community trust because I just I feel like the community has seen all this money go into Radcliffe and now we're shutting doors. Um that's terrible. Um all we can do is do our best to provide exceptional services, get creative, you know, and do the best with what we have to work with. Um the grant spending, you know, we've started the committee. I think there'll be an update on that. You know, to me, it's really important that we think about spending that can sustain our operation in that building. Um, and then of course, uh, you know, it's the comm the community who's going to let us know if something like a parks bond for community investments or a parks and wreck operating millillage to develop dedicated funding if that's something desired or uh possible in our community. Um, so again, all we can do are one and two and then uh see where that that gets us. And I think that's the end. Is there anything left? Yes. Okay. So that's the fast version. Uh it feels like pretty depressing, you know, it's just it's really um you know, it's just not great. Um but I don't know. Do you guys have questions? Yeah, the key question I have is when did we make the approved budget? When was the approved budget? July of

last year. So if you remember, do we always do the budget? No, that was that soon. the budget for the following year. That was late. So the budget is July 1 to June 30th. That's the fiscal year. So the budget last year, I think because it was so I don't I don't really know what happened. I got here end of May and the budget was proposed, but the there was a 2.5 million deficit in that. You know, by law, the budget has to be balanced. So it was balanced by using 2.5 million of the fund balance which is like that savings account. So it kind of flew under the radar and like even when I started you know I thought oh there must be something unusual that happened. Um but what really started to happen is when we got a new city manager looking at the numbers we were waiting for a finance director to really understand and sort through it all. And that really didn't happen until like January. And that's when all of this news and I mean it's like shocking because I wasn't expecting that at all, you know. So basically it took nine months to amend the budget. Yep. I mean I will say when Tim started he froze any like we couldn't hire the position because when I started there was an empty position. So we lost five full-time positions. But, you know, part of that is because the budget that I saw that was it it did not have a sustainable plan. Um, you know, and that's why we're getting we had so much growth in the last few years. The problem was there wasn't a plan to sustain that. There wasn't an increase in money to sustain it. So, we're really being rolled back to like a 2018 plan. And

I I know there are quite a few communities in this area that have a millillage dedicated to parks and wreck, which probably makes it a lot easier. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But the point would be is you're going to have to figure out where the happy medium is. Is it can we get $5 a month, $60 a year and like you said that would equate to million and a half or whatever it equates to. Can we do it? I don't Well, I mean I think I mean that might be better than telling everybody you're going to pay an extra I mean obviously they didn't like that they were going to pay another $100 a year for property taxes, right? So where is the number? There's got to be a number that everybody's happy with. Is it $3 more a month? Is it $ five dollar more a month? I mean, and I think like truthfully for most everybody to show that we're responsible enough for that. I mean, I think part of the problem is there's not a lot of trust or at least uh the transparency hasn't been there and people are just right. And people I mean taxes, you know, nobody enjoys paying taxes. I don't care who you are. um and if they're being raised, people either need to know a lot about it, you know, and have some support for it. But, um it's just not a great time. We, you know, the city got a lot of money and, you know, I wish it could have been done differently. I wish it could have been invested a little differently. Um but all we, you know, all I can do is, you know, be transparent. uh work really hard, try to problem solve and um engage our staff once we get through this very difficult transitional period um you know and start to rebuild. So, I think I think that's what Tim's plan is is to do this painful shrinking down so we can kind of uh restructure and cut

out our waste or where our inefficiencies are, maximize the potential of part-time staff, and then start to grow, you know. But yeah, I can tell you this. I think the biggest problem would be if you get rid of Garden City Parks and Recck Department. You are going to find it harder and harder to get people to move into the community. So now you're going to talk about less and less income because people aren't going to want to move in to a city that does not have a parks and wreck. I don't know how to tell them any better than that. Yeah. Well, in fairness, I mean, you can look at you're not going to get money in, but I'll tell you what, you get rid of Parks and Wreck, you're not going to have people wanting to they're not going to say, "Oh, heck, let's go to Garden City. They don't have parks and wreck. They're not doing there. We still have a$1.7 million budget." So, I don't want to give the illusion that we're all being cancelled, right? We still have a 1.7 budget. Um, but you're you're totally right. And something I I shared was, you know, in talking to people, the times I've heard people talk about the city pool and growing up here and their memories. I mean, everybody's got a story about that. And at some point in time, the leaders of this city invested into those facilities. I mean, City Park is a a gem of a park. Just how it was designed, all the trees, the way it's been, it that's why it draws so many people. But somebody at some point made that decision and had enough uh support to invest in a a pool, an ice rink, you know, because that's what attracted families, right? But it's just over time, it's so hard to keep that investment up because we compete with roads and I mean, we're in an aging an aging city. So, the sewer lines, the, you know, the cost of labor, the legacy costs, all of these things are so heavy on the tax or on the um the city budget and and parks often is, you know, kind of seen as the fluff department and like

I both understand that. I mean, obviously I work in this profession and I think what we do is exactly what you talked about. People aren't going to want to live somewhere that doesn't have great community gatherings and uh recreation programs. I'll call Parks and Wreck the red-headed stepchild because that's basically what it come No, it really does. Any city I go to and anybody I've talked to over the years that I've been on Parks and Wreck, they all have the same problem. We're the redheaded stepchild. We're the last one thought about and we're the last one ever get money. Well, I you know, my last job, we had a capital and maintenance millage that provided not all of the funding, but a significant amount. And then on top of that, uh, council passed a fairness resolution, uh, so that at any time in the future, you they could not cut parks at a higher percentage than any other department, you know, but I mean, so that's what can happen. You can put things in place, but that's pretty rare, you know, because what are you going to do? Cut your police and fire? People are very, you know, protective of that. And I'm not here to debate what's more important. And all I can do is speak to what I believe in and the importance of what we do. You know, if you're cutting the summer hours, will that cut down on the room rentals at the at Radcliffe? Well, will you have somebody assigned there if you can rent the room? I mean, we will still be able to. It's my understanding that if there are rentals or activities that can essentially pay for the staffing, we'll be o able to offer those still. you know, um the hardest thing is that our projected revenues are the same as this year. So, that's that's hard because anytime I want to okay uh run a program or something, I'm generating revenue, but now I'm adding costs and our revenue projections were so high. So, how I mean, what we have to do is

find a renter or some other revenue source that's not just programming based because programming requires operating, requires staff. I mean we can do some free things but you still need coordination. So there's always costs associated with revenue. So we can't just have revenue without investing in the staff cost on the other hand. Yeah. So that will be the challenge or being able to rent more of Radcliffe for different projects. And see, the problem is is we don't have, and I've said this before, what they really need is they need somebody to be the marketing expert and go out and try and do this because they can't ask the parks and recck director to go out and beg um Gordon Chevrolet or Joe Blow's liquor store or Suz's gas station or ice cream parlor. You don't have time to go out and beg people. Yeah. I mean, I got 24 hours in every day. Like, that's what we all have, right? You know, I will say, you know, I have at our committee meeting, actually, someone had mentioned, well, why don't you talk to Westland and I was like, "Oh, that's a good idea." So, I did a little research and I I reached out to the parks director and they're going to come over, the director and the mayor are coming over Friday to just do a tour and chat a little bit about potential collaboration. So, I mean, there there's always possibilities and I I truly believe like anything is possible. you know, it just sometimes it's a little rough getting there, you know, but I do think like that building, you know, we're putting $7 million into it and there's a lot of great things there. So, I think we're going to have to just weather this uh next period, but I really do believe that there is potential for um you know, some kind of partnership. I know our city manager is talking to different uh you know people sort of showing the facility like do you have any ideas you know because there's

not an idea that's not on the table you know we are just open to anything. you still talking with the library about possibly moving I think the library I don't know if anybody follows that um their last board meeting they decided they weren't going to pursue um coming over to Radcliffe just too many unknowns um and they're still I think five years away or four from really building so maybe that'll come back around if they don't end up building where they're at now I think if they were it probably be in the parking lot so not like in the building which wouldn't really uh you know I think I don't know I mean I can't speak for them but right now they think they're going to put the where do they think they're going to put the library still at Maplewood where it's at but just build on no where you bought a property where you used to be and okay so so I don't know I mean I don't know what will happen with them I don't know Beachwood and yeah that's right tell them to sell that we'll sell them some property over at Radcliffe and then they can build their building over at Radcliffe and we can all be together and have I love that idea. I think for the community like we have the schools on, you know, we have this big field coming in like there's so much stuff going on. So that makes sense to have our whatever we our basically our community center if you will and have the library in the same spot because they have a lot of programs for younger kids that they do at the library. Yeah. Yeah, they could just as well do it at Radcliffe, but that's and then I think what you'd get is you'd get people that are going to take their kids there and then they might see something that they that's on the same day or same night or you know the wait room or whatever it is. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of like the one-stop shop with Myers. You know, you go there and you can get everything you need to paint your house. You should go library. You should go to the library board meeting. Go to library board meetings and discuss this with them. So, how long it's been? They've been trying to build that. Huh? I don't know how long it's

been. They've been planning on building a new library, but it's been years. Probably since they got rid of the last one. Yes. So, I got a couple of questions. Um, are you going to run the summer camp? Yes, actually I have a flyer for that. Right now it's four weeks. So it's like every other week. Um so I think we'll because this is until June, July, August, uh depending on where our staffing is like we could add on to it. Um it's just right now it's so uncertain like who's going to be here at that time. So we want to have something out there. And I don't know, have you guys seen the electronic rec connect? I don't I don't Did I send it to you? I'll send a link. I made a couple copies, but we do have our summer program um online available. Um the summer camp. Yeah, right now it's four weeks. Okay. And then have you already planned for September the reduced hours? I I saw that it was listed for the Friday and the Saturday early close. Yeah, I mean right now that's just based on available staff. I mean that's sort of what you know I've worked out just doing the math and trying to figure out like with everybody reduced what does that look like? Um you know again I think I think any of these things can change you know if we stabilize if we get different renters in I mean all of those things could we could change. I mean even our our rec connects you know we had it all ready to go. I mean with everything full um and then we had to go back and sort of pull out some things because it's just it just has created this uncertainty. Next summer we won't have this kind of uncertainty I don't believe because I think we may lose one or two

of our uh kind of core full-timers like altogether. So if they leave then we rehire and I think um you know then there's just different expectations. It's just very hard going back. Um, and just the morale right now like so that's part of what is very difficult now is like trying to rebuild and get people excited, you know, when they just feel well it came on suddenly. Unfortunately, you're probably going to have people that you're going to be able to get rid of because they're not going to be able to handle this. Well, right. I mean, yeah, that's there's not going to be as many hours for some and, you know, some people are going to have to just move on and and and we're going to have to keep our best and have different expectations and all of that. You know, on the esports, did we ever go anywhere with Divine Child or what school was it that was it was a Catholic school that was interested in it. Did we ever get any traction with that? Well, we had him I mean, he's pretty well set up at his school. They've rented from us I think two times and I think they have something in the spring actually um where we're showcasing our room and he's I I have to double check that actually. Um but really we were focusing on the Garden City Schools and you know at least because this is the first year I mean there's a lot of technology behind that room and getting everybody signed in and figuring out all the kinks has taken us a little bit of time. I think now that the coaches from the school are going to have like a season under their belts, we're going to be able to let them supervise that room and hopefully need less of our staff. So, that's part of why we want to work with them to see if they could at least pay for this um you know, these memberships so then we can focus on staffing um you know, and just another plan to keep it open for everybody.

Did we think about door cards? Uh, what do you mean door cards? Like like you would you say we got to watch people coming in and out, right? Yeah. So give him a door card, you know? Oh, like the scanner. Like a scan card. Yeah, they have those. We have those. And then that way if you have like the guy who wasn't paying us, you just turn his card off, but he could sit there at the door and wait for somebody to come in and go in with him. Well, I will say I do not think that room could go without supervision. Just the ages. Um, and the cost for the equipment that's in there. Yeah. I mean, we've had we've spent a lot of time reviewing security footage like if a headset turns up missing or you know sometimes the kids we're like there's cameras in there for sure or what? There's cameras in there for sure. Yeah, they are. Not every angle, but yeah, there's cameras in there, but you have to then watch them. I mean that would be a very difficult room to not supervise just because uh of what they can get up to on the computers. I mean the person there is is and actually most of what they're doing is supervising the technology and maintaining like the safety of those esports because there are a lot of um uh what's the word I'm looking for? Uh you know just things in some of the rooms that you got to be monitoring. Um, so we have software that allows the front desk person to kind of see what people are doing, where they are, um, and just monitoring that and then just handling all the tech issues, you know. So, I think that'd be a very hard room to just let go and not have anybody in there, you know. But anything else about the presentation? No,

I think it's sad to talk about most of the revenue coming in from renters, you know, and less programming. And I um it's worrisome when you close the building and have less staff, then you can't run programs and then you can't make money. So I would be curious to see where revenue truly comes in at after, you know, closing the building for so long. And I worry about building programming back up then after it is gone. So I'm just cautious about this whole thing and and It's hard to be optimistic. No, you're right. Because what happens is if you think about a restaurant where people go to eat, if they shut down for a month to redo the restaurant, when they open back up, they don't automatically get everybody back. They get maybe 70% or maybe 50%. It takes them a long time because these people have now gone somewhere else to eat and then that's their habit. And we know people are creatures of habit. Well, and the staff have worked so hard to grow some of the things, too. That's I mean, I share the same concerns and and I feel so bad that you have just come into all this and are dealing with it now. I'm very thankful that you're handling the grants and getting that. How long are you staying day by day? Day by day. You you you you almost remind me of the person who's critical but stable. I mean I mean you have had it and you've done a great again I can't say this enough. You've absolutely done a great job and I wish we'd have had you for a lot longer and we probably wouldn't be in this position cuz I mean you came in and then they wanted information. I mean within 30 days you had them information of of what things were going on. I mean, you've just done a fantastic job and I

just I I feel so bad that you had to come into this. Yes. Well, well, I mean, thank you. You know, I will I would have called it something else. It's been, you know, I there's so many cool things going on and it's it's really wild in one day. Like there's so many fun things I'm still working on and then there's days like yesterday you're just like going through this, you know, presentation. I see everybody's faces. It's like like so depressing. Um but you're on the roller coaster. But you know, I just believe like I do believe that everything all the staff has done, all the grants that have gone in, I do think that it was not wasted and I believe that all of that is going to we're going to be able to come back and and give back to the citizens like what they uh were hoping for. I think this is just, you know, an unpleasant kind of followup to some of the decisions that were made and how they were done. And, you know, it's just a reminder like operating plan, operating plan. Um, you know, because the vision and the ideas are all great and I love some of the rooms, but it's it's so uh so much caused me so much reflection to think about like how can you do these things? How do you get people excited and get grants but do it in a way that has a sustainable like future you know because this is just so devastating but you know I also think there's good things ahead you know I really do I think that that building the infrastructure upgrades are going to give us you know another 20 years because you know you think about it another 30 years they're going to be the same repairs needed right because you think about the imagination station I don't know where we're ever going to go with that. But, you know, when we were in talking with him about that, I mean, his vision of that sounded great. You know, okay, we're going to get this age group in and this age group in and then

people will start having parties here and stuff, you know, and he's he basically sold me on it. And I'm like going, well, this thing ought to generate enough money to, you know, substain itself. But if you still don't have the room done and you're still not generating any income from it, it's what have you what have you accomplished? You've accomplished nothing, right? Yeah. And is that ever going to get finished or is it just going to be a room? I mean, I would love to see us put a little bit more in to at least like make it a room for camp or something, but you know, I don't know. And I the committee I think has got a lot of there's a lot of other ways to spend the rest of the grant if we can get a little bit more. You know, I think someone had the idea like put a bouncer in like a bounce house in this or like have something in here. So then it's at least um maybe another group might be interested in renting it for something, you know, I don't know. Um you got to come up with something if you're not going to finish it because that because that big that big area needs to generate income. Yeah. Something. Yeah, I agree. I agree. If you got it just sitting there taking up space. Yeah, that's not a good thing. I'm gonna move my office down there. You'd have a nice office. So, anything else about the budget presentation? I look forward to hearing your plan for September. I I think we need one. you know, we need to pivot and and figure out what works quick. Yeah. Okay. Um, moving on. Public hearing. Anything, gentlemen? Public comment. Gentlemen, again. Okay. Um, items for consideration. Old business.

Okay. Um, I know I wasn't here last month, but um, I think you all talked about proposed park cleanup days and I've been making a few calls. Um, what I'm passing around is an Earth Day event. So, I this hasn't been publicized. I wanted to run it by you all. Um, what I was thinking is is to host uh an Earth Day event at City Park uh just to kind of kick off a volunteer season for us. Uh, usually Earth Day is great. People are looking for volunteer hours. Um, and I'm usually litter. Um, I'm meeting with a muralist tomorrow actually and I want to um exploring some painting that we could do at the bath house just to make it look a little better. So, on the exterior and then possibly in the interior. So maybe we'll be able to paint. Um but we might have to also do that later in the year. Are the Is the bath house open? I thought No. No. Okay. Not yet. Okay. Um the um I I think we had talked about early April for Mhler Park. Um I reached out to Joe and he was this was like last uh Thursday. Um and he was heading out to spring break. He's like, "I'll give you a call on the 31st to talk about a workday at Muller Park." So, if we don't get into April, I think we just want to get out there before their um opening day, which I think is May 10th or something. Um or no, I'm sorry. I don't know. It might be late. Actually, I think it's later in May. So, we'll try to coordinate a workday with them. They usually have some brush cutting and things along the fence lines. We'd like to add the wood chips. Um you know, do that city park workday. uh plan for Manor Park again maybe in June. Florence, you know, I did reach out to the schools and I actually I didn't hear anything back. I sent another email today, but I had

the thought they might be on spring break as well. So, um I think maybe when they get back the tipin school, hopefully I'll hear from them, too. I threw out a couple of dates either I think end of May and early June just to see what they would recommend. I think that one would be after school. Um, and then I'm supposed to be meeting with Kowuanas Park. Uh, they were just trying to get through their pig events and then they have like a committee that's I think a park committee. So, I'm going to follow up with them and see if they have a date for Kowanas. So, I don't know when you last month you guys didn't really throw out have any dates or preferences. No, but I do have a question. Yeah. So, when is our meeting in April? Is it the 29th or the 22nd? Um, it'll be the 29th. Is it the fourth or is it the last? I thought it's always the last. It's always the last. Okay, then the 29th. So, it'll be the 29th. Just want to check because you got 422 2025, which is the Tuesday. Yeah. For your Earth Day. Yeah. I I was thinking if our meeting Oh, okay. Here's what I'm thinking. Sorry. If our meeting is on 4:22, if we're going to be at this from 3:00 to 4:30 and then have to come for the meeting, maybe we either want to move our meeting to the 29th or if our meeting is the 29th, we don't even have to worry about it. Yeah, I don't think we have to worry about it. It is the last Thursday, right? Or I'm sorry, Tuesday. Yeah. Um, and Kuanas Park, guess what? The geese are gone. Or are they? They're all gone. I don't know where they went, but they're gone. What's gone? Gone for good or just 100 geese at Kuanas Park all winter. They just disappeared. They're gone. Thank goodness. Well, maybe they hang out there for maybe watch it next year and see if they come. Maybe they just hang out for the winter.

That's like some people were feeding them. Oh, okay. Cuz I could tell you this at my house last year, I had Mr. and Mrs. Mard and then they disappeared. Right. or you're still getting off track. I'm going to bring you back. But I'm just saying somebody tunes in talking about your geese. But guess who's back at my house now? The mailards. I'm just thinking that they may have a certain part, you know. Well, we could go interview them. Yeah. Um, so I guess what I'm going to try to do is get some dates from Joe and send them out. Who is our MER park? And you I think I was heard at the last meeting everybody kept their old parks and then we signed the new ones and I I don't think I brought that list with me but um that works for me. So um I guess who's who's Mohler Park? Robert. Robert. Okay. So what I'll do is uh consult that list when I have like a few date options. And I mean you all are still interested in kind of captaining your park workday type of thing. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I think they're really good. I think these are important things for us to do. The parks definitely need them. Um they were really fun last year, so hopefully we still get, you know, people and um so once I get dates, we can work on like a flyer that will have at least like the spring summer one set up. Um you know, so that's all I have. Um nothing for new business. And then other business, I put this down for you guys, the committee representatives, um, for us to give an update about it. Yeah. Just to share with the rest of the parks commission, ladies, anybody? You guys, how was this about the You didn't prepare like a speech or a presentation for us? No, I didn't know there was a presentation. Um, basically last Wednesday there's a committee

of three council members and eight. Oh, sorry. Three of us that were wasn't expecting to speak on this. Um, the third one. Basically, there is a little over 700,000 in our grant left to spend at Rackcliffe. Um, we want to get it spent by the deadline. Um they're really trying to um the plan is so far um the gym that is there that has the stage um talking about taking that stage out and then expanding on that. So putting some of that money into the gym. Um I guess the proposed gym that was going to be built at one point is actually a tad bit smaller than the actual gym that's currently already there if you take the stage out. Um, so that's one of the things that we're proposing and looking at spending part of that 700,000 on. Um, they really want um that teaching kitchen. So they're talking about ways that we could still, you know, build the teaching kitchen and then like other things that little things that need to kind of wrap up that grant money. So the stage they wouldn't put anything in. All they'd be doing is making The plan is they'd be making it bigger. and is basically taking the stage out. You have more floor space, larger floor space, making it all like usable. Okay. Um like gym area for like basketball, volleyball, pickle ball, those types of things. So maybe we could eventually generate revenue with like rentals of like, you know, I know GCYA their cheer rents space, you know, for their cheerleaders for certain events and certain things they do. Um, but that's the discussion uh that the commission, the new committee that's been created for Radcliffe to try to figure out the best way to spend that money and then still have like revenue based. Do we know if we have people

qualified in Garden City to be able to take it out and can we use the grant money to pay our people to take it out or do we have to put, you know what I'm saying? Do we have to put a bit out to take the stage out or can we have or can we have our people in Garden City take it out and have them give us a call? When you mean our people, do you mean employees? Yes, our employees. And I'm saying I would be saying we do not have any more DPW uh sort of favors to call on anymore, but uh what if we were to pay them to take it out? Yeah, I don't. And we use grant money to pay our people to do things. I'm just trying to think, but I mean I think we have a cont. So I'm saying we got grant money. Is there anything underneath that stage that has to be removed wiring? I mean there's a contractor that has already given I believe Eric a quote um that needs to go to council. Yeah. When I was there today, there were three guys. They crawled underneath the Yeah. the stage there. Did he give you a quote to do it? Yeah. Can you reflect on what that was? Yeah, I think it's about 40,000. Yeah. To take down the stage. There's some questions about the HVAC on the sides. Um, so there's a couple like unknowns. That's what's really hard. Um, it's not going to be a project to go to a sealed bid. We're just really running out of time. And to do that, you really need, you know, the drawings and engineering services. So, this would be more of a in-house project. Um, you know, we're trying to get quotes. I've got some quotes on the basketball nets. The flooring is the big ticket. Uh kind of unknown right now. And then there's some like electrical, changing lights, moving the speaker system, cords, you know, because we have that audio box now. So, there's not a huge amount of things, but a couple of things we don't know how much they'd cost. Oh, and the other item we got a quote on are the dividers that come from the ceiling. So, the thought is we could pull out the one that's the older kind that when it's folded, it comes out like six feet and

it really interferes with what you can do in the gym. So if we remove that and add two more dividers, we could create three spaces. So we could have more things going on, you know, in those spaces. I mean, that's the plan is to create more spaces for all the different to create more rental space in that in the gym. Yeah. How big is the stage? It must give us how much extra room? I think it's like 28 ft. Yeah. I don't know the schematic. Once this stage comes out, that size of the gym would be actually bigger than the one that was been proposed to been built. So, it's a good size gym. We're not going to do like a fullsize court with bleachers. We don't have room for that. It's really about optimizing gym space, you know, and and I there is a stage there and I've been kind of waiting like is there a group here that's really protective of the stage because you just don't know like some people don't want to see those things go but I just haven't heard that and it sounds like the schools have that program. So, you know, the preference from what I've heard is to expand gym usage. Yeah. It's kind of going to remind me of I don't know if any of your kids, my daughter plays a high velocity soccer. Um, but they're downstairs. They have this whole area that's just like on weekends is full of basketball, volleyball, like all kinds of different sports over there. And it's to me is what's going to I think it's going to eventually look like. But I could be wrong. Multi-purpose essentially. Multi-purpose. That's a good idea. I mean, it's it's waste of space right now. Yeah. Stage. Yeah. Yeah. So, anything else? Because there's also the kitchen, finishing that. Um, I guess those are the two big projects. Yeah, on the kitchen there were some good ideas about keeping things that were already there. Like there's a big counter space, putting a new top on it, um, rather than taking out because it's got a lot of,

um, drawers and that type of thing in there, storage. And also, if you take it out, then you have to redo the floor. So, there the the guy who was there was giving us a lot of good ideas on what we could do to keep things that were there and reuse them. Yeah. So, it sounds like we got the right guy looking at it. Plus, he's on one of the boards for the city um planning commission. You want to add? Um it's just uh surreal talking about spending $750,000 while also talking about closing the building. Isn't that? So, I am two different hands though. Just trying to roll with it here. Let me just put the sword out and you can fall on it. Okay. But I'm I mean the grant money is there. It needs to be spent. So, well, we're going to lose it if we don't spend once. I mean, we don't we spend the grant money that we have and then hopefully, you know, I know there's a huge cut back now, but hopefully we can kind of rebuild from um I feel like the hopefully if you can get the jib right plan of Radcliffe was amazing. I just don't think it was executed properly to where we can afford this city. I think we're finding out too what doesn't work, you know? Yeah. I mean, like to me, there's a few rooms in there that I would never have thought to create. But, and I mean, and honestly, I think getting the kitchen functional is going to be a long-term benefit because what it was now that room was had no value and you know, so like I am totally in favor of a functional kitchen because I think long term so many renters are going to use it. like the cooking classes can grow when we when we're able to. So, I think it's investment a baby shower, you know, you need sometimes just the use of a kitchen, right? Just like to wash

dishes. I mean, what we had was so nonfunctional for what we have. So, you know, so I think that's good. It's just trying to figure out every every project has limits in the budget, you know, cuz like 750 sounds like a lot and then it's like all these and then, you know, I have a list of stuff and nobody wants to spend those things. they're operational, but um you know, we're just trying to think of like once this grant's over, we know our operating budget is going to be just a little thing like that. So, you know, just trying to plan and and be smart, you know. So, I'm aware of a community that um is up north that they have this uh it's a a Catholic high school and I don't know how they the community pulled this off, but they had like a community bottle drive and what they did was they just set this big wagon out, tall wagon, and everybody tossed their their empty returns. And I don't know who returned them. I don't know all the details. They ended up raising over $100,000. Let's do it. Let's do it. Take their bottles back. That's amazing. That's like what's the Is that a million? I mean, that's How big a community was it? And how many people are in that community? Super small city. What is it? Um, less than 5,000. What's the name of it? The area probably they got more from the surrounding. Yeah, surrounding areas. But they sent this the this wagon in front of like a party store, but it would it would be mounding with the bottles. But I I don't know how

logistically how they returned them all. like if they got the distributor to just kind of take them and sometimes well the other problem would be retail store can get like their distributor their beer distributor to take their bottles back for them so maybe they worked through yeah but I mean they really raised a lot of money and that was only over a year's time so yeah that's incredible I mean I think there's so many I don't think you'd want to be throwing glass bottles into a big container cuz you wouldn't get your 10 cent for it cuz all the all the glass would be shattered. No. No. Yeah. You'd have to set somewhere, right? You'd have to almost have like aluminum and Yeah. You'd almost have to have two different containers. One where people can set glass in other one, like you said, if it's plastic and aluminum cans, well, just toss them in if they're in a bag or whatever. But glass is not going to be good. Can we put you on that project? I'm going to try and find out. We're going to need some how logistically they they're returning these bottles and cans cuz it and they're still doing it. Yeah, they were they started it during Yeah, that's incredible. And you know Yeah. over $100,000 on just the returns. Yeah. They kept school going and they're, you know, Yeah. All right. Well, we're taking all ideas, so Yeah. Well, until things get figured out, you know. Yeah. So, this wire is not This is just a m Well, yeah. I mean, I just um had Emily whip this up because I wanted to share it with you all and see if you like the idea. We could put like um you know, if any of you want to come to it, we could say hosted by Parks and Recck Commission or try to pump it up or whatever. What about the time be the 22nd? Okay. Yeah. Because that's Earth Day. So the 22nd is

Earth Day, but it's a Tuesday. 3:00 to 4:30. The kids aren't out of school for one thing, and people are aren't out of work yet if they're working. Well, right. Not everyone can do that. The kids though are out at 3. No, my the Farmington doesn't get out till 3:30. Okay. Middle school and up. Yeah. Yeah. So, it's kind of geared towards the middle school and high school. Um and then some of the people who are looking for hours, you know. So yeah, it could it's not the greatest because you're right, people will be in school. Um, but we don't Well, how late I'm trying to think of when it gets dark. I know. Oh, after seven now. Yeah, I know. Well, well, it's later though. We're at Yeah, it's still light around 7. I mean, you want it. Should we do 4 to 5:30? That might be might work better. Yeah, that I mean, we can try that. And you guys think that's a little better? So, we can shift the times and then Well, I think what you got to do is try it. Try that time and see what happens. Yeah. I mean, and you in April, you never know what the weather's going to be. It could be really nice and it could be seting, you know what I mean? So, but yeah, I think to just try it. Just had 75 the other day and the next day we had 35. Exactly. I mean, if it's nice, we could do painting. If it's really bad, it'll just be litter pickup, but there's always stuff to find. And that park is so big, so um it could be fun. All right. Well, we'll push it back and and then what I'll do is I'll uh revise it and send it out to you guys and then we'll try to start promoting it and our next newsletter and online and because I work in the park a lot. Yeah. Um I don't I know if this is okay with the ordinances and everything, but

it's possible to staple it like to Oh, yeah. certain poles. So, yeah. And we have this the lawn signs where we could promote like the workday coming soon. So, yeah. And actually, we could put the flyer right on that one in particular. So, we could do that for sure. So, people could at least see it. People that walk and use the park, right? Yeah. I like that for sure. It's a good idea. Yeah. Okay, moving on. Yep. Um, public comment, gentlemen. All right. Uh, report from parks and recck director Radcliffe updates and grants. I think you already covered everything. Um, oh, no, I haven't. Guys, um, you did get a packet. You can check all the February numbers. Um, I'd just like to highlight other things, one that I wanted to highlight. Um again, senior fitness room 478 visits. I mean it's fantastic uh seeing seeing those and even that those arthritis classes I was talking about uh the foundation exercises 149 participants in one month and then the other class the tai chichi is 45. So again, just sharing um those numbers and um you know about 3,000 admittance scans in February. Um and then you can see just the different room rentals going on. So um it's just nice to see all the activities there. So I just like to share that. Somebody were to scan three times in one day, do they actually show up there on three times? That's a good question. I don't know. Sometimes it comes up like as a duplicate. So, I don't I'll find out. No, I'm thinking if somebody's a smoker or vapor or whatever and they step out, well, then they got to scan when they come back. No, they

No, cuz they usually won't rescan for that. I mean, if I already scanned it once, I Yeah, I mean, I'm already there. And you know you So I think what we're going to see in April is we're going to stop doing the membership uh like the free memberships where we're requiring everybody to do the photo and everything and then people to scan in. We're really going to move away from that. What we want are um memberships for specific activities. So the senior fitness room eventually we'll have the membership. You got a scan. You can scan in and out of there now. You can we're trying to get a scanner on the game room. So if people want to come into those, they have a separate scan. But if you're just coming in for something you've already signed into, we're going to eliminate that. It's just there's no purpose to it. It's creating bottlenecks. It's not the best customer service. It's come up before as just an ineffective uh procedure that So I think we're just going to see that go away for now um because it just doesn't have purpose. So that um I think on a couple Radcliffe updates I wanted to share. Um the fourth reimbursement did get submitted uh March 14th for 350,000. So that brings the total submitted up to 3.2 million with 37,000 encumbered meaning that that money is already committed or in progress. So there's that 746 number that we're talking about. We have that Radcliffe meeting weekly now to uh develop the remaining projects budgets. Um, everybody knows about the deadline update on the HUD. So, the application's been submitted and executed. It's like nine months of effort on that. The action plan is submitted and approved. So, that whole grant, the 2.1 is ready for reimbursements. The exciting news is HVAC is out to bid. So, April 11th,

we're going to get back uh hopefully a great number. We have about two well you see 2,86,000 left to spend. The bid is closing April 11th, not opening, right? Um well, bid opening means we open up the um the envelopes. The envelopes. So that's the last day to submit it though. Okay. Yeah. So that's when we'll know. We had 22 individuals come to the pre-bid meeting. So individuals interested in it. Some of them were subcontractors, but a lot of companies were definitely looking at this project. Our consultant has estimated about a 1.7 million. Um, I hope that that's around it because then we'd have a little bit extra um that we could spend on any well, not any number of things, but a few things like maybe another bathroom renovation or, you know, maybe maybe we get to some of the stuff we didn't. Uh, so fingers crossed. Um, the ADA bathroom project. Um, I'm hoping while I've been sitting here, I've got the final spec sheets. Feel like every day I'm like, it should be getting posted tomorrow. Tomorrow. Um, we are really close. This project is going out to bid, uh, sealed bid. Uh, we have stamped drawings on it. Been doing a lot of work on that project. I'm really excited. We've um actually wait am I in the what page are you guys on? The rad the grant updates. I'm the grant updates. Okay. So, it has to be spent by June. Yeah. So, that one is the most urgent and I guess let me just finish grant stuff then. Um the playground, you know, installed. We are waiting for the dirt to get picked up and then some restoration around the playground. So, that's exciting. um not looking likely on that big

$500,000 grant. So is what it is. That was with who? That was the um CPF, a community a HUD grant that went through Rashidita Tab's office that was really looking promising, but I just don't think there's federal funding now. Um and so on the project side of the list, uh we finally had the roof inspection for by the uh warranty providers. So, uh, there was some punch list work that had been going on the last few weeks. The the rooftop is complete. There is some remaining work on the metal edging. There was some winess and stuff that um, you know, our team wasn't happy with. So, they're trying to fix that. That's the last thing uh, before they get their final payment. Nothing in Imagination Station. The front desk, if everyone's seen, it's open. Um, it's really nice to have the staff out of the hallway. The snack bar is there. Uh we don't have any hot food yet. That's still pending licensing. And then kind of our staffing setup. Um the ADA restrooms. This is what I wanted to talk more about. So this is going to be the bathrooms right by the front desk. Um we are bringing the the both of the rooms to ADA code in the men's. Right now there's one toilet and three urinals and one sink. What we're going to get is one toilet and two urinals, but two sinks. In the new design, the women's um has currently three toilets and two sinks. We're actually proposing to do four toilets and four sinks. And to do this, the plan uh is going to bump a little bit out into the art room to take up some of that. um where there's existing plumbing and um because moving to ADA, what was happening in the first goaround is that we went down to um two toilets uh and two sinks in there

and it just didn't seem like enough for the women's. I mean, we most of our senior events, it's there's way more women. I mean, so we had to do a little bit of work. I think this is going to be nice. Uh, and we were low on the sink count across the building, so we're trying to get in more sinks. So, all of these are like formulas on how many you should have. Um, so anyways, that is moving along. I'm very excited. Our hope is that uh it goes out tomorrow on the bidet and then we're going to do the opening on April 11th right after the HVAC and then hopefully that can just get going right away and wrap up by June 30th. Um so teaching kitchen we have the committee identifying the goals of the budget. Um I should have a demo quote at the next council meeting. Um yeah none we already talked about all this. So I think that's everything uh for me. Oh no I know sorry. One more thing. Um okay I know you guys discussed the the minutes taking taking minutes. Nobody wants to do that. Um, and I heard uh Commissioner Jones ask, "Well, why do we have to do it? Nobody else does." So, I looked into that. Um, city council planning and the zoning board uh in the charter have provisions where the city clerk takes the notes. Uh, the other commissions, commission on aging, historical, parks and wreck, um, have commissioners serve as secretary position. So, uh, one of my thoughts is if we divvied it up. I I created I'll pass this out. This is like a, uh, minute sort of template because, you know, this is an area where I could use some help to be honest. I could use the help uh, in just doing the minutes every month. And I thought, well, what if we each took one month a year and you got a template?

Really all that is important is to take our attendance um you know who's approving any motion. Usually it's like agenda minutes if there's a motion a action or something. Um and just really basic notes about what was discussed. You guys see what the minutes are every month. It's not a long detail thing. It'll be like Erica gave an update and it's like 30 minute. You know, you don't have to rehash everything. Um, I was just thinking if we could, you know, think about a way to distribute the hassle of it. I mean, I know nobody wants to go home and re-watch the meeting and take notes. I thought this could be a way. You don't even have to type anything. If you just turn it in on paper with your handwriting, that can be good enough. We don't need to be fancy. Um, I don't know. What do you guys think? Um, I would be willing to take over the secretary position if somebody would take over chair. Oo, what a good swap [Music] offer. My glass is on to make some eye contact. Who hasn't been the chair? Who hasn't been chair? I have. John Jones hasn't. You want to be chair? John, you haven't been You want to be chair? No, I haven't been chair. I've been chair. I was chair for years. Anybody? Why not? You love to talk a little bit. I vote you, John. Come on. I I talk about how amazing our volunteers are. I really need volunteers to step up. Jen. Jen will do it. She's not here. That's why she gets to do it. You'd love to talk, John. You would be so good. You And then Jen can be your co-chair. See, what don't you like? It's all the power. Let's do this. Here's what I'll say. Let's either me and Jen do it. Either she can do it and I'll still stay vice

chair. Either that or I'll take the chair and see if she'll take vice chair. If she'll take the vice chair, negotiate that with her or you want me to. If you want to reach out to her, then tell her she can reach out to me. Tell her that you kindly just tell her that she tell her since she wasn't at the meeting. She is the chair person. But didn't she Who was the chair last year before? You reach out to her and say, "He said he'll be the chair. She'll be the vice chair." And then she can just say, "I'll be the vice chair." Oh, no. Don't worry. I'll be talking to Jen, so that won't work so well. She know Jen knows. I'll be calling her. When uh Bridget or Rob, who's not here, Kathleen, she's also new. This seems like a great time to jump in and Oh, you should have been around when we We can ask Dennis. I was a chair for like I was a chair for eight years. Seven or eight years. You can ask Dennis if you were absent, you were definitely getting a position. Yeah. If you were So that's how we kept people from missing meetings. I think Yeah. I like uh I appreciate that offer or um and you can still use this and you can still use this. You know, I don't want to over complicated but it is important like who was there and you know I don't know if anyone ever looks at it in five years but we will have it done. Okay. Well, we'll explore and maybe next meeting we'll see something on the agenda that is more formal. Yes. About the chair and the vice chair and the new secretary. So, our next meeting I think I don't know why I had a question mark there. I didn't go back and finish. Kate is a secretary and April 29th. Draw one of three that are not here as advice chair. Let's see. And where are we at? 8 o'clock. Okay. Um, do you have anything for upcoming events and programs? I have the reconnect. I'm excited to see that. I have not seen it online yet. So, Oh, you haven't? Okay. I can I'll follow up tomorrow with

an email in the electronic version, but I will share this. I I apologize. I did not do the list of upcoming stuff. Um, I do know you've been busy. We'll forgive you. Um I mean we Yeah, I I look through this now, but some of those at the Red Clip Center. Yeah, I thought I saw them. Yeah. Yeah. Um I know I know we have a year event. Um Okay, moving on. All right. Um commissioner comments. Kathy, would you like to start us off tonight? I don't have anything further to say. Okay. Everything was good. Brought up well today. Any comments? I'm good. I think I've said enough. I don't think you have. No comments. Anything else? Oh, I'm good. Okay. Somebody like to make a motion? I'll make a motion to adjourn. I'll second it. All in favor? That's Kate. Oh. All in favor? I I Do you have to do that? Yeah, I guess. I don't know. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't. Okay. Why she wants Hi, Zack. We at least made you from yesterday.