Park and Recreation Commission - Regular Meeting

The rules of procedure and order of business, the members of all boards and commissions and the public are reminded that they must preserve order and decorum throughout the meeting. In that regard, members of the Board and commissions and the public are advised that any delay or disruption in the proceedings or refusal to obey the orders of the Board or Commission or the presiding officer constitutes a violation of these rules. The city of Riverside is committed to fostering a workplace that provides dignity, respect, and civility to our employees, customers, and the public they serve. Alright. Good evening.

It is 06:32. We'd welcome you to the Parks and Recreation Commission, and this meeting is called to order. Alright. Would commissioner Schaeffer lead us in the pledge of allegiance? All right.

Thank you. We now move on to item one of public comment. To comment on any matters within the jurisdiction of the commission, you are invited to participate in person or call (951) 826-8688. Press 9 to be placed in the queue to speak. Individuals in the queue will be prompted to unmute by pressing 6 when you are ready to speak. Do we have any questions from the audience or callers? Awesome. Alright. Okay. No callers at this time.

Thank you. We will now move on to the consent calendar. Beating minutes. Okay. Does anybody wish to pull items from the consent calendar for discussion?

No. All right. Do we have a motion to approve the consent calendar as is? To approve? Second. All right. Motion by Dawson and seconded by oh, by Forbes. Alright. Alright. I think we can go ahead and vote. Oh.

Okay. Go ahead and vote.

All

right.

Okay. Thank you. We'll move on to the discussion calendar. Okay. Reminder that audience participation is encouraged, and public comments are limited to three minutes. Item three will be the property acquisition APN 2,072,106.

Good evening, honorable commissioners. My name is Alisa Sromala, and I serve as the principal park project manager for the Park and Rec department. Tonight, I'm providing information about an upcoming acquisition adjacent to Fairmont Park. Highlighted in yellow is the property we're talking about. It is located the frontage is located on Indian Hill Road, which is to the south of the property.

That's the only access from a public right of way. On the north side, you can see our trail that connects Fairmont Park to the Santa Ana River Trail to give you some context. And here is a picture showing the current conditions. It's undeveloped, vacant land. The upper part of the parcel along Indian Hill Road is the top of a slope.

Then we have a large slope that leads down to a flat open area along the bike trail. And we are purchasing this property for a couple reasons. The first reason is to complete our acquisitions along Indian Hill Road so that the property is conserved for park and open space use. As you can see on the map, most of the property there is already owned by the city. There is one property owned by Rivers and Lands Conservancy for open space.

And we are in long term discussions with them. The plan is that city would take ownership of that property that Rivers and Lands Conservancy owns as as well, ultimately, when funding is available. But this property that we're acquiring was up for sale. We had a willing seller situation, so we took advantage of that so that we could complete our protective purchases there. The second reason we're purchasing this property well, actually, here's a plan of what we're hoping to do there.

We have recently completed or drafted the Camp Evans master plan at Fairmont Park. So I highlighted the property acquisition area in the brownish color to the left of the photo. So in that area that we're acquiring, we have plans to put in a challenge course and trail. And then adjacent to that, going west a little bit, we have some other improvements planned as well. So we're hoping to activate that space and add recreational value to that area of Fairmont Park.

And the other more urgent reason we're purchasing this property is due to the library that is being built at Bobby Bonds Park. So at Bobby Bonds Park, we had used Land and Water Conservation Fund grant money. When we do that, the entire park is placed under protection from the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act, and that requires that the property stay recreational uses in perpetuity forever. So the library conversion put us out of line with that because the library was not considered a recreational use. So we're having to make up that land somewhere else.

We have to purchase and improve property on a one to one basis to make up for that land. And this land has to be approved by the state parks and National Park Service. They are the final say on whether this land qualifies to replace the property at Bobby Bonds. So as you know, the library is already well underway. So we're trying to hurry with this acquisition so that we don't get out of compliance.

We've been working closely with our state parks grants folks, and they know the situation. They know we're trying to do it. But if we don't do this in a timely manner, it puts all of our federal grants in jeopardy. So we're definitely trying to get this taken care of soon. And that's my story. The recommendation is that the Park and Recreation Commission receive this update and give input and support for the acquisition of this vacant land bearing assessors, parcel number 20702106, for approximately $525,000 Thank you. I'm available for any questions.

Alright. At this time, we'll invite public comments regarding the item. The public is invited to participate in the person or by calling (951) 826-8688. To comment on this item, press 9 to be placed in the queue and 6 to speak. To participate via Zoom, select raise hand function and speak. To speak, you will have three minutes. Do we have any con comments from the audience or online?

We do have one caller.

Oh, we do have a caller. Alright. Caller, can you go ahead and press 6 to speak? Can

you hear me? Yes. Okay. Hi. This is Ellen Bear. Yeah. Hi. I wanted to make a comment on what she just discussed. I think that the land should be kept open. I I don't have a problem with their purchasing it, but I think it should be open and not recreational.

And I wonder why you guys decided to build a library and a park when you could have built it in an area that isn't a park to make this more confused and difficult. And the other things I had wanted to comment on was that when I'm speaking like this, it would be super helpful to have the timer visible so I and other participants know when our three minutes are up. Thank you.

So I can take that question about the library, though I wasn't directly involved in it. There is some good information that can be found online on the city's website. The city clerk's website has access to our council reports. So, Ms. Barrett, I don't have the report right now.

I probably could send it to Sandra. I believe I have your email address as well. So I'll check and see what the process is for me to email it to you. But if you feel comfortable, you can go on the city website, city clerk's website, and you could search under the library topic. There are some really good council reports that talk about the process that the city went through, including community outreach and including evaluation of other alternative sites, and how Bobby Bonds became the site selected.

You're welcome. Thank you. Do we have any other callers? Okay. Do we have any comments from our commissioners? Commissioner Dawson?

Sounds

like we're done. Okay. Good. Thank you. Appreciate your report. I'm always excited about adding more land to our parks, but I do have a few questions. How much property was lost over at Bobby Bonds versus what size is this property? Is this property in a flood zone? It kinda looks like it could be. Is that couple things here.

Yes. So off the top of my head, I believe the last time I looked at the FEMA maps, this is not considered a flood zone because of the levee, but we can check on that and get back to you. And then the second question about the comparative sizes of land impacted. So the library is not as as large as this parcel. But we're not really able to purchase portions of parcels, so we kind of just have to buy the parcels as they exist for sale.

Okay. Was there a conservation easement? Is that what it was at Bobby Bonds? You did something and you got grant money, and so they required a recorded conservation easement. Does that sound right, attorney?

It it's not a conservation easement, though.

So if I remember correctly, it was acquired with money from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. And property acquired with grants from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which is a state fund, require that you can't just convert it to non recreation purposes. That you could, there's ways you can do swaps and replacement, but you can't just build on it.

Is it is So does that get recorded as an easement on the property to restrict it?

I don't know if it gets re It's not gonna be an easement, I can tell you that. But I don't know if it's recorded on the title.

Okay, I was just using that terminology because something I am, I have some familiarity with, and this other is kind of a new concept, and I wanted to understand it so that going forward, if we have other projects that are you know, similarly, you know, situated as to, you know, that they had a grant funding, and that kind of restricts the use of the property going forward, so that we have some familiarity and knowledge about how that works.

I don't know if there's any

I I would if I had

to guess, I would guess there is not notice on the title. Sometimes this comes up as a bit of a surprise. I know that the Land and Water Conservation Fund operates down by the Hidden Valley Nature Center. I know it operates, I think, in part of Fairmount Park.

All of Fairmount Park.

All Fairmount Park.

All of Fairmount Park.

And some other areas. So k. I mean, it's I can understand why the state does it. They're giving you money for parts, and they want to make sure that it is used for parts.

Right. Not converted at some point in the future. So

Commissioner Dawson, can I take a moment and just jump in real quick? So these days, oftentimes our grants come with deed restrictions. So that is becoming more common. But back in the day, for example, Bobby Bonds Park, we did search for a recorded document that would speak to the Land and Water Conservation Fund grant. But state parks and national parks is relying more on the grant agreement that we signed when we took the money, and that committed us to protecting this land.

Okay, that's interesting. That is interesting. So the Bobby Bonds Park, that's pretty sweet property. Even if it's In real estate, when you're doing appraisals, there is a methodology for adjusting, making adjustments in a, you know, when you're doing the appraisal so that you're kind of artificially comparing apples with apples. So when you were looking for a piece of property to replace this property at Bobby Bonds, is flat and usable, and it has all these amenities, and it has utilities run to it, it has a higher value than Levy.

So when you're looking to acquire this property, was there some sort of an appraisal process to see if we were in the ballpark of, you know, getting an even trade, not price wise, but value wise from what we're giving up to what we're trying to acquire or replace?

Yes. So our real property services department is overseeing the appraisal process. So we do have an appraisal available for this. And then we're also required by the State Parks and National Parks Service to have an individual independent review of that appraisal. So it gets double checked by another professional. So they're doing their due diligence for this property.

Okay. Is there in our is there it seems to me in our master plan, there's a requirement of having x number of acres per x number of thousands of citizens. Yes. And, you know, there's a there's a planning exercise this Saturday, which I hope, you know, I'd like to bring that up later to the rest of the commissioners because we should all be participating in the master plan update to so that we can lobby for parks. Are we do we have enough parkland?

If you do you know? Because you have a lot of familiarity with this. Do we have the the right ratio of parkland per our population now or are we lacking? I think that I recall the previous parks director saying to the budget engagement committee that, oh, we are woefully under way behind in parkland acquisition, but don't we have the money, so we need to do that in the future. Is that still the right characterization?

So in the city general plan, we've adopted three acres per thousand residents. That, I believe, will be carried through to the upcoming updated general plan. Ultimately, we'd like to get to five acres I should clarify of developed parkland, so three acres of developed parkland. Developed, yes. So that is kind of an important interesting light for our inventory.

We do pretty good with open space undeveloped because we are blessed with Sycamore Canyon and some other cool properties. But the developed park property were at about 2.82 acres of developed parkland per 1,000 residents per our 2020 comprehensive Parks Master Plan. So we're a little bit short. We're working on that. We have some great grants coming up that we're going to apply for and hopefully get some funding to build new developed parks.

In our previous discussions about Fairmont Park, there was some property that was talked about being possibly surplussed off. That would drive our numbers in the wrong direction again. Would that technically need to be if we go to surplus property in Fairmont Park, would we have to make it up someplace else? Could you just, you previously said here that all of Fairmont Park is part of that same, so we're gonna run into the same problem?

Yes.

If we surplus there, we gotta find more property and make it up elsewhere.

Yes. So we're kind of looking at the city holistically, if we're able to exchange some property from Fairmount, that we may be able to take some of the funding from there and develop some of our other properties that are not developed or possibly acquire more property elsewhere. It's kind of an interesting balancing game.

Right.

A little bit.

Big was that property they were talking about surplusing? About?

I don't know off the top of my head. I'm sorry.

That's right. That's alright. It wasn't on the agenda necessarily, so it wouldn't be expected to. Okay. So there was an appraisal on the property. The price that we're paying for is not out of line with the appraised value.

Exactly. Right.

You know, in your presentation, I like it, but if you can include those kinds of details in future presentations, then I wouldn't necessarily have to be asking questions like that. I like to I think that that's something that we need to pay attention to as a commission. Okay. Well, again, I appreciate adding more property to city parks. I was surprised that the fair when we look at the history of Fairmont Parks that my son in law's family, the small family back in the twenties, they owned property next to Lake Evans, and they offered to sell it to the city.

The city refused, and then the smalls tried to pull a permit to build a house there, and then all actually, was property right where the Rose Garden is. And then the small family tried to pull a permit to build a house, and then the city was like, no. No. No. No. We we want the property. And I was like, well, dang. You know? The small family might have had a house there. It could have been passed down, but it's anyway. It's a

beautiful area. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Alright. I appreciate your presentation. Thank you.

Yeah. Thank you very much, commissioner.

Do we have any other commissioners who wanna comment? No? Alright. Do we have a motion to approve? No. I'll second. Second. Alright. Okay. Go ahead.

Please vote. Alright. Motion carries. Okay. The next item on the agenda is the community engagement process for review of Cesar Chavez community center naming.

Testing. Ready.

Well, good evening, commissioners. As you know, my name is Jessica Ochoa. I'm the recreation superintendent, and I'm here to present the informational, excuse me, informational update on the naming of the Cesar Chavez Community Center this item is for informational purposes only and staff are not recommending a name change or presenting any renaming options at this time the Cesar Chavez Community Center is currently closed for renovations with reopening anticipating in the 2027 which is like tomorrow. The purpose of tonight's item is to inform the commission and seek input on the proposed community engagement process regarding the naming of Cesar Chavez the renaming of the Cesar Chavez Community Center. In March, the city announced it would observe Farm Workers Day this year and remove any proclamation recognizing Cesar Chavez Day.

At this time, the mayor also called for a thoughtful review, including community input on public facilities named after Cesar Chavez since then there has been community interest and inquiries regarding the Cesar Chavez community center no decisions have been made all options remain open the goal is to ensure any future consideration is community informed transparent and inclusive if supported staff will move forward with a community engagement process that may include community meetings surveys outreach of stakeholders and engagement with the historical and cultural groups. I would also like to share that the Mayor's Multicultural Forum will meet on June 3 from eight to 09:30 a. M. In the main Library Committee Room as part of a broader outreach efforts. Following tonight's discussion, staff will incorporate commission input, conduct outreach, and return to the commission with a summary of community feedback and potential next steps.

Thank you, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you. At this time, we invite the public to comments regarding the item. The public is invited to participate in person or by calling (951) 826-8688. To comment on this item, press 9 to be placed in the queue and 6 to speak. To participate by Zoom, select the raise hand function to speak. You will have three minutes. Do we have any callers? No callers. Do we have any comments from the I'm sorry, from our commissioners?

Yes. Commissioner Rasson. Thank you. I okay. I appreciate the problem. Could you repeat when that meeting is on June 3? Where is that at again?

It's at the Main Library Community Room.

Main Library Community Room.

Library, the one that is on University. Yes. City.

Right. Okay. And, Sandra, can you give us a memory tickler email as we get closer to that event, and if there's a agenda for it? Thank you. I know I'm very interested in attending any meetings on this.

I I hope that we are able to give it enough time to come to some thoughtful decision because I think it would be a mistake to rush to rename it, like, after a person or something right now. I think an appropriate amount of time pause and reflection would be a good idea.

Absolutely. And I believe our one of our city policies regarding naming rights doesn't allow for a facility that's sort of been renamed by an individual to be renamed by another individual.

Oh, excellent. I would. Yeah. I had that policy. I printed it off because I wanted to review it in detail, but that's a good thing to look for. That's a good idea. Okay. Thank you very much.

You're welcome.

Anyone else have comments?

Yeah. So just to clarify on that last point you made, does that mean that this facility, if it were to be renamed, it cannot be renamed after another person?

Correct. That is correct. The policy has stated so.

Okay. Thank you.

Any other comments? So it can be named after an organization, or is that

Is the organization named after someone?

That's a good question. That's a good point. I was curious.

I mean, I think that that will be part of the community input. Right? Like, I I know that there's a policy. We will talk about if it's an organization that stands for something, you know, maybe those are things that would be vetted out. But I am assuming that going down that same road would probably be a no in the bigger picture of what those policies and how they read.

Sure. I was just going to recommend consulting the Civil Rights Institute, which is on the docket anyway, I spoke with their president and she indicated that they haven't taken a position on this issue, but they might be willing to, you know, host a public forum or anything like that.

Absolutely. Thank you. We will ensure.

Before?

It was University Heights Middle School, junior junior high.

Oh, okay. We went back that far. Okay.

I mean, that's the name before. Right? It wasn't

Well, that's what the facility was.

Yeah. The city acquired it. That's when the city acquired it.

So they named it from the get go after the city acquired it. They named oh, okay.

That's a history lesson I gotta do some diving into, I guess. Okay.

I think in the in in the description, it indicated that it was they were acquiring it right as the holiday was being established or something, and so they went ahead and named it. It was kind of right in that time frame.

Okay.

Any other comments? All right. Do we have a motion to approve? Commissioner Porta? Second. Second by Dawson? All right. Let me go ahead and vote.

Please vote again.

Okay. All right. Okay. Motion carries. Looks like we are moving on to the fifth item, which is standing rules and regulations review. Do we have a staff presentation on this? This is the discussion? Okay. So did anybody review the the rules and regulation or rules review? Yeah. Please. Commissioner Dawson.

Thanks. There we go. Sorry. I turned the switch forward, and apparently, the reason people point it to the side is the weight of the mic makes the mic press the button and turn itself off. I hadn't realized that.

I kinda think what led to this being put on the agenda is I was thinking after our last meeting about how the our election was conducted, and I was frustrated with it because it it felt like some crazy TV game show as to who could press the button and nominate somebody first. And I the thing that bothered me was not with what the results of our election is, I'm fine with that, but the process. And I thought about it thought about it, and it's like, I think we can do better. And so I wrote you know, I did a bit of research, and I put together a letter that I intended to be sent to all of you, and I sent it back at the end of last month, but it didn't it didn't get put in our agenda. So we don't have the benefit of everybody having a print copy.

But, I was told, that, oh, we're gonna do a review of our of our standing rules. And because the standing rules has a section that addresses election of officers, that that would be an appropriate place to bring this up. I apologize for not having the print of what I want to propose in front of you because it's a little complex, and it would make more sense if you each had a print copy. I think where I want to go with this is I'd very quickly want to read it aloud, and then suggest that there is no rush to take action on this item, and that we continue it over to next month when everybody would have a print copy, and kind of already have an understanding why I was bringing it up, and then we could continue the discussion next month, and if we choose to make an update to our standing rules that we could do so then. Does that sound okay?

I can read this? Yeah?

Okay.

All right. Good. The subject Let me put this

on the record. Yes, Commissioner Dawson, I believe it would be within the Brown Act and appropriate for you to read this.

Okay. Thank you very much. Before

you do that, though, I have a question. If you're planning to circulate this and discuss it at a future meeting, I don't think we need to do both. So which would you prefer to do?

Okay. Well, yeah, it is a two page document. Let me just describe. I'll try to summarize it. Okay. What I was going to suggest is a ranked choice voting that would be we take, you know, we would take one vote, we would have a list of all the commissioners. Right? And we're given all that list, and that's our ballot. And what we do is we number as to who is our first preference. Okay?

Who is our second preference? Third, fourth, and so on. And then we pass those ballots on to the secretary, and and the chair and the secretary compile the ballots. If whoever gets the most ones, they're elected, and whoever gets the number two would be vice chair. Or a variation of that would be, we've selected the chair by that method, and then we repeat the process to select the vice chair.

It's a private vote. That way it removes any of the possible social pressure that people might, in the back of their mind, it might sway them voting one way or the other. So it's a private vote. I don't know. There's got good detail in here and talking about the benefits of ranked choice voting and comparison.

So transitioning to ranked choice voting would align with our internal processes with best practices for a small governing body seeking a fair, transparent, and representative outcome. So that's kind of where I was going with it. Okay. So there's there's other things in our standing rules that In section five d, I was thinking with section five d that when we go to discuss this, if we were going to go in the if we were gonna modify section five f to adopt ranked choice voting, that's where we'd put it, section five f. But in addition to doing section five F, I would modify section five D, where it says election of officers shall be conducted annually at the first meeting in March, to include that a pre election discussion shall be held the February before the March election.

And what I was thinking in suggesting that is that it's a chance for us to review what it, you know, as commission, a chance where we can articulate what it is we are looking for in our leadership going forward from that point, and also people can articulate if they're wanting to seek a leadership position, why should the rest of the commissioners consider them? So we have that discussion the month before the election, and then we have the election as stated here in March. I know it eats up a little bit more of meeting time, but it, you know, the way this last election and the previous election went down is it seemed chaotic to me. And certainly when the first election came around when I was on the dais, I was like still getting my sea legs, you know, trying to have an understanding of how this body functions. And I, you know, it seemed rushed, and it didn't seem like there was a lot of thoughtful consideration, and we took a vote and just kind of continued what had been in place.

And that may not be the best practice for a small body that only meets Well, currently we're on task for 10 times this year that we will meet. We don't meet that many times a year, so we need to be trying to be efficient and effective with the time we have, and with the mission that is laid out in the charter and in our, you know, like our duties and functions as stated here. So that's what motivates me in suggesting this, and I'm just trying to to figure out how to make things a little bit better, so we're, you know, as we're going down the road, we're accomplishing more in a thoughtful

way. Thank you. Commissioner Shaver?

Yeah. I appreciate your statement on wanting our meetings to be efficient. We don't have a lot of time. I worry that the process you're suggesting is going to take a lot of our time when our job is to be focused on matters that pertain to parks, recreation, community services. In my opinion, I think every person on this dais is capable of voting for or against a candidate that they feel can be the chair of our commission.

I think if a nominee were put forward that any one of us was not inclined to be the chair, I think we would have voted against them. I think everyone here has the I understand social pressure, but I also think everyone here was appointed to these positions because we were trusted by our council members to be able to make decisions that are in the best interest of our commission and our city. So I just worry that a process like this seems overly complicated and unnecessary for the limited amount of time we have on the matters that we're supposed to be focused on. Yeah, that's just my take on it. I don't see a need to make the change.

I think the way it works is fine. I trust everyone here that if there were a candidate put forward that we did not want to be chair or a candidate put forward that we did not want to be vice chair, I would have happily well, not happily. That's rude. Would have not voted in favor of someone that I didn't think was capable of doing the job. And I think that every person here, having been appointed to the Commission, any person on this dais is capable, and if we thought otherwise, I think we would have voted otherwise.

Yeah, and I would also point out that there are, is, through Robert's Rules, ways to nominate alternatives as So, you know, it was that is a possibility. You want to add a person, we can add that person to the list. But I tend to agree that it is a lot of effort for I love ranked choice voting for public office. It's great. But for a commission of this size, it seems like let's just get to the point and move things along.

Beyond I mean, we can continue. I'd like to make a few points as far as the rest of the document goes. I believe Director Gallera indicated that street tree remove or street tree is street trees are no longer a function of the department. So I believe that is in section one a, and so that that reference can be removed. The other thing oh, I believe in section three a about terms.

If when taking over another commissioner's term, I believe that rule has changed citywide for where it's as long as it's less than two years and one day, they that does not count towards a full term. So a commissioner can as long as you if you if if you're just taking the second half of their term, you still get two more terms on your own. So we can probably update that portion as well. Which line with that? This would be, term of office, section three a. Three a? Yes.

It's to revise it?

Yeah. To revise it. So it currently says service of less than one year of an ex unexpired term. So that changed that to less than two years and one day. This

was actually one of those things. Commissioner Dawson had mentioned right before the meeting that maybe we should make sure there are no other changes the city council made which could impact our rules. So I told them I drew a blank at the time, but now a bell just rang. I forget if it was the charter or the municipal code, but the city council did qualify what a remainder of a term was. And I don't remember offhand what that is, but I love consistency. You may want to consider what it is they did, and that makes everybody's life easier.

Yeah. That's what I'm basing it off of, is what they did. Good.

Yep. Alright. Great minds think alike, and so do we.

So, yeah, the let's see if there was anything else. I think that was the oh. I also I am not familiar with this city council's rules, but I know that they use separate rules from Robert's rules, and I know a lot of commissions have adopted them. I don't I I guess I haven't looked into it at this point, but it is an option for us to do in the future if we want to.

I will enthusiastically explain Rosenstein's Those rules of were meant for civil bodies. They are based on Roberts' rules of order, but they are much simpler. Roberts was a commissioned officer in the British Navy, I think. He had nothing better to do on the boat than to write quite the tome of parliamentary procedure. And if you are debating matters in the House of Lords, it is indispensable.

Short of that, it becomes a trap for the unwary, and it becomes something few people truly understand. Some boards have gone so far as to create the position of parliamentarian and to saddle one person with the responsibility of being fluent and competent in Robertson rules of order. Rosenstein's are much better. Much, much better. But that is just my suggestion.

Alright. Well, that's something I'd be willing to entertain. Anybody else would like to have any comments? Or

I'm all for us being consistent with city council and doing things consistently across the board, so I support any changes that help us be aligned with

that. Alright. Well, before we adopt that change, do we want to look into it ourselves before we adopt it? I mean, I've never looked at it.

I mean, know that the city council and I think actually a majority of commissions have adopted it at this point. When I spoke with Councilman Falcone, he he he was asking me why why was I looking reading Robert's rules? And I said, because we're we're at we work we operate under them. And he was surprised because he indicated that most had moved on to the new rules.

I'm open to making a change, but I'd like to review what the change is before we adopt it. Okay. I also think that there's the council has adopted some other resolutions that could impact boards and commissions, and they might should be reflected maybe in the standing rules, but I would like our city attorney to advise us on that. Might need time to do that.

He will need time. So I can inquire? I can inquire in my office, and I'm the clerk can inquire in their office. Between the two of us, we should be able to come up whatever changes that were made that we think would impact or help guide whatever changes you make to your standing rules.

Okay. Alright. So I motion that we continue this matter to next month's meeting and pick it up with a an update from the city attorney's office. And then if the Sandra could if Sandra has access to the other operating system that she could circulate amongst our commission members so that we can review that in preparation for next month.

Alright. And that would include would that include the two items I'd mentioned? Or do we want or we vote on those now? That being the street trees and the terms.

We can take your feedback, and we'll summarize it and then provide that to the board next.

Perfect. And do we need, I can't remember. Do we need a, a motion to continue?

I I made a motion to continue.

You did make a motion to continue. Thank you. I'll second. You'll second. Okay. We

need more coffee.

I know. It was a long day today. Yeah.

So you're continuing this subject next?

This item, yes, next meeting.

Alright. Yes, ma'am.

Alright. Alright.

Okay. She's so good.

Alright. Motion carries. Alright. So we're moving on to communications. Any updates of conferences, seminars, and regional meetings attended by commissioners? Yes. Commissioner Forbes?

Yes. I had the pleasure of attending the mayor's recognition for commissioning that event last Monday. Enjoyed it thoroughly. And more so, I had the opportunity to attend the Borcella event at Boardwalk Park. And if you missed it, you missed it. It was spectacular. So I wanna give big applause to the staff for that event. It was it was really nice. I was very impressed.

I'm sorry I missed it.

It was

nice. Was there food there?

Mhmm. Trucks.

Food trucks. Oh. I am sad I missed it. Yeah. I'm always up for that.

It was really nice. It was really nice.

Was there music?

Yes. Food

and music. Was there dancing?

Yes. Yes. All the above. Highly recommend that each commissioner put it on the calendar for next year.

Yeah. Okay. Will do.

Anyone else?

Please. I went to the Hunt Park Easter Extravaganza, and that was super fun. Lot of community involvement. Their egg hunt was pretty cool. My kids joined. Got some eggs. It's pretty wild out there with all those kiddos. A lot of vendors were there. Fun games, fun activities. Had a great time.

That's great. Anyone else? Alright. Yeah. I I also attended the the appreciation event. That was wonderful. Thank you. And this weekend, I attended the concert in Saturday in Fairmont Park. That that was really fun as well. So appreciate that.

Alright. Next item is items for future park and recreation commission consideration as requested by members of the commission. Only items that fall within the powers of duties of the Parks and Recreation Commission as set forth by the city charter and or the Riverside Municipal Code will be agendized for future discussion. Yes. Somebody

reached out to me in regards to Shammel Park during the summer. The senior swim lessons get moved because of the summer camps, I'm assuming. And then they also brought up the fact that I believe the city has more heated pools now, and they wanted to see how those chain how would it be possible for some of the seniors to get some of that programming back?

Okay.

We can add that to a future meeting. Any other items? Yes. Commissioner Dawson?

Yes. I attended an event on Sunday where the city manager was there, and during the discussion with him, again, he brought up the subject of the book of works as being really important in the different city departments identifying, you know, what the the tasks are they're supposed to be working on throughout the year. And it seems like I hadn't heard of the city's book of works until our February meeting. And I brought it up, and I think that even then, I'd asked for a presentation, an overview, a book of works, especially with the focus on, you know, city parks and and, you know, what is it our our department is supposed to be working on, and so we can we can be read in on that and be tracking it too. In fact, after the review, if it seems like that would be useful, I would like to see it made a permanent agenda item so that we're constant each month that we're being updated as to are we making progress on the projects in the book of works that, you know, our department is tasked with?

Yeah. I mean, I would love to see a presentation on it as well. I don't know that it would be a that I would like to do it monthly, but but maybe semiannually.

Well, a way of tracking Yeah. You know, and just because I I can see yeah. I think that over in the time I've been here, there's we talk about the different items, and it just it's too easy for them to be forgotten about. We lose track of is it being worked on? You know, the Parks Department is a big department. I realize that, and and there's a lot of moving parts. But we as a commission, how are we what is the tool for us to, you know, be looking to see that what items are, you know, on the desktop, and how are those items being accomplished, you know? I mean, I

think what makes sense to me is to have a presentation so we can see on how, number one, what does the tracking look like, and then from there, maybe a, you know, it could even be in in the nondiscussion items to have that that documentation presented. And then if we wanna pull it for discussion, we can. But that way, we don't need to have a full

presentation. I agree. I said if it seemed appropriate. Yeah. You know, so first, we need an overview of what is the book of works and what does that look like and, you know, is that a possible tool that we can use to make sure that we're, you know, we're accomplishing what we need to do.

Sounds good.

Okay. Great. There was an incident in in my neighborhood at a city park where there was a trespasser into the park, and he was camping. Homeless guy with a pickup truck, and he started harassing the and neighbor that lives adjacent to the park is pouring nails onto the driveway and then hid in the bushes. And when the neighbor came out or came home and was removing these nails and other family members were arriving, this guy jumped out of a bush and there was a confrontation.

He ran back to his truck, drove back further into Islander Park, the undeveloped Islander Park, and then he drove out, pulled up to the neighbors, and he had a handgun with a laser sight. And he was pointing it at the different family members, And then he drove off. Now they called the police. The police responded in force with the helicopter, and after an amount of time, the police were saying, oh, he's probably gone. You don't need to worry about it.

They were just getting ready to hand the the dad. Now the dad said, you know, it really is upsetting to see laser dot on the chest of his daughter. It was pretty serious. As they're handing the paperwork to the dad, this guy drove by again in his pickup truck, and they were able to say, that's him. And the police chased him through the neighborhood and pulled him over and recovered the the firearm, the site, and impounded the truck and like that.

The family has been complaining for months, you know, and the previous owners of the house had complained that there's been a continual problem with people trespassing into that undeveloped Islander Park from that street. It's it's a short piece of street that's called Linden, and it intersects with Mount Vernon. And there is a park gate there that is broken and but even though it's broken, it has there's an adjacent private piece of property.

There I'm I'm sorry. Is there a is there an item that you're look I mean, because you're just kind of I know. Presenting the whole what's item you're looking for? Well To be added to the agenda?

The it is being worked on, I believe, in that the park needs to be secured, re secured so it's not trespassing or the ability to trespass. So I've met with I've met with city council woman and her staff, and with Anthony Zamora and some city works people.

So there is a plan to Again, is there an agenda item you're looking for for our next meeting? Because that's what we're talking about right now.

There will be to as a follow-up when this is accomplished.

Okay.

Okay. Thank you.

Any other items that you'd like to add to the agenda, the next agenda,

or future jobs? I'm good now. Thank you. All right. Thank you.

All right. Commissioners and city staff announcements.

I have a few announcements. We do have our Aqua programming. Our registration for swim lessons begins on Friday, May 1 at 9AM for the first session, which will be June 1 through the eleventh. So anybody interested signing up for aquatics, we start this Friday. Scholarships are available, first come first serve, so please advertise that.

We also have the Cinco de Mayo Fiesta at Viegas Park on May 9 starting at noon. The Riverside Community Services Foundation Gala is on Thursday, May 14. So if you haven't purchased your ticket yet, we still have some tickets available. Reach out if if you need that QR code to sign up. We also have the Orlando Boxing Show on May 23.

We also have our Eldertainment Blossom Brunch at La Sierra Senior Center on May 28 at 10AM. And we all just to kick off the summer and get ready, we have our big part time in service training at La Sierra Park at five p. M. And on May 29, have the Aqua in service at Sippy Woodhead Pool.

So all

our part timers are coming together. Have about 80 to 100 staff members who are training and getting ready to go for summer.

I'm not a quick notetaker. Where can I find all of these items?

We have activity guide. So, Riverside Explorer. If not, I can have Sandra email all the dates that I just

That would be great, actually. Please. Thank you. Because, yeah, we want to attend I as many as we No, no, that was great.

That was great. I think the activity guide hit the mailbox, what, a week and a half ago?

And a half ago.

Yes.

Yeah. Okay. Great.

Big, thick

Yes.

Yes. Yeah. I didn't I didn't see it yet. I don't know. Oh. Oh, it may it may have my wife may

have thrown it away accidentally. No. That's so good. Alright.

I have one item to share. Yeah. Anthony Zimura, deputy director here. So we are pleased to share that last week, the California Coastal Conservancy awarded up to $6,000,000 to the Parks and Rec and Community Services Department of the City of Riverside for implementing improvements at Martha McLean Anza Narrows Park. Pamela, our Director and Alisa, who presented earlier today, had the pleasure of attending the meeting in person, and were able to personally thank the Board for their thoughtful consideration and support.

So looking ahead, we are planning to apply for additional funding to meet the full project cost of $12,000,000 So our goal is to secure this funding, at which point we hope to move forward and bid the project as a design build for Martha McLean and Zanero Parks.

That's exciting. Excellent. Any other announcements? Before

you adjourn the meeting, I need to correct myself. It was not Rosenstein's rules of order. I have massacred that poor man's name every single time. It is Rosenberg's. Rosenberg. Rosenberg's rules of order. So, madam clerk, if you would please correct my embarrassing error. Thank you.

Alright. Well, the next regular park and recreation commission meeting is scheduled for Monday, 05/18/2026 at 06:30PM. Meeting is adjourned at what time is it? 07:33.