Parks, Arts, & Community Services Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening, and welcome to the May 8 meeting of the Parks and Community Services Commission. I call meeting to order at 06:01. Let's begin with the Pledge of Allegiance, and Commissioner Ledger is going to lead us today. Okay. Ms. Futua, the roll call.

Since we will have commissioner Wright virtually, we will be notating roll call verbally. Commissioner Houston? Present. Okay. Commissioner Garcia Arcos? Commissioner Ledger? Present. Commissioner Kamala? Here. Vice chair Wright?

Hello. I'm here. I am attending remotely from 132 Kamiyamacho, Shibuyaku, Tokyo Prefecture, Japan. And there's one small child here in attendance with me.

Thank you. Spoken like a native.

Chair Brown?

Present.

We have quorum. I'm sorry. Commissioner Doran Parker is excused as well.

Thank you. Okay. We'll begin tonight with public comments. Is there anyone in the chamber who would like to make public comment? No one is stepping up. Is there anyone on Zoom who would like to make public comment?

Sorry. One moment. There are currently no members on Zoom.

Okay. This closes public comment. We will move to commissioner comments and suggestions, and I will begin on my right. Commissioner Houston.

Thank you for that. I had a fun park filled month that I wanted to just cover a couple things. The first was songs in the canyon. That's a concert we had in Canyon Park there. I really wanted to give a shout out to everybody that was involved with setting that up. It was really really a great event. The vendors and the music and the crowd that showed up. And my boys and I had a great time. So thank you to everybody for that. Also wanted to touch on Earth Day.

The commission had a booth there. Earth Day had a good turnout despite the rain. It was coming down pretty hard, but I was happy to see lots of people out there. And so I wanted to just make a quick comment that I was happy the commission had a booth there. I think that I'd like to say that next year I'd like to see us have a booth again, and I'm actually looking forward to maybe getting involved before that because I think there's some things we could do to spice our booth up a little bit and make it more fun for everybody coming by.

But also to to let people know that about the commission and really that we're a resource that they can look into and things like that. I think it's a good way to engage with people and kind of get our name out there as well. And then the last thing that I got to do was the ride along with the park ranger. And it was actually a lot more fun than I even thought it was going to be, and I really learned a lot actually going through that. The biggest takeaway to me was that the park rangers, they really are the front line when it comes to safety at our parks.

And so the ride along that I did was in the morning. And so there wasn't a ton of stuff going on at the parks, if you will. But we did see some action while I was out there, and the ranger actually assisted with an arrest of, I'll say, bad guy that was at the park there. So that was very interesting to see. Another thing that I wanted to talk about was that Lower Talbert Park, which is the area below Canyon Park.

It was really interesting for me to find out that on the border of Lower Talbert and then also on the Randall Preserve, there's about 30 to maybe 40 people that live out there in these homeless encampments. And so it was really interesting to see and kind of the dynamic with the park rangers because they really are out there working every day to make sure that there's no bad stuff going on, and they really do kind of help to clean up and keep the park safe down there. And so it was kind of eye opening actually to be able to walk around and see all that. The park rangers know who those individuals are, and they see the park rangers and know who they are. And so there's kind of this mutual respect, but I really didn't know about all that that went on, so that was very interesting.

But again, the key takeaway from seeing all that was that these rangers really are working out there to make the park safe. And so I was very happy to see all that. Another thing on the ride along, we went by Harper Park. And so I know that's been talked about before. But this is actually an issue that I'm interested in and I'm planning on meeting with city council member to kind of share my thoughts more fully.

But the quick background for everybody is that there's kind of a long history with Harper Park, with there being a fence and then the fence being taken down. Harper Park is like part of a, or connected to a school there, so there's this grass area between the park and the school. But suffice it to say that as it stands right now, there's a park ranger that parks on the school field Monday through Friday, eight hours a day. On the actual school field, not even in the park there, really to just manage and make sure there's no dogs off leash. And so it was really interesting for me to get the park rangers perspective on that.

The other thing is that the park rangers currently, there's only three vehicles for seven park rangers, and so they're a little bit maybe underutilized without the fact that they only have these three cars. Plus Monday through Friday there is a truck that's parked over there at Harper, so there's really only two vehicles that we have for these rangers to be taking care of all of our parks. And so anyways, feel strongly that something can be done with that, particularly I think A, we need more trucks, and B, this Harper Park, I know it's a complex issue, but something that I think there may be some area for growth there, I'll say. And yeah, so I'm excited about kind of looking into that because I actually think there's a lot of opportunity there. Just by getting a few more trucks and possibly even freeing that Ranger up.

I mean, we could literally triple the resources that we have with these park rangers for our parks and these are good guys and they're keeping our parks safe. That's all for me. Thanks.

Thank you. I just want to acknowledge that Commissioner Garcia Arcos joined the meeting at probably around 06:03, 06:05. 06:05. Commissioner, are you ready to do your comments, or would you like me to come back? Yeah, absolutely. Okay, let's go down to the end. Commissioner Kamala.

Hey everyone. First off, just huge shout out to the city staff. Took my boys to Spring Fest and it was definitely a Spring Fest. So they loved all the pirate stuff, they loved the games, and they even kept on looking at the little empty field when once all the eggs were picked clean, hoping that, I don't know, some would sprout up. So just nice job there, super stoked. So it was a huge event. And I got lucky and found some parking by the plane, so I looked out. So but just great job with that. Also, Earth Day, great job putting that together. Kind of like Commissioner or Houston said, the rain was there was a lot of rain, but it was still a great event.

Family loved it. I think I had a great experience to be able to plant the tree right in front here with Congressman Minnen, Senator Choi, Mayor Stevens, City Council. Had I known the event was gonna be, I was gonna get a little golden shovel. I might not have worn my hoodie straight from the gym. But just thank you for putting that together and it was a great event and super fun. So thank you.

Thank you. Commissioner Ledger.

Thank you. So I attended the Earth Day event as well, and I agree, as I think Commissioner Brown would, as we discussed it, that it really needed more. We needed signage, business cards, handouts, something. But we did Commissioner Brown and I, we did reach out to people there and ask them what they wanted to see in their parks. AnyFocus has got a lot of great feedback.

I think she'll speak better on that. She did more speaking with them than I did, so I'll leave that to her. But also, I think it would be a good idea to have a booth like that at the concerts in the park, that we could take turns like we did for Earth Day, since it is at a park. So it would be nice to be able to reach out to the public and talk to them and get to know them and them to get to know us. Then I checked in as a senior liaison.

I checked in with the senior center. They have a brain health seminar coming up that is free, and you get a light lunch before it. And you have to just register online or in person at the senior center. I forgot the date of that, and I am sorry, but it's on their website, I believe. Then they also have a new art exhibit, and they're going to have a reception for it on May 1616 at 4PM.

They did say they were having some issues with loitering, but they've been working with security and the Costa Mesa Police Department on this. Then, let's see, Oh, so I've still been trying to hit all of the parks. I finally found Victoria Pond. That was fun. Went to I keep trying to check out Palorino.

It's one of the parks I represent. But every time I go there, there is dogs off leashes, and it's always the same two people. And I'm going there different days, different times. And I have to leave because my dog doesn't do well with dogs off leashes, and she's on a leash. So I really would like to see more police presence. I don't know. Just something needs to be done with the dogs at Paulorino. Oh, I did stop by Lions Park. That was one of the parks. And I absolutely loved the new playground.

Unfortunately, I was there with my husband, and he wouldn't let me play on any of the equipment, and my kids weren't there to let me. So if anybody hasn't seen it yet, highly recommend that. And then as for the police ride along that was mentioned, I think the male commissioners got better ride alongs than the women commissioners did. Maybe next time we could ask for more. That's all I think.

I want to ask follow-up questions, but I'm not going to do that at the moment. I have not yet done my ride along, so I will report back. Vice Chair Wright, would you be willing to go next just to give Commissioner Garcia Arcos another minute or two to settle in?

Yes. Happy to. Thanks. I will just keep it brief today. I also had my ride along this month, did my fair share of East Side park tours and lions park visits, as well as the aquatic center I've been frequenting recently.

However, I have been in Japan now for almost two weeks and having a great work trip here. But I think for my comments, was just gonna keep it personal today just to say that I'm sorry to hear about the city manager, leaving our team. I really respected her and looked up to her as a leader, in our city. And I don't know how the sentiment is among staff, but I am hopeful for the future that we can find someone to fill the big shoes she'll be leaving. Thank you. Looking forward to the meeting today.

Thank you for joining us from Japan. Commissioner Garcia Arcos, your turn.

Hello, everybody. Thank you for attending today. I had a lovely tree planting for Earth Day. Unfortunately I wasn't here in Costa Mesa, I was doing it in Tucson, Arizona. And so we had an annual conference with the Western Chapter International Society of Rapporteur Culture celebrating ninety first anniversary.

And it really neat to see how some cities are struggling with drought that don't really have the resources that we have. So the choice for those trees were pretty interesting. And so I'm really excited to share what I learned from that city and how we can implement some similar strategies in planting trees in areas where residents are not currently watering. I know that they also struggle with some funding for young tree care, so that's something that I had asked about. The mayor there also was part of the planting, and so it was really interesting to see how they're tackling different obstacles similar to ours.

And yeah, I just really excited for May 17. It's Love Costa Mesa Day. I've been a part of it for four years now. And if you're all looking for a volunteer opportunity, we're gonna be planting trees with the city and for residents as well, also lavender and rosemary. So the the reason for this is to allow residents to have usage of space that's not being utilized.

And so in in our street, especially Shalomar and in different areas, they struggle financially. And so we planted about 65 fruit trees last year. And so with that, we hope that we can harvest and maybe have some kind of sell with that. I mean, we haven't really gone into the technicals, but just having that resource shade, the ability to have fruits, organic fruits, and now having lavender and rosemary, we can extract oils and potentially do something with that. So if anybody, if this information helps anybody with any ideas to utilize space that is just abandoned in any areas. Just a little bit of water, care, and love can go a long way. So yeah, that's all I got to share. Thank you.

Thank you.

I have brief comments tonight too. The first is just to second what everyone is saying about Earth Day. It was a lot of fun to actually go to the booth. So thank you, city staff, for setting up a booth. I think one of the things about engaging with the public is that the best way to do it is not from behind the table. So as long as you're getting out in front of the table or at least alongside of it, it was a lot of pulling people in. Because unfortunately, we weren't on the stamp card. And the stamp card is the way that you get to engage with people. So next time, we'd love to be on the stamp card. But we learned a lot.

So Commissioner Ledger and I, we talked to just a handful of people, but actually it was the quality over the quantity. And what I will say in short, and I have longer notes that I can send to city staff. But I mean, we were talking primarily with moms with kids. The need for bathrooms and water fountains. And I actually think this relates to our key criteria for park capital improvements.

But that was what we heard a lot of. We heard, we got some great suggestions in terms of parks in the general area, Southern California area, that we should be aware of just as we're thinking about what's next for us. So I can share some of that. There was also an interest in making parks more accessible, and primarily for different age ranges. So it was interesting because that kind of younger teen area came up, and also for people with different abilities.

So those were some of the highlights that at least we heard. There's more I can share. But I agree, Commissioner Houston. I think that there's a lot we can do next time just to make the booth really lively and inviting in terms of graphics, ways to engage with people, having a table that invites you. So I think that's something that we could even perhaps work on for Concerts in the Park, because I really love that idea.

And I know that there was some talk of maybe doing bubbles. But even having like, could we have a bubble machine at the table? So instead of giving out individual bubbles where it's like individual plastic that people throw out, does the parks commission or does parks department have a bubble machine that we could set up, bring kids over, and like hopefully their parents too. So just trying to think creatively about how do we get people and we don't have to get the same people every time. I would support going to Concerts in the Park.

I have been contacted from individuals, and I know this from my time on the Fairview Park Committee. There is concern about continuing concerts in the park in Fairview, and I feel conflicted. I think that one of the ways to get people to invest in a particular park is for them to actually go to understand it and why they might want to protect it and then to understand it in all its complexities. And the minute you take something out of it, there's less of a reason to go. And yet I also really appreciate this is a very sensitive habitat.

And so I was just curious to know if there is any conversation about moving these concerts to other venues. And I feel conflicted. I think about it from both perspectives. But I'm just kind of curious if there's conversation around that. I'm just going to note publicly, I'm concerned to hear Commissioner Ledger's comments about the Park Ranger ride along.

So that might be something for city staff to follow-up on, just to learn a little bit more about that and see if there's something that can be done to address that, or if it was particular to the day or what. So I'm concerned. And I just want to support you in terms of us learning more. And then I want to echo Vice Chair Wright's acknowledgment of the events of this week and the city of Costa Mesa losing our city manager, who I personally had a lot of really strong interactions with and felt like really understood the importance of public engagement. So I'll just acknowledge that.

And there's much I don't understand or know about what happened, but just thinking about that and how important it is to have good leaders leading us. I think that's it. Okay. At this point, we will move to the consent calendar. And I am going to pull the director's report, and at this point invite Director Gruner to provide his report. And then we can vote on the consent calendar.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and good evening commissioners and good evening community members. I'm going to go ahead and pull up my presentation here. So this is going to be actually a three part. It's going to actually combine my update report in regards to the department as a whole. And then we're going to go into some presentations that we have.

And then that will be concluding my presentation. So we'll go ahead and get started. Okay. So one of the topics I want to bring up is the external department participation that our department does. And we did have a booth over at the Imagineology event over at the OC Fairgrounds, which highlights science, technology, engineering, arts, and math.

It's really a place where science and technology, engineering, art and math come together in an interactive way. And it's one of those programs that we try to support. And it's not really our event, obviously, but we do like to participate and support an event like that. In addition to that, we participated in the grant fund opportunities that was presented over in Lakewood Park than that was today. And that's in conjunction with CPRS as well as GameTime, which is a playground manufacturing company.

And there's some grant funding opportunities that we're exploring. And I know that's been brought up at the council meeting as well. And we actually saw the Brentwood Park representatives there getting some information, which is great to see that they're engaged and being out there as well. A couple of CIP project updates. Over at Team Inkle Sports Complex, the batting cage construction and installation has started.

It's anticipated to be completed by June, in 2025. So that's very exciting for the little league over there. It's something they've always wanted for a very long time, and we're just very pleased to finally be able to get that project started and have that completed. And then the follow-up to the Ballari Community Center, the asphalt resurfacing project has concluded. So we have new asphalt over there.

The next steps is going to be an installment of basketball hoops. So those are going be brand new basketball hoops in addition to some activity striping for basketball, pickleball, and some blacktop activity games as well. So which is great. And this is all just in time for the summer youth programming, and we're excited for those projects to be in the works. A couple highlights in regards to Access Costa Mesa.

So this is our special needs type of programming. And we had the Wild West dance on April 11. We had 60 participants, which is very great to see. We're getting some traction there, and our dances seem to be growing and growing with each one. We also have the All Abilities Resource Fair on May 3, and that was held over at the senior center. And again, also a very nice turnout. We had several vendors out there, and the the community certainly appreciated that as well. I apologize. There is a little lag. Okay.

As it was mentioned earlier, there is a new art exhibition over at the senior center. And there is gonna be an opening reception on Friday, May 16, from 4PM to 6PM on the 2nd Floor. So it's an open event. It's open to the public. So we encourage anybody who's interested in art to come on out and take a look at it and be part of that event.

I did have a chance to be over there today, and I have to say that the art is definitely fascinating. And I think a lot of people will definitely enjoy it. Okay. Just a quick Fairview Park update. Fairview Fridays is a long term volunteer program opportunity from 9AM to 12PM.

Registration is required. There's information on the Fairview Park website. So we encourage those who like nature, who just want to be outdoors and help and participate, to go ahead and register and partake in that event. I do have another Fairview Park master plan update. Initially, my last PACS meeting, I did mention that we were planning on going to council on May 20.

However, that has changed now, and we're looking at June 3. We're just finalizing some of the technical findings, and we will present the recommendations from the Fairview Park Steering Committee in addition to having a discussion about the Harbor Soaring Society and the fly field. Nesting is also still in effect. Nesting season is from February until September. So that is a particular sensitive time frame where birds are obviously nesting.

And so we're very, very mindful of that. And again, as I've always mentioned, the senior social services is such a critical component, especially as we're aging, to have support as we're dealing with mental health and other social issues. Again, it's for ages 50 years and older. If you need more information, you can certainly come down to the Senior Center. You can also go on our website or you can call (714) 327-7550.

And then just to highlight some of the upcoming meetings and events, it's next Tuesday on May thirteenth. It's going to be a midyear budget update. It's actually the budget update. It's not a midyear. So I apologize for that error. But it is going to be on May 13, and that's next Tuesday. And it's going be right here in the council chambers at 5PM. So we certainly encourage, obviously, the commission and also the public to come out and participate in that. So, yeah, again, May 13 at 5PM in the Council Chambers. Then we do have a community bike skills workshop coming up this Saturday.

It's going be hosted by the Costa Mesa Bicycle Safety Education Program. And there is a flyer. It's from ten to 2PM over here at City Hall. Again, it just focuses bike skills and a workshop. There are some freebies, helmets, and also some bike repair opportunities as well. And we certainly know how active our bicycle program here, and people like to bicycle here in Costa Mesa. It's just a great educational resource to be just mindful and aware of bicycling around the city. And then also on Saturday, May 17, we do have Love Costa Mesa Day. Previously mentioned. It's from 07:30AM to 1PM.

The kickoff event is actually here at City Hall. And then they have different work assignments for different projects, whether it's tree planting or whether it's trash pickup or painting, for example. So if you're interested, come on out. It's a great event. We get a great turnout. And it's just a great program for our community and making it look better. Okay. As I mentioned earlier, we do have a couple of presentations. And first up, I'm going to introduce our senior recreation supervisor, Ashley Thomas. And we had an award recipient for the California Parks and Recreation Society for our garden center volunteer.

His name is David Smith. And I will hand it over to Ashley.

Good evening, Chair Brown and honorable commissioners. My name is Ashley Thomas, senior recreation supervisor, and I have the pleasure of overseeing the Costa Mesa Community Gardens. The city proudly operates two beautiful garden sites. The Del Mar Community Garden established in 2003 and Hamilton Community Gardens established 14. These gardens offer residents the opportunity to grow fresh produce, connect with neighbors, and cultivate a sense of community.

This evening, I'm honored to recognize an extraordinary volunteer, David Smith, as the recipient of the California Parks and Recreation Society, or CPRS, District 10 Volunteer Merit Award. This prestigious award recognizes individuals who go above and beyond in serving in their communities, and David truly exemplifies this dedication. He generously devotes countless hours not only to maintaining his personal garden and the shared spaces at Hamilton Garden, but also volunteers extensively at Del Mar Community Garden, always offering his support wherever is needed. David's contributions go far beyond planting, watering, and weeding. He shares innovative ideas, resources, and encourages or encouragement with gardeners of all levels, creating an environment that is welcoming, educational, and inspiring.

Thanks to his unwavering dedication, our gardens have bloomed into a vibrant space where community thrives. If you ever wanna find David, you just need to stop by one of our community gardens, and you'll likely find him there, hard at work with a smile on his face, making a difference. Unfortunately, David was unavailable to come tonight. I wish he was available tonight, but that was not possible. So, with that being said, if you look on the screen, you can see some pictures of David.

He's so beloved in our community garden. You have some pictures on the left of the screen that was at the actual word ceremony where received his plaque, and then him inside the gardens. And you can see that smile loud and proud. So, I'd like to congratulate David once again. Thank you for your passion, your generosity, and your community spirit because it continues to inspire us all. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Ashai. So next up, I'm going to go ahead and have our senior recreation supervisor Kevin Stoddart come up and he is going to present on our aquatics program. May is aquatic water safety month and so we just want to make the community aware. We do have a couple of programs coming up that we want to share with you and the community of course. Kevin?

Alright greetings commissioner as Brian said I'm senior recreation supervisor Kevin Stoddart in light of maybe water safety month I'd like to tell you a little bit about what's going on at the downtown aquatic center for spring and summer. The downtown aquatic center hosted the first ever spring break water safety camp in partnership with hoke. Campers learned about the importance of water safety, received swimming lessons, and they just had a good time. Campers were treated to a visit from Newport Beach lifeguards and were also taken on a tour of the nearby Fire Station 3. The city is also working in collaboration with the Newport Mesa Unified School District to provide free swimming lessons to 48 College Park elementary school students.

Lessons take place from April 16 and they will run all the way through May 21 Monday through Wednesdays the ben carlson foundation was kind enough to provide free suits towels and goggles each participant with that I will hand over the rest of the presentation to recreation Coordinator Jose Guzman.

Good evening, everyone. Thank you for your time. Summer's coming up fast. The season begins on June 9. Registration for aquatic classes begin this Tuesday, and open registration starts on May 13.

The downtown aquatic center offers youth and adult swimming lessons, private lessons by appointment, open swim, adult lab swimming, a summer aqua camp, an intro to water portal class, and two special events. To make all this happen, lifeguards undergo nearly eighty hours of additional training beyond what the general recreation leader does throughout the year. The downtown aquatic center staff will be available at 2PM to share some of that training with the general public, which brings me to my next slide. Safe splash bash. Residents are encouraged to bring a swimsuit and a towel to attend this event.

Participants will have a chance to learn about water safety, beach safety, life jackets, and hands only CPR, and how to perform basic reach assist. Participants will learn from Newport Beach Lifeguards, Costa Mesa Fire and Rescue, staff from the Melinda Hoag Smith Center for living for a healthy living, and the downtown aquatic Center staff. And that concludes our presentation. Thank you so much.

Thank you. And that concludes my Director's Department update.

Thank the three of you for giving those presentations. Are there commissioner questions or comments before I open this up to public comment? Commissioner Garcia Arcos?

Thank you for that report. It's very interesting how there's just so much going on in the city. It's amazing. I did I did wanna, as as I heard about, the community gardens, I noticed that, we've had an issue filling in the spaces for the waiting list. And I've been to the one in Hamilton well, I've been to both of them.

And I noticed that the Hamilton one has a large area of grass and some shrubbery behind the fence or in front of the fence, however you wanna see it. And I was just wondering, what what does it look like for us to expand that? And I can kind of see 80% of that space being more available. I think it's it's it's a large space if you extend it all the way to like the maybe five feet from the from the sidewalk. Just just an idea. What are your thoughts on that instead of purchasing a new property?

I think this might be a great question. Turn over to our maintenance manager in front of me, because we would absolutely love that space. Mhmm. Absolutely. So I'll let him respond to your question. Thank you.

That's an item that probably have to be submitted through the normal project request list. Something we definitely add in and put on our radar for future to bring before you and allow you to select that as a priority. But it would have to go through that same process. Any type of project would need to be added to our capital improvements list.

Really good question. Let's make sure that we remember that for the fall. Commissioner Ledger.

Yeah, it's funny. Along the lines of Commissioner Garcia Arcos am I saying that right? I'm so sorry. I was going to actually say what he said before on planting the rosemary and lavender. Like, you see a spot that you could plant something, plant it. And I was going to suggest, why aren't we looking for any empty small lots for community gardens? I had a neighbor, she moved unfortunately, that had a community garden, and I loved all of the vegetables she gave me. They missed that, so love community gardens. So I would love to see us expand those. On to the bike safety coming up.

I really think we still need to figure out a way to get more information out there. I work at a school, and today someone asked me about how kids, because we have a bike to school day coming up, so how can kids who don't have helmets because we're a Title I school how can they get them? And I mentioned this event coming up. But I just feel that a lot of people aren't going to be watching our meetings. They're not going to pay attention to sometimes school emails, even.

So, is there another way we could get more information out, especially for the lower income families who are too busy to pay attention like other people do? Then I also wanted to point out that on May 17, you could join the Love Costa Mesa Day and then hop on over to the Safe Splash or whatever. Same location, one right after the other, and that's all.

Commissioner Houston.

Thanks. I just had a quick question. I don't wanna sidetrack us too much, but can I get a little bit more information about the project request list, how that ties in with the CIP list, and I guess really like the process, who makes a request on that project list, and if you could just talk a little bit about that?

Is that okay to address?

I think it's perfect.

Okay, perfect. Yeah, great. So there's different ways that we receive project suggestions. A lot of those come from our own internal departments. Recreation, PD, fire. They submit those requests at the time of the budget. We also take notes through every council meeting, every commission meeting, every committee meeting when we hear suggestions like this. So the one that we received this evening, I will definitely be making a note of that. I have an ongoing list of projects that I bring forward every year myself on behalf of the maintenance department. And then obviously we're working towards kind of reimagining that process and getting the commissions involved in it earlier on.

So I imagine we'll see a little bit more of that and have opportunities to speak to that as we look at this next budget cycle. I think we've discussed the budget for twenty five-twenty six is a little bit on the lighter side and those projects are pretty slim, but as we look to twenty six-twenty seven, I think we'll have some more opportunities to discuss that. But again, multiple ways and from the commission and you don't have to wait for meetings. You see something in your park walks, if you see something, you hear something from residents, we had a number of residents from Moon Park that reached out in different ways, different commissioners directly to staff. We made notes of that include that in our CIP asks.

So there's a lot of opportunities, a lot of different ways, and I think we'll be improving those ways as we move forward.

Thank you for that. Did you want to follow-up? I'm sorry.

I was just saying thanks. Good.

I think this is a really good point because it actually connects to the values document. Because for me, community gardens touches on equity and access. It touches on sustainability. It touches on community centered planning. It meets all of those priority needs. So what I had understood from various conversations is that come the fall, there would be an initial conversation with PACS, And that in the fall, that would be a good time, though it's been registered now too. That would be a good time for people to bring those needs, that those are things that we're going to want to see on the CIP recommendation list. And we're going to have a values document to back up those requests. That's how I'm imagining it. Is that correct, Director Erno?

Yeah, that is correct.

Yeah. So I mean, the process that we're working on right now is to establishing a framework. It's going to tie in directly with the CIP projects as we're being evaluated for the next budget year or fiscal year. So the timing is appropriate. I would recommend keeping a list of certain projects. But obviously, we'll maintain our records here as well.

Vice Chair Wright, do you have comments?

Hello. Yes, I do. Great. As I said in our last meeting, I support our community gardens, expanding them. I'm really glad we highlighted, one of the amazing super volunteers.

Something that stood out to me when we, heard the presentation from them last year was that there's a really big community that is formed around the gardens. So not only is it revenue generating, has, like, a two year wait list, but it's a place of community in our city. So I believe I did see director Seth Raman write down adding community gardens back into the CIP at least. So that's in the five year plan, but I just wanted to voice support for that. And then I also wanted to thank the aquatic center guys for coming.

I always love that we highlight our aquatic center, our programs. I have a six month old in the parent child class. I've been loving it. I'm just gonna do it all summer probably. I'm really glad we're partnering with the school district and other private organizations like Hogue.

Drowning is one of the leading causes of death for kids age ages one to four. So I do know we have a preschool program, but I do feel like possibly there's more opportunity for, some classes or programming for that age and parents, obviously, at that age. So I am a big support, especially being a beach town, Southern California. Everyone has pools. So really glad that you guys came by, and keep up the good work. Thank you.

Okay. I want to open this item up for public comment. Is there anyone in the chambers who would like to make a public comment? Seeing no one, is there anyone on Zoom?

Not at this time, Chair Okay.

Thank you. Closing public comment. Can I get a motion to receive and file the minutes and the department report? I'm going to make a motion. Thank you.

Second it.

All right. Commissioner Hewson, we're doing manual motions today since we have a virtual attendee.

I would second the motion.

Ms. Futua, do we use our buttons, or would you like us to say verbally? Because Vice Chair Wright is on Zoom, we have to all weigh in verbally as to whether we approve or not.

Commissioner Hewson?

Yes.

Commissioner Garcia Arcos? Yes. Commissioner Ledger?

Yes.

Commissioner Kamala?

Yes.

Vice chair Wright? Yes. VICTORIA Chair Brown? Brown? VICTORIA Motion carries six-zero. VICTORIA Thank you.

Okay, we're going to move to old business now. I have a few comments on this. But Director Gruner, did you have any introduction or presentation that you wanted to start with?

Yeah. Thank you, Madam Chair. So this is a continuation of what we started at the last PACS meeting. It's the par capital improvement principle and values workshop. And we're identifying the principle and values.

And we had some really great discussions at the last meeting. And we compiled those discussions and the terms into a well, not really a spreadsheet, but it was basically written down and listed out with some key criterias for the power capital improvement review and discussion, as I mentioned earlier, that we're going to be having in the fall of this year. And if you look at the second page, we basically identified equity and access, sustainability, community centered planning, safety and maintenance, innovation and optimization, economic and social benefit. And underneath those would be the key criterias. So we want to continue this discussion and, of fine tune it a little bit further and see how that's going to be tying into the capital improvement project review process.

Great. Thank you. Before I open this up, I just want to first note again how much I appreciate that this has been on the agenda. I think it was a really great initial conversation last time. And I know that it needs more work, but I just want to acknowledge that it's great to see this on here and to be able to do the work.

For tonight, I would suggest we can do a variety of things. And so now that we've had a month to think about it and to talk with people, I am curious if there are other things that have come up since that you want to make sure get in the conversation, get into the document. I'm also curious, are the categories right? I just have a variety of questions to put out there, whether they may or may not speak to what you've already made notes on. But I'm curious to know from people, do we think the categories are right?

Do we think the categories are comprehensive enough? How are we going to use this document to help the City Council make decisions? Like, do we have a way to see how this is going to be moved forward? Is there anything that should be on here that wasn't on here or isn't on here from our conversation before? So just kind of what's missing. And then also to ask question, how should this document look? So this is like we get to iterate this and move it forward. And it doesn't have to be perfect by the next go around. But I do think we're at the point where it's like, are there any other details that we want to capture? And how are we thinking about what this should look like on the page?

Those are just some of the questions that I had while I was reading it. I have my own thoughts on that, but I would pose that to all of us. And in light of the fact that I don't know if anyone is in the chamber to comment on this, we will open it up for public comment. I think I would like to start with Commissioner, if that's Okay. Or should I open this up first and then go to Commissioner?

Okay. Okay. We can Okay. We'll do commissioner if there are specific commissioner questions. We'll start there. Then we'll open it up for public comment. And then we'll come back for discussion. Okay. Vice Chair Wright, do you have any specific questions before we open this up for public comment?

I'm good to wait.

Okay. Is there anyone in the chambers who would like to make a public comment? There is no one in the chambers to make a public comment. Is there anyone on Zoom?

Not at this time, Chair Brown.

Okay. So now we're going to open it up and have a conversation. We will take notes. Is there anyone who wants to weigh in first? Commissioner Houston.

Thank you. Last meeting, think that a few of the commissioners brought up really good points, and so I'm very I like the categories that we have, and I think that it's a very good first step. The question I have in my mind is sort of how we're going to use this moving forward. And particularly when we're looking at these capital improvements, there's certain years where budgets are lighter or budgets are you know, we have more budget to do things. And so, you know, each one of these to me is a super important topic.

And so the question that I've been running through in my head is how do we use this moving forward, particularly knowing that certain years we're gonna have more money and certain years we're gonna have less. And so a couple things that were brought up last meeting. Vice Chair Wright had mentioned almost like a graph, if you will, that had different metrics, and one of those metrics included the current budget for that year. And when I first heard that, I actually thought that was a great idea to include that. And then Commissioner Doran Parker had kind of thrown out another idea that starting with the budget may not be a good idea because we don't necessarily want to limit ourselves, and sometimes starting with the budget that is set may close doors in asking for things that actually are really important.

So those two ideas I thought were both important. And so the way that I kind of reconciled it in my mind was possibly having short term goals and long term goals. That way it sort of it takes into account the budget, but maybe it's not putting that as a first priority. So for example, in a year where we know that the budget is tight, we recognize that and we're aware of that. So maybe that affects more of the short term goals versus if we're looking at like let's say a three to five year plan.

We can kind of incorporate some of these different criteria that maybe are available once we have more budget. And so anyways, I'm kind of actually stealing two ideas and just putting my spin on it, is maybe we have a short term and long term goals or kind of way that we incorporate the criteria.

Madam Chair, if I can just chime into that real quick. You bring up some really good points, Commissioner Houston. The idea behind this is to formulate a Rubik's matrix that we can utilize as we're doing the parks assessment study, which will be completed at the end of summer, and then we can utilize this matrix and identify projects as a priority. And I think having a long term goal, short term goal would certainly tie into that.

I have been asking myself the question of how we're going to use this, which is not saying that I proposed it without knowing what I would hope it would be used for, but how to use this document, which is just draft one. And as I look at it, imagining if I'm a city council person, I'm wondering, do I have to am I wanting to check are these check boxes for me? Are they all equal? Do I need to attend to all of them? And then I'm also like that would just be one question for us to think about, which is like how do we want to frame this?

So is there a sense of prioritization? Does it go from the top, which is most important, to the least important? I think that would be important for us to think about, too. And the other thing, when I read this, I wonder if there is a way in which all of these categories and I think I'm mostly comfortable with the categories I'm wondering if they would benefit from some narrative descriptions in order to flush them out, So an understanding of what do we mean by equity and access, which is not the same as the bullet points, which are kind of like key outcomes or activities. I'm just wondering, which is how we think about that.

And we might think about it in a variety of real world scenarios. That's just another thought I had as I was reading this. But I felt like I need more to hold on to, and that there is something that we there are some things that we talked about, not even specifics, but kind of big picture that I feel like this document doesn't yet have, and it

would be helpful to have. I think I can just chime in real quick because I've been working with Director Gruner a lot on this topic, and I apologize for missing the last meeting. But, you know, I tried to pay attention to the last meeting as much as I could. I went back and I listened to it. And again, so I think you provide a good point is that this is not our final document.

This was, I hope, just for you guys to help solidify your core values. So, the six listed here, right? So, that at least that's one vote that we can move on to the next step, and the key defining criteria. But correct in what this looks like and how you use it in the future. Like Director Gruner says, we'll come back and we'll draft either a rubric or a matrix so that there would be some kind of evaluation method for when you guys bring up projects.

Then you whether you assign a score and it determines how your priority so, that will be your next step. And I think I'm really looking forward to how you guys want that to look after you guys define. But I do agree we can put some definitions to the six core values. If you vote to approve those tonight, we can add some definitions to those for the next go around for our meeting.

Madam Chair, if I can just add to that. So this is a working document. It's going to transition over time, and it's going to evolve as our budget changes, whether it's a lean budget or if it's a time where we have more funds available to add more projects. So each year this will be reviewed, updated to meet the needs of the community at that certain time.

Commissioner Ledger. Yeah. So

are we going to hit for, like, the core values? Is each project going to hit each single core value? Because if we hit just I know it has the bullet points. If we did one bullet point but made sure each core value was in it, that's what I'd like to see.

So what a rubric, just off the cuff, would look like, based off of these key defining criteria under each core value, you could assign a score or a number to the key defining criteria. And then, you add them, and then it determines a priority for each core value, and then the overall project prioritization. So, it's definitely going to evolve. It won't just you score one value higher than the other. And that's the purpose of the key defining criteria is, you know, is the project that's being presented, how much does it hit this for you guys on, you know, whether that's a scale of one to five, or, you know, from priority levels, or from council, how does it closely align with council goals.

So, will be like homework assignments almost. It's how I envision it, you know, if there's a different direction, we're willing to hear that out tonight too. But we'll definitely take all the input and the votes you guys make tonight, and we continue, like Doctor. Gruner says, making a working document and keep evolving the process.

Thank you. Commissioner Kamala.

So first off, just great work taking all of our jumble of ideas from the last meeting and putting it into this. I mean, it's just great work from all of our ideas from last meeting. Talking about just weighting everything equally and kind of where we are, I'll kind of throw a wrench into that idea. As I read these things and I said, I love it. I think it represents everything we talked about.

But to me, I would almost look at the rubric like a pyramid and thinking equity and access and community centered planning need to be the foundational value for everything else. I think we can structure it in a way where it grounds all other values. We can focus on our historically underserved communities, ADA compliance, public health and equity, and at the same time we can use equity and access and community center planning as the lens that we look at values through, like sustainability, safety, maintenance, innovation, and optimization. The newest, coolest thing isn't the best thing for the community and I think we need to let our community tell us that. So that's just kind of how I looked at it, like a base to the pyramid.

That's it. That's all I got. Thanks.

I think that's a really good point. So that would be thinking about, I'll just pick on community centered planning. I feel like bringing the community in to weigh in on what they need and want should be built into every single thing that we fund. Maybe with park maybe there's some maintenance projects where I could imagine that's less relevant. We know that this thing is broken. I don't know if we need the community to weigh in. I would put an asterisk for some of that. I just don't think that would need to go through that for some things. But I think that a lot of the other park projects, community gardens, community feedback should be a

part of it. So it's like

a core value. So it's not a project. So it's not like a set out column like this. It's a core value and maybe equity and accesses. I mean, that's what this was supposed to raise is that this kind of conversation.

Do we all agree that those are core values? I would agree. I would agree that those two things should be run through everything that the city of Costa Mesa does in some form or fashion in a way that innovation may not need to be. And so that's just a different way of thinking about it. And I do think there's that, and then there's also prioritization, which is that when things are tight, do we have a way of thinking about prioritization with certain parts that rise to the top and other projects maybe less so?

So, I just want to keep reiterating what I'm trying to hear so that I can divulge that way when we synthesize all this information. I want to get it back. I want to get it right. Right? So, I feel like what I hear is having some kind of weighted, you know. So, a certain key one of these key values is weighted more than the other. And that the emphasis is there more with a weighted number?

A little different. I would say they don't even need to be weighted, because they're woven throughout. Right? That's how I'm understanding it. Commissioner Kamala, I don't know if you want to disagree, but it's like so intrinsic to the process that there's like no outside of it. I mean, that's one proposition.

Along those same lines, think if there's no element of community center planning or equity and access, think we don't move on through to the other values. That's just our hard stop. It needs to have that community voice and the accessibility.

Okay. So, again, sorry. Talking this through with you guys, I think what I was understanding was that your core values of the projects, they would hit they would always hit every project, but maybe not as much as the others. So, I think I just I'm I wanna understand what your definition of values is for the projects. And, are you intending for these values not to be included for every project, or just some projects and not others? So, I just, so a point of clarification.

I would take a step back, and I would say we're interested in creating some sort of framework that could be part matrix, but could be part something else, that has, as it's evolving right now in this conversation, maybe one, maybe two, maybe more core values. But feel free to argue here. And vice chair, right? One of them is I'm going to hit community centered planning, because I know that's really important to the two of us, for sure. That's something that's just it's like a platform. Everything is built on top of it. So it doesn't even need to be weighted. One might be able to say that equity and access could be one of those. I don't know. That I think we could discuss.

And then that looks a little bit different than some of these other prioritizations. Don't know exactly where we're headed, and that's the messy part. I wish I could be like, and then you're going to use this, and we're just going to plug it in. But I think we're trying to think about creating a I don't know if this is helpful to talk out loud. And Vice Chair Wright, I would encourage you to weigh in.

Creating some sort of framework upon which we can build a sense of how to make priorities. And so community centered planning just should be woven throughout. Nothing should other than maybe some maintenance, I would say that gets asterisked at some point, because you would never get anything done. That needs to be like a core. And so for me, as I look at a document like this, one of the things I'm like is like, I need some introduction here.

Like, I need to understand, like, what's the purpose? Who is this to, how do you want me to use this. And then that's why I felt like some narrative descriptions are really helpful. Because community centered planning, for example, is like the understanding is that that would be woven through everything that we do, minus the asterisk. Commissioner Ledger?

Yeah, I'm sorry. So when you're

saying woven throughout, you mean remove it from this document and just know it's there? Or that is the main goal of the document is that one bullet or that one right there, sorry. I'm imagining I like the pyramid. It's woven throughout everything. So it's understood that community centered planning informs all of the decision making and all of the priorities. So like the bottom of the hierarchy of needs. Right.

Yeah. Mean, me it's like I thought about like, the Maslow hierarchy of needs, right, where it's like it builds on top of each other. If you don't have the fundamentals, like, we it's a nonstarter for for all other things, and I think the community center planning is something that has to be there. I think I discussed this at the last meeting where what safety and maintenance may mean to the community here or there may be different needs, different wants, and I think we need to be community led in that space.

Okay, so I do like doing this like a pyramid hierarchy, but I also think that goes back to what you were saying with the rating system.

Chair Brown, may we have

Vice Chair Wright, please weigh in.

Hi, everyone. Great discussion so far. I think if the purpose of today's meeting is just to say, here was the summary of the values conversation we had in the last meeting. It's a it's a rough draft, then I think it definitely summarizes all of the main values that I think we all agreed on. And then the way that this conversation's organically evolving, is so good.

I can hear the project manager minds in all of you because, yeah, I feel like the next question is, okay. We have these values, that I think most people can agree. These are good things. But the question is how? How do we wanna implement?

What value gets prioritized over the other, and how can we approach that in a quantitative or objective manner so that we can, as a body, make a decision together. And I think visually shifting from, you know, bullet points to something visual like a pyramid is really great. I still think it would help to tie it to a funding source, but I do like the idea of, like, here's the short term rankings versus the long term rankings, or here is, in, like, a limited financial capacity, our priorities versus when we're talking about grants and dreaming up of, like, large large scale newly rebuilding projects, that kind of thing. I do think that ties in different values per se. Let me see what else I wrote.

I also like, the idea of each value having a focused outcome tied to that. Because if anything, the document feels pretty broad. Right? And a a value itself can be interpreted in many different ways. So I don't know if that's something we each should, like, do individually or discuss more as a commission publicly.

But, yeah, what's what community centered planning means to someone could mean something different as far as practically what does that look like in a project. Same with, innovation and optimization. Something specific that I wanted to put here or I feel like we discussed is just utilizing what we already have to the fullest extent. Our facilities, our programming, whatever that is, are we actually using it the most? That that's under optimization.

Innovation is kind of its own category as well. So, yeah, I mean, I think possibly clarity on, like, what is the what is the end result we want from tonight's meeting? Is it just to have a clear idea of what the next brainstorm session is gonna be and what we wanna get out of that, so that we can move forward based off of this document that that I think would be a good idea. Thank

you. Thank you. One question I have is, are all of these values that we're looking at? Because I feel like some of them are values and some of them are priorities. Like safety and maintenance, I see it as a priority. I'm not sure I see it as a value. But that's just like how I'm understanding it. Not that it doesn't have value in it, but it's a priority. So for me, you know, as we're prioritizing things when there are safety concerns, Health and well-being is a value, right? That our community is healthy, that they're safe, that's a value.

That's like the kind of value language. Community centered planning or input, that's like a value, like centering community input or engagement. So that's just one thing I would say that it might be worth thinking about, which is what part of this document really are our values, and what parts of the document speak to priorities. I don't have a clear this is what I think we should do next. I would like to hear from commissioners.

I don't feel like there is a need one sec. I don't feel like there is a need for me to have this wrapped up next month or even radically transformed next month because I think that's part of the messy process of thinking together and not being exactly sure and wanting it to be super useful. So I don't have a really specific, this is what I think we should do. I don't want this to go on for a year. I don't want to be saying to Monique, Okay, now we should try this. But I do think it's Okay if we want to take another month and, like, get messy with it. Not suggesting we do subcommittees, but I am suggesting, like, how do we, either individually or in a different format, kind of think through this? Commissioner Ledger?

Yeah, along those lines, I was already going to suggest that maybe we should just get, like, an email that goes to all of us where we could add on or, like, rate this, like, take the pyramid idea, what's at the bottom, what's next, and see where we agree, disagree,

and without saying it to each other's faces.

And then along that lines, also give how we want to expand on this, or what, like you were saying, is a value, what is a necessity, and then look

at that next meeting as to all the results

and see how that works.

So, Chair, if I can chime in real quick, too. What I can do, because this is a lot of great feedback, too, and like you said, you didn't want to go back in, we can fully develop the whole framework. And, I think if that's easier after having these preliminary discussions, bring it back to you with the pyramid like discussions that I'm hearing, and have it put all put together packaged together. And then, bring it back to the commission and make recommendations, edits. And maybe that's on the right track. Or maybe, you know, you it's something completely different. But at least we're putting together the whole package for you. We can absolutely do that. And then you can see kind of maybe how we apply it.

Yeah, if I can just add to that real quick. I think that the discussions and the thought process is great. It may seem messy right now, but I think we have enough information that we can pull something together that we can present at the next meeting that you guys can evaluate and then provide further input. And then we can further define what that is going to look like. But I think the input that we received tonight is substantial, and I think it's great. And I just want to reemphasize, this is really your guys' process. We really want to make this your guys' own, and we'll obviously help guide you guys through that process. But the thoughts and the criteria that are important should be really the commission's.

I would yes, Ms. Futua.

I just want to acknowledge that Vice Chair Wright has her hand raised.

Vice Chair Wright, please.

Hello. I do have thoughts. So to respond to what you were saying, chair Brown, I I understand what you mean when you're saying there's a difference between values and priorities. And I think it makes sense that we started with values. It's broader, and it kind of allowed us more openly to share what we think is most important.

But for the sake of our role and the feedback we're giving on, like, actual systems, like the when we're gonna do the park assessment plan or the CIP priorities, I do feel like priorities like, shifting this eventually to, like, end result is one, three priorities makes more sense, if that's that's my advice piece of advice based off of your distinction. And then based off of what kind of the director is discussing for next steps And I'm even I I almost feel like it would be helpful if maybe we ourselves took a stab at putting some type of document together. So if you feel led to do so, I'm gonna try to. And what I think practically would be most helpful is short term, here is the priorities. Long term, here is the priorities.

And the difference between short term is, yes, the financial, like, budgetary restrictions that we're in currently, but also just what are our priorities when it comes to, like, sustaining all of our existing facilities. And then long term to me sounds more like new projects, expansion projects, and kind of dreaming up of the future of the city and parks and recs. So I'm just gonna be, like, super straightforward. For me, like, short term is safety and maintenance, optimization, and community center planning. Because all three of those things don't require new projects, new parks to be built to start prioritizing those right now.

And, obviously, safety and maintenance is already basically the priority of our department's budget this year with just maintenance being kind of where most of the funding is going towards. However, for any ongoing and already funded projects, community centered and public community centered planning and public engagement can be incorporated can be incorporated better, right, with our feedback or with our initiatives. And then optimization can be, like I talked about before, utilizing all of our facilities and making sure that they're accessible right now. However, when we're talking about the five year or when we are presented with the park assessment plan and we're debating on which say there are, like, three parks that are in need or three spaces or whatever that are of equal need. How are we going to debate or how are we going to advise staff and then and also how are we going to advise city council?

I think that's more where the other priorities come into play, where we could identify, okay. This park project actually has more of a sustainability opportunity or because it's grant related or it has more of an an equity need, and we've identified this part of the city, is underserved. And that is specifically why we are recommending that it be prioritized above other projects. I don't know if you guys remember, but, also, we've discussed, like, neighborhood parks versus large CIP projects as well. So to me, that even is, like, an equity equity tied to funding source discussion we can have.

But so, yeah, that is I just felt it's it's important to talk really practically about how we're viewing each valuepriority in regards to how we want to make decisions moving forward. That's it. Thank you.

Thank you. I think that this is a really interesting conversation because I think there's a lot of different perspectives that we're raising here. I mean, would push back and say, for me, lead with values, and I make priorities based upon my values. They are not the same. And so that's just something that I would put out there.

And that as a commissioner, it's important to me to think big picture, which for me is around values, and to then think practically, which is about helping make priorities and how do values weigh into that. And so that's where there is, for me, some teasing out. And I think around the issue of equity, one of the things you mentioned, vice chair, was that no need to to be practical, there aren't needs to create there isn't a need to create new parks. But in my district, where I live, where we don't have parks, it is an equity issue. When we lead with that value, we'll prioritize making new, right?

And that's something different than optimizing. So that's why I think values are important to be considered a little separately, though of course related. I do wonder alongside you how best we can do this. So I appreciate the offer from city staff to take all we've said and to package it. I also get the sense and correct me if I'm wrong that there's a lot of investment up here in terms of wanting to be involved in various ways.

And so just an open ended question, which is, how can we be involved? What might a process look like that's different than the one that you're proposing, which is that you take it and run with it and come back? And if I'm reading the room up here incorrectly, you should speak out. But I am just curious that. Commissioner Garcia Arcos.

Yeah, I just wanted to add, why don't we apply these core values to something that's already existing and just kind of get an example. For example, like the mobile recreational program, like how can we do outreach and base it off of how the community wants that. I that came to my mind because yesterday they were in Shalimar. No kids. No kids.

And so it's it's like we have these resources that already exist, so how can we utilize those resources but include the community? Two of the staff were on their phone. I was walking with Thrivent, a Thrivent member, a nonprofit that donated the money that we're gonna be utilizing on Shalimar. And so not to call out that that specific scenario, but it's like how can we apply these core values to something that's already existing play you know, just kind of like see how it works and then continue to move forward with other things that we continue to manifest. Yeah, I think that's one of the things that was on my mind currently.

And then as vice chair mentioned, safety and and maintenance. I think there's a different approach to to similar acts. Like, for example, if you're planting a tree and you're doing maintenance on trees, how can we utilize that that arena to educate and inform residents to be able to duplicate that in their own space? Because we're able to reach into city property, but a lot of the the the the space is private property in their homes. And so we're trying to, you you know, we're trying to create assets to ourselves, to our environment, to our people, so why not encourage the people?

If if I could get a follow-up on the definition of community forestry, I would really appreciate that for the next meeting just because I think it's really important to in the future to have those in our core values. So maintenance and safety, I think it's something that we can utilize and not take away from this list that I would recommend. Yeah, I just wanted to get that out to you all, see what your thoughts are.

Yes, Ms. Fetua.

We have Vice Chair Wright's hand raised.

Vice Chair Wright, and then I can take if there are other comments up here.

Thank you, miss Petua, for being my translator. I feel like I know that I'm really loud in the chambers right now, so I don't wanna, like, call out. So I'm just gonna keep raising my hand when I need to. So, Sher Brown, I wanted to throw out an idea here because I feel like instead of maybe it's time for us to sort of produce do some homework, all of us as commissioners, and produce maybe our own working draft version of this document. A lot of us are talking about some visuals, like some pyramids or some some matrixes.

I know that we can't all, you know, discuss this. The the purpose of this is that it needs to be in this public space. I have seen, in planning commission, and I did a presentation once for our commission. I'm proposing we all if if anybody wants to, I will do it, make our own version, and present it in the next meeting so that we're not having staff do another know, do several iterations that we keep having feedback on. I feel like, why don't I just want to throw it out there.

Would we be open to some homework ourselves? Nothing fancy. Submit it all, and then we each take turns presenting kind of our own version of the values and priorities, maybe a matrix, whatever you want. I'll try to tie it to, like, a practical some practical project examples as well. Like, I really liked commissioner Garcia Arcos' idea. So, yeah, I'm just gonna throw that out there. Let me know what you think.

Commissioner Ledger.

Yeah. I'm so sorry, commissioner Wright. I do not like the homework idea. But it kind of does tie in with what I was saying about maybe an email survey or something where we could add to it, give our input for and then discuss that before the final document is created. Does that make sense?

This is where we all get to weigh in too. Is that okay if I do this, just to get folks to weigh in and then we'll Yes, Commissioner.

Just a thought, instead of individual assignments that we all throw together in like thirty days, is there a possibility we could just do a subcommittee smaller group of us, put it together, and then we can present it out so that way at least there's a handful of us in alignment on the idea. And maybe someone who's really good with Canva who can make it look super pretty.

Okay, I'm gonna move down here. We're gonna get all of the suggestions since this is a very collaborative process. Any thoughts, any ideas down here, any vetoes down here?

I'm not super creative, so I like the ideas that are going on, but I'm having a hard time even figuring out in my own mind how I would put together a visual. I mean, to be honest with you, let alone, you know, you hear other good ideas and try to incorporate those. So it's I don't really have a strong opinion other than I just wanna make it known that I'm not super creative and might not do too well with that.

Noted. Commissioner Garcia Arcos.

Just wanted to ask how many of us can really get together legally. So that is kinda a little limiting, but is there a way around that maybe during this meeting? Some something to throw out there. Or if someone's in charge, maybe meet up. I don't know. Just throwing that out there. But I think it's a really good idea. If we can do a subcommittee, it would be less work for each individual.

Director Gruner, the subcommittee has come up. I would say that on this topic, because of the way it's been generated, I would say this could justify a subcommittee. Do you want to weigh in in terms of that, recognizing there are variety of complexities right now, but is that a possibility? And if not, if so, and if not, how would you recommend? Because I think there is an interest to continue working on this on our end before bringing it to staff to do the next iteration, but not on an individual by individual basis.

Yeah, the subcommittee issue is coming up again. I know last week at the Arts Commission that was brought up as well. And with the current I would like to do refer to the clerk. I'm not opposed to it. I think it's a great idea. But I want to make sure that we're following the right process. What I would throw out there is that if you guys want to email us your thoughts and ideas of what this would look like, and we can formulate something, and then maybe at the next meeting we can go ahead and establish that subcommittee.

I'm so sorry. I just

want to say, and I'm once again sorry, but I really don't agree with this subcommittee because it's going to leave people out, and then it's going to be heavily influenced by just three people.

Okay, noted. Are there any other comments, questions, concerns? Commissioner Garcia Arcos.

Yeah. I think the subcommittee idea, if we can hear back to see how we can strategize to be not leave anybody out and do our surveys to whatever capacity you have with the people that we represent. I think that would be really ideal for us to weigh in altogether. But again, I just want to echo subcommittee, I think, might be the direction I would personally want to go with.

So I think I might make a motion. I'd like to make a motion that we bring this back next month with a recommendation for a subcommittee. That subcommittee will meet, and we'll make sure that they report back so that absolutely no one will be left out. But a couple of people will be taking the lead on developing based on commissioner feedback, based upon staff feedback, based upon other public feedback. I would make that motion that we would bring that back next month for a subcommittee that could work over the summer.

Pausing the motion for maybe I'll just stop. That's the motion I would make. That was a very long, rambling motion. I think I need somebody to second it. But Okay, just to pause for a moment because I'm trying to think about how to respond to Director Gruner's suggestions that there's something we can do before the sub subcommittee before next month. And I'm actually let me pause. What do you have in mind for that? What would you recommend?

Well, I mean, it could be as simple as just sending us an email providing some input, feedback, comments, thoughts. And that will help also kind of form the subcommittee if that's the direction the commission wants to go. So it will just put a little more context into what we're trying to do.

So I would make a motion. Let me revise my motion. Give me a little look if I'm not allowed to do this.

You can. Okay.

I make a motion that we, over the next couple of weeks, each commissioner sends in any comments, concerns to city staff who will collect them. And then on the agenda from next month will be the creation of a subcommittee. And that when commissioners send those emails in, you identify if you would like to be on the subcommittee. Is there a second?

I'm so sorry. Can I

ask a question before we second? So what if like five people want to be on the committee?

So what we can do is we're going to review with the city clerk just to confirm what can and cannot happen, and that should be placed in the report for the agenda, and then it'll be discussed further. Potentially you guys would deny that and continue to have these conversations as a whole.

Okay, then I'll second the motion.

We're gonna do a verbal vote, remember.

Commissioner Hewson? Yes. Commissioner Garcia Arcos? Yes. Commissioner Ledger? Yes. Commissioner Kamala?

Yes.

Vice Chair Wright? Yes. Chair Brown? Next commission meeting, as well as agendize a potential subcommittee.

Thank you. Thank you, Director Gruner. And now we're on to new business. Mr. Ryan, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Chair Brown. Good evening, commissioners. The next item before you is a request to receive a donation of a memorial bench and plaque to be installed at TeWinkle Park. Attachment two is your council policy that provides some of the guidelines for receiving and approving these donations. Attachment one, the city received a request from Linda cloud requesting permission from this commission to donate a memorial bench and plaque in memory of her mother Dorothy Webster Jones who passed away in 1978.

The bench and plaque would be installed at Teeminkle Park. Again, can refer to the attachment one, the request from the donor. Dorothy Jones was born in Oregon in 1907. She graduated from the University of Oregon and moved to California to work for a prominent Hollywood studio, where she met and later married her husband, Chuck. Chuck was a renowned animation director. If you have a chance to Google that name, if you're my age, you might recognize a lot of his work, and maybe younger. It was quite fascinating to do. A lot great works that he's been involved with. He's award winning animation person. So together they had one daughter, Linda.

In the nineteen sixties, the Jones moved to Newport Beach to be closer to their daughter and their grandchildren. While Dorothy was never a resident of Costa Mesa, she was an enthusiastic supporter of the city of the arts. She maintained a longtime subscription to the South Coast Repertory Theater and Segerstrom Performing Arts Center. And of course, spent countless hours in the city of Costa Mesa parks with her grandchildren, specifically noted Teowinkle Park, and of course, what they refer to as the Jet Park, or maybe more commonly the Airplane Park or Lion's Park. So Dorothy's great great granddaughter Olivia lives near Teowinkle Park.

The family felt that that would be a great location to take Olivia to and share memories of her great great grandmother. And after reviewing a few options, the family and staff agreed that the most suitable location for the bench would be on the East side of the lakes near a lower fill pond. And you can see from the photo, it's that red dot. It's on the opposite side of the park from the ones that we looked at last month. And kind of lower than the other one as well.

That's far removed from any part of the pending lake rehabilitation project, so that will not be an issue where this to be approved. It's outside of that scope. This is a picture of where the bench would go. The kind of red rectangle is a rough representation of that. You can see there's kind of a meandering sidewalk that terminates right there at what we call the Lower Fill Pond.

It'd be a great place to sit, relax, and just kind of watch the water flow. The bench would match existing site furnishings installed with a concrete pad. To the right is a sample plaque that be installed in the ground. It would kind of be similar to the photo on the left with the bench and the plaque. We can see an up close picture of the wording in the plaque and what that kind of looks like. Staff has reviewed the proposed location, determined that it's suitable for the bench and plaque. The installation had minimal fiscal impact on the city. The donor incurs the cost of the donated items. Staff would do the installation of the bench and plaque as part of their normal duties. The submitted request meets the requirements as set forth by the city council policy.

Therefore it's recommended that the commission approve the request from Linda Jones Cloud for the nomination of the pension plaque in the memory of Dorothy Webster Jones. That concludes my presentation. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Are there commissioner comments? Or I'm sorry, commissioner questions? Is there anyone in the chambers who would like to ask a question? Commissioner comments?

I have Vice Chair Rice.

Oh, sorry. Chair.

His hand raised.

Hi there. Just want to say this is a great location for a bench, so great job selecting.

We do have a member of the family that's in chambers and may want to say a few words.

Please feel free to come up to a microphone.

First and foremost, thank you all for all the hard work and energy you clearly put into our parks here in Costa Mesa. I can't tell you how much my family has enjoyed it. I know that Dorothy Jones didn't live near TeWinkle Park, but I live a block from there. My daughter Olivia goes there five days a week, typically for two to three hours until she's ready for nap So, I can't tell you how much I appreciate all of your hard work. We love this specific area, the Lower Phil Pond. Olivia kinda finds it to be a little bit of an adventurous area. And I agree with commissioner Wright, I believe it was, that this is a great place for bench, and I enthusiastically voiced my support. Thank you so much.

Thank you for coming out. There is not anyone else in the chambers for a public comment. Is there anyone on Zoom?

There are currently no members on Zoom.

All right. Any commissioner comments? Any questions that you did not think of before? Commissioner Ledger?

I do have a question, and I just want to make sure it does not apply to this one. I don't want to offend anybody. Before the city staff is presenting these memorial benches or trees to us, are you guys Googling the names, like just making sure that there's no questionable backgrounds or anything, and it's not related to this one at all.

I'm glad to hear that. Just to answer your question, we do perform kind of a rudimentary search. It's it's at staff level. It's not like we're sending it to PD for for background checks or anything of that nature. Not FBI or anything like that. We we do do a a brief Google search of the individuals involved.

Yes. Does someone want to make a motion?

I'll make a motion to approve it as a Bugs Bunny fan.

I'll second. I'll second.

Ms. Fetua, did you get that? Yes, Senator Ledger, yes.

Commissioner Hewson?

Yes.

Commissioner Garcia Arcos?

Yes.

Commissioner Ledger? Yes. Commissioner Kamala? Yes. Vice Chair Wright?

Yes.

Chair Brown?

Yes.

Motion carries six-zero to approve the memorial bench and plaque at Team Eagle Park.

Thank you, and thank you

for coming out again. That is it for our agenda, unless there are any final thoughts, questions from commissioners, from staff. Director Gruner?

Yeah, I just wanted to provide a follow-up to some of the questions we had earlier in regarding to Earth Day. You're absolutely right. That was really our first event that we actually had the commission out, so we're going to certainly approve upon that. And we certainly look forward to getting you out to more events throughout the community, especially in the summer when we have a lot of events like the concerts. And I think there's some great ideas, we'll definitely make improvements in that area for sure. And we'll also follow-up on the ride along program as well.

Thank you.

Commissioner Houston?

You know, I just had a real quick question about the benches and donations, I'll say, in general. Know, I'm just kind of picturing that at some point we say enough benches. I mean, is that like a consideration that there's a set number? And then also for these like memorial plaques, mean, there like a time that those are good for? I mean, it's, you know, I'm picturing that's not gonna be there for the next Well, I'll let you tell me about what the time frame looks like, and kinda how the limit on benches may be in certain parks.

So, we don't come in with a predisposed number of benches or plaques, but we do look at each location, each site specifically to see whether we can accommodate another bench, another tree, another plaque. But we don't we don't have any set standards. Only five at this park or 10 at this park. It's really a park by park assessment depending on what's being requested, but staff, that's one of the first things we look at is where that request is being made, which park it's at, do we have abundance of benches, so far we've not really run into an issue of having too many. We also do have the opportunity to allow individuals, especially when it comes to benches.

Trees are a little bit easier. We can kind of move those around. But when it comes to benches, there's an opportunity to replace an existing bench as long as there's no plaque or dedication to that bench that's already there. We do provide that as an option where if we have a bench that's maybe not as in great shape as some of the other ones, there is an opportunity to upgrade that bench and replace it with a new, and then install that dedication plaque after the fact. So that's an option as well. And the plaques do last a long time. I seen one that's gone away in my time here.

I know this is a cost difference, but I would wonder, would people want to donate drinking fountains? Like the fountain of life out of a water fountain, which is what our parks desperately need, too, in addition to seating. More expensive.

Yes. Depending on the park, it requires some infrastructure improvements, a separate backflow, separate

Yeah.

Irrigation. That'd be fantastic.

Yeah. Surely Push that.

Entertain the idea.

Donate a water fountain.

I could see a lot of people dedicating water fountains to their dogs.

Dog drinking fountains.

Yes. It's

brilliant. Okay. Unless there are any other comments, I'm going to adjourn the meeting at 07:42. Thank you all. Vice Chair Wright, enjoy your time in Japan, and we'll see you next month.

Bye. Thank you, everyone.