Library Advisory Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening, and welcome to the 01/16/2025 special meeting of the Parks and Recreation Commission. Call the meeting to order at, 6PM. Would the, secretary call the role for determination of a quorum, please?

Commissioner Wood is absent. Commissioner Gilliland? I'm here. Commissioner Hundiman?

Here.

Vice Chair Parker?

Here.

Chair Colopy?

Here.

Let the record reflect all commissioners are present with the exception of Commissioner Wood with an excused absence.

Thank you. Paul, would you mind leading us in the pledge? Let's move on to, approval of the agenda. Commissioners are there any changes to the agenda?

I just bring up, and I think Commissioner Parker addressed it a little bit. We we don't have a physical copy of I we've seen the agenda online, but we don't have a physical copy of I'm not I'm not getting ahead of myself. The minutes. The agenda, we do have. So we'll get back to that.

I make a motion to approve the agenda. Thank

you. Second. Commissioners, please. Are we voting on this online? Okay. We have a motion and a second. Commissioners, this will be a roll call vote.

Commissioner Gilliland? Yes. Commissioner Henneman?

Yes.

Vice Chair Parker?

Yes.

Chair Colliopi?

Yes.

Motion carries unanimously.

Thank you. Administrative update. The administrative update is the opportunity for the parks and rec community services manager, Leo Kolik, to provide community updates as well as department or commission announcements on current or upcoming projects. May we please have the administrative update?

Good evening, commissioners. This evening, we had originally planned for three updates. If you would please excuse recreation supervisor Victor Patino. He had a family emergency. We will have two updates. First up will be Laura Frosso. She's going to go over special events. And then we'll have Gerri Copeland, and she'll be reviewing Merida Senior Center programming and events.

Great. Laura, welcome.

Thank you. Good evening. I'm here today to talk about the beginning half of 2025 as far as special events goes. Let's see. Here we go. So upcoming city special events, we have April 19 is our Eggstravaganza and Rec Expo. May 26 will be our Memorial Day ceremony. June 14 will be our fifty fourth Father's Day car show, and June 28 will be our 30 birthday bash. In addition, we have four dates, which is every Saturday in July for our Concerts in the Park series. So those are all of our city events.

And then if we go to the next page here, these are some Townsquare Park and Downtown events that are not necessarily put on by our department but are taking place in either Townsquare Park or downtown. Coming up rather soon here, February 1, we have the Taste of Soul and Black Business Expo. That previously was held at the community center, so this is the first time it's kind of outgrown the community center, so it has shifted over to Town Square Park. They have about 70 vendors at that event, so it's a better spot to have it at Town Square Park. February 15, we're holding the Hazardous Household Waste event here at City Hall Parking Lot.

April will have the Torti Marietta, and it is their twentieth anniversary this year, so that's quite a milestone for them. April 12 will be the Firefighters' Barbecue. Again, not necessarily a CSD event, but we kind of help support their event and host it at Townsquare Park. And then April 27, that is a tentative date. I'm not sure that date will stick, but there will be a Holocaust Memorial groundbreaking.

And if that date does not stick, we'll update you later with what date ends up what they end up with. May 3, we have the Lily Kelly Ministries five ks. That is a brand new event taking place. And then June 7 is the County of Riverside's One Life, One Heart five ks, and this will be the second year that they're hosting that. And these dates may change as well, but the Newman Hospitality Group, they do have two upcoming events Tentatively for March 2930 is the Blues and Jazz Festival and May 1718 for the Old Town Music Festival.

And both of those are at Town Square Park, as you guys know. And then we've begun taking reservations on a case by case basis for Town Square Park. There is a framework that was approved by city council on 04/04/2023, and there are certain groups that are able to use Town Square Park And Amphitheater, in some cases, for a fee. Obviously, our events and city events, there is no fee. But there's other people that have been kind of vetted to be able to utilize Town Square Park sometimes for a certain amount of times a year, and we have been accepting reservations for those.

Now those events have to work into our calendar that we already have set. So sometimes there's not a lot of dates available, but we we have been doing that. I did get a call yesterday, for instance, from the school district that they wanna hold an event potentially for TK. They're they're starting to do TK district wide, and they wanna have kind of a big kickoff for that. So that's kind of the type of events that we're starting to get interest in using the amphitheater for. I believe that was my last slide. So at this time, if you guys have any questions, I'm always up for answering those for you.

Commissioner, questions?

Just real quick. I think we discussed this last year or two years ago, the fees for nonprofits or a school district. How much are we charging a nonprofit?

I didn't bring the fee schedule with me, to be honest with you. I'm sorry about that.

I think there was some talk about maybe having kind of a sliding scale

There is a bit of a scale, and I wanna say sometimes it has to do with the day you have it. Saturdays, obviously, and Sundays are are very, everyone wants those days. But, Sunday through Thursday, there is a reduced rate. I just don't have in front of me what those, rates are.

Okay. Thank you.

Go ahead. Say

Newman and the programs that they're putting on, and this might not be the right time for it. But how is that going in general? Are they happy? Are we happy? Or is that something we need to discuss at another time?

I don't know what type of answer to give with that. There's always growing pains with any initial event. We believe they met their first year goals, and they're working through the events for the second year. So we'll see what comes. We're still in talks for the first event for this first year to make sure that what they want to do is in line with what they did last year or if they want to see some other changes. So we're still working through those. But I think they met most of the goals that they wanted to meet last year.

Good. Okay.

So I think on the whole, it worked out for them. So we're hoping to see that they come back again this year.

Good. So on the whole, it worked out for us?

I think so. Yeah. Didn't get well, except for Commissioner Henneman, and that one charge we needed to look into. Other than that, no issues, concerns that were major. We have little fine tuning to do, like smoking section or things like that. But nothing that's not overcomeable, if that's a word. It is now.

It is now.

Before. Now it is.

Thank you.

With no other questions, thank you, Laura.

Thanks.

Appreciate it. Move on to item number two. Jerry?

That's me. Jerry's up. Okay.

So we just put together, like Laura, we just did a quick little overview of what we're going to be doing for special events now until we did it through June. Just because we didn't want to go through the whole year and then you'd be in we're talking December already, which we're not ready for. So we'll do that at a different date. So what we'll be doing is just kind of going over some of the activities that we know for sure. We might not have exact dates yet on the books, but we do know that we'll be doing some type of an event.

What we like to do at the senior center is at least hold one special event for the month, whether they're just kind of little pop up things. It's National Pie Day, and we're going to treat everybody to pie that day. So sometimes they're a spur of the moment. Sometimes they are an event that they actually have to sign up for. There might be a feed attached if it's something more like catering a lunch or something like that.

But on the whole, we try to do a lot of our events where they're free to the seniors. And we just want to get them engaged and do some fun activities through the year. So that's what we kind of try to do. So with the first slide, in February, with the Super Bowl coming up, we are going to be we're planning a fun big game day and we actually do have the date set for that one. It's gonna be on February 6, which is a Thursday.

We'll be doing some refreshments. We've got some fun little football related games that we're gonna have where they can win some prizes and stuff. Then again, to get them involved so it'll be wear your favorite jersey that day and get a raffle ticket. And then another thing we're gonna be doing in February, we've been doing probably for the last two or three years is we've been doing, we have a really crafty part time staff that works with us, Lynn, and she does a craft Valentine's card making. So she has all the supplies so they can come.

They can make Valentine cards for their loved ones, or they can even make them for other seniors, and that's a time for them just to kind of gather and do that for them. And we are going to be doing that on February 4. So that's for February. March, we are going to be doing the St. Patrick's Day celebration. Again, it might be something as simple as wear your green and get extra raffle ticket. And then we like to just do some type of refreshments, play some games, do some raffles. Sometimes we'll play trivia with them also. It just kind of depends on what we kind of do each month. So obviously we'll be doing this one actually on St.

Patrick's Day. And this is ones that they wouldn't have to sign up for. And we usually do most of these around our lunch period because that's when we have a nice group of people that we get about, I would say, 60 to 80 people for lunch every day. So this is a good time for them to kind of come and do something fun while they're visiting with friends. And then we have April.

So last year what we did was kind of fun as we did an egg hunt around the senior center. So we hid a bunch of eggs throughout the center, and then when they found it they would come and we would have different things inside the eggs telling them what the prize that they won, that type of thing. So we'll be planning on doing that. And then we usually will do some type of a craft with seniors. A lot of this stuff too we do get sponsors.

We might have somebody coming and sponsoring and taking on the craft that day. Or they'll want to do the refreshments. So we do get a lot of support within the community for different organizations that come into the center. And then in May, this is probably one of our favorite things. I've been here eighteen years at the senior center going on '19. It'll be nineteen in May. And we started this about nineteen years ago where we do a Mother's Day tea or a ladies tea. And they love this event. This is one that they would sign up for. It usually fills up very quickly.

It's a time again for them to just come and socialize. We ask them to bring their own teacup, and we provide everything else. And then usually at the end of our event, we always go around the room and they can share what their teacup means to them or if it was a special. And you'd be surprised how many people have had a teacup for seventy years or it was part of their wedding type thing. So there's always a lot of heartfelt stories that go along with that.

So we really enjoy that. And then June, we usually do some type of a Father's Day celebration, whether it's having the staff barbecue, hot dogs, hamburgers, that type of thing. And then usually for this the Mother's Day tea is usually for women only. The Father's Day celebration we involve everyone because a lot of men don't like to come without their spouses. What we'll do is we'll have everybody be a part of it, but we'll only have if we do raffles or anything of that sort.

It's just for the men, so they do feel special with that. And then for July, we will be doing some type of Fourth of July celebration. And Kona Ice is always very gracious, usually at this event. And it's a nice time to get a refreshing treat. So they usually come and they donate for however many people we have that day.

They'll come in and provide the refreshment for that day. And that is as far as the special events go. And then I handed out a packet to you guys, and this is kind of our welcome packet. So the Senior Center is for anyone 50 years and over who can come to the center and participate in any of the classes that we offer or programs other than our lunch program. Our lunch program, we serve lunch every day and it's through the County Of Riverside.

And you do have to be 60 and over to participate in the lunch program. There is no they don't have to be qualified by income or anything. The only qualification is they have to be 60 and over. So they do have to fill out an intake form through the county and once they do that then they can come and have lunch. Here recently they were doing to go's since COVID and that is something that they have recently just stopped.

So we were getting up to anywhere from 90 people for lunch Now it's kind of down to about, I would say, between sixty and seventy on an average for what we get for lunch every day. So it's just a time for them again, another time for them to come and socialize. So through the packet you'll just see we have a calendar. We do a newsletter. We always spotlight one of our seniors.

So it's a kind of a way for some people to kind of get their story out to other people. We do have some activities that they don't have to sign up for, they also don't have an instructor to them. So say if they come to the Craft and Chat, it's just another time for the seniors to come and socialize with others just by doing whatever craft it is. They might be beading, some might be working on a diamond art, some might be embroidering. It just is another time to socialize.

And then we have the two pages that have all of our monthly classes that people do have to sign up for. We sign up on the fifteenth of the month every month for the following month. So we just had registration yesterday for February. And you'd be surprised probably today I would say most of the classes are full. So they do fill up very quickly. I mean we had a line out the door yesterday morning for people signing up for some of the classes. And then it just tells a little bit about the lunch program with the copy of the menu. We have a menu for that. And then we have another page that shows kind of the outside groups that do meet with the senior center. And again, those are run by whether it's Alzheimer's support group or Parkinson's.

We have somebody that comes and runs those programs. And then for those of you that haven't been there, we do have a fitness room. So our fitness room, you can't beat the price if you're a Marietta resident. It's $26 for the year. So we are getting a lot of people that are coming in, especially at the New Year. They want to get physical. So they want to get in shape. So we've been doing a lot of orientations for that. So they do have to come in. They have to go through an orientation. They sign a waiver that they went through all the equipment. We've shown them how to work that. And then they pay their their fee and then they can come in. And then there's a we do have a book club that meets once a month which it's been going very well. They usually read two books a month.

We have a book club we have a list of the book questions and that type of thing. And then at the back this is Feeding America. They do come once a month. And we're at about two ninety people that come each month to do that. When we first started it, it was for seniors only. And now it's open to the community. So there is an income based on that, but they really don't check that. So we have a lot of communities that are coming out, people from the community now getting a box commodities for that. So that's all I have. Does anybody have any questions?

Commissioners, questions? Jerry, I just had a couple of quick questions. Have you given any thought to a bereavement group?

So we have tried a bereavement group several times. We actually just had somebody that came prior to the holidays to do a bereavement, like through the holidays and how to get through that. We have good luck with them coming for a few sessions and then they kinda don't come anymore. So this person that did the one prior to Christmas though is willing to kinda try it again. So we are going to be looking into doing that. Because if it even can help one person, then that's what we're there for.

Sure. That's good to hear. The other question is relative to capacity. I mean, what is your capacity for growth?

Well, if you're talking classes, there is none. Because we have an exercise group that meets Mondays and Fridays and we take 45 people in that class. We could probably fill it with 60 to 70, but just with the way the chairs are set up there's just no way. We are growing as far as getting more classes, but because our multi purpose room is our largest room and it can only handle so many people and everybody I mean, if they started a Zumba class in the small room, but now they have 25 people, well, there is no room to grow because our multi purpose room is very I mean, we don't have a lot of space in there anymore because we filled it with other programs. So I would love to have another multipurpose room.

Thank you. You're doing great work. So kudos. To both of you, to Laura as well. I mean, it goes without saying the output is phenomenal. I don't know how you do it.

Jerry, I had a couple really quick questions. My other hat, my real world, makes me think of these things. Are you seeing a greater need in the senior population in general? So for example, Brian and I can tell you that the senior population is becoming homeless very quickly. So I'm sure you're seeing it. And if so, what could we potentially ask the community to provide support to those seniors, either through the center or directly. I'm just thinking sort of out loud. If we can prevent someone from a hardship necessarily, then it just breaks my heart to see seniors on the street.

Yeah, and we do get I think over the last year we've seen more seniors come in saying they need help because they are living in their car or whatever than we ever have. It's kind of amazing after COVID we thought, okay, we'll see how this goes. And we are way busier now than we ever have. People are coming to the centers and using the facility, whether it's to just come and make friends because they don't want to be lonely anymore, or they're living with family type things. So I think to me one of the greatest needs would be senior housing that is affordable, which we are working on that.

A lot of our new or a lot of, I would say, well, for sure we know of two seniors that are in the new apartments, and they've just moved in. And you just don't even know how ecstatic they are about that. And then I would say the other would be just probably transportation, because a lot of them have to give up driving, or they don't now live with their family, and so they have to take the dial a ride or that type of a thing. But I think if they are where they can get on the bus and do that, then they are making it, I think, cheaper for that. But I think the dial a ride, it is expensive.

And we have some seniors that come every day. And I believe it's $3 a ride here and back. So I mean, dollars 6 a day for five days can add up.

That I would be just think it's an opportunity for, whether it's a local church, somebody to maybe buy diorite vouchers and give them to the senior center. And then obviously you would know who needs them and who doesn't because you know all of your clientele really well. I would just

know, some And that is one thing that when because we kind of have a list of when we have somebody wants to come in and sponsor something or do that is one of the things on our list. Yeah. And we have had several that have bought Dial A Ride. Then, like you said, we do know kind of those people that need

it. So thank you.

Just one thing. And Chris bringing up bereavement kind of brought it to mind. We've been going through some estate planning at my house. And I know that the library hosts estate planning groups every once in a while. They're for profit groups and everything. But I also went by Laurel Cemetery in Murrieta, which is a separate district here in town. But they were very nice and very helpful. I was just seeking information. And I found out a lot of stuff that I didn't know Mhmm. About being, you know, reserving space or well, you can't reserve space, number one, at Laurel Cemetery.

And I don't know if them being a public entity, if they're doing or asking them to do a presentation from time to time at the senior center, just telling what they have available. I know they're expanding what the costs are. And just general information. Kind of took it for granted that I knew what was going on in Laurel Cemetery, and I didn't know. Like I said, were wonderful. They're terrific and very helpful. But I don't know where that fits in with everything. But I think that a lot of people probably you know, Laurel Cemetery is kinda tucked way over there. And I bet a lot of citizens or residents don't even know about their eligibility to Right. To have that as a a lasting a lasting place.

But just just an idea. Because like I said, it was kind of eye opening to learn the dos and don'ts over there.

Well, we do have a lot of people that come and do talks. We used to have doc talks where a doctor would come in and talk about diabetes different things. We try to monitor our talks. We don't want somebody that's going to come in and try to sell something because we don't want the seniors to then go home and tell their family like, oh, got this information at the senior center. We had that years ago with somebody trying to do reverse mortgages.

I was like, no, no, no. So if they're coming in to give information but no selling is attached to it, we do allow those type of things. So we do get a lot of veterans that will veteran VAs will come and speak on and let them know about their benefits. But then they'll also kind of we have I don't know if you know Tom Bloom, is affiliated with mortuaries. Unfortunately, that's where we're at with the senior center. But they'll come in and give all that kind of information on what you need to know. And a lot of them don't want to hear it, and they're still in that part. But then you have the others that if they can help one person just get that information to them.

The only reason I bring up the cemetery is because it's kind of an unknown thing to a lot of people. And it is a publicly funded cemetery district that we all pay. If you own property, you pay taxes every year. And so it they're not going to sell you anything, but just provide information.

Right. Yeah. No, I'd be willing to do that.

This is really fabulous. What's the lunch look like daily? I mean, what is the lunch?

Well, in the packet two, you'll see a menu. So how they prior to COVID, they used to bring the food in trays, and they would actually serve on plates and Oh,

there you go. Yeah.

But now all the food that they do bring now is all individually packaged as far as the meal itself. They're like in aluminum tins with a lid. Then they'll bring up usually some type of a fruit. You get bread every day, milk or juice. I've never personally ate there, even though now I'm at that age where I could.

But don't tell anybody that. So they do a really good job about serving them and doing a I mean, some will complain like, oh, we need more of this, we need more of that. But I believe they have a dietary person that does all that with that county. It's a low salt diet. Yeah.

We all like to complain about food.

Yeah. But then they all have their salt shakers on the table. You know?

In in a given month, how many individuals are participating over there? Do you have a feel for that? I mean, you're getting sixty, seventy a day for lunch, but there are probably a lot of repeaters. But if you looked at the whole crowd, do you have several 100 people, do you think,

coming in every month?

I mean, sometimes sometimes we have that in a day Yeah. Just because of you know, we have a you know, like, today, we had line dancing, and there's 45 people in that class. Oh, wow. Had yoga chair yoga this morning, and those each had 25 people, you know, plus then you add lunch on, and then just people coming to the center to use the computer lab or play pool that don't, you know, do the other come to the front

piece room.

That's great.

Yeah.

Thank you very much. Thanks for your time with the city.

Yep. Jerry, aside from another multipurpose room, is there anything else that this senior center needs?

Well, don't listen to the pool guys because they'll tell you they need more pool, another room for pool tables. I think really our biggest need is just more classrooms to be able to hold larger classes type thing. I can't really think of anything. I mean we have a library that has books and puzzles that they can take. And we have a computer lab. We don't rent out our facility as far as for meeting rooms or anything like that, so we wouldn't need anything like that.

So with respect to the classes, are those capped now based on

Most of them are, yes, I would say, just due to whatever there's room that they're in the capacity. Now whether they all fill up every month might not be. We might have a dance class that one month has 15, which is and we let the instructor kind of say how much their cap would be too, not only just us, but we give them our like, okay, you probably could have this many in here. Like our chair exercise, obviously they're needing chairs, we set them up in a strategic way to where we couldn't fit anymore in there. As much as the seniors would say, oh, we can do it, you really can't safely.

But then one month, you know, they might hit capacity, and the next month they might not. But I would say the majority, the way we're going right now, that pretty much most of our classes are at capacity. And like I said, we opened registration yesterday. Chair exercise was probably full by 11:00. And we do let them do it online. So some of them get up at midnight, and they sign up for classes because they want to get in it so bad. So, But, yeah. So it's very busy.

That's certainly a testament to what you're offering. So that's great. Any other questions, commissioners? Okay. Moving on to public comments. Leah, did you wanna say anything about item three? Or

I was letting staff know that they didn't need to stick around for the remainder of their meeting. Yeah. So I was excusing them. Apologize. Was the question?

Do you want to speak to item three, or do you want us to just

Oh, for the record, recreation supervisor Victor Patino is excused as if he had a family emergency. So he will present his kind of overview of the youth center camps and so on at the next meeting.

Great. Thank you. Moving on to public comments. At this time, any person may address the governing bodies on any subject pertaining to Citi business, which does not relate to any item listed on the printed agenda. Normally, no action may be considered or or taken by the governing bodies on any matter not listed on the agenda. Each speaker will be limited to three minutes. Madam Secretary, do we have any non agenda public comments?

Thank you, Chair. We do not have non agenda public comments.

Thank you very much. Moving on to the consent calendar. All matters listed on the consent calendar are to be considered routine by the governing bodies and will be enacted by one motion in the form listed. There will be no discussion of these items unless before the governing body votes on the motion to adopt. Specific items are removed from the consent calendar for separate motions.

Is there are there comments on this commissioners?

I where I began the meeting. The approval of the minutes of the November 7 meeting, we don't have a physical copy or access to a copy of those. We they are available online, and I think most of us have probably read them. But, I would hope know, When I

the agenda was sent

Right.

There wasn't a copy of the minutes included.

No, there was.

Okay.

I read it on it was available online. So that's where I read it. I didn't have any problem with it. But I'm thinking maybe not everybody had a chance to read it. Or there were some corrections or additions. Might be easier with a physical copy. It's a just a note, that's something that could be provided.

On the attachment, was there the physical copy in the packet as the attachment to

Yes. The It was it was included in the attachment that was emailed, but I I what I believe the commissioner is requesting a printed physical copy.

I'm sorry. I I'm I'm I I don't understand that.

We we had access to it, but I guess if I had a correction or an addition, would need to print out my own copy of the the minutes of the previous meeting and bring them in and highlight them. That's what I'm saying.

I see. Alternatively, you could just note under what section and just note that I believe that this may have been misstated. Can we correct that? It could just be provided to staff in a verbal format. Doesn't have to be in writing back to us.

I mean, if that's why we're going forward, that's it. But, yeah. Okay. Okay. All

right. I I think maybe the point is, in the past, we've been we've had a hard copy. And we came unprepared for not having a hard copy. And I mean, I think we can make that adjustment. But I think have we had it in the past? Or am I just yeah. So yeah, I think that's the issue. It's it's not an issue. It's just knowing what to prepare for and what to expect.

We can certainly reach out to the city clerk to find out, if, you know, if that's the procedure they would like us to move forward with in providing hard copies. Typically, the move right now is to go paperless. So we absolutely can make that request to the city clerk to see if there's exceptions that can be made.

Commissioner Parker's point, now that we know the game that we're playing, to play it. But just we'll understand that coming into these meetings like with the recreation activities and events report, that was online too. I had a chance to read that, but we don't have a physical copy of that. So if we had some comments on that, we would have to.

Again, we can happily reach out to the city clerk and find out if hard copies can be provided to the commissioners.

Okay.

So the one I do have a question on the minutes.

Okay.

There was a public comment relative to second time the gentleman has spoken before the Parks and Rec Commission on an issue with dogs and people picking up after their dogs at a park. And the way the comment is noted in the minutes, it just indicates that his issue is dogs in the park or people walking their dogs in the park when that really isn't the issue. The issue is, as I observed it on YouTube, on the YouTube replay, which I had to keep an eye on my colleagues here to see what they were saying. It had to do with the fact that the offending individuals were being given warnings and no citations. And basically citations are not even in the world of consideration consideration for that.

Now my point, if I were the gentleman that has come twice to speak before the commission on that, and I read that recap of my statement to the commission, I would say you missed the point completely. So would just ask that that be amended to reflect what his what his comments were. And, again, to to my colleagues, if if I'm if I misunderstood or am misstating something that that he said in his public comment, let me know, but or feel free to correct me. But I I think the point is, what is the process for issuing a citation to a repeat offender?

So, in the parks and, project report, there is a follow-up, as to the path forward, that the city is moving with. So the the policy is, the initial, encounter is a warning, and then the second encounter is a citation.

Okay. Thank you. That's good to know. But I think also there was some mention of the fact that there wasn't even any recording of the individual, the individual's name or contact information. So in order to understand whether this is a first or a second offense, you'd have to know that.

So the park rangers do communicate with each other. There is a, kind of a when one ranger is in the morning and the other ranger is in the evening, there's an overlap time that they do meet with. They do have logs. They do keep track of the individuals they speak with, and they do communicate with each other on the issues that arise, not just with dogs off leash, but other incidents incidents with, cars left, in the parking lot overnight or graffiti and vandalism and so on. So they do communicate with each other.

There are logs. And we're making an extra effort to keep the Los Alamos Hills Sports Park dogs off the leash on a separate log so that it is shared amongst all of them. There is a shared folder that all of that goes into. And the issue is being addressed. You can find that where we're going in the report.

We're going to have extra signs created for specifically Los Alamos Hill Sports Park. There is going to be a social media campaign with the, police department, Facebook page, city's Facebook page, and the CSD's Facebook page, as well as public outreach with the park monitors as well as other staff, with information cards that will be handed out to everybody, extra patrols by staff, and, additional ride alongs with the

Ranger. In

reading the report online once again, there seem to be quite an extensive list of actions that are now being taken. Think we have somebody there at 08:00 in the morning to police some of those actions and talks about citations and logging things down.

So the resident that had spoke at the November meeting noticed during the time that he walks, there is a higher increase of, dogs off leashes. And he was hoping to have that particular hour patrolled more. Now our rangers can't just park themselves at one park all day long. They have to go and, there's 52 other parks that they have to see to. So we identified that that particular hour was the one that was in most need, and so they do make a concerted effort to be on-site at that time.

In fact, I was at the park today from 08:30 until 10:30. And during that time, I saw 14 dogs, 12 of them unleashed, two of them weren't. And they were both given warnings. And then we took photographs that go into a journal so that the park rangers can recognize the animal. It may not be the same owner that walks that dog, but it's probably the same dog. So there's a journal with the photographs that we're keeping track of.

There was also a notice somewhere when I read online that originally we had asked the park rangers to be at the meeting, and hope to have them at this meeting tonight, to explain the procedure and to address the gentleman's issues. And for some reason, the Park Rangers could not be here tonight. And that's fine. Stuff happens. But it seemed to me, at least reading the report, that the issue the gentleman had and maybe it's a wider spread thing than just this park at this time with these dogs is being addressed.

This has been taken. The gentleman had a viable complaint, an issue. And it seems like the Parks and Rec has responded to that. I'd be curious to see it. Hopefully, next meeting, we can have a couple of rangers here to explain how that's going. And if there are citations being written warnings, find out a little bit more about that.

Part of it was with Victor's family emergency. Victor is the Ranger's supervisor. So I would want him to be in attendance as well. So, if you notice on discussion item number two, the off leash dog discussion is, I believe, on the March meeting. Okay.

So walked, with the resident this morning, for about an hour, and during that walk we didn't see any dogs off leash. But he pointed out, that he goes, well, that dog walker typically has their dog off a leash. But today, they didn't. So we'll continue the extra patrols, the extra outreach and engagement with the residents and the dog walkers that are out on

So I don't have a dog, I wouldn't have noticed. But these regulations are clearly posted in the parks about being dogs on leash and

The ordinance?

The ordinance,

yeah. So there is park rule signs at every single one of our parks. Whether anyone takes the time to actually read those signs is a different story, but they are posted at the entrances, ingress, egress areas.

So if I understand where Chris was heading, and correct me if I'm wrong, is he was trying to you know, we're getting ready to approve the minutes from the last meeting, not the minutes from the last meeting. And you were trying to make the point that they didn't really reflect what was communicated here and that they maybe needed to

be adjusted to reflect that?

Exactly. We've taken the action, which I'm very glad to hear. And in fact, we've done much more than I would have expected. So that's great. Just I think the minutes need to reflect that.

We will communicate with the city clerk because there's very specific guidelines on minutes. Sometimes they're just action minutes. It's not necessarily a narrative that we need to include, but we can certainly discuss how to amend that if you think we erred in the point.

Yeah. I just think if you if you go back and reread it, it just doesn't speak to what the issue is. So that's the only I'm not asking for a narrative. I completely agree that that would be inappropriate. I just think the notation on the public comment needs to speak to exactly what his issue was or his relative as opposed to what's there.

We'll review, the public comments from the last meeting and with the city clerk and confirm whether or not we, met that description properly.

Okay. Do we procedurally then, do

we pull item one and hold that until the March meeting? You you can approve it, with the notation that, staff, confirm that the comments of

residents

giving staff direction to amend that. You can approve it, giving staff direction to amend the verbiage so as to adequately reflect the comments from public speaker.

Okay.

Commissioners, I'm sorry. Before we move forward with that, is it okay if I address the commission Absolutely. Regarding some comments that were made about the agenda and the minutes. So just so that everyone has a clear understanding, when we switched over to the LiveManager system, the direction was to go paperless. And so the agenda is available online.

It is also available on your touchscreen. If you need a minute to kind of go over that, you can access the attachments on the iPad. But with the adjustment of getting used to the new system, I do provide you a printed copy of the agenda and then also usually a printed item of a discussion item that we may need to go into more detail about. But as far as the minutes or the recreation report because it is a consent item and usually not something that's reviewed unless you want to pull an item, I don't provide that copy. But as Leah mentioned, if that's something once we get direction from the clerk's office that we're able to provide for you, we can continue printing that out for you if we need to do so otherwise.

I think, going back to what we said earlier, I think we're fine with what you're doing. It's just that was a little bit of a blindside, which I wouldn't have thought of. But the fact is that I think we would have looked at it differently if we had known we weren't going to have hard copies here.

Right. And then also, the meetings are recorded now. So once those are available, they are attached online to the meeting date with the agenda. So people can go back and rewatch the meeting if they want a more detailed information on the happenings of the meeting.

All. Thank you. Anything else on the minutes? We do on all three items? Or are we pulling again, I guess, think the original issue was, were we pulling any of these three to review them more specifically? Or is it a blanket?

Could we pass the consent calendar the noting in item number one that that item is subject to amendment and review at our next meeting. That way we've got the consent calendar passed. But we can I'd like to review if any changes are made, I'd like review them at the March meeting.

I think what Leah said, if we made a motion to cover exactly like you said, we would be prepared for the next meeting and the city would look at it.

So we could pass a consent calendar. I don't even know what the verbiage we need to include. Staff now understands what we'd like to do. This is what the Declaration of Independence.

A secession?

It's a secession, yeah. So at this point, I'd like to make a motion to approve the consent calendar.

I wanted to make one correction for the public that's watching as well. In the recreation report, it does state that the field allocation meeting was scheduled for yesterday, January 15. And with the family emergency that Victor had, we had to postpone that to next Wednesday, January 22. So I wanted to make that correction as well and reflect that in the record.

My motion is on the table. I make a motion we accept the consent calendar. Second.

Is this a voice vote? Yes.

Commissioner Gilliland?

Yes.

Commissioner Henneman?

Yes.

Vice chair Parker?

Yes.

Chair Colopy?

Yes.

Motion carries unanimously.

Moving on to discussion item one, court and field closure policy procedures and guidelines. And may we have a staff report, please?

Yes, you may. Good evening, chair, vice chair, and commissioners. In light of the recent challenges posed by unpredictable and severe weather conditions, it has become imperative to revisit and enhance our existing athletic court and field closure guidelines and operating procedures. Over the last eighteen months or so, the Community Services Department has faced numerous field closures due to fire, smoke, heat excessive heat lightning, and rain, significantly disrupting youth sports leagues and our outdoor programming. This report aims to present a thorough review and discussion of the proposed updates to the guidelines, ensuring that they comprehensively addressed various environmental factors and provide clear instructions for safe sports activities during extreme weather conditions.

So with this discussion, staff is looking to the commission to see if any other environmental or weather event is needed to be included, whether the wording or the guidance is unclear in any way, and whether the layout and the structure of the operating procedures needs to be reworked if one section needs to be in front of another section, just to make sure that the flow is consistent. So that is the item before commission this evening, and we look forward to your comments.

If I can ask real just quickly. When when these events occur, bad weather, thunderstorms, lightning, how are the parks closed? I mean, there are fifty fifty two parks. Do we have rangers go around to 52 parks and put up signs?

So we're looking at not necessarily closing the parks. We're looking specifically with this operating procedure, closing the courts in the field specifically. Specifically. We have a mechanism to reach out to everybody, either by social media means, we have all of the contact information for the league representatives, and we post signs when we close fields. If an incident occurs where a court or a field needs to be closed, and we know that it needs to be closed prior to 02:00, we put that information out on social media, Instagram, Nextdoor, and Facebook.

There's also a field closure hotline that anybody, whether it's our league representative or a parent, can call to see if that field has been closed. And then we also send out we have a distribution list for each season, and that goes out to our league representatives if it's before 02:00. After 02:00, it's a little difficult. If it starts raining at 03:30, the players, the parents are already starting to be present on-site. In that case, it is up to the league official based off of this policy and these guidelines to make sure that their players are playing on a safe field or court.

And that's why we have, these operating procedures so they have some guidance in how to close those fields and courts.

Okay. But what if I'm not a member of a group or an association? I'm just a dad who wants to go play catch at Kellogg We Sports

have the signs posted on the fields where it says field closed. Also

noted with the weather guidelines, cold weather index was kind of fun to read. I don't think we're going to run into a whole lot of that, but the athletic heat index guidelines. So these are the same guidelines. My brother-in-law is a high school football coach around here. And they they, you know, in Elsinore and gets too hot, and they have a a meter that they have to take the temperature and the air quality and stuff to let practice go on or games are delayed. Or or are we just looking at our iPhone and going, hey, it's 103 degrees?

Well, they usually do have temperature gauges to gauge the ambient air temperature as well as the field temperature. So there are measures that are recommended, that are taken before fields are closed to make sure that they follow these guidelines.

That wouldn't be something the city or parks and rec would go around measuring the air quality and temperature and closing down a park? Or could it be?

If it's warranted, if it's 115 degrees outside and we can verify that with instruments, then, yeah, we will yes, we will close the the fields based on that based on these guidelines.

Do you have instruments?

We are working towards that. We wanted to get the policy

in place first.

We got baby steps steps here.

Like I said, I know at the schools, they have the instruments, and they have reporting they have to do.

We'll get the policy in place first and then work towards the instrumentation.

Is there an existing policy right now? This is all new.

There is an existing policy that we kind of jump started off of. It was just the rain out policy. And that was more or less one page. All that information was on our website. But because of the fires that we've had recently, because Los Alamos Hills Sports Park was actually used as a staging location for the Temprano fire many years ago, things like that. Smoke, those are all, contributing factors to when fields get closed. And they are happening at an increased frequency, and we need to address them so that the kids and the players on the fields and courts are safe.

Leah, this is literally semantics. But when I first opened it, I saw City of Marietta rain out hotline, right, which I know what the intention there was. But maybe it should just be a closure hotline, like you said. We're going to say it, but We're

going to update it. Absolutely. All of our website, once we have an approved standard operating procedure from the commission, then that allows us to kind of hit the ground running and get the devices necessary to be in compliance with this policy, update our websites, update our information packets that we give to the leagues, and so on. So this is our first step.

Okay. I'm just thinking of making it in a general hotline. That way it doesn't matter if it's raining or fire or whatever.

Yep. All of that again, once we get the policy in place, all of that information will be updated.

So Leah, because there's pay to play element here with, you know, pick a Saturday at Cal Oaks or Los Alamos. Does there need to be any language in here relative to who the governing who the authority is on this, that this decision is being made in the sole discretion of the city manager or the city manager's I see the first I see the authority statement here, but obviously, this is speaking more to excluding groups, in that than it is weather related as I read it.

Could you restate that question? I'm sorry. I'm not sure if I'm getting it.

So is there a need? It's more of a semantics discussion. Is there a need to include some type of language addressing the fact that because some of these leagues are paying to play on our fields, they're not getting that money back, whether it's one weekend weekend or three weekends, that this decision is in this in the sole authority of

So there are rain up there are make updates. So usually, what happens is practices games get canceled all the time throughout the season because typically of rain. So what typically happens is that particular day is canceled or a couple days, depending on how extreme the weather event is. And then at the end of the season, there are makeup dates. Most of the time those makeup dates can be made.

Usually in the case of baseball, double headers, or instead of one or two games a week, there's three or four games a week. Typically, those games can be made up. Once in a while they may lose a game or two, but when you read the when a parent registers your child for any one of these youth groups, in their registration packet it'll say that we attempt to guarantee x number of practices, x number of games, but that it's not 100% guaranteed.

Got it. And will this be is this amending city code? No.

Isn't necessarily a policy. These are basically standard operating procedures. These are more guidelines other than the two referenced in the guideline to the municipal code, citing the authority and so on.

Got it.

Those are my questions. Ladies and gentlemen, any further is the

of

and approve if possible the policy.

So if the commission is satisfied with the the draft, we would, recommend a motion approve approving it so that we can, make those updates to our website, get some new instruments.

Prepare for locusts.

Yeah.

I would make that motion.

Is there a second?

I'll second that.

Madam secretary, may we have a roll call, please?

For a vote.

Commissioner Gilliland? Yes. Commissioner Hanneman?

Yes.

Vice chair Parker?

Yes.

Chair Collopy?

Yes.

Motion carries unanimously.

Thank you, Leah. Leah. Item two, Parks and Recreation Commission agenda forecast. I'm sorry. We have a staff report, please.

Yes. Good evening once again, commissioners. This report is a report that you will see on the agenda every meeting. This report aims to facilitate a productive discussion regarding the future topics for the Parks and Recreation Commission agenda. Should the commissioners wish to modify, modify, add to, or delete any of the proposed list of topics to ensure Should relevance and timely updates, we can have that discussion.

And as I look in the agenda forecast for the next meeting, which is in March, I noticed that I didn't include the off leash dog discussion for a purpose. I remember now that as I looked at March, I went, holy cow. So I wanted to get the commission's thoughts on whether or not that item should be placed on March or if we should put it on the May agenda. So that's one topic. And then whatever else the commission would like to discuss in terms of additions, modifications, or deletions.

Why wouldn't you put it on March?

I was looking at because we have to reorganize the board. We've got three updates and three discussion items. So we can most certainly add the fourth discussion item for the off leash dogs. It'll be just that much longer of a meeting. And I wasn't sure if the Commission wanted to have that much longer of a meeting.

If you push that to May, we've got three admin updates and four discussion items.

We can also, we don't have to have these, discussion items, in all of them in March. We can move off the park assignments. We can move off the renaming of the two Bear Valley parks. Or we can have all four discussion items. Options.

My thinking is I'd like to address this dog on the leash thing sooner rather than later.

Okay.

Okay. I'm

fine if we just push through and have a little bit longer.

That's fine. If we could push that if we could add that on the March meeting. Have no problem with that. The thing I noticed on the March meeting also is the homeless update includes a point in time follow-up. Now, the point in time event is a week from today, right?

Yes, is. A week from yesterday.

Wait, the twenty third.

I felt that was going to be a timely update. I don't know if you wanna push that one off.

No. That's fine. I just wanna make sure people because I I just happen to look that up today. And if people wanna help or volunteer or if you get that all covered or?

That deadline ended on the fifteenth to register to volunteer.

Okay. How about if registering as an observer?

I don't know I don't know.

I don't know if I have to register. I just like to see the process, if that's possible.

Sorry, Brian.

Brian thought he was gonna get away.

So Murrieta, for its point a lot of cities use county resources, for point in time, allow the county to organize it. We've been doing this as well as with the city of Temecula. We've been doing this for a number of years. So city staff is the ones that actually put together the volunteers. We do all the coordination with the volunteers. If you wanna come out at 05:00 in the morning next Wednesday, come out at 05:00, meet us at the police department, and you could jump in my car. Wear some heavy clothes and nice boots. I like to hike.

I I will let you know by the end of the week.

No problem. Okay. And anytime you wanna do a ride along. Okay. We're actually doing some ride alongs with all of our department directors and their staffs, finance, our risk management department. We're bringing them all out at different times to show them what we do. And you can come out and do it right along, and we'll let you fly a drone.

Getting any trouble here.

Watch. Yeah.

I would too. Okay. So a week from the

Next Wednesday.

Next Wednesday at 05:00 in the morning at empty. The police department. Very good. Okay. Alright. Thanks.

So the way we left this is we're adding a fourth discussion item to

That's the way I understand. Okay.

Yeah, makes sense.

This is Leah, this is really helpful to present it to us this way.

I heard the commissioners talk. So Roseanne and I got together, we and figured out what is the best way to communicate to you all what the future plans are. And this was what we came up with. And if it needs to be tweaked, we're open to hearing how you might want it tweaked. And if you have items for the agenda, we can discuss, and then we can figure out where on the forecast, might be best to place it.

I have another item I think is worthy of a discussion and some serious public information. As we get into summer, we're a summer again without the Cal Oaks pool. And there's no endings we don't have a pool at this point. We don't have the money to do it. And you guys Parks and Rec did a great job last year.

And I'm sure you'll do a great job again this year. The issue kind of came up too, and Lee and I discussed the restrooms at the Cowl Sports Park, which are the exterior ones. There was 100 kids over there, 200 whatever they were trying out for Marietta Valley softball the other day. And I I didn't hear from my side on Facebook that the restrooms were locked and this was a continual problem. I received a response from Leo, which was fine.

But are those rest rooms what is the future of that site is what I'm asking. If we're not going to have a pool, what are we going to do with it? And I think it might be time to at least address that so that the public is aware. Or maybe we can raise $13,000,000 to build another pool. That would be great. I know. But that's what it's going to take. And if we're not going to have a pool, we're not going to have a pool. What happens with that site and maybe the restrooms at that site?

Real quick. So the city council and I don't have the date offhand. We can certainly get it to you. But it is in February, we'll be hosting a city council priorities workshop. It's open to the public. It's where they'll be talking about everything from kind of the most of it will be on the CIP projects, the capital improvement projects, but there will also be some other discussion items. What we're doing with the equestrian park, and it it's a citywide discussion. Members of the public are welcome to come to that one and and discuss the pool. It is a CIP project.

Right.

It will be done eventually. Everything right now comes down to funding and where it lit where it falls within the priorities.

But that at those meetings, the council members set their priorities. And last year, the pool wasn't a priority. Paving the bargain laps was a priority.

It was a lower priority. Was on there, but it was it was not a tier one priority.

So Correct. It's just kind of an honest discussion of where that's at and, what the future of that facility is going forward. And I don't know if we wanna discuss that. You know, maybe, you know, obviously after the city sets their priorities, CIP priorities, and then and then maybe get an update as to where that where that project is.

You have the prerogative as as the commission to put that on anytime you want in in a future meeting. So if you if you want that on there now and you want us to put it in, we could do that. Or at a future meeting, you can ask us at at the next meeting to come back with an update.

I'd I'd be willing to put it off a little bit, but, you know, summer's coming. So and Sure. The questions will be up again. Yes. Does somebody want to have any feeling on adding the pool as a a discussion item some sometime this year?

So I want to point out just very quick that on the tentative July 3, which we may need to move that date. But on the tentative July 3 meeting, there will be the 2025 aquatic season update provided by Victor. So we can add it on that one if you want to keep update for the aquatic season, then have another discussion about the pool, or a different date? I wasn't sure if you wanted to kind of keep like topics with like topics.

It might fit there, would think. And we'll have somebody from staff or the city admin explain.

Give us a primer on where we're at.

Just where we're at. Because people want to know when's the pool going to. I get that all the time. What's up with the pool?

Does it make sense for us as a commission to designate or ask for a volunteer to commit to attending the council workshop so the council understands the commission's position on the pool or a pool?

I certainly don't want to tell you what to do, but any information is good to have. So if you would like to attend one and all, by all means, you can hear it straight at that time instead of being kind of funneled through us.

Could we designate a member of our committee to represent the views of the committee? Sure.

That do that.

We can

one voice. Yeah.

And then have that particular commission member report out as part of this update to the rest of the commission.

What was the date again?

I just looked it up on my calendar. It is going to be Monday, February 10, starting at 8AM. That's what we have right now. We'll update you if there's any changes either Here. Right here in this council chambers, correct.

Yeah. So what I can do is send the commission like a meeting invite so it's on your calendar. And then that way you can be reminded of it and it'll be on your calendar.

Why don't we make sure that at least one of us is in attendance that day, and then we'll go forward with our own discussion on it based on what we hear at the meeting that day.

Is there a particular date? I don't want to if the priorities workshop is in February, do you want to add that as a discussion item? I don't want to say March 6 because that agenda is now growing and growing.

But I think some of these are going to be relatively quick discussions. So from my perspective, and again, I would look for consensus, we could certainly add it in March. I think it will be timely Because to John's point, the questions that will come up first day that it's over 85 degrees, we'll start hearing about it.

Do you want it as a discussion, or do you want it as an update? Because all we're going to be able to do is provide the information from counsel and make that as part of the record for the commission meeting.

I mean, really don't have a choice there. That's all we can ask for, right?

Yeah. We can say, you know, car wash or golf tournament or take a long time to save up $13,000,000 that way. But no matter what, counsel's going to drive this vehicle.

So,

I'm hearing under kind of like an update, under the update section versus the discussion section. Yeah. Okay.

Agreed? I don't want to

talk That's about good. Leah, what are the colors on here?

Oh, Okay. So the way the colors work is they're shaded. So for example, in looking at the January meeting, the light orange is updates, the darker orange are discussion. And then looking at the March, the very light blue has to be an administerial type process, which is of the board. And then the little bit darker blue is update. And then the darker yet still blue is discussion.

Got it.

Does that help? Oh, does. Okay. I like color. And seeing the shades helps me distinguish, okay, there's my updates, and those are my discussions at a glance.

Thank you.

And we'll be having a fundraiser for funding for ink for our computers at home, too.

Any other topics the commission would like to see placed on a future agenda? We have more meetings, so think about it. We can always add some at the next meeting.

Yeah. Think it's just sometimes these things just kind of mushroom. So as we move along here, we may choose to ask for some adjustments. Appreciate it. We appreciate this, though.

Okay. I don't I don't need consensus. I don't need a motion. I've noted the comments. So, you'll see that on the next agenda packet.

Great. This is a receive and file item. Thank you very much, Leah. Moving on to commissioner member announcements. Commissioner Gilliland?

Well, good evening, everybody. I did one on one speak with Laura about my very first Murrieta parade. I've been at whatever you're to call it Murrieta South for years.

Baja, Marietta.

Yeah. And I just know the amount of work that goes into those. I did them for eight years, so it was wonderful. It was actually really enjoyable. John and I got to hang out and just, know, really we really enjoyed it.

It was wonderful. So but outside of that, you know, as you all know, I've done twenty five years in city government myself my whole career in community services. So I want to just publicly thank all of you guys. I know what it takes to get through not just the holidays, but an entire year of trying to take all the information in from not only this commission but from the community. And I want to personally thank you for your dedication to the citizens of Murrieta because you don't have an easy job.

You are the face of the city. You're out there in the community. You guys are the faces of the city. So also just wanted to wish everybody next week. I too will be out at five a. M, sadly not in Murrieta, but in another nearby city. So stay warm, stay safe, and hope your numbers are down. Good luck.

Thank you. Commissioner or vice chair commissioner Haudemann.

Well, I'll echo that. I'm I'm I'm continually amazed at what our community services department is able to to do. And the number of people you touch in the community. And and how you stretch dollars and and make those things happen. Had a great time at the parade. It was it was nicer. It's actually more fun to watch. And Robin and I go back to doing Temecula parades twenty years ago. So it was a good chance to catch up with her. But to the staff and all the people who work hard all the people who volunteered for the Santa runs this year, I, you know, I didn't get out to see them, but that's was an all volunteer thing that, you know, I've been part of before.

And it takes some sacrifice. And, and it was an important thing, and people brought it back. And that's that's a that's a good thing. But, just, hats off as we enter the New Year where they just look at everything that's on your agenda this year, and it makes Murrieta a very special place. I mean, it's a big place. It's about to get a lot bigger in the next couple of years. But I hope there's a new people come in, and they get a sense of what's been here. And they jump in and help participate and be part of the solution here and part of what makes this community great.

Thank you. Vice Chair Parker?

Same thing that John said. You know, I'm always amazed at what you're able to accomplish,

and,

you're appreciated. And I know sometimes you might not feel that way, but you are. Thanks.

Yeah. I just have two updates. One is not be repetitive, but thank you to you and your departments for for what, what you contribute to, a great environment for the residents of this community. I consistently consistently hear hear from from friends, friends, family, family, neighbors, neighbors, how lucky we are to live here, and we are. And on a personal note, I'm glad to be back from vacation. I just wanted to thank everybody who put forth thoughts and intentions and prayers and

the

thankfully, the road was shorter road to recovery was shorter than I thought it would be initially, which is a good thing, particularly if you ask my wife, who has been a heroine throughout this entire thing. And I've been a big pain in her backside. So it's a anyway, I do want to thank all of you for as you've reached out individually or and thank the city for the card and the warm thoughts. It's very much appreciated. So with that, no further business, no further announcements.

The meeting is now adjourned at 07:29.