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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_PAREB_03.14.2013Minutes of the Meeting of the Parks and Recreation Board City of Georgetown, Texas Thursday, March 14, 2013 The Parks and Recreation Board of the City of Georgetown, Texas, met on Thursday , March 14, 2013. Members Present: B. Scott Finnel, Charles Brashear, Daniel Dance, John Hesser, Katherine Kainer, Keith Fruge Members Absent: Robert Johnson Staff Present: Micki Rundell, Kimberly Garrett, Eric Nuner, Jill Kellum, Laurie Brewer Minutes 1 Regular Meeting 1. Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm by John Hesser. 2. Roll Call John Hesser, Daniel Dance, Scott Finnel, Charles Brashear, Keith Fruge, Katherine Kainer Absent: Robert Johnson Staff: Micki Rundell, Kimberly Garrett, Eric Nuner, Jill Kellum, Laurie Brewer 3. Welcome and Introduction of new board members Kimberly Garrett introduced the new board members, Charles Brashear and Scott Finnel. All board members and staff introduced themselves. 4. Review and discussion Kimberly Garrett explained the by-laws and the attendance policy for the Parks and Recreation Board. a. Advisory Board By -Laws b. City Council Attendance Policy for Board Members 5. Consideration and possible action a. Elect the Vice -Chair of the Parks & Recreation Board Motion made by Katherine Kainer, second by Daniel Dance to elect Robert Johnson as vice -chair to the Parks and Recreation Board. Approved 6 - 0 b. Elect the Secretary of the Parks & Recreation Board Motion made by Daniel Dance, second by Keith Frage to elect Katherine Kainer as Secretary to the Parks and Recreation Board. Approved 6 - 0 c. Set date and time for 2013 Parks & Recreation Board meetings Motion made by Keith Fruge, second by Katherine Kainer to set the 2013 Parks and Recreation Meeting on the second Thursday of the month at 6 pm. Approved 6 - 0 6. Overview of the City of Excellence and the 2013/14 annual budget process. Micki Rundell, CFO Micki Rundell introduced herself to the board and explained the City of Excellence is a vision and it started as a council directive in May of 2011 during the budget process. They wanted to see a 5 year plan. It was more looking at financial impacts and what was going to be the tax rate. They used a lot of planning documents they already had; the 2030 plan, which is a public document that has a lot of public participation in its creation, also various master plans such as the parks master plan, the downtown master plan, utilities master plan and public safety master plan as well as departmental strategic plans. Each department has a plan to implement the goals of the 2030 plan over a 5 year period. So basically, they put pencil to paper to determine what the costs were. So, the City of Excellence is, "what if" the city has completed all the major projects that are really quality of life related; the amphitheater, the arts center, park improvements and more parks, completed the public safety facility and it is operational, there have been transportation improvements. All of these things identify the city as a premier community and have managed our growth effectively and that Georgetown is a premier community in Central Texas, and is renowned throughout the country as a wonderful place to be. So to make this a reality we had to have a substantial revenue increase. All this information was presented to the city council in July 2012. The council was overwhelmed as everyone wants to be the City of Excellence. The council wanted to go back and do some strategic planning and in September of 2012, staff worked with city council to create the definition of what the City of Excellence is. The City of Excellence is the one that maximizes the citizen's quality of life. Through that we also looked at very clear focused areas that we wanted to put our resources to work. Within those resources the plan was to develop a fiscally responsible plan that focused on these policy areas to alleviate and reduce future tax impacts to the citizens. Those areas include economic development, signature destination, public safety, transportation, and maintaining our utility services. All of these are very specific focus areas and as staff we're all working forward. So the 2013/2014 budget in relation to the signature destination, it supports the City of Excellence vision and relates to quality of life improvements. The parks master plan implementation is critical to that. To renovate and maintain our existing parks such as the play scape renovation, San Jose Park rehab, continuing the trail expansion, continue our preservation area along the river, plan to develop the west side park and the development of Garey Park. In looking at that, the question is how do you fund that. In 2008, the City of Georgetown voters approved 35.5 million to implement the parks master plan which included all the elements above. To date only 2.5 million has been issued. When we went to the voters, they said it would not be issued all at once and would be issued responsibly and would minimize the tax implications. In April 2013, the council will adopt the 2013 bond issues and they will issue an additional 5 million of that 35.5 million that was previously approved. That will allow many of those projects to be implemented and to start the planning for Garey Park and some of those major elements in the master plan that we have been waiting for a funding source. That will leave 28 million of unauthorized bonds that will be available when the time comes. The impact of that 5 million is less than a penny to the tax rate. The total amount, of what has been issued of the 2008 parks bonds is a little over a penny. Again, that is well within if not drastically less than what the voters were told they would have on the tax roll. Micki Rundell presented why this was important. Recently the city completed its 2012 citizen survey. This survey has a long history. The city has been doing surveys bi-annually since 2000. They gauge a lot of different elements of the city; whether it is transportation, quality of life, what the people like about living in Georgetown, and what they would change. The results of the recent survey, which there were very specific questionsabout parks, unanimously supported the vision that is a signature destination and the parks as a critical element to the City of Excellence. You will see that the appearance of the parks and other questions were well over 80 - 90% satisfaction rating by our community. In fact, the appearance and the accessibilities were outstanding and the overall quality was near 90%. This is critical information that the community supports parks and recreation activities and programs. The survey was of 964 residents that answered the 3 page questionnaire; some of it was a written survey and some was internet based. It was a controlled survey with about a 95% accuracy ratio. One question was how much usage they had of any of the parks over the past 12 months. 62% of the respondents had said they used San Gabriel Park. The hike and bike trail and the recreation center were very highly utilized by the public. Then they asked a question about the importance. Maintaining the appearance of city parks and facilities was given a rating of over 91% and that was only second to maintain city roads and public service. Again, that was a direct element, that quality of life issues such as parks is very important to the community. 75% of respondents rated recreation as very important or somewhat important. Again, there is a very positive support from the community. It was then asked what they would rate the quality of those served and parks maintained 70% that said it was either good or excellent. That is in the top 3 - 4 of all city services. Then overall citizen quality of life was rated. Over 98% of the citizen's surveyed that the overall quality of life is either good or excellent. The satisfaction indicators within these surveys were very positive for the continued and the work the parks department does. So as we go into the 2013/2014 budget focus were going to be focused on the goals outlined in the signature destination business plan. Laurie Brewer is the business plan manager. The signature destination includes many things such as the square and all the areas that are important to bringing and keeping people in Georgetown. One of the major elements is the implementation of the parks master plan. We need to continue the quality programs to meet the community needs that include the implementation of the cost of service rates that have been developed over the past few years. If you look at the recreation center, it pays for many and most of itself. When you look at it compared to other centers throughout the state we recover our cost of service more than any place else. We need to also address our maintenance issue to extend the life of many of our parks. Again, doing the play scape renovations and the rehabilitation of San Gabriel and Chautauqua parks and some of the other elements are key to maintaining the numbers in the overall quality of life. A signature destination is key to the success of the city and it is a vital role and parks play a vital role in making sure that signature destination is unique and is well protected and valued by the community. Parks and Recreation plays an important role in community satisfaction. That was evident in the 2012 city citizen survey and that is again a continued trend from all the th surveys since 2000. This is the 6 one and in every one the value and the contributions that Parks and Recreation make are evident in the survey. In conclusion, Parks does equal quality of life and the quality of life is critical to the City of Excellence which again is the goal of the city council and long term. Micki Rundell stated there is a lot more to the City of Excellence; economic development, transportation, public safety, and utilities. It is an integrated solution and an integrated review and plan to promote this community and maintain the citizen satisfaction we currently have and to continue to grow. Laurie Brewer asked if there were any comments or any kinds of trend in the comments related to parks and recreation that would be important to understand. Micki Rundell stated she feels there are some trends. In reviewing the data you can see there are trends; she stated the demographics in Georgetown are very unique. There is Sun City which use some of our parks but not all of our parks and in a sense there is some relief by the citizens their using their own facilities but again there was a lot of demand for more hike and bike trails, continued improvements and amphitheater. All the things that we talk about and we plan for the citizen's want. Keith Fruge stated Micki Rundell presented information on signature destination but then talk about quality of life for the citizen's; so are we trying to make it a destination for people outside of the city? Micki Rundell we are trying to do both. She stated signature destination is important because it brings sales tax, investment from other areas that in fact allows the city to improve the quality of life without making the residents that are already here pay those exorbitant prices to do that. The more valuation and more sales tax, the less we have to depend on property tax rates. Laurie Brewer stated in a discussion with Chet Garner, host of Day Tripper on PBS, he came and spoke at one of the downtown meetings and he said what people are searching for in tourism is a local experience. They don't want anything that is manufactured so what we need to focus on is what we do well and what our signature is. Some of our signature elements are our natural features that are preserved by the parks; the two rivers, San Gabriel Park and Blue Hole. The square itself and the pocket parks the parks department maintains around the square and the caves. Laurie Brewer stated there needs to be education with our own citizens of the signature elements we have and they can be ambassadors to their friends and family that come into town. She stated when you bring people to town you show off what you have such as Blue Hole, San Gabriel Park, Garey Park, restaurants, Inner Space Caverns, and the Palace Theater which are unique to Georgetown. Micki Rundell stated the City of Excellence vision is something we have all been working toward. It never had a defined goal and the council has been supportive of developing that goal and embracing that goal and moving forward with the implementation of the goal. In the past we have all been working toward to that but it was never outlined in these 5 particular areas. She stated the work the Board does in supporting those goals, that it was clearly evident by the survey results. 7. Discussion on the Parks Master Plan and the shared vision and relationship between Parks, Downtown, CVB and Arts & Culture Master Plans, the City of Excellence and a Signature Destination Kimberly Garrett stated at the February meeting there was discussion regarding revisiting the parks master plan and the priorities listed. The parks master plan was completed in 2009 with the top priorities being funded in the 2008 parks bond. While most of these projects have not been completed, there is a funding source and most items are in progress or align with future projects. The top priorities are shown on the executive summary form that is attached Also discussed at the last meeting was a possible downtown/festival park which is part of the City of Excellence and a Signature Destination. This vision is shared among the CVB and the Arts and Culture Boards. These boards just recently created master plans and visioning sessions which included the downtown festival park. This vision was also included in the Parks Master Plan and the Downtown Master Plan. There is no action posted for this item, it is just an opportunity to continue the discussion regarding future projects related to the parks master plan. Copies of the above mentioned master plans and reports are attached. John Hesser asked if there any projections on the expected result of the master plan as far as enhanced business. Micki Rundell stated that is something they will be working on as they develop this. There are not numbers currently but she stated that they know it is demanded by the community as they approved everything that was on the bonds. Laurie Brewer stated the quality of life things are the hardest to measure, because of the impact from a park. She has been researching the economic impacts of a park and especially urban parks as we look at this downtown pocket park in front of the art center. There have been studies done in bigger cities at how the property values around parks go up because that becomes much more attractive and much more valuable to people. She feels the way we are measuring for that now is through the citizen survey. There are still people who want to come and live here and visit here and our citizen's feel the quality of life is high. As we go on we can measure some of the impact of the parks. We have figures on the revenue it generates, but what is the true impact when you have soccer or baseball tournament and you have people in town. There are industry standards that state that every visitor who is here for the day spends $142.35. You start calculating that and the parks bring in people you can calculate the economic impact to the city. That is revenue coming in from the outside being spent here. Laurie Brewer stated we will be doing more of that as council gets more into it to measure but for now the citizen survey has been the only form of measurement. Micki Rundell stated we will be looking at ways to communicate some of the events and facilities available in Georgetown. She stated the Rivery Conference Center and hotel is going to be about 68 million of new investment in the community and it is here because of the location next to Rivery Park. There is certain dynamics and specific projects that can be tied to the Rivery Park that will be marketed by the hotel such as access to the hike and bike trail, and the river. There is a tremendous financial impact we just have to find a better way measure it. Laurie Brewer stated Parks and Recreation is ahead of the curve as they have a master plan and the Downtown is updating the downtown master plan. CVB and Arts and Culture have not had a master plan up to this point. Parks and Recreation has had the foresight to have a master plan and have long range projects planned out. As these other groups work on plans for the next 5 —10 years that will be shared with the Parks and Recreation Board. Kimberly Garrett stated that all the other plans tie back to the parks. The Arts and Culture board is doing the art center downtown and they have the art downtown in the pocket parks, but one of their main goals is to do an art park downtown in the festival area. CVB is in the early stages of their goals are around things the Parks and Recreation master plan already has. In the downtown master plan done 10 years ago there was talk then about a festival park downtown, and civic center. In the Parks and Recreation master plan, it specifically talks about a downtown festival park. The City Council and the community have identified this as a top priority in the signature destination. Kimberly Garrett showed the top priorities from the master plan and she states they are still all important and they are in progress and there is a funding source for , some of them. She asked if there is something new and different that has not been accomplished. This was asked of the board last meeting to come up with these ideas. Keith Fruge stated we have a lot of parks and hike and bike trails. He stated the San Gabriel Park is the "Central Park" of Georgetown and it is run down. The facilities are not in good shape, the parking is not that great. He stated if we polish it up and decide what we really want out of San Gabriel Park and start using some of the unused areas it will be utilized. Kimberly Garrett stated there was 10 million passed in the bond for improvements to San Gabriel Park including an amphitheater. We have the funding for the San Gabriel Park improvements to update the pavilions, restrooms and the parking and those are all top priorities and that can definitely be a focus. The funding has been approved but has not all been allocated. There is 1 million to be used on San Gabriel Park for the bank stabilization and this is a #1 priority as the river is taking over the park. Kimberly Garrett stated with that project being done, it will help define more what to do with that space. She stated with that we can get a theme throughout the park. We don't want to renovate one thing, we want everything to match and be consistent. Eric Nuner stated the bank stabilization is the precursor to adding amenities to the park and updating the park. John Hesser asked what the criteria are for selecting the priorities. Kimberly Garrett stated the master plan priorities were based on citizen comments. John Hesser explained that infrastructure comes before; he stated the citizen's input is important however they may not know the bank is a problem. He stated the priorities could be reprioritized as far as how you spend your money where you want to go. Daniel Dance stated not all parks can be everything to everybody. Each established park and future parks have their own theme. Kimberly Garrett stated that some of these parks are identified in the master plan as neighborhood or community parks and they have elements that are in each park. She stated prioritizing goes back into the capital maintenance, which is a fee schedule of every part and the condition of every piece of equipment and what the useful life is, this will be used to prioritize items in each park. We are now in the build, maintenance and grow mode. Eric Nuner explained the different parks such as community, regional and neighborhood parks all have different types of amenities. John Hesser stated safety, preservation and rehabilitation should help make a decision on priorities. Writing these down will also help justify to the citizens what you are doing. Scott Finnel stated he would like to see more hike/bike trails and for them to be all connected. Kimberly Garrett stated this is the most money that has been allocated in the bond for San Gabriel Park. John Hesser stated if you attract more people here you have to worry about traffic and where are you going to park. John Hesser stated, are we prepared and is the infrastructure is here to accommodate. Daniel Dance asked if there is utilization and if people know about certain facilities we have to offer. The board asked if there is a marketing budget and Laurie Brewer stated there is not a marketing budget. Laurie Brewer stated that the Day Tripper on PBS is filming in Georgetown and highlighting the challenge course. Kimberly Garrett stated that in the survey it showed that most people got their information from the Williamson County Sun and the Community Impact. Scott Brashear asked who we are marketing to bring into the city. Laurie Brewer stated CVB is doing a market study and have done license plate surveys. It has shown that most people come from the Dallas Metroplex area or within a 20 mile radius of Georgetown. Laurie Brewer stated we have to go a step further and get actual surveys at hotels and to do that same statistically valid research from our tourism dollars to figure out where we need to put that advertising. Ideas are listing in the Texas Monthly, magazines in hotels in the Dallas area and advertising in hotels at the card racks. The CVB is working with sport organizations and bringing tournaments to Georgetown. Kimberly Garrett stated she wanted to bring the master plan back to the board to talk about the festival park and the transition of moving that downtown. She stated CVB, the Library, the Arts and Culture Board and Parks and Recreation will work together on this comprehensive document. Laurie Brewer stated that within two months there will be a draft document that can be shared that the board can review and give comments and changes. John Hesser stated he sees a long term plan is a living document that goes on for a period time but needs to be revisited periodically because circumstances change all the time. He asked how long it had been since it was looked at. Kimberly Garrett stated the master plan was adopted in 2009 and all the items in the master plan are in progress and that we are looking at and are in various stages. There was some talk about the rodeo arena and lease will be coming up and how that will change the whole master plan. Kimberly Garrett stated we could look at the master plan annually as a board or as needed. She stated when we start the Westside Park that will be the opportunity to do some citizen surveying and see if priorities change. John Hesser stated there has to be an expected result to know when we got finished that we achieved what we did or didn't, so we know next time. Keith Fruge stated with San Gabriel Park it is utilized a lot but if it continues to go downhill it could hurt the utilization in the future. Kimberly Garrett stated 5 million will be allocated and a million of that was toward San Gabriel Park improvements; the bank stabilization and developing what we could do with San Gabriel Park. 8. Update, discussion and final recommendation to City Council on future cemetery proposal John Hesser stated the I.O.O.F. was deeded to the City of Georgetown on 1978. It is operated by the Parks and Recreation Department. Funds from sales and other fees go to offset the expenses and maintenance of the cemetery. The I.O.O.F. is anticipated to reach capacity around 2040 with no revenue in the future to offset expenses and maintenance. Property and funds were given to the city at the time of the transfer. We also have Citizen's Memorial cemetery that is maintained by the city and the city owns the land. There is no revenue from plots sales or fees to offset the expenses and maintenance. The Citizen's Memorial Association assigns the plots to be used. People who are members of this association are qualified to be buried there. There are not steps being taken to apply to state law. The plots are not plotted. There is more development going on around it and he feels there will be pressure to clean the cemetery up. John Hesser assessed there is a long term unfunded liability and there is a perpetual care issue that will come out of tax money. John Hesser stated he contacted other cities on what they do with their cemeteries. He stated his recommendation is not like what other cities is doing. When the cemetery reaches it capacity what is going to be the solution for residents to be buried in the future. He stated he did find cities that have 501c3 organizations and some that do not and some that have cemetery boards that run the 501c3. The boards range from 5 —13 members and boards with more than 5 members complained there were too many people on the board and no decisions could be made. John Hesser's recommendation would be keep it at a small number of board members. Cities with perpetual care incorporations and without incorporations; what he found was cities that had this 501c3 and found where the funds were set aside on the books. Most often they were controlled by the Parks or the Street Departments. One 501c3 did the activity; they sold the plots, maintained it and did the investment and they were not very happy. He said in his research he found various levels of success. John Hesser is recommending that a 501c3 be established. He did get the IRS policy out and it has a 501c3 set aside of the purpose of cemeteries. There are more and more states that require a perpetual care fund as a matter of law and the state of Texas does that as well. This will push us towards compliance as far as state law is concerned and he states there may be an exemption of the I.O.O.F. transfer. The 501c3 will have to be funded and the funds can be gathered in several ways. The money collected will be put in a fund and build it. He stated that money would be put in a trust immediately with the idea that the city would continue to pay for the maintenance until they reach the money needed. John Hesser recommends the cemetery be left reporting to the Parks Department as they have done a good job on what they are doing and seems to work. He would recommend a board of 4 - 5 members; parks director, 1 city councilmember, a finance staff person, someone from the Citizen's Memorial Association, and a funeral director. He recommends establishing a mission statement and policies and a long range plan and budget that would help focus and would not have this burden on the city taxes. He stated it might be a small amount but feels this would be a good business solution to the issue. John Hesser will present this proposal to City Council on th April 9 . Keith Fruge asked; the money that is collected and has been collected where does it go. Kimberly Garrett stated it goes toward offsetting the cost. Eric Nuner stated internally the cemetery is treated like another park; it is another facility we maintain. Kimberly Garrett stated if the council wants to go this direction it would be brought to them through the budget process as a program and project as there will be funds associated with legal work and establishing the 501c3. Motion made by Scott Finnel, seconded by Daniel Dance to recommend to City Council the future cemetery proposal as presented by John Hesser. 9. Discussion and possible direction to staff on options to ensure a family friendly environment at Blue Hole Park John Hesser stated the issues at Blue Hole Park; alcohol in particular and jumping off the cliffs; the board feels it should be a family friendly area. The discussion is on how to handle to alcohol issue. It was asked if the city council would give the authority to post signs for no alcohol areas at Blue Hole Park. The other issue is the cliff jumping. There are signs posted and there are ordinances to keep people off the cliffs and no jumping. The police would have to witness the violation in order to enforce. Keith Fruge stated there has been lot vandalism. There was discussion on increased police presences and video surveillance but this is a challenge and expensive option. He stated no drinking is a positive step but unless it is enforced it doesn't help. Kimberly Garrett explained that after the flood in 2007 the road was washed away. The road prior to the flood was accessible by the public and the activity was not as bad as the police had better access as well. The road is not a through street any longer and police cannot get through there as quickly. Kimberly Garrett stated the police do have alternate access points to the park. Eric Nuner explained that with the new restaurant there it is more positive activity in the area and you can see the area and activity. People may feel like there are more eyes on them. Keith Fruge stated Blue Hole is a focal point of Georgetown. It would be good to put some effort into keeping it nice. Daniel Dance stated with the City of Excellence idea; the parks and the infrastructure is a huge endeavor of the city; Chief Nero needs to be on board with this as well and not with just Blue Hole but all city parks. There needs to be more integration with the police department. He stated he feels it is enforcing the rules we already have. Kimberly Garrett stated she could ask the Chief or Assistant Chief with the Police Department to attend the next meeting. Motion made by Daniel Dance, second by Katherine Kainer to have staff reach out to the Police Department to begin a discussion to have a comprehensive plan for park safety and presence not only at Blue Hole but in everything that is going on and coming up and make it a family friendly environment. Approve 6 - 0 10. Update from the Parks and Recreation Board Aquatics Subcommittee Katherine Kainer stated the subcommittee met with staff and was given a presentation on the pools. The repairs and priorities were discussed on all the pools. It was decided that any time we started repairs we would have to follow code and once that gets started you have to go all the way. The viability of the Tennis Center was discussed and the possibility of presenting to the board with a firm closing date of that pool. Stephanie Darimont and Robert Johnson are going to meet before the next subcommittee meeting and they are going to compile a specific list of priorities, repairs, costs and time frame. They discussed aquatic trends, usage and revenue such as the spray grounds and play features. The subcommittee will meet again on nd April 2 . Kimberly Garrett stated the entire Tennis Center is on the CIP list. 11. Update from the Friends of Georgetown Parks and Recreation th Kimberly Garrett stated the Friends of Georgetown Parks and Recreation met on March 4 and are redefining their goals. In the April meeting they are going to work on the strategic plan. There was an organization that attended the Friends of Georgetown meeting that supports the Bark Park. Georgetown Swims is going strong and have some volunteer with that. They just finished a fitness initiative through the Friends, the Trim Down Challenge, and it was successful. John Hesser stated they just started another one and it was bigger than the last class. Some of the participants that dropped out Last time came back for this session due to the nutrition portion. There were prizes and incentives for people to join and lose weight. Keith Fruge asked what the liaison from the Parks and Recreation Board does. Kimberly Garrett stated they go to the meetings. They make sure to communicate anything from the board that is in concert with what they are doing. One of the biggest things that is going to come up in the next month or two is bringing the play scape and the opportunity to raise money. It is a link between the board and the friends group. 12. Appoint Parks and Recreation board member as a liaison to the Friends of Georgetown Parks and Recreation Keith Fruge will go to the next meeting. This item was tabled. 13. Approve minutes from the February 14, 2013 meeting Motion made by Katherine Kainer, second by Keith Fruge to approve the February 14, 2013 meeting. Approve 6 - 0 14. Adjourn Motion made by Joh4 Hesser to adjourn the meeting. The meeting adjourned at 9:21 pm. iiLj John?' I Hesser Chair - Parks and Recreation Board Katherine Kainer Secretary - Parks and Recreation Board Board Liaison — Parks and Recreation Board