HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/11/2005 - Regular Minutes - Parks Board Parks and Recreation Advisory Board
Regular Meeting
Tuesday, January 11, 2005, 7:00 p.m.
The EXIT Teen Center
1520 Rock Prairie Road
College Station, Texas
Staff Present: Steve Beachy, Director; Eric Ploeger, Assistant Director; Curtis Bingham and Peter
Lamont, Recreation Superintendents; Pamela Springfield, Staff Assistant.
Board Members Present: Jodi Warner, Chair; Don Allison; Gary Erwin; Glenn Schroeder; Larry
Farnsworth; Jeannie McCandless; Gary Thomas.
Board Members Absent: Kathleen Ireland; Carol Blaschke.
Guests & Visitors: Jamie Rae Walker and Jen White — Recreation, Park, & Tourism Sciences
Department, TAMU
1. Call to order. Jodi Warner called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m.
2. Pardon and possible action concerning requests for absences of members. Two
requests for absence had been submitted by Kathy Ireland and Carol Blaschke. Larry
Farnsworth moved to accept the two requests for absence. Gary Thomas seconded and the
vote was called. The motion carried unanimously.
3. Hear Visitors. Hearing none, this item was closed.
4. Discussion, consideration, and possible approval of minutes from the Regular
meeting of December 14, 2004. Visitor Doug McHan's first name had been misspelled as
Dough. Don Allison moved to accept the minutes of the December 2004 meeting with the
aforementioned change. The motion was seconded by Glenn Schroeder, and hearing no
opposition or discussion, the vote was called. The minutes were accepted as presented with
the one change.
5. Report, discussion, and possible action regarding the potential for pedestrian access
from Manuel to Dartmouth. At the last meeting during a discussion regarding a potential
park land dedication that had been brought before the Board, Glenn S. had asked about
access from Manuel Street to the Wolf Pen Creek area. Ric stated that he had posed the
question of access to the City's Traffic Planner, who had told him that there were no plans at
present to provide street access from Manuel to the Wolf Pen area. Pedestrian access would
be available, however, through the ice rink across to Holleman, once it has been completed.
The Planner was now aware that access was a concern. Discussion followed regarding
ownership of the piece of property directly east of Manuel that goes to Dartmouth. Staff
would check on that ownership issue and get an answer back to Glenn.
This was an informational item only and no action was required.
6. Report, discussion, and possible action regarding Park Maintenance Standards.
Curtis Bingham was present to give a quarterly update, as well as a report on trends that
were based on the past three years of standards. He told the Board that while there were
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standards where steady improvement was being made, there were also standards that
continued to score low. See attached "Trends in Maintenance Standards Surveys" for the
complete report and the possible solutions.
This was an informational item only and no action was required.
7. Report, discussion, and possible action regarding Program and Facility Needs
Assessment process. Steve explained that the board would see this item on the agenda for
at least the next six months. He explained that this would be the first time that the Parks
Department would have a comprehensive needs assessment done and it would look at all the
variables from different user groups and different interests. This will provide an opportunity
to see the bigger picture and all the specific needs on a pro-active rather than a reactive basis.
He introduced Jamie Rae Walker, an understudy of Dr. John Crompton, who would be carrying
out the process of the needs assessment with staff providing logistical assistance. Steve
stated that he would like for one or two of the board members to attend each of the focus
group sessions that would be held.
Jamie Rae explained that the Board members' input would also be included in the Nominal
Group Technique (NGT) process (see attachment). The focus groups would be asked what
services were needed in order to meet the needs of their family or the group they were
representing. All suggestions, concerns, and needs would be documented and then ranked in
each group. By ranking them it allows a consensus to be made across the board as to what
the most important thing is. After all of the focus group meetings have been held, the final
rankings will also be ranked by consensus. Based on those suggestions, a survey of
questions would be created. The focus group meetings would run through March. A report
would come back to the Board in June and the project would be finished up in July.
This was an informational item only and no action was required.
8. Report, discussion, and possible action concerning the Capital Improvement
Program (CIP). Current lists had been included in the members' packets and brief updates
were given on the status of some of the projects in progress:
• The Lincoln Center expansion project would be substantially complete that week.
• John Crompton Park should be bid out within the next week to ten days.
• The lighting project for Central and Veterans Athletic Parks would be going to City Council
for approval on January 20th
• The Intergenerational Parks project would go out to bid within the next week or so.
• Work would be done in Parkway Park - a water fountain, footbridge, and trees for seasonal
color would be installed. A fence with concrete rails that look like boards will be installed on
the side of the park without a curb. It would make a nice addition but also keep people
from four-wheeling there.
Steve complimented Ric and the Park Planners on the hard work they had been doing on all of
the projects. It was suggested that perhaps once a punch-out list had been done for the
Lincoln Center expansion project, a joint meeting with the Lincoln Center Advisory Board
could be held in order to begin considering what to do with the old buildings at Lincoln Center.
This was an informational item only and no action was required.
9. Review, discussion, and possible action concerning Board and Department Goals
and Objectives, and City Council Strategic Plan. The Board and Departmental Goals had
been included in the packets. Steve stated that not a lot of milestones showed as being
complete, however, that would increase. At present there was emphasis being placed on
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finding ways to improve the beautification of parks. Staff would be bringing ideas on how to
accomplish that back to the Board at future meetings.
This was an informational item only and no action was required.
10. Discussion of calendar, future meeting dates, and possible agenda items.
• The next regular meeting would be held on February 8, 2005.
11. Adiourn. A motion was made to adjourn by Glenn S. and seconded by Gary E. The vote was
called and hearing no opposition, the meeting adjourned at 7:47 p.m.
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