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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 Parks and Recreation Advisory Board Page 1 of 3 Regular Meeting of January 11, 2005 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 Parks and Recreation Advisory Board Page 2 of 3 Regular Meeting of January 11, 2005 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. Parks and Recreation Advisory Board Page 3 of 3 Regular Meeting of January 11, 2005