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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/27/1998 MEETING MINUTES • • City of Bremerton Parks & Recreation Department Parks & Recreation Commission Meeting APPROVED MINUTES Tuesday, October 27, 1998 5:30 p.m. Sheridan Park Community Center 680 Lebo Blvd., Bremerton, WA 98310 ATTENDANCE: Wanda Butler, Barry Cook, Lonnie Dawson, Carol Johnson, Charlie McWhorter. ABSENT/EXCUSED: Nick Garguile Sr., Douglas Groneman, Russ Johnson. AUDIENCE: None STAFF: Jim Spencer, Interim Director, Jodi Wroblewski, Asst. Director, Becky Lorber, Program Coordinator II, Lena D'Agostino, Office Assistant II. I. CALL TO ORDER: Chairman Barry Cook called the meeting to order at 5:38 p.m. II. ITEMS FROM THE AUDIENCE: Becky Lorber distributed copies of the Bremerton Senior Center's Newsletter (November/December issue) and encouraged the Commissioners to take a moment and go through the Newsletter. She also invited everyone to come to either Thanksgiving or Christmas potluck dinner at the Senior Center. This would be a nice opportunity to meet the people at the Center and give the seniors a chance to get to know their Parks Commissioners. Commissioner Wanda Butler mentioned that she met a gentleman who told her that senior trips have been canceled due to budget problems. Becky said that on the contrary, the seniors have trips going gang busters. The gentleman probably meant treks, which were canceled due to lack of participation in the winter months and not because of budget concerns. We will pick up treks again in the Spring. III. AGENDA: No change. IV. OLD BUSINESS 1. Survey Results I Page • • Jodi Wroblewski distributed a copy of the results from October 6th and October 22"d surveys (summary of all the districts). We ended up 8 short of our goal number of 400. Almost 70% said yes, they would support a bond levy to build a community center; 16% - no; and 15% - undecided/need more information. This survey shows that there is support by voters for a bond levy. Jim Spencer said he was very surprised of the survey result and of the number of senior citizens he talked to. The Mayor was provided a copy of the result and she is very interested in pursuing the bond levy. The next logical step is to present this information to City Council study session. We would need the Commissioners to be present during the discussion. 2. Haddon Update This project is near completion. The playground equipment and the basketball courts will be installed within the next couple of weeks. Jim encouraged the Commissioners to drive by the site and check it out to see the dramatic improvement. The contract portion of this project is almost complete, but there are still significant amounts of work we have to do. Jim raised the subject of naming the park in accordance with the policy & provisions for naming parks. We have been referring to the park as the "old Haddon School" site due to its history, and this is an issue we need to address prior to ordering the park sign. In Jim's opinion, the history of the site is important. Ultimately it would be the Commissioners' decision to look at this and come up with a reasonable name for the park. Their responsibility is to make a recommendation and submit it formally to the City Council in a form of a resolution. Chairman Barry Cook said he agrees with Jim that Haddon Park is an appropriate name due to its location and history. Commissioner Carol Johnson also agreed. People tend to know the park's location already as "Haddon". Commissioner Lonnie Dawson asked if there is a way for us to put a sign out stating the park's history? Jodi said she is still doing a research on the history and name of the person for whom the school was named (Lulu Haddon). Commissioner Wanda Butler proposed a motion to recommend naming the park "Haddon Park". M/S/C/U (Butler/C.Johnson). Motion carried unanimously. 3. Evergreen Update Jim mentioned that we are continuing with the Shoreline permit process which is due in December. As far as Evergreen Phase II and remediation, Jim is scheduled to attend a meeting later this week to re-scrub the cost estimate so we can move forward with the grant request with the Department of Ecology for remediating that property. Additionally, we have our Aquatic Land Enhancement Grant (ALEA), which we have submitted recently for matching funds of $850,000 for Phase II development. We're using the funding that we think we've been successful with the Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation (IAC) grant and trying to leverage that in trying to acquire other grant funding for Phase II construction of the park. We've recruited the assistance of an attorney to negotiate with the Attorney General's office on remediation proceedings. 2 Page • We could look at a situation where we could be under construction on Phase I of the existing park and at the same time we're doing remediation. As Jim had mentioned earlier, we're looking at an IAC grant and a potential ALEA grant, as well as other funding sources (Roosevelt Replacement Fund, Real Estate Excise Tax, and Rotary Club donations). 4. SR3 Encroachment Issue We hired an appraiser who is working on providing us with an appraisal of the property in question. Jim mentioned that at the last meeting, Commissioner Russ Johnson suggested looking at a bigger property to trade for the entire property. Jim needs to get in contact with the National Park Service relative to this matter. V. NEW BUSINESS — None VI. STAFF REPORT CDBG Block Grants: We were successful with acquiring funding for the Playground Express Program for $2,100 (asking $25,000). Unfortunately, we did not get as much as we hoped for, and nothing for our Blacktop Basketball program. Manette Playfield ($125,000 project) received $62,500. We hope to have this project on line starting in the Spring of 1999, and ready by the summer. This will definitely impact the PeeWee season during the Spring, but it will be a nice tradeoff. Commissioner Carol Johnson asked if the PeeWee people know about this. Jim said he's not sure. Commissioner Lonnie Dawson added he will notify John Robinnette of the PeeWee organization and let him know of the situation. Jim mentioned that John Robinnette has been supportive in a lot of ways for years, and he wrote a nice support letter which we've included in the grant application package. Commissioner Wanda Butler asked if we're taking down the tree at Manette field, and what plans do we have for the grass area by the restroom on the upper half by the tennis courts. Jim said the tree stays, and we are planning on irrigating the grass area separately. The grant funding will allow us to re-do the stairs that go down from the Senior Center to the field and improve the access to the tennis courts. Pendergast: We've got fields 4,5 &6 leveled off. The maintenance crew spent time picking rocks, seeding, and putting fertilizer and some Tagro on it. We did purchase a water canon to help keep the field as green as we can. Jim added that we're also looking at Pendergast as a venue for a Blues Festival/Concert in July of next year. He also broached the subject relative to the Commissioners' reaction to the potential of selling alcohol in a park. This has been taboo for years and Jim wanted to look at a possibility for an adult event where alcohol will be sold. This step would be a pretty dramatic swing from the way we've done business in the past and Jim wanted to get the Commissioners' reaction to this. Chairman Barry Cook wanted to know if that does open up to outside sources? Jim replied we obviously really need to think through it, change the Bremerton Municipal Code, etc. 3 Page 0 . Commissioner Carol Johnson said personally, she thinks we need to do this and it has to be done in a controlled location. She doesn't see this happening just for this particular event. Why not at the Senior Center for instance during rentals? We probably have to check into how other municipalities get to do it. Jodi mentioned that she had attended a few Blues Festival in different cities where their beer gardens were usually in a fenced-off location away from the main area. Commissioner Charles McWhorter asked how about people wanting to have alcohol at Evergreen Park? Jodi said we need to look at this real close, and we just have to be on the same page to do it. Jim said he's been to tournaments where they all have beer gardens. He is not opposed to an opportunity to make money as additional revenue for the Department as long as there is adequate control. What we can do is at least gather more information and eventually figure out what would work for us. At this point, the group entered into a discussion regarding this issue. Budget: Jim stated he will have to delay definitive discussion on budget issue until next meeting. In general, Fund 407 (Golf) & General Fund are tight. He will provide detailed discussion once we get final decisions. Rifle Range Update: Correspondence exchange took place between Jim and the Kitsap Rifle & Revolver Club (KRRC) president relative to the issues that need to be addressed, specifically, some fairly significant facility modifications or upgrades such as building a new corridor, emergency lighting, panic doors, some hardware, alarms, etc. We are in the process of drafting a written lease agreement for KRRC's review. Once that's in place, it could possibly impact some of their programs. A representative of National Rifle Association (NRA) came in and toured the facility a few months back, and we heard that he declared the range as safe. However, Jim had not seen the results of that audit and he is still waiting for a written documentation supporting that claim. Puget Sound Energy Easement Grant: Jim advised the Commissioners on an easement request by Puget Sound Energy's for an easement grant across the parking lot adjacent to the Bremerton Boardwalk from 2nd Street in order for them to install underground power lines to support the new Bremerton Transportation Center. When Jim first heard about this, he thought it was a Parks Protection issue since it involved the parking lot; however, the parking lot is not a Parks Protection item. Jim is recommending that this easement move forward and it will not impact Sinclair Landing project nor will it, in any way, negatively impacts us. Soccer Grant: Jim had checked on the soccer grant. Cynthia Engelgau, Teen Program Coordinator, is working on this project. Commissioner Charles McWhorter said to let him know if there is anything he can do to help move this along. Chairman Cook asked about the status of the BMX Course, to which Jim responded that due to funding concerns this project is not possible this year. Jim added that he just doesn't see any funding sources for this in the near future. 4 Page • • Becky said she will look into sources for BMX Course development grants. Jim said he is not sure if we can sublease some of the logical locations, since they're GSA property. VII. APPROVAL OF MINUTES — September 22, 1998 M/S/C/U (McWhorter/Butler ) to approve the September 22nd minutes. VIII. COMMISSIONERS' COMMENTS & QUESTIONS Commissioner Dawson said he went down to play basketball by the Campfire Office on 11`h & Warren, and found out there was no hoop —just the pole. Where is it? Jim said there was a delay on the backboard order shipment. The backboard finally came in but the bracket was not with it. We hope to have the hoop in place as soon as we get all the parts needed. Commissioner Dawson also asked now that we got 4 new additional fields to take care of, do we have enough maintenance staff to do the job? Jim said this year we've purchased a $40,000 giant-sized Fairway mower (out of Fund 112/Golf Course revenue) for this purpose to help offset the increase. Commissioner Charles McWhorter commented that whoever is doing the grass mowing at Kiwanis Field is doing an excellent job. It's got to be the new mower and the crew really does a good job. Jim said he will make sure to pass this compliment along to the maintenance crew. Regarding Haddon, Commissioner McWhorter mentioned that he's been tickled with this project, and he sees a lot of people using the field. As far as the most recent Senior Crafts Fair, he did not make it but several people from work did their Christmas shopping and really enjoyed it. Becky thanked him for advertising the Senior Fair. Commissioner Butler seconded that and asked how the turnout went, to which Becky said our numbers were down a little bit this year. Commissioner Butler asked how come the Golf Course revenue is down when she sees a lot of people there all the time? Jim explained that our budget estimates were high. The rate that we budgeted was higher than what we're actually realizing. We also have problem with ending cash issue. Commissioner Butler then asked if this would have any bearing with the Clubhouse? Jim replied we've just finished schematic design and we're putting the Clubhouse on hold temporarily until a long-term revenue stream is identified. Commissioner Butler also inquired if the golf course serve alcohol. Jim said yes; they do have a liquor license. Lastly, Commissioner Butler commented that she had noticed a lot of garbage cans lying around by the parking lot. She added that it probably wouldn't hurt to tidy up the place a bit if we want to attract more customers to help keep our revenues high. Jim thanked her for mentioning this and said he will look into it. Chairman Cook mentioned that they're getting rid of about 60 to 70 computers at his workplace in the next few months, and wanted to know if the Parks Department is interested in acquiring more computers. Jim thanked him for the offer. Becky asked what version/type computers? Chairman Cook said he'll find out more about it. Commissioner Carol Johnson said that last month, Jim was talking about Eastpark. Any news on acquiring it somehow if it comes up for sale? Since it's a 5 Page 111 0 government property then maybe they could donate it to the Parks. It sure makes sense to own that property. Don't we own the trees/Eastpark Nature Trail? Jim said this is something he will ask the Mayor about. He added that he covets that property between the Aquatics Center and Old Wheaton Way. Lastly, Commissioner Carol Johnson reminded everyone to attend the All-City Halloween Party this Saturday. IX. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 7:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted: Lena D'Agostino ffice Asst. II Spenc-Vlnterim Director 6 Page