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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPRM011509Central Point Parks and Recreation Commission Commission Meeting Minutes January 15,-2~8a~9 I. MEETING CALLED TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. 11. ROLL CALL Parks and Recreation Commission members in attendance were: Chairperson Kerry Bradshaw, Vice-Chairperson, Patricia Alvarez, Neil Olsen, Doug Palmer, David Douglas, John Beck Staff Present: Matt Samitore, Parks and Recreation Manager; Jennifer Boardman, Recreation Supervisor; Shelly Brown Secretary II. III. MINUTES Minutes from Parks Commission meeting of June 19, 2008 we approved. Kerry Bradshaw motioned for approval, John Beck seconded the motion, all were in favor. IV. CHANGES TO THE AGENDA No changes to the agenda V. PUBLIC APPEARANCES 1. Central Point resident, Rick Amoson of 1130 Lathrop Drive, Central Point, Oregon appeared to request the fencing, around Joel Tanzi Skateboard Park be removed in its entirety, explaining that very few skate parks have fences around them. Skaters know they are skating at their own risk. Mr. Amoson also felt the following items should be addressed:. a. The Rules & Regulations posted at the skate park should consist of a few key rules. People skating at the park do not read all the rules and ordinances currently posted and other skate parks post only the general rules. b. Skaters should be able to skate any time within regular park hours. There have been numerous occasions the skate park was locked due to inclement weather and/or vandalism. It should be the decision of the skater if conditions are safe for skating. c. Individuals who do not misbehave at the skate park should not be locked out of the park due to inappropriate actions of other individuals. VI. BUSINESS 1. SKATE PARK DESIGN AND SAFETY DISCUSSION City of Central Point Parks. and Recreation Commission January 15, 2008 Page 2 Matt Samitore proposed that the Parks Commission recommend to City Council, amendment of the rules and regulations and security features for the skate park. Specific items discussed were: a. New Security Camera: Install a camera (live web cam) to monitor activity at the skate park. This action would assist in alleviating illegal activity, graffiti and vandalism by making it possible to identify and site individuals responsible for these types of activity. b. Motion Detector Lights: Lights shall be strategically located so that police can patrol at all hours. c. Removal of Wall on Restroom: A privacy wall was built as part of the original construction of the restroom. The wall has been an area for individuals to hide and documented cases of drug deals, defecation and other lewd acts have been. a common ..occurrence .between .the wall and. the restroom itself. Additional, people can hide behind the wall to do damage to the restroom building. d. Safety Barrier Installation: If the fence was removed, staff would like to install safety barriers at each of the high elevation points of the park. e. Install last feature elements: The park was originally designed to have benches for skating on inside the park itself. These elements were eliminated in order to save money with the original design. It was the general consensus of the Parks Commission that a recommendation to staff be made for items a. through e. above to be completed. All were in favor of these recommendations. 2. STATE GRANT OPPORTUNITY (SKYRMAN PARK VS. SUMMERFIELD PARK): a. Skyrman Property: Wally Skyrman owns property immediately north of the State Police Station. It is Mr. Skyrman's wish to donate his property to the City of Central Point. The stipulations Mr. Skyrman has are that the property remain a park and an arboretum for the purpose of educating the community about trees and plant life. There is a rental house on one side of the property and another house on the west side of the property. The city would have to acquire these other properties to accommodate parking for the arboretum. Mr. Skyrman's home could be used educational facility with minimal adjustments to the structure. State grants are usually not very generous when dealing with the purchase of property., We could apply for a grant to develop Mr. Skyrman's property. However, Mr. Skyrman does have a life tenancy status whereby, he may reside at the property until his passing. That being stated (and with all due respect), it is not definite how long Mr. Skyrman shall reside at this property, should the grant be awarded. Grant monies typically must be used within a specific time frame after being, awarded. A zone change would also need to be done to annex the property into the City of Central Point. Page 2 of 4 City of Central Point Parks.and Recreation Commission January 15, 2008 Page 3 b. Summerfield Park: Summerfield Park is located off Upton Road along the overpass. It runs along Upton Road up to Scenic Avenue. It is approximately two acres in size and has not been developed to date. It's a sort of odd shaped piece with dips and valleys within. There is a possibility of considering placing a dog park in one section. It may include a basketball court and a small playground. Jennifer Boardman is currently working with Terra Science on getting the area that has been determined as a wetland area within the park reclassified as a detention pond. A playground was suggested by Matt Samitore as being a good idea with the new Jackson County Housing .Authority. development having recently been built across the street. The development hosts 55 units and is built for low income families to reside in which means kids would be able to take advantage of the park being very close by. Neil Olsen moved that the Parks Commission recommend to staff to proceed with the grant application for Summerfield Park. Patricia Alvarez seconded the motion, all were.infavor..... 3. PARK NAMING POLICY a. Matt Samitore recommended to the Parks Commission that a discussion be made at a future meeting regarding the procedure for naming Central Point parks. Jennifer Boardman suggested discussing the possibility of gaining corporate sponsorship. for items in parks such as doggie, stations which would decrease the cost to the community for installing and maintaining such items. 4. DISCOVERY AFTER SCHOOL CLUB FUNDING DILEMMAS DISCUSSION a. Jennifer Boardman talked with Kids Unlimited last year and with Boys & Girls Club this year to possibly take over ownership and operation from the City of Central Point of the Discovery After School Club. The City of Central Point Parks & Recreation Department spends approximately $179,000 per year to run the after school program. Most of the money needed to run the program comes from monthly tuitions for participants. Tuitions are $125 per month for 1St-5th grade and $160 per month for Kindergartners. This is approximately. $2 per hour for after school care, a very reasonable price and less than many other day care providers in Central Point. Many families still cannot afford it. Another organization may be able to operate this program at a discounted price.. School District 6 has specific criteria they want the after school program to provide. They want it to focus on homework help. Kids Unlimited is great with instruction and homework help, but their program ends in May and does not resume until October each year. This leaves families with no after school program the first part of June when school is still in session and the month of September when the new school year starts up. Boys and Girls club offers after school program for $30 per year. They run a drop in basis program. They operate mostly on donations and are very interested in having a program in Central Point but want us to come up with $125,000 in support from the Page 3 of 4 City of Central Point Parks.and Recreation Commission January T5, 2008 Page 4 community. The city has said they would be willing to help with the first $25,000 but that leaves $100,000 to raise. Their board of directors will meet Tuesday, January 20th and Jennifer will meet with them afterward to hear what they came up with at the meeting. b. The largest dilemma is staffing the program when the employees are limited to 19.75 hours per week due to the union contract for part time temporary employees. This means we can't offer a summer program at all because a minimum of two employees must be on site at all times. 19.75 hours per week only covers two days of day camp in one week. Grants for programs such as these are being scaled back. We recently applied for a grant requesting $12,000 from the Cow Creek Foundation and received $5,000. VII. MISCELLANEOUS 1. DON JONES PARK CONSTRUCTION UPDATE The landscaping/construction bid opening is delayed since the winning bidder will not be required to provide soil as originally stated in the bid document. 2. BATTLE OF THE BONES UPDATE The Central Point Parks and .Recreation Foundation .now .owns the .Battle of the Bones event. We are currently seeking to rent the Jackson County Exposition Park for the event on August 15th and 16th, 2009 Last year's event did not raise any money for the Central Point Parks Foundation but it was a successful event in that the overhead cost for the event has been paid, the community feedback was positive (people had a great time), and with it now under the Foundation's ownership and stewardship it can be organized efficiently and effectively; allowing proceeds to benefit the Central Point Parks and Recreation Foundation in the year 2009. We are looking forward to a very successful event this year. VI11. ADJOU92NMENT Adjournment was made unanimously at 7:50. All were in favor. The next Park Commission meeting is currently scheduled for April 16, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers. Page 4 of 4