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HomeMy WebLinkAbout19 12 PRB minutesMINUTES DECEMBER 4, 2019 6:30PM REC CENTER – CONFERENCE ROOM TYPE OF MEETING Monthly Meeting CHAIR Peter Billipp SECRETARY Mary McCulloch ATTENDEES Members Present: Peter Billipp, Will Bertron, Maryann Grahmann, Nina Pilson, Laura Turley, Mary McCulloch, Jeff Chen, Lindsey Swiger Members Absent: Mardi Turner, Brett Bingham, Sami Morrison Staff: Susan White Council Liaison: Mayor Pro Tem Kevin Trautner VISITORS I. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 6:37 pm by Peter Billipp. II. Approval of November 13th Meeting Minutes: Maryann made a motion to approve with Peter seconding the motion. The minutes were approved. III. Citizen Comments: No citizens present. IV. Park Programming 5-year Follow Up Survey Discussion: Dr. Jamie Rae Walker and Kelsey Coats, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Help communities make evidence-based unbiased resources. Did a task force and online survey 5 years ago. This one will be scientific and meaningful but more low key. Looking for a pulse on the data since it has been 5 years. Emphasis on the seniors this time vs. park land acquisition last time. Will pose questions for people that will be seniors in 5 years from now. It’s been 20 years since the seniors have been reviewed. Combining this with the parks makes sense for cost and efficiency. Programming and activities will be more of a focus than park improvement/changes/acquisition. Kelsey does project outreach for urban parks. Currently in the planning stage which includes goals and timelines in early January. Review previous data and work with the staff. Will be using small focus groups: Parks Board, Seniors Board and users & non-users of recreational services. Citizen input at pop-ups will be used at a public event and also at the senior center to get people who do not typically come to a planned one. Worksheets and color sheets make it family friendly. Jamie Rae and Kelsey have had success with this over the past 9 years. Great participation from this. The online surveys will be put out between late Feb and early April. Everyone on the utility list will get a code to access the online survey and a reminder post card will be sent. West U has had an excellent response rate in the past with good spread of demographics making the data results statically confident. Every effort is made to ensure this, including mapping the representation. Marketing will be in the City Currents, etc. There will be print and in person interview options available as needed. Translation into Spanish, Mandarin and other languages will also be available. The 35 Good Neighbor team that takes care of the 180 seniors may potentially be trained to interview their seniors properly. Some senior questions were about HIPPA that may be outside the scope of this project due to staffing and protocols that could be restrictive for a Parks and Recreation Board Minutes page 2 research institution. Reporting of the analysis will hopefully be available by April 30, 2020. This would cover representation, key themes, basic feasibility and recommendations (very light). This survey will not be used to put pressure on the city for things that are infeasible or outside the budget. Will really dig in to find small impactful themes, not just screen by > 60%. Also ensure capturing household composition (what ages are living in the house). Laura asked about confidentiality of the data and Jamie gave a thorough response about how the addresses are double blindly coded so that nobody outside of Jamie’s team could ever figure out to match the data to a citizen. Lindsey asked how often other communities run these kinds of surveys and Jamie answered that most communities do it every 5 years to be eligible for funding options. However, this could be a cost issue for some. Jeff asked how old you need to be for senior services and Susan answered that you only need to be 50 years old to participate in programs. Some people may not know that they are eligible for senior programs in West U. We also have a lack of knowledge of the family perspective for seniors and would like to get more data about that. The senior board also encouraged not overusing the word “senior”. Peter asked about the minimum age of 50 for being a senior. Susan answered that was initially established because it’s the minimum age that Harris County allows for their Precinct Bus trips, which the city utilizes. Lindsey asked what percentage of the West U population are seniors. Susan answered that ~1,500 utility bills have the senior discount which uses the 65 minimum age. Peter suggested a survey question to find out usage of the West U Elementary and Southside Place parks, which may be posed more generally since there are many nearby. Final note, this is the time for feedback! V. Friends Update: Sami Morrison Not present. $103,000 net from Fathers and Flashlights announced by Susan. Amazing!!! VI. Council Update: Kevin Trautner, Mayor Pro-Term Will mentioned some children thought they missed the tree lighting because it was on early but it must have been during testing. Kevin announced a successful Tree Lighting event. There will be an article in West U Essentials that will be helpful in understanding the Tri- Sports issue. Nina and Jeff commented. Laura asked if there are any issues for Parks and Rec as a result. Kevin is a big fan of Tri-Sports and believes they will continue to maintained the fields. VII. Staff Update: Susan White Note: Michelle recognized by Mayor and Council as a Star Citizen. Michele will be looking for more help from the Board for the Fun Run next year. 1) Whitt Johnson park – GaGa ball is a huge success. Maryann talked about how great it is and Jeff said the pit may be too small. 2) Colonial Pool – Council will be approving the contract soon. New slide should be in place in January with the green/tan colors. Resurfacing will be next. Moving along. Nina asked where the Walrus will be and Susan confirmed it will be replacing the old low blue slide. 3) Colonial Park East – request from a user group member to look into basketball for the volleyball area. Susan mentioned a previous look into making the tennis courts multi- use but we would need to revisit this. Judson could also be a consideration. User group is meeting next Tuesday. Some preliminary options are being researched to be able to show the user group. Parks and Recreation Board Minutes page 3 VIII. Park Ambassador Assignments:  Colonial Park East (Will)  Colonial Park West (Nina) – Jeff recently noticed more people using this area and Susan confirmed they have added banners.  Colonial Park Pool (Mary)  Friends Pocket Park (Sami)  Huffington Park (Maryann)  JEH Park (Laura)  Judson Park (Jeff)  Recreation Center Playground (Mardi) – Mary commented that one of the rubber attachments to the pullup equipment is broken.  Whitt Johnson (Brett)  Wier Park (Lindsey) – utility work on Nottingham is blocking the side of the park. People have been asking what is going on and when it will be over. IX. Adjournment: Meeting adjourned at 7:59 p.m. Next meeting is scheduled for a Wednesday in January 2020.