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HomeMy WebLinkAbout21 3 PRB minutesMINUTES MARCH 3, 2021 6:30PM TELECONFERENCE TYPE OF MEETING Monthly Meeting CHAIR Peter Billipp SECRETARY Mary McCulloch ATTENDEES Members Present: Peter Billipp, Will Bertron, Mardi Turner, Brett Bingham, Maryann Grahamann, Laura Turley, Mary McCulloch Members Absent: Nina Pilson, Lindsey Swiger, Jeff Chen, Sami Morrison Staff: Susan White Council Liaison: none VISITORS I. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 6:44pm by Peter Billipp. II. Approval of February 2nd Meeting Minutes: Will Bertron made a motion to approve with Peter Billipp seconding the motion. The minutes were approved. III. Citizen Comments: None. IV. Friends Update: Sami Morrison Susan gave a summary of the minutes from the last Friends meeting. The Park Lovers Golf Ball (April 16th Wildcat Golf Club) is taking the place of the usual Park Lovers’ Ball. Limited to 36 foursomes. Progress with sponsorships so far but they are looking for more. The Senior Services van was used for the wine wagon which went great, raising $9,000+ net. Fathers and Flashlights has a date of October 23rd and secured through the elementary school. Friends approved funding for Huffington Park improvements up to $200,000. V. Council Update: Mayor Pro Tem Kevin Trautner Not present. VI. Parks & Rec Update: Susan White 1) Huffington Park next step (first council workshop, then approval by Friends) will be a presentation at the next council meeting for approval on March 8th, which is standard procedure. To get the special pricing this is a quick turnaround process. Construction will start late May / early June. 2) COVID – Maryann asked about what changes will be made based on the announcement from Governor Abbott. Staff will still wear masks and will encourage everyone to wear masks, but it can no longer be required once the changes take effect (Update: Approved by legal that the City can and will require people to wear masks when entering the facilities). Signage at the parks will stay. Many of the smaller blue signs with disclosures about the equipment being sanitized will be removed on March 11. Operationally, Susan anticipates continuing to operate with reservations to facilitate social distancing until more phases of the vaccine have taken place. 3) Basketball – the city is still in a declared state of emergency and per the Mayor’s Executive Order, the nets must remain down until that status changes (Update: Mayor Highly rescinded the Order on March 5 – state of emergency still in effect). Parks and Recreation Board Minutes page 3 4) Special Events might see a change due to the removed “no more than 10” clause. For example, a movie in the park might be a possibility. Outdoor events will be considered and vetted before approval. Some senior events might also resume as more seniors have received their full vaccine. 5) On March 8th Dr. Walker will present the survey data to council. It has been edited and proofed. Note: targeted age groups are arranged and separated accordingly because staff requested to run data by certain subsets. VII. Park Ambassador Assignments:  Colonial Park East (Will) – The grass continues to look bad.  Colonial Park West (Nina)  Colonial Park Pool (Mary)  Friends Pocket Park (Sami)  Huffington Park (Maryann) – Maryann is excited about the changes coming. Laura said a neighbor told her about an asp issue at this park. Susan said they can put out the reminder signage about asps.  JEH Park (Laura) – Little Free Library is adorable and it appears to be getting used. Brett and his family love it. Susan added that these can sometimes be high maintenance but the Brownie troop coordinated with the builder and it is a great image of the original home that was there.  Judson Park (Jeff)  Recreation Center Playground (Mardi) – Brett said it looks good.  Whitt Johnson (Brett)  Wier Park (Lindsey) VIII. Old Business: Peter Billipp Pickleball – Adding any more lines at Colonial is not favorable with “little lines” and regular court lines already. The tennis user group had been involved in this because they are primarily tennis users, but they will be queried. Peter thought it would be easy and something to consider at Judson. At the next board meeting there will be a thorough report on the tennis user group. Field use policies have been tying into this as well. Instructors getting completely set up on the grass with weights, etc. can get out of hand. Susan talked about the warming station setup at the Rec Center, which was amazing. With so many people out of power it was great to offer a place to warm up, shower and charge cell phones. Mardi, the Good Neighbor Team and staff did a great job calling every single resident and if they could not get a hold of someone – there were about 30 – the Police and Fire departments checked on them. The Public Works Department stayed out overnight in cold and icy conditions to help residents. Fees and hours are going to be reviewed again, especially following the survey data on senior use and the discounts / waivers. The “no questions asked” waiver may need to go back to a special situation waiver. The holiday hours will be reassessed at this point since we are still on COVID hours. The requests for 5am have come from about 11 residents. However, the economics need to be considered. 5:30am – 7:30pm may be the best option for new hours. Revenue is still down from classes. Reservations will also be reevaluated. MLK was a new added holiday for this year. That makes it something to consider for Memorial Day and 4th of July at the Rec Center for example. Parks and Recreation Board Minutes page 3 Peter asked about any plants lost as a result of the freeze. Susan said Brooks is working with the landscaping company to try cutbacks before completely replacing things. These are not covered by any sort of policy so they are trying to salvage what is there. IX. Adjournment: Meeting adjourned at 7:27 p.m. Next meeting is tentatively scheduled for April 7, 2021.