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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPark & Rec Commission 2017-06-15 Minutes1 San Rafael Park and Recreation Commission Meeting Minutes: June 15, 2017 Chair Eric Holm called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. at San Rafael Community Center Roll Call: Commissioners: Mark Bustillos, Chair Eric Holm, Jeff Jones, Stacey Laumann, Mark Machado, Ralph Mihan, Vice Chair Tom Obletz, Cicily Emerson, Alternate Commissioners Present: Holm, Jones,Obletz, Machado, Mihan Commissioners Absent: Bustillos, Emerson, Laumann City Councilmember Present: N/A Staff Present: Risa De Ferrari, Program Coordinator; Brendan Mitchell, Parks Supervisor; Kevin McGowan, Assistant Public Works Director and Debbie Younkin, Interim Community Services Director Open time for Public Comment: NA. Commission Chair, Eric Holm asked for item 2B be moved to the top of the agenda. 2B. Parks Report Parks Supervisor Mitchell reported that the Parks Staff have been pruning Freitas parking and Las Gallinas and vegetation management around the city. Economic Development has moved into the Boyd House and progress is being made for the installation of the bathroom at Boyd Park. Assistant Public Works Director, McGowan commented that drainage and electrical work needs to done and that the bathroom will be a pre- fab building. McGowan also noted that the Victor Jones Park project is moving forward and will go out to bid with anticipated construction starting in the fall. Mitchell commented that over forty volunteers would be at Pickleweed Park so the crew scattered wood chips and helped with general prep for the clean-up of Pickleweed Park and Playground. He also mentioned that goats were providing vegetation management at Boyd Park. Obletz inquired about how many staff is in a crew. Mitchell responded that they have three crews of three staff. Obletz asked about re-installing the bicycle racks by the stadium. Younkin expressed concerns that the bicycle racks were removed due to the behavior of the homeless but agreed that the bicycle racks could be re-installed for the baseball season and staff would monitor for proper use. McGowan noted that he has been working on the install of the park bathroom at Bret Harte and will be meeting with residents to discuss location. 1. Action Items A. Canal Community Garden Omar Carrera, Executive Director and Sandy Ponek with Canal Alliance provide an update on the Canal Community Garden. The agreement between the City of San Rafael and Canal Alliance for the management of the Canal Community Garden is expiring in August of 2017. Younkin reported that the agreement can be reapproved with signature from the City Manager and does not need to go to Council but reported that there have been concerns expressed by members of the garden about the management and condition of the Community Garden. Carrera noted that he has been the Executive Director for 9 months and has been assessing what Canal Alliance is doing right and what areas fit within the vision and mission of Canal Alliance. He feels the garden is outside this scope. In the last five years they have seen a loss of $86,000. Ponek commented on the inability to create a solid steering committee and need a strong community leader to work at bringing the diverse garden 2 community together. They have seen the irrigation system that Trust for Public Land installed fail. Ponek noted that she has reached out to Trust for Public Land about the failing system. Carrera noted that although the agreement is up in August, he is willing to continue to work with the City to help find a new partner. Obletz commented that he appreciated the willingness to still provide support. Younkin reported that she had been meeting with Carrera over the last few months to determine a strategy for moving forward and she would be assigning a member of her team to work closely with Canal Alliance to help ease some of the tensions among the garden community, help establish some specific realistic goals and help with the transition moving forward. Diana Miri, gardener in the Canal Community Garden said she met w ith Carrera about three months ago regarding her concerns; which included maintenance, infrastructure issues, staff issues, budget and fundraising. She provided a poster board containing pictures of some of the issues within the garden and commented that nothing has been done about correcting the problems. Miri commented that is easy for her to fundraise but that she needs a tax id number that Canal Alliance has not provided her or other gardeners the s upport needed to seek donations or do the work. Miri commented on her concerns over the $2000 donation from OSH that was supposed to go into the garden but went into the Canal Alliance General Fund. Margaret Wallace another gardener expressed frustrations with the Garden Coordinator. Wallace noted that she was a master gardener, helped build the Laurel Dell School guarded and has offered her services to the Garden Coordinator and had no response. She commented on events being cancelled, how information is being communicated out and the lack of information. Mihan suggested that we consider extending the agreement for six months and that during the six months a steering committee is established. In three months an update be provided to the Commission on the progress and determine if the partnership should continue to move forward. Carrera mentioned that the next six months could be used to research other potential partners for the garden. Carrera commented that the garden is not perfect but that Canal Alliance is here to support the process. Younkin reported that she would meet with Canal Alliance to set up a plan of action to move the process forward with the support of city staff and would report back to the Commission in three months. B. Review of Falkirk Cultural Center and Programs Risa De Ferrari, Program Coordinator with Falkirk Cultural Center reported out on the wonderful programs Falkirk has been implementing including a pop up restaurant, Mother’s Day Brunch, Outdoor Sculpture Walk, and High School Mash Up with local artists for different high schools and Paint Nights. She is working on ideas for continuing to expand the programming at Falkirk to improve on what she has been doing but also implement new ideas as it relates to art programming at Falkirk. 2. Commission Items A. Director’s Report The City Council has a resolution to accept July is Park and Recreation Month for the Monday, June 19 meeting. The first “Retro in the Park” event is scheduled for July 8 at Boyd Park. A second event is scheduled for Terra Linda Park on July 22. She expres sed appreciation to the San Rafael Elks for participating in the event and selling beverages, along 3 with Silbermann’s Ice Cream. Younkin also reported to wrap up the summer, Movie Night would be held at Gerstle Park on August 19 and that Sandlot would be s hown. Younkin reported that this was the first week of summer and that camps were off to a good start. Staff is busy with the implementation and development of Perfect Mind software with a go live date of August 1 as the target. C. Commission Members Reports No reports E. Approval of Meeting Minutes May 24, 2017 M/s Machado/Jones to approve the May 24 2017 Park & Recreation Commission Minutes as amended. AYES: Holm, Jones, Laumann, Machado, Obletz NOES: None ABSENT: Bustillos, Laumann, Emerson The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m.