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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks And Recreation Board - Minutes - 01/24/1990CITY OF FORT COLLINS PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT PARKS AND RECREATION BOARD MINUTES: Regular Meeting - January 24, 1990 President Cathy Mulcahy called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. All members were in attendance. Agenda Review: No changes to the printed agenda. Minutes: The minutes of the meeting of December 6, 1989 were unanimously approved on a motion by Elery Wilmarth, seconded by John Barnett. Citizen Participation: No citizen participation Presentation/Discussion with Mayor Winokur: Governance Issues - Mayor Bob Winokur spoke to the Board about the Council's outreach to citizens. Town meetings, cable casting, and videos are part of the awareness program. Issues to look at will be the form of government, Council communication with the community, community perceptions of the Council, and the role and powers of the mayor. He then opened the meeting to questions from the Board members. Cathy Mulcahy asked the Mayor if he would be doing the majority of the contacts. Mayor's Reply: Various Council members will be participating. Bob McCluskey asked if this is in response to the last election -- an outgrowth? Mayor's Reply: It has been talked about for several years. Many people feel that they should be able to elect their own mayor. One factor that comes into the picture is the way staff reacts to the changes of council and mayor. Karen Schubert asked the Mayor if he knew if the charter review committee reviewed this issue with other communities? Mayor's Reply: More than 50% of the communities have elected mayor. It should be the will of the people. What would you expect of the elected mayor? Would you still have a city manager? Karen then asked the Mayor what is the size of the cities that have elected mayor? Mayor's Reply: There are some larger cities i.e. Cleveland, San Antonio, and other rapidly growing cities. And there is a downside of possible corruption, and patronage. Parks and Recreation Board Minutes January 24, 1990 Page Two Karen then questioned the Mayor if he is concerned that Council will get the same concerns from the same group of people who come forth for every issue in the city. Mayor's Reply: The hope is that a majority of people will be reached. There is a concern about the decline of registered voters who voted in the last city election as only 15% of the registered voters voted. Cathy asked how long will it take you to complete the project? Mayor's Reply: It was recommended to the Council in 1986 that we go to elected mayor. We need 10% of registered voters (5,500) to put this on general election ballot. It is an unresolved issue. We need to move to a stronger Mayor elected form of government. If it is put the voters and they say they don't want an elected mayor, they won't hear from me again for quite some time. If citizens are happy they will be less vocal than when they are upset about an issue. The Mayor asked that as citizens, the Board be knowledgeable about the elected form of mayor. Board/Council Relationshi The Mayor then asked the Board if they had any concerns or questions for him as his role as their Council Liaison. Cathy asked how the Board liaisons are chosen. The Mayor replied that they are chosen primarily by choice. Karen said there have been times that she wished the Parks and Recreation Board was a policy -making Board, but she doesn't hesitate to call a council member to state her views. Three -Year Trail Recommendation: The Mayor then asked the Board why they asked Council for acceleration of the five-year trail plan to a three-year completion. He prefers that we do not discuss legal issues or property acquisitions since this is an open meeting. Bob Aukerman said that he has lived in Fort Collins for 20 years and has been part of the planning for several years. It has been his dream to have this trail completed before his family is grown so that they can enjoy the trails system together. On a professional stand, the longer that we wait to purchase land, the more expensive it would be. We don't know that is possible, but we would like to know what can be done to expedite the process. Putting together the resources of the community would speed up the process. Karen said that the Board was excited to see Council's direction on this to complete the trail system in five years. John Barnett looks at it that Council has made the commitment with some adversaries. As a Board we support the Council. Then there are the transportation and socioeconomic advantages. Some other communities have industrial parks along the trail for commuting and recreational benefits to the employees. It is important that the City complete the trail. Parks and Recreation Board Minutes January 24, 1990 Page Three Mary Ness said he would like the trail completed before he gets too old to enjoy it and wonders if future Councils would feel as enthusiastic as this council is about the trail completion. Bob McCluskey stated the Board Subcommittee went on a tour of the trails with staff. The Board felt the staff did a good job in lining up the priorities of the trail completion and the safety concerns. Safety is a good criteria to look at. There will be some potential problems and wonders if there would be any way to make some of these people accept the trail and would like to get those people to endorse the trail. Roger Tarum feels that policy seems to be well set. Delaying this doesn't have any advantages. We would lose if we let this thing drag out. It will cost the taxpayers more if we wait. There are no other alternatives. If there is any way to work with the few landowners who are opposed to this, let's try to work it out. Rene said when this Board submitted its recommendation to the Council, the subcommittee studied this very thoroughly. It was not rubber stamped. When we decided to promote a three-year program, we knew it would have to be a total organizational support. Elery endorses the other comments. He said that three years is not exaggerated. Decisions need to be made. Cathy said we are all concerned about teamwork. The concern of the change of the direction of council is always there. The price of land development is a concern. Public concern is a factor. The citizens want it completed. The Mayor said we use the Lottery money on the trails. Projections are that we could complete the trail in five years. Council is adamant in completion of the trail in five years. Staff and council have been working closely on the land acquisition. Loren Maxey has taken the Council lead on this since he knows many of the citizens in that area. He said the people will be treated fairly. The trail system is not part of Choices 95. This a non -emergency plan. Was this a genuine desire or strategy to complete the trails in three years. Getting this input from the Parks and Recreation Board is something important that Council needs to hear. In terms of completion, we could utilize the state trails grants process. Potential highway safety money could be available per John Barnett. Mayor suggested looking into those issues and letting the Board know staff'; findings. Henry Caufield said the Federal Government has money in the land and water conservation funding. Why doesn't the City use that? Randy explained that when the City built Rolland Moore Park, staff explored the funding from this agency and it would have cost more to obtain this money than the project cost. • r� Parks and Recreation Board Minutes January 24, 1990 Page Four Randy Balok said that the forecasting staff has done indicates these outside influences can delay this completion. For example, the North College Avenue bridge project has been moved up to the five-year plan on the State's plan for rebuilding. Mike said that we have plans to go to Council February 6 to reappropriate money in the Capital Projects and Conservation Trust Fund. We want to reappropriate $1,300,000 for the trails completion. Mayor Winokur said we might need to have a worksession with the Board and Council to discuss strategies. NRA Task Force Discussion with Ken Ashley Board Member Roger Tarum excused himself from this discussion as he has a conflict of interest because of his employment with the Forest Service. In Ken Ashley's absence, Howard Alden spoke. He said he, Ken Ashley, and Henry Caufield represent a task force of citizens studying the NRA. The task force is to identify an appropriate government partner and how much can be under local control. This would be a new creative federal/local cooperation. Their main focus for coming to the Board meeting tonight was to bring the Board up-to-date on the project. Their main concern is to keep the local control on the project. The city is the primary owner of the land on the NRA study. K-Lynn Cameron of the County Parks Department said the County and their board support the NRA. Mike Powers said that six months ago the Parks and Recreation Board unanimously supported the NRA. The issue is Parks Service vs. Forest Service as the appropriate legislature. Cathy said that Karen Schubert and John Barnett are our designated subcommittee for NRA. Cathy asked that the Task Force keep us informed. If this group comes out with a recommendation to keep this on a local level that they make that perfectly clear to Council that it is not a negative stand. Natural Resources Presentation Jerry Brown stated that Bob Wilkinson rescheduled his presentation to the Board to next month's agenda. Review of 1989 Parks and Recreation Board Annual Report Jerry asked the Board for their comments. There were no comments. Other Business Cathy thanked staff for the name tags as they add professionalism to the Board. Jerry explained the attendance report that was sent to the Board members and the reasoning for the report was for informational purposes only. Parks and Recreation Board Minutes January 24, 1990 Page Five - Jerry said following the Work Plan for 1990, the Senior Center was on the agenda for tonight. Because of the lengthy agenda for tonight, this has been moved to the February Board meeting. Next month Jean Helburg will be at the Board meeting to review this process and ask what involvement the Parks and Recreation Board would like to have in this since the Senior Board will be very active in this project. - Randy Balok said that the public meeting for Rogers Park will be February 15. An update on this project will be presented at the March Board meeting. - Poudre R-1 Facilities Task Force Executive summary was presented to the Board by Poudre R-1 Representative Keith Goosman. Board Member Karen Schubert served on this committee. On a motion by John Barnett seconded by Roger Tarum, the meeting was adjourned at 9:45 p.m. Qck ctfully submit ed, a Rael, A mi rative Aide Meeting Attendance Board Members Staff Guests Cathy Mulcahy Bob Aukerman Roger Tarum John Barnett Rene' Clements Cooney Bob McCluskey, Jr. Mary Ness Karen Schubert Elery Wilmarth Michael Powers Jerry P. Brown Jackie Rael Randy Balok Craig Foreman Keith Goosman (PR-1 Representative) Mayor Bob Winokur Henry Caufield Howard Alden Robert Udall Clint Wasser K-Lynn Cameron