HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks And Recreation Board - Minutes - 03/24/2010Parks & Recreation Board Meeting – March 24, 2010
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BE A GOOD STEWARD: Protect & Respect your Parks, Trails & Recreation Facilities
Call Meeting to Order: Jessica MacMillan called the meeting to order at 5:38pm.
Agenda Review & Items of Note:
Agenda Review: Discussion: None, no changes.
Items of Note:
1) Welcome to Rob Cagen. Rob will be an official Board Member on March 25; replacing Fred Bitting.
Rob has been a member of the City’s Air Quality Task Force, and the City’s sponsored Congestion Study. Rob
chose to be a Parks & Recreation Board Member because he likes the outdoors. He also knows Jessica and has
heard her talk about how wonderful it is to be a part of the P&R Board. He has spent the last 15 years operating
a business and raising his children; and is now ready to get involved in the community again.
2) Jessica, Danna, J.R. & Craig met and discussed suspending meals for the Board. With the budget issues, and
public perception, it was felt that the P&R Board could be leaders in suspending meals.
Discussion: How would everyone know about the savings? Through the minutes and staff liaisons could notify
Council. How would the public know? Perhaps a letter to the editor. Would we want to change the meeting
time to start at 6:00pm? We could, but most members prefer the 5:30pm start time so they get home sooner. It
seems like a good gesture, but unless all the Boards participate in suspending meals will it really make a
difference? Perhaps not, but we could take a leadership role and encourage other Boards to step up. What if
Council doesn’t agree with suspending the meals? That would be their decision; but Council should recognize
our efforts in supporting the City. Jessica and Danna will write a letter to the Mayor & Council; which JR will
take to Marty & Darin.
MOTION: Jessica MacMillan made the motion: In light of budget concerns, the Park & Recreation Board will
suspend the benefit of dinners at the monthly meetings with the idea to take a leadership role as an example to
the other 26 Boards until City’s budget improves and can support re-instatement of the meal benefit. Danna
Ortiz seconded the motion. Vote was taken: 6:0 - All in Favor.
Citizen Participation: None
Approval of Minutes: Discussion: None
Motion to approve the Parks & Recreation Board minutes of February 24, 2010, by Michael Chalona, seconded
by William Pickering – Minutes approved 6:0
PARKS AND RECREATION BOARD
Minutes of Regular Meeting
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
2145 Centre Ave – Gardens on Spring Creek
5:30 p.m.
Council Liaison: Kelly Ohlson Staff Liaison: J.R. Schnelzer, 221-6301
Craig Foreman, 221-6618
President: Jessica MacMillan & Phone: 407-8896 (home) 660-9023 (work)
Danna Ortiz 303-884-4850 (home) 407-8794 (work)
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Agenda Items
1) Garden’s on Spring Creek Update: A copy of the PowerPoint presentation is attached to these minutes.
The Garden’s Vision: To be a world-class botanic garden that is community oriented, educational, experiential
and sustainable. This vision is shared by both the Gardens’ staff, and the Friends of the Gardens.
Our current building is only half of the original design so that will require a future capital project. Our first
garden constructed was the Children’s Garden. This was constructed through private funding. Our Garden of
Eatin’ was opened in 2009 with the help of volunteers and the food grown in this garden is donated to the
Larimer County Food Bank. We had over 2,000 lbs of food donated in 2009.
Some projects under development; 1) A wetlands demo site in conjunction with the flow of natural drainage on
the property; 2) Our rock garden. They have been placing rocks over ½ acre creating a “natural” look. We
have over $40,000 in stone that was donated. In fact, the Denver Botanic Gardens have shown interest in our
Rock Garden because it is that good. 3) A Great Lawn which will be available to rent privately and for
community events. The architecture of the gazebo will mimic the designed curve of the lawn. It will be a great
place for weddings and photo opportunities. Odell Brewing is interested in hosting an Oktoberfest at the
Gardens when the Great Lawn is in place.
We are focusing our classes on education in horticulture. Our visitation has grown exponentially and our
classroom is almost at capacity. We are the compost demonstration site for the City and one of the free mulch
sites. We are working to help start community gardens around the City at location like the Food Bank, PSD,
Neighbor-to-Neighbor, etc. There are lots of new things coming, one in particular is holiday lighting, there will
be whole gardens created out of lights; with the help of volunteers. We are hoping to become one of the
economic drivers for the City of Fort Collins.
Discussion:
Board: Can you serve alcohol? Staff: We can serve alcohol, but we can’t yet sell it. We will begin the process
of obtaining a liquor license when the Great Lawn is installed.
Board: What type of grass will be used on the Great Lawn? Staff: It all depends on the soil, but it will be a
low water grass.
Board: How has it worked partnering with the Hilton? Staff: This has been a beneficial partnership, they
essentially look to us for any outdoor wedding needs; and they do all the set-up and tear-down of the event. We
are talking with the Drake Center to help them in the same way.
Board: Do you only have the one classroom? Staff: Yes, but we will use the outdoor teaching kitchen pergola
this summer.
Board: Does the City have a department that helps write grants? Staff: No, we write our own with the help of
a group of volunteers and Friends Board members.
Board: Will you be charging admission? Staff: For some of our events we have started charging admission,
but we need more gardens before we charge general admission.
Board: Do you take donations? Staff: We do have a donation jar, but we don’t get too much revenue this way.
We are moving to a suggested donation model. Signs have been installed in the gardens.
Board: They have volunteer docents at the Raptor Center and they encourage folks to donate.
Board: When you start charging admission will there be levels? Staff: Yes. Members will get in free.
Board: You’ve done a great job bring the Garden’s forward. Staff: Thank you, I have a very creative staff, and
the community support is great.
Board: Are your artists local? Staff: We have artists from all over the State of Colorado. They will loan us
their art, and we receive a percentage of the proceeds for any piece that is sold.
Board: Are your plant sales profitable? Staff: Yes, this past year we sold over $3,000 in Christmas plants and
over $9,000 in spring plants especially over Mother’s Day weekend.
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2) Purchasing Requirements:
Departments can spend up to $5,000 on purchasing cards without going through Purchasing and the majority of
these purchases are in town. Purchases above ranging from $5,000-$60,000 must go through Purchasing for
approval, and these purchases also tend to stay local, unless it’s for a specialty not found in Fort Collins.
Purchases over $60,000 require a bid or a request for proposal (RFP), and all registered vendors are sent an e-
mail giving them an opportunity to bid if they choose. Council must approve any purchase over $200,000
which does not go thru a bid or RFP process.
Purchasing reviews the bids or RFPs. The bids are awarded based on the lowest price from a responsive and
responsible vendor. The RFPs are awarded by using additional criteria leading to an award based on “best
value”. Bids and RFPs are open to the public and public record. There is also a Guide to Local Procurement
available to be viewed in the Purchasing office.
To assist vendors, we have brochures on “how to do business with the government” and invite them to
meetings. We give local companies a chance to compete if they’re interested in doing business with the City
government.
Discussion:
Board: How does a vendor get registered? Staff: They can go to our web page and register on-line. Vendors
can register to receive electronic notices for the products and services they wish to sell to the City. When we
have a bid or RFP, a group e-mail goes out to all the potential vendors. Most governments do this.
Board: How much does this cost? Staff: We don’t charge vendors to be on our system.
Board: Do you get complaints from local businesses if they want to work with government? Staff: No, we
haven’t had any complaints.
Board: We have a concern that the City doesn’t choose local businesses, over Denver based business because
the Denver businesses may be able to show that they worked on more projects, but a local business is just as
qualified. Do you have a preference point for local businesses? If the City wants to increase the sales tax, then a
local preference would be preferred. Staff: We do feel that local firms get looked at and really delve into
projects because we do look at who will be working on the project.
Board: We prefer that someone local with a vested interest be present during the project, we want to see more
money staying in Fort Collins. Staff: A local preference would be a Council’s decision, but if they decided to
go in that direction, there has to be a definition as to what is “local”. Does it mean they have a branch located in
Fort Collins and have local employees, does it mean it has to be completely owned and operated locally? In
addition, having a local preference can have adverse issues with surrounding Cities. If for instance there was a
specialty company only operating out of Loveland, and Fort Collins needed their services it could cost us more
to use that company’s services.
Board: Is there a method for the P&R Board, in its advisory capacity, to review RFPs and help select the
companies? Staff: The P&R Board is strictly an advisory board, and would not have an opportunity to be a part
of the selection process in most instances. However, depending upon the project, Purchasing can have a non-
City person involved. If the P&R Board has concerns, they can voice those concerns through the City Liaison.
Board: Where are we at in the Museum/Discovery Center design? Staff: Hensel Phelps did receive the bid
because they had the best proposal.
3) BFO Update:
Results teams have been formed, and Craig will be sending the Board members the information about what we
are selling and how we are addressing sustainability, customer service, etc. Selling Teams have until mid-May
to sell 2010-2012; the write ups should be about the same as last year, but the budget numbers will be different.
Result Teams will then rank the offers.
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4) Plan Fort Collins Update:
On Tuesday, March 23, Council had their work session and discussed Plan Fort Collins. The work session is
available to view on fcgov.com. Carol will send the link to the Board members. Plan Fort Collins is planning
Fort Collins’ future; balancing the evolving, sustainable financial issues with growth management. The next
step in the Plan Fort Collins process is to work with focus groups. If there’s a particular focus group topic that a
board member is interested in, they can be a part of the focus group.
Craig will see if Joe Frank, Advance Planning Director, would be available to attend the Boards May or June
meeting.
Discussion:
Board: Who came up with the focus group categories, why aren’t Parks and Recreation part of the groups?
Staff: Advance Planning created the focus groups, but they’re supposed to be “hot topics”, not department
specific. Craig will check into this for clarification.
Board: To ask for the City to rely on sales tax is not sustainable. Projections change, and it still seems that a
monthly fee on the Utility bill would become a source of regular, sustainable income. It seems that the focus is
only on increasing the sales tax by 1%. It seems that this would pit community members against each other
with misuse of land for sales tax revenue; East Harmony is a good example. The community thought it was
getting a mix of parks and businesses and instead it’s just a bunch of buildings. Fort Collins should look at a
regional sales tax. With many people living and working in two different Cities, the tax could be divided and
the Northern Region would benefit. Longmont passed a fee on their Utility Bill for $1.00. If City had $10.00
fee for Sustainable Services it would provide approximately $7.9 million in revenue which the City could use as
an on-going fee for road maintenance and parks and recreation instead of trying to bundle Police, Fire,
Transportation and Parks & Recreation into a one cent sales tax increase.
Board: Why don’t we have a Mill Levy? Staff: Mill Levy monies go to schools.
Board: Back when we voted to have a Lottery, those monies were supposed to go to Parks and Recreation,
that’s why people voted for the Lottery, but the legislation re-routed those monies to prison. So, there needs to
be clear and honest language on the ballot regarding the one cent sales tax increase.
Board: I would agree that a fee would be better because people know where their money is being used, and that
it’s not being used for other purposes. A combo of things may be easier to pass than a sales tax increase. The
Library District passed because people knew exactly what the money was being used for. This is why the
Mason corridor continually gets voted down.
Craig will send the “Resourcing for the Future” video to the Board. He will also see if Mike Freeman, CFO,
would be available to meet with the Board in April. Craig will also get the Plan Fort Collins Public Process
Schedule to the Board, as well as past minutes from 2006 regarding the impact fee.
Updates
Park Updates
The Parks reorganization was approved which is positioning Parks to move into the future with a sustainable
organizational structure as the Park system grows.
Discussion: There are orange flags around some trees in Edora, why? Craig will look into with Forestry.
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Recreation Updates
The first edition of the Recreator where we merged it with Enrich just came out. We’re waiting to hear
feedback. We are now publishing four Recreators per year.
We received a grant through the Health Department to bring low income Hispanics into Northside Atzlan
Center to help educate about health issues and to encourage them to exercise. Through this grant we have
started Zumba classes, which incorporate Latin dance moves and music with exercise. We now have 900
participants taking advantage of the programs provided and about 140 people taking the Zumba class. This
class is currently free, but we may charge $2.00 for drop-ins in the future to help subsidize the grant.
We just expanded the use of the Superpass which is now good for drop-in at all facilities, land and water fitness
classes.
Mike McDonnell has a concessionaire Gary Bjorkland who will run EPIC and the City Pool concession stands.
Recreation receives a portion of the profits. The children’s train will be run internally.
Recreation hired a Financial Analyst to replace Kim and she will be starting April 5. Her name is Janice Seager
and she was the Financial Director for the City of Lyons. She helped Lyons get back on track with their budget,
which helped carry them through 2009.
We have a new calf at the Farm at Lee Martinez. His name is Charlie.
Discussion:
Board: Is the YAC building at the mall City property? Staff: No, it is owned by General Growth and we lease
the Gym, two classrooms and pay utilities. It was our first major cut back in 2006 and a hard cut to make;
there’s still a gap for the south end of town.
Board: If General Growth sells the property will your agreement hold? Staff: General Growth has to pay us
back for all the fund raising monies earned if they have to release us from our lease.
Park Planning Updates
Edora BMX track will be moving to the Southeast Community Park “Webster”. The area at Edora will be
rehabbed to be basically flat with a “bump” where there’s a cross section to meet FEMA regulations. It will be
landscaped.
We are continuing to work with CSU to have an 18-hole disc golf course incorporated into their master plan for
Hughes Stadium. Once that disc golf course is built, the course at Edora can be looked at for the course to
better fit other uses.
We received a $500,000 grant for the trail underpass at 38E (Harmony/Taft). This is a great project and we’ll
be stating the bidding process in May and hope to have construction started this summer.
We will be working to finish the asphalt to concrete trail project on the Poudre Trail as soon as weather permits.
Discussion:
Board: The port-a-let in the BMX area is used a lot, will there be a restroom facility added in that area of
Edora? Staff: Not sure, but that’s good to know.
Board: Why is there a fee for the Archery Range? Staff: During the BFO process, we lost the funding for the
Archery Range. We partnered with Fort Collins Archery Association and decided to charge a parking fee to
make the Archery Range self-funded.
Board: There should be better signage at the Archery Range with more information about the passes.
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Project Updates
Please see the attached Park Planning & Develop work items for a complete list.
CDOT will be replacing the bridge over the Poudre on Mulberry at the Lemay crossing. During this project
they will take one section of the foot-bridge and move it to cross the Poudre river on the east side of Lemay,
south of the car wash and the other section of the foot-bridge will help to connect to the existing trail.
Board Work Plan Updates
* P&R – O&M Funding Sources – Will be working on this as it the most pressing need.
* Review NISP Revision – Brian Werner, Northern Colo Water Conservancy Dist would like to talk with
Board about the need for NISP. This will give the Board a chance to hear both sides of the issue. Brian would
be able to speak during the Citizens Participation portion of the Agenda.
* Review Museum/Discovery Science Center Development – As design plans come in, the Board wants to
have a chance for review before they go through.
Correspondence: None
Adjournment: Motion to adjourn – Jessica MacMillan, seconded William Pickering
- Meeting adjourned 8:40pm
Respectfully submitted,
Carol Rankin
Administrative Support Supervisor
Parks Department
Board Attendance
Board Members: Michael Chalona, Shirley Christian, Jessica MacMillan, Danna Ortiz, William Pickering,
Dawn Theis
Staff: Craig Foreman, J.R. Schnelzer, Carol Rankin, Jim O’Neill, Michelle Provaznik, Peggy Bowers
Guests: Rob Cagen
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Parks and Recreation Board
March 24, 2010
Park Planning and Development work items:
Plan Fort Collins (City Plan): Snapshots completed, first public meeting was help March 3.
Policy Plan: Environmental/Sustainability Best Management Plan Manual is about 90% written.
Budgeting for Outcomes: 2011/2012 BFO, Result Teams formed
BOB Park improvement funds – 2009 funds to Roselawn Cemetery for improvements. Park improvement funds in 2015.
NISP: Supplemental EIS may not be ready until maybe 2011.
Park items:
1. Waters Way Park: Bidding.
2. Tennis court plan as to how many courts and where are they located to be a 2010 work item.
3. FCCP: DOW will work with the City to get the lake restocked. The City will fund this expense over three or more years.
4. Registry Neighborhood Park: Final design phase underway.
Trails:
1. Poudre Trail at Nix Farm: Staff will be developing the tree resting area for construction in the spring.
2. Poudre Trail at Lincoln Avenue: Forestry pruned the trail area downstream of Lincoln Avenue in preparation of the trail
reconstruction. Construction plans should be ready for bidding in April.
3. Power Trail: Construction should start first week in April. Keenland underpass of the UP in approval process and in the second
step approval. May take into 2010 to receive approval.
4. Fossil Creek Trail: Trilby Road to Carpenter Road. Design and Stormwater permit completed with bidding to be in May for
summer construction.
5. Poudre Trail at Lemay: Mulberry Bridge to be replaced by CDOT. Design effort starting this year. The design team has
incorporated our trail bridge needs downsteam of Lemay into the floodplain analysis. We’ll know shortly if the new trail
bridges cause any flooding impacts that can not be mitigated.
6. Fossil Creek Trail and underpass at Highway 38E: Great Outdoors Colorado grant has been submitted for this project. Award
to be made in April. Grant request amount was $500,000. Total cost to be about $1,200,000. (New) Preliminary information
from GOCO is that the project is recommended for funding. Official word to be given April 1.
7. Poudre Trail to Timnath: Preliminary design in 2010 with the intent of understanding CDOT, stormwater, environmental issues,
etc.
8. Replacement of old Poudre Trail asphalt at the ELC and where Spring Creek meets the Poudre River Trail. Work should start
again the first week in April. Staff will also start to work with CSU for an easement for the trail to extend to Drake Road.
9. County Road #11 BOB project and trail underpass on hold due to limited Street Oversizing funds.
Miscellaneous:
1. Veteran’s Plaza at SCCP. Info can be obtained at the web page of the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado, News
and Events section, and into Veteran’s Plaza page.
2. Disc Golf: Course layout to CSU; (New) CSU staff has been directed to do a master plan for Hughes Stadium and they will
include the disc golf course.
3. Water Craft Course – NISP impact unknown at this time. On hold.
4. Working on the BMX Track at Edora Park to make sure the course complies with requirements for stormwater and water
quality. The relocation to the Southeast Community Park appears to be able to work. We will return the old BMX track area
at Edora to turf.
5. North Shields Street Bridge – The County will replace this bridge in 2013/14. Staff is working with the County to see if there
is the potential for any short term parking solution for trail and river users. And, long term solutions with the new bridge
design.
6. Old Fort Collins Heritage Park stake park lights – Group of users are attempting to find funding to supply lights at the skate
park.
7. Jason has been helping the DDA with their Alley Project.
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