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Home My WebLink AboutCity Council Committees - Parks & Recreation Commission - 08/22/2017Page 1 Parks and Recreation Commission August 22, 2017 Minutes Kent, Washington Approved Date: August 22, 2017 Time: 6:00 p.m. Place: Centennial Building, Conference Room 402 Attending: Chair Zandria Michaud, Co-chair Annie Sieger, Annette Bailes, Dan Barrett, Randy Furukawa, Kalika Carver-Cox, Richard Minutoli, Erika Overall, Brandon Parsons, Jennifer Ritchie, Jaleen Roberts, Lacey Seaton, Director Julie Parascondola, Recorder Teri Petrole Absent: Kendrick Glover, Kari Hedrick, Wayne Jensen, Tye Whitfield 1. Call to Order/Roll Call Commission Chair Zandria Michaud called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. 2. Changes to Agenda No changes to the agenda 3. Minutes dated June 27, 2017 The minutes dated July 25, 2017 were approved as edited by unanimous vote. 4. Greater Kent Historical Society Executive Director of the Greater Kent Historical Society (GKHS) Tessa Yeaman explained that the historical society is under contract with the city to operate the Bereiter House Museum and they provide tours, rental opportunities, historical site searches, as well as educational programs and services to the community. T. Yeaman shared the Society's vision. 1. To engage in a new demographic, connecting to different age groups and the diverse community. By collaborating with existing organizations, they plan to promote community created exhibits and produce mutually beneficial programs. For example, "Museum on Main Street" enlists writers to make it personal by reading their own stories, or bringing their stories to life through museum theater. 2. Provide an adult education series. Currently, they offer a lecture series called "Kent Chronicles" a discussion group on Saturdays for working people and home schools, as well as a bimonthly lecture series that focuses on history-related topics. They are working on a skills-based workshop for adults and a "History Café" to promote to restaurants where they talk in depth about historical topics. 3. Introduce object-based learning to the classroom. Instead of lectures and textbooks, they use historical objects and artifacts for learning. They want to create a whole learning unit including artifacts called historical boxes for use in elementary thru high school classrooms, as well as home schools. Another long- term goal is to digitize all of the historical documents, pictures and data and make it accessible on the web site. 4. Increase accessibility by better visibility and outreach programs. To educate the public on what resources are available, staff does lectures in assisted living homes and in schools. A temporary exhibit at the museum is "Smith Brothers Farms, a Kent Legacy" which chronicles the history of the Smith Brothers Farms dairy company in the Kent valley. An upcoming is an exhibit called Stranger Things: Bizarre and Unusual Stories from Kent opens in October. The museum also houses several specialized collections, such as a local Japanese heritage collection, a collection of music players and musical instruments, and Kent high schools’ annuals dating back to 1911. The GKHS staff provides reference services for information requests to over 250 members and the public for in-house and off-site information. They can customize information delivery for both private and professional patrons by locating, synthesizing and interpreting information resources. 5. Final Bylaws Feedback/Comments The commission discussed final revisions to the Parks and Recreation Commission Ordinance and bylaws, including officer terms, no home address for public comment, voting quorum and re-votes. On the Ordinance side, suggestions include removing the excused/unexcused from attendance, and when removing commissioners, place the discreation under the commission chair and not the mayor. J. Parascondola said this wouldn't work because the commission is appointed by the Mayor and she holds this discretion. The commissioners were encouraged to send additional feedback to Julie by early October. After the Mayor's review of the revised ordinance that governs the bylaws, it will go to Park Committee for recommendation and then on to City Council for final approval. 6. Park Code Feedback/Comments J. Parascondola shared input from the commissioners on Kent Code that she felt needs more policy backing and additional code. Code suggestions included public defecation in parks, Nerf guns, pellet guns and impact weapons, roller-skating skateboards, illegal drug use and sale and updating the permit process. J. Parascondola invited the commissioners to continue to send her their thoughts on new codes. 7. Park Operations Re-Organization / Next Steps J. Parascondola and Park Operations staff is working on a new strategy plan and going through a re-organization, creating Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs) and making maintenance standards in line with recreation demands. They are also creating an equitable Level of Service (LOS) throughout Kent and establishing routine and preventative maintenance. Maintenance frequencies will increase at the higher demand parks and lessen at others. The two geographic crews will remain on the East and West Hills with primary focus on routine services but athletic complex maintenance on the East Hill will be re-centralized. And a new crew called Citywide Operations, not bound by geographic boundaries, will support the whole park system, proactively and reactively. Green Kent and Urban Forestry will be assigned Park Operations jurisdiction. The new reorganization plan will be introduced in October. Maintenance standards are next. 8. Par 3 Timeline Case Review / Surplus Policy Training J. Parascondola and the commission reviewed the Par 3 surplus timeline and recap of activities that occurred years before the city created the new surplus ordinance. There are two phases for the purchase and sale of the Par 3. Due to the infrastructure and unforeseen issues and expenses to absorb, the purchase and sales agreement and payments comes in two phases. One payment will arrive in 2018 and the next payment in 2019. All proceeds go into the golf course budget for capital improvements. The new surplus policy requires council determining that a specific property or properties should be considered for surplus (intent), at least one informational public meeting for public comment must be scheduled, and prior to that meeting, notices must be publicly posted and published in the local newspaper. Also prior to the meeting, notices are mailed to all property owners located within 1,000 feet of the site proposed to sell. Upcoming surplus properties include a portion of Morrill Meadows Park for the YMCA building and Van Doren's Park - which is actually more of a property exchange on the same site. 9. Announcements J. Parascondola is looking for actors to participate in the new Parks Video. Volunteers who signed up are Jaleen Roberts and her sister, Brandon Parsons, Jennifer Ritchie and girl scouts. There is no Parks and Recreation Commission meeting in September. J. Parascondola and Leon Younger of PROS Consulting are presenting the Riverbend Business Plan at the City Council workshop on September 5. A portion of Morrill Meadows Park property is being officially surplused at the September 5 City Council meeting for development of the new YMCA building. The commission bid farewell to Jaleen Roberts as she ends her term in order to attend college. We are all very proud of her. Teri Petrole is retiring and her last meeting will be in October. 10. Adjournment Chair Michaud concluded the meeting at 7:26 p.m. Teri Petrole Teri Petrole, Parks and Recreation Commission Secretary