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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Parks and Human Services Committee - 03/24/2016 Page 1 Parks and Human Services Committee Meeting Council members: Dennis Higgins - Tina Budell - Brenda Fincher, Chair Jeff Watling, Director March 24, 2016 - 5:00 p.m. 1. Call to Order Chair Brenda Fincher called the meeting to order at 5:03 p.m. 2. Roll Call Council Present: Dennis Higgins, Tina Budell and Brenda Fincher, Chair. 3. Changes to the Agenda Parks Director Jeff Watling announced that the numbers on the exhibit to the City Art Plan item have changed and that Cultural Programs Manager Ronda Billerbeck will explain the revisions during her presentation. Walk on: The addition of Item Number 9: Consolidated Food Management Inc. Dietary Management Services Agreement for The Kent Senior Center - Recommend. 4. Minutes, dated February 23, 2016 - Approve D. Higgins moved to approve the minutes dated February 23, 2016. T. Budell seconded. The motion passed 3-0. 5. Special Meeting Minutes, dated March 2, 2016 - Approve T. Budell moved to approve the special committee meeting minutes dated December 2, 2016. D. Higgins seconded. The motion passed 3-0. 6. 2016 City Art Plan and Five Year Art Plan 2016- 2020 – Recommend Ronda Billerbeck, Manager of Cultural Programs explained that the City Art Plan details projects for 2016 and lists art expenditures planned for 2016-2020 as part of the 5 year plan. The Visual Arts Committee worked with staff to craft the plan which was approved by Kent Arts Commission on March 8, 2016. Ronda distributed a revised summary page of the 2016 expenditures and detailed some of the programs. The "DIY Program" name has changed to "Kent Creates." The program is almost done and ready to launch in June. Art will be vetted prior to any web display. Staff will present a demonstration to council at the May 17 workshop. There is an increase in funds going to public art displays to augment the collection Page 2 for maintenance and a programming piece. Capital project artwork includes a potential art project at Morrill Meadows for the YMCA project. An artist is chosen through several ways: by ordinance, a call to artists, as an invitational with specific skills and services, a direct select, or open to any artist. This all depends on the scale of the project. There will be citizen involvement via a panel and staff will schedule public input sessions. The last page of the plan is the five year plan and shows the addition of setting money aside for art at Van Doren’s Landing. R. Billerbeck explained that the Opportunity Fund is for projects that crop up throughout the year. Maintenance funding on art includes annual inspection by Park Operations staff and by a contracted consultant, as well art repair and graffiti cleanup. Billerbeck will get the numbers fixed on the 2016 project list total before it goes to council for authorization on April 5. D. Higgins moved to recommend council approve the 2016 City Art Plan and Five Year Plan. T. Budell seconded. The motion passed 3-0. 7. First Amendment to 2015 Annual Action Merina Hanson, Manager of Housing and Human Services explained that both Amendments for 2015 and 2016 are house cleaning actions and must go through the public process to get Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding. Each year the city executes specific actions to implement the objectives and strategies of the five-year CDBG Consolidated Plan, which are outlined in the Annual Action Plan. In 2015, the city allocated $122,193 to a new program to provide energy efficiency improvements. These improvements were to be managed by the Home Repair Program. However, high demand for home repair program services coupled with the time required to launch a new program necessitated a delay in the Energy Efficiency Program. As a result, $122,193 was unspent and recaptured. In addition, the City allocated CDBG funds to Ventures for a micro-enterprise project; however, $7,573.60 was unspent and recaptured due to unmet performance measures. These recaptured funds ($129,766.60) should be reallocated to the Home Repair Program, which experienced increased costs. T. Budell moved to recommend council approve the 2015 City Art Plan and Five Year Plan. D. Higgins seconded. The motion passed 3-0. 8. First Amendment to 2016 Annual Action Plan Each year the city executes specific actions to implement the objectives and strategies of the five-year CDBG Consolidated Plan, which are outlined in the Annual Action Plan. Page 3 In 2016, the city allocated $100,000 to a new program to provide energy efficiency improvements. These improvements were to be managed by the Home Repair Program. However, the Home Repair Program has already experienced an increased demand for home repair services. Therefore, the city believes that it is more prudent to reallocate funds originally intended for the Energy Efficiency Program to the Home Repair Program. The Energy Efficiency Program will launch in 2017. D. Higgins moved to recommend council approve the 2016 First Amendment to the 2016 Annual Action Plan. T. Budell seconded. The motion passed 3-0. 9. Walk on: Consolidated Food Management Inc. Dietary Management Services Agreement for The Kent Senior Center - Recommend Senior Center Manager Lea Bishop brought the new contract for food services for the Senior Center because Consolidated Food Management, Inc. is under new ownership. Consolidated provides lunches Monday through Friday at the Senior Center at a cost of $6/meal. Discounted meals are available to seniors with demonstrated need. Revenue comes from lunch fees, donations and fund raising. There is a sliding scale pay scale and it is subsidized at 90% by the city. There is a great core of senior volunteers that serve food and drink and bus tables. Groups are invited to have meetings at the center which includes a free meeting room if lunches are purchased. In 2015, the net operating cost to the city for the lunch program was $13,500.00. T. Budell moved to recommend council authorize the mayor to sign the Dietary Management Services Agreement with Consolidated Food Management, Inc. in the amount of $119,170 for the Kent Senior Activity Center lunch program, subject to terms and conditions acceptable to the parks director and city attorney. D. Higgins seconded. The motion passed 3-0. 10. Parks and Recreation Commission Update Parks and Recreation Commission Chair Annie Saurwein, Co-Chair Zandria Michaud, and Commissioners Dan Barrett and Tye Whitfield attended the meeting to share feedback from the Parks and Recreation Commission. Statements from the Commissioners: Pine Tree Park. The Commission was disappointed that no public process was offered to allow the community a voice in this decision. We would encourage the city to consider developing a process for the surplusing of any public land or equipment which would include sufficient time for public comment. This process Page 4 should not be exclusive to Parks, but rather for all major surplusing. The sale of Pine Tree Park has damaged the public's trust in the City of Kent; we should explore opportunities to rebuild public trust. The development of a policy for ensuring transparency and that public comment is considered in the future could be an important part of this. YMCA. While we are encouraged by the continued discussions with the YMCA, the Commission is concerned that the YMCA will not satisfy the public's need for publically accessible aquatics facility access. We'd like to ensure that public access and programming are documented and agreed upon as part of the formal agreement between the city and YMCA. There is sentiment in other communities that a handshake is not sufficient to guarantee this. Capital Funding. The low level of capital funding (especially relative to other city departments) continues to be a primary concern. Additionally, while we understand there were other considerations to selling Pine Tree Park, we don't see surplusing of land or assets as a valid or sustainable funding source for the Parks Department long term. We want to ensure that the Parks and Recreation Department is funded according to resident's expectations and willingness to pay (which includes existing taxes). We'll make funding recommendations regarding the Parks and Open Space Plan update. Thank You. Thank you for taking the opportunity to hear from us. The Parks Commission would like to develop this relationship and provide a conduit from the public to the Mayor and Council. To that end, we'll consider what you'd like to hear from us, and are happy to tailor our reports to your needs. The council committee was complimentary to the commission's dedication and hard work. D. Higgins looks forward to receiving their funding recommendations and commented on council regaining public trust. He also talked about the city creating a new and better policy for public process. Higgins would also like to attend a future commission meeting. 11. Director's Report - INFO Finance staff presented capital funding options at the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting and answered numerous questions from the commissioners. The Park and Open Space Plan Update focuses on transformation through reinvestment. The draft plan is coming to the Parks Committee in April for recommendation and to council in June for adoption. The bid opening for the Riverbend well drilling project is March 25. It will go to council in April for bid award. The well should be in place for the watering season this year so we don’t have to pay for water. Page 5 Staff initiated a two phase process for exploring the development of the Par 3 property (Riverbend Gateway). The city just closed the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) with submittals from five developers. An advisory team, consisting of citizens, staff members and council members, reviewed and shortlisted the proposals down to four. These four developers will move to the Request for Proposal (RFP) phase. Discussion with the advisory group will take place in April and interviews with the final four developers will be scheduled in mid-May. The Human Services application cycle closes on April 7. In a typical year, 100 applications are received. This year, there have already been 150 applications received. The master list of 2016 trade shows at Kent Commons was distributed. Jeff invited the committee members to attend any of the scheduled events. B. Fincher asked about Parks staff not applying for the cultural facilities grant. J. Watling to respond at the next meeting. The final Spotlight Series performance is Late Night Catechism on April 1. Chair Fincher adjourned the meeting at 6:02 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Teri Petrole Teri Petrole Kent Council Parks and Human Services Recorder