Agenda - Parks and Recreation Commission - 04/09/2009

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DISCUSS OUTDOOR MEETINGS AND INVITATION TO CITY COUNCIL FOR A JOINT MEETING By: Mark Riverblood, Parks Supervisor :Background: Observations: CASE #4 For many years, the Park and Recreation Commission have held regular meetings outdoors in the months of May through September (weather permitting). This provided the Commission an opportunity to inspect and comment on parks as a group, and it afforded residents' access to the Commission on a neighborhood level. On the occasions of inclement weather, the Commission would hold the regular meetings at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall. The purpose of this case is twofold, first to confirm the Commission's desire for outdoor meetings in 2009 and, if so, what the locations will be. The other aspect of this case is to discuss the preparation of the meeting minutes. As the Commission will recall, due to budget contractions, the recording secretarial service has been eliminated. If the Commission's summer meetings remain at City Hall, the televised meeting tapes may be consulted for preparation of the meeting minutes. Should the Commission feel that the outdoor meetings are valuable; a commitment must be made to ensure that the meeting minutes are adequately addressed and a process is in place for efficiently doing so. One process would be for staff to `capture' the detailed motions made by the Park and Recreation Commission, which would slow the discussion down slightly, but is believed to be tenable. The week after the meeting, staff would distribute a first draft of the minutes to the Commissioners via e-mail to add key points in the dialog that may be missing. Commission members would need to respond with their individual input by the following week to allow for the draft minutes to be included with the agenda. This process is only a suggestion by staff, presuming the Commission is interested in maintaining the outdoor meetings — and that the Commission as a whole would be committed to work with staff in assisting with meeting minute preparation. In any case, it is clear that the minutes for the foreseeable future will have significantly less detail, will be concise, but accomplish the primary purposes. Without regard for the decision discussed above, there remains the opportunity to conduct a joint meeting with City Council at Alpine Park in June, Two topics are identified; the first would be a `Grand Opening' for the new skate park at Alpine. The second item would be to review the proposed 2009 Parks Capital Improvements so as to reach consensus on a plan for 2009. The following is a proposed schedule with an opportunity noted in brackets as a rationale — if the Commission agrees to the proposals above. 29