Agenda - Council - 09/24/2019 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Parks and Assistant Public Works Superintendent Riverblood explained that staff hopes to have the new employee work to reinstate programs that did not have action when the position was denied on August 12. He stated that staff put a hold on all park programing outside of the City movie night and therefore the new employee would reimplement programs for the remainder of 2019. He explained that the second phase would be to conduct a more thorough review of the recreation programming, with input from the Park and Recreation Commission and City Council. He noted that staff has received input on the classes and offerings in order to evaluate the programming Councilmember Musgrove stated that she would like to see additional information in the survey asking the priority residents give to parks and recreation compared to other City priorities such as roads, public works, or public safety. She commented that people using the programs are more likely to provide positive comments compared to residents that do not participate in the park programs. She referenced the cost element provided in the case and asked for clarification. Parks and Assistant Public Works Superintendent Riverblood stated that those questions were asked as part of the survey completed with the Resilient Communities process and within the resident survey. He provided additional information on the cost table provided in the case, which includes the cost for the instructors of the programs and breaks that down to the cost per participant. Councilmember Heinrich asked the programs referred to earlier that were budgeted for 2019 that had been put on hold. Parks and Assistant Public Works Superintendent Riverblood replied that no new programming was added to finish the year. He explained that there was a long list of possibilities, but staff did not pursue those opportunities. He stated that one of the primary goals of recreational programing is to partner with an entity that has recreation programs to introduce and promote those programs to residents. Councilmember Heinrich stated that it seems that most of the recreational programing occurs during the summer months and asked if the City has reviewed the option of a seasonal employee. Parks and Assistant Public Works Superintendent Riverblood stated that specific option was not reviewed but that would follow the intern model, where someone is brought on for that season. He noted that a lot of the programing occurs outside of the summer months and a lot of the work for recreational programing needs to happen months in advance, using the examples of the Art Fest and the summer concert series. Councilmember Musgrove referenced the area recreational analysis summary from 2015 and asked if that is the most current edition. She asked if that information is regularly reviewed with the Planning Commission. Parks and Assistant Public Works Superintendent Riverblood replied that was simply an example of a survey that has been done, noting the most current survey would have been part of the Resilient Communities process. City Council Work Session / September 10, 2019 Page 3 of 9