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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFeb. 2005 - MinutesJEFFERSON COUNTY PARKS & RECREATION ADVISORY BOARD MEETING MINUTES WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2005 I. OPENING BUSINESS Chair Rick Tollefson called the meeting to order at 12:03 PM in the Main Floor Conference Room of the Jefferson County Courthouse, Port Townsend, Washington. Members Present: Joan Linderoth (Vice Chair), Judith Lucia, Brian Miller, Eileen Rogers, Rich Stapf, Jr., Rick Tollefson (Chair) Members Absent: Judi Mackey, Mike Ryan Staff Present: Warren Steurer, Matt Tyler, John Fischbach Guests: Todd Wexman, Citizen; Nora Porter, Ft. Worden Advisory Committee; Phil Johnson, County Commissioner; Bill Kush, Noreen McCarron, Scott Walker, YMCA Quorum: There was a quorum. Agenda: Approved as written. Minutes: Judith Lucia moved to approve the Minutes of the January 5, 2005 meeting with a correction to the list of attendees and New Business, Item C — NW Kiwanis changing Camp Director "Trudy Simons" to "Charise Diamond." The motion was seconded and carried by a unanimous vote. II. NEW BUSINESS A. Fort Worden Parking: Nora Porter provided an overview of the Fort Worden Advisory Board and their goal of keeping parking there free to the public. She noted that this Board had voted unanimously to support their request last year recommending the BOCC join the coalition and provide $1 OK in funding (of the $60K required). This recommendation was not supported by the BOCC, who had concerns about inequity among the state parks in the County and about long-term funding. The contract obligation was met through a fundraiser and additional support by the City. Since the parking fees were put in place, attendance in every state park has gone down precipitously — except for Fort Worden and Deception Pass. This year's contract with the State would be for $65K and Peninsula College students would also chip in a fee for the ability to park. She pointed out that the activity within the park and its connectedness to the local community has grown significantly. There is broad community support for keeping parking free in this integral part of our community/economy. A recent survey showed that 178 of the 120 Ft. Worden employees (including Centrum, Copper Canyon, Marine Science Center, Hostel Int'l., etc.) live in Port Townsend. Given that the decommissioned Fort only became a park through the efforts of local residents, she found the idea of charging $5 in '05 and $7 in `06 for access to public property and public beaches unconscionable. Reminding that parking fees in state parks would have the unintended consequence of raising operating and maintenance costs of local parks, her goal is to eventually get the State to adequately fund its parks. She then talked about a proposed a long- term revenue plan. She reviewed a summary of parking fee revenues, noting some or all of these fees could be waived and suggested offering 60% of the $68.8K collected in the Jeff. Co. Parks & Recreation Advisory Board Minutes of February 2, 2005 — Page 1 County's state facilities last year (excluding Fort Worden). She agreed to provide information if and when there is desire to negotiate free parking for other state parks within the County. Before providing a recommendation on this issue, there was a desire to confirm that any funding the County provides would not come out of the Parks' budget. There was support for exploring the use of funds from the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (LTAC). It was clarified that the State authorized the LTAC to invest in tourism and recreation and that LTAC is the appropriate source, since parking is a tourism issue. There was also concern about impacting other parks such as North Beach. Warren Steurer reminded that County Parks did not budget funds for parking in 2005 and that money that was previously earmarked had come from the Parks Capital Fund. He did say that money could be made available from the Parks improvement fund. Phil Johnson said he also supports County funding for Fort Worden parking. He agreed to address the use of LTAC funds when he meets with Senators Buck and Kessler next week. Eileen Rogers moved to table this discussion until the next meeting. The motion was seconded and carried by a unanimous vote. III.OLD BUSINESS A. Larry Scott Trail: Discussions continue with Discovery Timber in order to access a portion of the railroad right of way for the trail. The Adopt -a -Trail volunteers expect to erect the kiosks in the next few weeks and plan to have a small event to unveil the kiosks on Larry Scott's birthday, March 61n B. H.J. Carroll Park: He is still working with East Jefferson Rotary on the pavilion project. Tristan Stoch would attend the next meeting to report on a skateboard user survey. Staff is also working with a few volunteers on a possible Frisbee golf location. Hopefully by this summer, there would be a course at the Park or in Quilcene. Staff is also working on a new sign and possibly a reader board at the park. C. Irondale Beach: The naming process has produced a list of recommended names (list provided). The assigned committee to look at this list and put forward a recommendation for the March meeting would be Rick Tollefson, Brian Miller and Mike Ryan. D. Gibbs Lake: The Commodore School on Bainbridge is using the Challenge Course today. E. ORV.• Staff had recently presented to IAC for a grant for the $56K feasibility study. F. PAB Membership: The District 3 position will likely be filled by March. II. NEW BUSINESS (Continued) A. Strategic Plan/Focus Groups: Matt Tyler noted that the internal strategic planning committee is meeting on the listed topics: clarify organizational mandates, identify and understand stakeholders, develop and refine mission and values; identify strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities; identify and frame strategic issues; and formulate strategies to manage the issues. Warren said Staff would report to the BOCC in February or early March, so this document is still a draft. On behalf of the Parks and Rec. Advisory Board, Rick Tollefson reported that he and Eileen Rogers are also working with staff on the strategic plan. He listed some of the strategic issues as follows: geographic boundaries; duplication, fairness; mission and purpose; distribution of Jeff. Co. Parks & Recreation Advisory Board Minutes of February 2, 2005 — Page 2 services and facilities geographically, economically and according to tax, revenues; level and consistency of funding sources; program model role of organization within the array of other organizations; the brand and market identity of services and facilities; communicating all of this to community; importance of environmental identity; implications and issues of increasing organizational revenue; the current array of resources and how they are used; importance of investing in children now to improve our future; capital improvement funding (and lack thereof); maintenance backlog; surrounding utilization and safety issues; capital planning that works; making a plan and sticking to it; status of current partnerships with other organizations; leadership in the public policy process — how to do it in such a complicated political environment; maintaining and improving the public trust in the face of general negativity about government; current levels of staffing for maintenance and programming; increasing reliance on part-time labor; bureaucratic problems, inertia, turf issues and people protecting special interests; lack of adequate services and facilitates to address community needs. B. Synopsis of YMCA Community Meeting: Rick Tollefson introduced the visiting YMCA Representatives Bill Kush, YMCA Staff/Director, Noreen McCarron, Board President, Scott Walker, Past President and current Board Member. Scott Walker reported that the purpose of the meeting had been to get input from those invited as well as those who found themselves interested. There was no specific agenda other than to ascertain whether they wanted the committee to proceed with discussions. They came out with a number of questions and some support for moving forward with a discussion of a partnership of some sort. Lee Springgate, who has worked with Parks and Recreation districts around the country, recommended consulting with the Trust for Public Lands on how best to move forward. Bill Kush said the emergency involves the City and County budgets: in order to collect money in 2006, boundaries must be set by May 2005. Noreen felt that a certain pool of money needs to be set aside for Parks and Recreation so that this project would in the future not fall behind other priorities. Regarding the YMCA's geographic vision, they recognize that the tax base needs to be bigger than the City limits. Ultimately, it is a political decision, requiring good public process and the advice of a trusted public agency. Noreen asked who else — besides the County and YMCA and the City — would be important to work with early on. While she acknowledged the role of professional advisors, as a taxpayer, she hates to see money for feasibility studies. While pushing to move forward quickly, the YMCA does not want to embark on this alone and is willing to work with the County Parks. Scott Walker offered his vision of an advisory group that creates a process that will draw all the various stakeholders in at the appropriate times. He recognized that the County has much of this information. There are plenty of pitfalls, but he believes it is critical to focus on the many opportunities. It was noted that this issue had been on the recent Intergovernmental Meeting agenda, but there was not time to address it. Assuming that a continuing and stable funding source remains the main issue, Rick reviewed when the City Task Force gave their recommendations, it was not to create a metro district but rather to seek a levy. Bill Kush noted that the City did ask the YMCA to find another funding source. Currently, the YMCA is in the third year of five-year contract. There was agreement that some kind of increase in parks and recreational services would be welcome by the majority of both constituencies. Eileen Rogers reiterated the concern about including South County and shared her appreciation for the group's belief in an opportunity for a good partnership. Jeff. Co. Parks & Recreation Advisory Board Minutes of February 2, 2005 — Page 3 Rich Stapf sought buy -in from elected officials; the BOCC needs to mandate the PAB to support the district concept and work with the YMCA Board and City. Warren noted that the Parks and Rec. Board has been working at the direction of the BOCC — with the County's instruction and backing — since 2002-03. Acknowledging that the County intends to have the strategic plan complete by the end of February, Rick Tollefson said the Parks and Recreation Board would first report to the BOCC on the issue and request that Staff be directed to pursue discussions. Meanwhile, the YMCA is in a prime position to be citizen organizers for the taxation campaign. Noreen raised the question of seeking outside, professional help to bring together the significant existing data to formulate the approach that would explain the district boundaries, the potential facility, and the need to commit their tax dollars to the future. Rick suggested the next step would be a blessing by City and County governments, then bring together community leaders and other parties — school districts, YMCA, Marine Science Center, and other program providers. Scott Walker proposed simultaneous exploration of how this could be laid out while the strategic plan is moving forward; finding out what the Trust for Public Lands could do for us rather than waiting until the County and City can get together in April to bless the project. Rich Stapf moved that the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board recommends to the BOCC that they meet with the City Council and possibly even other governmental agencies like the Port and School District to explore funding sources for enhanced Parks and Recreation in Jefferson County. The motion was seconded and carried by a unanimous vote. In summary, it was understood that the YMCA as a citizen's exploratory committee could continue to convene meetings including Parks Advisory Board subcommittee (Rich Stapf, Eileen Rogers and Judith Lucia), school districts and the Port of Port Townsend. It was noted that Parks Staff would continue to report to and receive direction from the BOCC on the strategic plan. IV. STAFF REPORTS After reviewing his detailed written report of the many activities and programs currently occurring throughout the county, Matt Tyler received praise for Staff s hard work and congratulations for the many successes. V. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 2:00 PM. The next meeting is Wednesday, March 2, 2005. Eileen Rogers agreed to provide a Conservation Futures report next month. Jeff. Co. Parks & Recreation Advisory Board Minutes of February 2, 2005 — Page 4 JEFFERSON COUNTY PARKS & RECREATION ADVISORY BOARD AGENDA February 2, 2005 12 noon to 2 p.m. 1st Floor Conference Room, Courthouse A. OPENING BUSINESS Call to order Introductions Roll Call Agenda Additions or changes Adoption Minutes Additions or changes Adoption B. OLD BUSINESS Larry Scott Trail HJ Carroll Park: Warren Irondale Beach Gibbs Lake: Trails, Challenge Course ORV Update Recreation Scholarship Community Network C. NEW BUSINESS Conservation Futures: Eileen Fort Worden parking YMCA meeting Strategic Planning/ Focus Groups/ next steps: (Matt -Warren) Other: D. STAFF REPORTS: Recreation Division / Parks Division F. ADDITIONAL BUSINESS AND CORRESPONDENCE G. SET NEXT MEETING DATE/ ADJOURNMENT