HomeMy WebLinkAboutAdvisory Board Retreat Agenda 10-20-2007Jefferson County Parks & Recreation Advisory Board Retreat
October 20, 2007
Participants: Brian, Judith, Steve, Joan, Philip, Liz, Jane, & Matt
Facilitator: DeAnna of Jim Rough & Associates, Inc.
Possible Issues to Address in the Retreat
- Leadership... what's our role?
• What does the county want?
What does the "public" want?... How to listen to and serve them?
• Financial situation... become a junior taxing district?
• A pool
The "Drug Free Zone"
Process Desires for the Retreat
Get to know each other
• Trust
Empowerment
• Discover a sense of our importance
• "Symbolic Interaction"
Problem Statements
1. How do we create a "focused" interest among all the possible constituents to create a
junior taxing district?
2. How do we generate the funds/resources to listen to the public... then possibly become
a junior taxing district?
3. How do we do for the community what it wants?
4. How do we tell the story of our situation to the public to generate interest in solving it?
5. How do we sell our financial problem effectively?
6. How do we increase our revenue and stop operating in a deficit?
7. How do we structure revenue in the long term to share the cost fairly throughout the
county and to maintain parks and services for all?
Solutions
1. Put our foot down and say, "no" to the dollar amount the county awards us. It's not
enough. Let the public know, ask what they want. Close Memorial Field, which the public
depends on, to raise awareness and get community response.
2. Anyone who uses the field should pay to use it. Reassess the fees being charged and
charge more if need be to cover cost of maintaining the field.
3. Get this story in the paper! Let the public know there's an issue... Choose a tactic that
will get public attention, then make this the headline in the paper.
4. Close North Beach to get the commissioners' attention.
5. Create a foundation... Get a nonprofit to draw everything together and make a master
plan for Parks & Rec.
6. Need to involve the entire county, not just PT, so PT doesn't take over process to meet
its own needs.
7. Go the direction the library has gone... Dialogue with city and county to find out if they
would lower taxes or take away funding if we created our own tax revenue base.
8. First conduct focus groups over the whole county before determining what to do. Survey
those who use the parks and other Parks & Rec. services.
Jefferson Co. Parks & Recreation
Advisor Board Retreat
9. Then we can sit down with the results and decide what to do. Learn where people want
their money to go and what they are willing to let go of.
10. People involved in focus groups might be people who would advocate for a junior taxing
district.
11. Our role is to unify people under common interest.
12. Get volunteers to do the focus groups. Or, get money to do it.
13. Keep costs down by using community centers. Have dedicated volunteers lead the
groups.
14. Hold focus groups in:
a. Brinnon
b. Quilcene
c. Port Ludlow
d. Tri Area
e. Gardiner
f. 2 in Port Townsend
g. Cape George
h. Kala Point
15. Advisory Council to recommend to Commission that Matt be released from certain duties
so he can work on this half time. Have others take on some of his current duties.
16. Have students from several schools... local high schools, colleges, etc... look at the
Parks & Rec. financial situation, study it, and propose their own solutions to the
commission. Involve the media to cover it and raise awareness.
17. Another source of revenue might be to hold a tournament to raise money. Have a local
club sponsor and organize it, but share the profits. Could also interest local hotels and
other businesses that would receive revenue as a result.
18. Find a leader to organize focus groups and advertise our story by getting local press to
cover it. The story is:
a. "Memorial Field to close?"
b. Parks & Rec. Advisory Board, in order to continue to provide services, has to cut
costs. One choice is to close Memorial Field. We're going to hold focus groups
and invite the public to provide input on how we should address our financial
situation.
19. Weigh things financially... need information and data to back up any decisions to close
something. Fields are the biggest drain. Parks & Rec. calls for public input before
making any decisions. We're meeting on these dates... come or send a 1-page letter
with your ideas.
20. Do retail around Memorial Field to raise revenue and sustain it.
21. Sell a re -design of Memorial Field... sell the development of a site master plan.
22. Hold a charrette to re -design it and get public input.
23. Include this idea of re -design in the focus group... instead of closing fields, re -design
them so they generate more revenue.
24. Retail and advertising on the field would generate revenue for everyone.
25. Hire an architect/planner to renovate Memorial Field... To do this would cost at least
$100,000. This is not a project for Parks & Rec. because it is not mission centric for us. 11
is a project for PT the city though.
26. Decide Parks & Rec. will be the parks and recreation provider for PT.
27. Parks & Rec. would take over running of the parks in the city because we can do this
more efficiently. Create an inter -agency agreement so that we receive resources from
the city to do this.
28. Have volunteer business people, retired professionals, and schools provide the services
to create a master plan for Memorial Field.
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29. Create a "metropolitan park district"... a partnership between Parks & Rec. and the city,
negotiate a contract to keep Memorial Field open... County will provide x, y, and z... Ask
others who want to keep it open to get involved and commit to doing so.
30. Find out from other school who have their own fields what it costs them.
31. Look at each park, discover what's draining it financially, then invest to fix those specific
things for each park.
32. Raise public awareness! Most people are ignorant of all we do.
33. Raise revenues.
34. People need to know they are getting something back. Find ways to partner with
businesses so we both make money.
35. Hold a tournament that fits the clientele of PT, such as lawn bowling?
36. Rotate venues for tournaments so it's timed well.
37. Host big games, like Farm Ball?
38. Retail created at Memorial Field could be small, booth -type businesses.
39. We want an aquatic and recreation center! With a pool, senior activities, that pays for
itself.
40. Send a mailing to alert the public about focus group and opportunity for public input.
Could be a paycheck or water bill insert. Or, distribute letter through schools.
41. Look at list of properties. Prioritize... this is what we have. Determine what we can
unload... Sell some off to raise revenue.
42. "Banked Capacity"... option that comes out of the tax revolt initiatives passed at the
state level. Commissioners can access these funds through the state. Involves raising
taxes, but the Commission would have to overturn a previous ruling to not raise taxes.
Need to generate public will to use banked capacity to create a facility.
43. Everyone has to sell our problem: "We can't keep up... Demand is growing, costs are
rising, revenue is flat because we don't have a dedicated tax source. We're at a tipping
point for what we can handle. Parks & Rec. maintains our quality of life. We need to be
able to serve everyone in the community, not just those who can pay for it."
44. Lease property the county owns. Have advisory council study list and prioritize what can
be leased and what can be sold. Make recommendation to commission and make sure a
percentage of revenue goes to Parks & Rec.
45. Recommend to Commission that they look at ways to increase revenue for Parks & Rec.
without increasing taxes. Offer some ideas...
46. Need the courage to follow through on closing something or cutting costs by reducing
services. We've threatened in the past, but it hasn't created change.
47. Need to close something to get the public's attention.
48. Don't close Memorial Field.
49. Sell the Memorial Field property. Build a new center with a football field somewhere else.
50. Involve Make Waves in our effort.
51. Liz will go to next Make Waves meeting to find out more and see if there's an opportunity
to partner.
52. Let's join together with Make Waves to form a public/private partnership to create a
center that will work for all.
53. Contract with Skookum to get subcontractor help and share the cost.
54. Utilize a federal program for people 55 and over where federal government pays for a
year of their salary.
55. Sell passes for using the Shine boat ramp.
56. Sell memberships for use of park system.
57. Create a "Friends of the Park" group to raise funds and donate volunteer hours to
maintain parks... similar to Friends of Fort Worden and Friends of the Library.
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58. User fees are okay for events and big groups, but not for day use by individuals because
this destroys the commons.
59. Use a stark headline, like "closing a field," to generate awareness and public input.
Concerns
1. Fees for using parks and fields do not cover the cost of use of maintenance.
2. Current revenues are complicated because Parks & Rec. also gets money from other
departments.
3. Include PT in the junior taxing district.
4. The library is focused... we are diverse.
5. Takes money to do this.
6. Need resources to become a junior taxing district.
7. People take parks for granted.
8. PT and Chimacum schools will be affected by our financial situation.
9. If fees go up, groups and schools might pull back.
10. How much does it cost to do a tournament? Would the cost outweigh the benefit?
11. PT has little to no money to provide for this kind of thing.
12. A Master Plan is a huge piece of work! No one would donate their professional services
to that kind of effort.
13. I'm overwhelmed by this situation. I didn't know what I was signing up for when I joined
the advisory board! This could be a full time job for each of us.
14. National chains aren't welcome in PT.
15. Would local families really use a restaurant under Memorial Field? Can they afford to?
16. Where will people park for a tournament?
17. Our stadium isn't really big enough for major game events.
18. City finds funding to pay for some thing like the skateboard park, but not for other things
that people really want.
19. Memorial Field doesn't involve enough people as a focal point for our financial fix. An
aquatic/recreation center would.
20. Selling or leasing county property doesn't necessarily generate revenue for Parks & Rec.
21. Timing is bad for banked capacity.
22. Park fees are untenable. Parks are a liability, not a money maker.
23. People won't go for higher or more fees.
24. The parks are our commons. Don't want to turn people away from parks because they
don't have the funds.
25. People are already concerned with increased fees happening now.
26. People think parks should be free.
27. I'm not comfortable saying we'd close Memorial Field. I wouldn't vote to do this.
Data
1. We're funded out of the county general fund. The County Commission has discretion
over these funds... our funding is lumped together with funding for public health and the
sheriff. We always seem to get the short end of the stick compared to those two. Tax
revenues are decreasing. We won't be able to get more money from the general fund for
2008. Most likely we will get the same funding we got in 2007 plus 5%. This will mean
more demand, but less services in 2008. Our total budget is about $750,000.
2. Quimper Foundation was supposed to design a fix for us, but they've taken over the
planning process to create a pool for PT people.
3. There's fluidity between Parks & Rec., roads, and others.
4. Did a strategic plan in 2005 with no resources.
5. Make Waves and PT are advocates already.
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6. Current revenue... Fields = lowest; recreation = highest, includes things like leagues,
summer camps, after school programs; campgrounds; and grants.
7. Space around Memorial Field could be sold or converted to commercial purposes.
8. Less overlap with YWCA now because we're partnering with them more.
9. Memorial Field seems to be our cornerstone for action.
10. The field is the most expensive to maintain.
11. People who can't afford anything else are served by the parks.
12. Memorial can only host a couple hundred people.
13. PT pays for the skateboard park through a grant. HJ Park got a grant for a skateboard
park also.
14. Make Waves is raising funds and become a 501 c3 to build and operate a private pool.
15. Memorial Field is the biggest drain on our budget. If it were closed, it impacts people
who can take care of themselves.
16. Make Waves is frustrated by the public process... choosing to emulate a private process
like they did in White Fish, MT.
17. SARC was developed with public funding, then had to renew funding and it was voted
down. They tried to cover costs with fees alone, but this didn't work. Now they are
threatening to close and going for a vote again. Threats work!
18. Molly's assistant makes $11/hr without benefits. She is extremely dedicated and works a
ton!
19. Our asset is that people know our employees, the amount they do, and the quality of
their work.
20. We've been increasing fees since 2005.
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