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2021-09-09 PARKS, RECREATION AND BEAUTIFICATION BOARD MINUTESMINUTES – REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY OF PEARLAND PARKS, RECREATION, & BEAUTIFICATION BOARD, HELD ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2021 AT 8:30 A.M., AT 4141 BAILEY ROAD, PEARLAND, TX 77584. I. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Jeff Webb called the meeting to order at 8.34 a.m. II. BOARD ROLL CALL Jeff Webb Chairman Charlie McMurrey Board Member Nancy Bankson Board Member Dennis Jackson Board Member Carry Capers Parks & Recreation, Director Kevin Carter Parks & Recreation, Assistant Director Ellen Stansbury Parks & Recreation, Executive Assistant Brandon Torres Parks & Recreation, Athletic/Aquatic Manager Lindsey Taylor Parks & Recreation, Special Events Coordinator Mychal Mitchell Parks & Recreation, Special Events Coordinator Julio Montemayor Parks & Recreation, Volunteer Coordinator Richard Vaughan Guest Dennis Allen Guest III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion was made by Mr. Dennis Jackson to approve the August minutes, with the amount stated in the budget stricken, Ms. Nancy Bankson seconded the motion. The motion was approved. IV. BOARD REPORT Mr. Charles McMurrey suggested that the board members voice their opinion at the next City Council Meeting; and advised the board to watch the budget discussion video from the August 23, 2021, Council Meeting. Ms. Nancy Bankson voiced her concern with the rise in cases of COVID at the local schools; and the lack of COVID testing. Mr. Dennis Jackson is excited to take a tour of The Sports Complex at Shadow Creek Ranch, and echoed Ms. Bankson’s concerns regarding COVID. Chairman Webb shared an update on the all-inclusive playground, at the end of August, the foundation was 92% towards their fundraising goal. The foundation received a $10,000 grant from the Davis Days Foundation. Chairman Webb mentioned the tour of The Sports Complex at Shadow Creek Ranch and that the Board Members would like to keep their regular scheduled October meeting. However, the Board will accommodate City Council requests if needed. Mr. Richard Vaughan was happy to report that The Rotary Club gave a $10,000 donation to the Forever Parks Foundation that will help fund the all-inclusive playground. V. DISCUSSION – STAFF REPORT – SPECIAL EVENTS Mr. Mychal Mitchell and Ms. Lindsey Taylor, who was recently promoted to Independence Park coordinator, shared all the exciting events going on with in Parks and Recreation. Our special events team provided the board with handouts on Ruff Runner and House band Fest, and a list of events for the remainder of the year. Mr. Julio Montemayor, our Volunteer Coordinator, shared that during the month of July we had some great community engagement and are always looking for volunteer support in different ways and through new organizations, such as Boy Scouts of America and Jack and Jill of America. Some organizations are considering building little free libraries in parks and free bike repair stations. Our Special Events team requested that the parks board members share all the upcoming events with their colleagues. VI. DISCUSSION – TRAILS BEYOND CONSTRUCTION Ms. Capers shared the purpose of Trails beyond Construction is to provide a comprehensive look at the City’s standards and best practices for managing our trail system to enhance the users experience, safety, and promote long term stewardship of the trails system. Ms. Capers highlighted the objectives: - Keep the Trails Safe by placing emergency location markers, police department patrol and trail cameras. - Providing Etiquette/wayfinding by using trail etiquette and wayfinding/interpretive signs. - Monitor Movement and Usage by using trail counters (HGAC) and permanent counters. - Community Engagement by enhancing websites and interactive maps - Trail Maintenance, which would include GIS mapping and a mowing schedule. The trail marker program is on track for a November installation, and then a public awareness campaign would follow. Mr. Dennis Jackson asked if there was any police data that could be shared, Ms. Capers said she would share the data if available with the board members. VII. DISCUSSION – ALL-INCLUSIVE PLAYGROUND Ms. Capers reported that the Forever Parks Foundation has been working hard to raise funds for the inclusive playground at Shadow Creek Ranch Sports Complex. Representative Ed Thompson was instrumental in securing $750,000 from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for the inclusive playground form the state’s sporting goods sales tax fund. The funds will be disbursed to the City of Pearland through the Texas Parks and Wildlife’s Local Park Grant. A grant application from Texas Parks and Wildlife needs to be completed and submitted to begin the review process. For the City to receive the funds we need a resolution from City Council formally accepting those funds. Our goal is to have that to City Council at the September 23rd meeting. The remainder of the funds will come from the Foundation. Texas Parks and Wildlife will distribute the funds to the city with quarterly payments over the next two years. The Foundation will reimburse the City for their portion of the project at the time the contract is signed. Once the grant application has been submitted and a notice to proceed has been issued by Texas Parks and Wildlife, the City will use available cash on hand to fund this portion of the project and reimburse itself with the quarterly payments from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. We are hoping to have our application approved by mid-November/December and be ready to start construction in the Spring of 2022. Ms. Capers asked if the Board was in support of the City receiving these funds, and through the City’s grant coordinator, herself, Mr. Kevin Carter and the recreation team, to manage the grant process. Chairman Webb the question is on the adoption of the motion to receive the funds. All board members support the motion. The motion was unanimously carried. VIII. DISCUSSION & POSSIBLE ACTION – RSA & ATHLETIC FIELD UPDATE Following the Board’s request to add a section referencing alcohol consumption in both the RSA and Athletic Field Use Policies, Mr. Brandon Torres presented the updated policies with the added sections. The park ordinance referencing alcohol possession and consumption was referenced in the policy. Mr. McMurrey mad a motion to approve both policies. Mr. Dennis Jackson seconded the motion. The motion was approved. IX. DIRECTORS REPORT - Our next City Council budget meeting is Monday, Sept. 13. To see the updated reductions that are being recommended visit the finance page on the City’s website where you will see 2022 Budget Development. There are memo’s outlining all the reductions that are being proposed. The next budget meeting with be Sept. 27. - Ivy Park – is the new public park for the City. The Park was built by Modern Green and the Ivy district. Part of the agreement is that they would build a public park for the community. Modern Green is also constructing a segment of the Clear Creek Trail that will connect Ivy Park to the Shadow Creek Ranch segment at Kirby Drive. Construction of this trail segment should be completed within the next month. We will send out a save the date tentatively for the grand opening on October 14th. We will hold our next board meeting at The Sports Complex at Shadow Creek Ranch to allow time for the Sports Complex at Shadow Creek Ranch Phase 2 project tour and the grand opening event. - The dog park is now 99% complete. The final item is that the gates are not latching correctly so we had to use temporary latches. Once the latches are completed the dog park will open. You will see the landscaping around the edges of the fence and then the next fiscal year we will add some picnic benches, shade covers and additional play features for the animals. - We have a couple of board members that we will be contacting to see if they are interested in renewing their board term. City Council will approve the reappointments at the first Council Meeting in October. This will leave us with one vacant position and are asking the City Secretary to promote that position. - The Mobile Mexican Consulate is utilizing the RCN and have seen approximately 120 people per day. They provide passports by appointment only. It was very successful and look forward to them returning soon. - Fall programming registration is now open and some of our programs are doing very well. Pearland in Motion is available at the front desk with all our fall programs listed; and is also available on our website. -One of the roles of the board is to review the Parks and Recreation Policy Manual; we are finishing up some updates to the policies and would like to bring those to the board in the next few months. -We are still sanitizing our facility for COVID; and encouraging people to wear masks. It is about 50/50. Numbers in the Kids’ Corner are still being monitored and we are keeping fitness classes small. -The financing company for our weight room cardio equipment has been going back and forth with the lease; we had everything signed and we asked if we could make three payments; which they agreed to; but it lowered the price, so we had to re-do the lease. The equipment has been ordered. Mr. McMurrey asked about the access card to the weight room, which Ms. Capers responded that she would get an answer from our new Recreation Operations Manager that will be onboarding very soon. X.ADJOURMENT Chairman Webb adjourned the meeting at 10.04 a.m. These minutes respectfully submitted by: ______________________ Carry Capers, Director – (transcribed initially by Ellen Stansbury) Minutes approved as submitted and/or corrected this 14th day of October 2021. ______________________ Jeff Webb, Chairman