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Minutes 02-24-03MZNUTES OF THE RECREATZON AND PARKS BOARD MEETING HELD AT THE SENIOR CENTER, 1021 SOUTH FEDERAL HIGHWAY, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, ON MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2003 AT 7:00 P.M. Present Elizabeth Pierce, Chair .lames McMahon Margaret Murphy Bali Ramnarace Tom Williams Bill Orlove, Alternate Absent Betty Thomas Call to Order Wally Majors, Recreation Director .lohn Wildner, Deputy Recreation & Parks Director Chair Pierce called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. Mr. Wildner announced with regret that Mr. Dan Winters had submitted his resignation from the Board due to his long commute to and from Belle Glade. The Board expressed regrets also and wished IVlr. Winters well. Chair Pierce noted that there were two Alternate positions open on the Board. She sought the Board's support in requesting that Mr. Orlove be moved up to a Regular member. The Board agreed and will include this item in the "Items for the City Manager's Attention" portion of its Agenda. II. Roll The roll was taken and a quorum was present. III. Approval of Minutes of 3anuary 27, 2003 Motion Ms. Murphy moved to approve the minutes of January 27, 2003 as written. Ramnarace seconded the motion that carried unanimously. Mr. Ms. Murphy asked for a status report on the lot at 215 S.E. 3rd Street brought to the Board's attention at the January 27 meeting. Mr. Wildner responded that the City Manager's Office replied to Mr. Leach, saying that the Utility Department was considering that location for a drainage area and a landscaped green area. It was thought that this would probably be a good resolution of the matter. Meeting Minutes Recreation & Park Board Meeting Boynton Beach, Florida February 24, 2003 Chair Pierce inquired about the details for the grth Of July celebration and Mr. Wildner indicated that it had not been decided yet. Mr. Ramnarace requested that people wishing to address the Board send reports instead. The Board could then read the reports and decide whether or not they wanted to invite the person to a meeting for further discussion. The speakers take up so much time that it is hard to get the regular business accomplished. Mr. Ramnarace felt that at least, the speakers should be given a reasonable length of time in which to speak. [V. Unfinished Business A. Greenways/Bikeways Plan Mr. Wildner advised that a Greenways Web page could be accessed through "Parks" on the City of Boynton Beach's Web site. An overview of the Greenways/Bikeways Plan information will be presented to the City Commission on March 18. The overview report will be given to the Board members at the next meeting. There will be a recommendation from staff in the overview to move into phase two, the actual writing of the plan. B. Intracoastal Park Mr. Wildner announced that a utility line dispute between the condominium known as Waters Edge on the southern boundary of the Park, the City, FPL, Southern Bell, and Adelphia Cable, had threatened to stall the project. These companies had installed lines on City property to serve Waters Edge residents and their lines interfered with some drainage lines the City wanted to install. A compromise was reached by relocating one of the drainage lines that the City was building so construction could move forward while the utility companies come up with alternate proposals to get their lines off of the City property. C. Southeast Neighborhood Park Grants are in process from the Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program (FRDAP) and the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) to develop this park. rvlr. Wildner was optimistic about receiving a $200K grant from FRDAP for the construction of the 2.3 acres to the South. The City has another $300K on hand for construction of the 2.3 acres to the South. The City will be doing an in- house design this summer and begin construction when the grant is confirmed, probably in December of 2003. Meeting Minutes Recreation & Park Board Meeting Boynton Beach, Florida February 24, 2003 There will be two basketball courts, a picnic shelter with outside picnic tables, a children's playground, and an open play field suitable for soccer as well as other sports. Chair Pierce inquired whether there would be a curfew at the Park and Mr. Wildner responded that there would be and that it would probably be 10:00 p.m. D. Senior Center Mr. Majors announced that they would be going out to bid for the sprinkler system and that the installation should be complete by September or October. They will then begin the fitness room. Just north of that will be the computer room, and north of that will be two offices for staff. The changes to the staff offices will allow the pool table to be moved and this will make much more open space that will be very useful when serving the lunch crowd, which averages between 100 and 150 people a day. A meeting is set with the Area Agency on Aging, the main funnel for Federal dollars into the area, to explore funding options. Vice Chair McMahon asked if the Board could invite a representative from the Area Agency on Aging and Mr. Majors responded that the City was hoping to have one of the Senior Advisory Board members appointed to the Area Agency on Aging Board. Vice Chair McMahon inquired about usage statistics for the Center and was told that it was used by 700 to 800 people a month. The Board discussed lobbying efforts. Mr. Majors indicated that one of the reasons they had undertaken the task of preparing an Orientation Manual was to educate the Board members so that if they had the inclination, they could be effective advocates for the Senior Center and other parks and recreation issues in the community. Mr. Majors noted that he had a brochure entitled "Ambassadors," where people who are interested in senior causes are invited to go up to Tallahassee. They had forwarded it to the Senior Advisory Board but had not gotten any feedback yet. Mr. Majors spoke of the global view that the Recreation & Parks Department had to take concerning priorities. Although the Senior Center expansion was very important, the Wilson Center renovations and improvements and the Greenways Program were also very important. Having greenways is especially important with the influx of new residential development going on throughout the City. Chair Pierce commented that the developments were bringing in lots of people and the City could not offer them a place to enjoy themselves. 3 Meeting Minutes Recreation & Park Board Meeting Boynton Beach, Florida February 24, 2003 Mr. Ramnarace complimented Steve Lulkin on the fine job he was doing of organizing and running the Senior Center. E. Wilson Center Renovations Mr. Wildner showed the Board a drawing of the proposed improvements at the Wilson Center and Pool. The Wilson Center is part of the Heart of Boynton project and an attempt to focus attention on the Poinciana Heights area (formerly Cherry Hills). Wilson Center is in the heart of the Poinciana Heights neighborhood. The City is trying to make the Wilson Center and Pool the focal point for housing redevelopment in the area. The existing, old building will be demolished and moved to the corner, where it will have more accessibility and visibility from the adjoining streets. The proposed main building is designed in the "Floribbean" style, a combination of old-style Florida landscaping and Caribbean influences. The building will have a lobby area, offices, restrooms, and a large multi-purpose room. Small receptions and repasts could be held in this room because there is a kitchen as well. There is a game room upstairs with additional meeting rooms. The building features porches on the front and sides with a roof extension that would connect to large covered basketball courts. There will be parking lots, a children's playground area, and fishing piers along the canal bank. They were preparing a Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) grant application for $500K to extend the bike path along the canal bank. The softball field would be reoriented to allow the balconies on the Center to have a spectator's view of the games. There is room for a full-sized soccer field in the outfields. The existing pool will be renovated and changed from a traditional lap pool, which does not get much use, to a beach entry or "0-depth" entry pool with the ability to have swimming instruction and water playground apparatus. The locker rooms will be renovated and completely modernized. The rationale for having the covered basketball court was to provide an illuminated playing court that could be used in ail weather conditions and provide a shady space for children's programs during the day. The City has $:LM from the County for the project but the total price tag will be approximately $4M. The City will try to leverage the $1M from the County using other programs. Chair Pierce inquired whether the renovations would be done in phases and Mr. Wildner responded affirmatively. Mr. Ramnarace suggested that a snack bar on the premises might be a good fund raising tool. There was a lot of agreement with this idea. Mr. Williams thought that the Wilson Center could even be used for dances if the Senior Center were not available or too small. 4 Meeting Minutes Recreation & Park Board Meeting Boynton Beach, Florida February 24, 2003 The Board thought the building was beautiful. MrI Williams wanted to see the City fix up the Woman's Clubi He felt that the City was growing and there were not enough places to go. Mr. Majors reported that the City was still negotiating a lease for the building and expected to have some kind of resolution in the next two months. F. Orientation Manual Mr. Majors distributed a draft copy of the Orientation Manual to the Board members. The Manual came into being when staff realized that the new Board members needed a primer to bring them up to date about recreation and park matters. The Board had decided to take a more active role in advocating parks and recreation issues in the community. Mr. Majors explained that the Recreation & Parks Department would be updating their Strategic Plan with the input and assistance of the Board. That effort would lead to the accreditation process that they hoped to officially kick off in October. Staff saw accreditation as a culmination of the desire to operate all the City's recreation and park programs efficiently and effectively and under the highest possible standards. Mr. Majors asked the Board members to take the draft Manual home to read, digest, and comment on at the next meeting. To supplement the Manual, the Board members will be given an annual Calendar of Events listing all of the planned activities for any given year. A Facility Directory will also be added to the Manual that will be a more detailed document describing the facilities, a picture of the facility, and its amenities. Based on the input from the Board, Mr. Majors will come back to the Board with a final draft. G. Other 1. Promotion Mr. Majors commented that the Recreation & Parks Department had to work on promoting itself and it had begun to take out ads on television and radio. Mr. Majors distributed a draft Media Release about parks and recreation in Boynton Beach. As a former reporter, Mr. Orlove stated that the draft Media Release was good but that it needed to be "attached" to a program and suggested something like "Because of the efforts of the City of Boynton Beach with "X' program, kids have more opportunities to do something of a positive nature." Mr. Majors was grateful for this input. Ms. Murphy thought that staff had done a good job of getting news into the Wednesday Palm Beach Post supplement. Mr. Majors stated that this was the 5 Meeting Minutes Recreation & Park Board Meeting Boynton Beach, Florida February 24, 2003 work of Ms. Ginny Shea, who was doing a fine job. Based on input from the Board, Mr. Majors wished to send a letter to the newspaper editors in the area promoting the tangible benefits of park and recreation activities in the area. He wanted the letter to come from the Board and the Board agreed that Chair Pierce and Mr. Majors would collaborate on producing such a letter. The goal of all this promotion was to make sure that the public became more aware of the various activities and benefits of the parks and recreation opportunities in Boynton Beach. This came about from the Needs Assessment, which indicated that public awareness needed to be raised in this area. Vice Chair McMahon stated that the neighborhood associations would be a good channel to promote parks and recreation activities. At his residence, there were 4K people in his neighborhood association and they had their own monthly newsletter. He offered to write something in it every month and thought that this would achieve a lot of coverage. Also, many neighborhood associations are on the lookout for speakers. A speaker from the City could talk about the Senior Center, for example. Mr. Majors spoke of the desirability of having a contact in homeowner's associations so that they could distribute information directly to people who wanted it instead of the current practice of mass mailing to homeowners' associations and doctors' offices. Mr. Wildner and Mr. Majors both said they did public speaking on a fairly regular basis. The City has an e-mail subscription program where it will e-mail subscribers of programs and events in the City on a monthly basis. Mr. Orlove asked if the City ever did a mailing of postcards to people in the newer communities and up into Lantana. The response from staff was that most people go by the City Hall at the Mall and could pick up a Fun Fare Magazine there. Mr. Orlove thought that there were many people who would drive their children into Boynton Beach for specific activities, if they were made aware of them. He specifically suggested targeting communities like Lake Charleston and Winston Trails. Mr. Orlove favored sending a quick postcard to a community west of Jog Road with a list of what Boynton Beach had to offer for seniors and more active adults. He thought there would be a 10% return on the cards. Mr. Ramnarace suggested buying a mailing list and selecting certain zip codes. Another suggestion was made that Boca Raton had very little in the way of recreation and parks, with the exception of the County Park, and could also lend support to Boynton Beach's programs if they were to be made aware of them. Another suggestion was to e-mail the citizens. Chair Pierce suggested contacting 6 Meeting Minutes Recreation & Park Board Meeting Boynton Beach, Florida February 24, 2003 Ofc. John Huntington of the C.O.P.S. Program, who would probably know the contact information for neighborhood associations. A suggestion was made for the Board members to keep the Media Release handy in case they happened to have contact with a reporter at an event. They would then have some information at their fingertips and not lose a promotional Iopportunity. Another point was made that people needed to be made aware of the significant impact that parks and recreation has on economic development. H. [tems for the City Manager's Attention The Board would like to see Mr. Bill Orlove moved up to Regular member. G. Monthly Report Each Board member received a copy of this report in the meeting agenda packets. V. New Business Dad & Daughter's Valentine's Day Dance Hr. Orlove stated that the Dad & Daughter's Valentine's Day Dance was very well run, well attended, free, and a lot of fun. Mr. Orlove mentioned that he had tried to sign up for the Halloween Event but was on a lengthy waitlist. He eventually got a card that said that the City was thinking of having the event the following year but that there might be a slight charge for it. He was definitely in favor of a small, $5 to $:L0, charge for events and thought that people would be more than glad to pay this. Mr. Ramnarace noted that a new playground had been built at Rolling Green Elementary School. He remarked that he had caught a person in the act of creating graffiti on the school grounds and had called the Police. Mr. Wildner noted that the City had to do a lot of painting at Rolling Green due to graffiti. Old High School - Task Force Committee Mr. Orlove stated that he was appointed to a task force that would be looking at what to do with the old high school next to the Children's Museum. He wanted Meeting Minutes Recreation & Park Board Meeting Boynton Beach, Florida February 24, 2003 to get on this task force because the CRA Director, Mr. Douglas Hutchinson, and a former Commissioner, Mr. Bruce Black, had emphasized that the Board could and should take a leading advocacy role in parks and recreation issues. He wanted to see that those issues were given the prominence they deserved. He requested a meeting with Mr. Majors and Mr. Wildner to discuss this prior to the task force's first meeting. He sought the Board's input about the parks and recreation aspect of the old high school building. The Board had discussed possible expansion of the Art Center and its programs. He wanted to bring his opinion and the Board's opinion to bear in the task force meetings. Mr. Wildner stated that a suggestion had come out of the C.]:.P. meeting for the possibility of involving the performing arts in the old high school building. This kind of activity is traditionally located in the downtown. They were not thinking of professional-level performing arts but that a community center would be good for getting people together for band concerts, choruses, dance troupes, and so forth, at a local level. They did not necessarily want to see the whole building turned over to non-profit organizations that simply wanted to use it for their own use. Mr. Wildner expressed appreciation to Mr. Orlove for accepting the position on the task force and representing the parks and recreation cause. Junior Lifeguard Program Chair Pierce mentioned the letter she had received about the Junior Lifeguard Program that was discussed at the previous month's meeting. They had asked the Board for help in funding the Junior Lifeguard program. She suggested ways in which the Board might assist them. Mr. Majors indicated that he would be happy to invite the Lifeguard Manager to come to a meeting. The program is primarily funded through registration fees but they also do seek sponsorships. Last year they were able to get $500 to $600 in sponsorships. He compared some larger organizations like Pompano where they had 30 to 50 people and in Boynton Beach, the beach patrol was made up of 8 people. They want to go first-rate on the equipment but it was hard to compete with the other troops who had greater resources. The Board discussed fund raising for this Program. Mr. Majors indicated that the City had to make the bulk of their programs self-sustaining. The Board thought that the City should subsidize this Program. Mr. Majors thought that the Program lent itself very well to a sponsorship approach Cricket Mr. Ramnarace stated that on March 12, he would be coaching 26 children between the ages of 8 - 10 in cricket. 8 Meeting Minutes Recreation & Park Board Meeting Boynton Beach, Florida February 24, 2003 Tndividual Ownership of Specific Programs Chair Pierce believed that the Board members should decide to take ownership of individual programs and be the focal point for information and comments about them. This would be a way to reduce dependence on staff and not scatter the Board's efforts. The Board endorsed this suggestion. This will be a topic of discussion at the Board's next meeting. VT. Next Meeting The next meeting will be on March 24, 2003 at the Senior Center at 7:00 p.m. TX. Adjournment Since there was no further business before the Board, the meeting was duly adjourned at 8:35 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan Collins Recording Secretary (one tape) (022503) 9