The community pool gets its final concept — three of five public comments answered

If you read nothing else

• The board accepted the Community Pool Final Concept unanimously. Of five comments from the August 2019 public input meetings, three were addressed within budget (locker room sizes and shower counts, the rear vestibule door location, the connection between the two parking lots); spectator seating and warm-up/cool-down lanes were deferred to a possible future expansion the design allows for.
• Three of the four members present carried every vote of the night; three of seven board seats were empty by absence.
• The board tabled both of its own governance items — a Parks and Recreation overview work session, and whether meetings should rotate through different districts — to the February 20, 2020 meeting.
• Staff said the February 20 meeting would carry Go Bond public input on the East Mesa Recreation Complex and the trails, and would possibly move to City Hall.
• Parks maintenance crews were reported below their own targets: parks, sports field and community forestry staff at 58% of an 80% schedules-met goal; construction staff at 48% of the same 80% goal; right-of-way and median staff at 88% against a 90% goal.

Who was in the room

Public comment

Kept at length on purpose. Every point raised is listed, in the order the minutes record it.

6.1 Community Pool Final Concept — Phil Catanach / ASA Architects (Kelly A. Heyer)

Catanach said that after public input meetings in August 2019 and a previous meeting with the board, ASA Architects had addressed a few things brought forward, and Kelly Heyer of ASA was present to provide the final concept.

Heyer presented the updated floor plan by PowerPoint, emphasizing the changes. She listed five main comments received from the public input meetings and said three of the five were addressed within the project budget: (1) locker room sizes and the number of showers in each locker room, (2) the location of the door in the rear vestibule, and (3) the connection between the two parking lots. The remaining two — (4) spectator seating and (5) warm-up and cool-down lanes — are for possible future expansion, which the design allows for.

The revised floor plan adds three showers per locker room and changes the layout significantly to allow for privacy. The space for that change was taken from the mechanical and electrical rooms and from the training rooms. The rear vestibule door was moved so entry and exit is closer to the spectator seating and not directly behind the glass starting block lane.

Montgomery asked whether, if a future expansion were made to the east side of the building with the pool infrastructure on the west side, there is capacity within those rooms to put additional equipment to accommodate it. Heyer responded that with the additional body of water, support space would have to be added.

Trevino said that per the direction of the City Councilors this pool will be both a community and a competition pool. A Construction Manager at Risk is getting involved now to keep the process and project going smoothly; the other direction is to get plans for full design put out to bid and have the project built.

Heyer added that the Construction Manager at Risk comes onto the design project before design is complete and is a much more collaborative arrangement. When they come on board they will do a constructability review and look at the design development drawings before moving into construction documents, comparing them to the budget and providing feedback on where the project falls within it.

Chair Harrison asked, on the warm-up pool, whether anyone mentioned going to the existing pool and what the response was. Trevino said it did not quite meet their specs.

Catanach said the public was allowed to give input at the public meetings and that even where they disagreed, they appreciated that Heyer and ASA listened to and addressed a few of the issues and were honest about the issues they could not address. He added that the main thing is that this is a community pool.

6.2 Parks and Recreation Fees & Charges / Facility Use Policy — Sonya Delgado

Delgado said the Fees and Charges / Facility Use Policy was given to the board at the November 2019 meeting for review and was being brought back for comment and action.

Chair Harrison asked if swimming is in this policy. Delgado said the fees for the new community pool are not in this policy yet.

No other discussion of the policy's contents is recorded before the vote.

6.3 Parks and Recreation Youth Board Logo — Robert Nunez

Nunez said the board's packet contained a revised Parks and Recreation Youth Board logo. The CLC sunburst logo had to go with the City of Las Cruces wording because the two are trademarked together. Changes from the previously presented logo: the wording on top of the logo was removed and the turtle was moved to a different location.

Chair Harrison asked where the logo would be used. Nunez said it would be the branding for the Youth Board — a banner for the table when the Youth Board is out doing activities, and on polos or shirts.

6A Parks and Recreation Overview Work Session (Date) — Chair Harrison

Chair Harrison said he thought it would be a great idea for the board to have a work session on Parks and Recreation, to see the different caveats of the department, what Parks and Recreation does, and what the board does.

Delgado said a work session would give the board an opportunity to understand their roles a little better and understand all the services the department provides; she and the Administrators would be available to have a discussion and answer the board's questions.

Montgomery said he likes the idea, as he learns something new at every board meeting, and that if a structure could be developed for future board members it would be a positive step forward.

Chair Harrison asked what new Administrators do for an onboarding process. Delgado said it is the same type of process — discuss department, goals, areas.

McClure said she would like to reiterate the idea of going back to community meetings to learn more of what the constituents in her district would like to see, and that what she personally would like to see addressed is what ambassadorship looks like.

6.6 Future Board Meeting Dates, Times and Locations — Chair Harrison

Chair Harrison said all board meetings are open to the public and constituents, but that the Parks and Recreation Board meetings could perhaps be held in different districts.

McClure asked if there is a way to allocate budget to market this. Chair Harrison asked Nevarez how she sends out the board meeting notifications; Nevarez said she sends the required notification to City Council and board members by email and posts it on the City website.

Vasconcellos said there are different ways to market the board meetings on social media, that it can be pushed a bit harder, and recommended discussing it further with Delgado.

Chair Harrison asked if some future board meetings would include public meetings because of the Go Bond. Delgado said the February meeting will include public input for the East Mesa Sports Complex and the trails, and so the February meeting will possibly be moved to City Hall.

On McClure's preference for community input and involvement, Delgado said that when the process was started the City jumped on board with the idea and a survey was created with multiple departments involved; the survey results have just come in and the data is being reviewed. She said this put the board's idea on hold, but she wants to go back and address it.

McClure said that if board meetings are held in different districts, a simple push or press release needs to be made to get people to attend. Delgado said she understands and does need to find budget to make this work.

7.1 Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Committee Update — Sonya Delgado

Delgado said the IPM policy was brought before the board about a year and a half ago, covering how Parks and Recreation managed integrated pest management within the department — how weeds are dealt with, what is used, safety procedures, training procedures, certifications — with the idea of updating the policy every year.

The plan was also taken to other policy review committees and to City Council, and everyone jumped on the idea that an IPM policy was needed for the entire City. Parks and Recreation was given the task of creating a citywide IPM policy to include the Airport, Streets, and Facilities.

To do this an IPM committee had to be created; its first meeting will be January 29, 2020 at City Hall. It has nine members from the community, three Councilors, and staff from Parks and Recreation, Public Works, Airport, and the Sustainability Officer. Members from New Mexico State University will attend as experts but are not on the committee, along with professionals from within the City and the State familiar with pesticides and herbicides.

Delgado said she has been tasked to go back to City Council to approve an all-inclusive City IPM policy in June of 2020.

Chair Harrison asked if this has gone before any public input. Delgado said January will be the first time the committee gets together; the committee was appointed in two different City Council meetings, one in November and one in December. There was some prior public input — at City Council meetings, four different work sessions with City Council, and twice at City Council meetings.

Delgado said the City no longer uses Roundup on weeds, so it needs to come up with alternatives — how they are used, how effective they are — and this will be one of the talking points with the IPM committee.

7.2 Veteran's Park Monthly Update Report for Veteran's Advisory Board — Sonya Delgado

Delgado said the Veteran's Advisory Board has asked for a monthly update memo on Veteran's Park. The Parks and Recreation Advisory Board was provided a copy of the memo, and Delgado reviewed it with them. The minutes do not record the memo's contents.

McClure asked if there was any plaque on how people should treat themselves in the park. Delgado said this is something she is looking into.

8. Staff comments — capital projects (Cathy Mathews)

Provencio Van Dame (PVD) soccer field lighting: significant progress — poles and lights up, wiring in, testing anticipated in the next couple of weeks. Staff is working with El Paso Electric to upgrade the electrical supply to accommodate the lights and future park improvements. Lights anticipated fully operational by the end of March, dependent on El Paso Electric.

Benavidez Community Center: moving forward with new playground equipment. Equipment has been purchased and delivered; in the final stages of contracting installation.

Pioneer Women's Park: a small amount of money remains from the funds allocated for the Master Plan, so staff is refurbishing one of the plaques in the park and bringing in a replacement drinking fountain.

Veteran's Memorial Park: the City received legislative funding for security cameras. The Information Technology Department purchased a server to accommodate storage needs, and the Radio Shop Department is in the process of getting the purchase order for the cameras. Cameras anticipated fully installed by the end of this calendar year.

8. Staff comments — recreation programs (Phil Catanach)

Adult indoor volleyball league: 56 teams with eight to ten players.

Youth indoor soccer started January 13: 22 teams with ten to twelve youth each.

Cheer Program is now year-round with fifteen students and one instructor.

The Regional Aquatic Center's second-floor fitness center is packed every night, reaching close to capacity. Additional yoga classes have been added, a youth yoga class Tuesdays at 4:15 p.m., and a Pilates class.

Teen Chaos Collaboration Art Show February 21 and 22, its sixth year, giving youth an opportunity to exhibit and showcase their art.

Ziggy participated in New Mexico State University's mascot game on January 11.

The City's Employee Wellness program has almost 400 employees participating from January 1 through the date of the meeting, with two current challenges: a Transformation challenge, an eight-week challenge to gain body mass and lose fat, and the Ziggy Challenge, a walking challenge to gain as many miles as possible over an extended period, with yoga mats, water bottles and shirts as incentives.

The lineup for Music in the Park is almost finalized and will come out late February or early March.

Fourth of July planning is starting up. Chair Harrison asked if there are plans to move where it has been held; Catanach said for this year it is staying at the same location.

8. Staff comments — parks maintenance schedules (Franco Granillo)

Right of Way / Median staff, responsible for City beautification other than parks and sports fields, have a goal this year of hitting 90% of their maintenance schedules and are at 88%.

Parks, sports field, and community forestry staff are hitting 58% of their 80% schedules-met goal, which includes mowing, irrigation, fertilization and all aspects of maintenance. Granillo said he is proud of his staff because mowers sometimes go down for weeks at a time, which impacts the schedule heavily; despite this, staff know where their high-use, high-visibility areas are and how to cover them and keep concerns down.

Community Forestry will have close to 1,100 trees in the ground and is currently at 174 trees against a PEAK goal of 300 for the year.

Construction staff are at 48% of their 80% schedules-met goal. Granillo said this may sound low but that this staff gets pulled a lot for safety concerns, and that he is looking at increasing temporary staff to meet the schedule.

Granillo said that although all goals are not being met, the work is getting done through shuffling and through coordination.

8. Staff comments — youth services (Robert Nunez)

Over the holiday break the Out of School Time and Youth Services program had 133 participants at three different locations for the nine days youth were out of school, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with three meals a day offered.

With the spring semester just starting there are ten sites with approximately over 300 youth, from kindergarten up to seniors in high school.

Juvenile Citation Program (JCP): one category in PEAK performance is reoffending, and within the program there has been a 94% success rate of youth not reoffending. Nunez said this shows true measures of success not only in the City but throughout Doña Ana County. The JCP supervisor was in Albuquerque at the time of the meeting to learn whether the JCP contract for future years has been renewed; the State is doing a two- to four-year contract with all the Continuums.

Another grant being worked on is the YCC grant. Funding has been received for another beautification project, so the program will be doing murals throughout the community in areas that are always tagged.

A lot of staff participated in the Tree Lighting event in December; Nunez said the entire City did an amazing job and it is something positive for the community.

8. Staff comments — Go Bond meetings and other items (Sonya Delgado, Ceci Vasconcellos)

Go Bond meetings ahead: January 23, Desert Trails public input at the East Mesa Safety Complex, 6 p.m.; January 30, East Mesa Recreation Complex public input at City Hall 2nd floor 2007B-C, 6 p.m.; February 20, Parks & Recreation Advisory Board with Desert Trails and East Mesa Recreation Complex component public input, City Hall 2nd floor.

January 28, a Klein Park meeting to discuss the Master Plan at City Hall 2nd floor, 6 p.m. An individual has come forward who would like to hold a basketball tournament at Klein Park; in doing so, funding would be provided to redo the existing basketball court, keeping it where it currently is. The approved Master Plan calls for moving it. The meeting is to go over the Master Plan again and ask the question whether to move the basketball court; if not, Delgado will have to find an alternative location for the tournament.

14 trees will be removed from County Club Park, District One, and more will be replanted. The trees are being removed because they are in severe decline. Prior to removal there will be outreach and signage, and a meeting will be held to let the neighbors know why, and the Councilor will be told. The date for that meeting has not been finalized.

Frenger Pool has serious issues with the water staying warm and staff is working to resolve it. Some air heaters are being replaced, but they will not help keep the water warm.

The budget process for the next fiscal year has begun.

Vasconcellos said the Go Bond Trails meeting will be February 4, 2020 at City Hall, 6 p.m., and will also be on the board's February meeting agenda.

Vasconcellos said she is working on 2020 Census outreach for the City and that a lot of Parks and Recreation locations will be used.

9. Board member comments

McClure asked if the Chaos Collaboration was going to be at the Frank O'Brien Papen Community Center; Catanach confirmed. She encouraged her fellow board members to attend.

McClure gave kudos to staff, saying she was contacted by a soccer coach for her child, and offered kudos to staff on the cleanliness of the trails from Kohl's to Milagros.

Montgomery said he is looking forward to the new year.

Chair Harrison commented on how nice downtown looked over the holidays with all the lighting and decorations.

Chair Harrison said that sometime that week, on the trails that go through Mesilla Park on the ditch, EBID put up some different things — reflectors, no trespassing signs — and asked whether the City or park staff had met with them recently. Delgado said it could be E.B.I.D. or D.O.T. depending on where it is, and that E.B.I.D. may be starting to figure out which side is theirs and which is the City's, or may have work going on and needed to close it off. Mathews said staff has been in discussion with the E.B.I.D. Engineer, recorded as Zach Lubin with a "(sp?)" in the minutes, and that he is aware of the projects staff will coordinate with them for trails, and that E.B.I.D. determines which side of the lateral the City gets.

Recorded votes

Left open at the gavel