New pool, new prices, and the end of Frenger — the board sets rates for a 50-meter pool that will not pay for itself

If you read nothing else

• All seven seats are filled for the first time in the 2022 record — District 3 and the At Large seat, both vacant in August, are now held by Aracely Tellez and Fred Raish.
• The Natatorium, a 50-meter lap pool with 26 lanes, opens early January 2023. Entry is $3 for every age band; lane rentals go from $4 to $11.
• Frenger pool is recommended for closure when the Natatorium opens. Built in the 1950s, it has been running on exceptions from NMED because it does not meet standards.
• Staff told the board what a 50-meter pool earns: El Paso made $70,000 in a year against operations over a million. "Lap swimming 50-meter pools do not make that much money."
• Naming the new nine-hole disc golf course was tabled to October 20 — construction starts in 4 to 6 weeks. Delgado advised staying away from personal names because the policy has changed.
• GO Bond 2022 carries two Parks questions: $2 million for five unfunded parks, and $5 million for athletic lighting at the East Mesa Public Recreation Complex.
• Frank Carril's ADA complaints were read into the record a second month running — he asked where the quality of life money is going, and said there has been no movement on certified ADA actions submitted June 22.

Who was in the room

Public comment

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

The new pool: what it costs to get in

Phil Catanach said staff are getting ready to open the new 50-meter pool in early January 2023, with new fees and hours to be introduced, and that as the new pool opens, Frenger pool is recommended to be closed. He said the new pool's prices are set in comparison to Frenger, which was a lap swim pool; the new pool will also be a lap swim pool. The new 50-meter community pool is called the Natatorium.

For ages 3 to 17 the Aquatic Center charges $3; the Natatorium is proposed at $3. For ages 18 to 59 the Aquatic Center is $4, which Catanach attributed to it being more of a recreation pool — with a board, kids, and more things to do — while the Natatorium will be $3 because it is basically lap swim. The discounted price for all activities for 60 and over is $3 at the Aquatic Center and will be the same at the Natatorium. Non-swimmers pay $1 to view a child swimming, unchanged. Fitness classes stay at $2, and $1 for 60 and over. Lap swim stays at $2, and $1 for 60 and over.

There will be no rental of the Natatorium until Parks and Rec is more comfortable with what they have and how it operates. When rentals start, it will be set up as a pilot program and the prices brought back to this board at a later date.

Lap swim rentals — team rentals for aquatic swim teams and anyone who wants to rent lanes — go from $4 to $11. Catanach explained the $4 at Frenger was cheap for a pool that is not consistently open, was a 25-meter pool with a very slow turnaround time, and could not hold as many swimmers in the lanes. The Natatorium has 26 lanes at one time at 50 meters. He gave comparisons: El Paso $14 a swim lane, NMSU $16 a lane, Albuquerque $12 and thinking of increasing, having been at $12 since before the pandemic. He said the Natatorium is a brand new pool with lots of opportunities, and they settled on $11.

Hours, and the end of Frenger

The Aquatic Center's hours will remain the same. Frenger runs 6:00 to 10:00 and 4:00 to 8:00; staff are looking at the same hours at the Natatorium but open a little longer on Saturdays, and still closed on Sunday. Catanach said hours might change as they move into operational mode, and that staff are meeting with El Paso again to see what has worked for them on their 50-meter pool. El Paso has two pools open, one on the east side called the Beast and one on the west side called the West Side Natatorium; another meeting is set for October to see how operations are flowing.

Frenger pool is still open and scheduled for inspection in October, which NMED wanted. Catanach said this will benefit the city if the Natatorium is delayed and only able to open in January — Frenger will be available for lap swim and will have had the inspection. He said that for the last few years NMED has been giving an exception for Frenger because it is old and does not meet the standards quite the way it should for a swimming pool, but they give the city some breaks knowing the pool was built in the 1950s.

What a 50-meter pool actually earns

Board Member Montgomery questioned the different prices. The answer given: the Aquatic Center is a shallower pool and not even quite 25 meters, plus all the kids going in and the slide working, so there is a lot of other activity in between. There are not many lap swimmers there, though a few like it — usually not the season swimmers or daily swimmers — and it is not used as much as Frenger.

Staff said the new Natatorium will not have a set time for open swim, as other communities are not going to the 50-meter deeper pool for open swim to splash around and play.

The revenue picture was given directly: El Paso, from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022, made $70,000. Staff said that is not much when the operations are over a million, and that lap swimming 50-meter pools do not make that much money. There could be a few swim meets during the year but the price has not been set; that will be brought to the board later. Most pools have about four to six meets a year. The El Paso regional aquatic center makes about $250,000 a year, and that is with upstairs, lap swim, open swim and all the different items.

Chair McClure asked about the pricing in El Paso: $5 for entry and $15 for lap swim or team swim. Staff said El Paso did better on their yearly passes for a percentage discount. McClure also asked about the hours: the new pool will open at 6:00, while the Aquatic Center opens at 7:30 because people are not coming in to lap swim there — mostly going into fitness upstairs to walk the channel — so there is not the flow of customers at 6:00 a.m.

A disc golf course with no name

Cathy Mathews said a new disc golf course has been designed but not constructed, and she wanted to propose some names. A recommendation will go to City Council, which votes on it.

The course will be in the Las Cruces Dam Recreation area — nine holes with a practice hole, expandable to 18. It will be off Roadrunner Parkway, near Veterans Memorial Park, connected to the trail system that runs from Sagecrest Park and from the south end of the dam and joins into Veterans Memorial Park at the trail's present northern end. The designer is Avery Jenkins, a 2009 disc golf world champion, who came to work with local players from a couple of different clubs to lay out the course. An illustration of tees and holes was shown; the design marked the holes and staff then verified and marked them with a GPS unit for precision placement by the contractor.

The names suggested: Las Cruces Dam Disc Golf Course, Desert Willows Disc Golf Course, Sunny Acres Disc Golf Course, and Roadrunner Disc Golf Course. Staff noted there are rattlesnakes and jackrabbits in the vicinity.

Chair McClure asked whether there was a local disc golf hero who might be honored with the name, noting there is a club in town. It was suggested that Las Cruces Dam Disc Golf Course would not be a good option.

Vice-Chair Engle asked whether this needed a vote that day or could be tabled. Staff said it can be postponed, but construction will start soon — the next four to six weeks — and Parks and Rec would like a name as soon as possible. There are restrictions on names, especially after a person: it cannot be a person of national prominence, local prominence is fine, or the person has to have passed away. Staff will check the regulations on using personal names.

McClure suggested outreach, community input, and getting schools to contribute creative ideas. Delgado suggested staying away from names, as the policy has changed, but said staff will look into it and return with options, and will do some outreach with the clubs and afterschool programs. Board Member Montgomery suggested looking at how the park was financed for naming ideas, or naming it after Ziggy, or something like Sunrise. Board Member Coppedge said the current disc golf course is at Sunrise Terrace Park, so a Sunrise name might draw too much similarity — though some similarity might also be good.

GO Bond 2022 — two Parks questions

Delgado said the 2022 GO Bond has two questions related to Parks and Recreation. The first is $2 million for park improvements, with parks selected based on the Parks and Rec Master Plan. All the parks were assessed at the time of the master plan, which was approved by this board and by City Council. Staff selected parks that did not have currently identified funding or that were not in alignment with the CIP that had funding coming — these facilities have no funding.

The five: La Llorona Park in District 4, Salopek/Stull Neighborhood Park in District 2, Tellbrook Neighborhood Park in District 2, La Fonda Neighborhood Park in District 2, and Hess Terrace Neighborhood Park in District 1.

La Llorona Park has become a destination park, especially when the water is running, with a lot of people there — used through summer, fall and into winter. It needs playground replacement, additional shades, upgraded restrooms, and trail repair on the south end. For the District 2 neighborhood parks, staff are looking at playground replacements. Tellbrook is looking at removal and replacement of the exercise equipment. At Hess Terrace, staff are looking at adding trees, benches and shade. All parks will get the doggy-doo bags and the little station. Delgado said La Llorona is going to take most of the $2 million due to its size and the amount of work to be done, and that they are hoping to go all the way through all five parks.

The second question concerns the East Mesa Public Recreation Complex: an additional $5 million for athletic lighting. There are the pickleball courts, multiuse soccer fields, some ball parks, a 10-acre park in need of some type of lighting, and parking that will need security lighting.

Parks operations

Franco Granillo said irrigation is being cut from 100% to 75%, and by next month down to the 60–65% range because of cooler temperatures. Staff are getting ready to work on fall projects to improve maintenance for next season, and getting ready for the Whole Enchilada in October.

Community forestry staff is still doing well and making plans to plant 250-plus trees in the upcoming planting season.

Young Park is ready for the Renaissance Fair, who are also asking to use the pond for canoeing and other activities.

Construction is working at the dam right now where the disc golf is going — approximately 30 to 40 dump trucks of sand for erosion control due to the rain. Granillo said he will talk to Public Works, as at times the trail, and possibly the disc golf course, could be down due to the erosion issues that occur every year at this time.

The clean sweep crews working the rights-of-way, medians, alleyways and public right-of-way areas are doing very well, and the weed abatement schedule is still being met.

Youth services and Keep Las Cruces Beautiful

Robert Nunez said out of school time programs have been running since July when school started, and staff are now offering the first fall break camp: two sites with 140 spots available. It opened the previous day and, as of that afternoon, had almost 50 kids signed up between both locations, so it will probably max out. Fall break runs 10 days, September 26 through October 7.

Staff are increasing sites offering at-risk meals in partnership with FYI — any program Parks and Rec offers provides supper between 3:30 and 4:30, and Las Cruces Public Schools provides a snack. Community engagement is working with the library, museums, police department and fire department.

Within the Youth Development and Diversion program, referrals are starting to increase through the Juvenile Probation Office, and informal referrals with the Doña Ana County Sheriff's Department and Las Cruces Police Department student resource officers have increased over the last 30 days. Nunez described this as a great opportunity for youth to receive education, possibly consequences depending on why they are coming to the programs, and some development mentorships. Tutoring within the program is expanding, and a new supervisor was recently hired. There is a lot of outreach with nonprofits and other service providers, and the supervisor is making her way south with some of her staff, all the way to Hatch Public Schools, to connect with administrators, counselors and everybody involved with youth.

Keep Las Cruces Beautiful has Team Up to Clean Up this weekend in District 2, with roll-off containers at Gomez Park off Espina and at Frank O'Brien Papen Community Center between 7:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. The Adopt A Spot program gained four new adopters over the last couple of weeks. Libby will be in chambers next month. The community-wide Toss No Mas cleanup is October 8 throughout Las Cruces. There has been an increase in volunteers again after the pandemic. The graffiti abatement crew is out every day doing 6 to 10 spots a day, a lot of electrical boxes and some other things, working with codes to track them, document them and photograph them.

Capital projects

Cathy Mathews shared a list of projects with progress. At Burn Lake, the old shade structures were demolished — they had been put up in the early 1970s and were recycled; new shade structures will be installed in January or February.

Work has started on a wayfinding plan for the parks and trails. Mathews will send invitations to board members for a Day of Action in October, an all-day event where the consultants make presentations and pull ideas from the people who will be using the wayfinding system.

Chandler Tank design was nearing complete construction documents the previous week, with Utilities and Traffic, to deal with signage, where it goes, and how to handle very intense traffic on Sonoma Ranch Boulevard. The Lohman Avenue and Roadrunner Parkway medians are under design as well.

Soldado Multiuse Fields, part of the Hadley Avenue Recreation Complex, is nearing completion of the final aspect of that project — installing a booster pump for the irrigation system, which will help the grass take off.

The Las Cruces Lateral Trail is nearing the point of advertising for construction bids. NMDOT is the funder and needs to review the construction documents one last time, hopefully within the next two to three weeks. It will be a multiuse trail from University Avenue north along the Las Cruces Lateral to Las Cruces High School, and potentially, if prices come in where they need them to, all the way to Boutz.

There is a grant application in for Land and Water Conservation funding for Benavidez Community Center Park, and staff are working on an application for Pioneer Women's Park to move that master plan forward.

On the Apodaca Park project with the aquatic playground: notification of award was received in 2019 and staff have been struggling since then to actually get an agreement for the grant. Mathews said it looks close now — the National Park Service has approved it, State Parks just needs to get the agreement together, and then Council will approve it and it will move forward.

Vice-Chair Engle said the Las Cruces Lateral crosses some residential streets on an uphill that go onto El Paseo, and asked whether the design took that into account to warn both drivers and trail users. Mathews said each intersection will have a newly painted crosswalk and there is signage in the project notifying drivers that a pedestrian crossing is coming up. She said the trail will cross University Avenue and Boutz and terminate at Main Street, and that these larger crossings are not part of this project at this time, but Parks and Rec and Public Works are aware they are going to need some attention or intervention.

Board Member Coppedge asked whether there is a date for the wayfinding Day of Action in October. There is not — the consultant has not settled on one because of the Discover's Day holiday. Staff are looking at early October, more likely mid to late October.

Coppedge also asked about Burn Lake restrooms for repair or replacement. Staff reported a facilities meeting update that day: City Facilities staff are responsible for upkeep of the restrooms, the structure and the pump. There is a lot of homeless activity there and people got into the restroom and flushed clothing and sheets, tangling the shredder in the pump, which burned itself out. Funding is coming internally to repair the pump, and the restrooms will be brought back as soon as the vendor can provide a pump to fit the old assembly.

Vice-Chair Engle raised crosswalk art, saying it might be a perfect opportunity to also have local artists do the crosswalk art at the residential crossings to inform drivers and pedestrians of the crossing. Delgado said the sidewalk art that will be on Hadley is experimental, as they had to get permission from Streets to do it — Hadley technically is not really a street, it used to be an access road, and has been treated differently. She said Parks and Rec first needs to show that it is not going to cause any issues, and that they hopefully plan to do more and hope it will slow people down.

Recreation programming

Phil Catanach reported a Bark in the Park event this Saturday at 10:00 a.m. at Frank O'Brien Papen Community Center for dogs on leashes. A virtual marathon on the 25th — a popular virtual program to get sedentary people out and walking — opens registration 09/16/22. The last Movies in the Park is September 24, Ghostbusters: Afterlife. On Friday September 23 there is a new program called Rushing Boba, with drinks and painting, which already has 10 people signed up. Parks and Walk is on Thursday, with a walk happening as he spoke.

On the athletic side, flag football is ongoing and sand volleyball is ongoing. The wellness basketball tournament just completed with six teams from different city departments; Parks and Rec won. Softball for city employees comes at the end of September with 11 teams from different departments signed up. Youth basketball begins October 2.

Music in the Park had a great season — 17 concerts, finishing August 28, with over 13,000 people attending. Planning has begun for the tree lighting event in early December, and there are already plans for the Mother's Day Concert and the Fourth of July Concert.

At the aquatic center the summer season just finished. Staff are getting things prepped for the new pool and for the new splash pad coming on board at Unidad Park, which will be ready for next spring.

Director's comments — a 360 review, and Unidad still closed

Delgado said some board members may be asked to participate in a 360 review for herself, as the City of Las Cruces is doing 360 reviews with the City Manager, the ACMs and all the Directors, so the board may get an email. That will probably be within the next two to three weeks, and the whole process takes six to eight weeks.

She said they will be bringing on a new splash pad at Unidad Park and will try to host a ribbon cutting at the end of October, with the board notified of the date. Staff are still trying to get parts in, with huge delays taking a long time.

Board Member Coppedge asked whether kids can play at Unidad Park or whether it is completely closed. Delgado said it is completely closed and has not been turned over to the City yet.

Board comments — ADA again, and a bike race nobody is signing

Chair McClure thanked Franco Granillo for his help with the email.

Vice-Chair Engle said Frank Carril reached out again to have something else written into the record: he is again asking where the quality of life money is going in regard to the ADA access he has been a big champion for, and he feels there is no movement on the certified ADA actions he talks about, which were submitted June 22. No staff response to either point is recorded.

Engle's other comments followed Mathews's wayfinding discussion. He said there is a bicycling event coming up in October called the Monumental Loop, sometimes referred to as Danger Bird. He has spoken with the route planner and the coordinator multiple times, and has discussed how great it would be to have signs reading something like "You are on the Monumental Loop" — since the loop goes through Las Cruces multiple times, that would be a good way to advertise to trail users here. The event organization got a permit for 150 cyclists, half coming from out of town.

Engle also relayed an idea from the Southern New Mexico Trail Alliance: a mountain bike skills course nearby, which he said could be a way to get young people onto bikes and increase their skills and confidence.

Mathews responded that the wayfinding planning process includes a stakeholders advisory committee, which includes Dan Carter and George Pearson representing the MPO, with representatives from the BLM invited to participate in the Day of Action, along with others in the county and the Town of Mesilla — because staff are very interested in having the wayfinding system within the City make clear what the connections are to trail systems outside the City.

Recorded votes

Left open at the gavel