Director Steven Bingham laid out a budget request built on four priorities, including bringing back park rangers as Police Aides to monitor the skate park and higher-crime areas. Staff also presented the near-final Grindline design for the new skate park at the East Mesa Sports Complex and a ten-year wayfinding signage plan that will do ten parks at a time.
Kept at length on purpose. Every point raised is listed, in the order the minutes record it.
None recorded. The minutes name no speaker for this comment, giving only "Member of the Public", although two members of the public — Greg Shervanick and Reed Elliott — are listed in the attendance roll.
Cathy Mathews introduced the near-final design for the new skate park at the East Mesa Sports Complex. The design firm is Grindline; Matt Fluegge and Brett Johnson presented.
The design was based on public input requests, with public meetings starting in January. Mr. Fluegge shared his screen and discussed the features included in the design.
If this design is approved, construction documents can be created and construction can begin soon. Staff said members of the public are excited about the design. Storm drainage is included, and there will be amenities for spectators.
Cathy Mathews introduced Project Manager Christina Abeyta-Corella, who provided handouts to the board.
The Police Department and Parks & Rec have been working together to choose which signage is most needed and which parks to start with. She presented preliminary designs for several signs. The new signs will be very uniform, color coded, and easy to understand.
The new signs will probably not be installed until 2025 because there are parts that City Council has to approve. There is a ten-year plan to complete the signage for the entire City, ten parks at a time. Ms. Abeyta-Corella will provide the list of the ten parks to be done next year.
Steven Bingham discussed the budget request, presented as coming out of a budget retreat the minutes date to February 16, 2025 — a date after this meeting.
Four priorities: renovate existing parks and playground replacement; expand the park construction team; improve safety at City parks; and expand KLCB (Keep Las Cruces Beautiful).
On safety, the request was to bring back park rangers using Police Aides to monitor the skate park and higher-crime areas as well as the Rec Centers and Aquatic Centers. The rangers will hopefully discourage drug trafficking and violence, and provide information and a sense of safety to park attendees. The requested park ranger positions are for the higher-crime parks; they will monitor and give citations. Parks & Rec also plans to change park restrooms to single-use restrooms to provide better safety.
Bingham said he has noticed incomplete construction and maintenance issues in several parks. Franco Granillo said the Master Plan calls for renovating the older parks — Apodaca, Pioneer Women's Park, Young Park, and several others. He and Cathy Mathews discussed specific improvements and repairs needed in these parks and some of the costs involved. Bingham said the reason they are focusing on Apodaca and Pioneer Women's Park is that there are already some funds available for those two.
Some playground equipment is boarded up due to lack of replacement parts. Half of the playgrounds in Las Cruces are 20 years old or more.
The construction team is tiny and it is difficult for them to keep up with repairs. Maintenance costs are also built into the budget. There is also a request for two full-time positions for maintenance workers. The park system continues to grow but Parks & Rec's budget does not, so the maintenance continues to fall behind.
KLCB is grant-funded, with a graffiti team, dumpster days, and various other activities to educate the public and keep the City looking good. There is more competition now for the grant, so there is a budget request this year to try to continue and expand the program. Parks & Rec also serves some of the public schools and wants to expand that program to two additional sites; even more schools have requested Parks & Rec to attend.
The City plans to evaluate various departments in the next year to see if the status quo of funding is acceptable. There have been efforts to create a 501(c)(3) group, Friends of Parks & Rec, to help get funds for the parks.
Cathy Mathews reported that the swimming pool at Apodaca Park is being demolished and replaced with a splash pad. The skate park at Hadley and Walnut has been demolished and is now being graded. Construction is underway at the Veterans Memorial Park parking lot. Gallagher Park has some new furnishing and playground equipment, and Safe Haven has new playground equipment as well. Las Cruces won $500,000 from the Trails Plus Grant to support some of the trails, with grant monies expected to be available this summer. The trail along El Paseo is federally funded and there are many obstacles for contractors working on federal projects, so it is coming along slowly.
Robert Nunez announced that for Earth Day on Friday there will be a recycled art show at the plaza, and that April 27, 2024 is the Great American Cleanup, with 11 locations for dumping into the roll-offs. The City and Walmart have partnered to allow participants to get lunch at any of the Super Walmarts from 12:00 to 2:00. Parks & Rec is preparing for summer programs; there have been many inquiries and news releases will be sent next week. Programs have been expanded to Hatch, Chaparral and Anthony as well as Las Cruces.
Franco Granillo said the growing season is here and the wind has been causing difficulty maintaining things, but he is proud of his crew's work. He hopes to turn the Dog Park Rules into ordinances to give Animal Control more power to solve problems, and plans to put out surveys within a one- to three-mile radius of each dog park. He will bring a draft before the board. There will be a posting next week for a Sports Field Administrator position.
Phil Catanach reported that the hiking program starts May 6, 2024, with the schedule out soon. The father-daughter dance is popular and sells out every year; the public is asking about a mother-son dance, so there will be one on May 10, 2024. The new homeschool PE class has been selling out, and the painting and tea class has been selling out every week. The Senior Olympic cornhole competition was this past weekend. The Mobile Recreation Unit will be at Earth Day on Friday and Mira Las Cruces later in April, as well as visiting schools. Youth cheer, youth basketball and adult sand volleyball are in full swing; coach pitch and tee ball start in May. There will be a cornhole session opening and possibly a tournament. The Regional Aquatic Center has passed inspection, with inspections set for Laabs and East Mesa. The splash pads will open as soon as the weather is better and the pools will open May 25, 2024. There will be a Mother's Day Concert and a Jazz Fest in May, and the entertainment and parade theme for the Fourth of July will be announced soon. Registration for outdoor youth soccer starts April 25; adult basketball league and youth indoor volleyball league registrations open in early May.
Steve Bingham announced that five more projects have been given to Cathy Mathews. A new posting for a Park Planning and Construction Administrator is up, with first review of applications starting in about three weeks.
Board Member Coppedge thanked staff for the thorough presentations and for paying close attention to details. He announced a bike fiesta hosted at Lynn Middle School on April 27, 2024. He said Ashleigh Curry had contacted the Department to see if they need to avoid someone else using the park, and received the answer that she had to have a permit. Cathy Mathews said this was probably a simple misunderstanding. Hazel Nevarez said staff have a weekly event report that could be published.
Chair Raish thanked everyone for coming and for the presentations and budget.
Alana Bradley said she is new and was pleased to find out about more parks than she realized were there.
Vice-Chair Haas complimented Parks & Rec on working so well with the public and contractors. She said she has been to the East Mesa Complex and heard from members of the public that they are very pleased about the reclaimed water plans there. Franco Granillo said the same system is used at Veterans Memorial Park, Sagecrest and Wetlands.