 Good afternoon. Welcome to the 2 p.m. April 20th 2021 joint session of the city council and parks and recreation commission I have a few announcements, and then we will move on to our meeting Today's meeting is being broadcast live on community television channel 25 and streaming on the city's website cityofsanacruz.com All council members and commissioners are participating in this meeting remotely I want to thank the public for staying home to view today's city council meeting If you wish to comment on today's agenda item call in now and when the item is introduced using the instructions on your screen Please use your television or streaming device once you call in and listen through the phone Please note there is a delay in streaming So if you continue to speak on your television or streaming device, you may miss your opportunity to speak When it is time for public comment press star nine on your phone to raise your hand When it is your time to speak during public comment You will hear an announcement that you have been unmuted. The timer will then be set to two minutes You may hung hang up once you have commented on your item of interest And I would like to ask the clerk to please call the roll for both the city council and the city's parks and recreation Thanks, mayor council members Watkins You're Calentary Johnson is currently absent Coming will be absent Golders will be late currently absent chair Locatelli Okay, I'm here. I'm not the chair anymore. I'm the vice chair Jane Meo's the chair. Thank you Did you get Jane too? Okay Our agenda item this afternoon is report on parks and recreation department budget and financial outlets For members of the public who are streaming this meeting if you are wanting to comment on this now It's the time to call in and using the instructions on your screen The order will be a presentation of the item by staff followed by questions from council We will then take public comment and then return to the council for deliberation and action Item for this afternoon is the report on parks and recreation department budget and financial outlook Before we get started. I know we are all waiting and I see that this announcement is going to come out right now I'm just going to give us two minutes to hear this verdict because I think we're all somewhat distracted by this timing right now Remember the jury I went all read the verdicts as they will appear on the permanent records of the fourth judicial district The county of Hennepin district court for the judicial district state of Minnesota plaintiff versus Derek Michael Chauvin dependent verdict count one court file number 27 CR20 one two six four six We the jury in the above entitled matter as to count one unintentional second-degree murder while committing a felony by the defendant guilty That's verdict agreed to this 20th day of April 2021 at 1 44 p.m. Signs your four person to number 19 To we the jury in the above entitled matter is to count two Third-degree murder perpetrating an eminently dangerous act find the defendant guilty That's verdict agreed to this 20th day of April 2021 at 1 45 p.m. I'm going to turn this over now to Tony Elliott our director of parks and recreation and Lindsey Bach principal management analyst of Our parks and recreation department Good afternoon mayor and chair Mio and parks rec commission members as well. Oh, can you hear me? Yeah, a big a big moment here appreciate this opportunity today with the council This is my first opportunity to have a joint study session like this and just want to thank you all and appreciate your time City council, I know you're on a bit of a marathon this month with study sessions and regular council meetings pretty much every Tuesday this month And for commission members This is an off month for us, so appreciate your time and getting together As well, so thank you all very much. I'm going to share my screen here, right? Can you all see the presentation there? All right So yeah, what we'll do today Lindsay Bass Lindsay's our principal management analyst, and I will go through a presentation really to provide Quite a lot of detail But at a relatively high level here today Travis Beck our park superintendent Is with us and then Rachel Kauffman our recreation superintendent is with us here today as well So the purpose of this meeting today, I know we have a relatively short time here in two hours But the purpose of the meeting today Is to provide the city council And the parks and recreation commission with broad contextual information Really on the state of parks and recreation a few weeks ago. We delivered an annual report to the city council And in that annual report we touched on some of the key challenges that we're facing But the meeting today is an opportunity for us to go into much more detail So I know we had discussion with the council about You know where the bar graphs and where's the where's the data and so today As an opportunity to get into more detail and really look at our financial picture our operational picture And where we where we stand Over the next really several weeks with both the commission and the council The department and the city as a whole will be going into its fiscal year 2022 budget discussions Specifically we will present our budget at the May 3rd Parks and Recreation Commission meeting And then we will present We'll present information to the city council along with all city departments Later in the month of May and just to start as we go into this I Think we all know in fact I wish we could all be in a park today around at the beach or something that would seem much more appropriate So on the zoom call here, but I think we know that the Santa Cruz who largely is defined by its Parks and its opportunities for recreation. We we live for the weekend. We live for the parks We live for live for our recreation programs Here in the community and so again, we're just very grateful To have this opportunity to talk with you all get your feedback get your recommendations in terms of Making this the best park system and parks recreation department that we can for the city Knowing how important these services and these spaces are To the community so we want to work together to make sure that the system remains healthy And vibrant and sustainable Well into the future. So I talked just briefly about the timeline in terms of our fiscal year 22 budget We won't go into great detail on our fiscal year 22 budget Today because the city as a whole is still kind of working through that And prepping to present to the various commissions and the city council Coming up in the in the next few weeks here But what we will do today is we'll provide a department overview We're going to talk about some of the key trends and challenges that we are facing the department We will provide a bit of an overview of our fiscal year 22 budget Lindy will share our fiscal sustainability road map, which is a series of Efforts that we're undertaking within the department to make sure we're fiscally sustainable in the future and then we want to Share some of our policy priorities and recommendations with the commission and council And start to have a dialogue about what some of those might look like in the future. So We don't have a specific recommendation For the council and commission today But really want to use this time to take your questions seek your feedback And provide information and detail that we can all use the commission the council the community The department that we can all use towards successfully implementing our mission for the department into the future I promise I won't talk the whole meeting. I'll go through a few slides here relatively quickly and then I'll send it over to Lindsay to keep on with our presentation So our department overview and forgive me. This is I think largely for For the public just to kind of set the framework of What we do within Parks and Recreation the scope and the scale of our operation So our mission is to provide environments experiences and programs That are risk the lives of residents and build a healthy community In addition to our mission our national trade agencies the National Recreation Parks Association Has three pillars that define the purpose and core mission and for Parks and Recreation agencies And those three pillars are health and wellness social equity and conservation and those are almost identical to our city's health and all policies pillars Public health equity and sustainability So we've got a really clear vision and really consistent with the city's health and all policies Framework in terms of our core services. We've got some images and kind of a snapshot up here But overall Parks and Recreation maintains over 1700 acres of parks beaches and open spaces Urban forestry we maintain restrooms ballfields the pool golf course the municipal wharf so on and so forth We maintain over 169,000 square feet of facility space We do both minor and major capital improvement projects that create unique places The foster relationships with people and nature and offer really civic presence We provide opportunities for city residents and visitors to play and learn and socialize Via in-person and online programming for youth teens adults and seniors We deliver strategic support in the form of community partnerships Management system planning environmental compliance and large project management And finally we do deliver administrative support in the form of public information Events and activity permitting advisory body Work in collaboration sister cities for example Public education services and assistance And so on and so forth. So we do a lot within the city Parks and Rec Department In terms of benchmarks, I'll spend the next few slides you're talking about how we measure up And I think this is relevant for the council To know and be aware of and I think the commission to know and be aware of so this is it's a good relatively nuanced Over the next couple slides will try to keep it really straightforward So, you know big picture big picture the park system the Parks and Recreation Department and the system that we have in Santa Cruz Really is a is a world-class park system Compared to national standards. We are above virtually all national standards This graphic might be a little bit hard to read on your screen But is a in your report is kind of a snapshot of some of those comparisons But even in comparison to other California agencies Parks and Rec agencies Santa Cruz really stands above But in terms of some of those national comparisons the park system that we have here has Tripled the national average of hiking and biking trails 34 miles versus 11 miles, which is the average 96% of all of our residents live within a 10 minute walk through a park So we're among the best in the United States in terms of access to parks with 96% within a 10 minute walk The number of residents per park acre is twice twice as good as the national standard So we have approximately 1,100 residents per acre national average is about to almost 2,300 residents per acre So we have a lot of parks a lot of park space for the community And then in terms of cost recovery We're really close to the national average. We're a little bit above the national average at about 27% And that is a ratio of the revenues we bring in annually versus our annual expenditures So 27% Overall cost recovery. So I want to dive into this in a little bit of detail one of the attachments in your packet has comparisons with other With other agencies throughout the state and so these are a few of our comparison agencies That management partners compared to the city with When it did its work on our financial forecasting a few months ago slide similar to this I'll kind of go through this is one by one so In looking at these comparison cities, so we're looking at Davis. We're looking at Santa Barbara and we're looking at Ventura and So to compare these Among these comparison agencies Santa Cruz Parks and Rec are operating budget per capita is actually higher Than these other comparison agencies So we spend Santa Cruz Parks and Rec about $250 per capita on an annual basis Ventura is the next closest at about 214 per capita and Davis spends about 202 per capita or per 10,000 residents We have the most here in Santa Cruz so among the four cities we have the most full-time employees at 13 per 10,000 residents versus the other cities which are seven five and five respectively, so I Want to tee this up because this will get it's become an interesting I think relevant comparison here So we talk about being under resource, but when you look at these numbers, I think it begs the question How can we be under resource if in comparison to these other agencies? We've got you know 13 full-time employees per 10,000 So I'll kind of adjust our comparison here as we go through so as I mentioned the Santa Cruz offers 26 and a half acres of parkland per 1,000 residents The national average again is about 10 acres per thousand so we're two and a half times the national Average and even among our comparison to these Davis and a Barbara Ventura We are above the rest in terms of acreage acreage per thousand acreage per capita I think it's worth mentioning here that you know within the city limits these numbers don't include State parks or state, you know state resources either so we've got those resources within our city limits and nearby As well, so we have a lot of acreage per capita within the city And then in terms of our annual operating expenditures per acre, so this isn't Operating expenditures per capita that we looked at a minute ago, but this is operating expenditures per acre So with a large park system Our investment per acre is far below the comparison agencies here So we are under $10,000 per acre In terms of the investment that we make and this is just looking at land So this is not including the hundred and sixty nine thousand square feet of facilities This isn't looking at the at the wharf. It's not looking at the civic auditorium and so on and so forth So these last four slides I think what what I think the key takeaway here is that to me These really reflect that we have a world-class park system I mean we have a large park system for a city our size and the diversity of amenities that we have is Off the charts really It's a pretty diverse and pretty amazing You know a ray of park properties And amenities and so although our investment per capita is high our investment per acre and buy By these assets is is very low. So this is a key challenge as we move forward In thinking about how we invest into our system Do we invest differently in neighborhood parks or community parks versus open spaces or do we invest more in? facilities versus land So these are the type of I think policy questions that will have into the future So it's just a little bit of some of those benchmarks one of the one of the unique things I think about Santa Cruz in particular in comparison to Davis Ventura and Santa Barbara is we We are obviously a very heavy tourist destination and So I'll just give you a quick snapshot to go relatively quickly through here But generally speaking the National Recreation and Parks Association issued a white paper and basically Reached what seems like a very logical conclusion and that's that people travel to destinations for the amenities And it's a lot more complicated than that But that's basically, you know, you don't travel to ride on a plane you travel to go visit You know the beach or whatever it might be And in Santa Cruz County tourism just tipped over the one billion dollar Annual revenue mark before the pandemic so the tourism is a one point one billion dollar industry in Santa Cruz County Based on the 2019 figures That average travel expenditures per person are $604 per trip or about a hundred and fifty one dollars per day And the most popular beaches in Santa Cruz County the top two are main beach and Cowell Beach Most popular surf spots the lane Cowell Beach So people are coming to Santa Cruz to the city to use our amenities in our parks within the city I put this in here because I think we're a little bit unique and the demands on the parks here are unique And I talked to visit Santa Cruz County about this specifically and compared to some of these other agencies So Santa Barbara in particular from a tourism standpoint is they brand themselves as the As the Riviera, I think the American Riviera. So the experience in Santa Barbara is largely geared toward Cuisine and shopping and so forth and the people go for the beach as well But I think in comparison we're closer to Ventura where it's more of a beach community, but even beyond just the beach There's so much here Beyond just the beach. So heavy tourism economy and parks and recreation is right at the forefront of being involved in that so I've got one more slide that I'll send it over to to Lindsay here. So All right, so this is a very dramatic looking slide, but wanted to talk through Kind of where where we are so this next course of the presentation we want to talk about some of the key challenges Facing the department a little bit earlier and staffing per capita Is high staffing per acre is low But as it relates to staffing for the department really across all functional areas within the department We have really skeleton crews across the department The wharf beach crew is a skeleton crew the crew that we have at the London Elton Community Center Is really a skeleton crew The parks division Also a skeleton crew the golf course you could say the same So really we have about the minimal amount of staff in virtually every functional area in the department Just to keep things to keep things going Um, this was sort of Demonstrated it's been demonstrated through the pandemic. So As part of the pandemic we have the hiring freeze. We have uh, 83 full-time staff On board currently, but only 75 of those spots are filled. So we have eight, uh, eight frozen positions And as a result of that the effect has been the closure of facilities Uh, uh, enclosure of parks to lower de la viega. Laurel park has been closed all of our public restrooms have been closed Uh, and so forth. So that's how that's how narrow the margin is or how lean we are I think with eight staff across the department Being vacant it has literally led to to park closures Um Just wanted to mention that that sort of lean nature of our staffing overall Big picture and we'll talk about this a little bit more from a capital improvement standpoint This was mentioned in the in the agenda report The department has approximately Approximately a hundred million dollars in deferred maintenance of facilities and parks And we've seen facility failures over just the past couple years at golf course lodge And restaurant the market street senior center The wave of vista community center is water infiltration into that building The golf cart barn and driving range has collapsed or portion of it collapsed earlier in the year The civic auditoriums roof Is leaking and You know constant issues out at the wharf as well. And so we have these emergent Needs and critical Needs across the infrastructure and this is not unique to parks. All right. I think this is the case largely across the city, but Within parks and rec the investment that we've made in the assets over the past 10 years has ranged from about two hundred thousand dollars per year two hundred thousand to five hundred thousand dollars per year In terms of capital improvement and really a department and a park system this size We should be investing in the range of four million to six million per year and we're investing 200 to 500 thousand As a comparison community outside of the state bolder colorado Spends I think between five and seven million dollars per year in capital investment Into their system, which is similar To our scope and scale here And then another kind of looking at our image here of the of the nearly Broken rope here Our external factors are another major element that's affecting our our ability to execute and implement our mission and so This is something that we've worked with the commission and the council on and this is a very I think Kind of timely and relevant Discussion, but especially as it relates to the issue of homelessness Across the community. This has been a major External factor in terms of people living in our parks impact on the environment Got litter and debris fuel tanks so on and so forth and so this is a Major element that has taken us away from executing our mission and so In particular as I talked about earlier the nrpa three pillars in the health law policies three pillars Especially those of sustainability and conservation Those have been dramatically impacted by impacts of people living throughout the park system And so while we have expertise in land management and horticulture and so forth those staff experts Um are really geared more toward and almost exclusively toward cleaning up abandoned camps and trash and so forth rather than investing Into habitat and resource management and so forth so And looking at the department's mission in a similar fashion To project management I'll talk about this more at the end of the presentation, but we have to balance our Resources that we have our budget resources our timeline And the scope of our operations and in this case our resources are increasingly Going toward an increased scope of work Especially as it relates to the effects of homelessness next external factors And therefore resources are diminishing for other core needs And our timeline to implement projects and services Capital improvement projects in particular is being impacted. Those are being delayed And um and becoming a bit more expensive over time So that's kind of a summary of some of the challenges and we'll dive into this in a little bit more detail Over the next couple slides. So I will kick it over to Lindsey Great. Thanks, tony a little more detail about some of the attachments that were included in your packet Um, we wanted to there's been a lot of changes in how we're Managing and staffing around um are happening in our cost recovery Related to our cost recoveries as well Investigate that more and do a lot more work in that Area and I'll go into more detail on that as we move through the presentation next slide When we talk about the permanent revenues, what do we mean? What makes up our contribution or revenue? But our two biggest sources of revenue are out on the wharf has a big expenditure recovery This announcement You know, there may be opportunities there for the civics. So that's another area Your packet we talked of some of our recreation programming In a way that maintains affordability and access utilize and optimize our facilities and our staff Well, gee is if we operate the facility differently Our revenue without touching our fees. It's you know, we provide an invisible social community We want to be able to continue to support community partners that are doing good work With those populations by offering free and reduced services and as we do this work And as we make these internal decisions that affect our cost recovery though, we also want to keep Line of sight and this can be things like Or negotiated negotiated at that HR or city-wide level, you know, those aren't things that our department Has a population that says that you see tipping away at the most critical needs and here we tend to carry with us But Tony indicated that, you know, when we think more expansively And really begin to build out Yeah, which authorized the city council to require developers of new subdivisions. So this is around Subdividing lots to dedicate land or park development or pay in lieu fees of park dedication Areas where those subdivisions are projects are going to come to fruition and how those fees are going to come into Where we can actually Utilize and program them For a new year period we had budgeted to bring in about 8.2 million dollars In effect what ended up coming in was closer to 5.6 million There's more work for us to do to get a better line budget Those particular fees to see if we can get back to be a little more accurate But I think the larger question is, you know, even if we had pulled in 8.2 million dollars over the last 10 years Around the pandemic have brought to the department All right. Thank you, Lindsay and in the spirit of time we want to make sure to give the commission and council Hopefully at least an hour of deliberation I know our meeting is relatively short today at two hours. So I'm going to fly to these Last slides here. So this cosmic looking slide is basically To share the message that Obviously the city had a structural deficit Heading into the pandemic the pandemic has made that even more challenging on the the good news Is the stimulus that is headed toward the city? Which is kind of framing up The budget conversations that we will have over the next few weeks here So I wanted to just take a couple minutes here just to briefly talk about our fiscal year 22 budget so what we have our direction as of now I think across the city for fiscal year 22 is Is to maintain a flat budget So you see here for parks and recreation that's 16.3 million Um a couple of the critical needs that we have right now that we talked about earlier. We have eight vacant positions Several of those are within the parks division, which is uh impacts our ability to to reopen Another critical need is related to reopening facilities. The civic has been closed one of the Nelson community centers has been closed So we want to reopen those and the community is demanding that we Uh run junior guards and that we reopen facilities. There's a this pent up demand That is there. So the direction generally is is a flat budget However, a couple of the discussions that we'll have in the coming weeks with both commission and the council As we get into our budget discussions will be things like Um, should we make some level of reductions going into fiscal year 22? Are there strategic reductions that we can make? Even with stimulus money coming in should we make some level of reductions? In light of the longer term structural needs If we do make those reductions, what should those be where should those be and how do we prioritize? Um, what that amount is and and where we make those reductions. So Those are the type of discussions that we'll get into in the coming weeks. Um, not quite ready to dive into that Uh today, um, but uh, as soon as may 3rd with the commission, we'll get into that in more detail In thinking ahead of any potential reductions that we make or how we appropriate budget for fiscal year 22 and beyond We have several priorities, uh here and I won't read through all of these in the spirit of of time but I think one of the one of the core items here is that is that what we Invest in in terms of our budget We want to Make sure that we can accomplish our mission one But we want to make sure also that we're investing in sustainability So we have on bullet point number two this idea of build back better That we borrowed from the federal government And so what we invest in we we want to Aim toward cost recovery Toward investing in the the core services for the community But making sure that what we're investing in is sustainable in a structural way moving forward Briefly talked about timeline again may 3rd for our commission meeting on budget And then starting meetings with the city council at the end of may On my birthday I want to talk just briefly about strategic a couple of strategic gaps here then i'll send it back over to to lindsay Um, but again some of the the core uh gaps or challenges that we're facing Staff and operational capacity investment in our systems of capital improvement Standpoint and then sustainable revenue. So a lot of our revenues come through the general fund Various taxes that have uh kind of been on a bit of a roller coaster through covet Um, but also as lindsay mentioned through quimby and park facilities tax To a to a smaller degree I wanted to take a quick second to just recognize that we hear a lot about needs We hear from the community a lot about we need to invest in and improve Our preservation of the san lorenzo river. We need to Provide more services and opportunities for youth and teens We need to raise funds to renovate the harvey west pool We need to allocate resources toward improving our natural resource management Especially in our wildland urban interface areas. So there are a lot of needs that we hear from The community, but they're also driven by our by our master plans by our mission by The city's general plan by our park's master plan. So there are a lot of needs in demands And so the the gaps that we face are how to How to get there The one thing that i'll mention on these strategic gaps is this first item staff and operational capacity Uh, that is really Among the three is the priority because if it we've talked about this internally if we had more capital improvement funding to allocate toward projects We don't necessarily have project management capacity within the department. So this has been a big Question in the context of prop 68 if we were to receive The 17 million dollars in grant awards that we've applied for Who would manage this and how would we handle it? So we would have an internal Sort of reckoning to figure out how we're going to shift duties around to figure out who could actually implement That 17 million dollars. So in terms of priorities that staff and operational capacity Is critical to allow us to actually manage Uh projects, uh, and so on. But with that, I want to send it back over to Lindsey To talk through our some of the things that we Have been doing within the department as it relates to fiscal sustainability And kind of talk about the work that we're doing and then lead toward some of our our requests and Further discussion with the council and commission in terms of how we can partner and collaborate together to address some of these challenges So lindy else in the view Thanks, tony, and i'll try to be brief just so that we can get to the public in your comments um I think like underscoring this slide is the fact that we really want to take a multi-year approach And a future forward-looking approach to our fiscal sustainability. And so The that was the impetus behind the development of this roadmap Was to say, you know, here we are Let's start thinking about where we want to be and what we need to be doing now to set us up for what we Want to achieve next fiscal year and in outgoing fiscal years to help stabilize and provide Greater sustainability from a fiscal standpoint so the department can Achieve its mission I won't focus on the things that are happening in the short term. I'll look more towards the mid and the long term But we grouped these into three categories of you know focusing on operations So really thinking about like how we streamline that expenditure piece of our budget The next area was around improving that cost recovery. So thinking about new revenue opportunities new Utilization models that we can leverage and then finally How can we help support efforts to stabilize general fund resources? So those were three main strategies that we have employed Around our own fiscal sustainability efforts and just in this mid-term bucket around focusing operations And tony hit on this repeatedly was this need to return our parks and recreation service levels to normal And that means staffing up and so having to make the decisions around our f y 22 budget to allow us to do that Further we are working really hard to realize administrative efficiencies. And so we've looked at the Pandemic a bit as an opportunity there Given the fact that people are having to work differently and having to be online We've really been trying to move more of our forms prophecies And for programs To online And really streamlining how that happens for our external customers as well as our internal staff being able to leverage online services Further to tony's benchmarking Comments earlier We really want to work to develop more targeted metrics. So the benchmarks have been really interesting for us to take a look at At that course high level It's basically the only way that we can benchmark with our other agencies Just that's the level of data that we're able to get But inside our own department understanding, you know, what are the resource needs? And how do those differ between things like community parks versus neighborhood parks versus open spaces And really beginning to dial in What performance metrics do we need for both our parks areas as well as our recreation areas? So our recreation team has done a great job working through Their core program areas devising goals and objectives And now we really want to build some more detailed business plans around those efforts Another recommendation that came out of the recreation and leisure study was to take a look at our partner agreements and to revisit Those to make sure that we're understanding and ensuring that those agreements and the subsidies that we're providing are appropriate Do they need to be greater or do they need to be lower? Really evaluating that you know with our principles and our mission in mind Operations is just to support council efforts to address homelessness. So this continues to be a big draw on our operational resources And we want to help support council efforts to Find good solutions to those issues Underneath improving cost recovery I've touched on a lot of these. I'll mention, you know, we're going to continue to implement That golf course operations plan and hoping to see The trends that have emerged this year continue into f y 22 We want to see that type of approach Cascade to other program areas. So into some of our kind of core priority recreational program areas like youth sports Areas but also explore pay-to-play options as well. So some of these new revenue opportunities um And then finally around stabilizing the general fund resources. We want to support ballot measure efforts I think that's a key Aim you'll see in the long term we get a little more lean We're still working to develop and build out some of these things. So Input and feedback here is welcome and helpful I'll just mention we're going to continue to uh Activate and manage with better performance metrics Um start achieving some of these new cost recovery targets that we've set Um, and then in addition to supporting the ballot measure efforts to under the stabilize general fund resources Um, I think ultimately we'd really be interested in exploring as there a possibility for a potential bond measure for parks improvements Um, next slide and I also want to Call attention to Tony's point, you know, we need the staffing capacity To drive programs around these key cogs We are growing our donation base and our philanthropy to parks and recreation knowing that our community loves its parks and recreation services Further helping them engage and be active in that space while we you know improve our capacity as a result Is also key and then you know finding those sweet spots of grants that also may be lower hanging fruit that we haven't Explored before we're beginning to take a look at but again, it's our ability to get to those things and Really activate good planning around that depends on having the capacity in-house to do so And with that I'm going to send it back to Tony to right. Thanks Lindsay Uh, so early in the presentation. I mentioned our kind of our approach in terms of executing our mission in the context of kind of a project management format So this image here Are really the three prongs in terms of project management. So if our project Is executing our mission These are the three factors that we will reference. I think as we go into our budget conversations with the commission and council But I think we'll lean on this model a lot in terms of you know, you look at this the orange or reddish circle here the scope Our scope is defined by our park system and the facilities that we are are charged with operating and maintaining And really to accomplish our mission our time and our schedule our budget Need to be balanced with that scope And so as we go into cuts potentially in fiscal year 22 or in future years as we Kind of reconcile or deal with the structural deficit Part of the conversation that we'll have with the commission and the council is making structural cuts In on paper or in terms of budget May may not accomplish our goal as we think it might In other words, if we're cutting Budget structural budget, but we're not reducing our scope Then we're putting ourselves further behind In terms of deferred maintenance or you know, whatever it might be into these these factors this will be kind of a again a An analogy or kind of an image that we'll reference in terms of budget conversations with the council And the commission moving forward. How do we balance these three aspects in accomplishing our mission a couple of the Near term asks for the council and the commission and And then a little bit longer term Lindsay touched on this a little bit already. So just be really brief And open it up to discussion and questions, but the the purpose of today's meeting and Really, I just want to say thanks to you all for There's a long presentation, but just to appreciate your receptiveness In hearing this and this is this is a big deal. I think for us as staff to have this opportunity And what we hope you take away Is just a greater understanding of the challenges that we're facing at some of these comparisons with other agencies And some of the type of decisions that we'll need to consider in the coming Coming weeks and months here So understanding the challenges gaining a greater awareness on some of these priorities will continue to talk about these And in that context one thing that we would ask for both the commission and the council is to really help us stay focused on our mission Especially through the pandemic there have been a lot of factors that have Pulled us away at times from our core mission and so as we go through our budget Really helping us stay honest with ourselves and in the spirit of serving the community Staying focused on our mission One thing that I know we're working on collectively is the the camping ordinance or the outdoor living ordinance This is a really critical one. And so just wanted to reiterate that point that Lindsay made earlier It's really critical for parks and rec toward allowing us to Work on our mission and rather than you know constant sort of reactive Camp clean-ups and so forth Going down to some of the longer term needs and requests Lindsay alluded to this already In the fiscal sustainability planning, but the ballot measure or a ballot measure potential bond measure Also department optimization efforts And what that means again is some of the stuff that lindy talked about in terms of Partnership agreements. What do we subsidize? What do we not subsidize? Where do we look to bring in? Higher cost recovery. Where do we You know, where are we supportive of a greater subsidy? For example So I think really optimizing how we bring in revenues where we bring in revenues And then what we provided a community at low to to no cost. I think is a really important piece to go through And then this meeting itself. I think is is um is again great. I think it's a really great opportunity for us And it's a little bit different than our annual report that we presented a few weeks ago It's a little bit different than the budget conversation we'll have in the coming weeks But in terms of In terms of the parks and rec department There was a comment a few weeks ago during our annual report That the parks and rec department is a quiet giant And we do a lot and provide a lot of different services across the city And so I think this meeting would be something that perhaps we pair with our annual report that we do every year And have a joint study session much like this one To give a bit of a state of parks and recreation each year Before we go into the budget conversation So this is a much deeper dive than what we've done before but I think with the scope of what we do in parks and recreation And the values that the community puts on its parks and recreation services We see a lot of value in this and and would hope that we could do this in the future again for transparency and just collaboration And and prioritization and moving forward so We we hustled through that and we still took over an hour, but I appreciate your guys time so much And I will send it back over to Mayor Myers from here Thank you, Tony And thank you Lindsay really really Yeah, great presentation sobering, but Really well developed and gives us a lot of Information and I think really diagnostically what we're up against to Really keep this treasure of our parks department Running, you know for future really for future generations. I mean You guys did a really good job of really diagnostic Seeing sort of where why we are where we are and sort of some of the hard Decisions we'll have to make in the future Um, and I think even though, you know, we think about other general funded departments like fire and police and others Um And they all provide essential services And I think what covet has really showed us is that you are that kind of department as well And I think Lindsay you you you put it exactly right, which is that you provide an invisible invisible social safety net For so many people in our community and To me that that levels your Your Your importance to our community in a huge way because um That is exactly what happened during covet and we'll continue to as we pull people out of out of covet and we provide the The things that people need to put their lives back together. So I'm going to go ahead and maybe start with questions my understanding tony is Providing direction, um, I just want to make sure I'm clear what you would want from council today In terms of exploring some of those goals Maybe that you did put up and I don't know if there's sort of a motion that you have You might have in mind in terms of that direction But um, maybe we'll start with our guests the parks commission I know that they have been working really hard all year on this and I just want to recognize all of your work You guys are um, I think a really really effective parks commission and um Had the pleasure of serving with many of you and I've known many of you for a long long time So I think we have a really great group of minds working on this and I want to compliment your work And I'll turn it over to to questions maybe from commissioners first and then go into council members And then we'll try to get to some kind of direction as you need tony from us in terms of i'm assuming Kind of how you want to approach budget the budget um discussion or budget direction from council on on the parks on the parks budget Okay See you naughty. Okay. I will um look for any commissioners that would like to make comments now And if you could throw your hand up I've got Jillian go ahead, please Thank you, ma'am. And is this a cool bit of both? What would you prefer? Why don't we start with questions and then uh, we could get clarification on any of the slides or information Presented and then um, I'll do the same with council and then we'll go back into comments and deliberation if that sounds good Thank you I had some small questions Um And maybe tony or lingsey and thank you very much not only for the rip materials for the presentation It was very clear very helpful. And maybe I'll just Ask all the little questions all at once Because you know, there's short answers. I think and that may be more efficient if that's all right I was um curious under the pricing and revenue policy of creating revenue strategies number five To the aim is to reduce the general fund subsidy For non-essential work programs and services. So I was curious if you could give an example of that um and then under the focus operations under fiscal sustainability roadmap um What would be an example of regional efficiency opportunities? um third quick quick quick quick question um What does that portfolio mean and but that really should be a hundred million I'm just wondering if you could sort of fill in the gap between those two And uh another one. I noticed that the the department is responsible for cleaning the police station city hall and pacific avenue One that if you could share why And uh, I noticed nothing on here about in your presentation about the range of program possibilities So I'd love to hear a bit more about where that might fit in Through the whole thing and I think that might be all Leave it at that All the moment. Thank you, jillian Tony I'm with Tony and um I'm assuming you guys won't want to run through these questions You know as people ask them and then leave a little time for deliberations. Okay that's good And lindy, I think several of those questions were on the fiscal sustainability roadmap. So in the back Yep on the revenue policy and that was an example of a non-essential service. And so it would not receive As much of a substance what we define as non-essentiality rentals The permitted events that we do, you know private benefits To that things that have more of a cost share dies programs or things like Our senior programming that nature Fiscal sustainability roadmap that was in your packet And we included that as a as a draft the one that I presented in the presentation Which we'll make sure you get a copy of it's slightly different Early on as we were putting that together We were actually considering the possibility of you know, could we merge services with other county part agencies and so those conversations, you know were Happening to be more more challenging why it wasn't included in the version that I spoke to today, but it was at one point And then the comment about as well as the nature of that conversation. I don't think that's Positioned any of us want to be in or earlier this year. And as you know, we ended up Making part closures any additional on downtown all with tar to the CIP unfunded That was part of last year's packet or the project where we have rough However, there are parts of the system and there are facilities out there where we have outdated Materials of what it would take to bring that facility back Or we're in the process of getting more detailed information about What repairs would actually cost and so kind of the 12 million is what is most immediately in our face But when we look more expansively, we know that number is bigger and we're estimating that that number is closer to a hundred million So you could give details on that it's a major time Well, actually that's uh, it's it's an effort provide a detailed look but that will take, you know concerted effort and probably you know enlisting a consultant to help us do that work When commissioner, this is travis back superintendent of parks commissioner greens that you asked About some of the areas that aren't as obviously parks and the maintenance work that our staffs do there so I can just provide a brief clarification on that Until recently, it's true that we did maintain the landscape around the police department And that was one of the operational efficiencies That we were able to achieve at the beginning of the fiscal year was the police department graciously Agreed to take on responsibility for that maintenance in their budget and contract that work out So we no longer do that work At city hall, we share responsibility for maintenance of the campus with the public works facilities team And our focus is on the the plant and the horticultural elements primarily And that is a subject that we have considered and discussed internally is you know City hall is a key focus point for city staff and the public and part of the image of the city But does not really provide recreational opportunities for the community. So Um Is that the best place to develop our maintenance resources or should we Really pull off from that in order to take care of other areas. So that that is an open question and we would value input on that And in terms of the specific avenue in downtown areas again, we share maintenance responsibility with parking department with public works department Sanitation for maintenance of the various features downtown And the ones that parks is responsible for are the more park-like ones benches trees planter beds, etc And given the recent inclusion of Downtown and interim recovery plan and the focus there We have considered that an important place to continue and even enhance our maintenance efforts. Um, for example with the recent renovations that we've done at the town clock And the rangers, I guess that was the last question We'll put that in the um We'll put that in the bucket. Tony does that sound right? For direction later More rangers. Yep. Absolutely. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Jillian. Thank you everyone I'll move on to holly and then jane and then jm And we are we're running a little bit late. We do have a another meeting at four with invited speakers, so We'll hopefully hit everything and have have time for everybody have a good deliberation holly jane and jm Thank you for the presentation on keep this brief in order to get everybody else's questions into I'm just going to ask specifically about the golf course and you said you thought we were in the black So does that mean it was absolutely not subsidized at all by the general fund? Is that what i'm hearing? And If we did that, let's do that maybe for a pool. I don't know Holly's really quickly as of the end of quarter three This fiscal year. We are in the black by approximately 130 thousand dollars. So that means a um net How am I trying to say this a net positive revenue for the general fund next is jane meal. Please hi jane Lindsay may have the best detail on that and for the for the sake of the full commission and council in the interest of time We could put together a full report on that as well. I think measure Measure e and measure h. We've done some analysis on that recently and could share that as a follow-up Okay, thanks. Yeah, I think it's relative to the discussion about a future ballot measure Then the second question is whether The city or the department specifically has applied for any hazard mitigation grants with the california department of Emergency services, which has just put out a whole new line of funding to do fire prevention work, etc Please to my knowledge, uh, our department is not applied for those grants in particular However, we have collaborated quite closely with the fire department who sees grant funding from a number of sources In order to do vegetation management and wildfire risk mitigation work in our wildland urban interface Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you. I'll now look to see if there are any questions from council at this point Sorry, johnson councilmember brown and then councilmember walkins, please I also just wanted to thank and thank you guys for volunteering so much time to Serve the community in this capacity. It's such an important role and thank the parks department for all your work bringing this forward and I have one question regarding some of the cleanups that happened this year. I know there was or I guess I might have been last year at this point, but um The like sycamore grove and those sorts of things results some of the areas that would have been gray and if so like Can you give us an approximation of what both costs were? Are you still there? Would you? Give those numbers off hand Yeah, you're asking about the costs for areas such as the cleanups that was done in lower poganets of highway nine And the sycamore grove area. Yeah, so just basically cleaning up after large encampments. It was kind of Yeah, I have some figures Here for our totals So far for this fiscal year, which would include those cleanups as well as some smaller ones And uh, they are including dumpster fees around $200,000 for Sort of cleanup and disposal of debris as well as a small amount of restoration that we did Afterwards, and that does not include any staff time on the associated costs there So it is a very considerable expense for our department And the city Okay, thank you Thank you councilmember callantary johnson for the presentation and the material Really thorough and easy to follow and understand. I have a few questions One is around the fiscal sustainability road map This was in the packet, but I didn't see on the slide in the interim The midterm goals. It said reaching regional efficiency opportunities across agencies So I just wanted a little clarification on what that looked like. What does regional efficiency opportunities mean? um, and then in I believe the long term Goal um reaching or I think it was interim midterm Reaching our current cost recovery target and I'm sorry if I missed this but what what is our current cost recovery target? So those are two questions. I had under fiscal sustainability and then um, I had questions around the golf course that certainly stood out to me as A lot of expenditure and and not recovering our costs. Glad to hear we were in the black today I guess how did we how did that happen? What made it so that we were in the black not today this year? um, and Just have we have we looked at I guess benefits and what percentage of our population uses these resources Compared to the cost compared to the recovery and that might be a bigger question and and not appropriate for right now But those were the questions that I had Thank you. Yeah, just to respond to those um on the golf course I'd be happy to share our operations plan and it gets into all those details in terms of The strategy and costs and fee increases and so forth so we can share that with the commission and council and in the context of We rolled that out about a year ago about a year and a half ago probably We had a grand jury inquiry as well. And so we had a number of Commitments in that context as well that we've really achieved at this point, but we'll we can submit a report on those details In terms of cost recovery. We don't have a specific cost recovery target over the past 10 year 10 to 12 years our cost recovery Has varied anywhere between about 40 percent or you know 30 38 to 40 percent To a low of probably around 23 percent. So that was on that Bar graph that we looked at Earlier on but we don't have a specific target. So we don't say Our target is 60 percent or 50 percent cost recovery On an annual basis That's absolutely correct from a department standpoint And I think that would be a great area of conversation between council city manager's office finance And ourselves in terms of what is that sweet spot? However, the work that we did through the recreation and leisure study did give us more insight into what that cost recovery looks like For priority program areas. And so we're working internally to understand Through this business planning effort What would a better or feasible cost recovery target be for fy 22? And begin to work towards that next year and then really begin to dial things in for fiscal year 23 Yeah, thanks, lindy. Um, and then I think this is a question that commissioner green side asked as well Um, but related to regional opportunities. And so this is geared toward it could be Um, administrative functions or recreation or parks really any aspect, but Especially through the pandemic what we've seen for example scott's valley Basically laid off more or less their entire recreation department within the city And so there could be regional opportunities whereby Um, our department, you know works with scott's valley In some way to provide recreation services in scott's valley You know in in place of the the services that they've had to cut To be candid we have not found those opportunities yet That make a lot of sense because we've been impacted by the pandemic And it would be a stretch for us to expand our services outside of the city But there are those constant conversations about are there efficiencies to be had By working together across the agencies whether it's county parks Capitola Watsonville scott's valley and so forth councilmember brown of my My thank you to the parks and rec commissioners I I just think that the way you work together and Tackle the big issues and provide good advice to us Is is just really incredible. And I thank you for all of the work you do And to our staff for Doing so much with so little And the remaining cheerful about it The whole way I really appreciate, you know, everything you all do I and so Councilmember carl and terry johnson asked my question Most of the question around cost recovery But I did want to ask a follow-up related to that around Your thinking about cost recovery Among different kind of buckets of programming, right? So we we um, we know That there are some programs that are highly subsidized but really really important to our community And probably utilized by You know people with less ability to pay So One kind of within the cost recovery thinking if you have You know if you're differentiating it all and what that might mean for how we move forward and then You know an issue that is just always a concern to me Is the as we talk about cost recovery that there are You know some with a much greater ability to pay than others and because we have legal constraints on how we address that um, you know, I just And and wanting to think about that and and see how you know, whatever help we can provide or I you know, if I can Um Be involved in fundraising or any you know ways to kind of just be able to um mitigate the increased cost for For people who need Additional assistance and I know 12 par has done a great job. I'm excited that we've been able to use some of the children's fund but other ways of you know, maybe Encouraging those who utilize our programs who have more of an ability to pay to help support Others So I say add another question, but I think I'll leave it there for now in the interest of time Thank you council member council member walkins and then commission member Scott Norris You know similar to my colleagues. I want to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to the entire commission For your time and volunteer in service to our city in this really meaningful way And of course to our entire city Parts of our department. That's just awesome I you know, I I will keep my questions short in the in the interest of time I um, I guess I have one question one comment So the first question is in terms of what was brought up around a revenue measure Um, you know, what where is the thought with that? Maybe that's part of the potential Action we would have or discussion we'd have for further action in a future time But I'd love to learn more about if you know, there's a context in terms of history, but also potential for direction Um for the revenue potential for revenue measure or bond measure And then just really want to echo the equity comments made by my colleague comes to her brown and reflects How are we thinking about that and the scaling for access? Um, and then lastly And maybe this is what we'll go into the next study session. But how are we thinking about? Um synergy between My last really question or comment was one around the equity. I don't know if I don't know where you guys lost me but the equity piece just yes, definitely and Around the green economy and how are we going to you know, bridge the infrastructure improvements and capital improvements with What's happening at the federal level to um our needs for capital improvements at the parks and rec department Sorry about that Thank you and Dawn girl, please I wanted first of all, thank Tony Lindsay and Travis. Thank you so much Outstanding presentation and I really really got a great deal out of it I'm going to echo about the rangers. Uh, where would um if we were able to and we did discuss this at a commission meeting somehow consider in the future adding the rangers back because That we've had we've lost our enforcement arm And while where would that be seen in the budget should we be able to do that in the future? And also it if you have any current Information about the stimulus that is coming to the city You're probably waiting, but if you have any Information about that. Um, that's current. I'd like to know about that. Thank you very much Great So we'll follow up on those questions Tony I I kind of went back through my your staff report and and I'm thinking maybe the fiscal sustainability road map Slide might be helpful for us to kind of pull up and sort of gear Kind of look at that as a place to give you some further direction and kind of scope out um Maybe I'll ask Martin Bernal to discuss the revenue Measure and where that is right now or if there will be one and then Tony as you see Sit for those other questions that came up And then I see um jillian and jam have additional questions or comments And I think we'll just sort of move into comments and deliberation now and try to you know narrow to some specific my understanding um at least from the presentation is that This whole idea of really understanding cost recovery in a more meaningful way for the department seems to be a really critical path Seeing for us to say yes, keep doing that keep doing that work for us And bring back those policies as needed. Um, the other is um Really around um really understanding the impacts getting back to those staffing models that we're working Back in the day has ramifications on the sort of The deficit, you know the the increasing cost, but the fact really just It's operating at a deficit with regards to the true need of what's happening. Um, so maybe really understanding A timeline or a mechanism to To bring staffing levels up to a place where um the department feels that that is need that that is needed. Um There was a a lot about making sure we have a more direct statement of need for the cip And then evaluating all services impossible Investigating new service models. I think some of that as well So maybe we'll pull that slide up and I'll go back to um discussions now And uh, let's see jillian you're next and then jam and then jay Thank you ma'am. Um, so this is now comments and I'm building on what Tony started with about what distinguishes us not only for having a stellar department and a jewel In our park system, but that we are a tourist town Which he compared us to santa barba, which has a bigger cost recovery Otherwise we're pretty much in the ballpark without cost recovery I therefore think having observed the parks department been cut Every time there's a budget crisis over the past 20 years If it were me I would not be sweating as a for a greater cost recovery I would be asking for a fair share from the general fund The general fund is infused by a lot of the funds that come from tourists using our sound And so I think it would be a mistake to Go too far in that direction of trying to get our cost recovery up by charging Especially charging more for locals. If there's a way to have the big events pay more Terrific, but in general I think something like a parks department needs to draw on the general fund So I think I've made that point. I won't repeat myself The next bit and this is the last bit I'll share as a opinion or a comment Is and it's in line with the first comment of us being a heavily tourist town and people using our facilities And we just cannot as a small 65,000 community personal community Pay for all of that. I think that the wharf You should get all of the funding. I've said this for many years. So it's no surprise to Tony I think all of the revenues from parking on the wall should go to the parks and recreation department That it should not be split or and part of it go to the general fund The maintenance associated with cars using the wall And everything that's associated with it if that revenue went to the parks department And with earmark for wall capital improvement. I think we see a much healthier balance with the wall So I'm a bit of a broken record on that but I feel quite strongly that that is needed So I'll leave it there in the interest of time. Thank you. Thank you, julian. Next up is jm Are you okay? A couple of things that have already been mentioned one. I think the the pandemic has taught us if nothing else How critical it is to have healthy Parks and open spaces for people to enjoy and recreate get out of their homes And so I think it's I'm going to stress the importance to our council members of of giving our department through the budget processes the resources they need specifically to maintain Our parks and to keep them safe and on that note. I I want to echo some other comments from commissioners about consideration of returning the parks ranger program to the department I'd like to see a cost analysis of that at some future point To determine if there would be If there would be benefit to the department in reducing the costs that are currently related to safety But for which we don't really have an appropriate program to deal with it I think that the cost argument was one made to council and commission a couple of years ago in terms of Why we should move the ranger program Over to the police department, but I think we've ended up paying for it in other ways in in a lack of Direct service to our community through a parks ranger program that's based in the parks department And then just lastly on the ballot measure issue, which I know we're going to get more of an update on from the city manager I you know if there is one coming forward that could benefit the parks department I would recommend That we have a discussion about restricting that ask a public to our parks program. I think the last time If memory serves when we ask the public to support our parks programs, we added a lot of other very valuable Items to the list, but I'm not sure that the public really understands how much of that went back into the park system Relative to my question earlier about measure h So I think the public will get behind a measure that will be explicitly for the park system Even if it might require a larger threshold from the voters to pass it And with that, I'll just close by thanking once again that um the staff for their great presentation and my fellow commissioners And I want to thank the council for giving us this valuable time with you to um consider these important critical issues for our department Thank you jm. Next up is jay Yeah, thank you For everybody's work on my beloved park and rake department One of the things that I think we saw very clearly as jm an open space were to the community If we hadn't had that much space, I think many of us would have gone more loony than necessary Uh There because it addresses the consideration within the budget because those kind of think Category and yet they're vital in the prior to Priorities of how a community treats Community Necessary to come back because I can tell you from on the ground on the levy The situation is not terrible if we had had the park rangers there Is really really high And Okay, thank you so I just wanted to just uh Answer some of the questions and then just provide a really brief overview of the overall budget picture and how it relates to parks and recreation Uh, because I think it clarifies some of these questions that have been asked So, you know, essentially with a city looking at a structural budget deficit And when you look at the general fund the general fund largely supports parks and recreation police fire That's really essentially the bulk of what the general fund supports So anytime you look at a deficit in the general fund, you're really looking at impacting those three departments so Because those are the departments largely supported by by that fund the So when we look into the future What it means is that without essentially without an additional revenue source We don't have the option to enhance Improve or sustain what we have that is really what we're facing and what's before us There are things we can do is outlined by the staff here in terms of cost recovery And other other things that we can be do that can be done to kind of support but essentially in the end Uh, a new revenue source is really needed in order to do with I think what people want what people's aspirations are And uh, measure h uh to answer My question, you know provided some level of funding. It was about a third of that additional increase in tax that was approved Back in I think it's 2005 It was around Uh, I guess it's now more like close to a million dollars with the funding that continues to be dedicated to the parks department And it was for park safety measures primarily at the time but But again, it's not really sufficient to be able to keep up with rising costs as well as the As you saw the level of investments that are really needed for capital and for staffing to maintain even our existing facilities And also to bring back what people want like the pool and to enhance some other programs and services So again, it really has come down to trying to identify a new revenue source to be able to to do that um, so with respect to that the council did create a A but uh, sorry revenue committee that's looking at the potential to bring forward a ballot measure Uh, they are have been looking at the potential taxes that could could be Increased that might be supported by the general public. Uh, there at the stage where A survey a public opinion survey is being drafted as we speak with the hope of that going out in the next few weeks Uh, so that will give us the first piece of data to see what kind of support there is in the community around such a ballot measure With the idea being that the the earliest possible opportunity to place a measure on the ballot would be november of this year And if that is to be Uh done the council would have to make a decision By the end of june They actually haven't till july but they're they don't be in july so june is the goal to Have the council ultimately make a decision as to whether to move forward What about measure in november or not and we'll be doing that polling Pretty soon just again to get that first set of data to see if there's that the level of public support to to move forward with that If so, you know the council bring that forward to the Subcommittee will bring that forward to the full council And if not, they'll do a presentation one way or the other and then potentially if there's not support for november Then look towards a future date if that's possible The other quick thing with respect to the stimulus funding because I think The way the stimulus funding has to the impact of communities across the state really varies considerably Santa Cruz is with particularly hard hit hard by the pandemic And there's a couple of factors that makes it so that for us the the stimulus funding really isn't What the kind of it hasn't had the kind of impact that maybe other communities has has had one of those is that Being a tourism based community our revenue losses are pretty significant and pretty deep And so the level of impact for us was pretty great. So We're getting about approximately 14 15 million dollars in Stimulus funding, but we lost over 20 million dollars in revenue. So what we're getting it doesn't even cover our revenue losses In addition, because we're considered generally, you know, we're relatively affluent community as compared to other communities the level of funding that we received as compared to other communities where they have maybe A higher degree of poverty But they didn't suffer the same amount of loss because they didn't have tourism based economy So for some, you know, they were able to get additional revenue or revenue They made up for the revenue losses plus they're able to implement digital measures and investments and other things So you're seeing some communities investing in things doing extra things But that's because of the the way that the formula worked in their particular circumstances. So for us, unfortunately the revenue By this time in order to be able to address our structural problem and to plan Intervert, you know, major reductions in the short term, but we do still have to look at the Making reductions if we don't if we're not able to identify a revenue measure moving forward So that is our challenge to find fiscal sustainability by either Making reductions and new revenues or both is really what we'll have to look at that. That's our reality moving forward Okay, I have councilmember golder And then I might see if we can wrap up so we have our four o'clock start time And I think I've got direction kind of nips for you guys, tony councilmember golder So I just have one follow-up question. It was you know, I jane actually made me remember but I remember an earlier presentation there was I think tony you mentioned that there was several Park's department staff that were assaulted during their regular duties. And I was just wondering if there was any cost associated with that like um In terms of injury or absence from work or That sort of thing Uh, good question. I know that there is cost to that. I don't know what that is on hand, but we can um, we can put that together Thank you So I believe tony and please chime in here as we sort of bring this over the finish line I heard several both council members and commissioners Really want to revisit the the move of the rangers out of parks and over to police and It looks sounds like that is one thing maybe to explore And I don't know if that's coming back with a proposal during budget period or sort of the Basically what I heard was that you know the belief that if we did have our rangers in our parks We might not be experiencing quite as much of the degree of cost that That mr. Beck Outlined and so I think that was one thing I think The other is you know based on sort of your your The roadmap here is um What we would need to do From a ballot measure perspective to really support our parks and be It sounds like very proactive as standing up parks as one of the big pillars in any kind of revenue measure effort in terms of the benefits that are realized by our community and The commitment to try to keep service provision at a reasonable level For folks across the spectrum in terms of that equity need across our whole population um councilmember brown brought up, you know Increasing sort of outside and partnership efforts on fundraising and other things so that we have a robust Sort of nonprofit arm to to our efforts where we can we can potentially help a dish with additional needs Whether that's for scholarships or other costs, you know costs that could potentially be fundraised towards um I also heard uh support. I believe for Really looking at your performance metrics, um, and that you know, again the cost-covery ideas Obviously you built a business plan for the golf course that seems to be working So this idea of business plans also seem to be supportive So it seems like you guys are very much in line with all the comments you're hearing I'm seeing vice mayor bruner's hand up and I know we haven't heard from her yet So I want to make sure I catch her comments As we sort of finish up But I think um overall I'm hearing a lot of consensus around what you've built here With some specifics around rangers and some other callouts But I think would would be helpful to have come back to the to the council and vice mayor bruner I'd love to have you chip in chime in here as well as mr. Brown Thank you. I just quickly um You actually just summarized what I was going to say Mayor Myers and um I think from all the comments who are in agreement that Parks and Rec is essential to our not only to our individual well-being but our collective well-being of our community and vital in prioritizing and investing in in parks and rec department and staffing Having boots on the ground Having those eight frozen positions staffed Having the support needed is the direction that um We can all agree we need to work towards Moving forward in terms of supporting these programs and um the department as a whole Great, thank you vice mayor And uh commissioner brown Yes, thank you mayor. Just one other thought um as you were reading that list of of items for consideration The eight unfunded fte's in park maintenance. Um, I wonder if there's benefit to the council and commission having a discussion about how to fund Those positions potentially with existing resources And not just leave that particular very urgent question. Um to be related to the potential ballot measure Catching that through the end of the budget hearings this year I think uh, I think this is really good feedback and this is exactly what we were looking for We really just wanted to understand from the commission and the council What is it that you need to help make these policy decisions? Um and prioritize into the future. So this is really helpful Um, we yeah, we've got a lot of homework here on the ranger discussion. Um Be honest. That's probably not something that we can pull together for the budget conversations What I want to be sure to do um is collaborate very closely with the police department in terms of Um, you know with the shift that we've had from parks and rec over to the police department What does this need to look like? What are the what are the costs? What is the best format for this? I think there's a fair amount of analysis That we need to do on that and I think it would be a little bit haphazard if we tried to get that ready Uh, you know for the next couple weeks here for the budget process But that's something that we can put some um some time and effort into Definitely for um, you know for policy discussion down the road But no again, I just wanted to thank the commission uh and thank the council so much for this opportunity and Um, yeah, this feels like a very unique opportunity. So just appreciate it And mayor mires, I think as you outlined the different uh these different items. I think that's That's perfectly outlined. So we'll We've got our notes. We'll follow up Especially on some of the questions and I think we're in in good shape from here. So thank you guys for your time today Thank you very much and thanks to the staff Great job really helpful Presentations. So thanks so much. Mayor mires. Yes, mayor. I didn't open it for public comment You're right. I'll open this item up for public comment If you are interested in commenting on the report on parks and recreation department budget and financial outlook Press star nine on your phone to raise your hand When it is your time to speak you will hear an announcement that you have been unmuted The timer will then be set to two minutes Is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak to this item on our on our agenda today? Please raise your hand by Pressing star nine now. I am not seeing any Hands coming up. So again, I want to thank our staff and all the commissioners. Thank you so much for joining us today and Everybody have a great rest of the afternoon And we are adjourned Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Lindsay. Thank you, Tony Thank you everyone right into the next room. So you'll go to your next link that you got Thank you everyone