QOL Board members:Adam Redmond-Present
Billie Pederson-Present
Cheryl Keilman-Present
Robert Sizemore-Present
Craig Foster-Present
Shawn Alzona-Present
Rachel Baker-Present
Amy Williams-Absent
Council Liaison:
Fred Chavez-Present
This is the Quality of Life Board meeting that was held on January 9, 2020. They started off by reviewing and then approving the meeting minutes for December 2020. There were no speakers during Citizens Forum.
Action Items:
1. The was a discussion on the Friends of the Park proposal. Jeff Stoddard said there was only one person that responded to it last month. Councilman Chavez proposed it to the Quality of Life in December. If it goes forward into action, it would be organized like the Friends of the Library. The goal is to enhance all the parks image through personal volunteerism and donations where the city isn't able to participate. The board tabled the discussion until next month so the Parks and Rec can post another message about it.
2. Parks and Golf CIP updates.
A. Golf Cart path paving will begin on January 15 (depending on weather). It will start at Hole 18 and work back toward 9. Some of the pathway will be wider in areas in order to accommodate carts passing each other. City employees were involved in the planning process.
B. Jeff Stoddard explained to the board why the bid for the bathrooms were cancelled. There was $378,000 for the bathrooms at the parks. The current plan would bring it over $100,000 over budget. Stoddard he wants to bring it to a Design Build Phase vendor. This would be to save money and get the same results. He will be bringing to council on January 21 to terminate the agreement with MRB. He said he has found that the same job can be done by his department with a phone call and without the engineer firm expense. At the same council meeting he will also recommend going to the Design Build vendor program. For the bathrooms it would be 4 weeks to design and 90 days to build.
Jeff Stoddard said that in regards to CIP that we need fix what we have before we build something else. He will be doing a park by park walk through with board members to see what needs to be done. TTAB Baseball and TTAS Softball will be coming back. Adult Softball will be back at City Park soon. He also announced that Caycee Hauck was promoted to Superintendent.
3. There was a discussion on Capital Improvements. Stoddard said that priorities need to be assessed for each park. One example he suggested was whether we needed walking trails at all three major parks. Robert Sizemore told him the deferred maintenance doesn't work!
4. There was an recommendation that the By Laws be amended to have board members perform volunteer work for the Parks. While highly encouraged, the board said that requiring board members to perform volunteer hours would discourage future board members from participating. The Board voted 7-0 to not amend the By Laws.
5. The agenda item died because of item 4.
Staff Reports:
The Parks Master Plan is almost complete and will go to council in February. MRB is being terminated because of cost effectiveness and the Director can do almost all of the work in-house. Ogletree Gap will have two ramps with the south one being ADA compliant.
The Parks Department is looking at converting Rhode Park from a Community Park and into a Special Needs Park. It would have adaptive equipment with a sensory playground and smaller sports fields. Rhode Park is located off of Big Divide Rd in Skyline Flats Subdivision. The closest such park in the area is in Round Rock.
The bathrooms at the main park need serious attention, I was there on Saturday and my daughter said it stunk horribly. Also bathrooms need to be put in at the other play ground of the main park behind the pool.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the comment. Did you know that you can tell the Council the same thing during Citizens Forum this Tuesday at 6PM? It is during the City Council meeting and you have 5 minutes to freely speak without interruption.
ReplyDeleteThe most important issue with the parks is safety. There needs to be at least ONE playground with a fence. My son is a runner and he needs a safe place to play where he can't run away or into the street.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest. Sounds like golfing is more important than safety. Parks have fences, or adequate bathrooms. Everything is falling apart. Fix what needs to be fixed before you start building somewhere else. Also an excuse saying it would discourage future members on the board, if you board members would, participate within the community. So the christmas parade wasn't participation. Or is it, you will only participate when it's something you want to do.
ReplyDelete