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PC - Minutes - 11-01-2022MINUTES OF THE ROSEMEAD PARKS COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING NOVEMBER 1, 2022 The regular meeting of the Rosemead Parks Commission was called to order by Chair Chavez at 7:01 p.m. in the Rosemead City Council Chamber located at 8838 East Valley Boulevard, Rosemead, California. PRESENT: Commissioners Chavez, Mendez, and Nguyen ABSENT: Commissioners Luu, and Dang PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Vice -Chair Nguyen INVOCATION was led by Chair Chavez 1. PUBLIC COMMENTS FROM THE AUDIENCE - None 2. CONSENT CALENDAR A. Approval of minutes — October 4, 2022 Vice -Chair Nguyen motioned the approval of the meeting notes at 7:03 p.m. ACTION: Moved by Chair Chavez, seconded by Commissioner Mendez to approve the October 4, 2022, minutes: Motion carried by the following vote: AYES: Chavez, Mendez, and Nguyen; ABSENT: Dang, Luu 3. MATTERS FROM STAFF A. Park Maintenance Schedule Director of Parks and Recreation Boecking provided an update on the Park Maintenance Schedule. Currently, the City contracts with a general maintenance company, Evergreen Landscaping, for each park. They provide moving, trash services, and cleaning of the parks on a daily basis including weekends. That is supplemented with our Public Services staff as well. So, on a daily basis, our Public Services staff get into the facilities at 6am. They open the restrooms and make sure that they are tidy. The restrooms are deep cleaned every night between lOpm and 6am by a contracted cleaning company. At around 11 am, Public Services staff go into the restrooms again and do another tidy to make sure the facilities are still good. Then at around 4pm, before they leave for the day, they go in again and make sure the facilities are tidy and ready for the evening. That said, have been some shortages in our Public Works staff. The City is currently investigating how we can temporarily full those positions and start the hiring process. Picnic tables and shelters are cleaned and sprayed once a week; on the weekends, they are spot cleaned by parks facilities staff. We also have our Parks Supervision staff who come in on the weekends and evenings to look for any other big outstanding issues. Once we are fully staffed, we would like to move to a more ridged schedule. The restrooms at Rosemead Park will be remodeled after the new year, sometime between January and May. The restrooms at Garvey Park were re -done two years ago. Zapopan Park and Sally Tanner Park, especially Zapopan, with the Edison Company, are a little bit trickier, but we are looking into making some improvements there as well. Vice -Chair Nguyen asked if there is a point of contact for people who have a complaint about maintenance, or if they want to let us know if something is broken. Director of Parks and Recreation Boecking said that people can contact City Hall directly, where they will get a general receptionist who can direct them. He said that people can always contact him directly as well. He said that since Public Services maintains the facilities, such calls would generally be directed there. Vice - Chair Nguyen asked if there is a system in place for the citizen to track their complaint. Director of Parks and Recreation Boecking said that there is such a system in place on the city website. Vice -Chair Nguyen said that people who use the park may not be tech -savvy, such as the elderly, and is there a person that they could talk to who could be held accountable for ensuring the complaint receives follow through. Director of Parks and Recreation Boecking said that those people could call him at 626-569-2161 and that he would make sure their complaint gets heard and gets routed to the appropriate person. Vice -Chair Nguyen asked how often the picnic tables get cleaned. Director of Parks and Recreation Boecking said that they are cleaned once a week, but that they are hosed down and blown out daily. Then on the weekends, they are spot cleaned depending on what the rental is. Vice -Chair Nguyen asked for clarification on what "cleaned" means. Director of Parks and Recreation Boecking said they are high- pressure washed once a week, they are blown (no water) everyday, and they are spot cleaned on the weekends. Chair Chavez said that recently he has noticed more graffiti in the restrooms and asked how we can better address that. Director of Parks and Recreation Boecking said that graffiti is something we try to take care of on a daily basis. If it's reported by staff, Public Services has specific staff that just deal with graffiti, so that typically gets taken care of in a very quick turnaround. Chair Chavez inquired about a lock on a restroom that was mentioned the week prior. He asked why the restroom still has the same lock mechanism. Director of Parks and Recreation Boecking said that they had a locksmith go out to check it, but that they were not able to take care of it right away. The issue is on the schedule to be done, but it not something that our internal staff can do, we have to have a locksmith take care of. The City has a locksmith that they contract with, and the locksmith has looked at it, but they were unable to solve the problem. Commissioner Mendez asked if the restrooms that were renovated two years ago, were just those at Garvey Park or those at Rosemead Park as well. Director of Parks and Recreation Boecking said that it was only those at Garvey Park. Rosemead Park restrooms will be remodeled this winter. 2 B. Park Safety Update Director of Parks and Recreation provided an update on Park Safety at the park facilities in Rosemead. The City contracts with the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department, and that is our first call when it comes to safety in the parks. Additionally, we abide by the saying "See Something, Say Something," so we want to make sure that we encourage our residents to contact the Sheriff s Department if they see something that is questionable. The City also has our Public Safety Team, Code Enforcement, as well as our Community Service Officers that are around the city. They are also there to help make sure that things are going appropriately and that no one is at risk of anything that is unsafe. We also have our Parks Supervision Team which drive in and out of our parks on a daily basis in the evenings. Once our Public Safety team has gone home for the day, we do have Parks Supervision staff who are present. So, they are driving in and out of the parks; they have a rotation and a route which they go. They are also responsible for making sure restrooms and gates are locked. We encourage our residents, we encourage you, to spread the word that if there is something going on to please contact the Sheriffs Department. In recent weeks, we've had a couple of incidents that have come up. We have, therefore, asked the Sheriff s Department and Public Safety to increase their patrols throughout all the parks, but especially the Skate Park and like areas. We want to make sure that we have a presence. The Sheriffs have agreed as well as our Public Safety team. We want to make sure that we are working with our residents and that they know they can always call. They can always call City Hall, but if it's urgent and something that requires immediate action, please call the Sheriff s Department. If it is a concern that potentially might have been, for example, at the Skate Park where we had someone bullying someone else, we want them to call us as well so we can get a different presence out there, so that we can eliminate those risk factors. So, that's where we're at. We do the best we can as far as making sure that we have patrols going through. Ideally, we would love to have someone stationed at each park, but that's just not possible. Commissioner Mendez asked in regard to Public Safety, there has been a high number of coyotes coming into our neighborhoods, especially late at night. Is there an after-hours number for Animal Services that residents can call? Director of Parks and Recreation Boecking stated he did not know and did not want to give out incorrect information. He did not believe Animal Services was 24 hours, but since he was unsure, he said would include it in the next month's update to the commission. C. Monthly Parks & Recreation Department Review Director of Parks and Recreation Boecking provided the monthly update. October was a very busy month for the Department. He provided the Commission with a detailed review in their report. In Aquatics, we had a fantastic turnout as far as the programs offered, such as Lap Swim, Water Aerobics, and Swim Team. We recently had one of our Recreation Supervisors, who oversees our Aquatics Division, go to a California Aquatic Management School. It's a great opportunity 3 where aquatic professionals throughout the state go, learn, and network. They learn the trends to be on the lookout for. Jacqueline Guerrero was able to go and represent Rosemead, and she brought back some great information and ideas. We look forward to putting those ideas in play in the future. Garvey Community Center has been very busy. They had an amazing A Spell and a Bit of Hocus Pocus Luncheon. They sold out at 150 tickets, decorations were beautiful — they were all made by staff. Seniors loved the music and the food. They were out there dancing, and it was a great event for them. Garvey Center also participated in the Great Shakeout Event on October 20th, where staff evacuated the facility and practiced an earthquake drill. Garvey Center did it with all of their program participants, lunch participants, and the playschool. This past month the Department has been extremely busy. We had the Fall Fiesta and Dia De Los Muertos Event that was on Saturday October 8th at Rosemead Park. We had a great turnout, lots of entertainment. We got rained on for about 10 minutes, which scattered the crowd, but eventually they came back out. It was great and we had a lot of fun. Pumpkin Patch was on October 22nd at the newly named Del Mar Community Garden. That was an event where we partnered with CultivaLA, who manages a part of that garden for us. We gave away approximately 200+ pumpkins. It was a free event. Kids came in and got to walk through the garden and get a pumpkin, get a piece of pie or a candy apple. It was a lot of fun. We have our Pedal to the Turkey Medal, which is a virtual 5k event, it starts November 201h through the 261h. Instead of doing an on -the -course race, we're doing a virtual race where people track their own, send in their times, and we provide them with a number and medals. We started doing this during the pandemic. It's been slow but people do participate. Also, on a highlight, we did have our annual Trunk -or -Treat and Haunted House event last night. Thank you to those of you that were there. We had thousands of people. It's hard to estimate exactly what the number was. I can tell you we had the Haunted House on Sunday from 5:30pm to 8:30pm and last night from 5:30pm to 8:30pm and the count was roughly 2400 people who went through just the haunted house. So, I would estimate that the Trunk -or -Treat pulled somewhere around 5000 people. So definitely a lot of people, and everybody had a good time. Kids walked away with plenty of candy, so it was a lot of fun. Our Youth Programs are up and running, Leagues are going, Playschool programs are going. The first session of Playschool for the Fall ended October 20th, and a new session began October 31St. We had our Student Anti -Hate Art Contest which took place in October - the winners will be recognized next week at the November 81h Council Meeting. Chair Chavez asked what Director of Parks and Recreation Boecking saw at the Trunk -or -Treat event last night that he would like to do differently or add to. Director of Parks and Recreation Boecking questioned whether the event had outgrown the space. Every year he has been a part of the event, since 2019, the event has seemed to grow. During the pandemic the Department was not able to offer a walkup Trunk -or -Treat, so we did a drive dim, very successfully. Last year when the event came back in person, we had not anticipated the number of people who came out for the event. This year the number was equal to or greater than what we had last year. As far as the event goes, there's a lot of moving pieces, there's a lot of staff. As for adding something, I don't know exactly. Typically, what happens is staff will sit down, debrief, and go over things — what was good, what was bad — we look to see if there is any component that we think should be added. 2 Commissioner Mendez asked if the Department had ever considered holding the event on a date other than October 31st, for example the weekend before Halloween, since this year the 31 st fell on a Monday it was more difficult for students to attend. Director of Parks and Recreation Boecking said that that has been considered in the past. Traditionally, the event has been on the 31st. It gives residents a safe place to go on Halloween. There are plus and minuses to everything, so it's looking at it and seeing what's best. Chair Chavez asked to discuss the Fall Camp a little more. Director of Parks and Recreation Boecking said this camp is for our youth. Typically, Garvey School District and Rosemead School District take the week of Thanksgiving off, so we offer a camp so that parents who must work can enroll their kids with the camp and their kids can be taken care of for those four days. The activities are planned between November 2151 and the 25th with no class held on the 24" since that's Thanksgiving. It is located at Garvey Park Youth Center. They do a lot of fun activities: arts and crafts, outdoor activities, sports, this year they are going to the beach. It's a small camp — about 20 kids. Chair Chavez asked where students can register for the camp. Director of Parks and Recreation Boecking said that they can register online through our website, or they can register in person at the community center. Commissioner Mendez asked if the Department had anything planned for Veteran's Day. Director of Parks and Recreation Boecking said that we do not have anything planned for Veteran's Day. Chair Chavez asked to discuss the Playschool. Director of Parks and Recreation Boecking said the Playschool program is comparable to a preschool program. It is for very early ages and gives them an introduction into school life. Participants do a lot of arts and crafts; they learn their numbers and letters. We currently have programs at Rosemead Park, Garvey Park, and Garvey Center, either in the morning from 8:30am to 11:30am or in the afternoon from 12:30pm to 3:00pm. Garvey Park and Rosemead Park only offer the morning programs from 8:30am to 11:30am Monday through Thursday. Chair Chavez asked about the Student Anti Hate Art Contest, if a winner had been chosen and where the winner would be presented. Director of Parks and Recreation Boecking said the winners have been notified and would be recognized by City Council next Tuesday night, November 81h. They will be presented with an award and certificate, and their art will be displayed. 4. MATTERS FROM COMMISSION A. Commissioner Comments Commissioner Mendez asked if Parks and Recreation is joined with the library activities. Director of Parks and Recreation Boecking said we are good partners. We support one another. They list some of their information in our quarterly 5 brochure. We have a good working relationship. Commissioner Mendez said that the library used to offer fun activities like puppet shows and paper mache crafts, and asked if they are still offering these programs for the kids since the COVID shutdown. Director of Parks and Recreation Boecking said that the library is still offering programs, but he was unsure which programs specifically. He also said that the library will be closing in mid-November and will be closed through May for renovations. During that time, they will be doing some type of drive-thru program similar to what they did during the pandemic. Commissioner Mendez asked if that would be announced ahead of time. Director of Parks and Recreation Boecking said that that information would be posted on the library's social media. Chair Chavez asked to discuss the specific numbers for each event and program during the next Commission meeting. He would like to see what programs were successful, which need improvement, and how to broadcast it so that they have a larger turnout. Director of Parks and Recreation Boecking asked him to clarify which numbers he would like to see. Chair Chavez said he would like to see information on the classes that the department offers for the entire year. Director of Parks and Recreation Boecking said he would provide the data at the next Commission meeting. Chair Chavez asked if since many of the Department's programs are catered towards children, does the Department have a direct pipeline into the schools to deliver information on our programs to students directly. Director of Parks and Recreation Boecking said he would discuss this further at the next meeting. Director of Parks and Recreation Boecking reminded the Commissioners that the next meeting in December will be cancelled because it is the same night as the Tree Lighting event on December 6`h. The Holiday Tree Lighting takes place in the plaza, they light the Christmas tree, there are pictures with Santa Clause, a train ride, and so on. Additionally, the following meeting which would take place in January, will likely be cancelled as well since City Hall will still be closed for the holidays. The next meeting that will actually take place is likely to be on the first Tuesday in February unless something urgent comes up before then. 5. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 7:35 p.m. The next Parks Commission meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 6, 2022, at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chamlprs. JenniferFine4a, l�*eoent Analyst on