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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/23/2001 BAKERSFIELD jacquie Sullivan, Chair Sue Benham Irma Carson Staff: Alan Christensen COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMI'I'F-EE of the City Council- City of-Bakersfield Wednesday, May 23, 2001 1:30 p.m. City Manager's Conference Room - City Hall 1501 Truxtun Avenue, Suite 201, Bakersfield, CA AGENDA 1. ROLL CALL 2. ADOPT APRIL 18, 200~1 AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT 3. PUBLIC STATEMENTS 4. DEFERRED BUSINESS A. Staff report and Committee recommendation on use of facilities at Ir~ternational Square Park B. Staff report and Committee recommendation regarding swimming pool fees and providing student swim days at City pools 5. NEW BUSINESS 6. COMMITTEE COMMENTS 7. ADJOURNMENT AC:jp S:~AC~.001 csCommittee~cs01 may23agen.wpd FiLE , DRAFT BAKERSFIELD ~'~ ~ Jacquie Sullivan, Chair Alan Tandy, City Manager Sue Benham Staff: Alan Christensen Irma Carson AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT COMMUNITY SERVIOES ~COMMI,I'I~EE Wednesday, April 18, 1:30 p.m. City Manager's Conference Room 1. -ROLL CALL Call -to Order at 1:38 p.m. Present: Councilmembers Jacquie Sullivan, Chair; and Sue 'Benham Absent: Councilmember Irma Carson 2. ADOPT FEBRUARY 21, 2001 AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT Adopted as submitted. (Committee member Carson absent) 3. PUBLIC STATEMENTS 4. DEFERRED 'BUSINESS 5. NEW 'BUSINESS A. Staff,report and Committee recommendation on use of facilities at International Square Park Committee.member Benham stated a.request has.been .received from the Association of Old Town Kern:that this item ~be deferred until after their Association has a luncheon forum regarding this issue on Friday, April 27~. Committee member Benham .and other City staff will be attending. The ,Committee deferred this item. B. Staff report and Committee recommendation regarding fees for use of Silver Creek and Lowell ~Community Centers Recently the Committee recommend and the City Council aPproved a policy with set criteria for free use of the .Martin Luther King, Jr. Center (MLK) for non-profit organizations in the off season, off peak hours, with City programs taking ipriority over other uses. At the March 14~ meeting, Council referred the issue of extending this policy to include Silver Creek and Lowell Community Centers to the Community Services Committee. AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMITTEE Wednesday, April 18, 2001 Page -2- Recreation and Parks ~Director Stan Ford .explained although Silver Creek does not have off-i~eak time and is heavily used, as .it is staffed dUring regular hours, the same standard could be applied to the Center at Silver Creek for times when it is available. Staff is not recommending free use .for non-profits.at Lowell Community Center. Unlike MLK and Silver Creek Centers, this Center is not staffed during regular hours. The City rents the building and staff is .only available for planned programs such as after-school programs. · Committee.member,.Benham made amotion ti~e same standard be adopted for Silver Creek Center as was applied to Martin Luther King, Jr. Center; and further recommended not including Lowell Community Center as it is not staffed .during regular 'hoUrs. The Committee unanimously approved the-motion and direoted staff to move forward with the change for-Silver Creek Center only. (Committee member Carson absent) C. Staff. report and Committee recommendatiOn regarding swimming pool fees and providing student swim days at-City pools Recreation and Parks Director Stan Ford stated staff does not recommend opening .the pools for a free student swim day as this type of program is not manageable with the available current pOols and poOl staffing. OPerating the pools becomes unmanageable as groups of students tend to drop in and out. The pools have a limited Capacity and staff has to make an actual head count and close access to the pool when pool capacity is reached. Also, staffing of lifeguards has to remain consistent. Last year the Council approved an agreement with the .Bakersfield City School District for the o summer months. The City gave free passes to children in summer school. If students had perfect attendance-Monday through Thursday, they received a free swim pass to swim at a pool of their choice. In exchange, the City received free use of school facilities for summer camps and other programs. It was discussed that if this is a fairness issue, the same 20-punch pass or unlimited free pass for underutilized ~pools could be-given to students upon request regardless of income. Committee member'Benham made a motion that staff'Prepare a memo that includes the fOllowing: 1) explain why opening the pools fora free student swim day one day per week is not manageable; 2) the fairness.issue of a free swim pass to students upon request regardless of income and the fiscal.impact; 3) the original reason for the free swim pass,program for Iow-income individuals; and 4) for comparison .purposes list other City programs that include only Iow-income. The Committee unanimouslY approved the motion. (Committee member Carson absent). The Committee directed staff to bring the .memo 'back to the next meeting. The Committee will make its recommendation at that time. 6. COMMITTEE COMMENTS Committee,member Benham commented the Association of Old Town Kern lunCheon forum for local community input regarding International Square Park is on Friday, April 27~ at the Noriega House on Baker Street. Reservations can still be made. Lunch is optional. DRAFT COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMITTEE Wednesday, April 18, 2001 Page -3- 7. ADJOURNMENT The-meeting adjourned at 2:08 p.m. Staff attending: Assistant City Manager Alan Christensen; City Attorney Bart Thiltgen; Recreation and Parks Director Stan Ford; Deputy City Attorney Ginny Gennaro; Police Lt. Bob Bivens; and Development Associate Jan-Fulton, Economic Development Others: James Burger, Reporter, The Bakersfield Californian cc: Honorable Mayor and City Council S:~,C~2001CSCommittee~cs01apr18summary.wpd DEPARTMENT OF RECREATION AND PARKS DATE: May 18, 2001 TO: Alan Christensen, Assistant City Manager FROM:' StanFord, Director SUBJECT: Report on Reduced-Fee Use of City Swimming Pools As requested, staff has prepared a report addressing questions raised by the Community Services Committee at their meeting of Wednesday, April 18, 2001. 1. Explain why opening the pools for a free student swim day is not manageable. The dominant concern is .excessive demand. Already, guests are turned away from some high-use pools a few times during the season because they are at capacity. These guests must wait outside until others have exited the pool area before they can be admitted. The capacity is determined by the size of the pool, and only the number of persons which can safely be in the pool and supervised by lifeguards are allowed within the perimeter fence. Obviously, being made to wait is a deep disappointment to children and families. Fortunately, under historical patterns of usage this happens only a few times during the summer. A free swim day could result in long waits and hot, unhappy guests. Related to this concern is the problem of determining which day of the week to designate as free. Week-end use is already high, and each week-day is about equally well-utilized. Since no one day stands out, the choice will have to be made arbitrarily, possibly resulting in disappointment for guests who cannot take advantage on that day. Staff also has a concern about admitting only students for free. In any particular family group, the parent and young siblings may have to pay while their school-age child enters free. Additionally, determining student status with accuracy would not be possible. Finally, establishing a free §tudent swim day reduces the value of Bakersfield City School's attendance incentive of a Friday pass. The current agreement between the city and BCSD is working particularly well, with the city's estimated revenue loss being offset by not having to pay rent for the school facilities being utilized for the summer playground program. P:\CSCmtePools.wpd May 18, 2001 (9:32AM) May 18, 2001 Page 2 2. Discuss the fairness issue of a free student swim pass regardless of income and the fiscal impact. We suppose that it is more fair to offer the .benefit regardless of income. It is probably most fair to offer the benefit without regard to age or student status. With all due respect to the Committee, staff was. not charged with evaluating the fairness of the whole concept, but with proposing a practical program. Be assured that the program has been devised with procedures and controls to ensure it is administered in a fair way. The fiscal impact is not possible to predict accurately, as the Iow-income pass has not yet been put into use and therefore no estimate of its imPact is available. Offering a free day regardless ~of income would certainly have a greater impact than the Iow-income pass will have alone. 2000 season revenue totaled $35,800. If revenue drops by one-seventh (one day per week), this would total approximately $5,000. However, the real impact would probably be much higher, as usage would likely shift from paid days to the free day. 3. What is the original reason for the Iow-income pass program? The concept of the Iow-income pass originated with the Committee. Staff was directed to .propose a prograh~. To minimize the cost impact, the program was designed to take advantage of less-utilized pools, with visits to high-demand pools being limited. In the approval process, the Committee and Council was informed to expect a revenue impact, the extent of which will not be known until the program is implemented when the pools open on June 18. 4. List other city programs that include only I°w-income. The Iow-income swimming pool pass program is the only service for which the city uses a means test. Other free and Iow-cost services are not restricted by income. For example, Camp King is a free summer day camp in which anyone can enroll. The Fire Department gives out smoke detectors which are intended for.persons who can't afford them, but does not actually certify eligibility. Eligibility is certified for certain housing programs administered by EDCD, however these are geared to providing .housing and not services. P:\CSCmtePools.wpd May 18, 2001 (9:32AM)