September 23, 2024 — Parks and Recreation Advisory Board Regular Meeting

Transcript

Captions from City of Boulder YouTube recording.

[0:01] To the cloud. Yes. Can you hear us. Yes, I can hear you. Danny. Thanks for joining the meeting remotely. Even though you're sick, we really appreciate it. We would not have it. Without you. No. Yep, I understand. Yeah. And I apologize for being ill tonight. So. I just wanna welcome everybody in the audience here today. Really feels. Great having such a full house. We usually don't have that many people here with us. So this is great, gives us a lot of energy, and as a resident of South Boulder myself, really appreciate everybody. Coming out and sharing your thoughts with us. So thank you. Okay, so let's. Approve the agenda. Do I have a motion? Second, Great. All in favor.

[1:02] Right. Any opposed. Nope agenda is approved. Ali, you wanna. Walk us through feature board items. Do that, Mr. Chair. Folks, I'm ally. I'm the director of Parks and Recreation. This part of the meeting. We just give an overview of what's coming up in the next 3 months for the Board Council and other events. Because we have a lot of people. I'm not gonna read it all to line by line. That would be boring. But it's in the packet that is available online, the big ones just calling out again, we are in the Budget Review process for 2025 budget with city council. They have their study, session. A week ago Thursday. We've not heard any questions or follow up specific to the parks and recreation budget. We would let you know what your next meeting your next October meeting. They'll have had their 1st and second hearing for the 25 budget. Those are scheduled for Thursday, October the 3rd and Thursday, October the 17th for community members. That's when Council approves the budget for the coming year. So we are doing the final steps.

[2:04] For our budget preparation, and that is the fee policy conversation. Jackson's going to give you an overview tonight, and then you'll have a deep discussion on it next month. That I'll hand it back to you. Okay, so next up is public participation. We clearly have some folks. Here for that? Do we have anybody online? Or is it all in person? Yeah, we do have quite a few online. And I do have a list of the people that did sign up to speak in person. Well, so I have some online and so apologies, I did not expect all of these folks on in person. So I did take. Some names I'll call you by name. So a little bit here, a little bit there. Okay, and we're gonna start with the folks who came in person. To do public comment versus online. So thanks for coming in person. This portion of the meeting is for members of the public to communicate ideas or concerns to the Board regarding parks and recreation issues for which a public hearing is not scheduled. Later in the meeting.

[3:07] Tonight. There are about what 16 folks. Making comment. Is anybody signed up to make comment on the action item we have, which is the easement licensure. Okay? Good. To know. So there is a scheduled item later in the meeting which people can comment on. But if nobody signed up for that, we'll just do all of the public comment. Now. During this public participation time the public is encouraged to comment. On the need for parks and recreation programs and facilities as they perceive them. All speakers are limited to 3 min. Depending on the nature of your matter, you may or may not receive a response from the board after you deliver your comments. The Board is always listening to and appreciative of community feedback. Rosa, will you please present the additional guidelines, and then call in our 1st speaker. Yes, I have them on the board here all remarks and testimony shall be limited to matters related to city business.

[4:07] No participant, or use other forms of intimidation against in person. Obscenity, racial epithets, and other speech and behavior that disrupts. Or otherwise impeach. The ability to conduct this meeting is prohibitive. And thank you for all of those that did sign up with 1st and last name. I do ask that if you are online, that you are set up with 1st and last name, so I can call on you. For the others I do have 1st and last name. Thank you. Okay. When you're ready to proceed with public comment, you can call. The 1st person is, so long as we're starting with the folks in. I am going to start with Katherine Cameron. And if you can come to the corner here, Katherine.

[5:00] We will begin your 3 min timer. So right here. Yes, right there. Okay. Alright, so I'm here to talk about the potential closures and rec center again. My name's Kathy Cameron. I'm a 30 year resident of South Boulder, and I've used South Boulder Rec Center the entire time that I've there. Like many other people who are gonna speak tonight. I'm really upset about the thought that that center might be close permanently. And it's a place where everyone, from children to senior citizens goes for enjoyment. For mental and physical health. So I wanna make some points about that. 1st is that boulder is really a city that thrives on recreation. I think anyone that lives here knows that all 3 rec centers are heavily used. And I. If you read Boulder daily camera, you know that there's big concern about not having enough swim lanes. For example.

[6:02] Back, swimming for team swimming. If the South Center is closed and everyone has to go to East. Of course that problem is just going to be magnified. And then there's a therapy swim team swim team practices itself, and many of the very few students also work out there. So that's another issue that should be considered. Boulder has added recreation centers as the city has grown. The population has almost doubled since was built, and it's still growing rapidly. The demand for the rec centers is going, not going to decrease. It's gonna increase. So why take away 1 3rd of our recreational opportunities? That's. You know. That's mystifying. I'm also mystified about the fact that we've had long, expensive renovations on the north center and we're gonna have similar expensive renovations on the on the East Center, but apparently no one is ever considered as needing them. Or you know that we even should try that. So how can that be? And who is making these decisions.

[7:10] The argument that the building has reached the end of its life cycle doesn't actually ring through to me. I looked up the international building code. It's written for an 80 to 100 year lifespan. There are storage buildings all over the country that are older than cell boulder, including your courthouse, which was built in 1,933, more than 40 years before. The cell center. And then Brooks and Rick says it's once our input. But I learned that the 2021 facilities plan in the 22. Alder Parks and Rec. Plans. Both confirm that the cell center would be closed. Both plans were confirmed by the city council. In other words. Nobody at this point wants our comment. They just want to convince us, closing it as a good idea. So thank you for the opportunity to talk and finally, I just wonder when city council or you know, in the city government could help us with this problem.

[8:11] Thank you. Another meter. I'm going to call Miss Finnegan. Hello. My name is Lisa Finnegan, and I'm a 25 year user at the softball direct center. I hope by speaking tonight we can stop relied on rumors. I can gain clarity. In 1,009. I started working at South as a tennis instructor and and a childcare attendant. When we had our 3 boys we enrolled in many programs itself. For example. Preseason for barracudas, mom and top classes, sports sampler classes.

[9:01] Immunity. Halloween parties. As you may know, adolescents, is a crucial time for developing social and emotional habits. Important for mental well-being sales helped our boys feel welcomed. Included, and that they belong to a community. The level of service decreasing itself is the last. Thing that this community needs. Especially with suicide, being the 4th leading cause of death and adolescence. If anything, the community needs more services at South, preventing suicide. So was, and is, a safe place for them to feel like they belong, and are welcome to provide the platform for them, to play, compete and socialize with friends. In fact, my son informed me. That while he was at Mesa Hills and Fairview. The students were instructed to run. The South Boulder Recreation Center for Safe haven in the event of an active shooter. Overall. Our kids have had to deal with evacuations from wildfires.

[10:01] The boulder flood from 2,013, and a mass shooting at a local grocery store. Where will they run? If South is not rebuilt. King, supers. In terms of and of the engagement survey which I struggled to navigate. It did not ask what type of classes we would like. The time of day we would like them offered, or what hours the center should be open to meet the communities. In regards to moving services to East. This would just be another barrier for our youth and family to overcome. In fact, the barely swim coach informed me last night that she lost 27 swimmers when the pool was shut down at repairs. A 3rd of a team had to quit swimming because they were not able to commute to practices at least. In terms of next steps. I look forward to continuing the dialogue, and perhaps seeing you at the South Center. 50th year, celebration. And to understand more about how decisions are made with regards to our Rec centers, and how to have a voice.

[11:06] Thank you. Yeah. John Boyland. Thank you. Good evening. My name's John Boylan. I'm a 45 year resident of Boulder, 30 years in South Boulder, and, like the other speakers That's my daily routine is going there literally, or 6 days a week, and. And I'm here for the same reason to talk to you about South Boulder. The facility. Masters plan says that one of the rules that you're supposed to go by is to build for the community we serve. It's on page 71 of the 21 plan. Seems to me that shutting one of the facilities is not in accordance with that.

[12:02] Consolidating. Would make sense if Boulder was a dying city. But Boulder is a growing community, as you've heard, and so reducing our options from 3 to 2 is also not in accordance with. The right pattern for this community. It also is counter to our ideals of a walkable city, walkable neighborhoods, the ability to do things without having to get in the car. Get on the bus. The long distances. And you know, basically that. You've stated, like just in the August meeting support for transparency on part of the board, I would urge you to publish post that all of the data and the dates they were collected. Behind the decisions that have been made and are being made so that we can help. Understand what's going on and develop some options and understanding of our own, what challenges are. Regarding the current South builder.

[13:04] Obviously, you know, it's built in a poorly drained valley. That presents some construction and engineering issues. That have been solved since Roman time. So it's not that new. But there are new technologies. New engineering approaches, one past trenching. I'm not advocating that you necessarily do this for the current structure, but for a new structure. The current structure as I understand it, and I've been to all the Rec. Centers is the only one with a basement, swimming pool and gym. It's the basement floors that have had the problems. So let's think forward a different type of design. Let's see, the path forward, I would suggest, is to seek a bond or certificates of participate, to get the funding for it. And to maintain the existing facility under the required operations and maintenance that should be done, which I believe has been deficient. I haven't seen the onmule, but I would bet on that. Given my observation of the repairs.

[14:06] And everything that went before and after. Leverage. The new technologies installered foundation drains. Groundwater diversion systems. Properly prepared subgrade for the building, whether it's got a basement or not. It, we need a better facility, and we need one in South Boulder. Thank you. Nick. 4 year. Hello! My name is Nick Fiori. I'm. I live in South Pole since 2012. An architect here in town. Had some stuff written around. Also, I apologize. If it's nonsensical. In advance. Like, I said. I'm an architect. I work at the city work with this. You know best way to put it, but I pull permits often, and I deal city a lot.

[15:10] I've been on the landmarks board in your position slightly. My main concern. Other than obviously the. The Rec center closing, which we're all, I think, here for. Is the the way that it's been communicated along the way has been sort of. The way the city's been doing things for several years now, which is. Things kind of bearing the lead. In these reports we don't really ever get a full accounting of why or how or when things are gonna happen. I even have an email from last summer, from a council member that said, That's not this isn't gonna happen. We're gonna. But here we are right, and we're seeing language. From this, from the city staff. Now, I received an email, in fact, where. The Rec. Senators talked about in this past tense. And I have some emails. The council that I fired off immediately after that, you know, I wouldn't share with my grandmother. But the the.

[16:07] Gives a backhandedness to it that feels really cool to us down the south. But to me, down South. But I'm used to it. As I deal with the city a lot, and I see how these things work. If Nuria and Council want to consolidate and shut down one unit. They need to be accountable to the city at what you know citywide and to us about how that works with the 15 min model that we're all shooting for. How that reduces energy use and how that's sustainable future for the city. I think we all know what the answers to that are. So the city has a new portal for getting permits where all the city staff hide behind the portal. You can't email can't really phone. Call them anymore. There's a pattern in here about how this is working as well. Right the lead on on closing it. We're being told. And in the aftermath of the decision, in a sense.

[17:02] And so we have to. We have to. We have to gather and do this really quickly. With all this vitriol and sort of you know. On our disorganized passion. But at the end of the day, if we all imagine closing, because they're running out of money. Would that ever happen? Which trailheads would you pick. To close if Narya came to you and said. We're gonna consolidate trailways. Which one of which one of these should we close? Which ones. Right up against the town should be close. So I'll wait for that list. Pat care again. Okay, I didn't get your your sheet.

[18:03] I've lived in Boulder my entire life. I. Drop this Rex to her. My kids grew up this center, my kids work the direct center, my father, until he was 85 and died. He didn't die in the pool. And I've I've been trying to find out what everybody else what's going on. This seems really opaque. I'm not blaming the Advisory Board. But you're the you're what we have, and you're the cushion between us and the sake. Separately. Who's always there? So I went to the Whatsapp. Deal about 2 weeks ago to find out what's happened. And I was directed to a woman. And I, and she'll be a bunch of charts. And I said. I said, Okay, well, I understand this. But this is. A community asset. And I gotta tell you I'm there a lot. I suffered a traumatic head injury about 20 years ago, so I've never lost. And she's well. I've never been there before.

[19:02] And I said, So you're making this decision on a facility where you never been. I said, this is a community. This is this is where my friends are. This is where. Our children grow up for our high school kids. Come. And she said she got angry, and she said, You're lucky you get to live in Boulder. I? And I said, so. You don't live in. You've never been there, and you're making this call. I'm just like, so this is, this is what we're looking at as a community. We've got bookkeepers, bureaucrats, making financial decisions. About something that shouldn't be financial. This is our community guys, this is. This is where our kids grow up. This is where we'll be when we're old. And it's not about money. We can get the money, you know. You can get the money. City Council's got to change some priorities. I think we know where the priorities now, but you have to push back as a department and as a board for us.

[20:03] Let's say this isn't the right decision. It's. It's not just about money. It's about people. It's about all this together. If we need a bond issue, let's get a bond issue, but don't let them pile all that other stuff on it. Get us a good parks and Rec. Bond district. Couldn't pay for. We didn't have money for police requiring they'd find you'd find it. So all I'm asking is, look at it from a community. Not a dollar and cents. It's not about balance balance, sheet. It's about all of us. Thank you. Do I have Shanta back. Okay. So she's online. No worries. I will call Will Eisner.

[21:04] Will Isarman. Thank you for all the work that you do on our behalf. I've been in similar boat before, and you know this isn't a thankless job in many ways. This is such an opportunity for the community to work with the city. On a really exciting improvement of an asset. And I just really. I see the boulder South Boulder as a critical hub. You know we had an experience with a critical hub. When sinking super close for a year and a half. And there was almost an immediate dislocation of people. Where we felt homeless in a certain way. And the boulder Rec. Centers are like that for our neighborhoods. It's where we see our neighbors where we get to know our neighbors and see their kids.

[22:03] And build those relationships. And we want to have walkable assets like that. More of them, not less of them. And we certainly don't want the one we have moved across town. That's counter to really everything that I think we wanna see. In our community. But I wanna I got lots of ideas. But a couple of things that I wanna share for just going forward. The 1st is about transparency and. There appears to be conclusions that have already been drawn about. It's unsustainability. It can't be renovated, can't be repaired. We need to see those data, they need to be accessible, easily accessible, so that we can understand how that conclusion was drawn. We need to also understand who is making the decisions.

[23:01] And what decisions have already are like done. Deals. And what is still on the table, so that we, as community members, can participate in those processes. The survey idea that you guys have going great. But you know, surveys usually come out of doing focus groups and and team and town hall meetings. This survey is problematic in a lot of ways, and it's leading people to think they're. Bias and an agenda. Lastly I just wanna say that. Our our community. If this is a dying asset. Then we need to respond as though it's dying, and do something to bring it back to life and. We have a lot of people here with expertise and ideas and enthusiasm, ready to put our heads together to solve this. So tell us how.

[24:03] How can we get engaged? We need to be educated by you. Thank you. I want to ensure. I don't have Bruce priced in the back. Tab, currently. Good evening, everyone. My name's Ted Conway. I'm a 25 year user of the South Boulder Recreation Center. My comments are specifically regarding statements about the future of the Rec. Centers and the end of South Bowler recreation centers, life cycle. So I'd like to 1st talk about some of the statements that were made around the funded East boulder. Community center retro fit. I'm aware that the funding of the East Boulder Community Center came from the community culture and safety resilience tax.

[25:05] And I was curious as to why these funds are not allocated to the current infrastructure. Of South Boulder Recreation Center, which received a failing grade. If this was the triage situation in an er you would immediately help to fix the failing Rec center of cell border. Secondly, feedback and engagement. The future of rec centers. It was an opportunity to complete a survey on feedback. There are many flaws with the engagement Survey Number One. I attempted to complete the survey on my iphone. And couldn't select distributed model. And I have an exhibit here for you. Exhibit a. Other citizens had the same issue with the survey. The exhibit B, also, the surveys allow multiple attempts meaning one user can complete the survey multiple times which comprises the integrity of the survey.

[26:04] As we say in my world, garbage in garbage, out. The survey is leading question number 12 States. With a centralized model, you can provide higher quality versus a distributed model. Which would have basic activities. This nomenclature. Leaves the citizens toward the centralized model. Isn't there a 3rd alternative? What about a distributed model. With higher quality activities. We've seen this firsthand, for example, self center. Has one of the best structures training programs which matches programs at east and north. Finally, did you seek the input of citizens when crafting a survey. The 4th point is around the life cycle. Who determines that cellular recreation Center. Has reached the end of its life cycle. Were these decisions made with citizen input did you rely on multiple firms to draw conclusions.

[27:06] And are the specific recommend. Stations located on an accessible website. For the public to review. So as a citizen concerned about the potential close of self. Without a viable replacement at the same location. It's important to have a very transparent process from the very beginning. This engagement survey seems to be the initial catalyst. For having our voices heard. However, in my opinion, the data from survey results will be inaccurate. In terms of next steps. If you could. Please provide your input on my 4 points. In addition. I would like to invite you. The pleb Board. To our safe boulder Recreation Center Coalition. Meetings to share a cup of coffee. And have a form of mutual transparency. In partnership to discuss. Sorry I'm overdone. Related to discuss a partnership related to this topic. Thank you.

[28:18] Thank you. My name is Scott Graham. I live. Directly across the street from the softball. Closer than any. And I wrote a bunch of stuff, too. Most of it's already been said. That perspective of living across the street is I never 17 years. I raised my kids there. Unfortunately, my kids didn't really go to the south boulder because there were never any services provided there for them. There wasn't a easy entry swim pool when they were young, so we drove to the north center. And we drove there every Saturday and Sunday, and we waited in line to get into the North Center, because that's what every other family.

[29:04] And Boulder was doing, was driving there. Because it's by far the best. Way better than the east folder. It's it's by fun. The other perspective is that. My neighbor Bruce, who did not show up today, is. Somewhere, like 87. He's on a walker. He was directly across the street from me. He walks across the street across Gillespie. Every single day. On his walker to go swimming. He goes, he goes and sits in the Sauna. And he does that by himself. He is, he is not allowed to drive anymore. He broke his head 2 years ago. He has a helper that comes twice a week. He's not going to the useful Rec center ever. He's not going to go to a different Rec center. He's gonna die in his house. And he's gonna die early because he doesn't go across the street and slam.

[30:00] I see that happen on Berea all the time. I see all the people walking down. And going across the street. It's. It's like everybody said. It is a very central part of our community. And. I really really hope that it's. Can become more rather than less, because. It doesn't fulfill the need of the community. There are 3,000 kids. In that neighborhood, going to school. At least. There's Mesa Bear Creek Community Monastery. There are preschools, there's southern hills, there's Fairview, there's Summit. They're all within walking and biking distance. Of that rec center and the duration of the time my kids could go use it. There's nothing for them to go over there for. They had nothing to do. They rely on either the school providing something, or they have to walk some, or they have to. Not do anything, go home and play video games.

[31:01] There's a lot of opportunity to improve it. And just because the kids haven't been going, or if which we don't have, this is another point, we don't have the data to see. But if the membership is declining there, or people aren't going, then. Let's build it up because they're not going, because there's not some for them to do, not because they don't. Thank you. Thank you. Dr. Israelson. Everything I was. Gonna say, I'm gonna say has already been said. So I did write it down. Not the oldest one here, but I'm probably the only 50 Year patron of the South Boulder Center. My name is Mike Israel, and I am a 6th generation. Colorado. And grew up on Emerson just up the street from the Rec. Center. My dad took me and my sisters to the Rec.

[32:03] Right. I learned to swim, learn to play basketball when to play tennis. We would go to Lake, not to mention Harlete Park that. You probably heard a lot of stuff, anyway. My wife is also a South Boulder native. She was on the swim team when we were kids, so, as her sweatshirt says, chlorine, the breakfast of champions at the time. Practice at 5 Am. My grandma moved back to South Boulder when I was after raising kids. So we've now got 4 generations of my family using this center. Right now. My older son, Bryce. Is that the South Boulder center every morning? And I don't know if there's other people here, is there every day. Lifting, and he's a competitive body builder. And it this is has been a strong point in his life. Giving them focus throughout high school. My younger son is on his tennis team. He has to play a South boulder a lot, which also means he's doing battle with the pickle ballers.

[33:01] Picking your survey that Ted talked about. I was struck. Like many people here. It would seem like a foregone conclusion. They were very like great, unobjectionable terms, like community and resource management. They kind of told me that the mind has already been made up about the Sample Direct Center. Yeah, I was in high school when they opened East folder. And we're all pretty soaked on that like. Oh, there's climbing wall, there's like turquoise. It's really cool. But we had to drive there and like from South Boulder. That's not really the coolest thing. North boulder center. Good for gymnastics. But it's in North Boulder, and that's done. What's helpful. Direct Center represents. Like people have said, it's it's harder for community. We've got. A really good grocery store. You've got the Rec center many of our patrons. Running biker walk there. The pickleball is. Show up every day and kick my kid off the tennis courts. Students walk by there every day.

[34:02] In the swim teams. You guys probably know this, but when they built the school district did not give money to build a swimming pool because the South direct center was there. Is the building become obsolete. Certainly dated. It smells the same way it did when I was a kid. Should it go away. No, no, we got an architect talking about it. Sort of in the in the parlance of our times. If you're gonna build a dam, wants to build a dam. Build a dam where there's already a dam. We have a Rec center. It's being used. You have a part that people love. Reimagine it have a task force to figure that out. That's good. Thanks for your time. Mary. Hi! Marry somebody! I've used all of the Rec. Centers for the past 22 years.

[35:02] With my family, and I wanna 1st all view service because. Been in similar shoes, and I know it's a lot of work. So I have a couple of things to address regarding. The 1st is that in May of 2,023, I received the following email from a city staff member, your response to my inquiry regarding the status of the Rec. Center. This is, was I what I got. Cell phone center is an important part of our community. We have no plans to close it. The current building is approaching its end of operational life cycle, and the city is in the early stages of planning for the future of all 3 of our Rec centers. Right now, we're exploring creative financial solutions to fund Rec center. Those results will determine the next steps and timing for future plans in 2,024, and beyond. Today, as you all know, the current language regarding the Rec center for so. Is that major repairs and renovations that's out there neither feasible nor funded. And the future rec center projects, anticipates reductions from service levels. That's out.

[36:02] And we'll explore weather, and how these services could. There are a lot of things concerning about that language to me as the resident of that community. And my question is, when did this change occur? And who made the decision that would know would not receive funding for repairs or renovations was that a city staff member that may or group that made that decision was that city council that made that decision. When did it happen? Exactly like? There's no information that I've been able to find that I can explain the reassurances I got a year ago to where we are today. And I think a lot of us feel frustrated by that, because you can read the website and read a lot of information. And you can send a lot of emails. They don't get specifics on that topic. Number 2. I have 4 children who have graduated from, or are currently schools. They're all swimmers, and I'm very concerned about the possibility of losing the pool itself. When there's usership agreement in place between the city and Bvsd, specifically for sharing these facilities.

[37:02] The fairy swim. Teams have always used practices and meets. And I fear that there will be a failure of the pool for which your repair will not be funded by the city, causing a permanent closure of the pool. This will put a burden on those 40 to 70 kids and families trying to get to swim. Practice every single day from about November 1st through May, through mid May. During the most recent closure of the pool for leak repairs which you guys already heard, this approximately 30% of the girls swim team had to quit because they were not able to find reliable transportation. To the east or North Boulder Center, or some days they didn't have any practice at all, because my daughters were swimming. Then. Because the schedules very time. This isn't equitable for those 100 plus athletes on these swim teams, many of whom do not have a driver's license and or do not have access to a car, and the city buses do not get them and them there in time for swim prefers. So that was not an option. Those athletes are losing opportunity to participate in a non cut score. Was shown to have positive physical and mental health benefits during a time when mental health among our teams is a major concern.

[38:06] In addition, the carbon emission impact from thousands of additional car trips. Because I did. The math is contrary to Boulders mission of reducing our carbon footprint. So there's and that's just the swim team that's not talking about all the users in the community. I would like assurances from the city that the pool be kept open, at least until the East Boulder Community Center. Is renovated and expanded. Pool there, that is, and there's a plan in place for building South. Thanks for Tony. I want to ensure. I did not miss mark America. And Brian Kennedy. Okay, Mr. Chair, I'm going to move to online. Is there anybody else that wants to speak? Who's here. Yeah, I'd register to speak, but I guess it didn't come through. Jeremy. No, I do. Okay. Well, is it? Okay? Yeah. Great Reverend Jeremy Nicole, Minister Community Minister at the Unitarian Universalist congregation. I've only been here 5 years, and I came from California. So you can just tune me out if you need to. I really do wanna thank you all for being here. I've been on a lot of boards as a minister, and I know, besides a great pay. It's tough work, and often, you know, like late nights, and all that other stuff.

[39:21] I know you've thought about this for a long time. This isn't a new issue to you, I think. Gosh! I've heard so many articulate words from my fellow community members that I don't want to waste your time and repeat all that, so I won't. I think what I want to say, as someone who really focuses on community, and it is somewhat of a repeat, but it bears saying, we have so few spaces to be together anymore. Spend a bunch of time in Europe this summer, and like I just saw. Much. Architecture is destiny for a community. How much it affects the real lived experience of your community. And I. I look out at this group. I see these people. Regularly like every day. This troublemaker right here won't leave me alone. It's a community over there. It's like my little cheers, you know, and it really matters to a lot of people. It's 1 of those few places that you can just run into people and organically build relationships. So I'm not here to tell you like some fantastic fact about architecture. You didn't know. That saves the day, cause I don't know anything about architecture, but I know that when a community cares about something.

[40:21] There is a solution. This is a great opportunity, you know. Each one of us represents dozens of people who couldn't be here today. And so like, there's a huge groundswell of support for this space living on. And so I I just ask you to be creative. And to include the voices here and feel this energy and work with us, like, I guess we're probably all on the same team like no one joins the parks and Rec, or like close rec centers. So like, let's work together. You've been invited to join our crew, join our crew. Get in the boat with us. Let's make this community better. This is an awesome opportunity for us to make the best sellable direct center we can have. So.

[41:02] You know, be less than us. You're invited. Anybody else who's here who'd like to speak. Let's move to online. Thank you. Everybody for Shank. Don? Can you hear us? Yeah. Hi, this is Don Burgle. Am I the right guy at the right time? Yes. Okay, yeah. Hi, my name's Don Burgol. And I'm not gonna talk about the South Boulder Rec center. I'm the new president of the Boulder Tennis Association. Taking over from Michael, who many of you know.

[42:00] And I'm an avid recreational player here in Boulder. We're approaching the 1st winter in Boulder without a publicly accessible indoor tennis facility. And I'm speaking here to keep the need for an indoor tennis amanity on the top of the prop list. Many opportunities for the city to cooperate with private interest and create a community place for indoor tennis have been missed. The management of Rmtc. Which the city approved. Closing. Propose numerous times to build and manage a new facility with city. And was rejected. Unfortunately, I learned this last week. They've accepted an offer from the city of Firestone to cooperatively build a large regional tennis center. There. With support and assistance from that city. Sadly. Our chance to keep that resource in Boulder is gone. The the court system plan approved by Prab in the city.

[43:02] Has an open, ended intention to build a public indoor facility at Valmont Park. But with no data signed. And while the plan states an intent to increase the number of outdoor courts at East. By one to 3 courts. There's no firm date on that either. And no details on whether tennis courts will still be available. During the Pickleball Court conversion. I learned that the Parks and Rec. Department is considering a greater expansion of East Center tennis courts, potentially even indoor. I urge you now to act on this and move it forward expeditiously. We've missed opportunities in the past. Let's not let another one slip away. All the last 3 years have gotten bolder tennis community. Is the city sanctioned loss of 31 courts. And a 200 page paper plan. Let's stop pushing paper and take some real action.

[44:02] The Boulder Tennis Association and the broader tennis community is here to support and potentially fundraise. Behind this effort. We just need the city as a good faith, partner. Thank you. Shanta, are you ready. Thank you for letting me speak. So. I really don't have very much more to add. On the Southbury center, or potential closure to what. Some of my friends have married. So my wife and I. Have been using the South Boulder center from. Early nineties. As for myself, I've been swimming regularly there.

[45:05] Whenever it has been open. And there are very few swimming facilities in Boulder. Frankly, and when football was closed we had to drive all the way to East. So if and I'm sure and speak to The experiences of. Lot of the swimmers in the community. That. If this facility is close, then we will have to drive. To remind, to get to another swimming facility. And that's not going to. That's going to add to. The emissions. That. We all are trying to curb. And yeah, so if that's 1 of the goals.

[46:00] Then I would say that we really need to keep this community. Facility open. The other thing I want to add is that I do not understand. How this lifetime. Of the building was derived, namely, that the building's lifetime is 50 years, where many of the structures in South Boulder, including my house and my neighbors. Greater than 50 years. So Also it. One of the posters says that the maintenance cost. Of Sbr is 3 times that of not Boulder. Well, that's not surprising, since the North Boulder accent was. Refurbished, the. Some I don't know. 1015 years ago. So why can't we do that. To the South Direct Center.

[47:01] So I really do not understand why. It has been determined that the life. Of this precinct has ended. Or it's potentially ending soon. And why it cannot be renovated. I do not see any data. That is up on your website. As to the justification. For potentially. Closing this. So building a new. Center when. The World Center is, as far as I can see, is perfectly fine and can be renovated. Thank you again for listening to me. Yeah. Bruce, Krist. I'm not seeing you.

[48:03] I'm going to move to sherry hack. Here you may begin. Hi, thank you. My name is Sherry Hack. I'm a 25 year resident of South Boulder. And I'm here tonight to ask you not to close the South Center. It's a vital part of our neighborhood. I use it during my lunch hour, sometimes for swimming, and I just walk there. And I want to thank you for fixing the pool and getting us Lifeguards all day, so the pool can remain open. Those of us in South Boulder do not want to have to drive to East. Or north rec centers. In fact, I have heard of stolen bikes and car break ins. At north. And also that's the reason I don't want to go there. To be honest, I'll go to Louisville Rec Center before I go to Eastern North.

[49:03] Also a lot of older folks can't ride bikes. To eastern north and especially in the snow. And there's elderly people who can't even. Who can't drive, but who are able to walk to South Boulder. That won't be able to anymore. If you close it. So for climate change, why would you force. All of the South Boulder residents. To drive to east or north. Doesn't make any sense. To me the building seems just fine. Yeah, it's not real fancy, but I don't think we need anything. Fancy it doesn't seem to be falling apart to me, but I mean I'm not an engineer. If this is about money. Why don't you stop some of the city projects like the conversion of Iris Avenue that most residents don't want. Or the lawsuit against the Boulder airport. The city seems to waste a lot of money on these. Certain pet projects. I received. I also received an email.

[50:01] I guess it was in the last couple years, assuring me that the South Boulder Rec Center wasn't going to be closed. So now what's changed. You know, today's my birthday, and I gave up a birthday celebration to be here for this meeting, to speak at this meeting, and the best birthday gift I could get is to know that my beloved. South Boulder Rec Center will remain open. And continue to be a vital part of our neighborhood. I have a few seconds remaining on a different topic. I'd like to ask a question. There was an encampment in the green space that's just east of the table, Mesa. Park and ride last year. It's by the table. Mesa. Exit off a highway. 36. There's a little creek, and there was a grove of trees there. And I sent an email because I'm wondering why were some of those big trees cut down there after the encampment was cleared. They were big, lovely trees, and now they're gone, except for a couple of little trees. So that's a question that I have.

[51:01] Thank you. Thank you. Going to call on Mark America. Mark, are you ready. Yes, I am. Can you hear me? Yes. Pm. Great. Thank you. Hello! My name's Mark America, and I'm here with my wife, Francia Nelson. We live in South Boulder, where we've been members of the South Boulder. City Rec center for 35 years, in fact. The way I became a member is that. Way back in 1,009. As a new citizen of Boulder. I was walking down the Pearl Street Mall. When, to my surprise, someone from Boulder Parks and Rick. Came up to me and offered me a free 10 punch card to try out the Rec. Center.

[52:00] And so I took advantage of that offer, and we've both been regular users of the South Boulder facility ever since. Yeah. So talk about direct marketing. Right? That was pretty good. We understand that. This city evaluation, or some kind of evaluation, has already indicated that. The Rec center has reached the end of its life cycle. So so call And that's not something we've personally felt working out in the gym, as others have said, or you know, or the Rec. The Gym, the stretch room, or even just taking classes, we we actually find that part of the facility. In great shape, and have come to highly value. The entire facility as an integral part of our community. Not only do we get to see and socialize. With our neighbors, some of whom we see. In your audience today. As you know, while we're working out. But it's it's very convenient for us to to get to, and it's ideally located right next to Valley Lake, as you all know, so that everything kind of feels part of the same.

[53:08] Community, experience. And and we like that. We don't have to. Really leave a heavy footprint driving around to other facilities which. We really don't wanna have to do. Or commercial gyms, for that matter. And so we're 100% in favor of, I think, what's being referred to, if I understand it correctly, this distributed model. For future development of the recreational facilities in Boulder. A a distributor model feels much more equitable to all of boulders. Citizens, especially the young and old community members in Sobo, such as us, who want to have easy access to our local. Facility. For us. The ideal plan going forward would be to renovate and create a 1st class boulder rec center on the current site.

[54:01] That equitably distributes. The recreational opportunities for all of the neighborhoods in boulder, and that prioritizes making a healthy lifestyle easy for all our communities to access and participate in. So thank you all. For your service. Brand and I are both former city of Boulder, and always appreciate those who contribute their time to making our city the best place that it can be. Thank you. Thank you. I'm going to call on Brian Kennedy. Morning. Are you ready. Yes, I'm ready. Thank you. My name is Brian Kennedy. I support the public comments we are hearing this evening. I will focus on 7 processions. With an emphasis on alternatives. 1st make every background, document and summary of public input to date. Easy to find online and available to front desk for review.

[55:04] Not just available upon request. Every front desk employee should be trained via process and Project Spokesperson. Do not predetermine the alternatives. Well, short term changes may be unavoidable. They are often interpreted as long-term outcomes. Do not use cost as a driving factor that eliminates use community recreation needs as the driving factor for alternative development. Exceptionally design a range of alternatives and schedule with sufficient information to generate meaningful public reactions to short term. Midterm and potential long-term outcomes. Design and administer a survey that generates public input on the range of alternatives under consideration. Including, but not limited to closing South Boulder Recreation Center.

[56:02] Shifting facilities and services to East or elsewhere, and expending a lot of money. To continue to provide existing facilities and services. And possibly more facilities, services. Before administering that survey, fully characterize the alternatives, and be especially clear about what centralization of facilities and services alternative would look like. And describe the impacts, implications. Of that alternative and the new precedent, that sort of alternative would set. Centralization is a major policy change for the city that will generate substantial public reactions. Throughout the city. Finally allow community members to refine a conceptual alternatives as part of live. On site, indoor and outdoor publication events. Develop a facilitated sequence of themed events.

[57:03] Designed and targeted for residents and tailored to various age groups and activity, types. This is how the future of this site. Should be imagined. Thank you. Bruce. Christ! I am not finding you, and I apologize. I'm looking through the list. Do not see you, but you are welcome to send an email to prab at Boulder, Colorado. After the the prep meetings right. Mr. Chair. That concludes my list. Thank you. Rosa. Thank you to everybody who made comments tonight and. Thanks everybody especially, who came in personally to spend time with us this evening. I'd like to open it up to. To prep. First.st

[58:00] To make any comments or ask any questions related to what we've heard today. Well, I just wanna address. You all. My name is Sonny Vanderstar, and I've lived in South Boulder for 25 years. And I am so heartened to see this response. I feel like I've been talking to a lot of folks, but. Nobody who's as organized. It sounds like you guys are. And I, wanna, I definitely wanna know more about what is being organized there. I. You know you you articulated so many things that I've been thinking. And saying, and I just feel excited. To know that there's so many resources out there. So many people are willing to put their time. And effort in and creativity and I just feel really hopeful right now. I feel really excited about getting to know you all. And really. Building our community. Beyond just. The recset. I mean, I just I really it makes me.

[59:01] You know, just reminds me why I love South Boulder. Is that the people are amazing? And so thank you for. Showing up and articulating. So clearly your thoughts and your love for this rec center, and for your desire to have this be. A hub, you know, and and more than it already is, you know we we, I think. You know, I think we've been really patient. And really trusting, and as a as a whole, it feels like we don't really care about fancy like we just wanna have a place to go and be. And I think that's great. But now I think it is an opportunity for us to say. Okay, let's think big, what do we really want? And the fact that the high schools there, the middle school there, all the other things that are so, you know, close together. It's a campus. It's a hub. And I'm excited to talk to more about your ideas and your vision. So thank you for showing up.

[60:05] Thank you everyone for being here. My name is member of the Prep. I I live in South Boulder. I live. On Queen Briar. I use the cellular wreck. Mostly in the wintertime, I'll admit I'm not really. Somebody likes exercise indoors when the weather's beautiful. That's just me. But I love riding my bike over there, or or even walking. It's a very short walk for me. And I I appreciate everyone's time to come here to tell us about your concerns and and what you love about facility and and And what it means to the community, and I want you all know that I share. Your feelings on all of that. However, I wanna say that I don't think it's that great I spent some time in a wheelchair number of years ago, and I tried to use that facility in the elevator, sucks the entrance to the pool, sucks locker room, sucks the bathroom, suck. We can go in there, and we like. The roof doesn't leak, and the windows are intact, and we can all say, like the billing shape that like.

[61:05] I'm not an engineer. Maybe some of you are, but. The city's a lot of work. To evaluate the building, understand the state that it's in, and I think that we all need to be. Eyes open to the fact that we're actually not being that well served by our building. It may mean a lot to us, because we've been going there a long time. I haven't flipped in Boulder that long. I have to tell you guys, I've only been here like 6 years. I love it, though, and that's why I'm volunteering tonight. So this is what I would like to ask, all of you. What's going to be required is a significant bond and tax. And I'm very excited to all of you are ready to advocate for that, and to go to your neighbors and the rest of the city, and say like. South Boulder deserves better facility. Mr. Brutal. We also serve a tennis facility. That requires money. And that requires all of you to go to all of your neighbors and the rest of city, and say.

[62:05] Support this bond issue when the city brings it. And I own property in South Boulder. I'm gonna pay a lot more taxes. And that's that's okay with me, because I believe that we need And I hope that you all agree. Okay, that's all I wanted to say. Thank you all for being here. Jenny, did you wanna add anything. Sure I will just say that Thank you to everyone for attending your thoughts clear and your requests clear. I think sometimes when we have public participation people don't always come with. Maybe thoughtful solutions, which I think was was on the table tonight by a lot of you. And I think that's really important. I'm i i think the community activism is key. I love that. There you have a group called Save South Boulder, and I would like to come and have coffee, and listen to some, some more of some more ideas as to what we can do to.

[63:09] To rebuild or save this facility, depending on how we go. My daughter goes to Fairview. I I love that she has that resource right there, and I I. Also don't want to lose it in in any capacity. So again, thank you very much for all of your participation. I look forward to meeting you all in person, or as many of you as I can in person, to discuss. This issue, and I'm interested to hear. I'm not sure if the city will be responding. If the Parks department will be responding to any of the. Anything we heard tonight. But I I'm interested to kind of hear where they stand after tonight's conversation as well. Thank you so much. Thank you, Jenny. I just wanna reiterate. When I said earlier, and also what has been said by the Board members that we really appreciate you coming. And we.

[64:01] Are listening to you, and have considered all of the things that you had to say. I know that Staff. Feel the same way. I would like to continue the engagement as much as possible. And I heard from. I think it's Ted. About a group that meets related to this save South Boulder. You know, I'd love to you should email the and let us know when those copies are, when you're doing a meeting. Cause I I know that multiple members. Would be interested in engaging in that way. So thank you for that offer. I heard a couple of themes. Tonight that I'd like to just crystallize for those who are listening. It seems to me like this is a real important community asset, and as a resident of South Bowler. I agree with that 100%. Seems like there were some issues with survey. With how it was worded and. Also some issues with the projected impact and traffic impact of. Routing our Rec center to East versus.

[65:03] Having the model where we have 3 rec centers, one in South. We need more transparency about how the decisions are being made. And we need to determine. Kind of more clearly how the termination was made. About how this was. This building is the end of its life cycle, and what the alternatives are. So thank you again for raising all those issues. And I wanna make sure that we open it up to Staff as well to make any comments that they would like in response to what they heard. I think Scott was gonna share some. Hi, everyone. I'm Scott. I'm the deputy director of Parks and Recreation and I'm excited that you're all here today. I actually also grew up in South Boulder on Kenyan circle went Southern hills. Went to ferry High School. Grew up in the South Center. And so I understand why you're passionate about that space and what it means to the community 1st hand.

[66:02] And I will say that it's exciting that you have so many passionate individuals here that are. Dedicated to making sure the recreation needs of our community are met, especially in the South boulder area. What I will say is in representing all of our staff here. We're all passionate about recreation. We understand the social impacts of recreation. I heard it called a critical hub tonight, which I've really truly appreciate. We see that we know that and we know the importance of recreation. That's why we're all in this industry. That's why we got into the field. I will say we are committed to being transparent, and we're asking for feedback now, and my hope would be that we can get that feedback and gather the information, have more focus groups and and more opportunities to speak to each and every one of you. And I did wanna mention that back in 2022. There was a Bpr plan that was put together. Looking at our future. And at that time we looked at all 3 rec centers.

[67:00] And being in a fiscally constrained environment. If you listen to city council meetings, you've heard the term fiscally constrained right now, there's just not enough money to replace that building. That's where you all come in. And I think there is that opportunity, and to to create that vision and then find the funding to make it happen. We would love nothing more than to see that happen. But it's going to take each of you and your neighbors your friends and everyone else to be involved in that process. So I don't wanna talk too much. I don't know, Megan. If you have anything you want to share. Megan is our. Senior manager and overseas recreation for the city. So I know many of you. Some faces are new. It's really good to see those I know again and meet some of you that I maybe haven't gotten to before in person. But I mean, I think, what Scott said about. Like, we're all here because we get to serve our community here in Boulder. We get to be at the south boulder and talk with people today, right? And help answer those questions. And I think we're really excited about what the future can look like.

[68:06] And right now there's just opportunity. In the future. Right? So. But it's there's a lot of process before we can get there. And I think, like, keep filling out the surveys. Yes, they're not perfect. We're in the early stages. We want to hear from you. We wanna know what should be there, and we wanna address the parts of the building that don't work. There are parts of that building that don't work right? And so. i i i know I'm excited about it. I'm excited to get to learn from more of the community through engagements. And the more that we can funnel, like all the information that you have to share into actual data that we can use to inform what's what's in that part next? The better it's gonna turn out to be. So I know we're excited. And also it's a lot of work to get there. So. I'll let just one note about the route forward. So you all are hearing about the future of the recreation centers project, and the intent of that is to learn from the community. What do you want in the system.

[69:08] Last year we did the big broad engagement, and that summarized online. And we heard loud and clear, we know South is important. And now there's this question, around what types of amenities, how many and where. But to the point around what you all can do now, I just wanna be clear. City council has lifted up a long term financial strategy for the city in their 2 year work plan. So are any of you. Council wants. So no, okay, that's great. I'll tell you a little more. But just so they in their 2 year work plan. They are working with the finance department and the city to look at service levels across the city. To look at fees across the city and to look at funding strategies, to inform a 2 year ballot strategy. There may be measures in 25 there may be measures in 25 and 26. And so when Scott says you all go out and do stuff you your best. Method right now to engage is to stay engaged in this project.

[70:04] And listen for those opportunities to engage on the long term financial strategy. Because if and when something is going to be put on the ballot. Most often there is some kind of a community group that helps figures out. You know, we we, as staff are, gonna throw everything on the kitchen sink that the community wants. The list is big. And we know we have to take care of things across the system. So the community helps prioritize that when there's a when there's a valid initiative. And then, once something's on the ballot. We don't get to advocate for right like that's that's there's a line we can't cross. We can share facts and information. But that's where we really need community groups. So I just wanna clarify. We don't need you out in the streets tomorrow like rallying the troops. That would be too soon. We don't have the data. We don't have the cost estimating, but it's coming. To help Ellie. And I'm supposed to get these community groups. Because I yeah. So I'm I'm relatively well engaged. And it seems like. The city council gets people that are around them, and I don't know what that particular group is, but they're always in these communities. So.

[71:09] Why don't, if you've got. I let me follow up with you about that by email, and we can send out information to you about how to get involved. But I appreciate your question. Yeah. It's a good question. And we oh, go ahead. I was, gonna say, we need to get onto the meeting. But I documented several areas where we can. We're on going improving that FAQ. Page to try. And I I joked. We need to add a little more and make sure it's plain. Speak, and make sure we have the information you need. We are not trying to be vague. We are not trying to obtain we. There is a lot of information. It's buried, and jargony and technical reports. We can try and translate that. The other thing I'll just know is it feels vague because it's unknown, right? We're on this journey to find out what is the community want. And then we'll do cost estimating, and then we'll ask you, are you willing to pay.

[72:02] So right now the future is unknown, but we're on a journey to figure it out. And I'll just say, too, my seat will be up at the end of this year, and there's 2 other seats on the proud board. And this is the reason why I got on the Prep. Board 3 years ago. So if there are other people out there who would be willing to dedicate their time for a few years to work on this project. There will be opportunities. Good point. I thought of a few more things that don't work about the building share list number. Thank you all so much. We really appreciate it. We are going to get on the press for a meeting. So much for coming. Okay? So the next item is the consent agenda. And as a reminder to the members of. We can send to Jenny includes approval of the minutes. From August 26, th 20. And updates from the director parts and recreation.

[73:02] So I'll take a motion to approve. And then a second, and then I'll ask for any discussion, and then We'll go from there. So do I have a motion to consent. Agenda. So moved. I'll give Sonny this time, cause she you did the last one. You second great any discussion on the consent agenda items, including the minutes. Or the updates from the director. I just want to say Jenny and I are meeting with Ellie Friday. To talk about our study session, and just kind of have a couple of weeks Think we got a pretty clear direction on that from you all at our last meeting that we're gonna finalize those items. I just wanted to say that it seems like you guys are making a lot of progress on the capra.

[74:02] Accreditation which is exciting. So congrats on that. And that's it for me, Jenny, do you have anything you want to add. Okay. All in favor of approving the consent. Agenda. Any. Okay. Consent. Agenda is passed. All right. Next item is our action items. Hand it over to Ally for that. Yeah. So joining us at the table for this, I'm really excited. So the city of Boulder has in-house legal counsel. Which is really great. There are some cities who their council is at a firm. It's billable, it's expensive. It's. It's challenging. We have an incredible in house attorney team. Andy Froh. Here is our lawyer. And so we get to email or call him whenever you want. And it's amazing to have an attorney on your side. So he's joining on this. He's been with Regina on this project all the way. You all asked some questions last month that we're a little bit out of our wheelhouse, and we we asked our attorney if he would join us at the table. So in your materials for tonight you'll see that they've already answered a lot of those great questions.

[75:16] I appreciate it, Jenny, giving us some time last week, so we had a 1 on one with her to talk about some specific questions. And with that I'll hand it over to Regina. And I see Erin has joined us at the table to our lead. Ranger. It's gonna be a rotation here. Well, thank you all again for this evening. I'll try and be relatively quick to this presentation for us. This evening we're here for action related to the Wonderland like encroachments. I will go very briefly through the project. Background and process. Go to remedy alternatives, try and answer some of your questions, and then Go through the rest of the assets.

[76:02] This is just. There's a lot of text on this slide. But this is just to kind of tee up again to remind you. Perhaps purview under these 2 items is first, st Underc. 2, 10 d. 1 is to approve or disapprove proposals concerning disposal of our plans and forward such recommendations to the city council. So that is one item that we're talking a little bit about tonight. The second is under Vrc. 2, 3, and 3, which is to make recommendations to the Council concerning the grant or denial of any license or permit on our plan. So that's really the 2 roles that For you here this evening. We've got the suggested motion language. It was also included in your packet. I found it on a slide later in the Powerpoint. So you don't have to memorize this. Hopefully. If we've answered all of your questions. But just so, you know. Basically, the 1st motion is to delegate your authority to city manager to finalize the provocable license.

[77:09] The second is a motion to approve the revocable Easement agreements as part of that disposal process, and just to clarify it, is it is not a full disposable. It's a partial disposal of our property rights related to several of those remote agreements. Really quickly again. Going through that project, timeline, we started back in January of 23, with a surveyor to identify the encroachments across the London life. Like Park area. We did send communications to all the adjacent neighbors at that time, so let them know what's going on with the project. And we started initial outreach with the property owners. And about a year ago, so September of last year, and basically ongoing communications with both individual property owners, hoas, groups of property, owners.

[78:05] Basically since that time, to get us to where we are today. Again. Just a overview of the project area. And we evaluated all of these red lines, which are areas where we have Private property directly adjacent to the wonderland like area. So this is throughout the area. We've got about 10,000 feet of property evaluating 200 private property neighbors. And 52 different encroachments across that area. Varying size. And scope. This is just kind of over a new summary of the different revenue alternatives. In our meeting in July we talked about these 4 different type remedy alternatives, one basically ownership, which is for those encroachments that are very small minor landscaping folders and things like that.

[79:08] And so working through those. Just to work with that property, to own or to establish that ownership. The second is removal. Those are sort of less per minute. Encroachments, Private property storage things like that. We have a total of 19 of those. 7 have been fully resolved. 7 are in some. Sort of state of resolution, and then we have 5 that are still pending. The 2 that were. I've highlighted here that we're really talking about this evening, that perhaps it's taking action on the revocable license. Again, we propose 18 of those of those 18 already to resolve those without needing to enter into an agreement with the city. 2 additional are looking to be resolved within less than a year. So they're looking to to actually move that encroachment. And then 13 as long as pending, perhaps approval.

[80:08] And then the final is the revocable Easement agreement. There are 5 encroachments that fall into this category. It results in actually 7 agreements. Several different property owners, because we have 2 of these encroachments have. To adjacent properties. It's sort of. Straddles the line between 2 adjacent properties. So 5 of those are pending your action today, and we're still in negotiation on 2 of those agreements. One of the questions that you all asked in your July meeting was really, how do we? What are the differences between the license agreement. The revocable easement, and one were the what was sort of that choice in that line between when we chose, one for versus the other. And so there's some kind of key characteristics here of a workable license agreement. Or really, those sort of semi yeah, permanent improvements, things like fences.

[81:06] Whereas a revocable Easement agreement can one of at least one of these 3 characteristics related to the structural integrity of the private property. That they were a result of the original construction. And that removal. Of that would likely cause So some sort of a risk to that private property. Remarkable full license agreement. We're also, as I mentioned, these are semi permanent improvements. They may. They could predate current ownership. But removal of these encroachments is entirely possible, because they are not structural. The revival license agreements were written such that they both allow that private property owner the time to both plan for and budget for moving that encroachment, especially in those cases where it predated their ownership. We felt that that was A reasonable alternative.

[82:05] For a lot of these folks. They purchase the properties as they are today. And. You know, assuming that that was on the direct one. The. Sort of the big kind of characteristics between a license agreement and the easement. The license agreements cannot be transferred, and they do have an end date. Well, it's not a defense defined end date. It does have an end. Date. Whereas the revocable Easement agreement cannot be trans or can be transferred. I'm sorry to successors, which means that. Transfer the property it can be transferred to the. Successor of that agreement. Or that successor of that property? So there's also notifying end date. There. So here, I just wanted to show you again a few examples of those revocable license agreements like I said things like.

[83:01] Fences. Being offline. Mine are retaining walls that are. Place just too far onto the public property. And really fence lines that are just not on the correct property line. Versus. Here are some of the examples of that revocable easement. You can see a couple of these are retaining walls. One is. It's very clearly that that retaining wall was built to allow forable space of that private property. The ones in the center are the one. The easement agreement related to a retaining wall that is supporting to public trees that are in our public tree inventory. You can see. They are so close to that retaining wall that if that's retaining out those, it would severely impact the health of those public trees. And then that 3rd one you can see again. This is just a retaining wall that splits the difference between those 2 properties.

[84:02] And it goes back beyond onto the private property and is actually tied into the structure of those 2. Homes. So that kind of gives you an idea. That sort of. Structure across what those 2 different agreements are covering. Some of the additional feedback that we had is related to liability, as it related to these agreements. Just a couple of quick notes. These agreements actually transfer the liability to the green tea. So that is sort of the intention, so that they share responsible for those improvements. And the revocable license in particular, have insurance requirements that are similar to all of the insurance requirements and all of our contracts. But for being able to do work on city land. So it does have insurance requirements. There are some questions about, why wouldn't we just sell the city property to address these? That's really at the end of the day.

[85:07] That's it from a citywide perspective. That's a really unfavorable option. Simply because once that city property is sold it cannot be regained. There's no way for us to get that back, if in the future these are revocable, like easement. So if in the future something happened, and that isn't, or that encroachment could be removed that underlying ownership still stays with the city. If we were to sell the property, that wouldn't be true. And so that's kind of what I mean when I'm saying it creates an unstained, undesirable press. Accident that if these things are incurring on city property anywhere, maybe not just parks and but utilities open space, it could create a precedent that the city And then the the final idea there is that. These lands were dedicated as part of that subdivision, with the intent of their to be a value to the public to provide public benefit. If we were to sell that property, it does not meet that intent of that original dedication.

[86:15] And then, thirdly, there were a number of questions around precedent. And what does this approach. Really do? And what kind of a precedent does this project and this approach create. So one thing what we wanted to clarify is that. You know, if in the future we discover an encroachment that is currently under construction, and it's sort of a 1 off. Encroachment. I think I don't believe that this approach is the way that we would go about it. I think we would look to enforcement, and to really assert our property rights. At the upfront. I think one of the differences with this property. This project is that these encroachments.

[87:01] In some cases been there since the original construction back in the 19 seventies. So we're talking about decades and decades of. That's sort of precedent, error. Existence, there. Also the scope of the Wonderland encroachment. So there were so many of them spread across this entire property really necessitated sort of a holistic and transparent approach to how we wanted to evaluate these. Again. I don't know. I can't say with any certainty, but I can't. I don't know that there's another property that would have quite this many. Encroachments. I would hope not, because most of our parks are developed, and it would be a lot easier for us to tell if somebody is extending a garden into a sports field or baseball diamond. So wonderland Lake is really a very unique situation in a very unique area for us, and that these are a lot of natural areas that are more for passive recreation and native habitat, and things like that.

[88:06] And so we are using Wonderland as a pilot to identify. Are there piece of this approach, that work that don't work? What are our lessons learned? How would we do this differently in the past. Wonderland really is a pilot. For that to also help us to understand how we might do things a little bit differently in the future as well. So again, sort of quickly wrapping up, what are our next steps? We obviously had discussion with Prab in July. We're here tonight for action. In October, November timeframe. We do have planning board consideration and. Require City Council action. On both of these items. I am working right now. I'm developing a sort of standard operating. Procedure for parks defense against encroachments to kind of outline. Again, what have we learned? What of these pieces of this approach? Would we want to continue into the future, and then to be able to share that with other departments that also are land managers? Whether that's open space screenways and others so that we can have a a slightly more uniform and holistic approach to encroachments across the city.

[89:24] So I'm working on that right now, and should hope to have that done by end of the year. So with that I want to open it up. If there are any additional questions. I know I kind of spud through that, but I wanna make sure that we get we have a few other folks here this evening as well. So. Thanks. Regina. I just wondering, how is it going with banners or active. So I I think I've shared. Please So we have 52 different private property owners that we've.

[90:04] That I've been in contact with. And I would say that you we've had probably about 52 different reactions. So and it, it really sort of depends. Some. Some folks are are very open. Wanting to work with the city again. A lot of folks have, you know. I didn't realize this was the way that it was, and absolutely yes, we need to put it on our property line and very open to working with the other folks or. Just simply They've invested a lot of time and resources and. Into. Into these pieces of property, and whether knowingly or not. That isn't theirs. And so there's a lot of emotion, and some of that and so really trying to be very empathetic. In all of these conversations, understanding that again, not assuming any ill intent or negative intent on anyone's behalf, but really just trying to protect the public property and the

[91:08] The property rights for the city. So I guess I didn't really spam. Particular thorn in your side. There have been several and they continue to be. That's you know why they're In that kind of summary. There, you know, multiple that are still sort of pending in that sort of. Just trying to continue to have ongoing conversations with folks trying to bring them along into that, that what happens if these aren't resolved, then, so we are actually meeting I think it got pushed not the next week or late, the early the week after that. To talk about. What are our next steps? Beyond that deadline is a number of folks that have that.

[92:02] Deadline have reached out to me. You can see in that table a lot of folks have already resolved their their issues. Some folks it's a matter of. Great. You've taken it off. What's you know, throughout some native seed? Here's some recommendations, so we don't just have a mud pit on the city. So how is that restoration happening? So we actually made a lot of progress? And I think each one of the ones that are sort of remaining and pending is, it's gonna be a different. We might have a different answer for. What those next steps are going to be with them. St. Jennings hands up as well. Jenny. I think you may have just answered. I was just wondering what would happen if you don't come to terms on on one or 2 of these. But I think you just kind of said. You're not sure. For for the yeah, for the agreements in particular, we most folks. I I have written that folks are amenable to the terms of these agreements.

[93:10] For I would say a vast majority of all of these agreements. So I I would say it's. Less than a handful where they're still sort of ongoing negotiations with folks. Okay. Funny. I had a couple of questions. 1st of all, thanks for the work on. This sounds like a really. Intricate Initiatives. So thanks for that. I I'm curious about, how do you guys draw the line between. Removal, and we're gonna give you a license agreement. No, that's a great question. So In in can clarify something on the license agreement term. So the The term actually doesn't. It ends upon sale of the property? And so one of the obligations within this.

[94:07] Like. Maybe this is what you're getting at, but that when the term ends they have an obligation to remove it, or we have the right to remove it at the subsequent landowners cost, or at their cost. I think there's some. Complexity with that, but there is an. An exchange of essentially And I say this because your turn yelling, but. You know we we. Could have gone in, and just. Forcibly removed. There's a self help right? I think, that the city probably could have exercised. I don't know how that would have gone with a lot of the landowners. And there's also a citation option where, if it's an encroachment on public property, there's a trespass option. There's an option to go get a port order which would mean. Serving the landowners separately, and just bringing them to court.

[95:00] And so when Regina came to me with this, it was kind of an approach of what's the most reasonable thing we can do. That's trying to work with them and accommodate this. And so that's where kind of the the revocable license distinction came up, is. There's. Some which obviously need to carry with the land because they're gonna present need to continue with the landscape. Because they're structural issues that You know, that could create problems for any landowner. But the revocable license are personal to the owners of the property. And so the idea is that there's the conundrum we ran into persons with fixed income that can't. You know, remediate something that's potentially expensive, for instance, and maybe it's been there for a long time. We're basically saying, great. But you know we'll allow it to exist. But you'll need to identify us. You'll need to agree to its removal. And there's some other terms that will that we include in these. But it's essentially giving them an option to let it persist.

[96:04] Until they sell the property, at which point somebody needs to have the funds to remove it. And take care of it. So that's that's kind of the. Just a clarifying point on that. Yeah. So. The idea behind the license. What you're saying is that eventually. This will be removed, and my question is. And that makes sense. Yeah, my, my, but my like immediate question is. Like, what kind of thinking or factors did you employ to determine whether you were going to tell somebody? Get rid of this, or like. Move your fence and. We will delay this inevitable through a license agreement, and that background is helpful in helping understand, like, in addressing what I'm ultimately asking. So I appreciate that question, too. I would. We'd have to go back, and I don't have the exact text in front of me, but in your July packet I provided sort of the criteria. There was a set of 8 questions that we evaluated each of these encroachments against and it created almost like a if you imagine it's a.

[97:19] Linco boards. So if if yes, if no, and then it's like decision is free. Yeah, it's a very thoughtful. But a decision tree that if it's, you know, as we went through those questions, it helped us evaluate and kind of land in which bucket it was in and so. Kind of making that distinction. Between which of those would we allow to persist versus which ones we asked to remove? As part of this. It really came down to the permanence, and the or the semi permanence or impermanence of the whatever it was. As well as we did take into account sort of

[98:08] Broad spectrum of what would be the burden to remove the financial burden, to remove said encroachment. So if it was something that is simply, you know, some landscaping rocks or a garden bed, or you know, a few personal. You know, bird feeders and things like that. Those fell into that we have that removed. If there was a more significant financial burden into, you know, multiple thousands of dollars into tens of thousands. That's kind of started to fall into that license agreement where we would allow that. And really, at the end of the day, I think all. All, but maybe one of the revocable license are related to offline fences. And so it's really the fence line.

[99:00] So that makes a lot of sense. You you made it individualized, based on a set of criteria that you had makes sense. And. I'm just curious about just the kind of legal structure what you're asking us to do here. So you're asking us to. We don't. The license agreement is not. A disposal of property, so we don't have to approve those agreements. But you're saying. You're asking us to give to delegate our authority to finalize the terms of them to the city manager, given the number of agreements up here, and so what I can, I can kind of talk through that a little bit. The 1st motion is because the Parks and Rec Advisory board per that brc code I I cited before you do have authority to grant licenses. Licenses on parks property. So that is. And so what we are asking for there is because we do have a few of those sort of outstanding, revocable licenses that I'm trying to kind of get finalized and get pushed kind of across that fine finish line.

[100:09] You've seen the terms of that agreement, and the basic terms of that agreement are the same for all 13 of those agreements. There are few minor changes from each one, and they're individualized for what is in a metal fence, or is it a wood fence, is it? You know there's some landscaping that needs to be addressed, or you know things like that. So there's some minor changes for each one of those. And so this 1st one is. Because you've seen the the template that we are using for all of those? Do you approve that? Basically, do you approve that template for us to continue to finish and finalize and get all of these sort of big group of 13 of them across. You should approve these. We're just giving you the final say on what they contain, or are we saying we are giving you? We're delegating our authority to approve or deny these contracts.

[101:13] Yeah, I, I mean, I. I thought you were bringing these, so I think this is a. There's some gray area in terms of it's not a true disposition like you said So, but but there is a use of. Private, or there is a use of the parks and Rec. Property. That could be substantial in Lane, so I. Had kind of thought at least you would be seeing. We do have the agreements. I'm just saying I'm asking. Are in approving in in. Let's say we have this motion, and we say, Yes. Are we telling? Are we delegating to the city manager like? Do you have the authority to approve or deny? And we're just giving you the the authority to. Enter into the contracts or not? Or are we saying we want you to approve these. You just finalize them.

[102:04] There's a difference between those 2. So at the end of the day. And, Andy, you can correct me if I'm wrong. What I understand this delegation to be is the city manager is. Can finalize. The agreements finalize the terms. At the end of the day city Council has to approve them. Like the city manager. It's not. You don't have the authority to delegate that final approval, because it exceeds the 3 years. Perhaps authority that still has to go to city council. So all we are doing at this point is asking for that authority and the approval that, based on the terms that we have. You know you've seen the the kind of template of terms. To finalize all of these agreements, to be able to provide them to city council for that final approval that you don't need to or want to see them all, 13 of them in their entirety, every single term that would be.

[103:07] Right. I mean, I understand the like administrative burden that this this makes total sense. I'm still a little unclear about. What our authority is and what we're giving to city managers just to be perfectly honest. Like, if we. Yeah, I don't want this to hold up the vote, but like. If we have the ability to approve licenses, then we theoretically have the authority to grant these licenses. And so, if we're giving the city manager that authority we're telling the city manager approve it, or we're saying the city manager go ahead and make the decision as to whether to approve. But you're telling me that city council has to approve it, anyway. So I'm kinda wondering, like, what role are we playing here? Does that make sense? Does my question make sense? Up to 3 years these licenses.

[104:01] Beyond that, it's a recommendation that's made to City Council. That city council ultimately has over. So some of these will probably not exceed 3 years. There's I don't know how many that will be sold within the year, or we'll have some sort of. Reconstruction done, or what the Landers just voluntarily. Resolve it next time they. Redo their fence, or whatever But the the you'll be making a recommendation. So I just said, Yeah, okay, sorry about that. Want to make sure. I understand what we're actually, legally. And and I think that we can. If you would like to make that clearer in the motion language we can always entertain. This is just suggested motion language. So we can always entertain that. And, Jenny, I see your hand up as well. Yeah, did you? Yeah, just to add on that a little bit like what happens if we don't do this? What do we.

[105:03] Yeah. What do we have to do? What if we say we're not going to make that motion. What? What would our role be then. I I think well. You're but you're saying you'd still want to be. You'd want to like, basically, I think you're saying you'd want to approve. Each of them that come through. Yeah. So is that I mean that's what I'm asking. So that would be what it is. So every time you come to terms in it. Then it would come to us, and we would say, This looks good or. But that's so. We're not negotiating. That's the job of the attorney. We're just. Yeah. The the city attorney's office will negotiate the agreements. But there's still. You know I At least a limited. For most of these. So are we sub delegating, because some of them are over 3 years, and some of them are not going to be over 3 years? Or are we sub delegating? Because. There's just a lot of them.

[106:03] I'm happy to take that. Just say, this is a simplicity thing. A lot of these are very benign, and we're trying to eliminate bureaucracy and process. Yeah, I mean. And so it's not trying to bise that we see it as a like. If you had the ability to approve things on consent agenda the way Council does. You could do it in that measure, but it really is just trying. You all have. Walk through this journey with us. You've talked about that criteria used for the decision making. And so in theory and blessing this approach tonight. We're gonna continue that approach. It's still gonna have to go through some public process. But we've cut a little red tape. And that's keeping in mind. This is the pilot sort of of it, and there could be a lot of these at some point. We don't know what this is gonna look like for other areas. So an example. There are a lot of revocable licenses on the Pearl Street Mall. Before the patios and awnings that extend onto city property. They're doing one year licenses to avoid all the red tape and process. And we're trying to find some better ways that limit paper. We could just do one year agreements with these people. We think that's silly.

[107:07] Right a 1 year if that keeps renewing and renewing. Yeah. Okay, thank you for addressing those questions. Do you have any other questions or. I'll lower my end. Okay. And this is Joe. I'm sorry. I guess one more thing this would. This is. This motion is just for these agreements, not for all revocable license agreements. Correct. These are just for the Wonderland, like revocable license agreements. Great. Maybe that can be clarified also. But I don't know. I'm just looking at it to see. Yeah, just maybe a little clarification with it just being Wonderland Lake, I guess, from from my purposes. But. That's that's an easy. That's an easy fix. Yeah. Alright.

[108:01] I'll add that at the end. Okay. Okay? And then we have 2 motions. Right? Did we? Wanna. Does anybody have any questions? Related to. Because this is different. This is the revocable easement stuff. We are actually. Proving these so any questions on that. Okay. I'll make the motion on the 1st one, just because I'm adding the language at the end. So I move. Or I. Yeah, I move to have the Brab sub delegate our authority to finalize the terms and. The revoke revocable license agreements to the city. Due to the volume of agreements under consideration regarding Wonderland, Lake. Do I have a second? Okay? And any further discussion.

[109:03] On this, okay. Do you have to see that last line? Final approval, license agreements will remain with city Council. I did not. Oh, I didn't realize that was part of the yeah. Final approval of the revocable license remains with City Council. Thank you, Jenny. Do I have a second. Second. Okay, Bernie, any further discussion on this. Questions. Okay. Alpha order, please. Rosa. So actually, Mr. Because this is. Naughty grant or denial. We don't need a roll call vote it can just be A regular irony. All in favor. Say Hi!

[110:00] Any opponents. Okay, that passes. For nothing, and who would like to motion the second. Thing we have to do. Sunny. You want to go for it. My motion to approve revocable easement agreements between the city of Boulder and the owners the following area properties and authorize the city manager to make minor amendments. During the term of the agreements, in order to ensure that city's property, is managed in a manner that is consistent. City of Boulder. Laws, policies, and regulations, 38, 24, Orion Court 31 Orion Court, 39, 20, Newport, Lane. 39, 34 promontory court, and 39 26. Second. Any discussion. And all in favor.

[111:04] Okay, that passport. You guys have what you need. Thank you for the presentation. Thanks for answering our questions. Thank you so thoughtfully. It is something that we hope makes this a lot easier moving forward. And you all asked a lot of really thoughtful questions that I think made it better. Thank you and thank you to Andy for his expertise. Hey, Sandy? Thanks. Okay, yes, we can. 5 min recess. He's my favorite part. We introduced Aaron earlier, and I just want to celebrate. So in 2021 we were having a conversation with council in the community about how we make our public spaces, both welcoming for all and safe for all. And we introduced a spectrum of programs that included the ambassadors. You see, all over the downtown area, and they included an urban ranger program which not existed since 2,012 that had faded out with some retirements, and amidst the recession.

[112:19] So we said, Okay, we're gonna start a program. And then we then, after months went by, we realized we really need to hire someone to stand this program up. And we need to hire Ranger, and Aaron was the 1st hire. In this program, and I am so grateful that she is the person that we would in this job because she has been incredible at building a team. Protocol training materials, standards, procedures like you don't. This thing, doesn't you? Don't just snap your fingers and have an urban ranger program and Aaron. Alright. Well, 1st I want to address the things that are in front of you. If you want to color along. I know my team all has Adhd a little bit. So we have meetings. They all have stuff to do in front of them. And then I'll tell you a little bit more about about that project as we get into our presentation today.

[113:15] So. Yes, I'm Eric Morello. I have been major Supervisor for a little over 2 years now started in May of 22, and I've met, I think a few of you, either out in the parks at our events, or at last year's presentation. So up on the screen you'll also see from left, right, and then Alec more Sam Jeffers. Jasmine's out of our Jesseton and Kyle Harris. Obviously, I can be a Lone Ranger all by myself, and I really want to appreciate the team that I currently have. They're amazing. And I love working with them, and I'm happy to have them here in Boulder.

[114:00] Especially at parks, and rec. So right now Our staffing has 3 standard rangers. Those are the. 3 you see on the left there. And then we have 3 temporary Ranger crew members. So those temporary Ranger crew members work 9 months out of the year and this same model. Is in the 25, recommended Budget. It has grown over the last 2 years. We started with just 3 full time Rangers and and one seasonal. Last year we had 2 seasonal rangers for only 6 months of the year, and then this year we have 3 of those temporary Rangers. Thanks in part to, you know, extended. Our operating hours are from 7 am. To 5 30 Pm. 7 days a week. Rain shine negative 10 degree. Weather all that kind of stuff. You can find us out in the parks in the Rec. Centers at the Boulder reservoir, and many of our facilities. We have.

[115:10] 86 properties. So it's a lot to get to. That's for sure. But 6 Rangers. It's feeling pretty good. So yeah. And so where do urban rangers fall on the enforcement scale? We are in the middle there, under limited. And on the left we have ambassadors and other education type folks out there in our community who, you know, provide. Education of visitors, maintenance. And information. And then urban rangers. You know we do more of that code enforcement and make sure that people are being safe in our parks and enjoying them. And you're really focusing on avoiding need for more law enforcement officers in these situations. So taking a lot off of the police department, animal protection

[116:08] Osp. Cpw. Color and parks and wildlife. Plate And then we have our boulder police department, who we work with very closely. And, you know, couldn't do it without their support. As we come across situations that. We definitely need their support. Alright. So it's talking about patrolling and how we have 86 properties. As you can see on this map. And the cluster of dots. each.is an entry into our data collection. So every time we go to patrol at a park. A new doc gets created. So that's the part. 53% of our time in 23 was in the downtown corridor. So Boulder Creek, Pearl Street, law carpenter, Columbia cemetery, even like that downtown University Hill area where.

[117:10] Most of our people like to hang out, too, as Ali, I'm sure, has said We receive more visitors to the Pearl Street Mall. I don't know if she has told you guys this, but more visitors to the Pearl Street Mall than. Rocky Mountain Park does not rock most national over a year. I'd say more. I think it's over 5 million last year. The Pearl Street Mall. Yeah, I think it's about. 4.2 to 4.8. So. I mean. Annual visitors, so. Yeah. On our patrols, we. Will support events in the civic area reservoir and throughout the system. But some of those events.

[118:04] Could be, you know, like the ironman and other triathlons at the reservoir arts in the Park concert, the historic band show. We also support, you know Boulder Creek, Taco, fest. Tube to work day pride, the farmers, markets. I could go on and on and on about how many events are in our downtown area that we support. And you know we also. That support ours program as well. So one thing that the urban rangers do to do that is, go out during encampment notifications and clean ups. Not only because we have built a rapport with folks who are experiencing homelessness in our parks. But to have. Coordination between all the teams, between utilities, the police department, our outreach folks who work at shelter and other other places throughout the city.

[119:03] And we've also supported the point, count. So I don't know if you all saw that email that went out of the July one. We also have one in January, as well. We've also help supports during the cold weather emergency shelter. You know the one that we operate out at Eastbourne. Almost everybody, now so. Yeah, almost just the last 2 2 that I've been here. So. Yeah. And we're currently seeing 3 security camera trailers. I don't know. What if you've been out and about in our parks and seen. We have 6 total for the city. So 3 are with our utilities department and 3 are with parks. But basically police dispatch. Utilities and parks. All has access to that footage. And can, you know, try to address Major vandalism happening in our parks that.

[120:09] The urban rangers either were not around when it's happening, or you know, it's a much bigger thing that urban rangers can handle. Yeah, while she moves to the next one. I just updated fax. I was wildly wrong on Pearl. It's like 1.7 million based on cell phone data. Oh, so it's it's more than most national, but rocky, still better, more than. Maybe when we get some things. It's a lot of people. So most of our patrols as urban rangers are proactive. We generally know in the parks where. Things are happening, at what time when we need to be there and to talk to people, to try to prevent issues from happening.

[121:06] But, however, we also do get calls for service, just like any other law enforcement agency. That's done. Not only through our personal urban Ranger hotline that goes directly to one of our ranger cell phones when they're on duty. But through inquiry and non emergency dispatch as well. So service calls. If you want to kind of compare versus. Where we're receiving service calls. Correct. Okay. We've tried to hit everywhere. We try to hit all the parks. That big green dot up there. That's Area 3, which is. Not developed at all. So that's why we don't really go there. We try to hit all the parks. But if there's areas that the community feels are.

[122:03] Needing enforcement presence, but maybe not police presence. They can call us, and we will go out and address whatever issues that they're having. There. So our top parks for service calls. You can see up there. But Pearl Street Mall is a big one. The civic and central area. Sinton Park, which is next to the Dairy Arts Center. Evan, do you find North Pole direct? And the list goes on. And then enforcement. So again, each.is a. Entry into our data collection system, where. We have enforced rules, regulations. So this includes both. Warnings people that we talked to about Ros, and they correct the behavior immediately, and then also issuing summons. So less than 10% of our enforcement contacts actually result in a summons being issued which I would say is a very good

[123:09] Number to keep in mind, because. What we're trying to achieve as urban rangers is. Ticketing. It is educating people to make sure that the most amount of people can enjoy the park. And then our most common violations, as you can see. Our dogs ready at large prohibited items. Those are things such as for painks and tents. And then public consumption of alcohol or other substances like marijuana. And then some of the initiatives that we've been working on this year. Ali said we were, you know, building the program these last couple of years. And so last year we did a lot of that, we had laid the groundwork. And now we're moving on to bigger initiatives, so that our community knows who we are. So that's what a lot of our outreach initiatives are. Right now.

[124:07] It's going to. What's up? National night. Out with the police department. Block parties such as the most park naming party formerly Violet. And then we've also hosted. Or we'll host 3 coffee with a ranger. Events. I'm excited for the south folder. What are they called now? They just named themselves that group. Okay for them to join us October 20th at Harlem to meet all of them, so that'll be fun. The copy with the Ranger events, are hosted with our open space Rangers as well. So it's really for the community to learn about the differences between the open space and mountain park and the urban rangers. At these events we provide free coffee and get feedback from the community on what they're seeing in the parks, what they're concerned about.

[125:10] So any questions that they might have about rules and regulations, and really, just to get to know the Rangers. Who we are, what we're about and how we can serve them. So. And then our junior explorer, activity. This is something that we hope to will be really successful into the winter, and next year with. Monthly swearing in ceremonies. The idea is that. Kids can pick these up at recars. They can see us in parks. And And fill out all the activities. 8 of the 10 pages is fine for us. 80%. And then come to North Boulder exner or swearing in ceremony, receive a little badge. It'll be fun just to connect with all the kids that are out and about in our parks. It's modeled after you know the National Park Service, their their campaigns for junior booklets.

[126:08] And. It's just not. It's something that I don't think. Has been provided kind of like a. Choose your own adventure in our parks in town. So yeah. And then our other big initiative that we have done this year is supporting the Pearl Street Mall. So, in addition to patrolling with our downtown ambassadors. To address dogs smoking zones just to a few. We also created a new seasonal position. To monitor the Pearl Street Mall restrooms. This is Ronnie Ronnie's great he is a very friendly face. He used to be in ambassador and was trained as a ranger. And now he is down at the Pearl Street Mall 4 days a week, and it's supplemented security by private security there as well. The rest of the days and hours that the restroom is open.

[127:10] So I just wanna quote. The Boulder police department. With how effective this has been. Officers said. They haven't been getting any calls for service in almost all of the previous issues and problem. The bathrooms are being utilized by visitors, and or the cleanest they've ever been. We're looking to continue this program in 2025. And some of the issues that this program has addressed is Like obstruction and drug use in the stalls of their insurance facilities also install sensors in each of the stalls, so that Ronnie gets whenever bad behavior is happening in there. Yeah. And then this started around the same time that bands on the brick started. So we were down there as well as.

[128:02] Our facility. Monitor to support the bricks, concerts. Alright. So that's what we've been up to. I hope it was fun. Please take these. To your kids if you would like a wooden ranger bag. We spill them out, bring it in. He deserves some serious props. Oh, yes, I wanna just double click on something there. The magic of Ronnie is that he has the outreach and social work training to relate to the folks that we know. There is such an intersection of people experiencing homelessness and substance, abuse issues and mental health issues, and he has incredibly escalation skills. And he has the line to enforcement. So it's we always talk about in our public spaces work. It is constantly the balancing the both in.

[129:00] And Ronnie is a unicorn of a solution that I'm very grateful. This team said, Yeah, we we will do that because everybody was so thrilled and to be clear, and also kept the bathrooms open for people experiencing homelessness, who don't have bathrooms downtown, and so. And it is a big win. It's great. Thank you so much. Any anybody questions or. Comments, Jenny. I want to forget about you. Yeah, I just I mean, I will just say that I did the sorry things. I did the point in time. Count with Sam. Oh, great! In January, and it was. It was extraordinary to see. How wonderfully he. Treated the people who we want to see. They knew him by name. They were, I mean, they didn't want to talk to me. They I mean, he's the one in the uniform, and they were. You know, very willing to talk to him. He was very kind and friendly with everybody. I think it's an extraordinary program, and I'm really glad I got to experience that.

[130:04] 1st hand. And just the fact that I mean, we just we're running into random groups of people, and he would know half of them by name, was. It was just extraordinary. So congratulations on a wonderfully run program. Thank you, Jenny. Thank you so much. As always, it's ringing gifts. Okay. Next item is play boulder. So excited that Ms. Angers is here. She's the executive director of play. Those of you who are at the golf tournament. Some of you played in the golf tournament place, 1st at flat irons. Think it was on your request. This board has a lot of interest in alternate funding to help address our needs. There's been a lot of questions interested fundraising. So Angie's here to talk about both the board and the fundraising that's coming up.

[131:02] And I think I'm gonna kick us off. If that's all right. Is the toolbar. Okay, where it is. Cool. Thank you. I'll take care you put at the top. Hey, Brian Berry, senior recreation manager, I support our community building partnership efforts. And part of my role is that because it lies on to play boulder as our nonprofit partner. Foundation. Or we jump over to play immediately. I do want to do a little bit of housekeeping and grounding today's conversation and some policy direction that we have from our 22 department. If you jump to the next one. Ladies. Thanks under that financial sustainability we've committed to increase our non traditional funding. By improving processing resources towards pursuing new funding.

[132:04] And working more closely with our partners to do so. Again. This is one of the bolded goals under financial. Rosa, can you go to the next one? Since 2022 and approval of the department plan we've been busy we engage with a consultant in 2021 for the development of a formal funding strategy. You know, vested in Dedicate staff resources towards Grant support, and we've had that in place since last summer enhance our most recent Moupler foundation, particularly in the areas related to place making and support for community initiated projects. And then we worked a better package or prioritize projects into an attractive stewardship opportunities deck. So that play and department staff are aligned when we're steering interested community members towards these prioritized projects. A few quick notes for you and Andy. You can jump in later if if I miss anything.

[133:05] On the nature of the Department's relationship with play. They've been our nonprofit foundation since 1976. So almost 50 years in this role, and they act as an umbrella for all fundraising projects and initiatives for the department. Compare with some other agencies. This is a relatively mature structure to streamline efforts with one organization rather than having. Individual groups or fundraising initiatives with a different partner for each project. It's really nice to to have this relationship. And we've had a great track record. Recently, on answing project with community support. Some of the more recent ones were the chat to playground. Renovation. Belmont Park added a pump track. For that we had enhancements to the creekside playground next to the main branch of the library. And then play has been deeply up. Another major projects in the past like Boulder reservoir, and Scott carpenter pools, redevelopments.

[134:02] You could also know that we work with play on many other things beyond just capital projects. We collaborate on a very robust tree trust and community forest core Youth program just for the urban canopy that I think you read about in consent agendas recently, and play provides ongoing support for community programs like Ysi and expand And then also support better access to recreation programs through the playpath. So lots of different touches we have with play. All that, said the department does manage a few aspects of external funding or alternative funding those are things that include a very successful tree and memorial bench stewardship program that we administer in House. And as 1 point of differentiation for what we're going to be discussing tonight. The Department really takes the lead in managing the pursuit of public private partnerships. In contrast to really.

[135:07] Relationships. So those. Private partner private public private partnerships are they do have monetary consideration in there. But there is an exchange of services. To the mutual benefit of both parties, is really how we structure that. Oh, we're sharing with you this evening is an update about the place, maybe philanthropy. And so that is. Opportunities where the foundation can come alongside our capital improvement program. Help extend projects beyond our baseline that you've heard about. It's the care of what we have. So, Rosa, if you move to the next slide. I think you've all seen our Our cip. It is lengthy. So you might be curious about how we could possibly choose which project. One of those deliverables in the external funding strategy. We pursue this development at the annual process.

[136:02] And a set of core principles that help identify those projects that have that. Convergence of mission they have a funding gap. Very strong community interest. And there's feasibility for enhance. That's not always something that's a component on some of these projects. And so this summer, we took this process in one hand, and we took the cip. In the other hand we met with our department leadership, our planning team, and then play boulders to select 3 prioritize projects. And that's what we're gonna detail and share fundraising around tonight. So drum roll, please. Can go to the next side. Thank you. These projects are, the construction of additional courts recommended in the port system, planning with. The East folder community, park courts. Renovation of North Boulder Park and the development of Park. Think some of these are familiar, and we'll speak a little bit more to those. But at this point again I'll hand it over to Andy Jeffers, executive director for Play Boulder Foundation. You can tell us more about the organization and strategies, and timeline for campaigns.

[137:12] Well, I'm gonna take just a moment, if you don't mind indulging me a second and talk a little bit about myself and about like. I've met some of you before, and I've enjoyed. Really nice conversations and work with you in a variety of our programming areas. As Brian has mentioned, we have several areas beyond the place, making that we work with. Older parks and recreation department as well as the community, and so excited to work with many of you in that capacity. Again. My name is Angie, and I myself am legally blind. I'm losing my vision, and I'm a strong advocate in the disability community and have represent myself. In that capacity, and I think, as part of someone that operates in the in the world as a person with a disability. I hope I bring that voice to the work that we do at play boulder. I just so happen to have had a cataract surgery late on Thursday, and my eyes, having already had their own issues, are having a little bit of a problem adjusting. I've just had the one.

[138:20] Left eye then, and so. The lights and adjustments are are a problem for me. And so this kind of Powerpoint tracking is a little bit of a struggle. So I'm leaning deeply into Brian today. And so mostly just wanting to have a conversation with you tonight. Want to be able to answer your questions and then follow a little bit of my notes and talk through it with you, so I hope you indulge me in my trying to stay focused on that, but wanted to give you. That background and also share with you. So in terms of play boulder. I also wanna do just a little bit of bragging for one moment. In January of 2022, we had 2 part time staff members, one part time, basically executing our playpass program, one of which one of whom was

[139:08] Working a slightly less than 30 HA week, and one who is working probably less than 10 HA week. And as of today we have 5 full time staff members. So in less than roughly, 2 and a half years. We have 12 seasonal youth, core crew members. 55, 60% of whom were part of the. Identified as people in the bipop community, all under the age of 18 years old. And a couple of interns and a couple of consultants to do so. We've really grown our capacity in the organization in the last 2 and a half years, and Have a rock star team. And so we feel like as we've moved into our with the older parks and recreation department that we're really in a place.

[140:00] That we can focus on are. Product what we're able to collaborate with the parks program in terms of our place making more than just some of the smaller bench kinds of opportunities, but really be able to partner and collaborate in fundraising campaigns. Really, some of the capital campaign building. And so we went through the process that Brian explained to really identify. What is it that play is passionate about what follows our vision and the work that we're doing across the organization? And what also matches? What parts. What Parks is is identifying as a community driven vision for enhancements. And so we landed on these 3 projects that both. The parks board you all, and the department feel like are rising to the top, and that play really feels passionate about. Putting our energy behind as well.

[141:02] And so I'm gonna start with the east boulder. Alright! Here we go. The community parts. And I wanna make sure that I'm respectful of all your time. So I think what I'm gonna do is I do know that we have the top white half in the bottom. I think it's green. Part. That is really more about our strategies for fundraising. And I think we wanna talk mostly about those with you in terms of what I have. To share tonight, but I'm happy to ask answer any questions in the QA. But in the white part it really identifies. Why these parks, what it is we're looking for in this case, we're really talking a lot about. The passion and community interest into tennis and biggle. I was gonna say, tickle ball. Kind of some pickleball, and certainly, as we heard earlier this evening, about having some indoor. Indoor opportunity for for people to play. And so that's where we're really looking at appealing to the community. And so in this way we feel like our fundraising will be in the term Affinity groups. But in my mind it's really look talking to people like the gentleman that was online tonight. Really engaging that passion in the community, and.

[142:19] I do believe I heard, he said. They're ready to fundraise. So let's let's talk to those groups. Let's engage them. Let's say you know I I'm here now. The play foundation is ready to do that fundraising, and so let's make it happen. And and we're ready to implement. And so let's talk to the groups. Let's find out where our priorities are. In this case we feel like the dome is one of the priorities. So then, let's talk to some of the major donors in the community, some sponsorships, perhaps some of the vendors that might be willing to come on board and work with us, and so we feel like the social engagement and the competitive incentives.

[143:00] Within the Court community might be a good place to focus our fundraising efforts. So. That's really kind of how we're focusing the strategies for the East Boulder fundraising campaigns. And at the end of the slides we'll talk a little bit about our timelines, but that's that's kind of what we're looking at for the East Boulder appeal process. Think we'll move on to North Boulder. North boulder is is very special to me. I grew up in boulder and actually have been here for about 50 years, so I've dealt. For better or worse, I don't know. Spend a lot of my special growing up time at North Bull Park, and so again in the white part. There's there's a lot of reasons for why North Park is going to be a great Opportunity to for growth and enhancement. A lot of the nature play and. We definitely need to do something about that picnic community gathering space.

[144:02] But in terms of fundraising. Again, this is a really broad opportunity for fundraising, I believe. We have a youth team opportunity there 3 to 12 year old groups age range for that. For some of those. Park enhancements that we're looking at doing there. But then, also there's a lot of youth and team programming in Boulder, a lot of partners that already exist, organizations that I think we can tap into and work with and together create opportunity in this really nice large park in a real central part of town, and I think that's where we believe we can do a lot of collaborative work in terms of funding. Fundraising. And then I think, with some of the. Climate and sustainability solution work around there that you know, I think some of you, I suppose in the past about some of the water issues around that area. I think it's a a good place for us to talk. I mean, there's a lot of grass there. There's some turf.

[145:12] Solutions we might be able to work with. And I. So I think that that looking at some of the environmental opportunities in terms of grant making and. Funding could be an opportunity there for fundraising as well as Looking at my notes. Some of the nature play which is also really popular right now in terms of funding and and advancement. What are my other? What are the other bullets there? Oh, community gathering place also is another. Place that we were talking about. And community matches and sponsorships. I think we can look at big donors, I think. North Boulder Park.

[146:01] Feels like it's the opportunity for the most. General traditional, fundraising. And we also have folks that have been involved in the history. With the red singer with The cross country community that spends time going around there. I think we have a lot of action groups, people that really enjoy it. So we can go into those. Individual communities and really get them excited about things that we can do there together if we have the funds to do them. And so really being able to tap into that. And did I miss a bullet on that one that I can? Okay. Then I think primos is especially. Exciting to me after listening to the South Boulder Group. So I said, I lived in Boulder for 50 years my adult life and my children's life. For probably about 33 years has been spent in South Boulder.

[147:03] And listening to that group of people, my people, if you will talk about the neighborhood, and I really do feel it. Everything from the tragedies that have happened to our neighborhood, to the celebrations that have happened in our neighborhood. Premost park is a new neighborhood. I feel like ready to happen. There's a lot of underserved people in that community, and there's a lot of people who are are needing the opportunity to come together. And I think that's something we can really tap into in terms of. Fundraising and really appeal to a wide variety of funders. I think we have granting opportunities there. I think that once again we have a lot of Climate creativity there in terms of water, and bringing the

[148:00] Integrating the community and some of the. It. There's a word in parks that I don't totally know, but. The Bio. Where's Mark Davison? When I the biophilia, the the way in my mind. That's how the water integrates into the community and the community benefits from it all like, how does it become part of the park and part of the area? And I think that that, like the bridge going over and and everyone learning the importance of it, and experience. That. And I think that's a pitch that we can give and all grow from. And I think that funders will appreciate that. I think branters will appreciate that, and I think community will will give to that. So I think those are places that we can appeal to. I think that We'll also have

[149:01] A lot of major donors that could be interested. Some of the capital campaign opportunities in terms of brick and mortar. Actual actual things that we can point to say that we're going to be able to build and do their links that we can make between the school. The library, the different neighborhoods. The community action that can take place. I myself have spent some time up there. I was heavily involved in the safe routes, Grant, and spent some time as a person with the disability talking about how in the world did we get around that area with outside walks and safe access and equitable access. And I think that's another place where we'll be able to tap into like minded communities and be able. Able to do organizational projects and fundraising that will team all of us up together to be able to, I think, hope successfully raise funds to be able to produce. What I hope is that new community hub that same feeling that we have in South Boulder, after years of spending time together in that neighborhood, and I think that eventually that neighborhood.

[150:12] Will be that way as well. So those are dreams and visions. But I also think the realities. I think that's exactly the capacity that play boulder has. I think it's exactly the capacity that this community has and the taste that we have right now in each of those areas, for a variety of reasons. That I won't take you guys all through right now, but happy to answer more questions. About That these 3 projects are prime for this kind of fundraising, and for this kind of opportunity in terms of, we keep using this word prioritized projects. I think that's exactly the right way. We're trying to position them. The door is not closed for other opportunities. And so again, working in that external funding strategy, we developed some process as part of that recommendation on what we've.

[151:10] Called community initiated projects, and have some structure around that. Now I think we lived in a world previously where there might be some some live voices advocating to come together towards a project that might not fit otherwise, either in the work plan, or in feasibility, or in reality of a space. And there wasn't a way to equitably Kind of hold those against each other to to look at the teams work plan, and so and see what might be possible. And so there's some structure now to do, some donor interesting for groups that might come, or individuals might come with interest. A semi-annual vetting process that we undertake with our planning team. And then some thresholds for quicker review and approval for things that maybe don't need the resources of one of our project planners, but could be executed by one of our facility supervisors, and it could be a very

[152:08] Small project that has a deep impact to a community trying to have that structure, but then also try to speed things up where we can and then part of that also includes a little bit of a better framework around donor recognition. And and how that ties in. We've piloted this a little bit this past year, and I think you saw in the consent agenda again with the military Officers Association and their donation build out report. That's underway. Right now. They have added a model for bringing forward interest, collaborating on a program that they are largely funding, and how we might be able to take that through a process and and how we might be able to learn from that. So that's been successful. And again, thank you to Angie for working with those folks. Rosa, do you mind moving on to the last one? I think we have here for timeline or campaign for Andrew. So I wanna go through this. But I I also.

[153:02] We're able to take a breath and a drink, and really want to make sure that I'm grounding all of this passion and interest. In reality, and. I want you all to hear that we're ready. I think it's just so. So easy to point to what we've been hearing with Dennis and Pickleball. The community is primed, they're ready. And they're actually just not just. Screaming that they want it. But they're screaming. And I've met with many people from those communities. When I 1st started. That are actually ready. To have us to be part of the solution and and do the fundraising that it takes to get there. And that's what we're ready to tap into it and to do the fundraising it takes to get there. So what we plan to do for the next. Quarter for the final quarter of this year is, finalize some of the discussions that we need to have with Parks in terms of

[154:02] Prioritizing the Some of the timelines and Fun. What was the the 1st one is the the fundraising call? So, yeah, some of the fundraising goals and costs. So that we really have those hard numbers to go in with. We have a pretty good idea of what we're looking at. But we wanna be able to really identify what you know. Sponsors and donors. Want to know what numbers we're looking at. So we're planning to do that. We're going to create our final marketing sponsorship. That kind of thing. Get our websites cleaned up. Make sure it's communicating with the boulder parks website. So that we can really have all of our tools. And our structures in place this quarter, this final quarter of the year, so that when we move into 2025. That 1st quarter will be an action. Oriented quarter. So we will be. I play Boulder Foundation will begin to meet with our community groups. Start having conversations with gentlemen like.

[155:10] The fellow that was on the call this afternoon. You know. Let's let's start talking about what your action plan is. What will events look like? What do we wanna do? Here are the priorities. Let's start making the plan. Let's start building a timeline and do that for each of the identified projects, and spend that 1st quarter doing that. Preparing the launch, and then my goal is that at by March. So the end of that 1st quarter. We've had those conversations. Everything is built out. We're prepared to launch. The marketing and Pr. Campaign is set. And that then we spend. Then it's launched, and then we start the fundraising as. As it needs to be launched. I won't be surprised if we're actually gathering some money and some funds before then. But by March.

[156:08] We'll start setting the thermometer. We'll start. Hosting, the events will start writing the grant applications, if not before then depending on what the application deadlines are, and just how that! How that moves along. And actually the very active. Campaign path will be happening through that part of. 2025 and then our next window is, I think, 26, where we're just evaluating and adjusting as we go. 26 will just exactly that. Just really look at where we're at. I think it's really important to us that play boulder. We're. Kind of functioning as a liaison. We're partnering with Parks to make sure that. We're listening and hearing. The pace at which they're they're working.

[157:00] How things are adjusting. What falls within, what is budgeted for what's falling out of budget. I'm communicating back with our folks that are. Raising the money, you know. Where are things? How is that need being met? Hey? Guess what we need this. Now, how do we want to prioritize it? Tennis folks, you know, we can do. XY, and Z. What are we? Gonna you know, how do we want to do it? Let's focus here. So we'll adjust as we need to. But we'll continue to move that forward, react to it and communicate about it. And then the plan is 2027, everything will be done, and we'll celebrate. Thank our donors and begin to re. Evaluate what our next campaigns will look like. And I think the only thing I'd add to that is, you know, as As the Cip works, also that it's a rolling cycle 5 years out. That's the same intent that the strategy would match that.

[158:06] Now. Questions specifics, I can get more specific. Yeah. So any questions from the prep. I just wanna thank you for being here. It's really helpful. And you're right. We have had a lot of questions and interest in fundraising and and how we can support you. And so I think that's what my question is like, what can we do. Well, I 1st of all, we're excited. We just brought Jenny on to our board of directors. We've long since wanted a. And as part of. Both your I both the pro. Place Charter. Is it just part of place, Charter? I was trying to remember? If it's on, perhaps, that there is a liaison that sits from Crab on the play board of directors. And so we finally gotten that Jenny's been willing to come and serve in that position. So that's been extraordinarily helpful. We also continue to ask for board members to come from the community. So if you guys ever hear of anyone.

[159:10] Just as you mentioned. I think, Sonny mentioned earlier. You guys will be looking for those new seats. We continue to look for community members that might be interested in serving on our board. If they are not someone that's suited for your board, maybe they would be suited for our board could help in a very similar way, considering we're doing some, you know, work. On an arm, and of course, please consider sending your passionate folks to me, so I'd love to get the number of the guy that spoke up earlier this evening. He wants to be involved. He'd be the perfect person for me to connect and have coffee with this fall or spring, so that kind of connecting point. You guys will peer it more than I do. And so I really appreciate Sending people, my life. Planning our next golf tournament? No? No. I think those are the primary things. Continue to give feedback. If you have a particular passion or interest in any of these 3 projects.

[160:14] Let's have coffee. Let's talk. Let's see where your passion is, where your interest is, and how we can continue to be. Both community. Oriented, and also. Articulate and time sensitive, and just continue to meet our mutual goals. Jenny, did you want to add anything. You're on the board. Yeah, I just, yeah, I just, I mean, I I do have some questions. And Angie, you and I can probably talk about this separately. I've been lucky to be involved so far, and Just these 1st couple of months and with the 1st annual golfing, which was super fun. But I just had some questions.

[161:00] And I don't want to take up too much time right now. But I was wondering if you could go into a little bit more detail about. Like when you approach donors regarding. Fundraising. 1st of all, is it. Is it your employ? The employees, like Greta, that are doing most of that fundraising? And when they do, when they approach donors. Are they asking? Specific, like for. Specific requests, or are they laying out? This is what we're looking to fund. What would you be interested in? I'm just a little. More curious about how plays actually doing the fundraising for. Yeah. And I think this will be new. This, this is the 1st time that plays really had the capacity to be this active in the fundraising campaigns like this. So it will be me. That will be the lead. Person working with these campaigns. And then Greta, in our new Communications and Development Person, it will really be more coya pairs. Our new full time Communications and Development Staff person, and it will really be she and I driving, that those communications, I'll probably be the lead on it, and Coya will be much more.

[162:15] Alongside of me and helping with a lot of the. Marketing materials and communications. The website updates that kind of thing, and a lot of the personal one on one stuff will be probably done more with me sitting down and having conversations like that, and then together we'll maybe have group meetings. And then, you know, that's the kind of thing. If we have a a hosting, an event, or something like that, I'd welcome crab members and. Of course, our board members that kind of thing. I hope to engage our board, and more of this as well. To help tell the story and and sell the work. If you will. Maybe parks, people will be involved, as it relates to their particular projects. In each of these 3 areas. So that kind of thing does that help clarify a little bit? Then Jenny.

[163:04] Thank you so much. Yep. just one request, and just a suggestion. So. The request is, if there are any events. That play is doing. Please invite. We would love to be notified of those things, and we can certainly. You know. Send those opportunities as well is the best way to do that just through your crab emails. I think that the Brad email, that where we get community feedback it would be a really one stop shop to notify us. So that'd be great, and then. It strikes me that if you're going to. Just as a former development person. They sell. If you're going to pitch to people about. Specific types of projects. You may wanna. Find examples. Around Colorado or elsewhere.

[164:00] A community venture like what you're running has helped supplement. Funding for a specific project that has really created community benefit. So like, for instance. If you're pitching the tennis court. Plan to somebody saying you should help fund this. You should have in your it would be helpful to have an example of like in. Austin, Texas, the Community Foundation worked the city to build this. And they wouldn't be able to do it without that community foundation. This is. That this is similar to that. And we wanna make sure this is that kind of thing. It just it would help like people visualize it and make it more tangible, and and we do also have projects like the Boulder Reservoir and Scott Carpenter Park, that we can speak to to a certain degree in our back pocket, and these will even be bigger and more crafted. Projects. Now that we're working at this level of detail with these, yeah, thank you for the feedback. That's great. And I, those are the kind of comments with your own individual expertise that that we welcome. I mean, this is how we all.

[165:11] Grow and learn and develop. And and raise the money we all need want to see raised. To make these projects come to fruition. We're not. We're not a foundation stuffed with money. We're a foundation stuffed with promise. So let's do it. And are you a 5 0, 1 c. 3. Yes, we are okay. Yes. Alright. Thank you very much. Any other comments, questions. Great. Thank you so much again, and I just want to say I played in the. Tournament, the the and or the inaugural and it was really fun. Thank you, Jenny, for the invite. But that was really a lot of our Jenny's. Jenny's previous knowledge of golf helped us feel much more confident in executing it. Thank you.

[166:05] Well, thank you all very much for entertaining me tonight, and thank you so much. I'll let you continue with your meeting. Last, but certainly not least, with our fee policy. Update. Your favorite topic. Yeah, at the end of the meeting. I will keep this fairly short. I will introduce myself just for the record. Jackson, services manager, and Megan, Loma and Scott here for some questions, and then Stacy is enjoying the night at home. And it's still, even if there's any questions that can be answered. The moment itself is very short this is kind of setting the stage for the October meetings, and I'm going to go over the Department. The people see just give you an understanding where we are through the end of August. Given that that was our summer seasons. And then talk to you about the update process. And then finally, just highlight long term, financial.

[167:03] Provided us a quick overview on there. So back in 2022 City Council and the prab adopted the Bpram from the master plan. This identifies where our core services and community priorities are. And it sets 3 different levels of funding just fiscally constrained action and vision. What we're really focused on is the fiscally constrained environment based on what we've heard from city Council. The finance department. We are having flattening revenues that just aren't keeping pace with our expenses. Within the department plan, there is an entire theme focused on financial sustainability. That's theme, too. And within that there are multiple initiatives that basically identify. We needed to develop and create a fee policy. So for the members who are on proud last year, I know that you spent several months, going through the process of. Creating a fee policy, and then out of the fee policy, he may schedule. So this is just giving you the background that this is our guiding policy that we use to set our fees. So it continues to build on itself.

[168:06] For the private members who have been here for multiple years. Thank you for touching this. Jenny, I think that you are new to all of this. So this is the Cliff notes version as we go through it. The fee policy itself was included as attachment. A. I think the highlight in there is this chart really identifies. That where the community benefits pay a bigger portion of our overall. Cost to deliver that service, and therefore this could be a no cost or a lower cost. Recovery. On the right hand side of the chart is where an individual benefits. And this means that user generating. The revenues that cover their expenses to participate in a program class, or anything of that nature. So these are typically 100% or high cost recovery just because they are paying for the service or amenity that they're accessing. So within the fee policy there was 10 different program types that were identified. These were all provided in your attachment. They include examples.

[169:07] And smaller definitions associated with it. I want to highlight for 2025. So what we're working on over the next 2 months. Is updating the golf course fees on the facility fees. The golf course were last updated in 24, and prior to that it was 2020. Our golf course is one of the top 10 busiest in the State for the driving range. And also has fairly full tshirts across the board. With some very impressive visitational numbers. I'll show you shortly. In terms of the facility. Starting in 2019, we have updated those fees every 2 years. Our last update was in 2023. We are aware that we are at the top of the market. So something that you'll be hearing about next month is our financial aid programs. And what we're doing to ensure that there's still accessibility for the variety of users to continue to access our facilities. Unfortunately, with the 2025 budget. Our cost to deliver services within the Raf. Has increased by 6 and a half, so cost continues to escalate our general fund subsidies remaining flat, and therefore we do need to generate the fees to continue providing the same level of services that we're accustomed to.

[170:13] Within the rentals. We will have some minimal updates, mainly for anything that's inside the facility. And then previously we had told you the commercial use and special events would be coming back. As part of the 25 fee updates. That is now going through a separate process. That's being led, and we'll come back to you in 25 recommendations. Which would likely inform 26 fees. As you heard last month. That has been a pilot program since 2,000. Very fine. So yes, so very excited for that. We do have no fees or alternative mechanisms for everything else. So I look over the mechanics behind that, but just wanted to let you know that. We're really only focused on the top part of this page. And that's what we're coming back to next month. He.

[171:03] I just wanted to give you a quick update as far as how we're doing financially, year to date through August, going back to 2019. The stacked bars that are at the back of the chart indicate where the year end actual or where the year end finished. And then for 2024 we do have our revised budget on there. Green is the revenue. Blue is the expenses, and then the stacks outline bars that you see on top of that is where we're at through the end of August. We do collect the majority of our revenue in the 1st 3 quarters of the year, and you'll see this on another slide. But this is really highlighting that the 23 actuals, the 24 developed budget, and then the 25 budgets not on here. Are basically even with revenues and expenses. And we had already factored in a fee increase as a placeholder. So the work that we're doing is to really align with that.

[172:01] This is the chart that I wanted to highlight. This goes back and shows key performance metrics across the Recreation Activity Fund, going from 2019, through 24. I want to call your attention to the far right hand column. That shows the percentage increase from 23 through 24. And you can see, we've had double digit increases in our earned revenue. Centers, visitation outdoor pools, visitation and the rounds of golf played. I think this is a sign that we're really Establishing what our new normal is. And you can see that everything is now higher than pre pandemic levels in 2019, with the exception of recreation. Center visitation. And what we've seen over the last 2 months is these numbers are starting to exceed 2019. So we do think that we have a new normal moving forward. And probably by the end of the year should exceed 2019. Total visitation. I say this just because recreation as an industry is volume based, the more people that we can get into a facility in the program helps us minimize the costs. In any fee increases.

[173:09] Just because there are more people that are participating, and so many of our larger expenses are the personnel and fixed costs for operating our buildings and facilities. Are you saying that you anticipate that the rec center visitation numbers will meet or exceed the 2019 numbers as well? By the end of the year. Yes, they should. July and August visitation exceeded 2019 for July and August. We just had a slower 1st quarter of the year. This chart just shows it in a different way. The red line that you see on the top is the 2019, or I'm sorry. The 2024 revenue to date. You can see that our trends are very consistent with the blue, which is 2019 and then also the green line, which is 2023. We have generated an additional 1 million dollars. Compared to 2019, and we're up about $360,000

[174:02] Compared to this time. Last year. You will see, our revenues are very seasonal and consistent. We're about to enter our slower time of year, where we have less revenue coming in. And then, obviously, with the holidays, we have a ramp up as people get excited for the New Year's, so. Part of the benefit of delaying this conversation about the fees until after the summer season is. We have seen more of a recovery. That I think that we can be a little bit more conservative in our key projections for 2025 because we have had such growth this year. So as I mentioned, to be reviewing the fee schedule. The fee schedule is basically our menu. Of these are our fees. The current fee schedules included in your packet is attachment B this is about 10 pages. We have a lot of fees. We have a lot of different programs. This is intended to help our staff as well as community members and user groups understand.

[175:01] What it's going to cost to participate in a program. As you might remember from last year the fees are separated from the codified fees. So they don't require City Council approval, but they do go through a process called the City Manager Rule. Once Prab gives a recommendation and approval over the proposed. It will go through a public noticing process. And then our goal is to implement new free fees on January first.st all of the programs that we do offer on January 1st are free to the public. So in reality it's January second. But very excited to continue with that process. I already touched on this a little bit. But the engagement strategy is very important because of anytime we're increasing fees. Bernie, thank you for saying earlier here to close rec centers. I don't think you got here to increase fees. But we like to identify who's impacted and give them some advanced notice are coming. And then we do want to highlight our financial aid program. About a 3rd of our overall visitation to Rex is now provided through the Financial Aid program or scholarships.

[176:05] And that is something that we will continue to offer. And the eligibility criteria continues to Change over time that we are very happy with the growth of that program to ensure that recreation really is a community recreation focus. We will communicate to impacted users. Most of the users for the Rec. Cent. Our individuals. But there are some rentals. We do have some aquatic user lanes aquatic lanes that user groups rent at the pools. That will likely be impacted as we stare stuff. Some increases it in from last year. And then something I want to. Highlight is we have a new marketing manager starting next week. We are very excited to have a marketing plan in place for what I'm going to call the seasonal slowdown that we typically see in November and December. To be able to ramp up an increase in activity, and increase in participation and an increase in revenue that helps the rough.

[177:04] I think you all know that the raft really is self supported, and any revenue that it generates is put back into other programs. To ensure that there is equitable access across all of the services we provide. So that is it for tonight, as far as the fee. Update next month we will come back with proposed fees. We'll identify who's impacted what those dollar amount increases are what those percentage increases are and we'll provide some history going back to 2,018. Just so you can see the trends over time. I will pause here because I went through this really quick. But are there any questions. Nice job, man. I don't know how you do that. So Ali, already mentioned on that city council is working on a long term. Financial strategy basically, parks and recreation got a little bit ahead of ourselves with the feet policy and the few work that we did.

[178:00] And other departments are now starting to go through this process. Look at what our levels of services are, and create the comprehensive study across all departments, not just our vision. To hopefully prepare for development strategy that would help address some of the concerns we heard earlier tonight. We know with in person. We have a long list of items, so we will make sure to include all these on the long term. Financial strategy. I think we hear regularly from community members, but all of this will get filtered up to city council. And then, finally, I just wanted to give a quick update on the 25 recommended budgets. It is still going through city council. Next Thursday, the 3, rd and the. 2 weeks after that, on the 17, th are the public hearings of city council. We do have a recommended 44.5 million. That's 35 million focused on operating budget 10.5 million on capital budget. The key change that we really wanted to highlight are. There's 4 staff that are converting from fixed term into ongoing the Urban Ranger program you heard about earlier tonight? Are 3 of those.

[179:06] And then we have factored in some costolation for materials and services, a potential minimum wage increase for our level employees. And then just some career progression across the board. We did make some minor tweaks to our cip. The biggest is we're continuing to focus on our big projects. We made some of the projects that were underfunded, just recognizing that those dollars be better spend lining with other projects that are underfunded. Closer to me in trouble, and have The greater need identified in the 22 department. So that's really the focus on the 25 recommended. As I mentioned. We will come back to you in next month, October. And let you know what has happened after the final public hearing. And then all changes would take effect on January 1st as well. So. That's really where we're at with the budget process the fee process. I will be back the next 2 months, so I'm sorry, but I will try to keep it as short and simple as tonight.

[180:06] Any questions or comments for Jackson. Sorry? Yes, Would you just be heard so much tonight about the center? I just did a quick look and. Today. Our entry fee for the Rec. Center is St. Louis Bill. I would say that at least, if you live in South Boulder like, maybe you're getting worse service. You might have loose, Phil, so I just think we should. Be careful about raising rates, and drive away from our facility. Yes, we hear that, and we understand. I think it's a fine balance between balancing our revenues and expenses. But we do want to focus on as minimal of a few increases possible. And one thing we really focus on is, we know the daily entry rate is a little bit higher, but. We really encourage people to buy a a monthly or an annual pass, and then it becomes much more affordable.

[181:03] Yeah. You just raised something I never really thought about, but. That the services that are offered it's not pulled are different than Eastern. The same field, evaluated that multiple times and asked the community like and looked at different models. Actually, I should let Megan take that question. We just took a drink. You wanted to take it. Yeah, no. We've asked that specific question. And actually, I think Ryan was the one who drafted the survey. And right now, what has led our decisions back to community says that they want one pass that has given them access to everything. That some. And that's certainly something that we can continue to evaluate, because things change in the cost of services that select locations change. But for right now, I mean while people might use the cell phone every day for. The one thing they do there. They might be using the other facilities for other things. And right now the past gets them into all of those places, the outer pools and the rest. Well.

[182:05] Our data so far has told us to keep it together. Great And then you said that the next once the next action item for us, that in October. Discussion item will be in October. Action item would be in November. Okay? Got it. Great. Okay, thank you very much. Yeah. Just try to remind folks when things are coming up. Alright! So the last item is matters from the board. I wanna thank 1st of all, wanna thank all the staff for. Your help tonight, your presentations, and for sticking with us. This lady. Thank you very much. So matters from the Board. I'll just open it up for comment to share. Do we want to address the upcoming. Study sessions, slash retreat. Do we have any updates on that? Or we just want to share.

[183:00] What's on our mind. I don't have any further updates on that. As I mentioned earlier, we're meeting on Friday, and we'll have updates. After that. I'm ready to get any data. It's not. What's that question? Oh, anything to add. About the study session. No, I mean, I think we kind of covered it last time, and then we'll. Refine it with Ally on Friday, and then we should have. I guess our. Will. Rosa create the agenda for that? Or is that something that I should do. I think we'll we'll cover that on Friday. Okay. Great. Thank you both for your work on that. Really appreciate it. Yeah. Anybody wanna share anything that's on their mind? Yeah, I wanna I think it's Rosa who's involved in this? The copy holder is that you? He was mentioning.

[184:03] Well, there does. We don't know. There's a copy track now. 3 days a week will be 5 days a week. At Harlem, and it talking to Brian, the owner, and Barista. He's super happy with. The way it's going. He's every time I drive by. He's busy. People are loving it. I've heard lots of buzz in the neighborhood about it. And I just I I'm really happy because I've been mentioning this idea that, like. Having food or coffee would really activate that space, because there's it gets a lot of traffic. And he did mention that he will be moving from North Boulder to Harlow's. I think he's there 2 days a week for North Boulder, and we'll be just 5 days a week. That's because there's just a more consistent stream of. In car traffic. So just again. Another thing to like register. What a hub that campus really is that there's.

[185:06] A lot of lot of people using it and going by there. And would more people that would use it given more. We're activating opportunities. So anyway, just thank you for whoever allowed that to happen. He also mentioned that it's it's still, it feels like a. Trial period, and that currently they're not charging him anything to be there. And he was surprised at that, and would be willing to pay. So again, looking at income streams like. I just think it's something that. I would love to see people look into more and find more opportunities for that to happen. He parks in the parking lot. Kind of close to the the restroom. I think, or maybe there's a middle one. I'm not sure. Yeah, I think. Away from the restroom. But in that parking lot. That's great. And when is he? There. Very soon it should be every morning from like.

[186:01] So weekends too. Oh, sorry no! Monday through Friday. Alright My wife and I spent a couple of hours watching the cross race that happened there a couple of weeks ago. It was really fun to see the park activate in that way. I used to organize like cross races. And I don't know. Or feelings about it, or the department's feelings about it. But It's great that you've the department has enabled the race to happen, and it's sometimes There can be concerns about damage to turf or other damage to the park, and. It's nice to see us Overcoming that one of the things I worked on in 2,016 or 17 was guidelines for Cycle Cross. There are concerns, but they're manageable, and it's a great activity if it's done right.

[187:00] Yeah, folder. I have their home cross country meet Saturday, October 5.th It's going to be very busy. It's 1 of the best meets in the State. She says, with no bias. I'll just say that. Just to clarify. I I did participate in. The Playboy golf Tournament. It was really great to be at a golf tournament at Flat Aarons, which is in great condition. And just a lot of kudos to the folks there. That the whole course is great. I had a blast, and I'm looking forward to doing it. Next year. I was really thrilled to do the ribbon cutting. That was my 3rd ribbon cutting on this board. My 1st was the reservoir building. The second was Scotty Scott, Carpenter Park with the pool, and then this and it's been just amazing. To think about all the progress we made as a city and a department like just in the 4 years I've been on this board, and just the amazing new facilities that we opened. And I'm just so excited for the next couple of years, too.

[188:09] And the ribbon cuttings that you guys are gonna get to do. When I'm not here. Someday so, for one to not be in the middle of the workday, I mean probably not for you, but. It would be nice. And then the other thing I'll mention is that I went to a black party over this past weekend, where the biller guys were there. The. The is it, Moa? They were great, and they they recognized me from the meeting. They're like you on the parts board, and so we we? I chatted with them for a while, and they were very complimentary of Staff, saying, You know, this has really been a smooth process to work with. Bpr, and so they're really appreciative. And so I'm just so glad that that's moving along. So smoothly, so thank you. And with that let's get out of here. It's late meeting.

[189:00] Next.