October 21, 2024 — Parks and Recreation Advisory Board Regular Meeting

Transcript

Captions from City of Boulder YouTube recording.

[0:11] We're good to go awesome. Okay, thanks to everybody for joining us for this prep study session. And the 1st thing we wanna do is approved the agenda that was created by our esteemed colleagues. Jenny and Bernie, who put this together? Do I have a motion to approve the agenda? Sunny moves Jenny. Seconds. All in favor. Say, aye, aye, all any opposed. Nobody opposes passes great. So I wanted to welcome everybody to this study session, and I'll pass it over to our folks who are kind of running the show today. But this is an opportunity that we have as a board annually to come together and talk about

[1:05] board stuff, and issues that we care about. And we kind of drive the agenda for this meeting, as opposed to other meetings where staff primarily drive the agenda and so this is a chance for us to get to know each other better. It's a chance for us to engage in more depth on issues. That concern our role as board members, and it's a time to have fun. I've always enjoyed the study sessions, slash retreats that we've done and I have no doubt that this year is going to be really entertaining fun, you know. Informative and really appreciate staff who are here as well. Thank you so much, Andy. Thanks for joining us as well, and thank you all so much for giving us these amazing little goodie bags. These are cool. I mean, this is really a nice water bottle that's just awesome. So thank you. And thanks for the chocolate, too, and you had milk chocolate in there as well. Yeah, you're like, I cannot accept. Take credit for this. Okay, so

[2:14] I will pass it over to Jenny and Bernie if you wanted to add anything to the intros and I'll let you take it from here. 1st of all. I want to thank everyone for sacrifice an extra Monday in addition to the the statutorily required Monday that comes next week. And it was also nice to see all 6 of us in the room together. It's been a few months since we've all been here. So we, Jenny and I asked all of you to kind of give us ideas for things that we are interested in, and there was no shortage. I think we'll have a lot of interests and curiosities and and concerns about our park system, and it was it. It was exciting to see how engaged everyone is, and and how the different perspectives that we all come to this committee from Jenny and I did our best to kind of 0 in on

[3:10] a couple of items that we think would be useful for this group. you know, hopefully this year, and going forward. I, however, want to say that, like. I think that we we'll find ways to address everybody's concerns throughout the coming months. Every everybody's thoughts and ideas were important and valid and worthy of our time. So we've chosen 2 topics for this evening doesn't mean that the many topics that were discussed and not chosen are not important. and I guess I just want to. I'll close before turning over to Jenny and say that I hope it is fun. I can't say that we programmed a lot of fun, but it will be fun. Yeah, I'll just echo everybody else's sentiments. I think that going through everybody's ideas, we tried to come up with the best possible options port effectiveness, really. And then

[4:06] kind of youth, engagement, and activity throughout the park system. So thankful to Staff for coming out today to go through this with us. We do have one team building, little exercise super fast and simple. We originally had 2. I took one out. Nobody wants to stay any extra time on the Monday. So it's a simple one. It was in the And yeah, it was in a Powerpoint presentation. It's just pick 3 questions off the list of 5, and give us your best answers. Pretty easy solution. Find that, and thank you all for working with me on my 1st time was working on a study session. It was fun to work with Bernie, and I can't wait for the next slide, please. and Jenny really drove the creation of our Powerpoints. Thank you for doing that. If I drove, I mean she did it all

[5:05] great thanks so much, guys. Alright, I think we're ready to transition to the first.st I do. So. Do you want us to just see we can set the stage for this, so that I think you all have met at this point? Our assistant city attorney. Andy, we are so lucky in the city of Boulder to have in house counsel. Not all cities have that. Some of my colleagues have 30 min once a month with an attorney where they have to consolidate their questions, and if it's more, it's very expensive and buy the app hour. And we have incredible in house counsel. And I'm really glad that you know he's on the team to help us do

[6:01] great contracting and keep us out of trouble and help us keep other people out of trouble. And so one of the ways the city attorney's office does help, though, is in supporting boards and commissions and their roles. This is a presentation that Annie's updated. We've given it to previous crabs. Actually, it was about 2 years ago, and I think there's value probably all the time, because what I, what I believe to be true is folks join the prab because they care deeply about parks and recreation. maybe have never been to a prep meeting, or if they have one or 2 in the recruitment. Don't don't know it. Want to be helpful. We want to support you so Andy is going to give an overview of what you know. The city's Constitution or charter said about that, and then is here for the discussion, and Elliot's going to support also is the architect of the latest Update to the handbook, which is, if the if the charter is the one, then the Handbook is the how and has a lot of process information. It's really helpful. Yeah. So I'm everybody. I'm Andy for Hart. I've been with the city for

[7:00] a year and 6 months now before that I came from the Colorado Attorney General's office, where I was there for about 8 years, and before that I was in private practice. So I 1st of all thank you all for being on a board. I know it's probably not fun to do 3 or 4 h of volunteerism every month. And I I come from this. I. I come from a perspective of seeing the benefits of public engagement involvement, and so when I was with the State I represented, kind of 2 primary departments. But one of them was Cdot. and I've seen highway projects altered significantly late in the design phase, like multi multi 1 million dollars like alterations, because somebody in a public meeting raised their hand and said, Hey, have you guys thought about the visibility of this lane as it merges into this lane? And the engineers went back, and just I was like amazed to see engineers who had spent all this time entered into a contract, and they go back and they reevaluate it, and we redesigned it. I shouldn't say we. They redesigned it, and we created a new contract

[8:08] that I think was a better result. So there's other instances. I I could go on and on about other instances in which public involvement has been really really helpful to help. You know, staff kind of gleam additional insights and perspectives and get another look at things that maybe they're not looking at. So I just truly you know, want you all to know that and appreciate that. So we'll- we'll pull up here the crowds role. So my computer just went to sleep to give me a second so I only thought it would be good to walk through just 4 roles and function functions in a particular tab. Go ahead and click Rosa. So the the city charter that's effectively our constitution. So was created, I think, in 1961

[9:06] and so it has a long history. And throughout that history it's been sort of described and in some respects expanded upon within revised code, which is basically our city laws or city statutes. So as a home little city, we have a lot of stretching in the ways in which we can create things in boulder that are unique for ourselves. The city has done that in a variety of ways. I don't know that I need to hit upon many of these points either than other than just to say that you know as a board, just as you all are a function of government and representatives government in this capacity, so are we and one of our principal prerogatives is just to make sure we're enacting the law as it's written by our legislative bodies. And so that's what I spend a good portion of my time trying to do is to make sure we have authority.

[10:00] and that we're operating within that authority with whatever we're doing and similar for you all to the extent you decide to, I guess. Call upon me to kind of help, advise you and help steer you in that direction. I know you all are pretty independent, and it probably helps having, like Elliot sharing to understand some of those. But just know that I'm available for those questions. If you ever need them. go ahead the functions of the prab. So there's a few pieces, and I'm going to pull up a charter, the the charter, the kind of the principal Prab section of the charter in a second. But the prab shall make recommendations to City Council concerning there's a few points, and the shall is key. The disposal of park lands. any appropriation or expenditure from the permanent Parks and recreation fund which I'm sure those of you who have been on for a while are very familiar with, and and manage that.

[11:00] and then the protection and maintenance parts. a couple of key things. One is the recommendations part. It's only recommendations to council, so so Council ultimately has the authority to act. But hopefully you'll be making recommendations that are informed from your experiences, from your discussions with staff and from public comment when you have those recommendations so and then the the shall make recommendations. So in many respects, Council's authority to act, to act is conditioned upon you, making a recommendation and hearing it first.st so and then that's that advisory board functions that oh, you kind of mentioned just providing diverse perspectives, taking public comment, synthesizing, you know, different perspectives into something that Council can readily take up and understand. Is really important. Yeah. Oh, just. I had never really realized this. So there's nothing specifically about recreation in terms of the role of proud

[12:01] about recreation. It's like parks and recreation. This is kind of an abbreviation of it. There it is. Yeah. Yeah. In fact, do you want to pull up the charter, if you don't mind, it's probably a good time to do it now. also, presumably like this, the funding would flow into recreation as well. Listen to parks. And so this, this is the key section that I just thought made sense for you all to put eyeballs on so you can see. So Is it too small? I I think you all can. You all read it over? So the perks and recreation boards will not perform any administrative functions, ie. Staff functions unless expressly provided in this charter, the board. and then shall so keep in mind the shalls versus the maze at the beginning of these shall make recommendations to see council concerning disposal of Parklands. By the way, Just, and this is also available on page 4 of your handbook. Oh, perfect.

[13:00] literally, like, almost copy and pasted. Yeah, this is perfect. If you can't read that, it's important. Yeah. Shall make recommendations to city council on any expenditure from the fund we just mentioned, shall make recommendations on the grant or denial of any license or permit in Parklands. Shall review. City managers proposed annual budget, as it relates to parks and Rec. Matters and make its recommendation based upon said budget, and then may, at the request of council or the department, prepare and submit to council the city manager or department recommendations on park and recreation matters as are not provided in ABC. Or d above. So that's kind of what we think of as the catch, all for anything that department or council wants to consult with you on they can, and ask for your recommendation on them. and they may request information or recommendation for the department pursuant to the provisions of

[14:01] and there's a section above. So. But that's that's kind of the if you wanted to see in charter kind of the the 4 functions of crowd that's in it, and it sounds like it's in your handbook. So yeah, can I? I don't know if this is something that we want to talk about right now. But does the new ballot measure affect this charter or any of the? It's not so. The proposed ballot item is specific to board that do not have a section like this in the charter there are 4. So Prab planning board, Osbt and Tab have a specific function like this filled out in the charter with that proposed ballot initiative proposes to do is provide council, more authority, all of all the other boards around terms and limits. But Prab, because of these specific clauses is exempt from that ballot language. Isn't there an executive section that's a separate okay? You're talking about a different one. There's 1 specific to boards and commissions, I see. Okay.

[15:03] crab ocv tab, and we'll do the ones playing board. Thank you. We're one of the Og. You're also one of the few that while you are an advisory Board you do have some of these shells right? You have by charter function, rights of authority that many of the other boards don't have that. They are much more simply advisory in nature and don't have those shells. So to Andy's point where the shells are. That's a gotta gotta like we can't bring those items to council without you having provided it. Now to Andy's point, it's a recommendation they could say, great. Here's what we're gonna do. But it's it has to go through the Prat first, st Andy, can you comment on or share the difference between an advisory board and the other 2 types of boards or commissions that exist. I don't know that I I mean, there's like a commission. So

[16:02] advisory. One of the things that struck me. And looking at your guys, authority and responsibility was advisory is typically just advisory. And then I kind of saw that there were some conditions prerequisite to bring things and kind of a a process setting that so the like. Quasi judicial boards. So there's some boards. Yeah, sorry you can keep those up. there's was before this just kind of happened since I was representing the Lab Board, which is the Cannabis Licensing Advisory board, which is also advisory in the name, but they have quasi. They started off as an advisory function which was just helping to provide insights on laws affecting marijuana, slash cannabis regulation. And then they've converted to now a quasi judicial function which involves having hearings and making determinations. That end up being basically the the binding determinations of the city on permits and licenses. And so those quasi judicial hearings are

[17:20] typically conducted like a court of law. Are very similar. There's some relaxed rules, but but you know, you admit evidence, and you hear arguments to pardon when you make a decision. So, and I just don't have much experience with an oversight board, that's what. Yeah. And then there, I don't know if there is one in the city, but there are also boards that actually govern the functions of the departments. So like the boards, actually are the the governing body and the director reports to the board. The city does not have any of those I know. They exist, I know, like in Ohio there are states where there is a parks board. and if you report to the mayor or the city manager of the City of Boulder, and I'm not aware of any in the State that have that. Don't join jurisdiction, and I'll say that sometimes. And I don't think anybody on the board now was here for this. But there are some times when the quasi judicial functions of other boards impact.

[18:16] And that happened a couple of years ago when the liquor Licensing board denied a license application to a vendor at the Boulder Reservoir building, and that was an unreviewable final decision by that board. And so the city council couldn't come in and say, no, we disagree with you. So there are times when these functions overlap. So all that's on these slides are the languages exactly from the charter that Andy just showed you in place in the charter and hold on one sec. So, at at the request of council, may prepare and submit recommendations. Yeah. So we called that out may request, yeah, we called that out. That's that. Catch all.

[19:09] And then I, this is a slide that I added, just kind of with some background and other board experience. I've had performing administrative functions. So you know, that's the charter expressly allows the city manager to perform those functions. Who then uses the departments and the directors? And it kind of filters down the so the the risk associated with getting too involved? I can think of instances where board members became quasi like borderline witnesses of litigation. And I see, Elliott said. The I I can't go into too much detail on one of them, but I had a board that was made up of industry representatives, and there was allegations of the industry, representatives favoring certain groups over others, and so they were having conversations with different people, and they found themselves as a board member, but sitting on a board making decisions on this board, and also a witness based upon some of the things they had said, and it became really sticky.

[20:15] So it it is important. I mean, you. You all have a public facing function, so I don't want to discourage that. But there is a sense that the safest way to operate, I think, is when when you're all together, and you're taking public comment and discussing that together. And there's a record created of it. Just because there's an audio. But I don't wanna be too I'm not trying to scare you too much, but in government, and you've probably seen this, too. There are times when people I think, will be very aggressive, and they'll they'll approach government agents like in a non aggressive manner, and they will try to.

[21:03] yeah, I I would just, I would be very, very careful. There's some people that are just not fans of government, and they will fight hard, and you may not know who they are until after you've had a lot of conversations, discussions with them. So just keep that in mind. so I don't. I'll leave that as it is We don't have a detailed ethics code, but like, is there a line at which, like. if somebody does approach us and say like, Hey, like I'd really love you to back my whatever. And we have lunch and talk about it like, is there a line which we should be like? No, that's for violation. I mean, I I would try to keep board business discussed with the Board, you know. I I think I would be careful about asserting your opinions too much privately with the persons, because you might get information that later in public comment or discussions through other members like, there's always a risk that you're just getting one sliver of information from that person, and that might be helpful. And that might be something you want to bring back to the rest of the board and share or encourage them to come. Have public comment. But.

[22:14] yeah, I don't know. Do you have any thoughts on that emails. I'm just confused between the fact that like we're advising, we're not judicial, right? So we don't really have power to make decisions. We can make suggestions. So I don't understand how we can get in trouble by giving their opinion. Yeah. And I mean, you might have. I guess, more protection there than I'm thinking of. you know your whatever. Your decision is probably ultimately stamped by somebody else. So there might be perception. There. can I give an example. Yeah. So we are insulated in some ways legally, because we are an Advisory board, and we give recommendations to council who ultimately decide issues. But if somebody in the community believes that Council has made an inappropriate determination on something, they could file legal action and part of the record from that would necessarily include the decision making that reached all the way into council.

[23:24] So if Council considered our comments or our suggestions, or there was a meeting that was in particular important to them. On a certain issue. That would be part of the record. And so we would be exposed in the sense that we might be witnesses. We might have relevant information to provide. We might have to turn over notes or emails or text messages that we exchanged regarding that issue. And but that would be the extent of our involvement. And we wouldn't be sued in our individual capacities ever

[24:01] unless we did something like unconstitutional in our personal capacity, which would be virtually impossible to do. Well, someone could could sue you. It just wouldn't have a very, very, very like you'd have to be. And I'm going to paraphrase here, but exceeding the balance of your authority extensively so. But that's that's right. So one of the issues. I think this is the way it could probably principally arrive like you just said was. if there's a lot of discussions that house that happened outside of a public sphere, even though under the the public meetings, the sunshine law. It's 2 or more board members. Excuse me. 3 or more board members constitute a quorum. If you're making decisions and having discussions and formulating opinions outside of that, and that doesn't make it into the record that can be an issue, too. So hopefully that percolates up to council, or I think. Anyway. So so there's there's risk associated with that. And

[25:02] that was actually one of the other instances I had with another board was on a on a different issue was normally, the record is what's reviewed by a court. So that record needs to encompass all of the information that came through you for your recommendation. And that went to council. And if it doesn't include that information, and there's an information gap we could risk losing. Or if somebody knows that there was information that you all considered that didn't make its way into the record. That's when you can get into them trying to call witnesses, and not a high likelihood of happening with you all, you know. Frankly. But it it's mostly at least the way I've seen it. It's a a threat tactic when somebody's really upset with government that's trying to sort of find leverage and push buttons. So so just to clarify when you're saying you you mean the board like the board whenever we meet. Like I mentioned this, the son. right? Like we are, we have to like it has to be in record whenever 2 or more of us meet. Right?

[26:06] You're more than 2 of us meet. But yeah, like any conversation I have with a fellow citizen that helps me form an opinion that I bring to the board. There doesn't have to be a record of that correct. I can't be in trouble for having an opinion as long as I bring it to the board and the board right and brings it to the Council, right? So so I think I'd be really careful if it's something that you know is controversial that is coming to the board, and you're having discussions. If you're having people find out you're on this board, and they have thoughts about parks and recreation. I don't think there's anything that prevents you from hearing their thoughts on whatever. Right? So. But I think if you have. decisions are gonna be made, you're gonna be making a recommendation and and you're having, you know, conversations with people outside of the board and public. That's where there's some risk. So I don't wanna overstate that risk? But it's just something to be conscious of. So.

[27:07] Andy, can I reframe what you're saying? What I think that what I think happens? You all are out in the community. You live here, you have connections with people, and they'll say, Hey, I want to tell you what I think about A, B and C. Hearing that input bringing it to the board conversation 0 concern you sharing your personal opinion with that person and sharing how you're, gonna you know, represent the conversation. That's where you've opened the door into some problems for a lot of different reasons that Andy shared. And then I mean, I can think of others that have shown up in board meetings that it's it's problematic for you to have deliberated before. There's a board conversation, even though it's not a binding decision. And there is and this is something that I've seen in litigation as well as board members will make comments. They'll personally feel one way about something, and they'll freely make comments. And then that becomes an issue in litigation or gets inserted to the record. Maybe they attend, and they start saying, well, you told me this, this and this, and they'll try to create a record of that, and that's more towards what we call the weight of the evidence or

[28:06] you know it. It. If it contradicts what the opinion that we're taking in litigation. then they're pointing to even these 3 Board members agreed with this, and you know it just becomes it can undermine our ability to defend whatever decision making ultimately. So so if we have, if we feel passionate about an issue. bring it up in the meeting and discuss it and come to a reason decision based upon your discussions. Yeah. it's just it feels like the people who like are passionate about this shouldn't be on the board in the application process. One of the there's the reason City Council has the questions, the way they are, and they talk to you. The way they do is sure you have. We all have our passion hopefully for something right, whether it's yoga or skiing, or whatever we're all moving and loving parks and recreation in some way.

[29:05] Are you going to be able to have a reasonable discussion that considers all and all perspectives to advise this this organization that is serving the entire community. If you are a vocal advocate for one group who is only advocating for one opinion that does impair the perception of your ability to function in that way that serves the whole community. And so that's that's the consideration right? And it does. That's you know we we talk about when people are really advocates. For just one thing, the Board may not be the place for them, because you have to be able to consider the entire community. The goal is to have your discussion and to come to an opinion that's supported and justified by by what's been discussed. Right? So it's okay to have differing opinions. I think what we're talking about is more procedural, like, if there's if there's issues that are being created with how you're coming to experience. And they're not formulated in part of the record. That's an issue. So

[30:01] yeah. just to put a finer point on it, like we're sometimes asked to consider things that aren't controversial. and I. We all form opinions to bring to this body, but it sounds like the caution is like expressing our opinions outside of the context of this meeting. Yeah, I I would just make sure if you're making a decision in this meeting that you're having that discussion within the meeting coming to a reason conclusion, right? Disagreements. Okay, but just make sure you're having that discussion here, I think if you're formulating your opinion outside of the meeting, and nobody knows why you're doing that. That's that's not helpful. And that's not gonna give us what we need in the record. So that's that's a big part of it. If that makes sense. I'm not telling you not to have opinions outside of meetings. Right? so that's not the intent of that. I'm just. I just caution to be careful about that. Okay, so this is, you know, the South bullet rec center is a hot topic. Right now someone comes to me. I'm sure something about this, too. Someone comes to me in my neighborhood where I live, and says, like, I can't believe that this building is getting demolished like, are you in support of this? How can I answer that question.

[31:10] I I mean, I think you can answer how you would normally answer so. But just be careful that that might. If if you're giving details. I mean, you're you're a representative of the city in your capacity as a board member. So I would just be careful with that. So yeah, thank you. Yeah. I mean, there's there's some sense that I would hope, as a board member, that you'd appreciate the risk of people coming after the city of Boulder and we can't prevent them from bringing a lawsuit right, but that your your statements and your opinions can become very much a part of application. So

[32:00] all that is to say, you can still have discussions with people in the public about probably some time you can. You know I do it. We hope you are right because you are supposed to be representing the community. That's part of our function. This isn't meant to chill those discussions. It's just to to help us understand, like what the potential ramifications of those discussions could be. If somebody decides to take action against the city, related to a decision that the city makes, and the the likelihood of us being involved in anything personally like we're describing here is very remote. but the reality is because we are public officials in that way. And we are part of a body that is public. We just have a different role. And you know, our emails could be subject to open records requests. If they concern city business or official business. You know, we could be text messages. We could be called as witnesses. If there's some sort of

[33:03] ultimate decision that's made that is contrary to what someone heard us say in you know, a conversation, you know, it's it's not meant to like chill. That discussion is just to understand that, like we are part of the city in certain ways, and we are subject to various laws and standards. Yeah. but continue to have those discussions. That's what we're here to do. right? We're here to do that. So in the items. The departments role. So there's actually a separate section in the charter that lays a lot of this out. I'm not going to go through this to. I I know we're already past time, but the administrative function. So you can take a look at that. It's actually I know this is in your materials. But yeah, I don't know if we need this. This is also in their handbook. So yeah.

[34:04] and then this is also in your handbook. But the selection of the chair. the meetings once per month. 3 members can call a special meeting with 24 h. Notice 4 members constitutes a quorum and you have the power to make your rules of to conduct business so. And that's what's the rest of the Handbook? I think that's where we yeah, Elliot takes over. Do you want me to go through some highlights? Great? So I gave everybody a copy of the handbook. This is the original version. This still has Chuck's and Jason. And so this is just a copy. But there's a more recent version that's got our names and stuff on it. But the content is the same. And I wanted to just run through a few sections with you. I'm not gonna run through the entire Handbook. But the reason why we redid this handbook, whatever it was like, you know, a year ago, was because there's a lot of information out there, and we wanted to distill it in one place, and this handbook had not been updated since 2,008, so we felt that it was time.

[35:17] And this is not meant to be an exhaustive source of information. There are hyperlinks in there that bring you to the city charter, grab, website, play Boulder Foundation, the statutes, the the Brc, the code. And so, you know, I would highly recommend, you know, at some point reading through this you can, and then looking at those hyperlinks. But I wanted to highlight just a few parts of this that I think are critical. The 1st part Andy already went over which is the core functions for grab. So we don't have to go over that again. I wanted to underscore. One thing about our responsibilities, though, is that we do have one thing that we do, that Council cannot touch.

[36:01] and that is, we can approve leases that are less than 3 years. Okay, so if you're you're saying we don't have any power. I disagree. Okay, and that's on page 5, section 3, so anyway, okay, so one of the things I wanted to go over is this connection between open meetings, law and Open Records act and what those mean. So, and we've talked about this as a group before. But I just want to underscore some of the the key things here. So if you look at page 7, the bottom of page 7, there's a section about the Colorado Open Meetings law, which is the Sunshine law. The whole purpose behind this law is to ensure that public business is done in the public and local boards and entities like city council, and this Board are subject to this law, and there is a rule that says that all meetings of a quorum of 3 or more members of a local public body, whichever is fewer, at which any public business is discussed, or at which any formal action may be taken, are declared to be open to the public at all times.

[37:11] So the key there is for this body. It's 3 or more members where any public business is discussed, where which formal action can be taken and the or is huge because some people think it's and it's or so, if you have a meeting, you're if you're grabbing coffee with 2 other members of this board, and you're discussing crap business like, Hey, I think we should do this related to the budget. Or I think we should recommend this related to this item. That's technically a meeting. And you're supposed to notice that meeting 24 h in advance of the meeting. And because you haven't noticed it 24 h in advance. It's a violation of the open meetings, law, and somebody could raise a stink about it. So just be careful about when you're discussing official grab business with 2 or more members of your peers here. That doesn't mean that you can't grab coffee like Sonny, and I can go out and talk about grab business, and we can talk until the cows come home about whatever we want.

[38:11] That's not an open meet. That's not a meeting, because that's not what the statute says. And if we we can't, Daisy chain our discussion like I can't talk with you for 10 min about something, and then I'm gonna go talk with Andy or Bernie about it. And then it's the exact same thing the courts look at that is called Daisy Chaining, where you're just cobbling together legal meetings or non meetings to basically have a meeting discussion. You can still go out and talk with the public about issues. You can go out with one other member of the Prep. And talk with them about issues that official prep business. But just know that when there's a 3rd person there and you're talking about Brad business or department business that is within the construct of what we do. You're probably having a meeting and just avoid that can happen by email. Very good. So if you. One of the reasons why we don't reply all to emails. And I've done it, too. Everybody's done it. Is, when you're communicating with everybody else on prep about some item.

[39:16] it's technically a meeting. If everybody's CC, then on that email we're supposed to. Yes, so like in most cases staff are trained to prevent us from making that mistake, so they will send us something from one staff member, and they'll like BCC. All of us, or like we communicate through staff but sometimes, if Ali is responding to a member of the public, and we reply all to that member of the public. That's debatably a meeting, right? But there are some nuances with that. But I would just say, if you're going to, if you want to communicate something to other members of the Board, and you want everybody to know about it. Go through, staff

[40:09] so like I would like to say this to Staff through. Have the staff say that to us, rather than like emailing all of us at the same time. Can I add a clarification there? Because we actually consulted Andy on this because someone wanted to share something with the whole board. The very best way to do that in full compliance. Laws is through the monthly Prep packet that's published, it's out in the community. And so we if we're going to communicate something with you and we email you, it is typically around logistics or background, or passing a press release almost everything else we put in the packet, because that is the easiest way to ensure compliance. And so if you do have something you want shared with the whole board, the very best way to do it to ensure compliance is through the packet the next best way. Yes, there are ways to do it through email. But but the safest and most public method is with your monthly packet. Can I add to. If you find yourself in a situation where you think maybe you violated this rule, it's usually best to come. Talk to me, and we'll probably just disclose it at the next meeting. Presumably it will concern for business right? If you think maybe I've crossed the line like, Come confer, and we can evaluate it, but most likely it'll be a disclosure, and you can maybe express a little bit more detail about that.

[41:24] So that's that's 1 of the ways that it's not ideal. But that's 1 of the strategies we can use to still try to make sure that those conversations are public or not so. And, by the way, if you want to invite everybody in the crowd to your child's recital, that's not business. Right like you can. I can reach out to all of you and say, Hey, you guys want to come out and go get ice cream like that's not business. It's when you're talking about business or your in a setting where you could take action on something which would be at a meeting. You just can't talk to everybody at once or 3 or more people.

[42:02] If that makes sense, does the daisy chaining thing apply to email? Yes. yeah. You'll notice, though, like, if you're ever at a public function with members of council to avoid the perception of. If if you notice, there's 2 of them standing, and the 3rd one walks up, one of them will step away like to avoid, almost always to avoid, even for the perception of that. We're talking about public business, and I'll just note that you all got an invitation from a community member. Please join us. We're having a neighborhood meeting, and we spring into action to try and help and prevent and communicate with them like, sorry that can't happen, or if it does, it changes your neighborhood from meeting to a public meeting that everyone you know can attend and coordinated to have Bernie and Sonny as the liaisons to that project. Attend, because then you're still getting board input and representation without changing their meeting and making it a public meeting open to everybody. So I responded to that Rick that invitation, and said I'd be happy to come, and they so I didn't see anything else.

[43:01] They responded and said, I'm sorry we'd love to have you, but there's already 2 people there. We let them know like that. Unfortunately, like. Here's what has to happen. Because here's the here's the other challenge. Community members don't know right? They they don't know. I mean, you see, in some of your emails. They think your city council sometimes right, and they think you know they think it's different. So they may come to. This is another, I guess just a caution on what kinds of opinions you might share with folks. They don't know what that means. and so they might think, you know. Well, Jenny, Jenny told me, and now she went back on her word. And they're doing this thing, I just, you know, unfortunately, and we would love to make it better both with the community respective board candidates. The role of the advisory boards is really unclear to a lot of folks. So that's Oml. That's open meetings that dovetails with the Open Records Act, which is a little different. So open records act governs. Public records so like writings that are official

[44:01] business records. And they could be anything from these Powerpoint presentations that are kept by department to emails that Allie sends us about whatever. And it could be emails that we exchange between each other about business and because we are public officials in that way. You know, all of that material could be subject to an open records request if someone submits it. Now, open records request is not a lawsuit, and open records. Request is just someone filing a request with the city, with the department, saying, I want all records related to this particular discussion, or this meeting, or this issue and staff will reach out to us and say, Hey, if you have anything, you know in your possession, they'll have 99% of everything that's relevant. But there could have been some exchange between 2 members or 3 members about something and that could be subject to the open Rec open records. So just be cognizant of the fact that when you're sending emails

[45:04] to another member of the board about an official thing, even though it's not a meeting, it's still creating potentially a public record. And so that's how the sunshine laws work. They work in tandem. one other 2 other things I want to run through, which is There's been some confusion about and understandably so about how and whether we can communicate with the public about crap business. So we, as a board and delegate to one person. This is one option. We, as a board, can vote to delegate one person on the board to go, represent us at council on an issue, or to go represent us at some hearing on an issue, or at a meeting on an issue other than that. And you are going to that meeting, or hearing, or whatever, as a representative of the board.

[46:00] Okay. As to all of us. however, you can also go in your capacity as a board member, and you can be there representing not the board, but yourself as a member of the board. and that's completely okay. So when Jenny and Bernie was. Oh, no sorry, Sonny, and Bernie went to the South Boulder meeting or the meeting regarding South Boulder Rec. Recently. They weren't representing the board. They were representing themselves as members of the Board, and that's completely fine. You are encouraged to do that. There's nothing wrong with that. But just know that when you're talking to people at those places, whether it's a hearing, a meeting, or whatever. You can't suggest that you're representing the crowd because we have not voted in a meeting to delegate you. That authority does that make sense? Not that anybody's done that. But there's some confusion about the lines there. okay. And then.

[47:03] oh, yeah. Page page 16. So the next issue is just how we get information from. They're perfect. So our meetings are driven by step there. They bring to us what we need to understand and do related to our chartered authority. and we from time to time may request information from the Department on a range of topics, and unless it has to do with some specific item that with is within our specific statutory authority, the staff can has discretion about whether to provide us information on that they can say we have considered your request, and because we are completely underwater this week, with whatever, or we have too much on the agenda next week or next month. We are going to decline to do that now.

[48:01] Or we're not going to provide it. That information. Now, does that ever happen? It's very rare, but just know that we can't, just, you know. Say so. We can't just direct Alley to provide us. Whatever information we want. It is. It is really mostly their discretion to give us information on things outside of the specific statutory purview that we have fair, very fair. I can. I can think of one time in my time and executive leadership where we've said we're not going to be able to fulfill that request, and it was related to a very contentious and legal issue over which the crab had 0 authority and relationship. So we said, we can give a process and timing update through the consent agenda on this topic. But there's really nothing that is the purview of the prep to discuss, and it does not make good sense. It's not advised by our attorneys. And there was. It was a a member who wanted the topic, and we agreed with the the leadership of the board like this is this is not an item for prep discussion. We will say. November's agenda is full of items where, based on project timelines based on council timelines. We really need your input, can we consider adding that January, February March?

[49:07] You know the folks who are working on that need more time, so the timeline is often flexible. But I I can't think of a time where we've said right. I I personally have not experienced that, and I will also say that the reason why we have and this is also the Handbook. I forget the page. But the Agenda setting Committee, which is the leadership of of the department and the chair and the vice chair of this body drive the agenda. We need every single month to determine what the agenda is going to be for the next meeting, and that agenda is driven by 2 things. What we need to hear from staff based on our statutory authority, and what we, as members have requested to hear about. So in those meetings Bernie and I are saying, Hey. you know, in this particular meeting we just had on Tuesday. Let's say it's the the following Thursday. Eric raised a really good point about this topic, or Sonny wanted to hear about this or Anna said, hey, let's talk about this one issue, and we will try and find a place on the agenda in the next couple of meetings to fit that. So that is part of the agenda setting

[50:15] process is we are trying to streamline those types of requests rather than us like ambushing staff in a meeting, being like, I want this information right now. I want it. In the next meeting. We hear your requests. We want you to make those requests. But we have an obligation, as the agenda setting committee to step back and say, Is this really something that we need to talk about now is it within our purview. And when can we fit it in if we want to talk about it is is this being recorded awesome. This should be like required 1st month, that the new crowd members join instead of 6 months in, I think this everything that was discussed so far would be before the 1st meeting even starts. In my opinion, it would be so helpful to just create a context for all of this.

[51:09] There's yes, I think that is part of I. We should touch base with what the board and orientation onboarding. I think a lot of this is there. I think, part of the challenges you are so swimming in the deep end, the 1st 6 months this content doesn't sink in. I I could have read this 3 times and not gotten out of it. What I got out of today, if well, I'm glad I'm really grateful that Elliot and Bernie said like, yes, let's let's invite Andy to join us. Let's have this conversation, cause it. Yeah, I agree with you like, I, even having written the Handbook, I have to go back and and re-look at sections multiple times. And I'm like, Do I still, do I understand this? Yeah. And talking it through really does make a difference. And it's a it's the answer. Your question like, why don't we do it sooner is a function of like just the agenda when we want to do our study session when we can fit it in the agenda.

[52:03] I would have done it on my own. Wouldn't need it, you know. Conversation would have been just super helpful for me starting out, because this is just not the world. Yeah, we can do that. We can do like a 1 on one. If you need this, if you don't work in government, or if you don't have a legal background, or, you know, have experience on this type of voice. That's a great suggestion, because I think there is such great technology that we could do like. I mean, yes, the discussion is good, but we could do like a facilitated recorded Powerpoint, or something we can think about how to include and build on. Looking at what's in the board, on who all went to the the mandatory board onboarding that the clerk's office does, because I know that's that's a long, probably a long time to forget things. Yeah, 5 year term. Yeah. do you have a questionnaire? Yeah, a couple of thoughts?

[53:00] So just picking up where we're we're talking about. If I have a request for department staff. How do I make that request? Right? So do I go through through you, or do I go through Alley or how to? So, for example, I have a question like, I want to know how much it costs to replace a new boiler itself cooler, and what a new sewer line costs. Those are questions that come to me from the public, and you know I don't know the answers. So how would I make that request to Staff, or like you can. I mean, like I don't. Wanna, I just wanna follow the right chain and make it appropriate. I don't want to create work, but like. like, if I had a like a tech like A, you know technical question, you know, and you know, I know how much work that it entails. Like, you know there might be a lot like, you know. what's the appropriate process for that? Let me give an example. Right? So I would. I would encourage you to always just email me? Because I can tell you that's that's that's an unreasonable request. We haven't done that work. I'm sorry. That's a possible answer. What I would answer you if you were to email me that and say, I'll have more information to share on that the next time you talk about the rec center. So just hold that question, because, yeah, so. But you can always. And the other thing I would say is, sometimes crowd members have held like operational questions, and I I hate to give examples, because then it feels like I'm picking on one of our services. But I'll just.

[54:20] I was at dance class last night, and the floor was really dirty. That is an operational matter that I wish you would email me about immediately so that we can address it right? So if it's not a policy related, or a, you know just a if it's a if it's something related to your experience as a customer of parks and recreation. Please email us right away. Because, as just like with any community member like, you don't get a different pedestal for your, you know, feedback of the prab meetings like email us, and we'll deal with it. But other questions and how they might fit in the agenda. And if it's let me flip your questionnaire like operational hours at Scott. Carpenter Park has come up to me. People like why is it? You know it's like 85 degrees, and people are like, what would it take to keep the pool open another month? Send you that email? We've answered that questions like, and I mean.

[55:10] we're experienced, and we can channel it. And if it's it's not a doable do or something we can answer, we'll tell you. But are those questions that we should be answering like. If somebody asked me what the boiler costs, I would say, I have no idea somebody versus trying to get the information and then answer it myself. Right? Is that right? That is, that is a better response for 2 reasons. One. It eliminates you as a middle person with the community member when you are not the subject matter expert, and it just. It creates a tricky space for you, but one. We want members of the community to know that they can email their team at parks and recreation. They don't need. you know, to go through a crowd member like we are public servants in here to help the community. So I think that is even better. Like, you know, your neighbor emails you and says, What is the deal? It's 85. It's September, and Scotty is closed for the season. Oh, with this email and connect you to Ally, she can tell us more council members do it all the time, because they want to be seen as responsive to the community members, and they don't have the answer.

[56:12] I like your question, because, to be fair except for the one invitation. I have not responded to a single email I received yet. because I'm terrified. I don't want to say something. I'm not supposed to. So I you always have a good answer. So just to address that point like, and I don't know if this is the good answer you're looking for. But you can always respond. based from like, based on or on your behalf, on your personal behalf. As a member, you can email a person say, and I've done this. Thank you so much for your concern. I've considered it, you know. I'm gonna raise this with Staff. or I'm gonna ask some more questions about this or like, Hey, do you want to grab grab coffee and go talk about this because you've raised some things that are concerning to me. And I live in this neighborhood, too, and I want to talk about what your experience has been. That is completely fine. It's just when you

[57:05] respond and say, I'm responding on behalf of the board. Not okay, because you're not responding on behalf of the board. You're responding on behalf of yourself. You can. Also, if someone emails you individually, it says, Hey, you know, Jenny, like, well, you know, I I'm really angry about this one thing, right? This question, and you don't want it. You don't know the answer I have forwarded to Allie and said, Hey, can you address this? Or I've responded to that person. CC. Allie, and said, Hey, you know she can answer your question. I mean, remember, we're the ones I mean not to be cheeky, but we're the ones getting paid like this is our job. It is our job, I mean, hopefully, people are kindly angry about the thing whatever. But and I think almost all emails to prep. We will respond to and say, You know, all 7 members of Prep received this note. I'm sending this on behalf of staff with some more technical information, or what you might know, so that you all don't have to be experts in all the things that's not part of your purview. Okay, yeah. And you're a note, though when she responds, she says, on behalf of the department.

[58:02] So if if that person wants a proud response or proud member to respond. One of us has got a way in, and I would just recommend to avoid open meeting issues just to respond individually to that person and not CC. Any other members of the Board. But you absolutely should, can and should respond professionalism to not respond to emails like that. But I just didn't know what I was. No. And city Council does that, too, like members of city Council, get individual emails, and they can choose to respond on their their personal behalf as a member. And you can do that too. We also, we all have to choose how much time we're going to spend engagement like you can spend a lot of time having coffee with pickleball players. I just think it's really important to respond to them. I think the worst thing is for you get. We say, we want this public involvement. We want, we value their opinion. And then the email just goes on responding and like, so

[59:00] you know, I just hope we have a protocol that even though we don't say that much, at least the email was received, you know, like. And then I guess my other question there in in regard to that is, if there is somebody who is already taking charge like, if it's a self holder email, should I leave that to the people who are kind of taking on the Self Holder issue rec. Issue like, I don't. I think this is a good time for us to decide if it's not a meeting and you have an opinion and wanna respond. Then absolutely the more response that I don't know I would want more responses versus yeah, less. And as long as it's not a meeting, I don't think there's an issue. But okay, we so just to give some historical context. On this we used to have a menu like a like a chart that said, if this issue is emailed about to proud, this proud member is responding, and it became overwhelming for some of the people on that list. And some of the people got no emails, and I that ended up. We ditch that because it was more efficient to just have people individually respond when they wanted to, on a range of issues and not feel like

[60:11] because we had one person who was running. This was around the set, the Boulder reservoir issue, and it was like, every single day people were emailing about that. And then we had the lifeguard issue 2 years ago. And so if we start assigning people in my view, if we start assigning people with the task of like, oh, you're gonna be the responder that just gets overwhelming, and it's frankly not equitable and fair. And I think the better choice would just be to stick with the status quo, which is, we all have free reign to respond. How we want. Now, if something comes in that's more south, boulder, rec oriented, and I know that Bernie and Sonny have met with them. I might forward it to Bernie and say, Hey, I know you've had discussions with these folks. Can you take this? That's fine. So yeah. So if a meeting, if if they send it to this to the prab email, it goes to all of us, and we respond, isn't that like sort of

[61:05] is that? Is that breaking the open meetings? Law? Do you respond just to that person just to that person. If you reply, all then yes, but then we never know if anybody else. But lately, like lately, the Department is taking the lead through your, is it the community outreach person that's been responding to all these emails recently? It depends on the topic. So is the de facto that the Department's gonna respond to these emails. And and we can also respond. Or I just wanna make sure somebody's responding. And it seems like there is a that's not clear here. 98% of the time we will respond to an email to crab on behalf of staff unless the time when we won't is when it is very clearly they're sharing an opinion on a matter you're about to take action on. That's a policy question that is coming before you. They have a packet that is coming like it's an upcoming public hearing or an action item. We will not respond then, because they are simply sharing with you their opinion. 98% of them emails come to you or questions beyond

[62:06] your expertise. They're saying, what does it cost to replace this? So we're like, you don't know. That's right like, and I don't say that mockingly of you, but like that is beyond your volunteer role to know what it cost, you know, and whether we so 98% of the time, there will be a response from staff. Okay, yeah. And if you've noticed that there isn't feel free to let me know. But I believe I mean, between all of us we quality control, and I think most of them are getting some kind of a response with Staff, with the facts doing a great job. I think we all appreciate it. Yeah, no, it's been great. You raise a really good point. And and we've had this discussion in the past where we're concerned, that things are slipping through the cracks, and the public isn't getting a response. The issue is unless we have that assigned person who's going to respond in on a certain topic, we just don't know, and it's almost impossible for us in the moment to like check and make sure that the rest of us are responding. Because then that would require like an email to everybody, and that's just the nature of the sunshine loss.

[63:10] So we can create. And I, I'm kind of out of ideas on this one like we? And I'm open to them. We could create some sort of process where we, as a board. you know, ensure 100 that some comment or an email is getting responded to. Maybe as chair. It's my job, I'll respond to all prep emails. And then somebody passes it on. So that's the equity issue. Because, like this month's gonna be super heavy inside a folder, and next month will probably be nothing at all. My point is, they don't have to say a lot. They just need to know that they their response, was received. You know, I think that when it's not response, it goes to this black hole. And then. yeah, I often respond, okay, I often respond, I know. But now I realize that I can't tell if anybody else responds. So that's like it's like this. We could. You know, we could. CC, Rosa and Rosa could say

[64:04] already responded this email or Jenny responded this email, yeah, to the group that generates longer email, though I don't think I mean, yeah. You know, I work for Federal government. When an email came in like that, you know, it got tracked and monitored and became part of the official record right on that particular topic. And so, like, you know, public comment came in. You know, it wasn't just like, Oh, well, no, it was really like they, you know, they tracked in and make. The response was due in a certain number of days, and it just seems this is a little bit. little loops. And especially when we give all this lip service to saying, Hey, we really want, we value your input. But then we don't have the like. Well, sort of give them even a chain response. You know. I mean, maybe there's an automatic response we could generate from the prep. That's like, sorry there is one, I believe. if you email the crab email, don't you get an automatic response that says, all 7 members of the Board have received, we can double check. But I think there is an automatic response. Yeah. And then like that, that assures them that we at least have received it. And you know yes, it is great to to know that every every email gets responded to. But,

[65:12] I I'm totally open to new ideas on how to make sure that emails don't slip through the cracks. But we in the past, just speaking from experience, it has been extremely difficult on the board. To employ some sort of system. Can I just ask a question? I have no indication that this is an issue that emails are not being responded to. And so I just in the interest of time. I I understand your concerns because you're not having visibility on it. But are you all getting feedback from folks that they're not getting responses or anything to indicate that this is an issue. I think we should keep it like it is for now and then, if somebody has some great idea next next week, maybe bring it up. And like, I respond to emails on Sundays. There it takes Mondays, etcetera.

[66:02] I don't want to do that. That's my personal opinion. I think we should think about it, and then move on. Bring it up in in business. I feel much more comfortable responding. Now that we've had this meeting, I will respond. I. I respond to most of the emails that come in. I just was scared to until then. Well, I think I don't feel it needed. The departments respond right? But it's been like, you know, a couple of days go by. Nothing happens. There's no response. It's still sitting there. And okay. I'll you know. happy to tell you about what's going on. Okay, let's move on to use engagement, for now. All right, I know Brian and Scott have done background to, and they're going to keep it high level. We sent the information in advance so that you all could review the details. They're going to give an overview. We hear the Board's interest in talking about kids. It aligns with the community's priority on kids, because all of our work is framed by our planning board and City Council unanimously approved department plan. They're going to give an overview of what the plan says.

[67:11] the work that's been done in the work to come so, and I noticed on your agenda it has team building in between. So if you all are doing your team first, st so as of right now, we're 13 min late. So how many of you guys are in. Okay, I feel more like a team. Me, too. You can control the description. Are we waiting? Are we waiting on? I think we are good. Are you ready, Brian? Yeah. Well, thank you for giving us a little bit of time today to to chat Scott, deputy director, and I'll let you introduce yourself, Brian Beery. I'm 1 of the senior recreation managers as part of community building and partnerships.

[68:21] So, as Ali mentioned, we're going to keep things pretty high, level and hopefully, share a little bit more about programming and partnerships. And I'll let Brian kind of take it away with the 1st line, sure, in terms of how we approach this talking about youth engagement activities. Scott will get to it a little bit later. But this is an area that touches so many different aspects of our work across the department. We really tried to frame the discussion and keep it grounded. Somewhere in between the thought process that we, you know, support the health and well-being of the entire older community, including young people and zooming in all the way to specific program areas.

[69:02] however, there are some elements in terms of when we ask the community about what are their needs, what are the areas we should be focusing on within this 5 year period that we look to coming out of a department plan. And the last time we did that in the department plan, lots of engagement. Statistically valid surveys, focus groups all matters and our outreach. We heard 4 main themes and findings for the way we serve young people. One is that there's some gaps around teams in volunteering leadership coming out of covid. Mental health is highlighted in an area that's just as important as physical health access to nature, despite all of our resources, was flagged as something of a gap due to access, safety, and other factors to connect young people to nature, and despite all those resources, Colorado having one of the fastest growing rates of inactivity and obesity in young people, so those were the things that we heard

[70:10] to build upon the mission statement, and there are other efforts going on and happening in parallel beyond just parks. And Rec, one of those is a Youth action plan that is underway and will be coming in 2025 through the child Friendly Cities initiative that we are participating in and will help build upon this work beyond just the parks and recommendation. Rosie, go ahead. Can I ask a quick question about the the last Colorado? Has one of the fastest growing rates of inactivity and obesity in the nation is that. do you think that has to do with the fact that, like generally, we're pretty healthy, and they're seeing a slide like suddenly, that's a new thing, or like that's just that's crazy to me. You know, Colorado is one of the fittest states. I think part of this is coming after the pandemic, and being a lockdown, I think children in particular probably weren't getting as much exercise as prior to the pandemic. And so you saw that obesity rates. So it's a very recent trend. Yes, yes, and like even recent data from the healthy kids survey Colorado this year, we know, even in Boulder Valley, like kids are not outside as much as

[71:25] they should be. Yeah. take care. So if you pop over the next one again, this is us zooming in a little bit. the 2 main modes that we engage with youth, passive activity and engagement through play, across parkland natural areas, playgrounds. But what we're gonna speak to most today is about our directed so that's around recreation facilities and programs. What we refer to as permitted activities and special events. And then some of our strategic partnerships, those also for those bullets of facilities, programs, events and and partnerships really go from the level of most resource, intensive to least so our most directed down to probably our least directed or least intervention.

[72:14] Next one. This is going to feel a little bit like you're leaping through the the program. Guide right now that we send out but a little less colorful here. But just as an overview recreation facilities are probably where we have the most direct connections, over 60,000 visits per year. Coming from youth into our recreation facilities. The pools, the boulder reservoir strong participation from financial aid recipients. And then many of these facilities have youth and teen focused spaces and have been areas we've invested in recently, even at the South Boulder Rec center, the ninja studio and community lounge and also dedicated facilities like the gymnastics center that's primarily used by youth. And then many of the aquatics features that you've seen, that are youth and leisure focused.

[73:04] What is the age group for youth? That's a great question that we're trying to find. Typically that's going to be in that 0 and 12 year old for some of the categories that we're going to talk about a little bit later on, with nature play that gets refined, a little bit closer to that, 0 to 5, 5 to 9, 9 to 12, and and 13 to 18. But I think, as as far as the the department plan went, it was yeah. 17. And I think if we're looking at the 61,000 visits that would be 18 and under is how we define that. That's how we track memberships and and usage correct, mentioned about the actual resources. Part of this is financial, and so our subsidy that we provide youth, facility, entry fees are subsidized and cost less than adult entry, and a lot of that direction is now in our comprehensive fee policy. go to the next one.

[74:01] Recreation programs are really broken down to 3 areas. Some of our direct service is around classes and courses, that you may be most familiar with happening within facilities, things like gymnastics and swim lessons and registered programs through camps. In addition to drop in programming, we have some groups that are supported directly. So ysi and expand directed programs for special populations, our future ranger program that's highly subsidized in those areas and then contracted programs. And this is one that can be a little bit misleading sometimes because you're driving down the road, and you were to look out at a facility and and one of the sports fields, you may not be able to tell the difference. Looking at a program that's a rental or a program. That's a contracted program. So contracted programs are offered on behalf of the department. We are seeking out a vendor. So all these are examples of those vendors that are offering a specific service and operate on a contract with a revenue share to the department. Some advertise and do registration through the department, others do that on their own. And so these are typically things that are a little bit more specific, a little bit more specialized, where, having

[75:17] a a dedicated, the one I always like to give the example. On is skateboarding square state skate. If we were to have a skateboard team operate within the department that would reach a relatively small amount of community, large amount of resource. And so it's more efficient to work with a 3rd party to contract that service, but these are delivered on behalf of the department. The way we determine, that is, through a service design and delivery model and a upcoming recreation program plan as part of our Capra accreditation. Can you go to the next one? Russell permitted activities and events. You might think these as facility rentals in the case of that, that 1st grouping. And these are around our dedicated sports facilities like our pools like the Rectangular and Diamond Fields

[76:07] Service, and provide service for a huge amount of the community for the pools. We have representation from several clubs, synchronized swimming, soccer, little league, softball. and those operate at those dedicated sports facilities. And then we have other uses that are in the parks. And so those are examples of what we call commercial use. Permit. And those are not in a specific sports facility. Other activities. Here are special events. driving movie series. The sweetheart stands and arts in the park or other areas that we focus activities and events for youth. Lots of different policy direction here, including a citywide event policy. And then a project that we're undertaking this next year that Scott will mention a little bit. Here is a community access framework because we are seeing a little bit of overlap and need to have some better clarification between some of these categories here in this

[77:11] permanent activities last one. These are our strategic partnerships. interestingly enough, we have policy direction from the Colorado State. Revised Statutes on having a joint use agreement with the school district. A lot of folks don't know that we, as both as public institutions, our- be recommended to collaborate on the shared use of space. And so in this case, that's the pools for Fairview and Boulder high Scott carpenter, ball, field and flatirons golf course, we also have some some elements that support the school district outside of joint use after Prom is hosted at the East Boulder Community Center, and then we have a few other partners that are related, but also have

[78:01] different areas that they support department. For example, the pottery lab and the growing gardens. Those are both properties that are owned by the city and operate in a service agreement, both for the operation of the facility and the programming that's happening within them. and then I guess I didn't mention play Boulder Foundation. You've heard from them pretty recently, but we collaborate on some programming there. One is the community forestry core, which is a new program this past year, and then one that goes to support financial aid, scholarship and program called Play Pass. That can help. You know, young people access both parks programs and programs in the community. If you go over to Scott to talk about yeah. So so Brian quickly laid out all the things that we're doing currently. And those are great things. And it's it's all guided by the needs assessment, the feedback that we received, and our 2022 Department plan. What's really exciting is, we have this, this great grab adopted 2022 Bpr. Plan, and within that plan there are 6 key themes that we look at and that we're focused.

[79:11] It really drives the focus of our work. You'll see the couple of images that we have here, and each one of those little sticky notes. I know you can't read them. I certainly can't read them from here. Is an initiative that's laid out in the 2022 plan. You'll see different colors of sticky notes, and that represents the different themes that these initiatives were were laid out by. And so we have the one on the left, I believe, is is programming, and the one on the right is partnerships. And so within the 2022 Bpr plan programs and partnerships is identified throughout the entire plan. You'll see 14 programming initiatives, 16 partnership initiatives. And so what we've done as a staff is, we've taken each of these initiatives we've identified which ones we need to to focus on. And we've started to prioritize the work. And this sequencing exercise that we've done is to go through and say, Okay, here we are in fall of 2024. What have we done so far related to programming that we identified in 22 as a priority.

[80:16] And what have we done in partnerships? And what are the next steps that need to occur. And we've really looked at because there are different initiatives identified within the 6 key things. We've really looked at. What makes the most sense to tie together. So I'm gonna talk real briefly about some of the things that we're gonna focus on. So, Rosa, if you can jump to the next slide, please. I think. One of the things that's important is in the 2022 plan. We had these 30 items identified as initiatives. We wanted to focus on. And I wanted to highlight a few of the things that we've already accomplished today. And so as part of our Capra work with the Chapter 6 of Capra, Brian has led the creation or or basically new development of a program plan Recreation program plan and updated our service design delivery model, and that those were exercises that were identified. We've we've accomplished that and feel really good about the direction we're going and that guides what we offer for programs.

[81:19] You've heard from Jackson quite a bit over the last few months on our comprehensive fee policy that was adopted last year. We've also updated the joint use agreement with the school district, and I wanted to talk real briefly about nature everywhere, and some of that strategy. And so I know. Mark Davison is is our our planning manager, and and this is his baby. But we've done a lot with our nature everywhere strategy. And so Mark could probably do a half an hour presentation just on this strategy to talk about all the wonderful things that are happening. But we basically divided this strategy into 3 different groupings. So nature play is the the 0 to 5 year olds.

[82:00] We've started this work with pop ups at Primo's Park and doing some activation there. And we've also had our staff go through training on nature play design and construction and do some nature play workshops which is gonna really benefit our young people that want to utilize our parks. That second area, the the nature hoods and outdoor learning for 6 to 12 year olds. We've also got some progress on this one, too. We constructed the nest, which was Bpr's 1st outdoor classroom over at Crestview. We've delivered 1st safe routes to Parks program in Colorado with Primo's Park. And there are several other initiatives that are coming up with that one as well. And then the last piece with youth, leadership and and green jobs. This one's really cool because we installed temporary structures at Primos to facilitate leadership among youth, service, initiative participants. And so you all know that as part of the naming of Primost Park, our youth were heavily involved in that, we're also trying to really give them opportunities for leadership as well. And I think it's been very successful to move forward with the nature everywhere. Strategy.

[83:09] Rosa, can you do the next slide, please. as far as programming? What we've identified as key priorities that we're gonna focus on. Next, I think that's the the big thing that we want to really look at. So from 25 2025 and 2026, there are a few items that we think from a programming standpoint will really kick us off and move us in the right direction. The 1st is to streamline and simplify the service, delivery, framework and recreation priority index. We do often get questions about our indoor pools and how we prioritize use from different user groups for the pools. We have the the recreation priority index which which allows us to do that in a logical manner. And I think we're gonna continue to work with a priority index and service delivery framework to assess usage and and what's happening from a programmatic standpoint?

[84:03] We're gonna continue to assess the total cost of of service for programs. To inform our budgeting and fee setting, and you'll hear more about fees on Monday coming up. We're going to develop a 5 Year plan to continue program improvements. And we're also going to continue to work on the community access framework for rentals and how we activate our parks and what community groups are using our parks. So those are our focus for community. There are several other initiatives focused on programming that we're going to get to, and that will probably occur in 26 and 27 next slide, Rosa. So partnerships. We also know it's important that we continue to grow and move forward with our partnerships across community. So that we're not duplicating services. And we're really streamlining what it is we offer to use in the community. And so one of our 1st steps in doing that is to create some goals and objectives for our partnerships. And once we have that we'll develop a database of like minded organizations. If you're a community member and you really don't know where to find a particular sport or activity.

[85:09] Wouldn't it be great if border parks and recreation had a database of all the things happening in the community. That would be that one stop shop that people could go to and say, I want to play soccer. Here's who I need to contact. or or whatever it might be. And so that's 1 of our goals to to move forward with that here in 2526 and that includes the list of existing service providers. And and and those additional resources. We're then hopeful that we can develop a community interface that will promote some of these partnerships. So it'll be bilingual. It'll be something that can be easily found online and can be navigated by community members very, very simply and efficiently. Lastly, allocate appropriate resources to manage partnerships. We know that a lot of our partners like to utilize our our facilities, our fields and spaces. And that's great. And we're gonna continue to look at how we best allocate our spaces

[86:06] next slide. So with that. You've heard a lot about our programs, our partnerships and and what's happening next. And we posed a couple of questions up here to just for the conversation. And Brian and I are happy to answer any questions that you might have start just on the last point. the the database of like minded organizations. Will that be for sports? Primarily it will be for all youth programming, all youth programming. Okay. what about I don't know what would be the function of Parks and Rec. But one of the things that I had thought about in the past was just if we were to do a team center. It would be kind of a a collaborative place for not only kids to get together, but also for them to find resources that might help them.

[87:01] that like mental health resources? Or is there something like that that can be created? Also, you know, that's a great question. obviously we can't commit to a team center right now, but but like it places somewhere. I cause I I'm pushing this team center like I've been talking about it for a long time. But really, I think that I I want kids to get out of technology. But if a lot of kids are focused on technology, maybe just a place on the boulder parks web, Rec website where they could go to find resources for educational opportunities or jobs or leadership, or you know, but like a 1 stop shop kind of there are several initiatives that are underway for 25, and 26 around cultivating more opportunities for young people and specifically teens to connect with the system, to connect with nature leadership, opportunities, job opportunities. And so to Scott's point. There, I I mean, it's kind of buried in some of the memos. There is no funding to do anything new. So I just I need to be super clear about that that. And that's why, when we are talking about framing this conversation like

[88:06] what we have, the opportunity is shape, the way for things that we already do. So, for example, for rentals. we can look at what is a rental structure that would incent some of these groups that already are serving kids and serving them well, in many cases to align with community goals in the, you know, proximity. If we want things programmed more in neighborhoods in the terms of access, are we holding people accountable for providing scholarship and reducing barriers to participation? We can do that without costing, you know, without adding a service. And so what you're talking about. I I heard a couple of things. A teen center is separate. Yes, that's a major budget item. I'm still struggling like I struggle to find leadership opportunities for my kids. I think some of that is going to be an output of the the work. Scott outlined that there would be an online and available resource for folks that in theory could be a 1 stop shop. And what's amazing is we continue to hear about new things that that pop up. So oftentimes families will go to the schools to try and find that information. So I think the more that Brian and I can continue to work with Bbsd, to to streamline and organize that information.

[89:17] I I think the more successful we're going to be. But if you're talking just resource library, not just sports, but across across the system programs and services for youth. We certainly can look at that. Well, also, what about the what about the broncos money. Let me let me follow up on the broncos money. But I just appreciate mark is online, which means sometimes it's hard to make a voice in a hybrid space. And he's gonna he, if you're interested, can share a little bit more about designing spaces for teens, because that is something the planning team is working on Mr. Davidson. No, hold on. You're getting promoted. You weren't. You weren't allowed to talk yet. We're gonna we're gonna make you allowed to talk.

[90:00] We really did want you here, Mark, we appreciate you chiming in from home. Hope you're ready. Oh, he's gone! Oh, there he is! There he is! Yeah. Should I just talk about the 3 Major Cip projects Ali just for a few seconds to explain that side of it. As it relates to teams. Yes, please. Yeah, no, it's it's come up obviously quite a bit in the child. Friendly Cities initiative. Recently, one of the questions that was included in the survey, asked, how often teens get out into nature at least once a week, and 95% said, No, we don't. So there's obviously a huge issue, then a lot of it's to do with safety access. And frankly, parents feeling the perception of safety. So the Primos Project and the North Boulder Park Project and the Civic Area Project are set up, and we've partnered with growing up boulder to work directly with teens

[91:01] and start to look at what they think it might look like. And we did some work last year for the civic area. And it was interesting. Teens specifically talked about a 3rd place. and it was a place in nature where they felt safe, where they could hang out where they could sort of do their thing. And we've sort of looked across the country at opportunities for teens, and, to be honest, not many park systems have fully figured it out yet. There's not like a design model for teen spaces. Most of them are these kind of interstitial spaces. but our hope is when we work with teens. A lot of the things they talked about was, can we have a place where we can gather, get coffee? Be next to nature? And we've talked with Boulder community health who would also like to offer sort of potential wellness programs out in parks like in the civic area designed a space where someone could meet a counselor. All teams can lead programs themselves. So I think you'll see over the next year for those 3 projects. A lot more effort going into the designer spaces and then working with

[92:02] Scott and Brian, the activation of them, and how that will support teams. And we recognize there isn't a great Nancy yet, but we're seeing the need to put a lot more effort into that right. And then, Jenny, you also asked about the the broncos money, so to remind folks, or maybe even some of the new Board members. I can't remember the last time we talked about it. So, as part of the sale of the Denver broncos, there was a Metro stadium district that funded the new stadium cities that contributed to it received a refund, not a refund, but a a disbursement with the sale of the city of Boulder Share was 2.2 million dollars. That money has been held pending the finalization of a youth led youth developed action plan through our Unicef Child friendly Cities project. I know that was a whole lot of words. I appreciate it. So basically, we are working with kids to develop a youth action plan. The project has been underway for just over a year. Now that'll all. The intent is for it to be final to inform 26 budget development. But even before then we're shooting for it by May, because we have funding built into the 25 budget that could be released to implement early actions from that youth action plan. So we'll keep you all in the loop for that. We're really excited about that. There's a lot of kids that have been involved, a lot of our community organization partners have been involved in that.

[93:20] and that is going to be an opportunity, Jenny, also, for obviously some implementation, and pilots so growing up boulder is not a division of the city. They're their own nonprofit. They're a separate nonprofit, and they are. They are the ones who are pushing the child, friendly city initiative right? But they are hired by the city to partner with us on developing, and that so we are partnered on that project, and then the disbursement of the disbursement would be through the city, not through the nonprofit. Correct? Okay. thank you. Thanks, Mark. I saw Anna have a hand. So, Anna, then, sonny? So thank you for that presentation that was helpful. Like to have the big picture about what's going on. For teams and youth.

[94:07] I had a couple of questions. One was, I was wondering, for the recreation programs and the contracted services. There's any like reporting transparency around equity and participation like. yes, there's all these programs. But like, is there information about who is participating in these programs both from the ones you run and the ones that are contracted. Yeah. So I mean, that's 1 of the benefits of operating a contract versus a rental is all that's built into their their contract is performance metrics, and that includes, I think I'd have to get back to you, and just exactly what the parameters are, but they're supposed to report on their participation. like reflected anywhere. Like what percentage of like people who do gymnastics are? Received the the scholarship or website, the discounted great question, any of the programs that folks register for directly through us at our front desk or or through active which is our recreation management software. We do have data that we can run on households, and we can run demographic information. We certainly can run financial

[95:16] information and and understand the amount of scholarships and whatnot. If there's a particular program that you wanted us to look at, we could certainly dive into that. We do not go through program by program at this time and dive into that. I think supervisors of into individual program areas. Probably look at that data a little bit more closely. But they're not in our key performance indicators. Right now. I think that'd be interesting to look at. My second question was, there are some spaces like that I do notice teams at that weren't mentioned. Like, I understand that you're not really active in managing, but like the skate park, and like the skating area underneath the library or the bike park is places where teens are like already going. So I was wondering if there's any type of like engagement to see like, what else would you like, or how can make it better? Because

[96:09] sometimes it seems like it's just like kind of tolerating them there. But it's not really kind of trying to like, encourage more participation, or like how to improve it. And then, like the pools. I've noticed that it's kind of difficult sometimes for some of the older kids who still, they're like, not adults yet. But they're not like little kids, and they want to like, have like do rough housing, and it's really hard to have them in similar spaces to like kids that are like barely keeping their head above the water. And it just kind of is a difficult balance to have them together in the same space. So just wondering if there's any plans to like build on these existing areas where teens are congregating actively in Boulder. Sure, and I think we'll continue to do community engagement. I'm hopeful at some point. We have the resources to be able to go to where the youth are currently at and try and activate those spaces as well. But for right now we don't have the resources necessarily to do that. But we do want to continue to gather feedback from teens.

[97:09] And I think we can continue to to try and understand the needs. And and what's happening and then utilize data that we receive from. Even if we're able to put together when we're able to put together the the data resources. Perhaps there's an opportunity to collect information and and continue to utilize data to to. you know, really foster those relationships a little bit. Any thoughts on that Brian. Oh! Wouldn't work good. Oh, so I was just gonna mention that we so for the civic area, our park Rangers working with our planning staff, didn't we did engage teens in the skate park under the library, for example. And it's a good example what you're talking about, where we've changed our community engagement rather than being from events where people have to turn up to obviously going to folks. In in this case, especially teens.

[98:02] And another example of that is a primos we're working with again our Ysi program working with planning staff of engaged teens. And we even to the point where we have the 1st citywide team community connector representing the disability community. So we're we're making inroads. And like Scott's point, we're trying to like, think about, how do we best use our resources to get this to work, knowing that the we don't have, as you never have as much as you want. But there's we're looking at ways to be more efficient and definitely think about ways to sort of create more engagement with teams, not just as a 1 off, but over a period of time in those projects. How else are you engaging with the youth? In what way do you mean for feedback on? Well, I think yes, and we certainly do surveys and and try and get feedback for each of the programs. So Brian mentioned all the existing programs that are happening. Either

[99:04] it within facilities or the self directed or or program registrations. And so I think within a lot of our programs. We do. I'd love to see more Pre and post surveying and understanding the impact that we're making. And I think we're looking at doing some of that work as part of the service delivery model. You could probably talk about that a little bit. But I think there's always room for more, but we certainly want to try and get feedback to make sure that what we're offering is as relevant as possible and impacting as many people as we can. Yeah, I was, gonna say the only thing I would add to it what Mark said a little bit about the physical infrastructure and and the capital planning was to Anna's point of You're you're right. And I think that's part of the reason why reaching this demographic has been so tricky is why there are so many bullets within the department plan, for here are some things to try and and how to sequence them. And so, starting with this rec program plan and then moving into all these, these

[100:05] upcoming elements of a 5 Year plan working with the Youth plan hopefully, we'll be able to make some progress on that really long list of the routine is in the department plan quite a bit. I mean, I think one really specific example builds on what you talked about Anna, the downtown area. We, I mean, my kids are 13 and almost 16, and you know Froll Street Pacific area, the creek. They're all areas older kids want to hang out. and Mark and his team have allocated and actually partnered with central communications and engagement to even augment it. There is a significant amount of funding with growing up boulder and specific to teens to inform the civic area project. And so we really think that's an opportunity to extend boulder high to make it a backyard for these kids where they don't. They don't want to be in registered programs. This is what is true all over the country right teens? Do they want safe self, directed self organized play. And so our challenge is to create spaces and containers for that.

[101:01] So there's I think we've already done some initial engagement with kids at Boulder High. It was a smaller group, and in 2025 it's gonna be pretty significant, mark. I don't know if you if I if I missed anything there but, Anna, you're kind of nailing it, that that area is a huge opportunity. Yeah, no, the only thing I would add, Ali, which is super exciting is we've asked the we're working with Cu in the sustainable Landscapes Department, where the college students are designing pop ups that will be working directly with the Boulder High Street students for what those spaces might look like. And we can actually test them out before we get to rim cutting. And so we won't just be doing a design and expecting teams to turn up. The teams will work with a Cu students to figure out what it looks like. They'll get to actually build the spaces, test the spaces out. So it's this sort of new type of effort to not just ask questions, get some answers and disappear. We're trying to bring them along all the way through the process. It'll be pretty exciting. And actually it'll be fun to bring this

[102:03] info back to you to see how successful we are with this. What is like a new experiment. Not many people have tried this before so, and it does take quite a bit more effort, but we're definitely committed to it, like, Ali said, with partnering with other departments, as well. Heard you mention engaging with Boulder high. Are you engaging with Fairview students. I missed the last part. Sorry. Are you engaging with Fairview High School students as well, or just boulder high right now. Oh, thank you. Yeah, yeah, actually, yes, we're we're still scoping it to be honest. And it includes Whittier. And we're also looking at even Barker preschool. So we're definitely looking for how students in that vicinity the area could engage with civic. Down just downtown? Or are you looking at other areas. At the moment it's really downtown related to how folks would engage with the civic within that vicinity. because that's where the. Projects are funded, and where there's money to invest.

[103:02] right? So you can actually take the kids feedback and do something with it. So growing up. Boulder is designated for downtown only. No, we actually so growing up Boulder, because they work so directly with the city for so many years. They've they've actually, it's wonderful, partner, because they are going at the moment to be continuing to work with us on primos. They will, they're scoping what we might look like when they work with us on North Boulder Park, and then Ali pointed out the relationship for civic. So they work with us on the major design projects the difference from in the past is they would kind of come in at the planning phase and get like a report, and then they would disappear. And this has been the big change we're saying, actually, can we have us? Can you help us work with the teens and youth through that design process? Even construction and test things out, so that when we get the ribbon cutting there's no like surprises or what happened to our initial thoughts or input from teens or youth. So this we're hoping with this process, we'll get more buy-in and hopefully more success.

[104:04] My, my question is specifically about who's being engaged and where the money is. It sounds like, are you designated to be spent? It's North Boulder Park. It's civic area capital projects the major funded capital. So yeah, so to your point, I think, as we engage the community in the future of Rec centers project. That's another area that we can specifically target students from Fairview, from Boulder, from from throughout the entire community. Because that'll be a project that that potentially would impact the South boulder area and and community. And so I think that's where that engagement with youth will be specific to capital improvement projects. For now Mark is just referring to the 3 that are already funded. Okay, and can you share with us what's on those little sticky notes like, what's coming. What are the ideas? Hold up! I just. I have a proposal on that to not so you will see our 25 action plan in December that shows the details of and and all it was was the sequencing that's on the slides. Yes.

[105:13] and each sticky is just an initiative from the department plan. So all these numbers, the 2, 3, 5 is chapter 2, goal 3. And so all we did is we took them together, and since so much depends on the sequencing. They hit dependencies on each other. We kind of put them in a cascading order of that. You wouldn't do one of these things down at the bottom until you did the one up top. So that kind of represents the order, and then the initiatives we described. Really, that top row. For what's happening in 25 and 26 Bpr plan, because that's where each and every one of these came from. They're they're within the the 6 key themes.

[106:02] I just have a question for Mark. I mean. interested in these sort of outside team spaces. But I am concerned about the civic center area. like creating a teen space outdoors and making sure it's safe. Honestly, I think we heard safety was a huge issue in the Civic Center planning project, and you know, if my son will say I'm going to go hang out under the library, that to me is not a safe place, and right now it isn't. And I think the safety. How do you create these teen places that are teens, not not adults, and not a place to peddle drugs and everything else that's going on. So I think that's the biggest challenge there, like, at least I feel like, because of the team center in the library. I feel like there's somebody overseeing that, and it's a little bit safer. But I do have concerns about creating these outdoor team spaces that are safe. Given our current situation right here. No, yeah, it's a really good question. It's it's probably one of the toughest questions to answer. And we we know other cities are in the same position, and and everyone's working on it across the country.

[107:09] I would say. One thing, Ali introduced, which we're definitely applying as a model is what's called the coexistence model. And this is the idea that we are looking for social behaviors, that the community accepts within a certain space like the civic area. and that is will be that. So instead of just doing a design of the spaces, we'll also be looking at. But we've talked about what's the space activation. But we'll also be looking at the safety and the regulations and the patrol of those areas. So all of that comes together as a model instead of it, like I keep saying, instead of just going to ribbon cutting and then trying to fix it through the design instead, we'll have the space, activation, safety and regulations. how we manage the resource, and then ultimately also the design of the resource. We don't have. No one's got a perfect answer to it yet. But you'll see as we bring this forward hopefully, this is a model that has the best chance of success.

[108:05] And then the final thing I'd say is something that's emerged through the youth already in the initial engagement for civic is the idea of a field station that is, for youth, for teens. and that to your point it would create somewhere. That's like a safe space within the civic that is owned by the teens or by youth. It can have obviously adult support. But it's trying to create these islands where people feel safe and you can grow out from there. And that's a model that's been tried in a few of the cities. That's pretty successful. So we'll definitely be bringing that back to you in 2025 and be great to get your feedback on it. Frankly. She. I have a more financial questions about like these services. How? So? You mentioned that there's some do services that the city provides, others that are too niche to to for it to make sense to provide. How do you decide what falls into which category? We have a whole service design and delivery model. And one of those elements is

[109:06] basically running a program through to see what its alignment is with our mission, what it's financial viability might be what the market position and competitive landscape are. And and basically where that it's it's a big flow chart. And then previously called plinko model, because it kind of looks like one of those big pyramids that you you kind of run programs through that to determine should you pursue collaboration? Should you exit that area? Is it a place you should invest more in? Is it something you might want to subsidize? Further. And so it gives you those options. And that's 1 of the things we're most excited about through the Capra process is bringing that back to all of our program staff and and running all of our programs through that fresh again. And and we have had some good examples over time of areas that we have leaned into program areas and stepped out of others. Gymnastics is probably one of the the greatest success stories of where we focus more on the recreational side of gymnastics and less on the competitive side. And and had that spun off. Yeah. And so it fills this this community need, and and you know it has ripples kind of take time across the whole landscape in the community. But a lot of it is looking at.

[110:25] you know, to the market and trying to understand who else is is out there. Thank you. Prior to the meeting, starting when we were just eating here, Sonny, and Elliot and I were talking about the youth. Access to sports and saying like that. It might like, I don't know. I just feel I personally feel frustrated with a lot of like the pay to play focus here in boulder, and we're saying that it could help bring more access to more kids if there was more sports offered through like an elementary schools like through after school

[111:00] programs, because it's been pretty like from what I've seen at my kids schools. It's been pretty limited. The uni just started with kick to bill after school soccer program. But like I feel like they're in your partnership with Bbsd. Like looking to act, get more kids active through schools would be a good thing for like parents that work or parents that don't drive, or parents that can't afford the private providers absolutely. And I know we're continuing to meet with Bbsc. We've got a meeting coming up with them to talk about our joint use agreement here shortly. And we'll we'll continue to discuss different programming what's offered by the schools and and what we can potentially offer. And then, I think, as we create the database of what is being offered in the community that will help us to identify some of those gaps. And and really then start to figure out, how do we fill in those gaps? So it's like a thing like that's happening in a lot of different cities that everything's just going private. It's really really popular. I came here just about 2 years ago in the previous community that I worked for

[112:06] All their youth soccer was transitioning from city led programming to a private organization running those programs. Even the recreation side of the program, as well as the competitive and and what we're seeing is a a lot of parents are paying a lot of money for kids to play in those private leagues and whatnot. I have worked with them in the past. I know Brian's working with Albion to figure out scholarshipping financial assistance for those. We don't want there to be those barriers for kids to be able to to play and to learn the sport and and those foundational skills and the teamwork and whatnot around youth sports. And so we know it's extremely important. And that's where we're gonna continue to work with these different groups within our partnerships to to make sure that those barriers are broken down and access is available. Brian mentioned the Play Foundation. There's also the play pass, and those play passes can be used, not just within boulder parks and recreation program, but also community programs as well. So there's financial assistance out there.

[113:10] you know, understanding it's not a boulder thing. It's a broader thing. Why are people looking for these private soccer leagues instead of rec soccer? If you know. I I think if you're asking me personally, I think a lot of it's that culture, right as a as a parent. You know, my, my kids were both high school athletes. And you know, I think a lot of parents you want your kids to to be able to potentially get a scholarship to college and whatnot. And it's it's just a competitive environment. At 1 point I had to say time out, we're not playing baseball all year because travel baseball just it. It was too much. But I think there's a lot of pressures and demands on on families for the kids to to be participating in competitive and and travel programs that just really really popular. Right? Now, rec programs also, mostly like parental volunteers as coaches. And when you go into

[114:03] the private organizations. You exactly. You don't get a paid coach at like the Soccer Leagues like you're still paying a lot of money. I don't know about what level. But you're so far my kids, about all volunteers, and they're they started out in all the different leagues. We talked about this and like, and you're paying for the League. You're paying for the League and your rep your umpire. The reps don't show up at the time, and your parents are coaching and their volunteers. That's crazy. It's totally crazy. Volleyball is totally different. Yeah, they're paid revenues to park and rep for their absolutely okay. Yeah. He kind of differentiate the contracted and then rental like rental licensing programs. Right? I mean, there's kind of a thin line between some of those like a swim team is rental licensing. But a soccer club is contracted. Is that right or right? Those are those examples are both rentals. Okay? Contracted program. One of the benefits is typically exclusivity. And so you would be as a partner. There's that revenue share. There's so we take registration our Rms system. And then there's a revenue share with the provider. It also gives them some priority access over the the facility space, and that revenue is going back to fund the scholarships. Is that right? Okay?

[115:30] Okay. Another thing. For the teams in terms of like leadership and employment in active sectors. My son, just did the Colorado Soccer Association referee certification so like that that, like he had a friend told him about it like, I feel like that's something that could be really put out there more by the city, like here's an opportunity to get $50 an hour. If you're a 13 year old it's awesome pay, and they like, she was saying, they need reps. There's like

[116:00] constantly need to have more reps. So I think that would be good. Pass through the city. No, it's through Colorado Soccer Association, but they work like over at Pleasant View or any other. Yeah, unfortunately, we're not able to pay our camp staff and and our staff that work with our programs that that kind of money. But I I do think we have a lot of job opportunities within our department. Specifically, during the summer months. And so we definitely push those quite a bit. But as you talk about the resources for using the community employment opportunities are huge and so we can certainly look at at that as well. Another question is, do you have any examples of like where you had a contracted program. And then it's. And then you department has said, Hey, they're making so much money at this. I think we can provide. Do this at a lower cost is that, have you ever taken over a contractor program and provided it yourself in in the past? Or is there examples of that? Yeah, quite recently. And I think it's it's not always based on success. It's usually the other way around. It's when a program might not be meeting standards, or there might be an opportunity for us to come into a market in a way that a potential contractor isn't and so we've had some some programming areas where we have kind of even come back

[117:19] into something that we've contracted before. I think most recently, our dance programming has gone back in house. It used to be provided by a contractor. And so those are areas that this isn't a static assessment. The intention is that we do this each year for program areas is to look at them and see where where they sit. And then also, I mean, you have to add a little bit of time in there for pilots and seeing how things go letting programs grow. But yeah, that service delivery model is is singular in the in the spaces that you're looking at in the 3 capital funded projects. Are there any other cities that you're looking at as examples where there's been good outdoor spaces? And just if there is, I just I'm curious what they are, and I can take a moment to research them. Oh, Mark turned his camera back on, I'm gonna say, Mark turned away because he doesn't want you to hear about all the trips and parks I visit, and then send them pictures and ideas.

[118:15] I'll let you go first.st Ali. No! Go for it. This is all. Well, yeah, we actually, what we'll do is when we come back next spring. We'll bring some of the precedent examples. You'll be able to see them. but just one of our favorites which we were lucky to visit last year as part of the children Nature Network. We got invited down as well one of the cohort cities. and that's with the in partnership with the National League of Cities. and we got to see tunnel tops, which is a part of the Presidio development in San Francisco. And if you get a chance to go online, they've got a really great website where they show the programs. They deliver even the way they communicate the message. And then the design of that site. That's one of the at this point, one of the best examples I've seen.

[119:05] and, Ali, if you want to share others, I'll let you go. Nope, we're good. Just know that when you work in parks and recreation every trip is a work trip, and my family is well used to checking out parks in any city we're in. but I also, I mean my key takeaway from all the great perks I've seen in the last 2 years is is yes, great design, landscape architecture. Blah, blah! It really is about the activation and the use. And what are you doing to make sure it is great after the ribbon cutting that will take funding. It's where there was a gap with civic area phase one. We didn't have the governance and structure we don't have. You know, our recreation centers have a center supervisor who responsible for coordinating the schedules and making sure that you know. Hey, Yoga, instructors have got a room that's sitting open, and, you know, trying to optimize scheduling of the building. We don't have that in the parks. We have folks who take care of the parks and make sure they're safe and clean. But park activation is not something we're well resourced to do. I expect it to be a budget conversation in 25 and 26

[120:08] mark. There I am there. I just read today that they're opening a new park in San Francisco in the Hunters Point Debut neighborhood, which was kind of like the shipbuilding area, had been pretty. It was a super fun site, and I think they said the price was the most expensive park ever in San Francisco. It's like 200 million dollars. I just thought that for that perspective. But if that was a really challenging areas to live there. So I'm really excited to check that out. And it's right on the water. Former candlestick stadium was out there. What's it called? I don't know. Actually, yeah, no, I'm sure it was in the paper today. Where is it? It's in the Bayview southeast. Yeah. The example from my home of Brooklyn is a Brooklyn Bridge Park, which, like when I was growing up, was

[121:00] unused shipping terminals. And it's now this like incredibly heavily used part. There's an article about the architect who apparently still like patrols, and thank you. Awesome. And of course that was built Brooklyn. So. And just as and one thing Ali's been encouraged us to do is frankly to make it successful. Sometimes a limited funding is, what does governance look like? And who do we partner with, and can community members work with us to help think about that governance and how we operate? The Park is like partners within it. So that's another sort of shift we're looking at. Central Park is kind of the famous one for the 1st big park to do that. So we'll be exploring models like that where the community can participate and help with that activation as well. And then also, how does the how can we partner with other folks on assisting with funding, knowing that to your point the 200 million, some of these price tags for park development has increased quite a bit in recent years.

[122:02] so sorry to interrupt this discussion. I have to leave because my wife has surgery today, and she's having some complications with that, and I need to go but I wanna pass off the torch to our vice chair to continue the meeting. But you're already kind of running the meeting, anyway. So thank you so much. I'm sorry to have to ditch out halfway, but I don't have a choice. I think she'll be fine. I just need to get home. So yeah, thank you. Yeah. yeah. Alright. Well, this has been a great meeting. Thank you so much for the engagement and also for staff. Just incredible presentations, as usual. Really appreciate all your hard work. So thanks a lot, of course. Yeah. Thanks for the goody bag. Any other questions. Anyone else?

[123:03] I don't. I don't want to wait till December to see like you mentioned. There's something we're gonna talk about in December as far as, like the the project, our 2025 through a lot of staff engagement. We have a staff workshop on November 5, th like we don't sit and joke about the ivory tower at Iris. Right like we. It's there's a lot of process to happen to finalize it. We can tell you the things that we think are priorities that we. as a leadership team, have prioritized. But it's not done yet. So we're not trying to be secretive. It's just it's just not done yet. Okay, I didn't know if it was just like, because there's other things before to get to okay. And actually, I just it should. On that note I said, December, your December agenda right now is open. and so on. Your on your meeting agenda for Monday night is a discussion of whether you should have a meeting or not because we can email you the action plan and present it in January. But

[124:00] so, maybe before I commit to something in December. We'll just note that that's something for you all to discuss next Monday is whether you have a December meeting cool. I thought you were. Gonna ask it the same question. Thanks. Great. that's all. That's all the staff presentations, right? Oh, yeah, very good. Thank you all. So much for team building connect amazing information. Yes, time to trust falls. It's got snow. Oh, my God! That'll be the catcher today. And well, do you want to do a little quick question thing that's go there. Excuse me.

[125:00] She need to do all the people that want to pay money. So it's not like we only have 3 teams. If you don't make it, you're not good enough. They just play each other. They play other clubs. They play other clubs. All of this shape looks like I'm outside like that, you know. There's just 2 teams per age group, and if you don't like it, you don't like that. They don't even care that they want your money. That's how competitive that is. That's crazy about this machine. Alright. why don't we start with Sunny on the question. So I think so. You just pick

[126:01] and and teams. or if anybody else is ready and wants to start. I know. Okay, I'll go. What did you want to be when you grew up. I wanted to be well, 1st I wanted to be a roller skating waitress, and then I wanted to be a TV news broadcaster. and then I went into the market media lab and realized how technical everything was. See? So My ideal vacation to the beach any beach anywhere. and the top. 3 things of my bucket list, I say, would probably be one of my ideal vacations is to go to the Seychelles, so I'm hoping that I can do that in the next 15 years.

[127:04] And I'd like to be golf club champion at any club at any point in my life. And oh, I don't want my 3rd bucket list. Fancy I'm gonna call it a bathroom. That's good. I'll go ideal location. I've been in travel and worked, worked in travel. I've traveled and worked to travel for most of my adult life, so I've always planned vacations. But I I spent the better part of 15 winters working in Thailand leaving educational travel, certification and time massage. And so I have been playing since my kids were born to bring them back and show them all the places that I spent a lot of time and introducing all my friends. So I'm planning next Thanksgiving to Christmas to take my 5th graders out of school

[128:08] and spend 6 weeks traveling and going to all the remote. We- We travel pretty pretty low to the ground. So there's a organic farm that I spend a lot of time with that I want to take him to. And there's a a a company that my friend started right after the tsunami hit in 2,005 all around the Andaman coast. I wanna go and spend a good portion of time living with local families, and you know, hanging out with the moping people and the and messy and that kind of stuff. So I'm planning and saving and scheming and trying to figure out. I rent my house much time, and we can do it. So that's that's very much in my mind just making that

[129:04] dream happen while the kids are. Oh, no, I feel like there's a sweet spot coming up next. And that's a big thing. also consider that in my buck one of my bucket listings. When I went with growing up I always wanted to be a like. for, like National Geographic, or Jacquesteau, or something like that, if I wanted to be a a marine biologist and research it. Okay. my favorite family traditions. Gosh! I don't know. We wait. I have twins who are 9 and my mother, when we went to visit. made up some like conversational questions and put them at everyone's

[130:01] tape or anyone's place. When We had dinner one night, and my daughter really took to that, and so now she makes up her own questions and put some in a little jar. And so we pull this up. That's that's become really fun, like, I'm shocked that my kids actually enjoy that, and will answer questions, so I don't know how long it'll last. But right now it's my favorite family traditions. Good, thank you. Sure. I thought I would be an attorney through college. My ideal vacation is anywhere in the world that has me going on an adventure, meeting new people who don't speak my language in a beach. So some combination of the 3 and one of my favorite family traditions is our annual trip into the woods to get a Christmas tree. So we go. Yeah. when I was a kid, I wanted to be a journalist. Then I became a journalist, and it's very challenging way to make a living. So now I do other things. But I think it's still what I want to be when I grow up. So maybe something I'll

[131:09] your channels again. I love to backpack, and I don't. We don't have a trip planned yet, but I'm hoping that next year my wife and I will go to the Alps and do some backpacking in Europe which we haven't done together. And then Thanksgiving is my family favorite, my favorite family tradition. It's the only holiday that my family celebrates and forward to it in a few weeks. Here. let's see ideal vacation. I think it's challenging. So I think my deal vacation is one can do like everyone's happy, you know, and that you're It's active, you know. It has to be active for me. That's culturally interesting. And that, yeah, like everybody's needs are being met. Some of that. That's the secret rushing here.

[132:03] family traditions. And we do a lot of rose and thorn. We do mostly dinners at my family still. And we can, we started this tradition of you get the rose and thorn of this kids day, and it's a good way to get everybody can get some stuff off their chest. And so we still do that. And then bucket list items. I think it's always in flux. But currently I would like to hike the there's like there's a couple of multi day biking events that I would like to do as well. and and also sail across the Atlantic. So everyone. Scott. sure, I'll jump in there. What did I want to be when I grew up? A professional athlete, of course, but that quickly, quickly went away. But always love sports. That was kind of kind of my thing with sports.

[133:09] I think, the most important person in your life right now. It's it's 2. It's my 2 kids. You think as they grow up there, you know, you'd be able to kind of let that go a little bit more. But you know, at at 21 and 19. They still need me as much as they did when they were, you know, 8 and 10. So that's kind of cool. 3 things on my bucket list, so I'm trying to hike all the fourteeners. 14,000 foot peaks in Colorado. Got 33 of them done, and a few more to go. So that's 1 for sure. I definitely want to travel more places. So travel is is one. There's a lot of places I would love to go. So I'm very jealous of of all of Jackson's travel and all the places he's gone. So I'm Gonna try and follow in his footsteps, and maybe the 3rd one at some point. I want to write a book. I think it would be pretty cool to get published. So those are my top 3 things there.

[134:11] A novel, a memoir I don't know yet. I don't. I have a lot percolating. and I've got time on that. I think that's a retirement type initiative to keep my my mind focused. So we'll see Rosa. So I I was. I wasn't paying attention. So pick 3. What is my ideal vacation? Just to go to the beach? Frozen sand that kind of thing with my family. What is one of your favorite family traditions? Our cultural bakes baked goods around Christmas time. Who's the most important person in your life right now. Probably my mom. She's not doing so well, so she's at the top of my list, but always my family in general.

[135:11] You haven't wanted to be. When I grew up I thought I was gonna be a marine biologist and happened too much requisite science classes. So ideal vacation is where I can be active, eat good food, and not have to cook anything. And bucket list. I'd like to go to Senegal. Alright. Thank you. Jackson. I wanted to be an architect or an airline pilot when I grew up. Don't know how I wound up here. Favorite vacation anywhere, with lots of walking, hiking food outdoors.

[136:02] family tradition. We would always volunteer on Thanksgiving and then do Thanksgiving the day after and I've never really celebrated Thanksgiving on actual thanksgiving. So that's stuck with me. Last, but not least, Brian. Sure I'll do the 1st 3. So When I was little I wanted to be a firefighter. I grew up, but not like a serious firefighter. Where I grew up it was like a volunteer firefighter, which is meant they like hung around the firehouse and drank beer and stuff. It seemed really cool. my ideal vacation is a beach vacation and that kind of coincides with our favorite family tradition, which is I grew up on Long Island in New York, and we go back there every summer, cram into a big house and spend a week together at the beach, and that was part of the deal moving out here was having kids that can live in the mountains. But get the beach experience back home. Thank you. Thanks everybody for participating in the pick. 3 questions. That was fun. It's a great retreat workshop.

[137:05] Yeah, just again, like, you know there's a lot of other topics we want to discuss. Maybe we can fold something to this December meeting. This is pretty useful. I feel like a lot of times we, when the agenda so full we we don't get the chance to do discussion. I feel like it's public comment, and it's a lot of presentation, and then our discussion is really limited towards the end. That's absolutely true, you know. I don't know if that's way in the past, or if it's just the way it's been this 1st year. But like. talk about how we could get patients. Council capability. just 4 points, actually. part of our timeless for December should be that our regularly scheduled time would fall right in the middle of the holidays. So we can maybe next week or so. Yeah, if that's possible. It's it's on the agenda for you all to discuss later

[138:17] it to the 18.th I believe that. Yeah, that's 16.th Yes. and you do have your calendar invite, and I've got a location already.