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Recreation and Park Advisory Board
January 28, 2010
| Members Present: | ||
| Terry Baker Chip Boylan Wendy Braund | Marsha Douma Larry Eason Kate Savage | George Sushinsky Bob Taylorn |
| Members Absent: | ||
| None | ||
| Staff Present: |
| Councilmember Mark Pierzchala, Burt Hall and Michelle Bean |
| Citizens Present: |
| Raynell Cooper |
Re: Minutes
The December minutes were approved as presented.
Re: Citizens' Forum
Raynell Cooper was present He currently is a junior at Richard Montgomery High School, a member of the It’s Academic Team and a member of the Montgomery County Executive’s Youth Advisory Committee.
Mark Pierzchala attended the Recreation and Park Advisory Board meeting and will continue to be present at future meetings as liaison to the Mayor and Council.
Re: Staff Report
Burt Hall encouraged the Board to visit the newly renovated College Gardens storm water pond.
He also announced to the Board that the Pros Plan has been presented at the past two Planning meetings. It will be added to the Mayor & Council agenda next month.
In addition, he shared a draft Request for Information “RFI” to outsource RedGate that will be advertised sometime next week. Burt Hall explained that it will be difficult for any golf course management company arrive have a major impact on the financial deficit. As a management company does not have the overhead such as benefits, insurance, etc. that the City does, it might be possible to manage the golf course with a lower bottom line.
Burt Hall shared with the Board that staff is currently preparing a significantly reduced 2011 budget. Two items to be reduced will be the MRPA and NRPA memberships.
Wednesday, March 10th will be the next “sesquicentennial” celebration event in Rockville Town Center. The 150th celebration event will begin at 6:30 p.m.
Re: Meeting Schedule for 2010
The Board will meet at the following locations for the 2010 meeting: City Hall, Montrose, Croydon Creek, Gude Drive, RedGate, the Water Treatment Plant, VisArts Rooftop, Senior Center and the Glenview Mansion.
Re: Appointment of Representative for Caregivers Grant Review Panel
For the past year, Kate Savage served as the Park Board liaison on the Caregivers Grant review panel. She asked the Board if anyone was interested in stepping up to serve as the new liaison. Bob Taylor expressed his willingness to serve. He will represent the Board for the upcoming year.
Re: White Tailed Deer Task Force (Mayor and Council Agenda Item)
Kate Savage stated that the Board would appoint six Rockville resident members of the Task Force. Other members of task force will include a City Recreation and Park Advisory Board member, City Environment Commission member, wildlife biologist and a representative from the U.S. Humane Society, a Montgomery County Deer Management Work group member and a Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) representative (deer specialist).
Marsha Douma suggested that one of the interview/application questions ask the applicant to describe their reason for serving on the Task Force. She also suggested that if a hunter is invited, he or she should be asked whether or not they currently have animals and if so how many. In addition, hunters should be asked whether they have any preconceived ideas on how the culling should be done.
Additional suggested questions:
Kate Savage suggested that we include the time commitment.
Councilmember Pierzchala suggested that our questions should not lead toward any particular idea.
Larry Eason added that we should keep the questions more generic.
It was suggested that in the “describe your interests” section that we leave room for the applicants to add information about themselves.
Marsha Douma added that we should include a packet of information detailing duties and responsibilities related to serving on the Task Force.
Re: Pedestrian Greenway Project for East Rockville
Burt Hall shared the draft staff proposed CIP sheets for the Greenway Streetscape corridors and Baltimore Road project with the Board. The funding does not include the sidewalk bands ($2M) or the Washington Street lights--two costly items. He added that this plan is a pilot project for the City.
Re: Subcommittee Reports
Citizen Bicycle Advisory Committee – None.
Environmental Issues – Marsha Douma mentioned that the DC area recently had an article in the paper about eliminating plastic bags at stores.
Fallsgrove - None.
Glenview Mansion – Quarterly meeting held last week where marketing issues/ideas were discussed. Next meeting schedule for February 20th.
King Farm - None.
Lincoln Park Community Center - None.
Recreation and Parks Foundation - None.
RedGate - None.
Swim & Fitness Center – Marsha Douma stated that there are signs posted at the pool that ask patrons to report persons taking excessively long showers. The signs have not been well received. Burt Hall related that the gas costs for the Swim Center were estimated at $185,000 last year.
TCRC - None.
Re: Monthly Divisional Reports
Included as FYI.
Re: Old Business/New Business
Board members reviewed the term expiration dates memo, which states their dates for serving on the Board. Burt Hall will check with the City Clerk to confirm Kate Savage’s term expiration date.
Kate Savage proposed Saturday, May 1st at 9 a.m. for the Board’s spring stream clean up with a back up date of May 8th. Burt Hall will contact Audra Lew to let her know the date and plan for supplies for the activity.
The Board voted unanimously to recommend Raynell Cooper as a member of the Recreation and Park Advisory Board.
Re: Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 8:40 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday, February 25th at Montrose Community Recreation Center.