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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPRC meeting summary 01132021 Parks & Recreation Council Meeting Summary Date: January 13, 2021 Place: Virtual Meeting PRESENT: Bruce Chinery, Mikki Fleming; John Greeson; Cecily Kritz, Andrew Landstrom, Gina Reyman, Haywood Rhodes, Robert Smith; Tim Tippin; Michael Zelek; Xilong Zhao STAFF: David Stancil, Beth Young I. Call to Order: Roll was called using by Chair Rhodes using the GoTo Meeting screen visuals. ll. Additions or Changes to Agenda, Meeting Summary: No comments on the November 4, 2020 notes. Additions to the agenda: None. III. Report of the Chair: Chairman Rhodes stated that the council could move current member, Bob Smith, from his At-Large position to the vacant Little River Township position. Smith resides in Little River Township and this move could possibly make filling the vacancy easier as an At-Large position. Motion by Bruce Chinery to move Bob Smith to Little River Township vacancy. Seconded by Mikki Fleming. Vote was unanimous. Dave Stancil noted that with this change there will be vacancies in the following positions at the end of March: the newly-created At-Large, Carrboro Town Limits, and Cedar Grove Township. Stancil briefly presented the five applications for positions on the council, noting that most were over a year old. Motion was made by John Greeson to review applications at the February meeting. No second, motion failed. Stancil will reach out to the Clerk to the Board's office asking that the vacancies be advertised and will forward any applications received to the board prior to the February meeting. IV. New Business a. 2020 Annual Report and 2021 Work Plan — Stancil reminded new members that the annual report and work plan is completed each year and that they first few pages are broiler plate language. The last page states what the council wants to carry out in 2021 related to the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) goals/priorities. Also addresses concern and emerging issues the council would like to bring to the Commissioners attention. Chinery asked if this document was what was laid out by the council at the November meeting. Stancil replied that it was. Cecily Kritz stated that she was not at the November meeting but read the notes and was very impressed with the innovation of Recreation to deliver services virtually. Kritz noted that the report looked good. Gina Reyman apologized for missing PRC meeting but thanked the council for leaving in the collaboration with Partners for Indoor Facilities. Stancil stated it is a challenge but the council and staff need to keep thinking about what we will be doing when we have people back in the facilities. Chair Rhodes stated that during the councils meeting with Chris Sousa, Recreation Superintendent, questions were posed about how Recreation was able to address folks that either didn't have a reliable internet connection or had difficulty participating in the virtual offerings. Sousa acknowledged that is on his staff's radar and steps are being taken to try and address the issue. Stancil noted that if there were no changes the council needed to vote to approve. Motion by John Greeson to adopt report and plan as presented. Seconded by Bruce Chinery. Vote was unanimous. b. 2021 Meeting Calendar—Stancil reminded council that meetings are held at 6:30 pm the first Wednesday of each month except January and July. Meetings are held in either Hillsborough (EAC conference room) or Chapel Hill (Animal Services conference room), except the May meeting which is held at a park, location determined by the council. Stancil noted that if construction stays on schedule, the August meeting could be held in the new Environment &Agricultural Center on Hwy 70. Tim Tippen asked if the plan is to meet in person next month. Stancil replied that Orange County has extended the State of Emergency through March 31 st and the February and March meetings will be held virtually. Chair Rhodes asked if there would be a virtual option for those with health concerns once the State of Emergency is lifted. Stancil replied that yes the BOCC agreed in March 2020 to continue to allow people to attend meetings virtually under certain circumstances. The intent was not to allow only virtual attendance but if you have a special situation that keeps you from being able to attend in person there would be an opportunity to attend virtually going forward. Motion by Bruce Chinery to adopt meeting calendar as presented. Seconded by Cecily Kritz. Vote was unanimous. V. Old Business None VI. Report of the Director—Blackwood Farm Park Update: Stancil reported that the Blackwood Farm Park construction plans should be complete soon, going out to bid in the spring with construction beginning in the summer. Stancil will consider adding this item to the March agenda and having Marabeth Carr, Landscape Architect, attending to discuss the plans with Council. Outside Agency Funding request— Stancil stated that applications are due January 14 to the Manager/Clerk's office. The applications will be sent to the appropriate board for scoring and evaluation and are due back to Manager/Clerk's office February 26th. This evaluation normally occurs at the March meeting but has been accelerated this year. In the past staff has forwarded the applications along with the scoring sheets in advance of the council meeting for members review. The Council would discuss and assign a number to each application. This takes an entire meeting because the scoring can be somewhat complicated based on the criteria. Stancil stated that the Board of Health creates a subcommittee to review and evaluate the applications they receive. Stancil also stated that PRC will likely receive three applications, as that is what they had last year. The Council discussed the merits of using subcommittees to evaluate the applications, versus having that conversation as a committee of the whole. Greeson stated it is hard to explain to members that have not been through the process. The categories tend to overlap and are ambiguous. Posed question of how do we come to an understanding of what they mean to us so that we can work quickly to score. Stancil stated that the reality in years past has been that staff asked members to come in with their own scoring and a member would suggest a number and see if the other members were in agreement with that assessment. Reyman asked Stancil if he had the scoring forms yet. Stancil replied he has last years but not this years. Stancil to send a blank copy of last year's scoring sheet to the council. Reyman stated that she is willing to commit to reviewing the applications prior to the next meeting. Rhodes proposed the idea of having the full council discuss the applications, but have the ability to do virtual break out room sessions for individual discussion at the February meeting. Beth Young will investigate and report back to Stancil on options for break out discussions. Stancil will send scoring sheets and applications to members for review. Rhodes inquired about replacement for the administrative assistant position. Stancil stated the position is currently frozen and it will most likely be summer before the position is filled. VII. Council and Committee Reports a. Intergovernmental Parks Work Group (next meeting April 14)—The October meeting was cancelled due to COVID. b. Friends of Orange County Parks & Recreation — Reyman will contact the board member and report back to the council at the February meeting. . Vill. The meeting adjourned at 7:40 PM. The next meeting will be held virtually (pending County Manager's approval) February 3, 2021, 6:30pm.