HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/12/2021 - MinutesMINUTES
Wheelchair Accessible. American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter available upon request.
For this or other assistance, please call 48 hours in advance: 711 (TDD) or 425-430-6600 (voice).
City of Renton
Board of Park Commissioners - Special Meeting
Tuesday, October 12, 2021, 4:30 p.m.
Virtual Meeting via Zoom
1. CALL TO ORDER
Chair Shun Takano called the meeting to order at 4:33pm.
2. ROLL CALL
Members Present: Cynthia Burns, Al Dieckman, Larry Reymann, Tim Searing, Shun Takano, Troy Wigestrand
and Marlene Winter
Members Absent: none
City Staff Present: Kelly Beymer, Community Services Administrator; Cailín Hunsaker, Parks and Trails
Director; Leslie Betlach, Parks Planning and Natural Resources (PPNR) Director; Carrie Nass, Interim
Recreation Director; Steve Meyers, Acting Manager of the Maplewood Golf Course, and Roberta Graver,
Administrative Assistant
3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Marlene Winter motioned to approve the meeting agenda, motion seconded, all in favor, motion carried.
4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Tim Searing motioned to approve the September 14, 2021, minutes as presented, motion seconded, all in
favor, motion carried.
5. DISCUSSION / ACTION ITEM
a. Park Rules and Regulations Update – Cailín Hunsaker shared that a team of inter-department staff is
reviewing the current Park Rules and Regulations, which is done approximately every two years. They are
looking at any state, environmental or regional issues, and new processes that can be used to update the
rules. They are also aligning these to upcoming changes in the Special Event Permit process. Cailín shared
these highlights of some of the changes:
• Adding ‘Recreational’ to the term ‘Facilities’ for clarification of applicable city buildings
• Clarifying definition of ‘weapons’
• Clarifying ‘solicitating/selling’, vendors, and where ‘campaigning materials’ will be included.
• ‘Filming and Photography’ will be defined to differentiate between personal and professional
use (permit required for professional services)
o Commissioner question, What about ‘Senior Portraits’ photography? Cailín and Kelly
responded that all commercial photography would have to go through the Special Event
Permit process, which has [logistics] thresholds and not all will require a permit fee.
• ‘Noise Restrictions’ amended
• ‘Conduct in Swim Beach area’ amended
• Added drones in the ‘Activities’ section
• ‘Motorized vehicles’ updated; deliberation whether to identify ‘e-bikes’ specifically. Possibly use
“wheeled vehicles” (wouldn’t include child strollers).
o Commissioners’ comments and questions: A lot of senior citizens use electric bikes, how
about regulating ‘speed’ on trails to allow them to be used? Or issuing permits to riders to
use them on trails? Cailín will include these comments/questions in the review process.
Parks Commission Meeting
October 12, 2021
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Wheelchair Accessible. American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter available upon request.
For this or other assistance, please call 48 hours in advance: 711 (TDD) or 425-430-6600 (voice).
• ‘Dismount Zones’ wording will be reviewed further
o Commissioner comments: Bikers disregard Dismount Zones. The Library Dismount Zone is
ignored also.
• ‘Scuba diving’ is prohibited at Gene Coulon Park with exception of Renton Regional Fire
Authority.
• ‘Special Event Permit’ name may be changed so to not be confused with other permits issued in
other departments.
After staff review the rules further, the red-lined document will be sent to the Legal department for
review, then brought back and provided to the Parks Commission for review/recommendations, with an
opportunity to forward a recommendation for council approval. A red-lined version of the rules will be
provided to the commissioners for their review and the opportunity to send Kelly and Cailín their input
for consideration.
b. Maplewood Golf Course Update – Steve Meyers introduced himself, including that he’s been at the golf
course for 27 years; 25 of which in a supervisory position. He then provided a recap of the last 20 or so
months. He described some golf course/driving range/Pro Shop/River Rock Restaurant activities,
closures, reduced hours, staffing challenges, safety protocols, major golf cart purchase, driving range
improvements, and other ongoing challenges. Commissioner asked if staffing shortages were due to
budget limitations or people not applying for open positions? Steve responded that its mostly due to
people not applying or showing up for interviews.
c. November / December Meeting Topics – after some discussion, Kelly and Shun will come up with some
agenda topics for November. December will most likely not be an official meeting, but possibly a social
gathering on zoom; details to be determined.
6. ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT
The recent Community Services Department re-organization was initiated by the Mayor and Chief
Administrative Officer. They approached Kelly with some changes as a result of the mayor reviewing the city
structure against other municipalities, looking to align to the City Business Plan by addressing the Equity and
Diversity goal, and looking to balance the number of departments’ administrator direct reports, among other
reasons. Changes include:
a. Moving the Facilities division to Public Works
b. Moving the Human Services division to the newly created Equity, Housing, and Human Services
department (which included moving Housing from Community and Economic Development
department.
c. Moving IT and the Neighborhood Program to the Executive Services Department. Executive
Services gained a new Deputy Chief Administrative Officer, and some re-organization. Maryjane
Van Cleave, Recreation Director was invited to move laterally to be the Community and
Engagement Director in the Executive Services department.
d. Kelly agreed, upon consulting the department management team, that the department title
‘Parks and Recreation’ would more closely align to department structure and services now and
will see how the public responds. This title is most commonly used in other municipalities, even
though the department includes the History Museum.
e. Upon the re-organization approval by council, city departments (Finance, Clerk’s office,
Communications, etc) started making the updates internally and on the website. Kelly says the
October Park Board Mtg – Zoom Chat questions to answer:
1. What about drones? Yes, included in the rules.
2. Special Event Process - yes, will be clear
3. Small Photography businesses (Sr. Pics) vs large Photography/Filiming rules? We will be a little more
specific in the rules
4. Baby Strollers are wheeled, dismount rules apply? No, they’re being pushed and not dismountable.
5. Seniors use motorized bikes a lot, can they get a permit to use them in the parks? Case by case
approval? – We are reviewing with the City Attorney on the term ‘motorized’, will update the board
once we have a determination.
6. Balloon release – allowed with city approval? City tells them what kind of balloons to use? Typically, not
allowed due to bird issues. Not sure who would have noted a specific type of balloon?
7. How will Top Golf affect MWGC business? Should not have an effect. Typically golfers don’t go there.
Top Golf is more event, group bonding, party type driven.
8. Maybe Park Board members can volunteer at the golf course. We would need to hear what board
members are thinking the volunteerism would involve.
9. Is the Museum going through renovations right now? Liz will provide an update at Nov Parks
Commission mtg.
10. Let’s review Park rules. They are under review right now and will go to legal first. Parks Commissioners
will have an opportunity probably in January to review and discuss updates. Park Board will make a
recommendation to Council, once rules have been reviewed.
11. For Dec, maybe provide a summary of the top ten or so years of accomplishments for Parks and Rec and
the top goals for 2022. - Staff will do this for the January meeting.
12. Org Charts are on the city website -
https://rentonwa.gov/city_hall/human_resources_risk_management/career_center/organizational_cha
rts
13. What is the status of Family First Comm Ctr? - FFCC is out for bid at this time, bids are due 12/8/21, and
we’ll provide updated progress after bids are reviewed.
14. Would be interested in plans for the old Pan Abode site, potential impacts on adjacent Natural Area. -
We will check with the Community and Economic Development dept. on status and report back to Park
Board.
City of Renton
Community Services Committee
Monday, October 4, 2021
Parks and Recreation Department
2020 – 2021 Maplewood Golf Course Updates
1. Introduction
2. Covid 19 Impacts to Operations – Golf Course & Restaurant
a. Staffing Impacts
b. Increase in play/revenue
3. Accomplishments
4. Golf Cart Fleet Purchase
5. Challenges moving forward
6. Questions
Community Services Committee
October 4, 2021
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