HomeMy WebLinkAboutFebruary 9Town of Los Altos Hills
Parks and Recreation Committee
Approved Meeting Minutes
Meeting Time: Monday February 9, 2015 from 9-10:30 AM
Meeting Place: Parks and Recreation Building
26379 Fremont Road, Los Altos Hills, CA 94022
1. Call to Order/Roll Call (Quorum = 4) 2 open positions
Welcome Council Liaison and Committee
Present: Chair/Secretary: Kathy Evans, Vice Chair: Champa Sreenivas,
Members: Val Metcalfe, Patty Radlo, Scott Vanderlip, Julia Zarcone.
Staff Sarah Gualtieri. Council Liaison John Radford.
Absent: Kavita Tankha
Associate Members: Kit Gordon, Rebecca Hickman
2. Approval of Past Minutes - (January meeting – approved as amended)
3. Discuss GOALS for 2015 and search for new P&R Committee Members
Increasing member attendance is paramount for 2015. We had way too many meetings
canceled because of a lack of quorum (4) and we only meet 10 times a year becaused we
do not meet in July or December. We voted to change the future P&R meetings to
the 3rd Monday of each month from 6:00 pm – 7:30pm. Passed unanimously.
The committee members took turns stating what they would like to see improved and/or
added in 2015 for programming, events and facilities. We made note that the Council
must have their budget numbers ready to turn in by May, so if we need anything
significant we should get our cost estimates to Council as soon as possible and vote on
our recommendation at the next meeting in March .
We talked about the continued priority of building a toilet and possible sink somewhere
near the lower arena at Westwind Community Barn, so that it can be used by all of the
summer campers in the Parks and Rec. programs. Many of these campers are young
children and they cannot successfully hike the hill in time - and require supervision with
limited staffing, and need a place to wash hands and supplies.
We also talked about the importance of starting to raise money for a covered arena to
grow the riding programs and extend their riding season and possible hours. This would
be a public ands private fundraising effort, while the toilet facility benefits mainly P&R
programs, and would be the Town’s responsibility. Kathy cautioned about taking
private money because it often has strings attached, and gives people a feeling of
entitlement or ownership over a public property. This needs to be handled carefully.
Possibly a Fall Hoedown dinner hour fundraiser to increase donations. Kathy will talk
to Tori and get her input and list of priorities for Barn improvements.
We talked about adding a speaker series utilizing well known LAH residents who are
good speakers and of interest to LAH.
We have recently grown the Activity Guide to 24 pages (up by 4) and will continue to
increase programming to meet the needs of residents. This will eventually lead to
another page increase, and eventually a postage increase. Something to be planned for
in the budget.
We also discussed the continued EXTREME need for additional programming space
and how this could be accomplished. We have proposed saving money f or properties in
town, that will eventually come up for sale, but there may be a quicker way to increase
classroom space by moving the History house, and building a multiuse facility on Town
Owned Land. This could include space for 4 concurrent classes, commercial kitchen
space for cooking classes, exercise space, dedicated childrens art space and supply
storage, potential childrens carpentery space and workshop, and numerous flex
opportunities for additional meeting space and events like volunteer luncheo ns and
P&R fundraisers, and teen meeting space for the Youth Commission.
There is also a growing need in town to provide space for classrooms of students to
learn about local history – and to this end, the History Committee is developing
classroom curriculum appropriate for 3rd graders to distribute to the local schools.
However, to implement this, they will also need a place to drive up and park a bus or
other transport, and a space large enough for 2-3 classrooms of students (40-60) to listen
to a presentation on Town History. Creating a History Place with important articfacts
and pictures is important and should be included in any plan to increase programming
space on site at Town Hall.
Parks and Rec. members will all bring their ideas to the next meeting in March to
discuss, prioritize, and then present to Council.
5. Public Comments: (List Members of the public present)
Nancy Couperous attended and gave an update on the arrangements for Earth Day with the
Open Space Committee. This is a joint Event and the OS Committee has hired the Big Cats
again for 2 shows: 1:30 and 3pm. At Westwind Community Barn , on Earth Day, April 26th 1-
4pm.
John Radford presented during the public portion and suggested we consider the possibility of
a town constructed multi use space for Parks and Rec. planning and programming. We have
already prepared a wish list of class programming, but he suggested that we send someone to
the Heritage Committee meeting 2/17 9-11 am. Champa agreed to attend for the committee
and present back in March.
6. Spring/Summer Guide Preview / Fall/Winter Review: Sarah Gualtieri
Sarah was working on the final edits for the Spring/Summer Guide at the meeting and they
were headed to the printer that afternoon. The guide is a little late but will be bigger and better
than ever. We need to plan to increase the pages and printing and postage costs again in the
future as needed. We also need to develop a survey for residents to make sure we are offering
what they want. Everyone was tasked with bringing survey ideas back to the next meeting
when we can discuss further with John Radford – our survey expert.
7. Programming and Marketing Update:
We need to have all Fall/Winter Guide blurbs into Sarah by June. This is the time to think
about what new classes we should be offering and getting teachers signed up. The paperwork
and insurance is time consuming and should be started early. We did not have any art classes
in this guide. We are missing art in drawing, watercolors, acrylics, oil and collage. Karen
Drucker will be starting a childrens element to the Art program with the Town ands will
advertise these in the newsletters. She will also look for teachers for a more regular program
in the guide for winter. We are also lacking any musi c classes, language classes, college prep,
rowing, sailing, trail running, etc… We have so many void areas that we need to rethink our
programming on a larger more comprehensive level and survey the town residents to make
sure we are really offering what they want to see. This will require developing a good survey,
including write in options so that we do not skew the results.
New LAH Speaker Series – Kavita Tankha – Absent - Table until next meeting
8. Champa Sreenivas – playgroup update for Spring Activities & Publicity
Champa got a whole page in the Spring/Sunner Guide and the program has really
expanded! There are several field trips offered to local places like the fire station and a bank.
We can focus on getting more people signed up for the programs at the Town Picnic and Earth
Day when we see families with young kids. The page in the guide can be a flier and Sarah
will get reprints made.
9. **Review Class and Facility and Update Wish List for LAH facilities to meet the
needs of the community – Tabled until next meeting
Request for NEW P&R polling – Sarah Gualtieri
We talked about the need to do an additional poll for Parks and Rec. facilities needs to
determine what residents are interested in. Jiulia Zarcone asked that we first see a copy of the
last survey questions from the last poll, at the next meeting in March, and Sarah agreed to
send these out so we could review them and discuss possible new questions.
10. Events:
2015 Events:
Puppy Play Group – Val Metcalf
Hoppin Hounds 4/4 - Rebecca Hickman
LAHfamily Spring Egg Hunt 4/4 Champa / Kavita
Earth Day 4/26 Kathy Evans / Nancy Couperus
Pathway Run 5/9 – Scott Vanderlip
Town Picnic 6/7 – Needs Table Volunteers / Preschool Member Drive
4th of July Parade 7/4 – Sarah Gualtieri
Hoedown 9/12 (Saturday after Labor Day) Night Fundraiser Kathy Evans Halloween
Pumpkin Carving 10/25 – Needs Leader or will cancel
2015 Barn Lighting Kathy Evans
Youth Commission Events – Teen Movie Night 2/6 , LC 3/22 Kathy Evans
11. Quarterly Barn Facilities Update (10:00 a.m.) – Tabled until March
12. Progress on discussions with LASD / Foothill DeAnza contract for Facilities Use –
Sarah has not held any meetings with Heather Rose or LASD or Foothill College since we last
met. We need to get this restarted and possibly involve the Mayor and Randy Kenyon directly
to insure a long term solution for Parks and Rec. Programming. Tabled until next meeting.
13. Ongoing Responsibilities: No discussion – Tabled
Purissima Park Fields – Programs / Maintenance:
Purissima Park Riding Arena – Programs / Maintenance / Arena Footing
Edith Park and O’Keefe Preserve – Programs / Maintenance
Status of saving for future Parks and Rec. Facilities – Capital Expenditures – will
discuss at next meeting
No new updates
14. Old Business: None
15. New Business: None
16. Set Next Meetings:
Parks and Rec. meetings have been changed to the 3rd Monday of each month beginning
in March, from 6-7:30 pm. 3/16/2015 Bring Potential New Members
4/20, 5/18, 6/15, No meeting in July, 8/17, 9/21, 10/19, 11/16, No Dec. meeting, 1/18/16
*Special meeting.
New Officers announced to Council each July(We elect in May)
Associate Members confirmed each January.
17. Adjourned Time ____10:45 a.m._______