07/12/2004 - Minutes Parks & Recreation Advisory Board
July 12, 2004
7:00 p.m.
Tigard Water Building
Members Present: Jason Ashley, Michael Freudenthal, Shelley Richards,
Carl Switzer, and Scott Bernhard
Members Absent: David Baumgarten, Barry Albertson and Darrin Marks
Staff: Dan Plaza, Twila Willson
Visitors: None
1. Roll Call
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm by Chairman Carl Switzer. Minutes from the
June 14 and 21, 2004, meetings were reviewed and a motion for approval was proposed
by Shelley Richards, seconded by Michael Freudenthal, and unanimously approved.
2. Comments from the audience
There were no comments from the audience.
3. Discuss Parks and Recreation Assessment Survey
(Goes before Council on 7/13/04)
As instructed, the consultant removed questions that were similar in content (redundant)
and added a few newly worded questions to the survey. The changes would not
jeopardize the validity of the survey. Council has a copy of the finalized survey. We are
within budget. It is planned that the survey will take place in August and results will be
reported to Council and the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board.
Some comments from board members were that they were pleased with the revised
results, muddled points were made clear, and, although still wordy, it read well.
Dan Plaza said there's a lot being asked in the survey, but he is confident the results will
be good. He told the board members that Fall will be a busy time with budget
preparations and SDC changes. The SDC consultant, Don Ganer, is one of only a few
consultants who deal with SDC's in the State and he will make his presentation to the
board.
Board Members went on to brainstorm about what they would do with the results of the
survey, how to mobilize with/without support, get information into the community, and
prepare plans of action before receiving the survey results. The following items are
points of interest that were discussed:
Citizen discussion groups need to get involved
Parks&Recreation Advisory Board -1 - July 12,2004
Community support could be achieved in civic groups, clubs, firemen's ball, etc.
Neighborhood meetings to create involvement
Develop strategize about how to reach final goal
Reach more people by splitting into smaller groups in around-town discussions
If findings show significant support, there will be a need to get the word out,
educate citizens, and get more input
Rotary clubs are always looking for an opportunity for guest speakers to put in
plugs
Goal setting is important
Sustain interest if nothing goes to vote in November
Get Council in discussion to consider a bond measure, determine a timeline
Board needs to be confident with voter turnout in order to get votes
Use Flow chart from June 21 meeting as outline to build on
Booth at farmer's market, etc., to spread information about parks
Walk in the parks, talk to people there
Create short video 'blurb' about parks
Display boards, graphic artist's work, professional presentation - show now and
vision of future plans; people may be very supportive if they know about future
plans
"Think tank"— pull apart survey and concentrate on ideas
Dan Plaza stated he would put together an outline from the meeting minutes and send it
to the board members. They could make it an interactive project with board members
plugging into the master outline and keep building on it. Dan would provide a brief
explanation of topics. He reminded the board that e-mails are public record.
Some of the board members said they were getting two e-mails of the same thing and
Dan said he would check into it. The board would to wait for Dan's email to get it
started.
There was some concern about whether the board must take a neutral stand and Dan
Plaza advised as follows:
Can advocate as a vote `yes' committee
Can't advocate that the board is pushing for a bond measure/tax measure
Using the results of survey is okay
Could create a `friends of parks' group
There was a brief discussion of method of future surveys. A website survey would be
free. Dan Plaza said he would check into putting a survey on the webpage. Board
members thought that more citizen input could be a leverage tool with Council. There
was same concern about a person answering the survey multiple times and Dan said he
would check with the city's webpage specialist about how that could be monitored. He
said he would ask for Council consent about using a webpage survey. The board also
asked Dan to provide data on how many people use parks through reservations and
league ball field usage.
4. Adjourn
Next meetings—Augusts 9 and Sept. 13. The meeting was closed at 7:41 p.m.
Parks&Recreation Advisory Board -2- July 12,2004