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04/10/2006 - Minutes Parks & Recreation Advisory Board Meeting Minutes Monday, April 10, 2006 7:00 P.M. Tigard Water Auditorium Members Present: Michael Freudenthal, Kelly Johnson, Carl Switzer, Scott Bernhard, Brian Davies, Shelley Richards Rodriguez, Trisha Swanson Members Absent: Kathy Meads Staff Present: Dennis Koellermeier, Dan Plaza, Greg Stout, Diane Kuhn, Tom Imdieke and Bob Sesnon Visitors: None 1. Roll Call and Introductions At 7:01 p.m. the meeting was called to order by Michael Freudenthal. 2. Comments from the audience None 3. Approval of March 13, 2006 After a brief discussion of the minutes, Scott Bernhard made a motion to accept the minutes, and Brian Davies seconded the motion. Minutes were approved as written. 4. Certificates of Recognition Certificates of Recognition were presented to Carl Switzer and Shelley Rodriguez for their excellent service. 5. Q and A's with Finance Department on Bond Measures and Local Tax Levies Tom Imdieke, Financial Operations Manager for the City of Tigard, introduced himself and also Bob Sesnon, City of Tigard's Finance Director. Mike Freudenthal stated they were looking for general information and recommendations on how to go about securing a bond measure for Parks and Recreation. Park and Recreation Advisory Board 04-10-06 1 DRAFT Tom Imdieke handed out information on Oregon's property tax system, and explained the different types of property taxes: Permanent Rate Local Option Levy General Obligation The Local Option Levy is designed to support operations, rather than land acquisition and construction, and are five years in life. After the five years, you need to receive voters' approval again. The same is true of General Obligation GO Bonds. Under Measure 50, it's called the double majority you have the option of going in even years in a general election and a bond or local option levy can be approved by a majority of the voters. If it is not in a general election, you not only need to have a majority of the voters, but you also have to approve the levy for bond. Also, a 50% plus voter turnout of all registered voters is needed. The most recent example was the 13 million General Obligation Bond that the voters approved for the library. Tom opened it up for questions and answers. Mike Freudenthal stated that land acquisition has been well covered at this point, but focus is on recreation. The Board evaluating a short term track of getting a very small program. Jennifer Price is working on what that program will look like. Longer term, we are looking at a larger Recreation Division. Scott Bernhard stated that land acquisition is an on-going process. Park and Recreation and land acquisition are on the table. Dan Plaza stated that the land acquisition is long term, and if we continue to buy land and develop parks that would be a GO Bond. Tom Imdieke stated that when Finance staff has looked at long-term funding needs, the first one is the non SDC portion for any long-term park capital program. Under the system development charge method, and how that fee was established you can fund a portion of the project with system development charges. It is 60% non SDC, and 40 percent SDC. The biggest funding amount would be that non SDC portion of any long term capital program of the land acquisition program for the city. The Finance Department perspective is that we are building fund balances, collecting the system development charges, but don't have the non SDC portion to use as a match to go out and fully utilize even the existing revenue for the SDC to acquire land. The number one priority would be to identify that non SDC portion and what revenue stream we should use for that non SDC portion to be able to maximize the use of the SDC. The Park and Recreation Board should spend some quality time discussing and putting together a recommendation to the City Council. You will not be able to use property taxes to support any type of long term recreational program in the city. Therefore, you are going to need to look at the possibility of going for local option money. Your greatest chance of any kind of local option levy passing would be in a general election. You need to go back every five years to gain voter approval for that levy, so at some point the voters could say we are not going to support you anymore because our property tax burden is too high. Scott Bernhard stated that when a recreation program is in force, it starts creating its own revenue. Tom suggested spending some quality time creating a finance plan that would show the cash flow support after the establishment of any kind of large program. Park and Recreation Advisory Board 04-10-06 2 DRAFT Carl Switzer stated the Board has been talking about going out for a General Obligation Bond, with the purpose of funding recreation programs, but also to build a recreational facility. We have come up with $800,000 a year operating expense. If we wanted to go out for a $40 million dollar General Obligation Bond in 2008, what do we need to do? Tom Imdieke stated it goes back to preparing the business plan. Carl Switzer asked if we get that done, the City Council likes our idea, we get the okay to proceed and the city moves ahead, what are the steps that happen then? Tom Imdieke stated that the Council would need to hold a hearing on the proposal to go to the voters for either a General Obligation Bond and/or operating levy. These steps are to be taken in order for the Council to consider, these are the steps: Hearing to talk about the ballot measure. Ballot title proposed, vote and approve Placed on ballot These steps need to be completed before the September deadline in order to be placed on the November ballot. Dan Plaza asked, if the Board and the Council wanted to move forward on this, how would it become a part of the city's permanent budget? Tom Imdieke stated that it is a City Council decision. Trish asked about a separate parks district like Tualatin Hills? Tom Imdieke said this puts us in a separate bureaucracy, but not uncommon to have a separate district. Trish Swanson asked about the Local Option Levy and if it needed to be reviewed every five years. Tom Imdieke stated, yes, and that it why it is good to put together a business plan. Dennis Koellermeier asked if it would be possible to fund a six -year program on a five-year levy? Tom Imdieke stated we would need to ask an attorney. The Board thanked Tom Imdieke and Bob Sesnon for attending. Trish Swanson asked, what are the options of Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District (THPRD) expanding into Tigard? Dan Plaza stated when the survey was put together in 2003-2004, THPRDs was not interested, but the City of Tigard could become part of the THPRD. Carl Switzer stated that the City of Tigard would need to vote to join. Part of the reason for being unattractive to Tigard residents was that the prices were very high, and it would be cheaper to start a district of our own. 6. Exec Session: Land Acquisition The Board went into Executive Session at 7:39 p.m. and went back into the meeting at 8:08 p.m. 7. Review PRAB Mission The purpose of the Park and Recreation Board is to advocate for park and recreation opportunities for a growing Tigard. Mike Freudenthal stated that we are doing a good job in fulfilling that mission. We should review our goal setting. Council looks to us for advice. Mike Freudenthal called for questions or comments from the Board. Park and Recreation Advisory Board 04-10-06 3 DRAFT Bring in more people to get involved. Put together a list of opportunities to begin a task force. Kelly Johnson asked if Jennifer Price has worked with a Board in the past? Dan Plaza answered no. She has been hired for 80 hours. From time to time we can bring someone in. The goals were well thought out. Good idea to go back and check out the Mission Statement. Do the goals need to be changed? They should be reviewed each year. Mike Freudenthal asked they check on line and check out the Park and Recreation goals, and we can discuss at the next meeting. 8. Search for new teen PRAB member Ethan Brown's term has expired as teen PRAB member and we are looking for a replacement. Kelly suggested someone on the Skate Park Committee. The Skate Park Task Force and the Park & Recreation Board meet on the same night. 9. Recreation Program Update We have a brief statement of what Jennifer has worked on. Dan Plaza sent an e-mail to the board members. He stated he sees the format being the same. She will put together a binder for any attachments she may have (15 copies made) and presented at the next meeting. The purpose is to answer the general questions of what could be offered in a limited role. It becomes a basis of the board taking a position with the Council. Jennifer feels we should start slow, and small. If you have any questions after reviewing the binder let Dan know. 10. FY 2006-2007 Budget Recommendation The Operational Budget and the Capitol Budget will be going before the Budget Committee next month. The Operational Budget is only $100,000. more than last year. Listed are highlights of the budget. Addition to Fanno Creek trail. It will cross Hall Blvd. into Fanno Creek Park. Tualatin River trail between Cook Park and the new Pedestrian Bridge. Trail segment on Brown Property. The City of Tigard Park staff will assist in the landscaping around the Skate Park. Upgrade projects at Jack Park, Northview Park and Englewood Park. Upgrade of playground at Cook Park. These projects are on existing park sites and not SDC eligible. There is no more non SDC money, so unless we get a grant or the Council gives us General Fund monies, or we get Metro money, we will see our SDC balance increase. SDC monies are meant to spend, not to increase the balance. We need non SDC money. Dan asked if there were questions on the Operating budget? In the CIP budget is the Fanno Creek Trail Projects, Skate Park Project (with and without the grant). The land Acquisition is still budgeted at a million dollars. A project that has come up recently is a $60,000 Park Master Plan to master plan Fanno Creek Park behind city hall, from Hall Blvd. to Main Street. Dennis Koellermeier and Dan Plaza have approved the plan. This project is 100% SDC money. Scott Bernhardt made a motion to accept the explanation of the budget as presented. The motion was seconded by Brian Davies, motion was passed. Park and Recreation Advisory Board 04-10-06 4 DRAFT After a brief discussion, changes were made to the goals. Brian Davies made a motion to accept the goals and Jason Ashley seconded the motion. Motion was accepted. To continue park and greenway land acquisition process instead of recommending a general obligation bond.. Establish and initiate a small recreation program for the City of Tigard in fiscal year 2006-2007. Consider recommending a local tax levy election be conducted in November, 2008 to provide funds to begin a comprehensive recreation program in Tigard 12. Adjourn The meeting was adjourned at 8:51 p.m. Park and Recreation Advisory Board 04-10-06 5 DRAFT