April 24, 2024 Special Meeting Minutes Page 1 of 4
MINUTES OF THE
SPECIAL MEETING OF THE
City of Coronado
Winn Room Subcommittee
Held in the Council Chamber at:
1825 Strand Way
Coronado, California 92118
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
3:00 p.m. Special Meeting
Note: The order in which items appear in the minutes is not necessarily the order in which they were discussed in the meeting.
1. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL
The Special Meeting of the Winn Room Subcommittee was called to order at 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 24, 2024, in the City Council Chamber at City Hall with Chair Tanaka presiding.
A quorum of members was present to conduct a meeting by the following results:
Present: (2) Councilmember Downey; Subcommittee Chair
Tanaka
Absent: (0) None
Also Present: (6) City Manager/Agency Executive Director Tina Friend Director of Library Services Shaun Briley
Director of Recreation and Golf Services Tim Farmer
City Clerk/Agency Secretary Kelsea Holian
2. INVOCATION/PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Chair Tanaka led the Pledge of Allegiance.
3. MINUTES:
A motion to approve the minutes of the Special Meeting of March 20, 2024, with corrections was made by Councilmember Downey and seconded by Chair Tanaka.
The motion carried by the following results:
Yes: (2) Councilmember Downey; Chair Tanaka;
April 24, 2024 Special Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 4
4. COMMUNICATIONS – ORAL: None.
5. WINN ROOM SUBCOMMITTEE:
5a. Winn Room Subcommittee Spring 2024 Workplan
Shaun Briley, Director of Library Services, and Tim Farmer, Director of Recreation and Golf Services, jointly presented the staff report utilizing PowerPoint.
Chair Tanaka highlighted that the City Council had asked staff to explore the possibility of using the John D. Spreckels Center Grand Room as is, and to evaluate the financial implications of any potential upgrades.
Councilmember Downey asked for more specificity regarding displacement of recreation program participants in the Subcommittee’s report to Council.
Councilmember Downey noted that even with the largest remodel, the City would likely require using the Coronado School of Arts (CoSA) venue for well-attended author events.
Mr. Briley explained that although events at CoSA have drawn over 500 attendees, a successful author event is around 200 attendees. If held in the Winn Room, such events would likely reach capacity, but would not necessarily lead to utilizing the CoSA venue.
City Manager Tina Friend asked Mr. Briley to detail the financial operations of author events. Mr. Briley elaborated that authors and publishers usually do not pay for venue use during book signings, and venues often vie to host popular authors.
Councilmember Downey noted concerns about a recent author event where a non-local bookstore handled book sales, inquiring whether local bookstores could be given priority.
Mr. Briley indicated that publishers prefer larger retailers over local options due to higher sales volumes elsewhere in the San Diego area.
Chair Tanaka noted the City’s preference for hosting public events at no cost but expressed concerns about external entities profiting from free room rentals. He suggested creating a policy to limit or prohibit sales at events utilizing the Winn Room, with exceptions for author events. Mr. Briley stated that the library already prohibits sales, except during author and music events.
Councilmember Downey highlighted issues with the Recreation and Golf Services reservation system, which does not automatically offer non-profit rates as the Winn Room reservation system does. Mr. Farmer explained that staff must manually verify eligibility to ensure the correct rates are applied, as the fee policy varies across seven rate classifications.
Discussion ensued regarding adding additional details in the report about the operating hours of facilities and their availability for events,
whether the Club Room booking hours were listed in the CivicRec reservation system, April 24, 2024 Special Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 4
and requesting staff to investigate ways to improve the acoustics of the John D. Spreckels Center Grand Room without removing the room divider, and with minimal investment.
Dawn Richards provided comments regarding the seat capacity limitations on performers and availability of the Winn Room.
Marvin Heinze provided comments regarding a landing page for all City venues and enhancing utilization of the Coronado School of Arts (CoSA) venue.
Sharon Hall provided comments regarding availability limitations of the CoSA venue and City non-library venues for library events.
Carl Luna, President of Friends of the Library, provided comments regarding utilization of outside venues by the library and requested long term Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) that would ensure availability of other venues.
Phil Garn, Coronado Island Film Festival, provided comments regarding the long-term investment of updating the Winn Room and limitations of the current audio/visual system.
Councilmember Downey asked for information on what internal venue uses are and how it affects the availability of rooms.
City Manager Friend noted that the next Subcommittee meeting will be held on May 16 discussing accessibility, acoustic properties, and environmental impact of expansion of the Winn Room, including relocation or replacement of trees.
Chair Tanaka noted that the maximum seating capacity can be reduced if a performer required a stage or large floor space for events and asked staff to investigate what a room capacity would look like with a modestly sized music performance.
April 24, 2024 Special Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 4
13. ADJOURNMENT
Chair Tanaka adjourned the Special Meeting at 4:09 p.m.
Approved: May 16, 2024
__________________________
CASEY TANAKA, Chair of the
Winn Room Subcommittee
Attest:
____________________________
KELSEA HOLIAN, City Clerk of the
City of Coronado