Consent Item 4e
STAFF REPORT
City Council Consent Item
DATE: November 21, 2022
TO: Honorable Mayor and Council Members
FROM: Cameron Mull, Director of Parks & Recreation
THROUGH: Merritt Perry, City Manager
SUBJECT: Parks & Recreation Monthly Report for October 2022 STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Receive report as an informational item.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Director’s Report
The regularly scheduled Rohner Community Recreation and Park District (RCRPD) monthly meeting occurred on 10/5. It was determined that two resolutions were needing to be passed at the 11/2 RCRPD meeting to allow LACO & Associates to perform the engineers report, and a second resolution to approve the ballot process for the future Benefit Assessment to ultimately proceed with taking a ballot/ vote to the parcel owners within the RCRPD boundary (at a future date TBD), in order to pay for the associated costs for a future aquatic center. Also, Chris Perlitz, a financial analyst with MCM Group, Inc., discussed his process for generating ideal funding options for financing the construction of the future pool with the Board approving to move forward with hiring him to perform those duties.
The Rohner Park Basketball Court Project (funded by Measure E) went back out to the bidding process, as the lowest bid came in at a cost that was outside of the allowable budget.
The project’s exterior court amenities were scaled back in order to put the project back out to bid with a reasonable timeline, with the plan to be within budget and to still have the project completed in spring 2023. There were no major changes made to the actual court/ playing areas.
Ontiveros & Assoc. was hired to perform the engineering services and planning for the Newburg Park Expansion Project. Measure E has allocated $500,000 for this project, and an updated Master Plan for the entire park was completed by Ponte Landscape Architects.
The initial projects/ phase one to break ground on the new 8.4-acre expansion will likely include proper grading of the topography, creating optimal drainage, and perhaps an additional parking area and/or trails installed.
Consent Item 4e
Parks & Facility Maintenance
Clean-up and break down occurred following the Apple Harvest Festival, the annual 4H Lamb BBQ, and the California High School Rodeo Association District II event on 10/1- 10/2
The Rodeo grounds were prepped for the final equine/ Gymkhana event on 10/8-10/9 The covered picnic area NE corner was repaired due to vehicle damages Multiple irrigation repairs were completed at: Newburg Park E-line, Conroy Field, and on four Fortuna Blvd. medians
All Rohner Park outdoor 14 ft. picnic tables that were damaged or deteriorated received new wood structures (as needed) and primed and painted
The River Lodge received replaced bulbs in the kitchen, gluing of separating counter tops, and a repair to an torn seam in the flooring
Repairs were completed at the Rohner Park main bathrooms The Depot Museum’s replacement old-growth redwood gutters (donated by the Fortuna Rodeo Assoc.) and redwood fascia board (200+ feet in total each) were delivered and priming and painting began
The Bike Park at Newburg Park received extensive asphalt repairs and extensions to the existing pavement
Spray paint from graffiti on the S side of the Depot Museum was repainted/ covered Work in Rohner Park was performed in preparation for the Spook-A-Thon event on 10/28 A retaining wall in the exterior fire-pit area of the River Lodge received masonry repairs All three urinals in the Rohner Park main bathrooms were repaired The Deep-Pit BBQ’s in Rohner Park were cleared, cleaned out for the season The River Lodge received rain gutter cleaning and following this, the holiday exterior string lights were installed for the season
Fifteen bulbs and three ballasts were replaced in the Firemen’s Pavilion Depot Museum
October’s visitation total at the Fortuna Depot Museum was 228 people. This is in the normal range for our pre-COVID October visitor totals. October visitation totals in recent years were:
2021: 133, 2020: 92, 2019: 200, 2018: 253, 2017: 206, 2016: 160, 2015: 309, 2014: 197, 2013:
227, 2012: 228. Our October 2022 visitation total includes 63 people who visited the museum during Apple Harvest weekend. In October 2022 we welcomed California visitors from Acampo, Campbell, Eureka, Fortuna, Los Angeles, McKinleyville, Oroville, Pollock Pines, Rio Dell, Salinas, San Francisco, Santa Maria, Sunnyvale and Westport, as well as out-of-state visitors from Oregon and Washington.
Fortuna Transit
Passengers on the Fortuna Transit Bus totaled 643 trips during the month of October 2022. The lift was used for non-wheelchair riders 57 times and 60 times for wheelchair trips. The Fortuna Transit had 19 new riders during the month of October. The Eureka medical trips on Tuesdays have been going well averaging around three-five riders.
Consent Item 4e
Sports, Classes and Facility Rentals
Little League continued playing in Rohner Park with Fall Ball. Results Fit Camp continues holding classes in the Pavilion, and the Rohner Rec Hall was used eight times during the month of October.
During October we hosted a weekend long gymkhana, a weekend of high school rodeo, Fortuna High Safe and Sober held a fundraiser in the rodeo grounds, the 4H Lamb BBQ, and Humboldt Disc Dogs had an event on the Bartow Field. Youth and High School soccer utilized all green space at Newburg Park for games & practices in October, with Humboldt Fastpitch holding softball games on Sundays at Newburg Park.
Recreation Programs
Drop-in volleyball on Sunday evenings continued throughout October, with attendance ranging from ten - thirteen players per night. Drop-in basketball resumed on Thursday October 6th with attendance ranging from one – seven players per night. Basketball was closed Thursday Oct 13th due to a scheduling conflict.
The playgroup for kids ages 0-5 and their caregivers, in partnership with First 5 Humboldt, continued through the month of October. The playgroups is open every Thursday and Sunday from 10:30am – 12:30pm, with attendance ranging from one – six children at each session.
Planning and coordination on the annual Halloween event continued throughout the month, culminating in our second annual Spook-A-Thon on Saturday, October 29th from 12pm – 3pm.
The event was expanded this year to include more games, additional community vendors, themed concessions, as well as live music. Over the course of the three-hour event we served over 500 local children and their families, for a final total of over 2,000 people in attendance.
Skating
The Fortuna Skating Rink was open for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday Public Skates all month long. Over the course of the month the skating rink hosted 14 private parties with 331 attendees, and in addition to the 767 skaters that attended public skate, hosted an overall total of 1,098 skaters in the month of October.
Two special skate events also took place in October, with the Apple Harvest themed skate night that took place on Saturday October 1st, and a Stranger Things-inspired skate & trivia night scheduled taking place on Saturday October 15th. Both of these special events sold out, with some community members at Apple Harvest Skate opting to wait outside for folks to leave so they could October 2021 October 2022 YTD ~ July 2021 – June
2022
YTD ~ July 2022 – June
2023
# of passengers 722 643 7713 2747
Total Miles 2387 1998 24885 8527
Service Miles 2211 1807 22710 7833
Hours Worked 307.75 248 3183.5 1023.25
Service Hours
Worked 265.25 216.5 2671 969.5
Consent Item 4e
get in to skate as space opened up. Additionally, there was a discount skate night the evening of Saturday, October 29th (following the Rohner Park Spook-A-Thon) for participants that arrived in costume. Due to the upcoming holidays & related events, the monthly adult nights have been put on pause for the months of Oct – Dec, and will resume in the New Year.
Community Service
The Parks & Recreation Department had three people signed up to perform Community Service, and workers completed 47 hours throughout the months of October. The Community Service Work Program is a big part of the parks’ success. The workers help with trash pickup and various basic maintenance projects in Rohner and Newburg Parks, the River Lodge, and other Parks-maintained spaces throughout the City. Since the program started in 1997, there have been 53,122 service hours completed in the throughout the City of Fortuna.
RECOMMENDED COUNCIL ACTION:
Receive Parks & Recreation Department Monthly Report. Consent agenda vote.