Consent Calendar Item 4e
STAFF REPORT
City Council Consent Agenda Item
DATE: October 16, 2023
TO: Honorable Mayor and Council Members
FROM: Park Staff
THROUGH: Merritt Perry, City Manager
SUBJECT: Parks & Recreation Monthly Report for September 2023 STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Receive report as an informational item.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Parks & Facility Maintenance (non-routine items)
Deep cleaned the basketball courts for the ribbon cutting ceremony Repaired irrigation at the Tri Counties Bank flower bulb Replaced a bad coupler on Softball 2 Field
Installed a sanitary dispenser in the Pavilion women’s restroom Installed a new skylight to replace the one that was stolen from the cookshack patio in Rohner Park
Set up prep work and tear down for the soccer jamboree Set up the Bartow Field area for 2 dog events
Removed a yellow jacket nest from the soccer field at Newburg Park Repaired broken spindles from a user group at the Monday Club Repaired the broken grill in the cookshack at the rodeo grounds Repaired irrigation blowouts on Fortuna Blvd
Weed spraying on Fortuna Blvd
Turned off the irrigation at Newburg Park
Repaired the door at the Monday Club, ADA ramp
Set up and break down for the Sip of Summer event
Depot Museum
September’s visitor total at the Fortuna Depot Museum was 157 people. This is typical of our postCovid September visitation totals, but is lower than typical September visitation totals in the preCovid years. Recent years’ September visitation totals were 2022: 169, 2021: 144, 2020: 76, 2019:
186, 2018: 243, 2017: 261, 2016: 179, 2015: 203, 2014: 206, 2013: 190. In September 2023 we welcomed California visitors from Arcata, Eureka, Ferndale, Fortuna, Rio Dell, San Diego, San Francisco, San Leandro, Santa Cruz, Santee and Trinidad. We also welcomed out-of-state visitors Consent Calendar Item 4e
from Alaska, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington, as well as overseas visitors from Belgium.
At the beginning of September, we returned to our winter opening hours, Thursday through Sunday from 12:00 to 4:30. In mid-September, a temporary exhibit was installed in the front room of the museum, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Great Berkeley Fire of September 17, 1923.
This exhibit will remain on display through mid-October.
Fortuna Transit
Passengers on the Fortuna Transit Bus totaled 787 trips during the month of September 2023 which is 96 more riders then September 2022. The lift was used for non-wheelchair riders 41 times and 30 times for wheelchair trips. The Fortuna Transit had six new riders during the month of September. The Eureka medical trips on Tuesdays have been going well averaging around 4-6 medical appointments per week. Jeff Pearce has started working as our new Bus Driver l, we are happy to have him as a part of our transit team.
Sports, Classes and Facility Rentals
Adult Rec League Softball has ended and Adult Rec League Coed Softball has started. There are five teams in the upper division and six teams in the lower division, games are played on Monday and Wednesday nights at Newburg Park. Results Fit Camp continues holding classes in the Pavilion six times a week, Pickleball plays in the Pavilion on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays from 9am – 12pm the cost is $3.00 and is open to anyone 18 years of age or older. Little League, Humboldt Fastpitch, Eel River Youth Soccer and Emerald Football Club Soccer continue practices and games in Rohner and Newburg Parks. Rohner Rec Hall was rented five times and the cook shack area was rented six times during the month of September. There was a two-day gymkhana event, Sip of Summer, and a Jr Livestock Deep Pit BBQ: all hosted in Rohner Park.
Recreation Programs
In the month of September, the Recreation division began implementation of a new cashiering system (primarily affecting Skate and associated staff) that enables credit cards to be used at Pavilion programming. The first half of the month was spent preparing training materials and creating guides for staff as well as training Coordinators on the new system. Coordinators helped oversee roll-out of the new system during weekend programming beginning Friday Sept. 15th, including beginning training our most experienced cashiers during programming through the September
2022
September
2023
YTD ~ July 2022 – June
2023
YTD ~ July 2023 – June
2024
# of passengers 691 787 7713 2336
Total Miles 2143 2257 24885 6661
Service Miles 1987 2116 22710 6281
Hours Worked 269.75 260 3183.5 847
Service Hours
Worked 232.25 216.5 2671 453.75
Consent Calendar Item 4e
weekend. The rest of the staff began training following the twice-yearly skate staff meeting Sunday Sept 17th. Coordinators continued training time and support during week & weekend programming the following weekend.
Drop-in volleyball continued through the month on Sunday evenings, with attendance ranging from 8-19 players each night. Participants range in age from 11 through adults, and recently has had an uptick in middle-school-age attendees. Due to a significant increase in attendance numbers (Sunday Oct 1 had attendance of 27, with another 10 that opted out and left without playing due to overcrowding) we will be expanding our Drop-in Volleyball offerings. Beginning in early October we will be splitting the program into a dedicated youth session followed by a dedicated adult session. Both sessions will continue to take place on Sunday evenings, with youth running 5:30 – 7:30pm and adults running 7:30 – 9:30pm. Our drop-in program is staffed to manage payments, waivers, and facility care but we rely on volunteers to facilitate and organize teams & playtime. Two parents will be starting as volunteers to facilitate the youth session in addition to our current volunteer who will continue to work with the adult group.
Our playgroup for kids ages 0-5 and their caregivers, in partnership with First 5 Humboldt, took place Thursdays and Sundays from 10:30am – 12:30pm. Attendance ranged from 2-14 children at each session, with a special visit on the last Thursday of the month from our local librarian for Story Time.
Preparation continued on fall events, including the Apple Harvest Festival the first Saturday in October (Recreation is running a coloring contest as well as hosting a themed Apple Harvest Skate Night) as well as our 3rd annual Spook-A-Thon, a free youth Halloween carnival event scheduled for Saturday October 28th. This year we introduced sponsorship packages to streamline our donation solicitation process and in September we began donor, sponsor, vendor, and volunteer outreach. The Spook-A-Thon is entirely funded by the generosity of our local community through donations & sponsorships, and each year we have had over 500 children participate with total attendance over 2000 people.
Roller Skating
The Fortuna Skating Rink resumed normal hours starting Friday September 8th, and was open for Saturday, and Sunday Public Skate in addition to Friday and Saturday private parties. September’s theme skate was “Back 2 School!”. Through the month of September, the skating rink hosted 15 private parties with 500 attendees, and in addition to the 526 skaters that attended public skate, hosted an overall total of 1026 skaters over the course of the month.
Consent Calendar Item 4e
Part-Time Recreation Staff Hours YTD
Recreation utilized a total of 425 staff hours for the month of September.
Projected Actual Over/(Under)
Projected
23-Jul 2,250.00 2,036.25 (213.75)
23-Aug 1,210.00 1,445.25 235.25
23-Sep 300.00 425.00 125.00
23-Oct 550.00
23-Nov 530.00
23-Dec 520.00
24-Jan 550.00
24-Feb 460.00
24-Mar 750.00
24-Apr 560.00
24-May 340.00
24-Jun 1,980.00
Total: 10,000.00 3,481.50 146.50
Community Service
The Parks & Recreation Department had five people signed up to perform Community Service, and workers completed 90.25 hours throughout the month of September. 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 Parksmaintained spaces throughout the City. Since the program started in 1997, there have been 53,472 service hours completed in the throughout the City of Fortuna.
RECOMMENDED COUNCIL ACTION:
Receive Monthly Parks & Recreation Department Report. Consent Agenda Vote.