City of Gonzales
CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT
STAFF REPORT
TO: Honorable Mayor Rios and City Council
DATE: November 18, 2024
FROM: Carmen Gil, City Manager
THROUGH: Carmen Gil, City Manager
SUBJECT: Community Engagement & Recreation Departments Activity Report Current Activities
Kid Power
• In October, Kid Power had a total of 28 kids enrolled in the Afterschool Program. We continue to prioritize helping the kids with their homework as well as providing fun ways to engage the kids through team building activities, and arts and crafts.
• Every October we host a Halloween Door Decorating Contest at Kid Power, the themes this year included: Disney Villains, Rugrats, and Casper the Ghost. This year, first place went to the Disney Villains, and they did a great job! Thank you to all who voted. The kids enjoyed meeting everybody who came to vote. Thank you, Public Works, Fire Department, City Hall Staff, City Manager, Mayor and Council, for coming in person, you all have no idea the impact you have on our kids!
AGENDA
ITEM
9 • Sign-ups have now opened for a Fall Camp. We will have Fall Camp for the first three days of the week of Thanksgiving, and we are looking forward to doing lots of arts and crafts and activities with those kids throughout the day. So far, we already have 8 kids signed up, which is exciting so hopefully we get quite a few more. I will continue to advertise so that we can have more kids for Fall Camp.
• For Halloween, the staff dressed up as Disney princesses! This year, we decided to have fun Halloween themed snacks for the kids which included: mummy dogs, Cheeto puffs that we called “pumpkin poop”, and cheese sticks that we designed as ghosts. We played games that we made up and they got little prizes, such as glow sticks, and a little bit of candy.
City Sports League
• Gonzales youth soccer league ended this month. Our ages 6-8 and 11-13 division had its last games on Friday the 18th. Our ages 2 ½ - 3 ½, 4-5 and 9-10 had their last games on Saturday the 19th. Medals and certificates were passed out to all participants, along with the Sportsmanship Award that was awarded to one special player per team.
• Gonzales Adult co-ed volleyball team registration ended on the 23rd. We have a total of 12 teams and three divisions. Each division has 4 teams. We have a total of 100 participants in the league.
The first game is scheduled to start on Tuesday November 5th. • Gonzales Youth Basketball League registration started on the 24th. We had 6 participants register in October. Our registration period will run until December 22nd. We will start our league with player skills assessments on Tuesday, January 14th. This year we will be running an all-girls travel inter-league with south county cities for ages 5-13. It will consist of 3 age brackets, 7U, 10U and 13U. Our Boys grades 6th- 8
th will also travel inter-league with south county. Our other age divisions which consist of PreK-TK, Kinder-1
st, 2nd
- 3
rd, and 4th
- 5
th will play here in
Gonzales amongst ourselves. We are looking forward to another fun and exciting season.
Gonzales Youth Council
• The Gonzales Youth Council met October 3rd and October 17th for their regularly scheduled meetings with all members.
• The GYC Commissioners continue to collaborate with other Monterey County Youth Councils as part of their Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR). The focus of this YPAR is to learn more about the barriers that youth face when it comes to Career and College Preparation, as well as where they go to seek help regarding Career and College Preparation. They currently meet twice a week, and they are expected to share their findings on Saturday, November 9th in the Gonzales PD room.
• On Thursday, October 24th, the GYC had the opportunity to do a site tour of the construction that is currently taking place where the future Gonzales Community Center will be located. For some of the members, this was their first time stepping into the construction site and really solidified how quickly this project is making progress.
Recreation/Community Engagement
• On Saturday, October 19th we hosted our annual Free Halloween Movie Night at Centennial Park! We also hosted a costume contest, and we were happy to be able to provide people with the option to either stay in their vehicles or set up their lawn chairs to watch the movie. • We continue to host Senior Art and Cooking classes in partnership with Alliance on Aging, Monterey County Health Department, Gonzales Adult School and Taylor Farms Family Health & Wellness Center. For the month of October, the cooking class consisted of baked squash with a sweet pomegranate sauce, perfect for the fall!
• On Saturday October 26th we hosted our 2nd annual Fall Festival/ Trunk or Treat from 4:00pm7:00pm along 4th St. Although we did not reach the same number of Trunk or Treat Participants as last year, we were content with the turnout we received from the community! We also want to thank all City Staff, Trunk or Treat Participants, and Vendors that ma de this event a success! Activities in the Planning Phase
• In partnership with the American Legion Post 81 and the American Legion Auxiliary Post 81, we will be hosting a Hometown Heroes Ceremony on November 6th at Central Park from 12:00pm - 12:45pm. In total, we were able to honor 27 Veterans, we hope this becomes an annual tradition. • We have begun planning for our Holiday Lights Festival, which is taking place on Saturday, December 7th from 4:30pm-7:30pm. The event will consist of games, music, raffles, vendors and a chance to meet Santa!
• This year, we have decided to bring back our Holiday House Decorating Contest. We will be opening up registrations mid-November, we hope to spread the joy of Christmas through this fun and friendly competition.
• Our Holiday Lights Parade will be taking place on Saturday, December 14th. The route is still being determined but we will be posting the flyer information and registrations at City Hall and via an online portal.