City of Gonzales
CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT
STAFF REPORT
TO: Honorable Mayor Rios and City Council
DATE: May 19, 2025
FROM: Carmen Gil, City Manager
THROUGH: Carmen Gil, City Manager
SUBJECT: Community Engagement & Recreation Departments Activity Reports Current Events
Kid Power
• Kid Power after school for April had a total of 30 children registered. We continue to work on getting them ready for state testing and making sure they end the year strong and at grade level. • In April, we had a weeklong camp, where we had 18 campers. We were able to enjoy the garden where we went and picked flowers but also did some cleanup and weed picking. The Fire Department came and talked to us about safety and was able to show us the jaws of life, their truck, and even raced each other to see who could get dressed in their gear the fastest.
AGENDA
ITEM
12 • The day before spring break, we had a big Easter egg hunt. The kids enjoyed every minute of hunting for eggs as the staff challenged them by hiding them and some fun places on the playground. Also, we made a trip to the garden where we got flowers, and we crashed them and turned the petals into paint and painted them.
City Sports League
• Our South County Girls softball league started on February 11th. We have a total of three divisions which consist of 7U, 10U and 14U. We have a total of 49 participants. Our 7U team has a team of 9. We have a large 10U team which has 16 participants. And this year we have two 14U teams. Each team has 12 participants. We have a total of 11 coaches. Our south county league is in collaboration with Soledad, Greenfield and King City. Our season ends on May 17th. Closing Ceremony will take place on May 23rd.
• During our girls’ softball season in collaboration with Gonzales High School, we were able to have high school seniors come out and assist coaches with practices and games. This will look very well on their college applications and work resumes. • Our Gonzales Mini T-ball league ages 2 ½ -4 started on April 5, 2025. We have a total of 34 participants and 4 teams. We have 11 volunteers between coaches and team parents. Our season will end on May 17th. Medals and certificates will be passed out to the kids on May 17th after their game.
Recreation/ Community Engagement
• The Recreation and Community Engagement Department hosted the annual Car Show on Saturday April 5th, in collaboration with Gonzales Customs and Street Life Car Club. The event had a total of 176 cars registered, 18 food and non-food vendors, and awarded 20 Judges Choice plaque recognition to registered participants. Overall, we heard positive feedback from the community and look forward to hosting another event next year! • For the month of April, we held a total of 4 Chair Yoga Classes, 2 art classes and 1 cooking demo in partnership with Alliance on Aging and the Monterey County Health Department. The Senior classes are scheduled to end at the end of June 2025; however, the city continues to collaborate with the Monterey County Health Department to seek additional funding opportunities. • The Recreation and Community Engagement Department is collaborating again with Health Career Connect (HCC) to bring on a student summer intern. The intern is paid through the HCC Program and will intern with the City of Gonzales for an estimated 8-10 weeks. • On April 24th, we met with the Blue Zones Project lead to discuss the approval process for a worksite certification.
Gonzales Youth Council
• Advisors met to begin planning for what the summer fellowship would look like this year and discussed the application process for youth interested in joining the Gonzales Youth Council. We have opened the application process and have made them due at the end of May. • Students and advisors participated in a total of 5 South County Youth Summit Planning meetings which were hosted, both via zoom and in person.
• On April 3rd, the Gonzales Youth Commissioners hosted an Adulting 101 for the Gonzales Youth Council Members. This was part of their Adulting 101 Action project which was made into a short series. Previously, we hosted a leadership lab which included an overview of what a resume is and a mock interview process. During this Adulting 101 event, the focus was on budgeting, Credit Card/ Credit Score overview and a summarized overview of average costs for Car maintenance, apartment/ house maintenance.
Activities in the Planning Phase
• We have started the recruitment process for Summer Aquatics Staff and have designated Wednesday May 7th and May 8th as interview dates.
• We are also anticipating the opening of Pool Party Reservation for the weekend of June 7th and 8 th, with some of the programming beginning on June 10th .
• The South County Youth Summit is scheduled to take place on Saturday, May24th with special guest speaker, Cynthia Moreno, Press Secretary of the Assembly for Robert Rivas. The summit will also include a Resource Fair and multiple workshops.