City of Gonzales
CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT
STAFF REPORT
TO: Honorable Mayor Rios and City Council
DATE: June 16, 2025
FROM: Carmen Gil, City Manager
THROUGH: Carmen Gil, City Manager
SUBJECT: Community Engagement & Recreation Departments Activity Report Current Events
Kid Power
• For the month of May, Kid Power had a total of 30 children enrolled. We continue to focus on helping them with homework and making sure that they focus on work for the State testing to help them study.
• One of the core values we try to instill in students is the importance of collaborating and team building; we do this by having the students participate in team bonding games. We also took advantage of the warm weather during one of the hot days this month, and we let the children play on the slip and slide and have a water balloon fight.
AGENDA
ITEM
9 • As Kid Power comes to an end this month, we have had lots of parents compliment us on how well their children are doing in school. We have three that are moving on to Fairview so we had a small ceremony with a poster that all the kids made to show them that we will miss them.
City Sports League
• Our Youth Flag Football registration is still going on. Numbers are a little low compared to last season. So far, we have 35 registered participants. Hopefully, they continue to grow before the season begins. Season is set to start the week of June 9th. This season we will be collaborating with Greenfield and will be playing a couple games against them. • Adult co-ed summer Softball League is going strong. This season we have a total of 14 registered teams and 97 registered participants. We have enough teams to create 3 divisions. This season we will have an A, B, and C.
• We had such a wonderful season with our Mini T-ball League this year. Our season ended on May 17th, 2025. Medals and certificates were handed out to the kids after their game. The one thing these kids look forward to after every game is their team snacks. The medal they receive at the end of the season is a very close second. The smile and excitement on their little faces when they receive their medal is truly priceless. Our next sport for this age division will be soccer in September.
• Our South County Girls Softball League had their closing ceremony on May 23rd. We had a fun filled evening. All the girls received their medal and certificates. Then we all came together and enjoyed some delicious potluck food. All the teams came together and brought something to share. After we ate, we had a fun scrimmage with the 14U teams against their parents. The 14U girls won. A couple of the 14U division games got cancelled so we were able to extend the season a couple of weeks and added one last game for the girls to play. We were able to have them scrimmage against some players from the High School JV team. It should be a good and fun experience. This will allow them to see what the next level brings.
Recreation/ Community Engagement
• Our senior classes continued in the month of May with a total of 4 Chair Yoga Classes, 1 Cooking Class, and 1 Art class. We are happy to see the same familiar faces taking advantage of these classes. We also met with Alliance on Aging and are pleased to confirm the senior classes will continue beyond June. While Chair Yoga will be reduced to twice a month, we are grateful for the ongoing partnership and the opportunity to maintain these valuable programs. • In the month of May, we also celebrated our Student Intern Eliza Rodriguez, who graduated from CSUMB and committed 3 semesters of service learning to the City of Gonzales. We have an additional Student Intern, Ivan Caballero, who will be completing his service-learning hours with the City of Gonzales in December 2025.
• On May 7th, the Blue Zones Project Leads welcomed a visit from their national team and invited us to join them in Gonzales for a site tour. The visit highlighted several locations where the Blue Zones Project has dedicated time and funding, including our Community Garden and the newest Mural. At the Community Garden, additional partners such as the Resource Conservation District of Monterey County and CADRE Workforce Development were also present. Each organization had the opportunity to share their experiences with the garden and reflect on their key takeaways from the project.
• We are also pleased to announce the City of Gonzales office has been approved as a Blue Zones Approved Worksite - our partners at Blue Zones are planning to host a small celebration in the fall to commemorate this milestone.
• On Monday, May 19th, the Recreation Department participated in Senior Mock Interviews at Gonzales High School. Through this event, students are not only able to strengthen their job interview skills, but they also can receive feedback and learn about the different career pathways of the interviewers.
• On Thursday, May 22nd
, we hosted an intimate ribbon cutting ceremony for the unveiling of our new Mural on Fourth Street.
Aquatics
• In the month of May, we were able to complete the hiring process for all our Pool staff, including the recertification of returning staff. In total, we have 15 staff which includes 1 Pool Manager, 1 Assistant Pool Manager, 7 Lifeguards, and 6 Rec-Aids.
• We were able to have pool reservations go live via the Teamsideline website, and we currently have 5 Pool Reservations scheduled, creating a total of $2,310 in revenue. • The Gonzales Community Pool is scheduled to open on Tuesday, June 10th, and we will also begin accepting registrations for swim lessons that same day at the Community Pool.
Gonzales Youth Council
• The GYC Commissioners participated in a total of 4 South County Youth Summit Planning Meetings, one of which was a zoom meeting with the keynote speaker, Cynthia Moreno, Press Secretary for Speaker of the Assembly Robert Rivas.
• The GYC also hosted a total of 4 tabling events at the High School to help promote the South County Youth Summit Event. In the end, the event held on Saturday, May 24th, gathered a total of 67 students from South Monterey County. The event kicked off with an opening speech and panel interview from the keynote speaker followed by workshops, lunch, a resource fair and raffle! We would also like to acknowledge Mayor Jose Rios and Mayor Pro Tem Liz Silva for joining us.
The GYC concluded the month of May by hosting their last meeting of the school year on Thursday, May 29th. They used this time to also practice for their capstone presentation being held during the Council Meeting on Monday, June 2nd.