STAFF REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
DATE: Regular Meeting of April 25, 2023
TO: Mayor and Members of the City Council
VIA: Dante Hall, City Manager
SUBMITTED BY: Christopher Roke, Parks and Recreation Director SUBJECT: Update on the City of Hercules Parks and Recreation Department RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Receive an update on the City of Hercules Parks and Recreation Department BACKGROUND:
The essential mission of Parks and Recreation is to provide exceptional recreational experiences, promote health and wellness, protect natural resources, strengthen safety and security, foster human development, increase cultural awareness, support economic development, as well as strengthen community image and sense of place.
We are part of a network of people working together to fulfill the needs of the Hercules citizens. It begins with our elected officials who work through our City Manager to develop high-level policies and goals for the community. Our City Manager sets priorities with the Executive Team, and that work is distributed among departmental staff, many of whom work directly with the residents here in Hercules. We are all here for no other reason than to provide service to our community.
The team is currently comprised of (4) full-time staff including: (1) Parks and Recreation Director, (1) Recreation Manager, and (2) Recreation Coordinators. Because we are a small department with a lot of irons in the fire, we all wear many hats. For example, our Recreation Manager oversees Youth Programs: including Tiny Tots (Preschool), Kaleidoscope Kidz (Child Care), *Breakfast Club (morning care program), Summer Dynamite Camps (traditional in-house camps), and various Administrative Duties. Recreation Coordinator #1 oversees Fee classes, contractors, the Office, Teens, and Youth Sports. Recreation Coordinator #2 oversees Aquatics, Seniors, Facilities and Outdoor Rentals.
The full-time staff support more than (50) part-time staff, (20+) contractors, many volunteers - working in a vast array of different capacities, (14) City recognized nonprofit groups, a Commission, and more. In addition, these individuals support and program, as well as staff and oversee (3) Community Centers, (3) Child Care Centers (known as Kidz Centers), (1) Teen Center, (1) Senior Center, (13) Parks, (1) Dog Park, (12) Facility Rental locations, (8) Picnic sites, (2) Gazebos, (1) Gym, (1) Aquatics Center, (2) baseball fields, (2) soccer fields, (3.5) outdoor basketball courts, (2) bocce ball courts, (2) horseshoe pits, several play structures, swings, restrooms, and (8) tennis courts.
Together we all support one another and still find the time to offer special events in our programs, participate/organize/and often run special events like EGGstravaganza, Movie nights in the parks, Halloween Trunk or Treat, Scarecrow Contest, PUMPKATAZ, the Holiday Tree Lighting event and more.
Part of our responsibility as a staff is to create awareness for our programs and services and one of the primary methods of marketing is through the City of Hercules Parks & Recreation Activity Guide. Three times a year this publication is mailed to every household in Hercules, as well as to many local businesses and residents from surrounding communities that have asked to be on our mailing lists. This also compliments our websites and social media presence.
ANALYSIS:
One of the most important moves in recent times is the creation of the first Parks and Recreation Facilities Master Plan. The Master Plan is a long-range plan that will identify the needs and priorities of this growing community. The goal for the plan is to help the City strategically allocate resources and leverage opportunities to maintain and enhance the overall parks system over the next decade.
The process of the Master Plan began in the Fall of 2022 with a complete inventory of all City parks and recreation facilities, as well as a conditions assessment. This multi-phase approach started with a state of the parks review, followed by the Identification of Needs and Opportunities, and is currently transitioning into the Recommendations and Prioritizations phase. The project will eventually get to a Develop and Adopt a Plan phase in the future.
In addition to the Master Plan, the Parks and Recreation Department has been busy with programs, activities, and projects. Programmatically, the Parks and Recreation Department has been rebounding nicely from the pandemic. The first event held indoors was the Bottles and Bites event on Sunday, March 27, 2022. The significance of this event is that it acted as a springboard to return to programs. At that time, the Covid omicron variant was subsiding, and people were just ready to be out of the house and resume normal activities. Ticket sales for this event doubled over the last week leading up to the event, and the Parks and Recreation Department could feel a sense of change.
The very next week was our annual public registration for preschool and there was a notable pick up in activity. It didn’t return to the same levels overnight, but since that time, each program and activity has increasingly picked up momentum.
The last programs to return were facility rentals and teens. During the pandemic we invited the community out to the parks, and picnic rentals took off in greater numbers than ever before. It wasn’t until the recent atmospheric storms that took place this winter that brought indoor facility rentals back to pre-pandemic levels. We are still working on the Teen programs, and are optimistic about their return. We are following the trends and working to rebrand the program in hopes of recapturing this group. The pandemic brought on many changes and one of these changes was the workforce working from home which also brought a decrease in community need for an afterschool teen program with so many parents already at home. However, we have been engaging the older teens in High School and getting them involved in events. So, we are working to continue to get that group re-engaged in programming.
Some of the recent projects that the Parks and Recreation Department is working on or has completed include the gym floor, and pool safety fence. There are also new bottle refill stations in the Community Center and Swim Center. Other projects on the horizon are the All Abilities Swing coming to Refugio Valley Park (summer 2023), and the Beechnut Mini Park project with use of Prop 68 money.
One of the things Parks and Recreation are known for is the ability to run fantastic community events. Many of these events acted as the lone bright spot during the pandemic. And they have continued to grow especially over the past year. Some events highlighted would include a Trunk or Treat event that has grown from 75 participants to over 2,000 participants. The Fireworks celebration in 2022 down at the Bayfront was spectacular, with an estimated 3,000+ watching the aerial display. We are looking forward to a return of both of these programs and many, many more this year.
An analysis wouldn’t be complete without providing some numbers on programming. Summer 2022 brought in 779 swim lessons, and 915 in-house camp registrations. Both easily the highest numbers in the past decade. The 779 swim lessons equated to an average of 156 participants per session, and the 915 camp registrations equated to 114 campers per week. Given that our Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 swim lessons sold out, and our Summer 2023 private swim lessons are already sold out, things are definitely picking up and moving in the right direction.
Like other departments, there is a lot of work ahead. At the top of the list needs to be a thorough review of staffing levels and succession planning to identify and be able to meet the needs of the future.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact associated with receiving this report.
ATTACHMENTS:
Presentation