Bullhead City Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting - September 20, 2023
Bullhead City Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting - September 20, 2023
The Parks and Recreation Commission met on September 20, 2023. The commission received a wide-ranging parks report, approved the prior meeting minutes, elected a vice chairperson, reviewed the commission bylaws, and discussed mobile food vendor rules in city parks. The source material contained only the raw transcript; the agenda and minutes were not available.
Superintendent's Report
- Parks superintendent Dave reported ongoing renovations at Rotary Park's football field to prepare it to become the home field for Mojave Community College soccer teams in 2024. The scoreboard and flagpole were moved to enlarge the field to NJCAA soccer standards. Work includes a dugout, press box, and storage; future work includes a backstop, new goals, turf improvements, and fencing, largely funded by grants.
- Fall overseeding has begun at Rotary Park and Ken Fovard Park, including scalping, seeding, and irrigation. The parks remain open, but fields may be damp and sprinklers will run frequently for about two weeks. Baseball field overseeding at the Rotary Park triplex was scheduled to begin the next day.
- Upcoming event highlights:
- Sept. 22-23: Overnight baseball/softball tournament at Rotary Park, 9 p.m. to 8 a.m.
- Sept. 23: Suicide Awareness and Prevention Walk; free dive-in movie at the pool, Hotel Transylvania, with doors opening at 6:30 p.m.
- Sept. 30: Oktoberfest at Community Park.
- Oct. 7: First farmers market, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., with more than 80 vendors and six food trucks; Nation's Finest cornhole tournament; adult slow-pitch softball tournament Oct. 7-8.
- Oct. 8-Nov. 11: Halloween Island inflatable carnival at Rotary Park.
- Oct. 12-15: 12 Angry Jurors play at Optimum Community Center, with Oct. 12 and 13 at 7 p.m. and Oct. 14 and 15 at 2 p.m.
- Oct. 13-15: Bullhead City Stryper Classic Fishing Derby with $5,000 in cash and prizes.
- Oct. 14: White Night in the Park at Gary Keith Park and the inaugural Mayor's Cup RC drag race at Rotary Park, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Oct. 19-21: Cornfest at Gary Keith Park.
- Oct. 21-22: WSL adult softball tournament at Rotary Park.
- Oct. 25: Walk Away from Drugs at Ken Fovard Park.
- Oct. 28: Great Pumpkin Race at Community Park, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Ongoing programs include horseshoes at Ken Fovard Park on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8 a.m.; pickleball and table tennis at Optimum Community Center for $3 per day; senior softball on Mondays and Wednesdays; open gym basketball on Fridays through Sundays for $3, with youth from 3:30-5:30 p.m. and adults from 6-8 p.m.; bocce at Rotary Park on Saturdays at 9 a.m.; and aquatics programs at the municipal pool.
Chairman's and Commissioners' Comments
- The chairman thanked commissioners for electing him and outlined priorities: working as a strategic whole to improve Bullhead City, improving communication with the city and the commission, and encouraging commissioner involvement in city events and ribbon cuttings.
- No commissioner comments on current events were offered.
Action Items
- The commission approved the July 19, 2023 regular meeting minutes as written. The motion carried with five votes in favor.
- After two rounds of balloting, Commissioner Heather Petrillo was elected vice chairperson for the 2023/2024 city fiscal year under Section 102 of the bylaws. The runoff vote was 3-2 for Commissioner Petrillo over Commissioner Bell, and the formal motion appointing her carried with five votes in favor.
- The commission conducted the annual bylaw review under Section 302. No revisions were recommended and no action was required.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Daniel, a mobile food vendor at Community Park for three years and an Iraq War veteran with a service-connected back injury, testified during the mobile food vendor discussion. He said the new 15-minute move rule, implemented this year, does not give vendors enough time to serve large lines. He described physical strain from rushing, lost customers, and inconsistent enforcement, noting some vendors remain parked for up to an hour without being told to move. He expressed support for extending the time to at least 30 minutes.
Discussion Items
- The commission discussed mobile food vendor operations in city parks. Vendor permits cost $25 per day or $500 per year. Existing rules require health department clearance, naming the city as an additional insured, staying at least 100 yards from other concessionaires, and moving every 15 minutes at least 100 yards.
- Parks superintendent Dave said the prior practice was roughly a 40-minute rotation and appeared to work well. He said the goal is to keep vendors mobile and avoid vendors occupying one spot all day, partly because of the city's recreational public purpose lease with the Bureau of Land Management.
- City staff explained that state law set uniform mobile food vendor rules for private property and public rights-of-way, while the park rule is an additional city licensing requirement. The 15-minute provision is a contractual licensing term, not city code, and was designed to prevent vendor complaints about prime spots. Any change would be a recommendation to the city manager rather than to the city council.
- Commissioners expressed concern that 15 minutes is too short, creates rushed food handling and safety hazards, and may frustrate customers. One commissioner asked whether a designated food truck area could be considered. The vendor said about 30 minutes would be a reasonable minimum.
- The commission agreed to hold a workshop before the next commission meeting, possibly at 4:30 that day, with mobile food vendors and city staff involved. Parks staff will provide the vendor conditions packet in advance and prepare detailed guidelines for the workshop.
Key Outcomes
- Minutes approved.
- Commissioner Heather Petrillo elected vice chairperson.
- Bylaws reviewed; no changes recommended.
- No formal action taken on the 15-minute mobile food vendor rule; a workshop will be scheduled before the next commission meeting to gather more input and develop a possible recommendation to the city manager.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon, and welcome to the Parks and Rec Commission meeting for the month of September twenty twenty-three. Your interest in the business of the commission is appreciated. If you wish to speak on the agenda item, please come forward when the chairperson opens the floor for public input on that item. I call to order, roll call. Commissioner Crib, can you hear me? Yes, I can hear you. Thank you. Hi, Kenya. So uh would you like to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, please? Ready to begin. Uh uh, for anybody the citizens wishing to address the commission on issues within the jurisdiction of the city. Your comments must be limited to three minutes or less, unless you are speaking on behalf of a group. The conclusion of the open call to the public individual members of the commission may respond to the criticism, may by those who have addressed the commission may ask staff to review a matter or may ask them a matter to be placed on a future agenda. Members are restricted by law to not discuss or take action on matters not already on the agenda. Before I get started, I want to say thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak here today. And the next thing I want to say is that I hope that by by voicing my opinion that my business has a vendor. I'm not faced with any uh negative repercussions. Mr. Chairman, if I could, real quick. Um he's gonna be speaking on an item that's on the agenda. Um so when we get up to item number four on the agenda, that'll be your chance to come up and talk about that. Okay. We'll give you another opportunity. Okay, so thank you. Okay, well uh any presentations I have none. So not that we're that's not an agenda. Okay. Uh we'll move forward to the next item. Uh parks and recreation superintendent report. Dave. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh we'll start with a quick parks update. Renovations to the football field at Rotary Park continue as we prepare for the Mojave Community College soccer teams to make this uh their home in 2024. We've moved the scoreboard and the flagpole. This is done in order to make the field a little bit bigger to accommodate uh NJCAA level soccer. Um currently building an area that includes a dugout for players, a press box, and storage for the teams, and future improvements will include backstop behind the goals. We have new goals that we've purchased, uh turf improvements, and a fence around the field. Most of this is being paid for by grants that we have uh received in order to accommodate this expansion of uh use in the parks. We've begun fall overseeding in Rotary Park and Ken Fovard Park, and we'd like the all the park visitors to know that this is kind of a time of the year that we get a lot of calls, a lot of questions about what's going on. The water's on all day long, and the grass looks terrible and stuff like that. Um you're gonna be seeing lights on early in the morning too on ball fields. Uh this is in order for us to keep the grass looking green year-round. We have about a month where the red grass isn't looking so great. Uh we're gonna we've started with the east and west soccer fields at Rotary Park. Uh those have been scalps. We overseed it today. Those are gonna start getting irrigated. In fact, they're probably being irrigated right now. Uh, we've done the uh entirety of Ken Fovard Park, uh, both ball fields and the uh park uh uh the main park area.
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