Good evening.

And welcome to the Parks Recreation and Beautification Committee meeting.

Commissioner Paula here.

Commissioner Cassows here?

Commissioner Porter?

Commissioner Jones.

Sarah Smith.

Phil Frazy?

Here.

Brian Davis?

Here.

Todd Kirkendall?

Here.

Kim Tipton.

Here.

Thank you, Vicky.

So move.

Second.

I have a motion and a second.

All those in favor say aye.

All right.

Anyone opposed?

Same signed?

We've approved the minutes from the last meeting.

We are going to um recognize our visitors here in a minute, but before I do that, we are going to make an adjustment to the agenda.

We're going to remove item one from our new business.

And so we'll start with item two.

But tonight we have a special guest, a fellow commissioner.

Would you like to come up to the microphone, Commissioner?

Hi Debbie, welcome.

So how I address you commissioners and committee members and staff.

So we had a get together yesterday at uh Ned How Park, and there was approximately about 65 people within the bathroom, about a hundred yards from the bathroom, people fishing, family, and the bathrooms were locked.

She's on medication, she's diabetic, and it was too far to go around to the other side of the bathroom and I never went and checked to see if they were unlocked or or not.

But uh I think it's a shame.

Um I reached out to Claire and uh Russell was in the text and just was in the text.

And my concern, and it made me a little bit upset, is why are there only one set of keys to the bathroom or one person in charge of the keys?

That makes no sense to me.

You know, if we're it's it we're a big public area, you know, we're open to the city.

The park should be open to the public to have bathrooms.

So and then um Representative Zamora, you know, my husband called and talked to Claire on Saturday.

Hill same with Hillcrest.

You know, riding the bikes and taking the kids and the bathrooms are locked.

There was a wedding going on.

So I just I think we as a city need to do a better job of having the public bathrooms to the public.

That's easy accessible, you know, or but they don't have to be locked.

And I think the text said you said about eight weeks for the Hillcrest part to be why is that?

I mean, how long has it been in disrespects repair and why is it taking so long to get it repaired?

I don't know who to address that question to Madam Chairman and Commissioner Zamora.

And so we have been working with various contractors since they were vandalized to get quotes on the replacements and to fix them.

Uh the original contractors uh said that we were gonna have they were gonna have to have pressure issues, so they're gonna have to replace the other the entire plumbing system within the walls, essentially.

And so then we went to continue to reach out and try to get other quotes from other contractors.

And then we are also trying to decide whether or not do we abandon those old restrooms if they're not going to be able to handle uh the pressures that we need to.

Um so we were trying to weigh our options on what to do with them.

Uh we did finally receive a quote from another contractor, uh which then we brought to the city commissioner, I think is $60,000 quote.

We brought that to the city commission for approval two commission agendas ago, in which then of course we didn't have the funds allocated.

And so then the commission did approve that agenda item.

And so now that we had those funds allocated, we've actually ordered and issued a purchase order uh to the contractor that's gonna be performing the work.

They uh I think we're going back in with stainless steel equipment, so obviously all that has to be procured.

It's gonna be less likely to be vandalized versus porcelain.

Uh and so it just lead times getting things in place to get those ones repaired.

The restrooms out at Ned Hill Park, from my understanding.

Obviously, the contractor just finished the construction on those, and so they just turned in keys to us on Friday.

And so we just haven't had a chance to make more sets of keys to those.

Uh when we left the parks on Friday, uh, we did have them unlocked.

And so they were open.

However, what we have learned is that there's on the handles themselves, somebody from the inside can lock it and then walk out and close the door.

And so as far as we knew, they were unlocked.

But we're we're taking a look at that.

Russell went out and looked at it today to see if we can put some different locking mechanisms on there.

So it'll quit.

So that yeah, because it's shuts it locks if they move the little thing on the inside.

Yes, ma'am.

Because it said vacant.

Yeah.

But the hand I think the handle was locked.

And I think there's a push button on that handle as well.

And so we may have to replace all that locking mechanisms to to where they don't lock.

But no, when we left on Friday, when the employees left, they were unlocked.

We just didn't realize somebody can lock them and walk out at that time.

And do we have certain hours that they're open?

Like I know summertime, does it go longer or we've been since the recommendation to leave them unlocked was made and approved by this by this board, uh we've kept them unlocked.

Twenty-four hours a day?

Yes, ma'am.

So I don't know if I'm out of order here, but can we my sister works for the city of Las Cruces and they had and my brother-in-law is retired from there, but he says that they have signs that it's open at dawn and closes at dusk.

And would that help alleviate some of the vandalism going on at and I somebody said that Representative Zamora said to keep them open all the time.

He's he did not say that.

Okay.

He said business hours.

So we used we've had magnetic locks on them before to where we could set them up for timers to where they would lock.

The problem, and we're looking at different technologies that may have come about since.

But the problem with the magnetic locks that we had on them is that individuals would still wedge things in there to where that the door itself wouldn't ever actually fully shut and the mechanisms actually work.

And so we're trying to find solutions uh to where we can protect them from vandalism, uh, but it's it's going to take some some research on our part to do.

Um but we used to I think we used to before we put the magnetic locks on there, uh, and it was before Russell's time.

We had an employee I want to say that maybe went out at night and locked all the restrooms.

Um but the problem becomes then like in your summer months when your hours are longer and daylight is longer, and so we'd have to adjust schedules back and forth uh to have those to to be able to cover dog to dusk, essentially.

But we're trying to find different various technologies that can do that as well.

Well, and I get it.

You know, I mean it's the example is when you have a home, you know, you do the upkeeps and stuff, and I mean to me it's it's sad that one I'm gonna say the stupid person, you know, and everybody has to pay, you know, when the bathrooms are locked.

So and then the other um, and this is just for clarification.

My my nephew, we had the gender reveal.

So he had called on Wednesday at 910 and asked what the process was to rent.

So um he was given the information that um it was 150 dollars with the fifty dollar deposit, but if it was available, it was a first come first serve basis.

So is that the process in renting the band shell?

On the on the bandstand, yes, that's correct.

Uh we like to have a week's notice.

So if you're doing it online and you try to do it three days early, you're not gonna be able to.

Okay.

Because it's already locked up.

But yes, it's always first come, first serve unless someone has rented it.

Okay, so for clarification, we don't owe 150 dollars.

Oh no, no.

Okay.

Because I wanted to make sure that we were gladly following the rules.

So um I'm finished.

Uh I can stand for any questions if you have any or but I know we do uh do the best we can, but it's it was there you have the video, you know.

And it wasn't just our family.

We have a big family, but not 65 people.

So I mean there's uh Russell and I have talked about restrooms a lot more than any you think anybody would talk about restrooms.

Um honestly I there I've been to many venues that that have portties.

And they screen them, they put them on slabs.

We can scale them up if there's gonna be an event there, we can scale them down during the winter months.

I've never seen a porta potty vandalized.

Uh I've only heard complaints of people not wanting to utilize port-potties.

But that is that is certainly an option.

Uh if if that would like to be considered, I mean we've used portalits out at the golf course for for we still have some out there on the front line uh of there, but it's not something that is unheard of in park systems and part networks to have them out there.

So um, like I said, I've never seen one vandalized.

But could that be a possibility at Hill Crest while they're doing the repairs just to have a porta potty out there?

There is right now they're over by yeah, over by the the dog park.

There's two there's two of them.

Oh okay, but it's not right there where the other bathrooms are.

No, it's it's right there at the dog parking.

So he just has to go a little bit further.

Correct.

Okay.

Correct.

All right.

Well, thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner.

One of these days we're gonna figure out this bathroom situation at the park.

We will.

Hopefully technology will keep up with our needs here.

Yes, shortly.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Yes, Commissioner.

Uh so are we gonna make more keys?

So we don't have to do that.

Absolutely.

We always do.

And and to follow up a little bit more because we did have the chamber had an event out there Saturday.

I know Justin and I were talking about that because we had to let them in or let's courts.

Was it the courts?

Okay, courts.

And so I know they were open Saturday.

Um I had guys out there.

We were having trouble with some water pressure issues, so we're looking at some of that.

So my guys went out there Saturday to make sure all the tanks were full.

So I know they were unlocked Saturday.

Were they unlocked Sunday morning?

Or did you know at what point did a couple of kids get in there and say, Oh, this will be funny?

And that sort of happened.

Uh we've looked at there are certain types of locks.

You can't push a button and they don't lock, or they automatically unlock when you close.

They did so.

We've looked at on the locks, like you said, there's a vacant and an occupied.

Well, I was told by Brian today that if you take a screwdriver, you can flip them from the outside.

So it's like is that really a lock on the thing?

Do we need to is there something there we need to fix?

Um Justin and I spoke earlier.

I really hate to put a pad lock and a hasp on it.

Because there's times when we do need to lock it for service.

So if I don't have that same locking mechanism, if I take the lock out of it, then I can't lock it when we need to shut it down.

So there's a bunch of different options and we're thinking about it.

Like I said, if it hadn't been Friday when it happened, we'd had we'd had more keys.

I've already spoken to Brian today, and we're getting some made already.

So um if you rent out the venue or the man shell or whatever, do you guys give a key to the people that are renting it?

We have not because this is the first day it was open.

Is it a new bathroom?

Brand new.

Like I say, we got it Friday.

Literally Friday is when they handed the key to Brian.

But it was already there.

You just redid the whole thing.

Yeah.

But the previous ones were tankless.

And so and I don't know if they had locks on them or not.

And so there wasn't a septic system to them or anything.

And so when fireworks were put down there and caused the biggest thing.

But the building itself was there.

Yes.

No, no, no.

No.

It's a whole brand new building.

They blew it up.

We had to take the whole other building down, pull the whole stuff.

In the same way, and I said that's brand new.

And he said, No, it's not.

And I'm like, okay.

No, it's pr it's brand new.

It was just replaced.

The whole thing was replaced.

Yes, ma'am.

Okay.

It was a two-year replacement.

Yeah.

So if a person goes in and say I want to go rent, you know, the band shell, do you think it might work if you when you rent it to give them the key to the bathroom to make sure that they have facilities to use there?

I mean, is that an option or they have a deposit for the key or say at this point it's so early to tell because it's only been one day.

And I know it everything happens on the first day, and you don't know the problems.

If we get the lock fixed, then there won't be the issue because they're they'll be unlocked 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

That bathroom we made sure we put heaters in so we can keep it open all winter long so the pipes don't freeze.

It was interesting when we got inside, someone had turned the thermostats all the way up and it was ninety degrees inside the because they had the heaters going inside the bathrooms.

That's just my brain was going, you know and thought of it anyway.

No, no, I I totally understand where you're coming from.

Like I say, hopefully we can solve the problem so we don't have to do that.

Um because if I start giving you keys to it, now are you responsible for opening and closing it?

Well, uh and it I mean, in my opinion, it could be part of the contract.

They bring back the keys and you know they're locked.

Because I don't and I don't know if my colleagues agree with me or not, but I don't think we need to keep them open twenty-four hours a day because then that's in those hours is when that band or they sleep in there or whatever.

So I don't my my opinion is from dust to dawn or dawn to dusk or whichever way you want to put it, but I mean that's my opinion.

And Commissioner Zamara, we did discuss that at the last uh city commission meeting.

That I mean, we um y yes, I think you weren't there.

Um when we voted on the sixty thousand dollar repair for the new bathroom at Hillcrest Park, we did uh also put that in as part of it that we would like to see these bathrooms locked.

However, we can make that happen.

Okay.

Okay, thank you.

Am I done now?

You don't.

Okay, thanks, yeah, Commissioner.

Okay.

Yes, Jamal.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Um I just wanted to say um, you know, I travel the state this summer going to um Carlsbad, Dexter, Roswell, and uh many of those towns, their parks and wreck.

Um their parks are wrecked.

The parks and rec, they um shift their hours and they they actually have parks and wreck people like there, um, you know, helping and doing things, taking care of the fields, Los Lunas, they had a state tournament and they have parks and rec, you know, they're on the weekend.

So I think it I think we should look at you know, adjusting the schedules and you know, maybe having a parks wreck person go around at nighttime and you know, clean and clean and check the restrooms because other other towns do it.

Well, uh I don't disagree with you, Jamal.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Madam Chair.

Yes, Commissioner.

Uh I think what frustrated Commissioner Samora was the response that she got at the time that she inquired about the problem.

Uh she left with not uh satisfactory response.

And I think that's what frustrated her, and that's why she came to tell us exactly how it happened.

And I am with Debbie.

I think the bathrooms do need to be locked at night.

But during the day, I I agree with Jamal.

I think at least somebody be on call or maybe one hour after the event, somebody from parks go around and make sure everything is satisfactory.

But that's that's my opinion.

Thank you, Commissioner.

I'm guessing, Russell, that the the main problem with locking and unlocking currently all of the restrooms in the morning and the evening is staffing issues.

Correct.

Correct.

And and in this event, it wasn't technically an event since it wasn't registered, we wouldn't have even known to go out there and make sure.

Now it should have been unlocked.

Uh no excuse on that.

Right, because yesterday was a beautiful day.

I mean, and people were fishing and we wouldn't have known to go after an event to close something up if we didn't know.

We should have gone at dusk.

But yeah, if we want to juggle the schedules and add personnel.

We do have an employee that's dedicated to the restrooms.

And that's what he goes around during the week in town and cleans all those restrooms and make sure that they're stocked appropriately.

Because this does seem to come up quite often.

I do feel like the Friday the sat the Sunday with the new bathroom and the keys and the locks was kind of a fluke situation.

I will agree to that.

Um I'm not discounting your frustration with the response at all.

I was very frustrated because you're gonna laugh at me, but Martin was frustrated already from having called Claire.

No, I I completely understand.

So I don't I I guess I want to take that part of why you're here tonight out of what I'm about to say, because I think you're completely right there.

But because this is a topic that keeps reoccurring, is this something that we can maybe create a plan or some ideas rather than just I feel like we talk about it and then it just kind of fades away again and then we talk about it when something happens or when something uh is vandalized.

So maybe we can look at some concrete plans and then they can come before this committee and we can decide, yeah, we see we can't afford to pay you know X amount of dollars to have someone else, you know, to have someone handle this, or we can't afford the technology or the technology won't work.

Can we just have some options laid out in front of us so that we can make a decision one way or the other?

Is that fair?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay.

Commissioner, is that fair?

Thank you.

Yes.

All right.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Commissioner.

Thank you for listening.

Okay.

Thank you.

All right, let's move on to new business.

So we're going to remove item one.

We're going to start with item two.

We've got a request for approval to set court rental rates for the New Mexico or excuse me, the new pickleball and basketball courts.

Mr.

Hooper.

Uh yes.

Um Thank you, Commissioners.

Members of the esteemed parks committee.

I appreciate this.

Um, I've been uh course I've got my notes and they're in the wrong order.

It never fails.

Um right now we've got our new pickleball courts and basketball courts at uh Hillcrest.

My mind is a whirl.

Um currently we had a the city has a field rental rate.

Um it was just generic field rental rate for ten bucks an hour.

So when we started the new courts just so I could get them into rec desk and have a reservation option, I set the whole thing as a ten dollar rate.

So right now, if Amy and I want to go play on Saturday morning, we could rent the whole eight courts for ten dollars.

It's kind of the way it's set up.

And we can keep everybody else off of it.

We just don't think that's right because neither one of us are that good of players.

Um so where we're wanting to go with is to where I can number the courts and we can set a rental rate.

So if you and someone want to go play on court one, you can reserve it.

You know, Saturday morning, you can set it up that way and you can have it reserved.

If it's not reserved like everything else, it'll be a first come first serve.

Uh we have a I want to say it's rented last weekend or next weekend.

Some someone was doing wanting to do a tournament out there, so they rendered it all day long for eight hours.

Well, they got it for uh sixty-four dollars to reserve it all day Saturday.

That seemed awful low.

But if I did each court at $10 an hour, it would have been six hundred and forty dollars or one of those type things, which seemed way too high.

So we were trying to kind of come up with a rate.

I mean, Amy and I tossed a quarter in the air and it came up heads, so we went for five dollars a court, thinking that was a reasonable rate to rent one or reserve one, however you want to look at it.

And so that was kind of what our request was.

Okay, very good.

I'm gonna turn this one over to the committee.

Does anybody have any questions or comments?

No, I'm just excited that we're gonna have our first pickleball tournament next week in there.

And you got off cheap.

Yes.

Kim, do you wanna do you want to mention what the pickleball tournament is and who it's for?

Sure.

It's our Clovis action team.

Um it's our first annual pickleball tournament, and we're so excited because nobody else has had one here.

So we're bringing the first pickleball tournament to Clovis.

Perfect.

And what if somebody wants to register?

What do they do?

They can go to the All in Clovis Facebook page and the registration link is there.

Okay, thank you.

You're welcome.

All right, gave you a shameless plug there.

Just saying.

All right, does anyone have any comments or questions about this request?

Yes, Commissioner Casals.

So who's gonna handle the registration?

I mean the parks yes.

They all have to it'll all go through rec desk just like any other reservation or rental.

Um I'll just have to break it down to where you can reserve field one or court one or court two.

Um with basketball, it'll be the two courts.

Um at Potter Park, there's two but different basketballs.

We'll give them numbers, you know, something along those lines.

And that way, like I say, just someone gives the opportunity.

But yeah, it'll all go through rec desk.

Ultimately the way it works is when you reserve it, you get a receipt, it sends to your email, and you can just walk out there and say, hey guys, I got court work one reserved.

Most people are courteous enough, especially pick you know hate to say especially pickleball players, but it's like they may grumble, but they're you know, it is what it is.

On that receipt, does it list the date and time?

Yes.

Okay, all right.

And that probably won't happen very often.

And right.

Yeah.

There's not really a point until unless you're having a special event.

Yeah, and Madam Chair and members of the of the committee.

Uh the other thing that we're doing, and in addition to uh the the uh signs, they create these paddle holders to where basically shows who's got next if your paddle is working its way down the row there.

And so we've ordered those for each one of the courts as well.

So that way people when they're going out and playing, if they will want to put their paddle in line that they can, and that's that's the honor system amongst pickleballers.

Correct.

Um so we've got those on order and as well as the signs as well as the rules of pickleball.

We've been working with uh Miss Thatcher with Clovis sign, and she uh said that she's working on maybe potentially getting those donated towards the courts.

Wonderful.

Madam Chair.

Yes, I have a question for Justin.

Justin, what's what what are the signs?

Uh just the court number signs and then the rules of pickleball.

Okay.

Uh Madam uh Madam Chair, if uh are we is it possible for us to I think I'm I'm curious about how many people don't know that they can rent those.

And do is that something to be worth putting a couple of signs up and court rental available website at the end of the year?

This is brand new as well.

It sends them to right now, Commissioner, just to kind of answer that question.

I say we're getting some signs.

She spoke to us originally about getting some rule signs put up.

She's gonna send us proofs of what those signs should be because I don't know the pickleball rules.

I don't know if they're so much common courtesy.

So once she gets those written up, we can also put a line for reservations, please.

Yeah, I go to this website or go to this link.

If I could recommend, if you can if you can add that for you for reservations, um you may you can actually um generate a QR code, they can scan it from their phone and just go right to to reservations right there if they want to do that.

So great, Commissioner.

Yes.

Will this money go back into parks and rec?

Okay.

I think this is gonna work just like every other um rental fee that we've had.

We did them for Roy Walker.

Uh what else have we done them for?

I say the soccer the all the fields out in general.

Correct.

Yeah.

So I think what Russell is looking for tonight is just a dollar amount that we all agree on.

Um I'm okay with the five dollars per court per hour.

I think that's fair.

Does anyone else have any comments or thoughts?

I move for approval.

Okay, I have a motion.

Do I have a second?

Second.

Okay.

We have a motion and a second for court rental fees for $5 per court court per hour.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Anyone opposed?

Same sign?

Okay, very good.

Next on the agenda, we've got another fee set up.

Russell, you're killing us tonight.

Approval for set fees for league utilizing Roy Walker outside of normal business hours.

I'll turn it back over to you.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Marsh Board members.

We're trying to set some schedules.

We've got two different leagues right now, uh the volleyball and upward sports that that play games outside sometimes of normal hours, whether that's in the evenings or on Saturday tournaments, stuff like that.

Um last year played Saturdays.

We're normally open from 10 to 2, and they would want to come in from like eight to four.

So it's four extra hours on a Saturday that we're having to have employees there that we normally wouldn't.

I'm trying to set a fee for that.

Um currently we always did in the past we've done 25 per hour.

Well for the for the league people for extra overtime.

Well, that doesn't really cover two guys to open and close it.

So that's why I was wanting to request the $50 per hour.

Um current rental rate, so if they were just wanting to rent the gym, it would be $75 per gym.

So like upward sports, though, they were using both gyms.

And I felt so $150 is way too much to charge them, I felt for an hour.

But $25 is not enough.

So we're back into that trying to split up a little bit of a difference.

We're not trying to really make anything, but we would like to cover our employees that are there.

Um don't mind covering some of it when it's okay, tissue sometimes goes to 8 30.

Okay, we close at 8.

That's not that big of a deal.

But sometimes bringing extra guys in on the weekends, extra hours like that, or especially if they're having a separate event like a tournament or things along those lines, but they're still part of that league.

Again, we just like to get a fee set.

I have a question because this one did confuse me just a little bit.

Okay.

So say I have a league and I want to be there after on Saturday afternoon after you close.

So you close at two?

Yes.

Okay.

So I want the gym from two to four.

Correct.

And I want to reserve both courts.

Am I paying fifty dollars per hour for the additional staffing and I'm paying $75 to reserve the court?

So you would just pay the $50 per every hour you want to stay late.

But what if I am want to reserve the court also?

Well, you are reserving the I mean that's what you're reserving the court, but it's part of so you got there at noon and you're just wanting to play till six o'clock at night.

Well, that'd be four extra hours, so it'd be extra hundred bucks.

If it was an individual wanting to do that, we'd have to charge just the hourly rate, that's $75.

But it's part of a league, and that's what we're referring to.

So it's just the group of leagues that are already established.

Uh-huh.

It doesn't it again, it doesn't seem fair sometimes on the upward sports to where they've got 40 kids and they're playing basketball, but they can't fit their schedule into that four-hour window to charge them 300 bucks every Saturday, they need to come extra.

So the only thing that this is changing is we're increasing the fee from $25 an hour to $50 an hour.

Correct.

That's the only change.

Correct.

Okay.

I think that's where I got confused.

Yeah, because we don't have a fee established if somebody wanted just us to randomly show up and open the gym.

It's always just to come and rent it.

We don't we we haven't allowed that in the past.

We allow things to run long and charge them extra, but not just for us to randomly come in.

So if somebody does want to randomly come in and rent the gym on a Sunday for four hours, is that possible?

Yes.

Um but that would go back to the 75 or the 150.

75 per gym per hour, 150 for both gyms per hour, or 250, I believe, for the whole facility.

So like uh boxing just did that yesterday.

Right.

So it wasn't part of a league, wasn't part of any group.

They're making a profit off of it, they're selling tickets.

So it was the full rental fee from eight to eight or whatever that 12-hour window was.

Okay.

Was that at $50 an hour?

What was the rate?

I'm assuming the rate would have been uh $1.50 an hour if they had both gyms.

I believe it's $2.50 because you're getting both gyms and you're also getting the whole facility.

So you're not written individual.

You're also it gives you the exclusive right to where if you just rent the gyms, well then someone could still come in and use restrooms or use the other weight room, which you know, those sort of things.

So by making it exclusive, it's the full rental fee.

And they just rented gym two.

Okay.

So we kept it open for the public on Saturday from 10 to 2.

And then closed that gym, turn the lights off and put the barricade up so that we wouldn't have people trying to go in there.

Okay.

But boxing, they they rented gym too for 12 hours or whatever it was Friday, Friday night.

They stayed, they were there till almost eleven, and then Saturday last night or yeah, Saturday night they got out at 8.30 or 9, I think.

So Madam Chair.

Yes, Commissioner Porter.

I just need a little clarification.

You want an increase from 25 to 50?

Um is that based on your employees pay, or is that pretty much, yes.

Uh the majority of our employees, especially with some of the rates we've gone through over the years, they're making fifteen bucks an hour, but then there's the benefits that are on top of it.

So it's costing us about 25 bucks an hour per employee to be there.

We're not worried about lights or any of that other stuff, but it's just to cover the employees.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Commissioner, anyone else have a question?

Does anyone agree with the change from 25 to $50 an hour?

Commissioner Porter, do you have a motion?

That we approve that.

Okay.

Do I have a second?

I'll say.

Okay.

I have a motion and a second to raise the current rate from $25 to $50 an hour for groups that are wanting to use it outside of normal business hours.

Did I get that correct?

Correct.

Okay.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Anyone opposed?

Same sign?

Okay.

Motion carries.

Uh number four on the agenda, which is number three now is discussion regarding the lifeguard staffing.

Mr.

Hooper.

Uh yes, Commissioner.

Uh parts board members.

Um this is brought up to us recently.

I hate to start off by saying this, but we've had continual short staffing shortages.

There's no way not to say it.

Um it's a nationwide thing for lifeguards.

Um currently we've had some problems.

We've we created another position, another full-time position, hoping we could get some more continuity in it.

We just haven't filled the positions yet.

I've got uh two of my three-time lifeguard positions are filled, so there's a vacancy there.

I've got two of my four part-time with benefits lifeguards filled, so I got two vacancies there.

Don't have any applications for it, to be honest.

Um casual lifeguards, I've got 25 of them.

Hired four more today.

Probably 24 and a half of those are high school kids.

They want to work Tuesdays from six to eight.

So I got 15 people that I can have lifeguard Tuesdays from six to eight, but they don't want to work the rest of the week.

And so we're having some of those uh struggles and jug juggles.

Um my full-time guys that were working during the day.

Um, hey, say one of them had some uh issues in the family, and so he's had to take like a month off.

Then I had another one that was in there.

Well, it one day she's got to take her kid to the emergency room.

Well, we got to shut down the aquatic center.

Simple as that, just because we don't have staffing.

Uh some of my other ones I got you know, a couple that are scholarships down to you know, Eastern New Mexico that are down there playing soccer 12 hours a day, and then they can still come in in the afternoons and cover some while they're going taking full-time school.

So uh it's one of those issues that's just an issue nationwide.

Uh and it's the nature of the beast.

I hate to say it that way.

It's not the positions kind of designed for youngsters.

And so you have some reliability issues, you have some accountability issues, you have some just they got a job because mom and dad made them.

You've got others that really want to work, so we're trying to juggle those.

Um there has been a compensation study or proposed planned, whichever way you want to look at it.

So we're gonna look at some of those numbers.

I don't know what other options or avenues are open to us.

But does that it does?

And I and I'll be honest, I was the one that asked to put this on the agenda because uh there were some complaints that the pool is closed constantly.

And I do know it's not closed constantly.

Um it does happen where there's short staffing.

There's short staffing all over this country.

Um there is a nationwide shortage of knife lifeguards.

That has been the case for quite some time now.

But what I wanted to put out there is that we have increased the salary, the starting salary for lifeguards to $14.50.

I think we need to advertise that in the city.

I think we need to advertise some lifeguarding classes that are available, because that's not something you can just apply for and do unless you have the training.

So I think just putting the word out there that uh that the pay starts at 1450, which is pretty good.

Um lifeguarding has always been kind of a youthful job.

It's just the nature of the beast.

But um I do think there are some incredible opportunities there for people who are wanting to work more often who aren't in school, or you know, maybe college-age kids or you know, adults that aren't in school.

Um I just think we need to put the word out there.

Okay.

And and to follow up a little bit, that so our onboarding process right now is any one of y'all put in an application for a casual lifeguard, you get a call from Diana, you all have a 15-minute meeting, boom, I put in the application.

Y'all start on come through HR, you do your paperwork, you start on a technically a Friday with a new employee orientation.

At that point in time, they're gonna give you a code to say get online to Red Cross and start taking the book portion.

So you don't have to be lifeguard.

Oh, you you can apply for this and not even be a lifeguard.

Not even be lifeguard.

So you take your book portion of your test.

That's what I mean, almost every one of them is.

They take the book because we have to pay them to take the class.

So now they take that book portion of the class, then they'll come in Saturday and Sunday, and we've got an instructor that will come and and certify them to be a lifeguard.

If they don't pass the test, then they they just basically get terminated or canceled.

They can come work for you in the parks department.

Exactly.

I mean, there's there's options there, too.

It's like, okay, I didn't pass my test for this, but I can still, you know, we look at other options.

Uh but so the class is covered.

And we've made that known.

We're trying to send people.

One of the reasons why we have different levels of lifeguards is so we can send them to some of these classes and get them certified to be a lifeguard instructor, to be a water safety instructor.

The college cannot hire if they're not already certified.

So we do have some worry about well, they're coming here getting certified and then moving on.

I know that's happened to several of our lifeguards, but it's never been immediate, if that makes sense.

I mean, they we've had them for a year or two, and then they've moved on for whatever reasons.

So but yeah, we make sure that that's known.

It's obviously I don't know how it couldn't be known through all the swimmers at the school.

Because as you know, they all know each other.

They all know what's going on.

They know, you know, John's a part-time casual lifeguard, and whether he likes it or not.

You know, so there is a lot of word of mouth there.

We do kind of keep up signs, we make sure it's posted as many places as we can.

I think the increase in pay will is a big um bonus, big thing.

It is, they get those.

If they go from lifeguard one, I mean that's what starts at the 1450, but our lifeguard two, obviously with more certifications, we pay more.

Lifeguard three, another certification, we pay more.

I mean the the part-time with benefits, our benefits package, as you commissioners know, is an amazing benefits package.

I mean, that's the benefits package alone if you're on our family coverage for health insurance, it's probably worth more than the 1450 an hour.

And so I mean that that job itself is is probably a 28 dollar an hour job once you stack those benefits on there.

No, that's that's that's my point is I wish we could I mean tell everyone what they're missing out on and what great opportunities there are.

And the feedback I get that the pool is closed all the time is not true.

Correct.

Um things happen, but hopefully this increase in pay will help draw some people in.

And I don't think I know during the summer it was we had the aquatic center closed on Saturday.

Again, it was a staffing issue.

We had enough to either cover Potter or cover the Aquatic Center.

Well, I made the decision we need aquatic centers only open three months.

It needs to be open, or Potter's only open three months, it needs to be open every day we can.

So I kind of made that decision.

Um we also had a lot more people at Potter Potter was packed all summer long.

It was it was really going good.

Um the other thing I can say uh the the problem with the benefits is until I turned like 40 I was never gonna need benefits because I was young and gonna work forever, and you know, I mean all that stuff didn't matter, so sometimes it's hard to convince the youngsters that you know, hey, this is gonna pay off.

Well, I don't think the benefits are necessarily a drawing factor for kids in high school.

No.

But for those of us who are a little more mature.

Over 40.

Maybe they would be interested in this part-time with benefits lifeguard positions that we have open and full-time lifeguard positions that we have open because they do come with incredible benefits.

Madam Chair.

Yes, Commissioner Carter.

I I just I want to ask again, are we losing people to the college and the base?

Yes, they pay more.

They were paying more.

And I think we have in both cases, I mean, the people that I know that went to the college didn't say it was because of the money.

They said it was because it was an easier job.

Be totally honest with you.

Yeah, there's no Saturdays, there's less work out at the college, because it's only four lanes as opposed to eight.

And we actually asked the lifeguards to clean up after themselves and to sweep and do some housekeeping.

They don't have to.

That's what it is.

But that's hard to I don't know how to argue that one.

I hate to say, well, if you don't want to work and want to go to the college, I don't know if I need you any.

I mean, because you know we do have some things they have to do.

So as far as the base, I don't know anybody that's done it other than some people that did work there part of the time and still worked here part of the time.

Will this will this increase bring us in into uh competition with the college?

I I haven't looked at what the that's one of the organizations that we have scheduled to review as part of our compensation study, but I haven't honestly haven't looked it up.

And I agree with Russell that compensation uh benefits package holds no weight with with the young I mean 20, even it and maybe most or half of the 30-year-olds don't really think about that.

And so I know I didn't.

So I don't know if there's something we need to re-look at there.

Um as good as we all know it is, i it's it it doesn't draw the people.

I just think it it's obvious for what it's worth in in the years I've had my business we discovered that uh in order to have good help uh in our location and our business, uh you you almost have to overpay.

And if you don't have you would you would be better off, I in my opinion, you'd be better off overpaying for the position and having it filled than to even be neck and neck with pay and not filling the position.

Because ultimately not filling the position is is a killer.

And so maybe I think we should if the rate it I'm up for an increase always, but maybe we need to look at maybe doing something else.

Commissioner, I I don't disagree with you.

I think you've got two different um groups here.

You've got your casual lifeguards who handle most of Potter and the evenings at the pool, and those are they don't qualify for benefits.

So I think those are your youth, high school age kids that are moving into those positions that they're not correct, they're not interested in benefits.

I think during the day where they're really struggling to to fill those positions, those do come with benefits.

So I think you've got two separate groups of people here in the lifeguarding.

Now, I don't disagree with you regarding the starting pay for the lifeguard, and part of me wonders once they get that certification, do is it can we look at maybe bumping the pay at that point because they are they do have more qualifications?

And one of the things I believe talked to Justin about this is are there incentives for different certifications and for licenses?

Um the problem I think just as I both have is kind of okay, but if I give a certification to a lifeguard that gets a certification, because basic lifeguard has to have a certification.

So does that require uh incentive for one?

But then if my parks maintenance guys goes down and gives a pesticide licenses, do I need to give him an incentive?

How far across do you start looking at certificates and licenses and accreditations?

Her people can get all sorts of accreditations.

Do we give everyone a quarter an hour bump for 15 different certificates and accreditations?

I could see that could go real wide.

Yeah, no, I don't disagree with that too.

I'm for it.

But I've got to be able to do that.

You're gonna whip out all your credentials.

I I think maybe with this compensation study that we're doing, this is something that we can look at.

Um but I guess in the short term, I just thought it would be important to get the word out via social media that we are paying more.

And I think it would help.

Um hopefully draw some people in.

Madam Chair.

Yes.

I have a question.

Does the benefits package include some type of uh retirement match or anything like that?

Um depending on which one they get into, obviously.

But there's a yeah, so the City of Clovis offers two different retirement packages, uh which is very unique amongst municipalities.

And so we have the traditional uh P E R A, which is basically your standard pension plan.

Uh we also offer a uh 4014 plan, uh which is uh the City of Clovis puts in 14 percent to that.

The city of the employee is only required to put in three percent.

It's not a match.

Uh so as long as the employee is meeting the minimum requirement, the city of Clovis is going to put 14 percent into that, which is which is unheard of.

That is unheard of.

Um and I would just like to add that this generation that's coming up of young people are a lot more um uh uh aware of the benefits of the compounding interest when you start really, really early.

Uh much more aware that uh than like for instance I was when I was their age.

And so it's uh I think that's something that we may think about um advertising a little bit more for that position if that's something that they wanted to opt opt into.

No, they're probably not going to be excited about the health benefits because again they're swimmers, they're young, they're in great health.

It's probably not something that you know they're worried about, but they are more aware of that uh financial advantage of retirement.

I just want to clarify though, so there's no confusion.

This the casual lifeguards, which are typically the high school kids, they are not eligible to put into the retirement plan.

Um so uh an 18-year-old would be able to be a part-time like uh a college student.

Well, it it depends.

It's even if a 16-year-old, if they hired on to the position that had benefits, they would.

Most of them are hiring on as casual.

So I've got some 2025 that are still casual.

I got I think one in the 40s that's casual.

How many non-casual lifeguard positions are there?

There's only like five, seven.

On what now?

Non-casual lifeguard positions.

Correct.

There's three full-time and four part-time with benefits.

Right.

So seven positions are.

Half?

Four.

So we have three open positions for correct lifeguards, eighteen older that would like to work.

I just thought I would add that um kind of piece into it, talking about filling those more full-time type of positions.

Um I just I know that this generation is thinking differently than I was or you know, the rest of us were at that age.

Yeah, they don't want to work.

And that's ultimately our goal is why we created more full-time positions.

So we could you know it's hard for me to imagine, you know, um an adult working only working twenty hours a week and being able to support themselves.

Yeah.

They need to work the 40.

And that's why we tried to create some of those so we can have an eight to five person.

Umone that will really cover a six to three and then a noon to eight or however those schedules work out.

Um we're also right now we have two lifeguards, and we're supposed to have a lifeguard one, lifeguard two, lifeguard three.

Currently we have two lifeguard ones.

When one of them gets whichever license they want to go for, then they we're gonna see about promoting up.

So we do understaff, you know, if I get another person that wants to be a full-time lifeguard, I can hire them in.

Then I will send them to class, get them qualified for whatever they need to do, and then worry about the promotional going on.

So yeah, we're doing everything can to work in it internally and get people up.

Like I say, I've got some college kids that are part-time benefits, I get some college kids that are casual.

Depends on their schedule and what they want.

We're trying to give them every option possible.

I know this has absolutely nothing to do with me.

But um the younger generation, would you ever consider like a recruitment statement statement?

I don't think that's legal.

Yeah, we exactly legal.

I don't believe entity, I'm assuming.

It's not a good one.

Good thought.

Yes.

I don't know if you can't do a signing bonus, you can't do there's a bunch of things that are still.

Russell, I had a question.

Do you have any or how many or do you have any level two and three lifeguards currently?

No, we do not.

No.

Um and the reason why we our our lifeguard two, back to the Clovis.

Um she uh she got hired on to run the uh college.

And so she left us as as our lifeguard too.

Now she we transferred her and made her a casual lifeguard.

So she's still coming and teaching our classes because we're the ones that certified her to be a lifeguard instructor.

So she'll come on on weekends when we have lifeguards and instruct, but currently we don't have a two.

I believe the next class is sometime between now and the end of the year.

Um as far as who do we send to Dallas, who wants to go, who's qualified, who do we think would make a good choice, because I don't want to send someone two, three thousand dollars to pay them to become an instructor and then they leave.

So we want to have someone that's had some time with us and has proven that they're a reliable employee before we send them.

Uh the other option is if I can try to get two or three of them, I might hire someone to come to us and teach three lifeguards all at once.

That way I don't have to send through three people and put them in hotels and per diem and all that stuff.

So if that answers.

Thank you, Russell.

Anyone else have a question or concern?

Okay.

Let's move on to reports.

Russell, back to you.

Um flip over to my next page.

Uh no, uh went to the uh National Park and Recreation Convention last week, found a whole bunch of new vendors.

Uh we've put in for uh a grant or several grants, and it was real interesting.

They called us Monday at like three o'clock in the afternoon and said, hey, we need quotes for all this stuff.

Well, I happen to be in Florida, so I'm at the convention and I'm going and hitting the lighting guy up that night and going getting the thing, and we got all our quotes in by the next day.

But then I also found three other people that do sports field lighting.

I didn't know those companies existed.

You know, that sort of thing.

So it was a real uh interesting uh the stage that we're looking at.

They were there, so I got to pretty much put up and take one down.

Uh walked over all the features, and you could actually put your hands on it.

So some of those pictures that we were confused about, um, it made more sense when I was standing there looking at some of the where the battery box was built, way this stuff.

I did find out I won't have to do them, set it up in high heel shoes.

So that part of the video was not correct.

Um let's see, other than that, uh I was gonna talk about Ned Hauk, and uh if y'all hadn't heard the restrooms were completed last Friday.

No, and I was gonna bring that up, and we have had uh talk to Justin, we've had to have some water issues.

The way the water was set up 60 years ago was all gravity fed.

And so we had to change the type of toilets that we had out there to instead of a tank list to one with a tank, otherwise they weren't flushing.

So we've had that work done.

Um now where I'm trying to get a we need to get somebody out there to change the faucets on them, because right now if you turn the faucet on and walk out of the room, it's just gonna run.

Well, I got a 12,000 gallon tank that you could empty on a Saturday if you really wanted to just run it.

So we're gonna get some spring loaded stuff like that.

We're also looking at the locks, and we're gonna we'll get something figured out.

Um I've met with uh Stephen for IT and one of his camera guys, and we started looking at about uh cameras for the outsides of the restrooms, um, like at the one at Hillcrest that we're about to be putting in, is possibly setting up some cameras so we can at least know when someone goes in, if there's damage, we we'll have some video.

So we've looked at some of those options out there, and then in some of my various other parks.

I told them I cut it'd be neat to have them on all my restrooms.

I don't know if that's feasible.

It'd be neat to have them on some of the playgrounds.

Again, I don't know if that's feasible.

It depends on connectivity.

You know, do I have to get separate cell service?

Do I have stuff there?

So we're looking at some of those things from a safety point of view.

Um also looking at some of the other bathroom stuff.

The locking situation is just tough.

Um even if they're designed to have all the automatic opening and automatic locking and closing, there's still ways to defeat them.

Um the homeless guy can still go in there during the middle of the day and go to sleep and never have a problem.

Uh I know they did one in Dallas where they had like four different, so there was a sensor if there was someone inside the room.

So not only did it keep the lights on in the in the restroom, but it kept the light on outside, so at least if some of the police was driving by, he could see that someone was in there at night.

There were some of those things, the way they locked the doors, the way they do.

Again, are we looking at now?

We just turned it into a 200,000 restroom, though.

Um, that you can still just push the door open and put a piece of cardboard up there, and you're said.

So there's there's some things on there, but we are looking into that.

Uh the range held their last ATA, American Trap Association shoot of the year on Saturday.

There were 188 rounds.

It was a thousand dollar day, so that was a good day for us.

Um I went to the uh state, New Mexico State Trap Association a couple weeks ago.

Um we are on some of the schedules for upcoming events.

We've got some other events scheduled uh for a statewide tournament one weekend and then individual ones various months.

We still got our uh hunter education classes out there.

Uh we're gonna try to, I know Lisa's gonna come at some point and talk, try and do a memorial shoot.

I mean it's gonna be more than a statewide thing because if anyone know knew Joe Whithurst passed away recently he was you know he's one of those who've been into guns since he was probably 78 years ago you know one of those type things he's got a big following he's done a lot of kids a lot of schools and they're gonna try to set something up they're just trying to get the scheduling right for next summer to do a memorial thing on him.

And I believe that's it unless you'll have any questions or comments.

Thank you Russell.

Amy let's hear thumb recreation good evening commissioners part board members.

I just had some updates on uh Roy Walker.

The doors are finally finished.

So they just had the ADA part uh put in last week they've had to come out a couple of times and adjust them but they're working great they look good uh so um we've got that completely finished so come over and look at them if you want to um I have the lettering for the address uh you know if you look at Roy Walker now there's that little green sign that has our address on it.

We're gonna take that off and replace it with the letterings that match the other letters on the building at some point.

So I've got those in my office ready to go when we when we get somebody to uh put those up I am also in the process of getting prices and quotes for painting our gems.

They I mean I think they could really use a a nice little paint job.

I've already got four four from different people and I'm gonna get another one from Griegos but sounds like one of the the head people at Griego's had was in the hospital so I'm kind of waiting on that for them to come in and measure.

So that's kind of in the works.

The art, the art in public places is looking really good.

We've got two of the four pieces put in and I've let them pick where they put it based on the order of you know who contacted me first.

And I think I'm the third one's fixing to be uh it's about to be installed on the 30th I'm meeting her uh meeting her there at a certain time and I think one of Russell's guys is going to come with his concrete drill and and help her because I think she's she doesn't have the tools necessary.

So once we get all four of those I'll bring pictures so that you guys can see and um I'm gonna get with Kyle Snyder to see if he can come in and give us a quote on putting some lights that that go towards those pieces of art because a couple of them are in some dark areas.

There's there's one kind of right when you walk in the door and it's kind of dark right through there so I'm gonna wait until all of those get get installed before I call Kyle over to look at at those areas.

So that's kind of what's going on I know that um two horse was we had to have some of the brick or the rock removed from the exterior of the building because those doors they had to be opening 90 degrees so they had to remove some of the rock so that's kind of we're trying to figure out what we're gonna do there.

So the the exterior of the building is looking really good.

It really really is with the doors and everything so we're happy about that.

Zumba started on September the second a lady named Stephanie Ramirez she come from Albuquerque and she is volunteering.

Her very first night she had six people the very then that very next Tuesday night she had 10 and she wanted to go to twice a week so we started doing Tuesday Thursdays and then last Thursday she had 13 people.

So it's really really growing and I'm she's so excited and today she came and she brought her speaker and asked if she could keep everything there and I was like that's fine with me because it's it was a big speaker.

So she's super nice and and I've I'm so happy to have her there and and it sounds like everybody that's been coming are very excited because I think it's the only place in town that you you can go for free.

Because I believe even at the Methodist church they charge five dollars for each you know per hour.

So that's been fun to to get to know her a little bit.

Coed volleyball started on September the 8th and it's Monday night co-ed league so they're over there right now.

And then this Thursday night is the is Tisha's youth league starts.

So we're gonna have Monday night and Thursday night volleyball over there and this is the first time that I can remember that we've had youth leagues so it'll be some juniors maybe middle schoolers and some of the high schoolers too and I think she's gonna go for eight weeks and so she'll go till November the 13th.

So that's exciting.

Still pickleballers coming three times a week and a lot of people use that weight room.

So I'm really you know excited about that.

I get the weight room gets a lot of use over there so I hope this new facility has a weight room because the people really use it.

Um as far as the aquatics, she just kind of sent me an email.

I th Russell and and Diana did they did a drone flyover on the 13th of August, and I guess they interviewed you guys.

Um so the company uh that did it interviewed them, so that was kind of neat.

Um and then she kind of told me the dates that which are are past.

I had it on my notes, Potter and Splash Pad closed.

Uh she hired four new lifeguards, and then she just pushed through four more uh recommended them today.

So hopefully we'll get some more in there, and and hopefully a couple of them will want to be full timers or part-timers, at least with benefits.

So anyway, that's all the updates that I have.

Any questions?

What time did you say that Zumba class is at?

It's from six to seven.

Okay.

So if you like to dance and move, yeah.

Perfect.

Okay.

Have you been going?

No.

Tomorrow's my first time.

Okay.

Because she posted like salasal merengue and bachata tomorrow.

And I'm like, oh my god.

I got excited.

Perfect.

She'll be she's very nice.

So awesome.

Anybody, Amy.

Of course.

Did you say pickleball was uh three times a week?

They come, they can come anytime they want, but the the because they all know each other, so there's just groups of them that come in Monday, Wednesday, Fridays.

And then, of course, they they're going out to Hillcrest, and that is phenomenal how many people they have going out there also at six o'clock Monday, Wednesday, Friday nights at Hillcrest.

And I mean they're they're really having to rotate a lot.

So those paddle holders will really because I know that Megan goes out there too.

So anyway, so yeah, it's it's all I have an extra paddle.

Anyone else?

Uh one thing.

Um you mentioned an extra paddle.

I know there's new courts over at um Potter.

And is there, and I know um I was going to ask, is there a fee for the um pickleball use at the park?

But basically what I was getting or at the Roy Walker, but basically what I was getting to is um, you know, pickleball paddles are expensive.

Is there any body or any help or anywhere um or anything to expand the pickle wall to people who can't afford the paddles?

Do you know anything about that?

I don't.

I do know that typically when you I mean I have cheap paddles from Amazon.

Um mine aren't fancy.

Some people do have hundred dollar plus paddles.

I don't.

Mine was like fourteen dollars.

That tells you what kind of player I am.

But um, you know, like people always have multiple paddles, so if somebody wants to go out and play when all these groups are playing, there's more than enough paddles to that people loan out.

So Mr.

Williams, we I do have five wooden paddles.

Never had anybody ask for them.

Uh so most of those people bring their own, and I know a couple of them have two or three paddles for different things.

I didn't even know that existed.

So but we do have a few if somebody wants to come in.

And I know that in the past, not recently, but in the past, um I've had a family come in with their kids wanting to they were homeschooled, actually, their kids were homeschooled, and they wanted us to set a net up for them so that they could practice.

So we did that, and we provided all of the the equipment.

All right, thank you.

You're welcome.

Thank you, Amy.

Stephanie.

We're ready for your zoo update.

I have an extra long PowerPoint today.

I'm so sorry.

But it's gonna be fun, I promise.

Okay, let me see.

What am I supposed to be clicking?

Next slide works really well.

I think no, it's not.

They told me, just click the on button and it's on.

Sorry, Derek.

Is it on?

Yeah.

I think you're just gonna have to click next for me.

Yeah.

Okay, sounds good.

Oh, there it is.

So uh we start with a little bit of sad news.

Um, but don't worry, it gets better throughout the PowerPoint.

Um, Queen, our 23-year-old red tail boa has unfortunately been humanely euthanized.

Um she was our big eight-foot snake, and that's her primary keeper right there, who was extremely devastated.

She actually had a disease that was uncurable.

Um, but we did the right thing, and we humanely euthanized for quality of life purposes.

She had stopped eating for us, and she was getting kind of aggressive and grumpy, and she just she wasn't having it anymore.

Um the vet said that we did the right thing.

We made the right call, and it was it was her time.

Um but if you see that little jelly bean right there, we have a baby wallaby.

So just crawl up, go into the pouch, and they just stay there for a year.

So we do have a baby wallaby, and I was and I was told today that uh Jack and Pepper, our kangaroo's pepper was trying to box her keeper today, which usually means that she's a little hormonal or she has a baby, so we may have a baby kangaroo and a baby wallaby next year.

So I'm super excited about that.

Um the zoo beautification event happened last Saturday, and it was rainy.

I think it was last Saturday or the Saturday before that, but it was very rainy.

But a troop, um, the Girl Scout troop 10, 639 came out with their family, and they did an amazing job just trimming up those rose bushes and making them really pretty.

Um, they were super overgrown, and we just I um speaking of shortages, I'm down to um park um zoo maintenance people right now, so I only have one maintenance right now, and with all the weed whacking with all the zoo maintenance with all the exhibit maintenance, uh it's something different every single day in the zoo.

So I did um request two new hires this morning.

Um, I've requested six new hires in the past, and none of them showed up for their HR interviews or anything.

So hopefully the um these guys work out.

Um ZAA, I will be going to the ZAA conference, Zoological Um Americas of Associate Association of Americas conference next week in my old stomping grounds, San Antonio, and I'm super excited about that because I'm gonna bring lots of knowledge back to my keepers and bring lots of they have lots of vendors there, just like Russell's conference, and so I'm gonna come back with lots of ideas.

So, yay, Russell.

Super excited.

Um, haunting at Hillcrest.

I know Seth and Terry from the 107.5 have been super pushing Haunting at Hillcrist, which is happening October 26th with his itch, which is a Sunday.

This is going to be our biggest haunting at Hillcrist that we have seen.

We had over 3,000 people last year, and we are now gonna open the zoo entirely because we had closed off the bridge to the bison last year, and it was just it was it was a lot, it was it was a lot of people.

So we're gonna open up the entire zoo.

We're opening up both entrances, and I know they're going to the commissioner's meeting to request that reduced pricing for um the zoo that everyone always loves dollar tickets.

So I'm very very excited for that.

Yay, it's gonna be so fun.

We are now um introducing the sloth encounter and now a Cappy Barra encounter.

Snail the sloth is officially ready for encounters, and we're gonna open up.

I think I'm gonna open that up tomorrow, and it's only gonna be one encounter per day because he's a sloth, he only eats once a day, and he's only gonna come out of his tree once a day.

So it's gonna be first come, first serve every single morning, like at nine o'clock, and I'm sure it's gonna be booked weeks in advance, and I am so excited for snail.

They're gonna be able to feed him and pet him and no holding because his nails are a little sharp.

But I'm I'm super excited about that.

Um, the Capibaras, Peggy and Lucas, we have actually trained them.

We put a bench in there, and they actually have been trained to come up and take food from you.

We're still training them on the petting, they're a little skittish still, but we are ready for Capybara encounters for you to just come and sit there and and feed them.

So I'm excited about that too.

We're adding those two encounters.

I sent my zoo keeper Franco and my zoo supervisor Joe to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo last week, and they had the absolute best time of their lives.

As you see here, they have a herd of 17 giraffes, if not more now.

And they came back with so much knowledge, and because giraffe knowledge, we're gonna go on to Jericho's update.

This is going to be fun.

So Marcus Hemper, who is running the sanctuary in Merkle, Texas, where Jerica is, um, and her boyfriend Hasani, they are doing fantastic, by the way.

But Marcus said that they have copulated many, many, many times, and she has cycled six times, which means she is not taking, which means she is not pregnant, and she has not gotten pregnant the entire year that she has been gone.

This means that Marcus is not sending Hasani to us, which means we are not getting Hasani the stud to Hillcrist Park Zoo.

But don't worry, because I told Russell, I was like, but I told Russell, I was just like, I am going to bring a stud back to Hillcrist Park Zoo because I told the city that I was bringing a stud to Hillcrest Park Zoo.

So I called a couple people and I found someone who actually did have a beautiful stud, a six-year-old stud, and he is beautiful.

And his name is Antonio.

And so he is a six-year-old stud, and he is beautiful, and he is actually coming from from Florida.

The hard thing about this is that Marcus, when we sent Jericho off to Texas, he had actually done the giraffe intros for me, which was fantastic, which is why I was so happy that I was sending Jericha off so he could deal with that.

If you can imagine giraffe introductions are not easy because they could go wrong very fast because they are just big animals.

And so now that falls on us.

Now we have to add an outdoor yard.

Now we have to add some sliding doors.

We don't know his temperament.

We don't know how he's gonna act with her.

We have the 30-day quarantine process, but that might be a little bit different with our current exhibit.

So now they're gonna be nose to nose, but they can't be in the same exhibit.

If something happens to her, if something happens to him, it's just gonna be a lot, but I'm super excited.

So like I said, I was gonna bring uh a beautiful stud to Hillcrest Park Zoo, and I made it happen.

So I am planning, he is actually gonna come to us in November whether or not we want Jericho back before that, so we can get her used to her exhibit again.

I'm still deciding, which is probably gonna be which is probably what's going to happen once we finish redoing um the barn fixtures.

The feeding platform is practically done.

The secondary containment, we just bought the beautiful fencing for the secondary containment.

It's gonna be done within the next couple of weeks.

Um Bryce Harrison and his crew are doing that, and then two horse will we'll call them tomorrow so we can do the adjustments for the new barn.

Um, but I'm excited, and and the good thing about it is that Hassani was actually gonna be on loan, which means that he could have taken back Hassani whenever he felt like it, and that first calf would have been his.

The good news is that Antonio is now ours, and all the babies that Jericho has with Antonio is gonna be ours, and I'm super excited about that.

So that's all I got.

Does anyone have any questions?

I have a question, Stephanie.

It's this something I never thought I would talk about as a city commissioner.

So Jerica, does Jericho have breeding problems?

Is that why she You know what?

Um in Mr.

Hempker's mind, she does.

He said that we completely missed our window.

Longneck Manor, which is in Fredericksburg, Texas, they are also a giraffe sanctuary.

They've had females who breed when they are 22 to 23 years old.

So no, I disagree that we did not miss our window.

I called my friend up this morning from um from El Paso, and I was just like, please tell me how you did your giraffe introductions because we're bringing in a male and I have no idea how his temperament is.

He told me how his introductions went, and then he was just like literally in two months, and she was older also, just like ours, she got pregnant in three months.

So is there a way to tell if she's capable of being bred before we spend the money to bring another stud giraffe to Clovis?

I mean, we could do the testing on her, but I mean I think it's just it's it's worth it to keep trying.

And regardless, we're gonna lose Jerrica before we lose Anthony, only because she's 15, he's six years old, and Russell and I talked about that this morning.

It's just like, is it worth it to even buy another female?

You know, so Russell, do you want to comment on that?

And and that's where we we both feel we need a giraffe at Hillcrest.

It's the sign.

I mean, we can't not have one.

So with where we were with Hassani, if if Jericho had passed away, well, he would have wanted his giraffe back, and now we've got nothing.

To where at this point we will actually own both of them if they have a child, great, two or three better.

Um, if for some reason they don't, typical giraffe's gonna live 25.

That's on the on the very top end.

Well, she's 15.

Well, at that point, he'll only be about 15.

So we could bring in another female at that point and still have some options.

But that way it keeps us with we know two on the ground.

That makes total sense.

And I agree, maybe Hasanic was the problem.

Yeah.

Oh, it's a guy's fault.

It is the guy's a guy's fault.

And one other thing I wanted to ask you, Stephanie.

So with the are you calling it boo in the zoo again, or is it called the case?

No, they're counting it haunting at Hillcrest.

Haunting at Hillcrest.

Let me get that right.

And tell me the date.

October twenty sixth, which is a Sunday.