Hey, welcome everybody.

This is the Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission of October 7th, 2025.

Welcome.

So items today listed on the agenda may be taken out of the order presented.

Two or more agenda items for consideration may be combined, and any item on the agenda may be removed or related discussion may be delayed at any time.

Backup material for this agenda may be obtained from Luanne D.

Holmes, City Clerk at the office of the City Clerk 495 South Main Street, second floor on the web or on the web city's webpage at Las Vegas Nevada.gov.

I'd now like to do a call to order and roll call, please.

Chair Becker.

I hear.

Vice Chair Niger.

Commissioner Arminian.

Here.

Commissioner Gabray.

Commissioner Howard?

Here.

Commissioner Keller.

Excuse.

Commissioner Martin.

Here.

Commissioner Zamora.

Here.

Commissioner Burgos.

Here.

Commissioner Cornwall.

Here.

Commissioner Robinson.

Present.

Commissioner Stitt.

Excuse Commissioner Vaucitts.

Present.

Commissioner Jones.

Present.

Commissioner Wool.

Excuse you have a quorum.

Thank you.

Moving to agenda item number two.

Uh, this is the announcement regarding compliance with open meeting law.

Are we in compliance?

We are.

Thank you.

Item number three.

This is an item for public comment.

Comment during this portion of the agenda must be limited to matters on the agenda for action.

If you wish to be heard, come forward and give your name for the record.

The amount of discussion as well as the amount of time any single speaker is allowed may be limited.

Seeing no one for public comment, we will move to agenda item number four for possible action to approve the final minutes by reference of the regular meeting of September 2nd, 2025.

If everybody has read the meeting minutes, do I have um a motion to approve?

Second.

Great.

Um commissioners, could you remember to uh mention your name and the ward that you represent?

And the second was Commissioner Zamora, Ward 3.

Thank you.

Uh, we have it second um a motion and seconded.

All those in favor.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

Uh motion carries.

Agenda item number five.

We have a report by the Department of Public Safety regarding a review of arrests, citations, and calls for service at the city facilities and parks all wards.

Hi, Lieutenant.

Good afternoon.

Lieutenant Cheryl Manning, the Department of Public Safety.

We have revised the presentation to enhance clarity and provide additional context for your review.

This updated report offers offers a comprehensive overview of enforcement activities conducted at city parks recreation centers from January through September of 2025.

Please note due to the timing of the meeting occurring early in the month.

Future reports will reflect data through the end of the previous months to ensure completeness and accuracy.

This represents a 39.2% increase compared to this exact same time and time period in 2024.

The rise is attributed to deliberate increase officer presence and proactivity in enforcement efforts aimed at enhancing public safety in all city parks.

To further support these efforts, we have increased the Copra Curve Strategy, which is a data-driven policing model that enhances frequent brief and randomized patrol in high activity areas, which we call hotspots, to deter criminal behavior more effectively than prolonged static presence.

The Copra Curve Strategy is currently active in the following three locations.

Justice Levitt Family Park, Lorenzi Park in Kiangi, Kianga, Osaka Palacia Park.

We remain committed to ensuring that the safety and well-being of all parks visitors, and we'll continue to refine our strategies based on the data and the community needs.

Activity increased the most at Gary Reese Park due to our increased proactivity on patrol.

Our top five parks were number one where we had either citations or arrest was at Justice Levitt Park.

The second coming in at Lorenzi Park at 171 either citations or arrest.

Gary Reese Park at 147 citation arrests, and last our Raphael Rivera at 98 citation arrests.

Our top park and recreation center violations.

Our top violations is remaining in park after hours.

Citations or arrest.

On the next slide, now I would like to provide a brief overview of enforcement activities across all city wards so far this year, comparing January through September of 2025 to the same period in 2024.

Overall, we have seen an increase in enforcement activity across the city.

In ward one, our top three citations or arrests were for remaining in park after hours or of closure, unlawful presence at children's park, and misuse of park property and menities.

The top three parks within Ward 1 was Gary Reese Park at 58 citation or arrest, Rotary Park at 45 citation arrest, and Bob Baskin Park at 30 sites, 37 citation or arrests.

The total arrest in Ward 1 for citation arrest and rec centers year to date is 316.

Arrests and citations year-to-date increased 49.8% based on due to an increase in park violations and in lodging and because of enforcement activities.

In 2025 in Ward 1, there were 316 citation arrests compared to this same time in 2024, which was 211.

For ward two, our arrests and citations, the top violations were for 29 at for remaining in park hours after closure, misuse of park amenities and children's play areas for six.

Our top three parks that had citation or arrests was Angel Park at 52, Kellogg's air park at 44, and All American Park at 15.

The total citation or arrest year to date is 128, up from 50 from last year.

Ward 3, year to date, the top three citation arrests again were number one at remaining in park hours after closure, 262, unlawful presence in children park at 98, and misuse of park property or amenities at 89.

The top three parks in ward three where we had enforcement Justice Levitt Park at 353, Gary Reese Freedom Park at 147, and Rafael Rivera Park at 98.

The total arrests and citations at the Parks and Rec Center is 1,144 year to date.

And compared to this same time in 2024, where we had 766.

On the next slide.

For where ward four, we actually had 11% increase from this same time in 2024.

The top three violations, basic speed violations, 14, remaining in park hours after closure at 8, and warrants for three.

The top three parks were Mountain Ridge Park at 17 citation arrests, bunker park at 11, Buckskin Basin Park at 9.

Again, the total arrests and citations was 57 compared to this same time last year, which was 27.

In Ward 5, we saw a more modest increase of 10.5% increase.

Top three citations arrests again remaining in park hours was number one at 168, unlawful presence in a children's park at 144, and misuse of park property or amenities at 37.

The top three parks in Ward 5 where we had citations or arrests was Lorenzi Park at 171, Ethel Pearson Park at 160, and Ed Fountain Park at 86.

Again, the total uh arrests or citations at parks or rec centers was uh 770 compared to this time last year, where we only had 697.

And finally, ward six had the highest percentage of increase at 193.3 percent through the total numbers, although the total numbers uh still remain relatively low.

Our top citation arrests, we had 13 uh for remaining in park after hours of closure, misuse of park property or amenities at three, and warrants three.

Centennial Park was our highest at 15 citation arrests, Floyd Lamb at 11 citation arrests, and Polly Gonzalez Park at four citation arrests.

So the total uh for ward six citation arrests was 44 compared to this time last year where we had only 15.

These figures reflect a citywide trend of increased enforcement with notable spikes in areas where officer present engagements have been intensified.

On the next slide, in addition to enforcement activities, we continue to prioritize community engagement through our community-oriented policing efforts.

Here is an overview of the events held at our city parks and recreation centers during September and early October.

These events are a key part of our strategy to build trust and foster positive relationship between officers and the community.

We've also included a list of upcoming events scheduled for the remainder of October, which in we encourage everyone to attend and support.

So in September uh 25th at Doolittle Senior Center, we have a public health fair event.

On October 1st, we uh have the October 1 ceremony at the community Hilling Garden.

On October 10th at Bruce Trent Park, so this Friday we have a trunk retreat and movie event, and on October 18th at Vistas Park, we have a Barktober Fest.

Great, thank you so much, Lieutenant.

I like the new format by the way.

It's really nice job.

Uh be happy to take any questions from um Commissioners, Commissioner Robinson.

Thank you, Bob Robinson Ward 1.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Um Lieutenant Manning, thank you for the report.

I would also like to echo the uh chairman's comments.

The uh new format is wonderful.

I have a question though.

Could you elaborate on what unlawful presence in a children's park specifically means?

I mean, I think I might have a general idea, but could you uh define that specifically, please?

Yes, sir.

So there are some parks that are designated for for children's only.

So in order to utilize the facility and be within the confines of the park, you have to have a child with you, uh, 12 or under.

And if you don't meet that criteria, um then it gives us the opportunity to contact the person to find out why they're there.

Um, you know, some people don't always read the signs, so then we would take the opportunity to engage with them, find out what their reason for being there, and uh explain the park rules, also uh contacting them and trying to um you know assess have they done this before?

Sometimes we find people that keep repeat offenders, but that's basically what a children's only park.

And so um, when we find people um we address it to make it safe for people in the community to come with their children.

Thank you.

Uh Commissioner, good afternoon, Commissioner Jones Ward 5.

Thank you, Lieutenant, for your information today.

As I'm looking on here, you got two parks in ward five and ward three.

And those are some of the hairiest, heaviest areas where homeless camps are handled.

How can we go about to eliminate that?

Uh we have some hot numbers in our parks, which is over at Lorenzi, Ethel Pearson.

And we only what less than a mile and a half from the homeless shelter from Elta Pearson?

We two and a half to three miles from Lorenzi Park.

So I know it's hard to lock it up.

I see you guys up there doing a great job trying to protect the park, but I know it's hard, you can't lock it because even when you shut the gates, they're gonna go through sides.

So is it something that we might can come up with to eliminate to bring those numbers down or try to see what we can come up with?

Because like I say, I know it's hard because it's driving in, it can you can block the gates, but they're still gonna walk in.

But as we know, we we're we're in two of the biggest homeless areas in Las Vegas.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

I I know one of the things that that our department constantly tries to do is work also with the more team who contacts the people to see if we can get them the resources.

So we do work with um not just the enforcement piece, but also with the other communities uh, you know, to get them resources to get them into the areas that they need to be.

So we continue to work on that, and as um as our data shows uh right now, our three parks, you know, the that are hot hot spots, we're continuing to um monitor those.

Uh we we constantly send officers at random times, and but we are also one of the things that we encourage our officers to do and and expect them to do is when they are dispatched out to these parks that are in the hot spots, that they are not only to just go there, but they're to get out of their vehicles and make contact.

And so we're hoping um with us concentrating on these three parks that we will see it being effective and trying to uh make it a safer place, but also to get the resources to the people that need it.

Thank you.

Great, Vice Chair.

Vice Niger, hi.

Uh thank you very much.

Um I do like the new format.

I have a procedural question.

This uh this term unlawful presence in children's park has caused my mind to wonder.

When someone is found and is cited with a violation, is it normal procedure to you know do a uh records check on them or a background check to ensure that they're not the type that shouldn't be anywhere near children?

Yeah, absolutely.

So any time that we contact somebody that we always do a records check, and so um you know we want to see like what type of person do they have a history, you know.

Um do they have multiple of the same violations?

Um obviously we always wanted to go to the least amount of enforcement, you know, if that's a citation or a warning, um, but documenting the that the contacts so that we can move forward, but also if if they are a sex offender, obviously something like that, that's what we want to know when we're contacting them.

Commissioner, go ahead.

Commissioner Voke, it's Ward One.

Um, I also want to echo thank you.

You get an extra blessing for having it on a smaller piece of paper.

Oh we appreciate that.

But I have a question in general.

How does the public know a park is closed?

Is there a visual visual clue?

Do the lights get lowered?

Do we lock the bathrooms?

How does in general how do people know that the park is no longer open?

All of the parks do have signage throughout the uh park.

So they're either you know, standalone signs or on fences, but there's always um signs that will tell um the hours of the park.

And it is also um when the parks closed, the lights will come off.

And um our marshals uh do go to each and every park.

Um that's one of the things that they're tasked with is to go to the parks, make sure we're closing restrooms, so that we're avoiding people living there or you know, doing anything inappropriate there.

So our marshals do also go to the parks and lock up um for sure the bathrooms and some of them the gates.

Um so, but there is always signage that clearly states the hours and what is prohibited and what's allowed in the park.

Go ahead, Commissioner.

Come shit ward five.

Uh thank you, Tana Manian.

I have a question.

After our closures, most of the arrests you do.

So the marshals, they are there 24 hours looking.

I mean, driving you around, that's what they know.

Correct, yes, ma'am.

We are now um for I'm not I apologize, I don't know exactly how long, but we have been 24 hours um for a while now.

And so one of the the upticks, obviously in citations arrest is in is for sure being in parks after hours, and that's because when our officers are patrolling, um, you know, they're assigned different wards or sectors, and so they're responsible for going to all of those different parks.

So they're self-generating um patrols of these parks and also going to the different parks to either lock the gates or bathrooms, and so when they are driving around, that's and they're going to these different parks.

That's where you know, some of it is where when they're patrolling at these parks, they're finding people there after hours.

Um, and some of it is because people are trying to, you know, lodge or sleep there, or you know, sometimes it's a matter of, you know, kids playing basketball, and you know, our marshals will just, you know, hey, just you know, this closed at 11, you know, if you can pack up.

So it's not always we don't always just do enforcement, it's educating the public and and contacting people.

Thank you.

Great.

Um seeing no other questions.

Uh I think Lieutenant, thank you again for coming.

Uh excellent report.

Uh again, the format's wonderful.

We're really happy to see you.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh moving to agenda number six.

We have a report from Steve Glimp, Parks and Grounds Maintenance Manager regarding park maintenance updates.

All wards.

Hi, Steve.

Good afternoon.

Steve Glimp, manager of Parks and Grounds Maintenance.

Um, I just have a quick update on some projects we've been working on in each ward.

Um ward one, we installed a new bronze dedication plaque at Betty Wilson.

And um the next project coming up for ward one is Bob Baskin.

Um pickleball conversion.

And in ward two, um associated with some improvements we're doing at Veterans Memorial Community Center.

We installed an ADA compliant sidewalk to address that slope that's on the north side there.

And then the next project will be walleypite trail park, ADA access to the benches and tables in the park.

Um ward three, the healing garden, put in a lot of work this year prior to October one.

Um one of the really um kind of cool things we did is we resealed the papers.

Um they look fantastic.

And um the next project will be Mayfair Park.

Um we're having to rebuild the irrigation pump, which is a pretty high-ticket item.

Um ward four, Dranco Hills um pickleball courts.

The when this was built, they didn't really address that slope, and so that slope was eroding off and sheeting onto the pickleball court.

So we went in and put curbing in to kind of help with the erosion.

And then um hopefully the next well, the next thing we're gonna continue working on is the police memorial playground.

And then ward five, um, Lorenzi Park.

We just installed all new fencing in the outfield and um Ethel Pearson Park.

Um doing some fencing improvements over there, and then ward six at Gil Creek Brothers Park.

Um new bocce ball borders on the courts over there, and then at Floyd Land Park, we have an Eagle Scout project coming up where we're gonna remove about a quarter mile of barbed wire out in the park.

Um that's all I have.

If you guys have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

Yeah, go ahead, Commissioner.

I see you.

Commissioner Burgos, Ward Six.

I have a question about Floydland Park, the signage.

When you enter the park, there's signage that about uh addressing that there's free for military to enter, but it's also free for disabled or handicapped.

But I don't see any signage that advertises that or shows that when you enter the park.

I don't know if that's something that can be addressed.

I know it's on the website, but it'd be nice if a lot of people uh I work in the disabled community, and a lot of people don't have have an idea that they can get into the park for free.

Yeah, that's that's that's a great question.

We can get with our um manager who oversees the gatehouse there and talk about appropriate signage.

Perfect, thank you.

Go ahead, Commissioner.

No, my light won't go up.

Oh, your light won't go up.

There you go.

That's good.

Next slide.

Good afternoon, Mr.

Clint.

Uh I do have a question.

To have a quality visit experience.

Do we have to have uh capacity limit in a parks?

Did all parks have a limited capacity?

I don't believe we have any capacity limitations in our parks that I'm aware of.

Um certain certain event centers or areas in the parks where we have special events that are gated, we'll have um fire marshal recommendations for for capacity, but the parks in general, no.

For example, uh Sammy Davis.

They have some events, it was so crowded, and everybody's pushing each other and that area minute capacity on vendors and all that things.

Sure.

Uh Patomara, deputy director.

Um, so Sammy Davis would be considered one of the event venues, um, and that would consider that would um have a an associated capacity.

Um that's actually run by our cultural affairs division, so I can have a conversation with um the deputy director who oversees that division um and just bring that concern to her and and she can evaluate and address it.

Thank you.

Great.

Uh seeing no other questions, Mr.

Clint.

You're thank you for the report.

Uh moving on, I'd like to go to agenda item number seven, a report by Lisa Tro uh Tover, recreation manager regarding recreation and centers updates, all wards.

Hi, good afternoon.

I have a few updates for you.

I wanted to share in September our activity check-in.

So those are people that enrolled in our programs and actually came in attending.

We're up 7% compared to September from 2024.

So our registrations and activity numbers are looking really good.

Some of our most popular classes um for this registration period are the citizens citizenship classes at StuPak, the teen scene program at Veterans Memorial, the Zone After School program at Doolittle, Table Tynus at Liburn Active Adult, and Beginner Taekwondo at Veterans Memorial.

I also wanted to share with you last week our adaptive recreation team had their annual camp cal where they take 40 to 45 um adults with disabilities to Calabasas for a week-long camp experience.

And they had a great time this year.

It was a play on the Coachella theme.

They had Camp Chella, they go to the beach every day.

It's a really wonderful um experience for the participants.

And we have a great partnership with Opportunity Village, who actually pays for the cost of the camp rental for the week.

So the city has the you know, supplies, staffing costs, and things like that.

But a lot of the participants that attend also um work with Opportunity Village, and they really want to support the experience, not only for the participants, but for the families as well.

It's a really good opportunity for the parents to have some respite and a break for a week.

So that was just last week.

They had a great, great time.

I also wanted to share that we're working with communications to do a new marketing campaign.

It's gonna be coming out.

It came out in the October newsletters, and then they're doing targeted social media around each center that's gonna have specific information on each of the community centers.

So we're excited to see that information get out into the local residents that that live within a walking distance of our communities.

And starting in uh January 2026, we're gonna be moving to a monthly registration uh model.

So right now most of our classes run on four week schedule.

So after four weeks, a new session starts.

It could be like the third week or fourth week in September.

It can be a little confusing for registering, and remember it's time for a new session to start.

So we're gonna be moving to a monthly model.

So classes will run for the month of January, February, et cetera.

Um, our active adult centers already operate this way and it works really well.

The only classes that will deviate from this is our aquatics learn to swim.

They follow American Red Cross Learn to Swim, which is three and six week sessions.

And then I also wanted to share we have a ton of Halloween events coming up.

Um really anything you can imagine, we're probably doing we've got events at our pool, water exercise, dive-in movie nights.

We have uh nerve mania up at Vets where you can come dress in your Halloween costume.

The family fun night at Vets is gonna be the Great Pumpkin Movie decorating, pumpkin pie, um Halloween spectacular at Cimarron Rose.

We have a trunker tree at Stu Pack, a Trunker Tree at Mirabelli.

We've got the Halloween uh Safe Night that's actually on Halloween that's a partnership with Pearson that do little works with them on that event.

We have the fall festival at East Las Vegas, and even our seniors, we like to get them involved with senior wing um over at Doolittle.

So a lot of great events coming up if you're able to come out and and visit.

It's a really fun time.

And I have um Civante Manor here with me.

He's the recreation supervisor.

He actually oversees Slimmer on Rose Community Center, Doolittle Community Center, Doula Community Center, our adaptive recreation unit and aquatics.

It's a lot for me to even just say I can't even imagine doing it all.

And he's gonna share um a little bit of an aquatics update with you guys.

This one's good.

I think if it's green, I don't work.

Alrighty.

Good afternoon.

Good again.

I'm Civante Manor again with uh Parks and Rick Supervisor.

Uh so we're gonna go a little bit over the aquatics information.

Um tell you a little bit about our pools.

We have our pools right now split into two divisions.

Well, not really divisions, just two sides of the city.

We have our east side pools and our west side pools.

Um is our year-round pool and pavilion is a year-round pool as well, um, which we'll talk a little bit about the regional aquatic facility that'll be coming on board there soon.

Um, and then we have Gar Side and Do a Little Witch and CMDH and Baker, which are our uh seasonal pools, which we open Memorial Day to Labor Day.

Um, our staffing consists of two coordinators, one senior aquatic leader for aquatic leaders.

Um normally throughout the school year, uh we have about 45 to 50 lifeguards during the year.

That's lifeguards, pool managers, water safety instructors, all of that, and then also in the summer, that number increases when we open our seasonal pools to about 95 to about 105 star, give or take.

So, what's new for us?

We have the new regional aquatic facility that is going to be opening spring of 2026.

We got our fingers crossed.

Right now, everything seems to be going pretty well there.

These are uh renderings of that pool uh right now.

Um, so we meet right now bi-weekly on the uh progression of what's happening up there at that facility.

But so far, so good.

The team is working to uh figure out what we're gonna be able to do up there and come up with some new programs and ideas.

Uh so we'll keep you guys posted on what happens with that, and we'll have the grand opening and all of that of that facility.

Another thing that we did, which I thought was important for us to uh talk about was the new sports sampler class.

So we do um sports teams in the summer.

We have a diving class, we have uh artistic swim, we have just freestyle swim, we have polo.

Well, what we have been seeing on the east side of town is kids just really not participating in these programs as we try to create teams for all of our pools.

So, what we decided this year was to create a new sports sampler class where we would have the kids come in and register.

Uh, we worked with Move Your Way, which they provided us a grant to be able to pay for some of these kids in the lower income areas uh to come in and get a sample of all of those sports because we weren't seeing the participation.

We actually um ended up getting kids registering in this program and they really enjoyed it.

Uh so the hope is moving forward is we'll be able to get more kids in our sports sampler class, um, and hopefully that will I guess maybe roll into either them just coming to the pool and joining more of our learn to swim classes, but hopefully being able to actually join our swim teams in the summer.

So again, I talked a little bit about that.

Uh the program.

We have our learn to swim classes, we have the aquatic teams, we have a junior guard camp, which I'll talk a little bit about more as well.

Um, we have lifeguard and water safety uh certifications.

Our water, our water exercise classes are really popular over at Muni Pool and Pavilion Pool.

If you guys haven't seen them, they're great classes.

We have a really good time in there.

Um, open swim is a huge thing for us.

Um over this summer, we also hosted our summer camps during our open swim time.

Um a lot of people at the pools this summer.

And uh evening swim at uh CMDH and Garside is very popular.

Um we'll talk about some of those challenges toward the end here and how we can continue to keep those things going.

Uh, we have quite a few special events.

Lisa alluded to our dive-in movies.

Uh we work with Swank, the movie company this year, um, and they allowed us to show movies at the pool and be able to promote them prior to the event, which has given us uh a huge increase prior to that.

If we didn't have that licensing from the motion pictures, we weren't able to promote the movie before we showed it.

Um, so that was something that helped us a lot.

Um, and then we have our local swim teams, that's a huge part of our uh business daily there at our pools.

So very important that we have them in the swim meets that we provide.

Uh I don't want to have to go over this for every number, but this was just our summer registrations, which we were really impressed with this summer.

Um, our learn to swim program is growing every year, um, and that is huge for us.

And it's a it's a huge safety thing for the community to make sure that we have people who learn how to swim and just be able to save themselves.

It's just a life-saving thing that is very important that we push that.

Um, we have a meeting coming up actually next week with my staff where we're going to work in those areas where we're not seeing that increased number and learn to swim.

Um, normally ward three, ward five.

Um, we're not seeing that, but we have some ideas.

Um, we've been consistently working on that, but we have some more ideas that I like to try to prevent for next summer.

I mean, present for next summer as well.

So our junior guard camp, uh, we offered five sessions this summer.

It's kind of limited because it takes up a lot of space for us, but with the uh new building coming into place, uh, we'll have our own classroom space.

We have been sharing space with Veterans Memorial uh Leisure Service Center over the summer, so it's kind of infringing on what they were doing, but they were kind enough to let us in.

They have a lot of kids up there in summer camp, so to provide us with space is difficult.

But we offered it uh five times, and every time we open it, registration feels right away.

Very good program.

Um we have a really good instructor and Stephanie has been with us for a while, and it's it just really gives the kids the sense of you know what it's like to be a lifeguard.

Uh, you see here in the picture that the kids are at Calabunga Bay.

When we actually go to Calabunga, they work in the back of the house with the staff that are there because we are teaching shallow water and deep water certifications.

So when we go and work with them there, they teach them water park certifications as well as part of the Red Cross uh curriculum.

And this program for us have also been uh very popular because we've been able to recruit kids to come and be lifeguards with the city of Las Vegas out of this program.

So next summer, our goal is to offer it just about every week of the summer since we'll have our own space and uh we'll keep you guys posting on you know if those numbers uh stay up.

Uh we work with a couple of organizations this summer.

Uh we've worked with uh a few of these groups uh for a couple of years now.

The American Rare Cross gives us approximately 12,000, which is uh five dollar swim lessons for about 600 kids.

Um it is specific to certain pools.

Um ward three, ward five um is allowed to utilize those uh grants for the American Red Cross.

And then we also work with Float Like a Duck, where they give us an additional $5,000 to work with low income uh and at risk youth.

Um in that program, we've worked with the Las Vegas Housing Authority to get kids into programs, and we also worked with um I'm sorry.

Uh I can't remember the name of it.

Can't remember the name of the organization.

But we work with another organization as well.

Um Child Heaven was another group that we work with with the Float Like a Duck program.

The programs are completely free.

Uh when we work with folk like a duck.

Uh S N I C C is for kids who are three and under to get swim lessons.

So that's normally a parent and child class, and then move your way as part of the um Southern Nevada Health District just to get kids out and moving and being active.

So that's what we utilize to get kids into the pool at Baker for free all summer.

If you just come down to open swim, the move your way grant will pay for you to get into the pool for free.

And we also utilize those funds to get the kids into the sports amper class.

So some of our opportunities and challenges uh the opportunities is we have a couple of new aquatic leaders um in our organization, which is good to me.

Anytime you bring in new staff, hopefully you get new ideas as they kind of start to move along and really just want to push and see what they can do and bring on new ideas to the city.

Um then we also have the new pool.

So I think for us that's going to be a couple of new programs.

Uh, we're gonna have to be creative there.

Uh that pool was created to be more of a competition pool.

It's seven feet across the entire pool, the new aquatic facility.

Uh, but we believe with that there are some things that we can do.

Um, our budget, it's an opportunity for us.

We don't necessarily have to go out and generate the money ourselves.

We have a uh a fund, you know, that the city gives us.

But one of the challenges are um, because I have budget on both sides, is that we have competitions for our lifeguards in this city uh with the strip and downtown and all the other municipalities needing lifeguards, the price of our lifeguards continue to rise.

Um, so that's a challenge for us.

That is always something that we are trying to figure out how do we find that sweet spot, how do we keep our lifeguards with us?

Um, and then that sometimes we have to increase their pay, but then that also pushes our general fund budget a little bit.

Um, the other challenges that we have is the health district mandates.

Whatever they come out with, hey, we're good with three lifeguards up.

If they're able to make it to their victims within 20 seconds, then they come out and say, well, no, it's gonna be based on the square foot of water in the pool.

Then there's another change.

So whatever that may be, we have to continue to change with those mandates in order to uh stay in compliance, but that's a little bit of a challenge for us as well.

Um, and then the last thing is just the demand for space.

I think as soon as we can build a pool, they're gonna fill the pool, whether it's programs, uh swim meets, swim teams, all of that.

So I think it's a good problem to have, but I'd also like at some point to be able to make sure we have enough pools and space for everybody to be able to utilize.

So that's the end of my presentation.

You guys have any questions for me?

Great.

That's a lot of great information for both of you.

Um I think some of us are probably overwhelmed now.

I think I jotted one down, one note.

I'll get to it.

But uh Commissioner Vargas, I see you.

I have a question.

Uh Commissioner Burkos Ward Six.

I have the question about is there any adaptive equipment at any of the pools that you're aware of?

Um I know we have the chair lifts that we have, and then we have had programs before when they come in um to utilize, but I'm not sure if there's something specific that you're looking for, but we just have the lifts that'll help them into the water that I'm aware of.

And is there some place where people families can find that information out?

Is that on the website or regarding the chair lifts and stuff?

That's at every pool that we have.

Every pool.

Yes.

Perfect.

Thank you.

Yeah, that's a requirement.

Thank you.

Well, Commissioner, go ahead.

Hi, Commissioner Cornwell.

Uh I just have one quick question.

Is there a way that you can maybe get with the schools to give some of the new lifeguards um uh honor society credits for being a lifeguard in your facilities?

That might be a way to help you bring them in and not compete so much with you know the downtown area and the hotels and different things.

Yeah, that's something we can look into, absolutely.

All right, thank you.

Appreciate it.

Commissioner Jones.

Good afternoon.

Thank you, Ms.

Tulver and Mr.

Manor for your putting on some great events for the summer.

Question uh, what's the age group for the swimming lessons?

The one you had mentioned.

So we learn to swim.

So our learn to swim programs start at two years old, up to 17 years old.

Okay.

Normally with two years, oh, it's a parent and child class, up to three, actually.

And another question.

Um saying it was hard trying to get kids in.

Do you guys hand something out to the middle schools over in Warfive for before the summer gets ready to hit?

Or kids to come into our swim lessons.

Yes.

Yes.

We go out to all the middle schools, the elementary schools.

And like I said, we work with uh housing authority over there where we were in Shimmer Garden Annex, uh Villa Capri, Marble Manor.

We went to a couple of those places as well.

All right, appreciate you guys.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Great.

Um I just had a question.

This is Chair Becker.

For Miss Uh Tover.

Uh, you had mentioned like the recreation centers are having the new marketing campaigns rollout, and you mentioned they were walking distance.

Do you have an idea of what constitutes walking distance?

Is there a a mile radius or several miles?

So typically for Parks Interac, we look at like a 10-minute walk.

Um is what we would consider walking distance.

So it kind of depends on each community what's walkable.

The campaign that they're doing is on social media.

So you know, Facebook, Instagram have those analytics.

So, you know, zip codes, they're probably gonna go one mile as the crow flies out for that, and then there's more targeting they can do, like they know everything about us now, right?

So if you're a family, you're gonna see ads that you know, if you've got kids, those types of programs and things like that.

So it's really trying to draw in those people that are very close to the centers.

Oh, great, thank you.

Great.

I I don't see any other questions.

So thank you both for coming today and uh giving us an update on the recreation centers and aquatics.

Excellent reports as always.

Thank you.

Uh moving to agenda item number eight.

We have a report by Pat O'Mara, uh Deputy Parks and Recreation Cultural Affairs Director regarding an update of the Commission for Accreditation of Parks and Recreation Agencies, which is CAPRA accreditation onwards.

Good afternoon, everybody.

Um for the record, Pat O'Mara, Deputy Parks Recreation Cultural Affairs Director.

Um, give you a little bit of an update.

Some of you who have been around for a bit um have heard me talk about CAPRA a couple of times.

Um CAPRA is the mnemonic for uh the commission for the accreditation of parks and recreation agencies.

Uh CAPRA accreditation is uh a comprehensive uh process with 154 standards um based on best practices in the industry.

It's about making sure that we have quality assurance and make sure that we're always looking at our procedures, our processes uh to try and uh move forward to always try and be improving our services uh not only for our employees, our volunteers, um, our leadership, but for our community uh to ensure that we're doing the best we can to provide for all of uh for for everyone in in uh our our sphere of influence.

Uh as I mentioned accreditation standards, there are 154 total standards, 36 of which are fundamental, which means you may you may not uh you may not um miss those.

You have to show evidence of compliance on those 36.

If you miss one, even if you hit every other uh one of the standards, you you are not given accreditation.

So uh there are 36 that that are considered fundamental.

Um in the first year, you have to meet 90 percent of the non-fundamental standards, and then reaccreditation happens every five years.

Uh, and at that reaccreditation point, you have to hit 95 uh percent of the non-fundamental standards.

This is a process we have undertaken since I came to the city almost two years ago.

Um, and so I'll give you a little bit about um our little roadmap here, our calendar.

Um, we kicked this process off with a staff meeting in January of 2024.

Uh I had been here maybe two and a half months or so.

Um, and this has been kind of a goal of the departments uh under several different administrations in the last probably six or ten years.

Um we were one of the uh first agencies to have Capra accreditation way back when uh but during the recession uh we lost our accreditation um just trying to survive the recession.

So um it is something that we've we've let lapse, and it's something that we've been trying to get back uh for for some time.

We did some staff training uh in the spring of 2024, uh trying to get everybody up to speed.

Some staff had not yet participated in CAPRA, some of the older staff or the longer tenured staff, I should say, um, were aware of CAPRA having gone through it in previous iterations.

Um, and so we wanted to make sure everybody had a base layer um of knowledge of that.

So we did some of that training in the spring of 24.

Um, and then uh we started working on our evidence of compliance.

That's the EOC that you see there on the screen.

So what happens is that with each of those standards that we have to meet, we not only have to say yes, we meet them, and this is why we meet them, we actually have to show them proof that we've implemented that procedure.

We have a policy, we have a procedure for uh meeting that standard.

Uh, and so one that we were actually working on today is our ability to purchase, sell, lease, um, utilize, develop property.

Uh, and so that's that's one and we we you know we go and we actually show evidence of compliance by um showing a recent um uh purchase or a recent um you know sale of a property, we show um you know where we actually are given the authority to do so in NRS, all those kinds of things.

So there's lots of different ways that we can prove that evidence of compliance, and essentially for the last year or so, we've been working on collecting all of that evidence of compliance.

Um we're just starting our evidence of compliance verification.

Uh Lisa has been going through almost every single standard so far, um, just with a fine-tooth comb.

Hey, we need this file, we need that file, this one's quite not good enough, those kinds of things.

Um we have a handful of staff that are that are helping with that.

Um and then our our completed file is actually due to the commission at the end of this calendar year in December.

I believe it's 16th of December.

So we're trying to finish up and send everything through our director, our director, Maggie Plaster, um by the end of this month, so that we can we can finalize our our file and um have that ready to go.

Then as a as even though we've had the sort of the accreditation in the past, we're we're looked at as a first-time accreditation team uh or agency.

And so we will host in person a team of three to four uh reviewers.

The the uh uh CAPRA review team will actually come out on site, they'll spend some time with our documents beforehand, come in and then ask us for some updates or for additional evidence to prove a certain standard, those kinds of things, and then we'll actually take them on a tour of our facilities to show that we have these things implemented.

Um that will happen.

We've actually had to submit four different weeks, uh, March, April, May, June, uh next next spring.

Um, so we're not exactly sure when that's gonna happen yet.

We'll be assigned a day, you know, coming around the the first of the year.

And then our actual CAPRA determination will happen next year at the annual uh national conference.

Um CAPRA is a as a conglomeration of many different agencies, but primarily the um American Academy of Parks and Recreation Administrators and the National Parks and Recreation Association.

Um so at the NRPA conference next year uh we will find out the final determination of our file and whether we met the CAPRA standards and and are accredited or not.

Um so that's a little bit about our uh CAPRA process and where we stand.

Um I can take any questions if you have them.

Sure.

Uh I just had one uh deputy director.

The only question I had was um are you are we using the did we follow with the CAPRA standards that have been established for years, or there's a new beta version that's come out?

So I was kind of curious if we're into the new data version or the Yeah, so we're using the current standards.

Okay.

Um there that's a very good question.

Uh the commission has tried to work on simplifying the standards.

Um as I mentioned, there's 154.

I believe that the new set of standards is something like 67.

Um, and there are several places where there's overlap in the 154.

And so that's what they're that's what they're working on.

into the new data version or the yeah so we're using the current standards okay um there that's a very good question uh the the commission has tried to to work on simplifying the standards um as i mentioned there's 154 i believe that the new set of standards is something like 67 um and there are several places where there's overlap in the 154 and so that's what they're that's what they're working on um in general there are standards that can be met by the same kinds of evidence of compliance and so they're just trying to make some things some uh simpler the the final version of the to uh 27 uh 2027 standards were not available uh when we started this process so we knew we could uh we we believed we i again i uh i still think it's uh we knew uh we could meet the deadline um for for the existing standards before they go away so if we had to delay for a year we'll have to switch everyone in the 2027 cycle um will have to be on the new standards but we'll we'll try and make it on the existing standards and then we have five years to adjust so great no that's a great answer thank you uh commissioner mean commissioner uh what's the number one or the biggest benefit of being accredited by COPRA well I I think the the primary thing and we're we're starting to see this just by going through the process um is a standardization of procedures we were noticing for example with uh facility rentals we have a little bit of a variation from center to center on how we're doing the process so the the the primary thing actually is a standardization of process so whether we make it to capra accreditation or not we are better off now than we were before we started um because we're trying to be more efficient we're trying to be um you know and we're actually paying attention to that getting and keeping CAPRA accreditation will hold us accountable to those things so that we don't kind of you know let that slide a little bit um but but that's probably the the number one reason to do it is just to make sure we're doing the best we can for our community making sure we're providing the best service we're looking at ways to always improve um you know and and certainly you know streamline our operations so commissioner go ahead commissioner voc it's uh ward one um please express our congratulations and our our thank you for to all of your staff even the the folks that are in the field and are doing the actual um day-to-day activity um is there something that this group can do to help you achieve CAPRA um short of providing your support no there's not really anything for for this group to do um depending on the the timeline for our visit they may end up coming into a meeting um I think that we actually have one or two of the weeks overlaps with with a um a board meeting uh one of our board meetings so there is that possibility that um you may need to just extend some hospitality but that that's probably it as long as we have your support we're in good shape great and just like like uh this is Chair Becker just to kind of clarify it a little bit if you think of those it's 135 you said 154.

154 if you think of them as best practices that it's used throughout the country and we're just trying to meet the best practices and if you look at it that way so that we have great service at all parks and rec uh otherwise a lab parks and recognition they wouldn't even know what to aspire to without this kind of an organization right creditation.

Great uh seeing no other questions I'd like to uh move on to agenda item number nine which I believe the director's gonna also assist with us the discussion for possible action regarding the two thousand twenty six park and recreation advisory commission calendar of presentations and meeting schedule all awards yeah I'm sorry um so as as we try and do about this time every year we're bringing you a list of of possible um topics for our conversations at these meetings um we have planned out the year obviously the the meeting date is something that's pretty well defined for us uh but we have given you guys um uh uh a handful of topics that um we we hope to address with you next year all of you have the one sheet to be able to follow along if you um are having any issues with the um with the slides these are just some suggestions that we have for now um as I like to do we we'll be reviewing um the bylaws at the beginning of the year I think it's a great way to kind of kick off and make sure we're on the right footing um and then uh the the one policy we have that relates to this um to this board uh is the park naming policy and so we'll be reviewing that as well um there are a couple of um opportunities there um to to have some discussion um our our many of you may know um our department is broken into uh four different divisions we have the parks and grounds maintenance division which you hear about from Steve uh who is the manager over that division um on a monthly we have the recreation division division that's headed up by uh Lisa those are both my divisions

There are a couple of opportunities there to have some discussion.

We have the recreation division division that's headed up by Lisa.

Those are both my divisions, so I I oversee those two.

We also have an admin, an admin division that handles our budget and all those things.

Human resources are actual operations behind the scenes.

And so they'll be out in February.

And then what we're hoping to be bringing forward to the budget for the fiscal 27 year.

We will talk about active adult classes in programming.

And then we'll give a final report on our efforts with Get Outdoors Nevada and the volunteerism in our parks, trade plantings, park cleanups, those kinds of things.

We heard from Joe Joe Kennedy, their CEO, executive director, not too long ago, but he'll give us a final for this fiscal year in June.

In July and August, as is our custom, we'll go dark during the hot months of the summer.

And then we'll come back and we'll talk a little bit about some of the ADA compliance things that we have in the department.

As you some of you know, we're hard at work trying to identify things like you know, accessible equipment within parks and make sure that they're clearly defined and those kinds of things.

So we'll give you a little bit of an update on that in September and then October.

Hopefully, we're all celebrating a little bit and talking a little bit about CAPRA because that'll be the week after we're all in uh Philadelphia for the annual conference.

Um and then November, we'll bring back the following list uh to talk a little bit about um the items for uh for the following year.

So that's kind of where we are uh again.

Sorry, December um being right between the two holidays there will go dark um next year.

And commissioners, uh this is Chair Becker.

Uh, just so you know, uh, at any time throughout the year, uh, as you're serving on this board, if you ever come up with an agenda item, you can feel free to send that to the director or uh Ashley, the secretary, or or even myself, and we'll make sure that we can see if we can entertain it on wherever we seem like we have room at a point in time.

Are there any questions about our schedule?

So, seeing none, I'd like to go ahead and have uh if somebody could this is actually an action item, so if somebody could make a motion vice chair, motion to approve in a second.

Second Commissioner Arminion.

Great.

So I have a motion in a second.

So all those in favor of adopting this agenda, please uh say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Great.

The motion carries.

Thank you so much.

Uh moving on to agenda item number 10.

We have a report by commission members regarding park issues and events within the respective councils and at large, all wards.

Um, I know everybody uh I want to make sure everybody has time to speak.

I know I have something to say, but let's just keep it brief because we also in citizens participation will have a speaker for a few minutes.

So I want to make sure we have time for that.

And we're just like just over the five five o'clock mark.

So any commissioners, uh, something over on the side, no.

Yes, Commissioner Burgo Sports.

First, I want to say real quick thank you to our recreation program.

Um they had a women's event, a women warrior event, an overnight stay up in Mount Charleston, a wellness event, and uh I heard from back from the uh women who attend, and they said it was a great event.

So accomplishments and kudos to you guys, thank you so much.

I just have one oven award six, uh, Gil Creese Brothers park cleanup.

It's Saturday, October 25th, in partnership with Get Outdoors Nevada.

It's from 9 to noon.

And that address for the park is 1000 10011, Gil Crease Avenue.

Um, if you can go on the website or go to Get Outdoors Nevada and sign up with a QR code, but that's all I have.

Thank you.

Great.

And then uh Chair Becker speaking for Ward 2.

Um, as many of you know, I'm happy to announce that we have a new councilwoman for Ward 2, uh, Councilwoman Akara Kelly.

It looks like she's hitting the ground running.

Um I already sent out uh introductions for myself and uh Russ Martin.

Um also uh like right away we have Ward 2 of the trunk retreat with the Halloween movie at 6 p.m.

Bruce Trent Park.

Um that's Friday, October 10th.

The movie is Hocus Pocus, so that's gonna be fun.

And that's also um an event that we're hosting with the Marshalls, I learned today.

And then uh Councilwoman Kelly will have a breakfast pause on Saturday, October 25th, from 9 to 10 a.m.

at Veterans Memorial Community Center, located at 101 North Pavilion Drive Ward 2.

Staff does ask that you are SVP to ward two at Las Vegas Nevada.gov.

And that's all I have for commissions.

Any other commissioners?

No.

Seeing none, then we have agenda item number 11, which is citizens participation.

Public comment during this portion of the agenda must be limited to matters within the jurisdiction of the commission.

No subject may be acted upon by the commission unless that subject is on the agenda and is scheduled for action.

If you wish to be heard, come forward and give your name for the record.

The amount of time of any discussion of any single subject as well as the amount of time of any single speaker is allowed, may be limited.

And we have a public speaker.

And then from what I understand is we'll be able to give you three minutes today uh for the presentation.

I'm I'm really looking forward to.

And I'll go ahead when you're at about 30 seconds, is just kind of hold on my hand so you know to kind of start wrapping it up.

Okay.

Thank you.

Um thank you, Pat, for having me um tonight.

Um my name is Alicia Murkey.

I'm a volunteer at the community Las Vegas Community Healing Garden, along with many other volunteers that volunteer down here.

Um, I just wanted to share with this board what happens down at the healing garden in September, October.

It's a very, very busy time for us there.

And I just wanted to share a little bit about what what's been going on down there last month.

So we have lots of hands that work in the garden, and we have lots of volunteer tasks.

They remove old rocks, clean up and repaint rocks, spread mulch around the trees, wipe down trellises and tiles, uh, clean water features, repair broken things, um, pick up trash, work along the city workers, and maintain to maintain a briver garden, particularly for um our October one um activities that happen during this time.

Um this is one of the groups that came down this year to um help us out.

We had 35 kids plus eight adults, and um when these groups come down, they work extremely hard when they're here with us.

This is another group that came down.

This is our American Heritage uh girls troop, um, 325.

They had 12 volunteers.

Um they may be little, but they're mighty.

Um the girls um had a lot of fun in the garden.

This um group is our um LDS Umstakes Lakes State Youth Group.

They've come down for the last 40 years, and this year they had over um 70 volunteers with them this year, um, and that's about the numbers that they have in the past for us.

And we could not do what we do down there and have the garden looking as nicely as it is without this group.

Um this is just some more pictures of that group.

They do various things from you know just painting the graffiti to laying down mulch, um repairing walks, uh rocks, and painting the uh benches and stuff that we have down there.

This was a um first time group for us this year.

It was uh UNLV students.

Um I had been contacted um by their navigating end of life class, and their professor Sheila Brock brought them down.

15 of those volunteers, neither one of them, none of them had ever been to the healing garden before.

It was a very impactful day, and um they learned a lot um from us and um themselves.

This was a quote from one of the students.

Um I had gotten um a response from all of the students um on the how what they felt after they left the garden.

Um if anything in life can ever go wrong, no, I can return here and feel hopeless or overwhelmed.

It is called a healing garden for a reason.

Just some more of them.

And I'll kind of click through theirs just for lack of um time for you guys.

It's just the crew working along with the city.

We thank them immensely for their work.

Um, as you recognize Sue Ann, fixing things within the the garden that had been broken.

Um we had 158 volunteers, countless hours, and in this love and support together.

Um, you keep the healing garden thriving.

We couldn't do without you.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

This was a fundraiser that we did at the 5K to um do five tiles down at the garden.

Um that is um kind of finishing off some walls in there.

We hope to have more of those in the past um to finish.

I need about 600 tiles.

This was an event on October 1st that we did um in the storytelling garden, um painting tiles as well.

So we had 60 tiles painted over the last two days, um bringing in a total of $884.54.

Um that went into the mayor's fund.

Those checks have been mailed already.

We need 600 tiles to complete the walls, so um, I'm looking forward to some bigger events that we can do within the community to let them be participate and be involved.

Every tile tells a story of love, hope, and remembrance.

Um, on October 1st, we always hope last three years we've hosted um a lunch for the families of the 58 um in the storytelling garden next door, and that's um usually very well attended.

Um, and then in the evening on October 1, we have our candlelighting remembrance ceremony for um the 58 that perished on October 1st.

Um, on October 3rd this year, get outdoors Nevada offered a um healing in the outdoors with meditation and um just it was a nice calming day that we had down there.

Um, I know myself I attended, and it was um needed during that time, and I look forward to having one of those every year with them in the past.

So, with gratitude to the city of Las Vegas for their ongoing care and support of the sacred space, because of you, this garden remains a place where hearts find peace, soul finds comfort, and a community comes together to heal.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um, the healing garden is so important.

I I didn't see a problem letting you speak a little more than three minutes.

And you I saw you're working really hard.

So I really appreciate that.

What you showed uh really does show how the community comes together, and every time I I'm think about the healing garden, it touches me uh deeply.

Um might have some things she might want to say, I don't know.

Great job.

Thank you.

For one, um I don't do the computer, so I I also did want to throw out that uh I I noticed in in some of the pictures that we saw one of our commissioners very prominent in many photos.

So thank you for all your support.

You're welcome.

It's a team effort down there.

We we have a great group that are constantly down there.

Myself, Alicia, we have a gal that comes from Havisu that um comes regularly and gives makes garden gifts that we give out down there, and um it truly has become a community healing garden, not only for Route 91 survivors and the family members, but for just the general public, for people from out of the state of Nevada, from people from out of the country come there and they just find so much peace and hope.

And we have seen them come in there broken and walk out with hope and and feel like they can start healing again.

So this if you haven't been down there to experience it, please try to get down there to experience and if you can come down on the first and see.

We probably had 900 people there on the first in and out, and uh it truly is an amazing space.

Thank you, and thank you for the city for all of their help and always being right there to help us with what we need.

Great.

Thank you so much, Commissioner.

Uh I have a commissioner who would like to speak.

Go ahead.

Come share the reart always go there because uh I was the first volunteer when they dig the ground first time, and every time I go back there and get them motional, and uh it's a lot of improvement too.

So thank you for thank you all.

I mean, that's a very powerful uh presentation and also the contributions from our commissioners.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for your time.

Thanks.

And so with that, I'd like to move to agenda item number 12, which is adjournment.

This meeting is adjourned.

Thank you.