All right.

This is the December 10th Parks and Recreation Commission meeting for the City of Monterey.

Call this meeting to order.

Melissa, will you take role?

Yes.

Chair Ono.

Here.

Vice Chair Buya.

Commissioner Bence.

Here.

Commissioner Crampton.

Commissioner Nazal.

Commissioner Reed.

Here.

Commissioner Schmidt.

Absent.

All right.

Uh next segment is the uh public comment.

Nate, can you read the public comment procedures?

Yes.

Uh good evening, Commissioners.

Information on participating in this meeting and providing a public comment, including remotely by Zoom or telephone, is available on this meeting's agenda, which is online at iSearch Monterey.gov.

Remote commenters, you will be muted until it is your turn to speak.

And a timer will be shown on the screen.

If you're connected on Zoom, the timer is accurate with no delay.

In the chamber, we ask attendees to please keep their phones and devices muted to prevent audio interference with tonight's meeting.

Thank you for participating in your city government.

Oh so we don't go public comment first?

Oh okay.

All right, moving on to presentations.

Uh Commissioner Ellen McEwen for 13 years of service in City of Monterey.

This is not a project under CQA Article 20, Section 15378, and under General Rule Article 5, Section 15061.

Shannon.

She was appointed to fill a seat on commission, and she served as chair and vice chair for a total of five years.

And for two of those years, she served as the vice chair over the COVID.

So she served a longer term due to COVID.

And so I said, well, if you do move, um, and it's not in the city limits of Monterey, then we will not be able to serve.

And she said, Well, that's it.

I'm not moving.

I'm looking for another place to live.

Um she's just always been there as a a resource anytime we needed to call her, any time we needed a support.

She would go to NCIP committees and advocate for our programs and services and our facilities.

Um she was always there to listen and to support all of our programs and parks and sports center and rec.

Um when we came back after COVID and were rebuilding all of our programs and services.

We had to go through a much more stringent process with the county and the health county health department.

And I called Ellen at the very last minute.

I said, Ellen, I need help.

I need a medical advisor.

I need someone who can we can call if there's an emergency so that Camkin Sabi has what's called like a health director or someone we can put on our paperwork just in case there's ever emergency, we've got you on the hotline.

And she said, Yes, absolutely.

I'm looking to retire at some point soon, but please feel free to use my um name and everything, and I'd be happy to help you.

So I do have a big write-up on Kellen uh Ellen and her services, but really it's just um she's just been invaluable resource and support to all of us, and and especially to me in the time that I have been the um manager um since 2018.

She's always been so supportive and just so sweet.

And so we'd like to honor Ellen tonight.

Um I know all of you have um different have had relationships with her and everything, but we want to um present her with her plaque for her years of service and appreciation to the dedicated services to the citizens of Monterey and your astounding contribution towards the development of parks, recreation facilities, and programs.

So maybe this session.

Oh, yeah, but she's got Ellen is has a few, she said she wanted to say a few things.

Oh yeah, I you know me.

I'm I'm I always have a few words.

Um I was thinking about what parks and recreation really is, and it is the heart and soul of the city.

It's the lifeblood that creates community, it's um what pumps around the the happiness and joy and the good health of everyone here.

You know, when people are hungry, they can get food.

When people are lonesome, they can form friendships and get to know one another.

When um when people are in distress, there's parks and recs, there's activities, there's joy to be had.

And that's probably not true of every single department in the city, but it's true of parks and recreation, and it's been such a pleasure to be a very small ear listening in on what's been happening and contributing in whatever way I was able to.

So thank you, one and all, and you commissioners take good care of my favorite department.

And uh thank you, Shannon.

Yeah, yeah.

Everyone can if you guys could watch city council meetings or something just trying to get a month if you can and stay on top.

And I'm short, I shouldn't mind anyone.

Okay.

Here you go.

Oh, good, good.

All right.

One, three.

I'm always blinking.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, we're all right.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Bye-bye, commissioners.

Do you have any questions or comments on the presentation?

Just congratulations on your service.

Thank you so much.

Now we open it up to public comment.

Nate.

Yes, thank you.

So again, this will be public comment on the presentation that you just received.

Received.

So speakers need to be identified prior to public comment opening.

So if you're in the chamber and you'd like to sleep, you would like to speak on this item, please stand.

If you are online, please raise your hand or press star nine.

Melissa, do we have any public comment in the chambers?

None in the chambers, Nate.

Thank you.

And let me check online.

We have no public comment online.

All right.

If uh there are no more public comments, public comments are now closed.

Moving on to the next presentation.

Uh presentation of the status of the parks and recreation department operations from July through November 2025.

This also is not a project under CEQA Article 20, Section 15378 and under General Rule Article 5, Section 15061.

Shannon.

So we'll go ahead and get started with that's a photo from our Fun in the Park event um at Montecito Park.

Um so we'll go ahead and get started.

So I'll hand this out later.

It's available on our city website and for the public view, but um we published our first ever parks and recreation department annual report for fiscal year 25.

Um, I did email it to everyone, but you um have printed copies for this evening.

Um, and also we hosted and coordinated and hosted a few new city programs, which took a lot of staff effort and time for the parks and rec department.

Um the first one was the Monterey Way Academy, and then the other one was the first city academies.

They both happen on October 2nd.

The Monterey Way Academy is for city employees who are um just kind of beginning their careers generally with the city.

And then the first city academy is um it a public um uh academy.

Anyone can apply who's a citizen of the city in Monterey and kind of get a good rundown and idea of all the city divisions and operations.

Um and so parks and recreation department did our kind of rundown with um all these academy attendees on October 2nd.

And then academy, which was two days, October 20th and 21st.

That's for City of Monterey um employees who are kind of at the manager supervisory level.

And we did a full four hours um with each of those uh academies and kind of ran them through all the different operations of parks and recreation and tried to give them a good rundown of everything we do, but also tried to make it as um in interactive as possible.

So they got a tour of the sports center, they got a tour of Monterey Bay Park, um, and then they went over to JAX for group activities.

Um so since JAX is a facility where both um recreation sports center and parks all program.

Um, so that was a good opportunity for everyone to see the uh JAX Park.

The other thing we are focusing on is parks and recreation facility improvements.

Um project Hilltop Park Center of Facility Improvements is um an NCIP funded project.

It's the phase one of that project.

Um we are actively in that.

We've had termite tenting, we've had a seismic study, we've had um a uh assessment for asbestos and lead, and yay, yes, we've got some.

Um we also have um done not some necessarily in facility improvements that we want to do, but we had a pretty significant water leak there.

We had to dig into the slab.

So we're um actively working through that project and that funding.

It is a million dollar project for phase one.

It's probably another million dollar project for phase two.

Um, and uh phase one includes a roof um and new skylights and some major repairs, um replacing some of the damage that the termites did, those type of things.

So, well, it's not gonna make any big difference into the appearance of the building.

It will hopefully get us um a much stronger, safer building.

Um, and then we can focus on phase two with a little more significant projects that will be more visible to the general public.

Um, and of course, with any type of a facility project, we're gonna find new things as we go through it.

So we're working on that.

And the other projects that are going um on right now, it spearheaded, luckily by um some city resources and staff.

Uh the Via Paraizo and Veterans Park um basketball court RFP was released.

Um that has gone out.

Actually, it closed, I think it was yesterday, the ninth.

Um, so we're gonna review the request for proposals, hopefully be able to select a company to do the work and then move forward on that very hopefully very quickly.

Uh the Solicito Ballpark Lights upgrade is um ongoing.

It's set to go to City Council this coming Tuesday for that project.

That's another NCIP funded project.

So those lights at Solicito are probably 30 years old, I would guess.

Um at this point, they um we've got about 13 or 14 lights that are not repairable.

They, you know, you can't just replace the bulb.

The everything behind it is bad.

Um, and so this will be upgrading all the lights to LED lights.

Um, there'll be more energy efficient, there'll be less backwash um, and um hopefully improve the lighting on the field and not so much lighting the exterior of the park, but focused on the field.

So um players of all ages will be able to see the ball during night games.

Uh so that's going to city council on um this coming Tuesday.

The El Estero Park Center playground equipment is due to be delivered after the first of the year, and that will be installed the first week of February is the goal.

Uh the other project we're working on right now is the large barbecue shade structure at El Estero Park.

Um, that is the only barbecue area in the city that can accommodate 200 people.

And so that one is almost just almost ready to be um the contract paperwork done.

So we hope to get that done very soon.

Um, of course, there's lots of other projects happening, but um, and the sports center can talk more specifically about theirs, but that's what we're we're working on right now.

The other thing that we've focused on is parks and recreation technology improvements.

So a new city website launched at the end of September.

You guys may have noticed, you might have gotten some uh broken links or some 404 errors, but that just means your um cookies have cashed the old website.

Um, so the whole city got a new website.

The Monterey Recreation and the Sports Center also got web pages.

Um, and those websites were custom designed for us because our needs are different.

We're trying to get people to register for programs, find out all the things that they need to do.

So they're custom and designed and made to kind of match the marketing of each of our divisions.

So that is something we're working on refining.

Um the other thing we have focused on is technology, just overall technology improvements.

So previous to uh COVID, the city had a legacy rec track system, which was our software.

It was very old, outdated.

It was actually going to be um no longer supported by rec track, um, which would require a full upgrade, which is essentially going to a new system or looking at new systems.

So it took us 18 months to find software, evaluated a bunch of different options for cost and um efficiency.

And then it took us another 18 months to launch new software.

Uh so in fiscal year 2019, which was the last year we had before COVID, about 12.3% of all revenue was collected online via the legacy rec track system.

And last year, fiscal year ending July, June 30th, 93.4% of our revenue was collected online via what we call our client self-service system, which is rec to smart rec at this point.

Um we are also, I would like to say pretty much paperless.

You can buy a membership at the sports center.

You do not have to sign a membership.

You can register your child for summer camp.

You don't need to fill out a uh paper registration form.

Um everything's captured online electronically through the system.

So, yes, we're still printing rosters, we're still printing reports, but the um on the client side and on the registration side, we are not actually taking any paper most of the time.

Um previous to that, if someone signed up for Camp Gonzabi, they could do it online, but they would still have to send us a registration form.

So we had all that information.

So, no, that's all uh gone.

Um, so again, we're trying, you know, we've got less staff, um, but we really are trying to leverage technology to help us and also help people help themselves.

And by that means we have, you know, um less we're less phone calls, less people coming to a front counter for assistance.

They're usually able to do it at home and they can register even when we're closed.

So 24-7, I I see registration comes in.

You know, someone's shopping at two o'clock at night for swim lessons, and that's fine if they're awake and they want to buy swim lessons by all means.

Um, so uh it's great.

That's one of our big things we're working on right now.

Um, is just continuing to refine that, make things easier for people to register online.

And then I'm gonna hand this over to Tice, because we've got park operations right now.

Okay.

Um yeah, we'll start there with Laguna Grande.

We had um had some movement, thank goodness.

Uh in November, uh, we had a great meeting and we got good news that all the permits were in place.

So we got the green light to start vegetation management, which um we just we got to do this last week, last last week or so.

So that was great.

We got a biological survey done, and uh, we're able to use the gabalin crew from Calfire to go right in there and start working in the areas of most need.

So that's a great start.

We're gonna keep working as much as we can, and we'll probably at some point meet again soon to try to figure out how we're doing and how to do this a little bit more efficiently.

So we're we're we're happy that we finally can start moving on this.

Um, next slide, please.

Yeah.

So we we've obviously done uh it's been a long time, but so we've had a lot of those statistics are pretty high um regarding a lot of these things.

But you know, we uh sea lions again were uh came back for a second time, as we all know.

We've we saw.

So our staff did a great job uh having all the practice that we have had on how to barricade them, keep them safe.

Luckily, they've gone to areas that have uh um, but we can work with.

So that was good.

We we found some different ways of managing them by putting dark plastic up against the fence to keep them from trying to attract them over so they don't run attracted to try to jump over barricades in certain areas, working with NOAA to get some better signage out there.

Um, and then there we have some great volunteers, you know, from uh Marine Mammal volunteers that are out there who keep us in the know.

Um so, but and then again, I also want to highlight the volunteers in parks and Kwanis.

They put in a lot of hours um over the summer, spring, and now um managing the help us with the rec trail and so many different parks in the area.

So big shout out to our volunteers there.

Next slide, please.

Uh yeah, parking day was a really fun event.

I don't know if anybody was able to come to it, but set it was in September.

Um, got to make some parklets into parks, and we had a lot of fun.

This year was was uh our crew really went with it.

They not because I'm a golfer, they chose it on their own, but I had no influence.

They made putting greens and it they did phenomenal, uh a phenomenal job.

They themed each put little putt putt green.

Uh, one was for Solicito, one was Dennis the Menace, one was Windows on the Bay, and one was I gotta say they won the award.

One was Steinbeck themed.

So what we had Ed Rick, it's lab that he had to put through and um brought out like typewriters, anyways.

It was it was a lot of fun and and thank you to all the other city divisions that participated, sports center, recreation, everybody.

It's just it was just a lot of fun for the employees to go out there, see everybody and also interact with the public.

We even had a small um a small house come onto Alvarado, um, which was a little tight.

We they made it work, it was a little nerve-wracking out tight, but they brought one of them these mini houses in that were are used to um, you know, they could be used for folks who are in house, but also they're ones that are used for the folks who are displaced by fire.

So these were actually used down in Southern California, for example.

So that was really neat.

Next one, please.

Um so yeah, we all the different projects that we've done.

Um Sister City Park, which we um completed a while back, spray Avenue Totlot was an NCIP project.

We finally put the finishing touches on that.

Um, a lot of landscaping improvements around JAX and the wharf.

Um, and then we've obviously supported a lot of these events, uh, a lot of stuff for Fourth of July, car week, half marathon takes a lot.

Um it takes a lot of cleaning, cleaning the tunnel, cleaning all of downtown.

Um, and then on Alvarado Street in Cali P is you see the assessment districts, those were established, and we now have a little bit more of a clarity on how we're we're managing this for the for the business district down there.

So we redid a lot of the plants in the pots that were neglected during this break in the in the assessment district.

Um we're pressure washing more frequently now, and I think we'll see um a much better product now that we have a little bit more direction and resources uh to put into Avarado.

Next slide, please.

Um, yeah, forestry operations.

Uh done a lot of green belt fuel reduction work and kind of the we've done a lot out in fish flats.

Fish Flats was a big area.

We're starting Don Davy, hopefully, really soon.

We've done a lot in Iris Canyon, capital site, had goats out there for a long period of time, um, skyline different sections.

So we are really happy um with with how much progress we've made there in coordination with or as part of the Calfire Grant fuel reduction project.

Uh you could see the uh down there decorated Colton Hall Christmas tree.

That's always a fun one.

And our crew, we got a nice break in the weather, thank goodness.

It was a little rainy, you know, through November.

So they dried out, so our crew was able to get there without tearing up the lawn.

Um and then the other part too is we've started our uh tree ordinance uh work.

So in October, we had um I think it was shortly after I did our tour.

We had two town hall events, which were really successful at the one was at the conference center, what was then the the uh El Estero Center, and we've pretty much filled them both up.

So it was full participation.

We had over 300 people uh complete and return to us surveys on the tree ordinance.

So that was, I mean, that's we feel really good about that.

That's we don't usually see that kind of turnout for um for those kind of surveys.

So that was fantastic.

And now we're in the process of draft putting together our draft, and we'll see what the next steps are after that.

And a big shout out to um our we have an intern, uh Patrick Williams, who helped us tremendously with that.

So um, and also Mark Ackerman, um, one of our analysts.

Um sorry, do I have one more slide?

I can't remember.

No.

So I want to just real quick take uh a second to talk about the cemetery.

Um we don't usually get a lot get to talk a lot about our cemetery, but um Patrick Williams, again, our intern, he's been really amazing.

He's been allowed us to do a lot of projects that we don't normally get to do.

So um he is a uh skill bridge intern through the DLI.

So this is a special project program where folks who are transitioning out of the military service and life who are retiring, so to speak, and give them experience working outside of of the military.

So he's working with us and he's incredible.

He's he knows I don't know how many languages.

So it's an amazing amount of like of language, um, mainly Russian, but there's so many that he knows um based off that.

Um he has helped us not only with the tree orange, but the cemetery serving, updating headstones, adding photos and information of all the deceased folks there.

So he's going through all of them.

A lot of them have our written in different languages other than English.

So he is um helping us update all this information on them, including who they are, where they're from.

I mean, one individual we found out that we shared with Brian was um a person who served in the Russian, Albanian, and Italian armies before immigrating here.

I mean, what an incredible story that must be.

And so we're coming across stories like that.

Um, and he's also using his connections at the DLI, looking at Chin uh headstones with Chinese, Japanese, all these different languages.

So we really didn't know what we had in this gentleman when we hired him uh and until kind of now.

He's just blowing us away with his knowledge.

And also he's gone through all the columbariums, which is 600 H E 688 niches, which need a need a photo, which need the information, and he's logging all this.

So what does this mean?

This means that you don't have to go find a staff member and say, where's my family?

Where's this?

You're gonna use the website, you're gonna use the app, and you're gonna be able to find these um these headstones and these sites much easier.

So it's really really interesting.

It's really fantastic.

Um it these are projects we've been wanting to do for a long time, and are um he's definitely improving um the service that we can provide for everybody using our cemetery.

So, anyways, this always we're always looking for a chance to shout out to our cemetery and the different improvements there.

Um, and then lastly, um, we got to do a few promotions.

Uh Solomon Ortiz was promoted from a park maintenance senior senior park maintenance worker to our lead worker.

And you'll see him, he takes care of the wreck trail by the wharf and San Carlos Beach, that area, wharf parking lot.

Um, extremely handy individual.

Um he teaches himself everything.

Um, he's not somebody that needs the a lot of direction, really fantastic individual.

And then we are able to promote two park maintenance workers, Jose Ayella and Andre Berry to senior park maintenance workers.

So um, those are really well deserved.

We're very excited to be able to promote.

That's not something we get to do very often.

So now we have two seniors, two lead workers, a supervisor.

So yeah, just real great additions or I say yeah, in a way additions to our to our staff.

So recreation.

So those are just a list of all the different areas we manage in recreation.

And we'll go ahead and get started.

So lots of things happened between July and November.

We had our Fourth of July lawn party, as you guys have all probably heard or seen or been there at some point.

A great event.

Probably 10,000 people were already planning for next year.

We also had our end of summer celebration.

It was our second annual end of summer celebration.

It's always planned at this point for the last Friday of summer.

And so what we do is we have an event at Jack's Park for our playground participants and our day camp participants during the day.

We kind of reset and then have an evening event open to the community.

We partner with a sports center.

They came and did a Zumba activity, dance party with us.

The library was there, Monterey Bay Union FC, and just kind of had that be a free event for the community that kind of wraps up the summer, but also it's hopefully an opportunity for people who may not take summer camps with us to say, hey, you know, next summer I'm gonna take a camp with the city of Monterey.

So it's a kind of a marketing but also a thank you opportunity.

So that's something we started last year, and we're just gonna continue to build on it every year.

Um and then we had our annual Halloween movie night and trunk retreat, and I can't remember how many which one this was, fourth annual, I think, Halloween movie night and trunk retreat.

Planning already for next year.

We're gonna partner again with Monterey Firefighters Community Foundation for the movie.

Um, but it's all uh trunks are provided by different groups, either city departments, nonprofits like the Kowanists, Monterey Tennis Center was there, MBA Parent, uh, the Chamber, Old Monterey Business Association, those type of groups have participated to provide the trunks.

Then we have a couple of food vendors there selling food.

And then once that's over, everyone breaks down and we have a nice movie on Colton Hall Lawn, and then we wrap it all up.

But it's a great event.

We get a ton of people every year.

Um, people are always asking when your event is going to be because they plan their Halloween activities around that.

And then it gives parents an opportunity to safely trunk or treat with their kids and kids a chance to wear their costumes more than once.

So it's super popular.

Um and that's just a picture from uh one of our families who used it as an opportunity to take a family photo.

And then another thing that we're doing constantly is community outreach, is both a way of um can you know offering our services at different events, but also marketing our programs as well.

So this is just a few of the things that we did in that time frame.

Um Monterey, we went to the Del Mani Center and had the parents uh back to school bashed with Monterey Parent Magazine.

Um the city launched a City Hall and Your Corner um event.

It was held at Hilltop Park, but it was an outdoor program where people could come and um learn about every city department.

There was tabling, so we had one of those.

Um senior day at the Monterey Fair.

Sarah Reed went to that parking day.

Again, that was coordinated by parks, but we participate.

Uh, we went to Bayvie Academy for the celebration of learning in October, went to CSU and B's Fall Career Fair.

We're always constantly recruiting.

And then we attended the Sports Center's Day of the Dia de Los Muertos event on the 25th.

So lots of um outreach in addition to all of our ongoing programs.

So fun in the park, we had that um on September 13th at Montecito Park.

I would say that we have easily 350 people in attendance at each event, multi-generational.

It's a free community program.

Um, library, you typically it's the library.

Um, this time we had kindness rocks A31.

Those are some kids and parents um painting rocks and um hand uh writing sayings on them.

Um and then my museum and Kona Ice are always usually joining us as well.

This was also a site for another city hall in your corner.

So we had all the different city departments there for that time.

They kind of set themselves up on the basketball court and did some outreach for that neighborhood.

Um, we do this twice a year.

So our next event will be Saturday, May 9th, 2026.

Another thing that we have done is our Thanksgiving meal distributions or Thanksgiving Meal Kit, another really successful event.

We had a thousand um meal kits um distributed 200 sandwich meals.

Um we also coordinate home deliveries um with Monterey Fire and PD, um, Seaside and Marina Fire Departments.

So we will deliver um a home a meal kit or a sandwich meal uh to anyone from Carmel, as far as Marina and C Monterey Fire and PD kind of take care of Carmel, um, PG, Pebble Beach, Monterey, um, any of the areas that they're served by the city or the city fire department.

And then we partner with the other city, Seaside and Marina to reach their residents.

So overall, those meal kits served about 6,520 individuals.

Um, it was a partnership that started after during COVID, and it's actually just continued this year.

It filled up within four and a half hours.

We had a thousand appointments and they filled up in four and a half hours.

Um, so it's our sixth year.

I would say the demand was greater than it's ever been, and it definitely filled up faster than it ever had.

So Monterey Recreation Summer Camps, we have a ton of summer camps.

Um that is a picture of um some of our commissioners and uh our mayor and our assistant city manager.

We really try and get everyone out to our camp programs um during the summer so they can experience what that's like.

Um, we took them out to Camp Kinsabi for dinner, and um they helped wash their dishes.

So they kind of get to see what that's all about and you know what the kids are learning at camp.

So both Heeltop and Via Paraizo playground programs, they were full with wait lists, um, multiple weeks of CQS and with Spring Pines were also full with weight lists.

RCQS enrollment, which is our Camp Gensabi Youth Overnight Camp, had 112 more campers this year uh than 2024.

Overall, um, camp is I would say just short of fiscal year 19 attendance by maybe 12 participants, but revenue is exceeding fiscal year 2019.

Um, over and also just in general, our revenue for all camps was exceeding our projections for fiscal year 25 as of June 30th.

We still had another month of summer, but primarily most revenue and camp registration all happens before July, June 30th.

So we're it's kind of a good estimate.

Um, we had, I would say the highest attendance we've ever had and the highest revenue we've ever had since fiscal year 19.

This summer was a big summer.

Um, there was lots of opportunities for camps.

We are offered more camps than we've ever had before, but there's also a lot of other places offering camps, and we still had a really high demand.

Um, and I think that's because we um people are definitely wanting summer activities for their children.

They need child care.

Um, and we offer really well organized and safe and fun camp programs.

And that was one of our goals of summer 2025.

And that was a theme that Nate coded our, you can hear him, um, our super recreation supervisor kind of tried to pull our staff.

What is your goals?

What do you think is the most important elements of summer recreation programs or a quality recreation program?

And that's amazing.

Staff organized, safe, inclusive, and fun.

And that was kind of the message that we had.

So we'll have to think of what we're going to do with summer 2026, but we high-fived summer 2025.

And then youth field sports programs, those are just continuing.

Um, they've were one of our first programs we brought back for COVID, but just ongoing our um summer programs.

We offer camps in a variety of soccer, track and field, basketball, beach volleyball.

Those were July.

We had flag football in June, 188 participants in our summer camps.

We finished uh soccer, which was in the fall, September and October with 156 participants and 16 teams.

They practice uh at Solicito, they play games on Saturdays at Jacksfield.

Right now we are in the middle of our Pee Wee and Youth Flag Football.

Um, and we are um planning for youth track and field in March and April, and actually, I believe registration is already open for that.

And we um, so that's just been going very well, all of our guild sports programs.

And then our adults programs were very busy this summer as well.

We offer co-rec leagues for adults.

We had our summer men's women's and co-rec leagues with 765 participants and 51 teams.

Fall men's women's and co-rec 690 participants and 46 teams.

They had the playoffs for all of those in November, and that's one of our winning teams, crowned division champions.

What's next?

We are starting our adult ultimate frisbee league at Solicito.

So very busy.

So again, field sports facilities and revenue continues to be high demand for city outdoor sports programs and facilities.

We had the Monray Amber Jacks back this summer.

We will internally review everything, may return back to PRC with a staff recommendation if needed for summer 2026.

We're not really sure what their plans are.

As mentioned previously, we are working on Solicito Lights via Via Paraizo Park Basketball.

JAX is kind of in limbo right now, just because we do have NCIP funds and we do have the grant from the Monterey Peninsula Foundation, but we're awaiting word if we qualified for landwater conservation fund grants as well.

So we don't want to start a project if we know we're going to get, you know, matching funds, and then we can kind of expand.

So we're just waiting to see if we get that grant money.

And then El Estero Park Center, that's a photo of our Thanksgiving preschool feast that we did.

All of our programs are going very well there.

Again, we are offering more than one program at one time.

Someone can be in preschool, someone else can be in gymnastics, someone could be taking a dance class.

And so that's kind of what we're we're trying to do.

Chris Russo, the recreation coordinator there, is really adding as many new programs as he can.

So again, preschool, Monday morning stories, fencing dance, Lego camps, and kids create, we're all very strong enrollment.

We have people waiting for gymnastics every time we open.

I think we tried to open gymnastics registration from winter spring today.

Um, but it's quickly fills up with a wait list.

Um, and we offer that four days a week.

Uh so we also had full enrollment for our art camps or tiny tots and our gymnastics camps this summer.

Uh we offered new kids in the kitchen and an adult sourdough baking class, which filled up with a wait list.

Uh so what's next?

We're looking at some Lego and art and more sourdough baking workshops, and we're trying to get those scheduled for Saturdays.

So trying to program as many programs as we can at um in multiple rooms during our open hours.

And then Hilltop is doing very well.

We've had a lot of focus on facility improvements.

We did have to close for about a week due to that um leak.

Um, so that kind of hindered some of our programs.

We're a ceramics program for adults, is completely full with a wait list.

We actually had to hire uh three new ceramics instructors.

Um, so that's gonna get going again in the new year.

Uh enrollment is strong for our Pilates, our dance and our piano classes.

Preschool is is back in session.

Uh, we were able to bring back our preschool field trip with the pumpkin patch.

We're hoping to add our spring field trip um as well.

Um they're right now preparing for their holiday recital.

All of our summer, our winter spring program enrollment has also begun.

So that's exciting.

We did close for a week in October for maintenance, but we also had an unexpected closure, like I said, because of the leak.

Um, and we're also focused on overall center improvements and the um NCIP project.

So that depending on what happens if we have to close because they're replacing the roof and all of that.

We'll just, you know, work our programs around that as much as we can.

We don't want to slow down an NCIP project.

Um, so Schultz is going very well, super busy.

Um, we've got um the numbers do look large, but they are, um, but it's just because we're covering so many months.

Um, these are the number of participants.

That's not the number of times people have attended.

That's just a head count.

So um we had 1,222 participants in those programs, watercolor, drawing, painting, tai chi, ceramics.

We expanded ceramics to two days a week because that's very popular at Schultzy as well.

A little bit different program there.

We also offer programs for adults who require adults with disabilities who have different accommodations.

We uh allow have them attend our programs.

They bring their caregivers with them.

We offer um what's called our Wednesday socials.

So it's an opportunity for them to come and have lunch and dancing and an art or craft activity.

So we're really trying to serve uh anyone, you know, basically 18 and over at Schultz.

Uh we have a 1,852 meals on wheels.

Um that's way higher than it was pre-COVID.

Um, we're one of the few sites where people can come in and get lunch and either eat here or um take it to go with them.

Um we also have uh produce walk-up distribution um with the food bank of Monroe County.

So they we get food um produce delivered once a week on Mondays, and then seniors can come and pick up.

Well, actually, it's open to anyone, but seniors and families can come pick up a fresh bag of produce every Monday.

Um we just finished our senior luncheon for December.

We'll talk more about that next month, but we had a Halloween luncheon and a Thanksgiving luncheon.

Those were also full.

Um, so we had our 209 participants in October and November.

Wednesday socials are um in partnership with Gateway and Hope Services.

Um, and so lots of more um events being planned, more workshops, more also Alliance on Aging and Health workshops and AARP to help our seniors.

One thing that they're really focused on right now is just open enrollment and figuring that whole confusing mess out because it's very confusing.

So there's people there from the Alliance on Aging to help seniors navigate that whole process.

Um lots coming, and we just launched our Monterey travel program trips as well.

So those are available for online registration, but we can also have our seniors come in and do it in person if they need to.

Um Casanova Oaknoll is open.

It's just open based on a program or event schedule as a reminder.

The bookmobile is there every Tuesday.

We had a summer fund playground program there for the two months of July, just like we did at Hilltop and Via Paraizo.

Um Hilltop and Via Paraizo were full with 70 students each and uh wait list.

Uh Casanova was 46 participants.

Um, but that was more than 2024.

So that's good, but it's still not the numbers that we used to have pre-COVID.

Um we will be focusing on some community outreach efforts to try and see what the needs are for this neighborhood, what they really want, and what they will um want to participate in.

So that's something that's planned for the new year.

We're also planning for fall programs with at Casanova, Montecito, and Laguna Grande Parks.

So some things that's still on the books.

Um we are reassess, not necessarily reassessing, but we're going to be reaching back out to the Montecito via Del Mani, Laguna Grande, Del Money Grove neighborhoods, kind of getting um some outreach and some communicate communication.

We'll also be reaching out to the Casanova Oak Knoll neighborhood to better understand their needs.

Um 205 Montecito is still a possibility as a community space, but what we heard from city council is they just want more public outreach and they want some get better understanding of what those um what people want.

I will say that the uh via Del Monty neighborhood and the it's it's comparing apples to oranges, I guess.

They're two very different situations.

And what we try to do our best um was to describe their need that we are trying to serve in the Via Del Mani neighborhood.

Um, and that's a very different need than the Casanova Oaknol neighborhood.

So we're also not planning on selling Casanova Oknol.

That's not um in the works, but there's been some miscommunication or some um rumors about that.

That's not um the plan.

You know, the entire time I've worked for the city, but we just now have an opportunity.

You know, there is an initial cost.

There is a potential of finding some one-time funds for that in order to do the facility improvements.

Umgoing costs were in the range of 250,000 a year.

But when you're talking a city budget of 110 million dollars, 250 is kind of minimal.

So we're gonna do some more research on that, get back out to those communities, really try and see what the need is and communicate the in the via Del Monte neighborhood, and then separately from that, uh kind of do a better job of communicating and outreach with the Casanova Oaknol and see what their needs are and what their true demand for services is.

Um so that's gonna be coming kind of in January, and then we hope to go back to city council in February.

So what's next?

Um we're already in September.

I already had an email from a parent asking when our summer registration would be opening.

And I was like, um, so uh we are gonna get that going.

Um we've already started um everything's kind of hidden in the system, but we're working on summer um camps um and enrollment.

We are ready after the first of the year to start with our recruitment process and our marketing um for for that as well as our enrollment for summer camps.

Um we know that minimum wage is going to go up again.

I believe it's gonna be 1690 January 1st.

So we need a plan for that.

We are um trying to remain competitive with um our uh recruitments.

So we can't just offer minimum wage in order to get qualified high-level staff, we have to be competitive and offer close to what someone would be getting um if they had an entry-level job at like Starbucks or Target or something like that.

So we are working on that.

Um again, facility improvements, working with NCIP, um, getting that going.

Um we are already got an email for fiscal year, mid-year budget adjustments, the messages to not really do a lot in terms of budget adjustments.

We probably will have to ask for uh part-time salaries just because our demand for summer programs was so big in July.

We need enough money to get us through June.

So that's maybe our only ask at mid-year.

We're also in the process of uh gonna be kicking off our budget preparation for next fiscal year.

Um the city council is working on trying to close a 10 million dollar budget deficit.

So that's gonna be something we'll have to um take into account.

And again, overall, we're just trying to figure out um what programs to bring back, what we can do with our existing staff because we still have um less staff than we did pre-COVID.

But what can we do in terms of partnerships and um services that allow us to be more efficient and help people and then understanding what is essential, what we really have to do, and then managing those needs versus wants and understanding the true demand for services.

So really kind of diving into what um people need and not necessarily trying to compete with someone else offering the same service.

If it's something that we can do and serve a community need, that's kind of where we're focused on.

So a lot going on.

We did a lot um felt like we didn't really slow down after summer.

Summer, we normally kind of get through that whole thing, wrap up summer, pack everything away, and you kind of feel like you have a little bit of downtime.

I didn't feel like that at all this year.

We have just been going nonstop since then.

Um, so yeah, that is recreation.

I'm gonna pass it on to Bill.

Good evening.

Um, just a little update on the sports center.

Uh, you can see our memberships are back up to approximately where they were back in 2019.

So we're we're really on target in terms of the uh growth of the use of the facility in both in terms of the individuals that come in and use the facility on a drop-in basis as well as the programming participants and the membership.

So that's all you know, really good news.

Uh, next slide, please.

Um, what's new?

And I was kind of looking at this a little bit tonight.

You know, we talked about you know, the saunas installed, the furniture and the awnings, uh, some of the new equipment.

But when you look back at the last six months, it's been really an amazing transformation that's occurred at the sports center.

Uh, it just seemed like yesterday we were saying goodbye to uh Karen in June and wishing her well, and here we are in December.

And when I look back at what we've accomplished in those last uh six months, we did the full pool, replastering, remodeling, the coping, the deck, the up lights, the LED lights, the back walls, the doors, the uh saunas, the plumbing systems.

We fixed four major leaks that were in the small pool that were draining thousands of gallons of water a month and costing us significant costs in terms of chemicals and utilities.

We got all that fixed.

Uh, we did the bathrooms.

If you've seen the new bathrooms since they've been cleaned and re uh kind of remodeled, they they're really lovely now compared to what we had uh back in May.

Uh so there's it's the pool itself has just come a tremendous amount of, but that that's only part of the story.

Um, there was so much work that was done on the roof of the facility with a dehumidifier, with the fine-tuning of the dehumidifier with the HVAC system, with complications and challenges that occurred uh with the installation, removal installation and the operations of the dehumidifier.

Um we didn't really get most of that work completed until about two months ago.

Uh so it's just been ongoing throughout.

And it involved an entire team of people to work through a lot of the challenges that we had.

Um of the things that really has come out of the last six months with both the dehumidifier project and the pool project is you know once you work on one thing, you uncover other things that need to be done.

The team that we've had assigned to help support the sports center.

This goes from Public Works.

This is Chris Dwight, uh superintendent, Jason Bradley, who's assigned as the manager for our our area, uh Johannes Van Gend, who's one of the operational managers that helps work with the staff, the two facility crafts workers that are assigned there, Mackin Caldas and um Gus Palacio.

And then some of the staff that they sent down, they they sent down Joe uh Carvalho, who was amazing with getting the saunas installed and getting the doors hung and getting a lot of the work, interior work done.

Steve, um, who's our HVAC specialist for the city, came over from the conference center and really helped us deal with so many dehumidifier and HVAC systems, not just there, but now throughout the entire facility.

He found areas in throughout the facility from the 2002 expansion that have not worked since 2002.

He found ducts that were closed, he found vents that weren't working properly, he found uh motors that weren't working properly.

And so when we wondered why it was getting so warm in the concourse when people were working out there, he would go in and identify that the CO2 levels were going through the roof because everybody was in there exercising, it was getting warm and it was heating up and there was nowhere for that CO2 to go.

So he has come in and solved so many of those issues for us.

So that team, that public works team that we had helping us through the last six months to resolve all this, is the best I've ever seen.

And I've been here since 1995.

I've never seen the support and the commitment that the city has had through public works for the sports center that I've seen since I've been back.

It's just been amazing.

Should Kirkman, who is our electrician, has done amazing work throughout every aspect of the facility.

When we installed the new ellipticals and treadmills, and we were putting the new equipment in the concourse, the fuses kept tripping and the equipment kept shutting off.

And we're like, what is going on here?

And then Shug went through and found you just don't have a system that can handle what you're asking it to do.

And he rebuilt the system.

So it now works the way it's supposed to.

So when I talk about what we've done in the last six months, this scratches the surface.

We put in a new weight room, and it's a really nice new modern weight room with new equipment that people really are enjoying, and it's really functional in nature.

It's very different than what we've ever had before.

We explored trying to bring child care back.

We tried multiple ways to make that work, could not get it to work.

So we built a state-of-the-art cycling studio there, and people love it.

And memberships driven by the uh attraction of that particular program have gone through the roof.

Uh, people really want to be a part of that.

That also opened up Studio Two.

And that allowed us to move martial arts back up there and the numbers in martial arts have gone up.

And then if you look at the use of that studio too, we've got our bone builders classes, which are for our seniors that have very limited ambulation and accessibility issues, has really done well.

So the domino effect of all of these things has been fantastic.

We did enter an uh agreement with A31 catering to open the cafe.

They made a good effort at trying to get that operating and really struggled to make it work.

And we ended that agreement uh last month.

So as a result of that change, we had to kind of look at that cafe space.

What are we going to do with it?

So one of the things that we've done is we've moved and expanded the vending operations that are in that cafe area.

So you can go in and you can get your food and you can get your beverages, you can get your protein drinks, you can get your uh meals after your workout, all of the things that people were asking for.

We now have available through the vending machines, but we're expanding it further.

We have a coffee machine that's going to be coming in this week that's going to have espresso and Americanos and cappuccinos and all the good stuff going on there.

We're looking at other options that we can explore.

And then I'm also exploring it, taking that cafe space and the storage area and converting it into a catering uh kind of a catering kitchen.

The way we can bring back our birthday parties, bring back our rentals, bring back our special events, and we'll have a space for the people that are coming in to help support and serve those events with a place to warm the food, a place to keep the food cool, a place to serve the food that will bring back the after hour rentals on the weekend.

So that's kind of what we're planning on doing with that space.

So when we talk about what's new and what we've been through, there's a whole lot more uh beneath the surface in terms of what we've accomplished.

And I just wanted to make you aware of that.

Uh, next slide, please.

On the sports programs and camps, one of the directions we got through the uh consulting firm that uh worked with the city a couple years ago to kind of look at ways we could expand operations and increase revenue opportunity was to find uh other opportunities to program in the in the gymnasium and to develop additional camping uh programs and opportunities.

And I think Ryan Nunez, who is our sports coordinator, has done a really incredible job in doing that.

Our numbers are really uh significantly up in the both the camp programs, but also throughout all our programs.

We have a couple of part-time staff, uh Ambrice Gaskins and Megan Gonzalez that really are driving our basketball and volleyball programs.

They've developed youth volleyball leagues and youth volleyball programs.

We've developed adult volleyball leagues and adult volleyball programs who have expanded our women's basketball programs, our adult basketball leagues and programs, as well as all of our normal youth programs.

And we've expanded programs such as pickleball, which now has an active population of about 80 people that play pretty regularly through our opportunities there on our court three.

We've also expanded the badminton program, which has about 60 people that are now participating.

Ping pong has become another program that's become extremely popular.

So what we've done is we've created opportunities in our studio too for the ping pong enthusiasts to play, and we've kept one in the lobby, which has become huge, not only with the people that drop in that get to play ping pong, but when you come in with your granddaughter and you're waiting for that swim lesson, you can play a little ping pong with your granddaughter while you're waiting for your turn to get into the pool.

So it's really worked out well.

Again, Ryan and his staff has done an incredible job in terms of really maximizing the use of the space.

They also continue to work with a lot of our local schools with Chartwell in terms of renting space for their basketball leagues and programs, and also working with our homeschool uh PE folks.

So they have a place to bring their kids where they can actually do their physical activities in a supervised environment and actually learn sports activities in that uh setting.

So it's worked really well in terms of the use of the gym.

Uh, next slide, please.

Uh, group exercise and personal training.

So, you know, group exercise is is uh it's a significant program.

Uh we have a lot of classes.

You can see the numbers, 40,000 over that period of time.

Uh participating in the classes were over 70 classes a week now.

So we have uh significant use of the studio one, studio two, the cycling studio, and the large and small pools that all help feed those in.

And those uh spaces provide a full gamut of uh different abilities, different interests.

Some people are really into the dance parties with the Zumbas, some people like the relaxing uh peaceful yogas.

Some people like to see their friends in the pool every day and they've been seeing their same friends there from 30 years.

There's nothing quite like saying, wow, where did the time go when you see the senior aquatics aerobus class and they're playing deep purple?

And you're like, what happened?

You know, how did that happen?

But it's an amazing place with so many different interests, so many different abilities, all having a place that they can go to.

So Lori's done a fantastic job, Laura Tate, our fitness supervisor, with really developing that program and really um just being 100% committed to what she does as a professional.

She's been with us for 33 years.

She was hired a month after we opened in July of 1992 as a part-time instructor.

She came over from the Anastasia's Club Fit.

It used to be over in the mall next to Macy's.

And she's been with us ever since and really developed that program from scratch to what it is today, and provides just an amazing experience.

And her right hand person, which we could not do without is Marcia DiMacurio.

Marcia's been part-time with us for 23 years.

She was full-time at the front desk for a few years, but she's been with us forever.

She's one of our instructors.

She runs the personal training program for Laurie.

And then when Lori does take the occasional vacation or time away, Marcia fills in as a part-time person.

And it's challenging with Marcia.

She's always over her allotted hours.

So every year we have to go to HR and say, can we please get an extension of her hours over the part-time limit?

And every year they say, okay, yes.

And we've been doing that for four years now.

And she's that vital to us.

So between the two of them, they run an excellent program, really well attended.

And then it's also a huge driver of our memberships.

So we're really pleased with that.

Next slide, please.

Community engagement.

We continue to try to expand and explore ways that we can um complete community engagement in a way that is a little bit outside of our normal past.

So we've always uh we've always done events for the community.

We've always done a lot of the traditional holiday events and activities.

But one of the things that we wanted to do was add something to the pumpkin plunge.

The pumpkin plunge is a really cool event.

You throw a bunch of pumpkins in the pool, kids register, they get to come, they get to get in the pool, get a pumpkin, take it home.

It's great.

Kids love it.

We had about 400 kids participated in our pumpkin plunge this year.

So really, really well attended.

We added activities in our gymnasium where they could go in.

We had a bunch of tables in there with uh crafts and activities and things for them to do.

That was popular.

They got to decorate their pumpkin.

My granddaughter Etha got to come and get her pumpkin and go decorate it inside the gymnasium.

So she was thrilled with that.

Uh, but then adding the D uh De Los Muertos event was a huge thing for us.

So I had approached our um at the time admin, she's now our facility coordinator in charge of our facility workers, Jessica Infante Sanchez, about doing an event that was more culturally oriented.

Now, Jessica is really well known in the uh area because she does a lot of face painting events.

So if you've been to a lot of events here in Pacific Grove in Seaside over in Marina, she's in high demand because she's really gifted at it.

And she's got her daughter doing it, she's got her family doing it.

So it's really um it's something that people really would like to see at these events.

So I approached uh Jessica, and one of the events that's really big in her family, and it's really big in a lot of the extended families and friends in her community was the Dia de los Muertos event, the Day of the Dead event.

And we wanted to try to bring that to the sports center and really expand the cultural engagement.

So we started it last year, and we brought in the Aztec dancers.

We brought in ballet folklorical, we brought in the um uh Taquiz El Barro, which was the authentic food truck.

We brought in the Churro lady, which everybody loved.

We brought in all of the different uh types of music and events and dancing and performance, and we really had a wonderful community event last week last year.

We did it again this year, again, very successful, all together between the two events.

We brought in about a thousand people uh to the center, and a lot of them were first-time visitors to the center, had not been there before.

But one thing that did happen this year that just to me was a little bit um sad.

Uh, the dancers mentioned it, the Aztec dancers, the performers mentioned it.

About half their performance troupe, about half the dancers did not come this year.

And it's because they did not feel safe being out performing in public.

And it was really a sad thing.

And we also saw it with the attendants.

We just didn't have as many of the folks that we we had seen the year before.

So that's a that's kind of a nut we have to kind of work with and crack uh going into next year's event.

We want to kind of build on that.

But again, a very successful event where we had a really wonderful anniversary event, uh, which was also a celebration for Karen when she was there.

And we want to kind of continue to build that.

We're looking at that cafe as a catering kitchen that can help us support expanding events and rentals and birthday parties.

So that's kind of where we want to try to go with this.

Uh next slide, please.

Aquatics.

So uh Anthony Graffanino is our only full-time employee out there in the aquatics area.

Tony has to herd cats.

Uh, he's got about 150 high school kids that he has to manage out there, and he's the only full-time person.

So it's a lot.

Uh, there's a whole lot of people calling in at the last minute because they can't come into work.

And so that means Tony's up in the guard stand trying to supervise the pool by himself.

Um, we do have some people we've promoted to really help him out there as senior aquatic specialists, and that has made a difference.

We do have some really quality people out there helping him, but it hits a lot on Tony.

Uh, between Tony and Ryan, the maximal allowable hours you can accumulate in your vacation bank is 320, and they're always at 320.

It's very difficult for them to get their vacation bank down because it's very hard for them to take time away.

Uh, Tony had his second child this last year, so he's got two young children at home.

So he's trying to manage that at home as well as trying to do this.

And I can tell you that if you look at the numbers and you look at the service that they're they're providing to the community, all the different groups that use that facility, all the different um swim lessons and group lessons and birthday parties and rentals that we provide out there.

Again, the aquatics department is doing an amazing job, uh, especially with the staffing and resources model that we have.

So hats off to to everyone that's out there, but in particular, I want to really commend Tony for the work that he's done.

Uh Tony started with us in 1993 as a part-time lifeguard.

Um, worked with us for a bit, went off, did a few things, and then came back as the coordinator, and he's been with us for over 20 years now.

So, again, a very solid staff, a lot of longevity on that staff.

Uh, next slide, please.

Okay, what's next?

Uh, so right now we're in the middle of a holiday membership promotion, and the sales have been very good.

A lot of people look forward to the holiday promotion in the end of November, early December, and then they look forward to the personal training promotion that comes in January.

And so we see a big uptick in sales.

All of that is really good in terms of producing revenue for the bottom line, but it's also driving new memberships.

What we've seen when we look at who's signing up for memberships this month, we've seen a big increase in new members, which is very encouraging.

We do have some folks that might switch from the auto pay to the annual memberships because they're recognizing that it's a pretty good deal if you're willing to commit to it up front, but not that many.

We're actually seeing quite a few new members coming in.

So the promotion has been very successful.

We will be moving into the uh personal training promotion coming in January.

That usually is also a big revenue producer.

And then we're going to be doing our community health and wellness fair in January.

Laureate Tate is also going to be running that.

Um, when we look at that membership number, um, it's nearly doubled in the last couple of years.

Um, it's gone up significantly.

And when I look back at our our revenue back in 2023 when the consulting group came in and ran the report, our revenue that year was about 2.2 million.

We were at 4.5 million last year.

That's the growth we've seen in two years.

And most of that is driven by memberships.

So that helps us with our cost recovery goals.

Uh, two years ago, at the end of the year, our cost recovery.

This is how much we're spending and versus how much we're generating revenue was about 45%.

It really took a hit during COVID.

It really took um, it was a real challenge to recover from that and come back from that.

So it's 45% in 2023.

We're 80% now.

We've we've really done a good job in terms of recovering on both the revenue side as well as maintaining a pretty good coverage on the costs.

So we're doing well.

Um, we have the potential to continue building on that, which is what we're trying to do going forward.

And I think really there's not a lot we can do in terms of increasing utilization of the pools of the studios, of the gymnasium.

We are the fitness rooms, even they're really close to capacity.

We're doing a pretty good job filling up all those spaces.

But I do think there's opportunity to build the sports center as a destination site for birthday parties, quincinatas, special events, and that's I think what our next real big focus is as we get into 2026.

Okay.

Well, thank you guys.

Um, does anyone from the commission have questions or comments?

I have a question on the program that uh is uh with the cemetery with uh I'm it was fantastic because I have been an ancestry user for too long, and um try to find that information is amazing and valuable.

Are you gonna allow that information to be shared with like find a grave?

Yeah, exactly.

So yeah, you can use the if you go there, they have the app or even on the website.

So yeah, that'll be where you're sharing it.

Exactly.

Yeah, uh just to for example, though the columnarians were only about 50% of the way.

What we're finally feel like we're we're uh making some progress for a long time.

So yeah, this is we're making some headway for once.

Yeah, huge effort.

Thank you very much.

Yeah, and thanks to Scott Connolly on that as well.

Want to make sure he's recognized.

I was at the city council meeting last week and was delighted to see how many long-term Monterey City employees were um acknowledged.

And then the amazing the other thing that I thought was really amazing was seeing the progress of how many in-house promotion um jobs were filled within house.

And I thought that was really great.

Um, I wanted to just say I've seen a lot of work being done with the parks, uh, especially near my house, which has been great.

I also have seen a lot of work on Del Mani Beach.

You guys are really pulling up some stuff over there, and that's looking good too.

It's looking really cleaned up over there.

So again, thank you all for your presentations.

Yeah, I just want to add that the sports center looks amazing.

Um going to the pools on Saturdays and just everything the new thing to take the gas off, everything just is really nice.

Uh nice touches.

Um, and I hope that those employees can sell some of their time back.

I hope they're not just maxing out.

Just wanted to say congratulations and thank you for everything you all do in the community consistently.

It's just fantastic to hear.

Any other questions or comments?

Um, I know that the uh recreation director position is still open.

Um, and I was just wondering if there's any movement on that.

Well, moving forward since we are now have a new um interim city manager.

So the interim city manager will start January 1st.

Um, they're in the recruitment process for that.

The parks and rec director position, they're interviewing additional candidates.

Yeah.

Regarding the Monte Cito location, I do agree.

I think it's kind of a once-in-a-lifetime building that's opening up in that location for that particular population.

Are the boys and girls clubs still willing to be in a partnership with City of Monterey?

Is that something that's still being negotiated with them?

I think so.

Um, Hans was going to reach out to them this week um after the meeting to kind of just see how things were going um with city council, um, after the city council meeting.

Um, so I hope so.

Okay.

So because they they were gonna make a significant um investment in staff, and um that would have like a high quality four or five full-time staff at that location.

Um, that you know, would just be I mean, we could we could do that internally if we had five staff um to spare or five new staff, but they were gonna it was gonna be a significant investment that I would say easily matches what the city's contribution would have been.

So hopefully they they do a lot of really good work.

All right, anybody else?

All right, um, open up for public comment.

Uh Nate.

If you are in the council chambers and you would like to make a public comment on this presentation, please identify yourself.

If you are online and would like to make a public comment, please use the raised hand feature or dial star nine.

Melissa, do we have any public comment?

None in the chamber, Nate.

Thank you.

Let me check online.

We have no public comment online.

All right.

With that public comment is closed, and we move on to the consent agenda.

The two items I have on the consent agenda that we have are the approval of the meeting minutes from July 9th and October 8th.

Woods.

Second.

Oh, sorry.

Wait, do I ask you or I go right?

Okay.

Uh Commissioner Bence.

I second.

Yeah, no, but he said take a so.

Oh, all right.

All in favor?

Aye.

Motion passes.

All right.

Now time to move on to general public comment.

If you would like to make a general public comment and you're in the council chamber chambers, please identify yourself.

If you are online and would like to make a general public comment, please use the rave hand feature or press star nine.

Melissa, do we have any public comment in the chambers?

No, Nate.

Thank you.

And we have no general public comment online.

All right.

Public comment is closed.

Moving along to the what would this yeah, item number five is the provide an update on the lower presidio historic park and appoint a parks and recreation commissioner represented for public meetings.

This is not a project under CEQA article 20.

And under general rule article 5, section 1506 one.

Shane.

Thank you for coming.

Thank you for putting here.

Yeah.

Perfect.

And is the mic on?

I'll put it up a little bit higher.

How are you guys tonight?

Good.

Good.

Thanks for having me come out.

We go next slide.

All right.

Um, so we're going to be talking about Lower Presidio Historic Park.

This is the park that comes in between Old Town Monterey and New Monterey.

It's right when you're coming around the curve or along Lighthouse, and you'll see that hillside right over there, small area, the Lower Presidio Historic Park.

Um, but for those who are not aware, this is the site of our first peoples of the Ohlone Eslan and Rumsin or Rumsian tribes.

Um told that the Presidio was possibly known as Hunakul, and which was part of the tribal area of Achasta.

And the Rumsian were our first abalone divers out here in the Monterey Peninsula, and they know that based on kind of their ear structure.

Um, the site is on the historic register, it's nationally recognized as El Castillo.

Um that photo is from Jose Cordero from 1790.

Next slide, please.

So first used by Esselin and Rums and Alone since 1847, it's been owned by the United States Army.

But in 1996, the city of Monterey entered into a 50-year agreement for the 25.15 acres of public access.

That is the lower part was actually public access and maintained by our parks department.

Next slide.

So going off over there, there's just an aerial view of the park.

The green line right there, the hard dark green line along the left is the lower presidio historic park boundaries.

Next slide.

So purpose of the lease.

So early 1980s, the um army was going through in the military, the federal government was going through a process called BRAC, base relocations and closures.

So if you look all around the United States, they were selling bases, selling military bases to for a different property.

You'll go to cities like I grew up in the Bay Area, San Francisco Bay Area.

You go in San Francisco, you go to Vallejo, you go to Richmond, you go to Alameda, and there is residential and commercial development in old um army base sites.

The federal government was selling things.

So at the time they were looking at selling uh essentially the Presidio, Lower Presidio, and Huckleberry Hill to private developers.

Um that was 123 total acres of center of Monterey up for sale.

So but that at that time, Congressman Leon Panetta, now um retired, he convinced the House Armed Services Committee to reject that Army request.

Next slide.

So what they did from there is you'll see around September 19th, 1984, the city would like the state park system or some other entity to handle restoration of the fort, and which was Fort Um El Castillo in there.

And Panetta had lobbied for the city to possibly take over the land.

That was in 1984.

So coming initially as right where that's at the park, the Lower Presidio Historic Park is around the site of uh Father Sarah's landing, it's the site of El Castillo.

Next slide.

So city improvements and maintenance over the time.

There's a Presidio Museum, which is operated now by the museums department by volunteers.

That Presidio Museum started in the 1960s as a museum for the military.

When we took over the military objects and items were sent back to Virginia, and the items inside are part of the city's collection, either city, the Monterey Public Library Collection, the museum collection, Monterey History and Art Collection.

The entry signs were updated.

The Sarah Monument Path was updated.

That is actually, this is an archaeologically sensitive site.

So all of the dirt that's on the path is all infill.

It's all on top because it's archaeologically sensitive.

We cannot dig on that site.

Going back in the 1960s and 70s, California State Parks did dig up El Castillo and did an archaeological dig to build a fort, which El Castillo was the Spanish fort and the Mexican fort.

So first they wanted to dig that out and recreate the fort, but that was filled back in at a later time.

Next slide.

So as here you'll see, for example, the stop signs or the pedestrian signs right there, those are above ground because we're not digging inside.

So those are concrete right up on there.

And the pathway right there is above ground, that DG path that is done right over there.

The DG path is also done above ground because it's sensitive all around.

Next slide.

So purpose of this leaf.

So they're trying to protect the open space.

That slope monument right there was built for the 50-year anniversary of the Mexican-American War.

So the veterans of the Mexican-American War said we have all of these ceremonial statues all on the East Coast for, you know, you've got it for the Revolutionary War, and we've got these monuments to all of these wars.

But what about here regarding the Mexican-American War?

So the veterans of Mexican-American War put together funding, got funding from Congress, also got funding from local counties, cities, agencies.

That's why all the stones are different, because those are all different stones that were donated by different agencies around there.

But 1984, they were looking at going back at that time, restoration and maintenance of the of it as a historic fort.

Next slide.

But 1996.

So that's when you'll see we get into a 50-year lease.

So that's basically 1996 through 2046.

So we're about halfway through the lease right now, a little bit over half.

Purpose of developing a historic park available to the public, celebrating the rich history of this place since 1602.

So 1602 was when uh Viscayeno landed here in Monterey, founded and claimed it for the Count of Monterey.

And then at that site, yes, 1770, you had Father Sarah landing over there, having a mass right over there, the state park site.

So during that time, the city's been responsible basically for for pretty minimal functions over there on the lower presidio.

As you may know, our city staff actually, public works actually work at the upper presidio at the actual Presidio of Monterey at the Defense Language Institute.

Our public work staff do maintenance over there for the Army.

So what they call the Monterey Way, which is a partnership between the city of Monterey and the United States Army garrison.

And that's how we were able to avoid the BRAC process.

It's by working together collaboratively.

So with that, we've just been doing basic maintenance there of the park, but it is still Army property.

The museum is owned by the Army.

The Boy Scouts House building is Army property.

All of those facilities are there.

And next slide, please.

So over the over since 1996, the city has and through grants, we've invested over a million dollars.

That's through our CIPs, their NCIP, and then grants obtained by old Monterey Foundation.

And part of that was for the historic preservation.

So working with the grant, sorry, working with the initially with the lease with the army and with the city.

We at that point they said we're going to work on historic preservation and have approved signage.

So all the signage that's on there on that park and the walking paths that you'll see, it's raised up on there.

All of that was done in partnership with the city and the army and different um different partners for that.

Next slide.

So going back in the history.

So that's you've got the first landing spot.

Um that painting right there is done by Agatha Few.

Some people may recall that this we are in the few memorial complex.

Agatha and Charles Few donated their estate after they passed to build City Hall and to build Building 7 and to build um the building attached to Brown Underwood Adobe.

They wanted to build a city hall and a complex next to Colton Hall.

A lot of people in the community did not want that, but they got the eventually the council one, and this what we have here.

But Agatha Few, that painting's in the Presidio um museum.

And that's a that's a painting of what the actual landing spot would have looked like and what it was back in the late 1800s.

Um the site of the only land and sea battle on the west coast of the United States.

That's in 1818.

Um, that's when Argentina uh raised Monterey.

Um Hippolito Bouchard came and raised Monterey for six days when they were at war with Spain.

And Slope Monument represents our 1846 capture of Monterey.

Next slide.

So we have other items there.

We have what's called a birthing stone, or some people call it a rain rock.

They're not entirely, there's differing opinions on what's there.

Um, the Alejo Niño Cross, the cross, he was actually buried closer down the hill at the end of the Pacific.

He is the first, he was actually on the ship with Father Sarah.

We know this because he's the first person in the Book of the Dead that's held by the Catholic Church.

And he's a uh freed black slave from Mexico.

And he was a caulker on the ship, and he passed away on June 2nd, 1770.

So the day before they had mass on June 3rd.

Alejo Nino.

So on June 3rd, when they held Mass and named it the Presidio Monterey and claimed it for Spain at that time, they buried Alejo Nino next to the tree.

Um, as I mentioned, the Bouchard Monument and then the Sarah Monument, which is up on the top, was donated by Jane Stanford and the Stanford from the same Leland and Jane Stanford who founded Stanford University.

They were part of the big four.

That's why we have Hopkins Marine Station up in Pacific Grove, is because of the big four railroad barons coming out here and building Hotel Del Money and all of that.

But the Sarah Monument is actually city-owned statue, a large granite statue of Father Sarah.

And as I mentioned, the slope monument, which is up at the top of the hill.

And next slide.

So we also have uh other um people of importance up there are Buffalo soldiers and they came over here after they were not allowed to serve east of the Mississippi.

And this was pretty much a primarily all black regiment of soldiers.

And they had been served, they had served out in Cuba, they had served out in the Philippines in 1901 during the Philippine insurrection up there, and when the United States took over Philippines.

Um, but they were sent back to San Francisco and then to Monterey to raise new horses to get it.

There were cavalry units from the 9th and 10th Cavalry at least, and the 24th and 25th are infantry units.

And so they had their uh train their cavalry out Pacific Grove before they built some of the houses and the barracks, I should say, up on the Presidio or built by some of the Buffalo soldiers.

And then they left here on the butt, what the people call the Buffalo Soldiers Trail, going out to Sequoia National Park and Yosemite National Park and becoming the first national park rangers.

So that's we have some um Buffalo soldiers' history here in that same park as well.

Next slide.

So as I mentioned earlier, the 2002 master plan was done by the community, the city, the army.

Um, right there says city represents 7,000 plus years of history.

When I've talked to um Esslin, Rums and tribal uh representatives, elders, some say 10,000, some take 12,000.

So there's there is thousands and thousands of years of history that we are aware of at that specific site.

So there's all kinds of years, and that's actually when they were uh revealing the statue right there.

Arthur uh Putman Putnam redid did the eagle on top.

And I will say also it was originally supposed to be Commodore Slote pointing at where he landed, and that statue was being built in 1906 in San Francisco.

1906 in San Francisco was when the earthquake happened.

So the statue collapsed, and they were not able to build the statute.

So they had to go back and build the granite eagle in 1910.

Next slide, please.

And by the way, Arthur Putnam worked on the some of the sculpture that's the Berthold Monument, which is underneath the moon tree, right over there by the used to be right in front of Colton Hall.

But as I mentioned, this is a highly sensitive archaeological site for an indigenous um cultures there.

And anything because this is also a nationally recognized site.

This site is on the National Register of Historic Places, as I mentioned as of listed as El Castillo, which was the first fort for the Spanish and Mexican era.

Um any work that is done there needs to be done by Secretary of Interior, which is essentially under the National Park Service.

Secretary of Interior standards are when you're doing anything in a nationally recognized site, you do it either on four areas preservation, rehabilitation, restoration, and reconstruction.

What that means is that essentially you're not coming in building a brand new shiny building, something that doesn't that really looks much different than anything out there, right?

Anything when you do it first by preservation, what can we do to preserve this area?

Rehabilitation, what can we do to fix this?

Restoration, restore it back to what it was and reconstruction is the last step, which basically what you want to do with reconstruction is you want to rebuild it back to what it would have been in that historically accurate time.

Those are the four areas that we tend to work with on this site.

Next slide, please.

So as I mentioned, along that walkways, park improvements, they did a stable studies.

There used to be cavalry studies there, which were torn down around I think 2018, 2019, is before my time here.

Uh, next slide, please.

And the Presidio curve.

So, folks who may walk there, um, drive past there, you will see the curve and the sloughing off of the hill of the soil and the dirt.

And that's the area right there in that orange ish area right over there that we're gonna look at shortly.

Next slide, please.

So there's army and city right away.

The wood fence that you see there is built directly on the city property.

It's not built around the entire um curve because that's not entirely our property.

The majority of the property is actually owned by the United States Army.

And so we did it out there on the left side, you'll see the city right away, the wood retaining wall.

And part of that is because this this hill site is archaeologically sensitive, and everything that has to go through it, anytime there's dirt, soil coming off has to be reviewed.

And so to prevent some of this, the city put on an above-ground short fence to help prevent the soil from going further out.

Next slide, please.

So 2021.

As I mentioned, I've worked here since 2022.

So this is prior to my arriving here.

But around that time, the um army had requested that the city help design and build a wall for the entire entirety of around that 20, 25 foot high perimeter of uh the lighthouse curve right there.

Full slipe height retaining wall.

And we have burrowing animals, and as you heard from Tice, you know, all the different gophers that are mitigated here in the city.

Um, the gophers are a big issue here as well.

And you'll see that coming in on the soil, as well as just soft soil and just falling down onto the uh sidewalk.

Next slide, please.

So at that time, the army basically said, you know, if you guys do not take care of this uh and do not build the wall, we are going to um cancel our lease for the managing of this site of this property.

We are going to step out of the lease.

And the lease does have a termination agreement of how that could be terminated in there.

Um at the time they said retaining wall is roughly 1.5 million dollars to design and construct.

I think that's extremely low.

I'm not a contractor, but not, but on the entire side of that, especially working on an archaeologically highly sensitive site where archaeologists, archaeologists have to come in there and sift through all of the dirt.

Anything bucket by bucket, hand, everything has to be done by hand at this site.

Um, NEPA, there's NEPA, which is the national uh environmental regulation.

We deal with CEQA often, as you guys hear when you're talking your your piece.

So this is not a CEQA, you know.

NEPA is the other one that the national that the federal government, the United States Army is going to be working with, along with tribal consultation consultation, coastal commission, Army Corps of Engineers, all of these kind of different aspects on there.

So it's a very difficult uh hill side, I would say, to build on, especially with the Secretary of Interior guidelines and all of these items went there.

So next slide, please.

So questions for consideration.

So and these were this is these are questions that were brought to council as well.

I'll say that too, but for discussion.

But should the city continue this lease given that the land is now fully protected from future developments and turned into a historic park?

Next slide.

Next one.

Will the U.S.

Army continue to provide open access to the park if the city decides to terminate the lease early?

And I will say the Army has cut off access further up on the hillside for residents getting through New Monterey as well.

Um, but this should the city continue to invest general fund dollars into the maintenance and preservation of this area.

And the cons can the city afford to continue the lease, giving competing priorities with other city services and assets.

So next slide.

Other slides.

And can the city remain in a low cost, no cost compliance with the Army?

And how can the city manage increased expectations from our partner?

Next question.

And are other state or federal agencies better equipped, staffed, educated, funded to enter in into a new lease?

And next question on there.

So as federal land, should the city pursue an advocate for national monument or national historic site designation to preserve public access in perpetuity and to secure permanent federal maintenance and upkeep through the National Park Service.

Going to mention on this, this is going to be this question specifically is going to be going to council at our next council meeting.

I've been working with our assistant city manager as well as representative from Congressman Panetta's office about making designating this, getting a uh a study done for the Secretary of Interior to make the designate this a national park because we the only other national park that we have is in Monterey County that I'm aware of is Pinnacles.

So this would be something that is a smaller site, but this is federal versus federal National Park Service, United States Army, like right now we're at the United States Army and the City of Monterey working together on these things.

And I think it's a good idea to at least investigate.

Well, we would work on a special letter of support from the council for a special, what we call a special resources study, um, going through brought forth by Panetta, and then um looking at how we can get this um operating.

Next question or slide.

And another question I'll put there since it's a unique historical place, should a regional agency or nonprofit enter into a new lease.

And next slide.

And the question here how would the city's lease for lower presidio historic park be funded since the army's looking to move to market rate leases?

And what I mean by this is that the army has told us in the past that they are looking at if we're leasing any property from them that the federal government wants you to do market rate.

We got into a lease which basically says Monterey Way, which says we are just going to take care of the park and provide public access and upgrade the historical access so people can still access the park.

We will just maintain it.

Now, if you were to lease 25 acres of parkland in Monterey, if the federal government decided to charge us that, I really don't think the city could afford 25 acres of parkland, you know, on that side annually.

So next question on there too.

So preliminary research.

Um, I know our assistant city managers discussed this with the United States Army garrison, our garrison commanders, our garrison commanders, by the way, change every two years.

So with that, when we got that letter that in 2021, 2022, about we're gonna exit the lease.

We've had multiple garrison commanders since that time.

Next question there.

And what is the Army's plans for lower Presidio Historic Park?

As you see, often, I mean, the Army gets let directives straight from the top.

It's not the person at the commander side of the presidio here making all the choices.

It's somebody higher up with a property management at a Sacramento, or whether that's federally in Washington, DC, or some other commander.

But we want to make sure what are the Army's plans for lower presidio.

Next question on there.

And capital maintenance costs, as we see, maintenance costs continue to go up and um public works costs for maintaining the curve, all of that keeps going up.

And next one.

Recommended public engagement and approach.

So we talked about this with councils, initial engagement with residents and the community.

We do have a survey open on have your say Monterey.

So I recommend that all of our parks and recreations commissioners please take that survey about the park.

Even if you have not ever been to the park and you don't use it, let us know that.

Okay.

Um, next point on there and presentations to get feedback and also to get a designated liaison from three commissions parks and recreation commission, historic preservation commission, and museums and cultural arts commission to participate in workshops.

We're at least we'll at least have one public workshop where we want to get feedback from the public about the use of the park.

We're hoping for possibly February would be or be a tentative date on that.

And let me see if I had a number three on there and conduct a community workshop for charred.

So that would be just kind of like having a workshop up at the Lower Presidio Historic Park on there.

So that's why I'm here as to talk with you guys and see if you have any questions on it.

And next slide.

And that's that.

But that's our Lower Presidio Historic Park.

Let me know if I'm missing out on any pieces of that.

But I'll just say we are hoping my push as um library and museum instructor is that my goal is public access for this for Monterey in perpetuity.

For us, yes, we have a museum there.

To be honest, I would prefer whoever's best capable to run that prop park and that project.

I just want that, I just want that park to be preserved because it's the center of our it's basically it's the center of the city.

It's the some of the founding part of California that gives us that east, you know, United States became from the Atlantic to the Pacific because of here in Monterey.

So having the the control became the huge for United States expansion, United States as a country.

So Monterey deserves that national park status, in my in my opinion.

And I think it gives us a long-term goal.

Yes, it's nice for us to operate it.

Um, but I I feel strongly that we should just make sure that whatever we do, we focus on that goal of public access as our number one priority, no matter who's going to operate the park.

So with that, happy to answer any questions.

I'm pretty familiar with the Lower Presidio Park.

My partner did the signage.

Um I'm curious, what is the time frame of something like this?

Uh decision needing to be made and executed.

So, well, I mean, for national park project for the Secretary of Interior, that's like a three to four year project, probably on just on that side.

For us on here, what we were looking for is council wanted us to come back in early to mid-2026.

So next year, they want us to come back with a public outreach about what's what does the what does the community want.

I will say also from council at the meeting presenting to them, council's basic push at that point also was that we just want public access.

You know, they were around the same thing, which is that we're not concerned $80,000 is not a huge amount for the the lease, but we want the best entity to take care of this.

Plus, whose role is going to be with that hillside.

Um, I believe the army is going forward with some plans for um design.

We haven't seen them, I haven't seen them.

My old colleague from the Army Um, she resigned for another federal department.

Um, but we're waiting to see some of those.

So we're not sure on the hillside whether the army is just going to look for federal grants to uh mitigate any issues there, and then that will basically uh put that main issue that they have to bed.

But on the end, I think it's what I'm what I think is that hard line for me is if we are 1996 to 2046, we're only 20 years away.

So to me, that's that's the ultimate goal.

Is 2046, we have to have a plan prior to that.

We have to have a plan several years prior that says after this date.

Yeah.

Um, if you would like to make a public comment on this item, and you are in the council chambers, please identify yourself.

If you are online, please raise your hand or press R9 if you call by phone.

None in the chamber name.

And we have no public comment online.

Yeah, we have all right.

Uh Shannon, do you have any staff comments?

Yeah, I mean, uh, yeah, I mean, there's always staff comments, but I'd like to just say thank you for everything.

Um, we had a great summer, um, a great um, a lot of happy kids, a lot of happy families.

Would not have been possible without the recreation staff and our park staff who get the um parks ready for us even out at Toro and setting up our pool.

Um, but every one of our staff is kind of all over the place all summer multi-tasking.

We may have one person at a building like Rachel Bice, who's managing Hilltop, but she's also managing the ceramics program and the preschool program and helping with camp gansabi and uh shopping for day camp and things like that.

So it's it takes all of us to um do that bit big heavy lift of summer.

It's probably about four hundred and twenty hours of programs a week with about nine staff.

So um, you know, Nate's all over the place.

He spends quite a bit of time at Camp Kinsabi in Toro Park.

Um, but I just would like to acknowledge all the the recreation team, uh Nate, Sarah, Brent, Chris, Melissa, Philip, who is kind of shared between us and the sports center, um, Carolyn Myers, who is our intern who did an awesome job with our needs analysis and Australia is working on our um Camp Kinsabi trying to uh formalize some of our teachings and learnings at Camp Kinsabi because I think that Camp Kinsabi and Daycamp and a lot of our programs really develop youth and teach them to think of others and have empathy and understand that they are bigger part of the world and the environment around them and the people around them and not to be thinking so much about me or internal, but like how I uh interact with my world and you know, not technology and things like that.

So um I hope I didn't forget anyone but Nate, Sarah, Chris, Melissa, Rachel, Misty, um, Brent, everyone.

It's just it's amazing.

They've I've got we've got such a great staff here.

And um, I know Nate might remember, but we added things up because we did the Anda Academy.

It was some crazy number of like 200 and some plus years of um service uh with the recreation team at the time.

So um, because we've all had so much um not time here, and that's valuable.

So um yeah, that would be it.

Thank you.

I'd like to welcome Julieta.

Um, we're very excited to have you.

And she's been actually attending quite a few of our events prior to even being a commissioner.

So I feel like you're already part of the family.

So welcome.

And yeah, and then I will pass it on to um Bill and then Tys, when you're done, can you pass it on to Nate?

Welcome, Julietta.

Um have a wonderful holiday season, and we look forward to working with all of you in 2026.

Um yeah, I hope everybody's having great December so far.

Uh recreation Kilda as usual with the Santa and donuts on Saturday, my kids' favorite event by far.

Uh got to see Alder um on Friday night at the tree lighting.

Uh missed you, missed saw you and your wife.

I saw your wife and Alder, but um, but no, but it's been a lot of fun.

Um I just want to acknowledge uh two people to my right.

I mean, without a director, there's been a lot of things that these folks have been doing um a lot more, much more heavy lifting than normal, especially over a summer with all the programming.

Shannon has done a great job doing uh filling a lot of that void that we have without a director and Bill as well, um, helping me with staffing issues and filling these extra needs that are you know, extra jobs that uh I need somebody to help me with, and they've both been doing a great job.

And um, and then uh for our staff, you know, tree stuff, Mike and Dominic have been doing a lot with again.

We're down a forester there, so they're doing a pulling uh some extra lifting.

And then um, I want to just one shout for Jairo Guaido.

He's a park maintenance worker.

Um, he's been working at San Carlos Beach, dealing with the sea lions this summer.

He's also now with the new demands of Alvarado doing good um cleaning Alvarado, picking up all the leaves, trash, wiping out trash cans.

We actually got a compliment.

We actually had somebody to compliment the how the maintenance on Alvarado, which doesn't come uh almost ever.

So I made sure I I I want to highlight that because that's like almost unheard of, right?

So he's doing a really good job ever since then of just making sure that's as clean as possible.

But uh and then Jose V and Tracy Martin, they take care of Colton Hall and all the events that we've had.

They did a really great job.

The Colton Hall looks, if I may say so myself, looks really, really good.

And that's because they're doing a fantastic job.

They've got this down.

Pat, I got up, I'm almost they're almost annoyed with me when I asked them, are we ready for this event?

And they said, Of course we are.

Yeah, we know it.

It's the back off new manager.

You know, I've got we got this in the bag.

So I'm I'm uh I'm learning, but they've done a fantastic job here, and I'm very lucky to have the staff I do.

So and Nate, you're on if you're really there.

Actually, yeah, yeah.

Oh no, if you could please just pass it back to me once all the commissioners have their um comment, and I'd like to make an announcement at the end.

Thank you so much.

Okay, comment first.

And then thank you.

All right.

Um wanted to first say welcome, Juneta.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um, and again, thank you for all the amazing work that you all have been doing uh in the community.

And I have heard shout outs from students at my school who have attended Camp Kinsabe and about how much fun they've had and how much they've enjoyed the program.

So I wanted to mention that as well.

Thank you for my uh thank you very much for sharing what you did throughout the year.

It's it's amazing.

And if you ever need any help, please let me know.

I'm I'm available.

Uh whatever you need, please.

Thank you.

Again, always impressed, and I wish you guys have I hope you all have wonderful holidays.

What I wish for you in the new year is a uh is a final hire that accepts the job and shows up.

And happy holidays to all of you.

Thank you for everything you do.

Amy.

Yes, happy holidays to everybody.

And just um I just wanted to remember Kay Russo.

Um thank you guys for everything.

Uh sorry, Miss Yu Tys.

I was looking around.

I must have got up to go get hot chocolate.

And then I I was in line when they started counting down, so I had to run back.

But um, yeah, and I uh that what you said, Shannon, about the combined year service really um shows because you you have you have agencies that don't have that.

And uh I just want to echo what a former mayor in Carmel said recently of the staff that it you know institutional knowledge isn't just knowing how to do stuff, it's the the lived experience of a community.

You're you've been there, you've done it for so long, and you know you know the area and the people, and it's really impressive that this city's had people retained people so long.

And look, Bill came back, he he couldn't get enough.

So thank thank you, thank you guys again.

Um Nate Thank you, Chair Ono.

If we could please close the meeting with a moment of silence in remembrance of local icon and longtime city of Monterey Parks and Rec Director Kay Russo, who recently passed away.

We honor her tremendous impact to the City of Monterey and the parks and recreation department.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Nate.

I hadn't seen that.

Thank you, Nate.

Um the next regular scheduled meeting will be January 14th, uh 2026.

Um if no one has anything else, the meeting is adjourned.