How do we give us a hug Twenty twenty-six parks and recreation commission meeting to order.

Melissa, can you call roll?

Chair Ono.

Here.

Vice Chair Blaya.

Here via Zoom, a little under the weather tonight.

Sorry, guys.

I don't hear.

Thank you, Kathy.

Commissioner Bence.

Here.

Commissioner Crampton.

Commissioner Nazal Getty.

Here.

Commissioner Reek.

Here.

Commissioner Schmidt.

Thank you so much.

All right.

Now we're going to go to Nate to read the public comment procedures.

Nate, can you read those?

Thank you, Chair.

And good evening, Commissioners.

Information on participating on this meeting and providing 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 with a timer, will be shown on the screen.

If you are 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.

Consistent with the First Amendment and the Brown Act, individuals have the right to speak at a public meeting, which includes the right to criticize or support support city policies or actions.

She is here.

And this is her two-week anniversary.

Yes.

So we are doing our best to get her acclimated to Monterey and California.

She's from Newton, Massachusetts.

I know she's got some things to say to all of you, but we're very excited for her to be here.

She's spent spending time with each of us individually and taking a tour of all of our facilities and trying to get a good grasp of Monterey.

And the weather up until today has been pretty pretty good.

So she's been definitely enjoying her time here and we are very happy to have her.

And so I'm just going to pass this on to Nicole.

I know she's got something for you.

Well, good evening, Commission members.

I am very excited to be here tonight.

I was introduced to the city council.

Pardon the interruption, but I believe the microphone is muted.

Okay, I might have hit that by accident.

So good evening, commissioners.

Nicole Banks, and I'm just uh joining the team as the Parks and Recreation Director.

Um just wanted to say tonight that at the last city council meeting on Tuesday night, um, I was introduced there, um, gave some overall information for our parks and recreation department and what we uh hope to accomplish.

Um, but I'm very excited to be here to say that I'm happy to be here in Monterey is uh really just an understatement.

I can't express um enough how how excited I am.

Uh tonight I really want to recognize the team that works for the department.

It's been a uh steep learning curve these past two weeks, and um having such a positive and professional um group of colleagues to help me get onboarded and acclimated has been really wonderful.

And I think um that we're so fortunate to hear to have uh strong professionals within our department as well as throughout the whole city.

So my experience has been great so far.

Um to you as our commission members, and you're putting your your time and efforts into our city into the work of parks and recreation.

Um, I'd be happy to um meet with any of you one-on-one and just you know learn a little bit more about um your interests, your background, um, goals and priorities that you may have as you participate here and help guide and and be the eyes and ears in our community um for for what our residents are looking for.

So I'm very excited to um get to be a conduit um and work with you on that.

Um my background a little bit is in your packet, but I have been um leading parks and recreation departments for over 20 years on the East Coast, um, and so 10 years in New Hampshire and 12 years in Massachusetts, uh, with two different communities in Massachusetts.

Um, always have really relied on our parks and recreation commission members to be involved, um, help our team really support the work we do and kind of you know, knowing a little bit more behind the scenes what some of our challenges can be from time to time.

Um, really good great to get to work together on those um those opportunities to find find solutions.

Um, so happy to be here and happy to answer any questions or um if there's anything further this evening, but really just looking to uh get to know each of you.

Thank you.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Um does anyone have any questions or comments?

Or commissioners?

Look forward to getting to know you.

Um Nate, can you uh open?

Are there anybody online or in person?

Would like to make public comment?

Yes, thank you, Chair.

Um, speakers need to be identified prior to public comment opening.

If you are in the chambers and you would like to speak on this item, which again is in regards to our new parks and recreation director, please stand and line up.

If you're unable, please raise your hand.

If you are online and you would like to make a public comment, please use the raise hand feature or star nine if you've dialed in by phone.

None in the chamber mate.

None in the chambers.

Correct.

Um, we have one public comment online.

I will allow you to speak, and you have three minutes to speak on this item.

Last year, good evening.

Good evening.

Hello.

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes, we can.

Yes, Lorna Moffat.

Lorna Moffitt here.

And Nicole, I want to welcome you.

I've worked with the parks department for many years.

In fact, uh, I was very instrumental in making uh sure that they didn't continue spraying herbicides and pesticides all over Monterey Park, which was happening years ago.

And the park has been so good so far.

I always am uh checking up to see if there's any poisons uh on the plants, and I don't see any.

And I want to let everyone know that this weed phobia that people seem to have comes from Monsanto.

Now Roy Jackson was the inventor of uh Roundup, and he started the California Exotic Pest Plant Council, which then went to all the little parks and groups and lobbied in Washington, and finally George Bush signed in the 1991 the Invasive Species Act, and they began spraying all over the United States uh for fear and phobia of woodland grasses.

So I look forward to working with you, Nicole, and uh telling you about um my concerns and the concerns of the community, which is not being listened to by so many of our politicians and needs to be so welcome.

Thank you for your public comment, and we have no other public comment on this item.

Thank you, Nate.

Uh, with that public comments on this item are closed.

Uh moving on to the next presentation.

This will be the review of the status of parks and recreation related neighborhood and community improvement program, NCIP projects.

This is not a project under CEQA Article 20, Section 15 378, and under general general rule article 5, section 15061.

Uh Shannon.

So I'm actually gonna hand this over to Reggie Um Paulding.

He is our NCIP coordinator, gonna give you an update on current projects.

Yes.

Is this um yes?

Um thank you guys uh for uh letting me speak here tonight.

Um, this will be the first of two presentations I'm gonna give to the parks this evening.

Uh Shannon said I'm Reginald Paulding, Senior Engineer and NCIP uh coordinator.

So um we have quite a few um NCIP projects that directly and indirectly affects the parks throughout the city.

Um as I'm sure a lot of you are aware of the figure that out.

Yeah, I think you should be good now, Reggie.

Go right ahead.

All right, all right, thanks.

No worries.

Um so we have um in in Monterey, we have um the 15 neighborhoods, um, and we have the fifth, well, 16 neighborhoods, including Ryan Ranch and 15 representatives on the NCIP committee.

Um to date, we have approximately uh 70 total projects in the portfolio, would I say roughly about 30 of those being somewhat parks or directly or indirectly parks related?

Um so I'm gonna go through.

I think tonight I have a slide show here, show talks about about 26 of those projects.

Um, so Nate, you want to move on, go to the next slide.

So I'm gonna go in alphabetical order um by neighborhood and uh talk about the various projects.

So uh the first one is Casanova Oaknel Park Improvements.

This is a NCIP 2023 uh FY23 project.

Um this one's in progress.

Total budget was 125,000, and we spent roughly 100,000 on the new fence that parallels the park.

Um, you can see in the photo on the right, and then we've also installed a new uh shade structure in that picnic area in the photo on the left.

We've also installed a new park bench, and uh we have one last uh component to this project to complete it, which is to install a new uh food prep table in that picnic area.

So we're working on that.

Well, the parks parks and rec team, we're all working together, but this one is in progress.

All right, Nat, go to the next one.

Nate, sorry, next one.

So here, this is one we recently completed in Deer Flats Park.

Um, I don't know how familiar you you all are with uh this park here in the city, but Deer Flats Park, uh the benches were installed facing the street.

It's my understanding that when that was done originally, uh this was a school bus stop area.

Uh, a lot more children in the neighborhood.

Uh since then, uh there was a request put in also in that FY23 um year to turn the benches around and have them face the field so they could be more, I guess, you know, more usable, um, more purposeful.

So that work was just completed uh last week.

So uh this is recently completed.

All right, next one.

So then we have uh we have quite a few projects in Delmonte Beach.

Um I'm sure you're all aware of the boardwalk in that in that community.

And uh, so Tice and his team, they're they're doing tons of work.

Um we actually were able to get quite a bit of um help from building maintenance crews who were originally um furloughed back in October when the federal government shut down.

So they came out and started working on um the cables and installed a lot of split rail fencing, which you're gonna see in a later photo.

Um, but in this one with boardwalk repair projects, this has kind of been an ongoing project in the neighborhood where we replace um sections of boardwalk as necessary when they uh become unstable or or start to show uh some rot.

So, all right, go to the next one.

Uh this one here is uh a project to extend the boardwalk down to the beach.

Um, this section of boardwalk was um destroyed in a winter storm.

I'm not exactly sure what when what year that was, but this project has not been started and uh has a budget of 125,000.

All right, next one.

So this this is an in-progress project here.

This uh date uh native dune ecosystem restoration.

So this is one where we try and plant native plants to hold the sand in place along some of the steeper slopes in Del Monte Beach.

And uh this one has a budget of 35,000.

Okay, next one.

And then here, this is what I was talking about before with the uh building maintenance crews where they've been able to come out.

They worked pretty solid for about four or five weeks, October and November.

Once the government opened back up, then they've been working kind of weekends and um overtime hours to complete this project.

So I believe we're we're nearly done.

Um just a few last touch ups to go.

All right, so next one.

Uh so here we had a project to install um a bike rack in the board in the parking lot at the end of the beach.

Uh we went back and forth, had a couple meeting with uh the neighborhood representatives at the location, and ultimately, we could not agree on a location or a bike rack design.

So this one has been recommended for close out.

Alright, so next slide, please.

And then here we have another boardwalk project to install uh some low-level lighting, um, kind of at ground level.

Uh this project has not been started, and it has an initial budget of 20,000.

Okay, so next one.

Laguna Grande.

So we're moving now to Del Monte Grove Laguna Grande neighborhood.

This project was proposed in the 2024, so a year ago in that group of projects.

This one was to install some more um outdoor uh exercise equipment that was focused towards kind of a senior population in the neighborhood, and that it would provide some kind of a little bit more than self-weight um resistance, but no weights.

It was just like as you can see here, kind of uh using different um pieces of equipment for range of motion and weight training.

This one had we've we've done some initial like site identifying some sites and some equipment, but we have not gone further than that.

Okay, next one, please.

Here's one that's also, I guess, if not complete near completion uh in the El Estero Park Center in the downtown neighborhood.

This one was originally a cutoff project, so we could talk about what that means more later.

But this one um it was to replace one of the older or oldest um playground equipment um setups in the city.

And this work was started back on um, I think February 2nd or that week of the second.

So this is also relatively new.

Next one, please.

Here we have a project to uh upgrade the lights at Solicito Ballfield.

Uh so the lights in the at the ball field are antiquated and beyond their um useful lifespan.

So as I understand it now, the lights um when they burn out, we can't replace them and that that sort of a thing.

So this would be to completely uh replace those, replace the lighting.

Um right now, Shannon and her team have been working on getting some additional grant funding from other uh local community sources, and in addition with the NCIP funds, and right now we have funding in the uh 464,000 uh dollars, and I think we're working on awarding the contract, right?

Bond documents.

So yeah, this will be a big improvement when it gets done.

Okay, next one, please.

So uh another uh Jack's Park downtown park uh project would be to replace the turf and install uh new irrigation at Jack's Park in that uh the softball field area.

Um, and again, Shannon and her team are working on getting some additional funding to go along with the NCIP funds.

Uh so this one is is is moving.

Uh next one, please.

And then we have um a project to do some work at the down at the large barbecue area, which is on the other side of um Solicital Ballfield.

So right now, this area can seat of approximately 200 people.

Um, and there's been, I guess, a long-term uh request for it's putting some shade over those tables.

And um we've done the permitting and planning for this are done.

Um, and I think we're also working on a contract, right?

So this one's also in contracting.

So next one, please.

Um, the Monterey Tennis Center.

So back in the 20 FY24 uh project cycle, the operators for the tennis center put in a project to um convert two of the tennis courts one and two permanently into um six pickleball courts.

Um, so that project was funded at 55,000.

Um, but uh as we got deeper into the work, we realized we needed additional funds.

Um, so this one has been held up due to insufficient funding.

All right, next one, please.

Monterey Vista.

All right, so now we're in a different neighborhood.

This one is um via Paraizo Park Basketball Court.

So we have a project to completely redo, um, redo the part the basketball courts and increase them to make them a full-size uh high school um dimensions um with new um with new all new equipment, new fencing around the um court, and uh we would um replace or uh not replace but uh reorient to two benches as part of this project as well.

And this project will be done in combination with uh expanding the half court up at Veterans Park.

So this one is um in it was awarded by city council back on January 20th, and we're in contract um with the awarded contractor.

So this one, we hope to get it done in time for uh for summer and uh summer camp season.

That's that's the goal.

So have this done by June 1st.

All right, next one, please.

Um, so we have quite a bit of funding up at uh Hilltop Park Center.

This one has been split into two phases.

So the million dollars here is for phase one.

This was proposed in last um cycle, and then um you're gonna see in my second presentation this evening, that we also on the committee is recommending a second um million dollar um project to complete the work at uh Hilltop Park Center.

I mean, and this this includes uh a lot of deferred maintenance, uh new roof.

Um we're looking at replacing or doing some significant work on the sewer lateral in the back of the building, new windows, new HVAC, um, new lighting.

I think those are those are the big items.

So uh yeah, we'll see how much we can get done with two million dollars.

Um, so next one, please.

Skyline, okay.

So here in Veterans Park, we've actually done quite a bit of work.

Um, and we have a little bit more to go.

So this one, Veterans Park bocce ball court.

So this part this was redone in the fall, completed in November.

Um, and this is just adjacent to the basketball court if you're familiar with the area.

All right, next slide, please.

And here, this one is uh you can't really see it, but amongst the trees, there is the road that Veterans Drive that takes you up to the park.

And uh we have a design that's been completed to install a bike path on the um on the hill side of the uh of the road.

And that work is uh pending.

Um it's gonna be combined with repaving of Veterans Drive.

So that's kind of in the hopper and uh to be done in the future.

So that one that was one that will that'll be a big improvement.

Next one, please.

And here, as I was talking about before, the Veterans Park.

So this here is not, it's like half of a half court.

And this one, uh, we have plans to expand it to make it a full half court.

So this one will be a half court with the all new equipment, so new backboard, rims, hoop, all of that, plus a completely redone um asphalt surface with a new uh split rail fence.

Okay, next one, please.

And then here what we have one in progress where I don't know if if you've been past uh Veterans Park in uh recently in the last week or so, you will have noticed that we have um approximately half done with the new split rail fence on the Veterans Drive on that on that large field.

Um, so this was a project that was proposed by um a parks employee, um, the the uh attendant at Veterans Park back in FY24.

So we're um we're moving forward on this and hope to, and again, this is one where um the building maintenance crews are doing this on overtime and weekends, so they're helping us out with this project.

Next one, please.

I think we're getting close to the end.

Um, so Villa Del Monte, this park, it's um we have a uh we had an application in the FY23 round to install some um benches and picnic tables kind of in that in one of these areas off.

I think it's in the one that's at kind of the right lower right corner of of the uh photo.

Uh this has not quite been started yet.

Um, but it's well, and we could talk about kind of where we are with the um NCIP committee voting and ranking of projects to be defunded.

So this one is in that um in that grouping.

So next slide, please.

So window on the bay, um, again, some split rail fence and dune restoration work.

So we've done, I want to say approximately, I don't know, maybe about $5,000 has been spent on this project to date, but there's still funding and work to be done.

So it's in progress.

Okay, next one, please.

And uh I'll I will let Tice talk about any and all the details on forest management and fuel reduction, but um NCIP committee recommended to council uh this 1.8 million that you see here was was awarded in two different um groupings.

The first one was the original one million dollars, and then the second phase was another 800,000 about a year ago, last March or so, I think, due to um the change in the NCIP committee schedule where we went from um reviewing projects in the spring, bringing those to city council with the ward uh or you know, funding being available kind of in the you know, say November December time frame, um, the last couple of years to where we've kind of flipped the schedule and calendar, and now we're we're looking at bringing the NCIP projects to city council in April, which would make funding available, you know, say May-ish time frame.

Okay, so next one, please.

Or is that the end?

Oh, one more, Ryan Ranch, uh court pickleball complex design.

Uh this one was awarded uh recommended and awarded in FY23.

Um this one is on the list of projects to um defund and take the fund, reappropriate the funding to the general um general fund.

Um, and that that's going to be coming up in the next couple of meetings with city council.

So stay tuned for that.

Um, but this one has also not been started.

Is there any more?

Uh Nate, or is that that's it?

All right.

So um I think that was 26.

Um, but I'm here and available for any questions that the committee might have or commission, sorry.

I didn't have a question.

The El Estero, I was a little confused.

It said it is completed, the kids' playground, or well, I think we're doing some finishing touches as I I understand this afternoon.

I jumped the gun on with the complete, but uh I think the majority of the equipment is in place, and I understand we're doing some fence work and some uh landscaping, but yeah, it's nearly done.

Uh hi.

Um, how do we prioritize the projects?

Yes, this is always uh a tough question.

So I I um I try to do them in a couple different ways.

Um I try and spread the love around um the city.

So I work on you know projects in all the neighborhoods.

Um I also try and I pay attention to the rankings.

Um, so the top 10 I try and do um as I can, for example.

Um we also work as we can.

So I mean, if if we have things like that require permitting, um, like we have projects in the coastal zone, for example, and has to go to coastal commission, takes more time.

Um, and as we have resources available, right?

So for example, we were able to take advantage of, you know, the the federal government shutdown.

We were able to get um, you know, those building maintenance workers to do those types of projects.

It's there's no, there's no easy, we don't have a there's no ranking scheme.

Um there's no way to, I mean, I've heard it all, I've heard everything from you should do the oldest projects first and don't do anything new until you finish the old ones.

Um if it's just it's more complex than that.

Um, and right now I just for but lack of a better word, I do the best I can.

I work with um, you know, the parks and uh rec staff and we coordinate on a lot of the projects um and we take them as we can.

Um when we have resources, like Tice has some you know extra equipment at the at the yard.

If there's something that comes up and it can it fits, we'll use it if it's on hand.

So we just it's all of the above kind of a strategy, and yeah.

Um, right, so the NCIP committee voted um, I want to say January 28th, I believe was the date.

Um, and we're taking that recommendation from the NCIP committee to city council.

There's gonna be a presentation um uh coming up on February 17th, if my dates are right.

Um, where we're gonna be uh we'll present all of the recommendations from the NCIP committee, and there was a lot of lively discussion, um, a lot of public comment was um provided.

I'm assuming there'll be more um on that February 17th meeting.

Ultimately, the committee's preference was stated that they want to take funding from the FY27 um budget over defunding existing projects, but it's gonna be the city council's decision.

Yes, you're welcome.

Uh I guess it I don't know if it really matters because it's voted for defunding, but just a uh was the pickleball court is that was that in the construction laydown area next to the disc golf course.

The location, I don't know if we had a specific, it was near, yes, as my memory is it was near that uh disc golf area, but I I think it was I don't know exactly where nebulous wherever.

Oh shit.

We it's actually as you enter Ryan Ranch disc golf or area, the parking lot, it's immediately to the right.

Okay, yeah, along that fence line, which has already been identified as disturbed, and so would and fairly level wouldn't need a lot much more work to environmental work because it's already been and uh for Tys, how do you have a list for the fuel management?

Is there a fire defense plan or who who where do you get that?

Or you go off the CWPP?

Like, where do you get the what fuel management you do?

So kind of how are we prioritizing our work?

Yeah, so well, kind of the same people you work with, uh Jen Valdez and Justin Cooper in our fire department.

Um we kind of compare notes, so to speak, with them.

Just the these are the areas we're seeing as needing the worst.

Um NCIP money, we always want to make sure we have enough money so we could at least hit all the weed eating that we need to do in the spring and summer.

So that's obviously number one.

What the minimum we want to do, make sure that's that's done.

But yeah, for project areas where we want to do a little bit more, we can get the down debris and brush, whatever you want to call it.

Um, yeah, those is where we're making sure our our notes are similar.

Uh we're seeing the same thing that our fire department's seeing.

Yeah.

Any other comments?

I had a question about Hilltop, but I believe it's later on the agenda, correct?

There's more.

We do have a second presentation talk about the um projects that we're gonna bring to city council in April from this past round of projects.

Yeah, we'll be so yeah, hilltop is we have it in both.

We like I said, we have hilltop prior existing project, and we have a hill new hilltop project.

Phase two, yeah.

They're the same, they're tied together.

I'll hold off till then.

Okay, oh yeah.

So it's sorry, the seismic retrofitting is that in the this one, or is that what that be phase two?

Yes.

It's it's all I mean they're all part of so the the funding is I mean, let's just say we can't do the project without the two million, it's a two million dollar project.

It's a two million dollar project.

Okay.

Any other comments or questions?

All right, Nate, can you open this up to public comment?

If you have if you're 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 raise hand feature or star nine if you've dialed in by phone.

There's none in the chamber, Nate.

Thank you, Melissa.

And online, we have one public comment.

Last three of seven zero five.

Please go ahead and make your public comment.

Yes, can you hear me?

Yes.

Thank you.

Yes, I have Lorna Moffitt here.

And um, I wanted to ask the you when you're building things, not to use wood.

I've noticed these fences are using very old trees, and that means they have to be cut down in the forest and made in a fences.

And I'm you there was a time when the parks department was using plastic lumber, which is so important because it's made from plastic bags and bottles, and uh it lasts you know a very long time, and uh it keeps plastics out of the environment because it's being used as benches that last for I don't know how long, but years and years.

And I just noticed at uh the wharf now there's some new benches that have replaced the plastic at ones, and they're made of the wood.

And I'm thinking, my God, you know, we're the number one user of timber in Brazil, and we're cutting down our own forest like crazy.

We can't have this kind of extravagance.

We really have to understand that the trees are what create rainfall, and especially along coastal areas, and so I'm asking the parks department to go back to using the plastic lumber that you were doing so valiantly at one time.

Um, and uh, and stay away from wood products as much as you can.

Thank you.

Thank you for your public comment.

We have no other public comment on this item.

All right, with that, we're going to close the public comment section and move on to the next presentation.

Uh which is the presentation of the status of parks and recreation department operations for December 2025 to January 2026.

This is not a project under CEQA, Article 20, Section 15, 378, and under General Rule Article 5, Section 15061.

Shannon.

I'm actually gonna pass this right on to Titan.

Oh.

All right.

You can see our uh our staff there getting ready for Christmas.

That was good.

Um yeah, uh just Monday, we had a Laguda Grande joint Powers Authority meeting um at City of Seaside uh Chambers.

Um wasn't a whole lot to to report on other than um we are going to have an event in April, a JPA 50th anniversary, so keep that on your um watch list.

So we'll have a it'll be on the mostly on the seaside side, but I'm sure we'll we'll be participating some in some way.

Um so we're still working out the details there, but it'll be I'm sure we're gonna do some events with bird watching, uh park cleanup, what have you.

Also, Seaside was able to kind of announce that it was uh this grant that they got to do work on their side is really uh finally come to fruition and they are getting ready to do work on their side um regarding the trail maintenance plan.

So um they are go they're they're doing some training with their staff, getting all their ducks in a row with the environment biological service that they have to do, and gonna start their work.

Um on our side, we in December we were lucky enough to kind of get ahead of the of the bad weather.

And in December, we were able to get a biological survey and do a lot of uh veg clearing um impacting our residents, so right behind Laguna Grande Court, in the right of way between English Avenue.

Um so we were able to pull out a lot of debris.

Um, luckily, we there was a lot of area that we intended to clear, but um there is a lot of willow habitat that the biologists deemed um sensitive, and and we couldn't really touch that.

So we obviously honored uh honored that survey, but nevertheless, pulled out a lot of invasive species.

Be created a nice buffer from our uh between our residents and that vegetation behind their homes.

So uh next slide, please.

Um there's all those fun statistics that you guys get to see every year or every meeting uh plants, gophers, uh seals of bait uh that we had to get rid of.

Um so yeah, it was uh a lot going on as usual.

A lot of uh still the VIPs and Green Cadre, we worked with us during that time.

Um, even with the irrigation off, had plenty of irrigation line repairs uh to fix.

And then as we as I was mentioned just before the meeting started to um to the chair is uh we had a PGE first responder training for all parks forestry staff um in conjunction with um a lot of our public works, which was uh you know very beneficial because um just a week or two later we had uh got hit pretty hard um with our storms.

So next slide, please.

Uh some of the projects that we did in the last couple months.

Um if you haven't seen it, we did a little landscaping project with the Cali at the end of Cali P there.

Um they did some reorganizing of the road and so it created uh an island there around the uh large olive tree.

And so we had a little bit of fun putting in a uh a nice new uh landscaping in there, kind of minimally, and um we were able to get some irrigation to it.

So that'll uh hopefully mature nicely.

Um Laguna Grande Court.

Hopefully, you've uh if obviously it's not a lot of people know about the little pocket park that's there at Laguna Grande Court, but it was um not looking so hot in the last few years.

So luckily our staff led by uh Jose Ayella, who's our senior one of our senior park maintenance workers is helping um uh helping kind of rejuvenate that park area with some new fresh grass, um, a new added sidewalk area and some trees in that park.

So that should look really nice.

And then Dennis the Menace, we've been adding a lot of plant material, um, painting some painting odds and ends in there, making that look nice.

Um and then yeah, what was that retaining wall?

Yep, Veterans Park around the hilltop park.

We got completely flooded out, unfortunately, the tot lot.

Um we had a drainage that just failed.

So we are able to kind of get a temporary fix in there, let it drain.

I mean, just in time for some parties that were there, but we will have to go down to another section of the totlot where the the pipe actually failed.

We're gonna have to dig that out and re put a new uh new section of drain line.

Uh so hopefully that'll that'll take place here in the next few weeks.

Uh always we're constantly working with it seems like with the lake the lake situation, the arification system failed us last spring or summer.

We got it back online.

We still have some parts that need some work.

So we're working with a contractor, contracting diving team to help us um get those parts fixed.

Um then obviously we had to take down all those beautiful, wonderful holiday decorations um in January, too.

So next slide, please.

Definitely an honor of being awarded a given an award for being a good partner with the Green Cadre.

I'm not sure we were worthy of this award, but it was still really nice to get it.

We're the beneficiaries of their hard work of all their volunt, you know, quote unquote volunteer hours.

So I'm not sure we're really, again, I'm not really feel like we're worthy of this award because they're the ones doing all the heavy lifting.

But nevertheless, it was a really great event.

They really did a great job.

It was very um inspiring to because there was uh tons of people being honored.

It was mostly folks who have um really worked really hard to improve their situation, you know, folks who uh fell on hard times, picked up jobs where they could, took advantage of the the Monterey County Works program, and um there was a lot of or let me say this there were not very many dry eyes in this room.

It was really really something I did that was not what I was expected.

I was going there in for a free lunch, maybe a handshake, and everybody came out just blown away about how these young adults um are trying everything they can to better themselves, and it's it's unbelievable.

I have just this newfound respect um for what this organization does.

So if you can take some time to Google Monterey County Works program, it's it's quite it's even more amazing than I ever knew.

So um, yeah, thank you.

And then forestry, uh, a couple big things.

Obviously, the winter storms uh, like we said, we had a lot going on over the holiday break.

Uh we had about 17 17 trees down.

Not necessarily all not necessarily all um city owned, a lot of them were private too, but we did have multiple power outages.

Um we had seven, seven road closures.

Um, so yeah, I just want to give a big shout out to our crew because um these are folks that were working uh on the holidays um and kind of taking time away from their families to be the disaster disaster responders that they're that we're all signed up to be as city workers.

So um really proud of them, um, you know, being very selfless during this time.

So um, and then on the other side here, or the other big news here is at the very last bit is the city council just approved um us being awarded $950,000 of uh grant from Calfire again.

So this is we're still working through the first one, and we signed up or applied for a second one and we were awarded.

And I think that's because they we work with a liaison through Calfire and they check our work, and so I think they're seeing the the third work, their money is not being wasted on us.

So we've got we were lucky enough to get approved again, and so that'll continue this extra funding that we can do so we can do more in-depth um fuel reduction work also while using the NCIP money funds as our match our NCIP money as our matching funds.

So we just get can make uh our residence money go that much further.

Um so we're pretty proud of that.

Yeah.

Um and lastly, the tree ordinance, um, I believe lastly, the uh we're still getting closer, I think.

We're kind of at a uh moving at a snail's pace now, but for a while we're moving really quickly, but we do have a draft.

We're putting some some touches on it, kind of doing some more internal review, and hopefully we'll be able to bring that to council soon for uh for the first draft, um, and then some sort of environment review or impact report alongside uh that coinciding with it.

So, moving on to recreation.

Uh we were recognized as a family favorites again for 2026 for a variety of categories.

So you'll see more information about that coming shortly.

Um, go ahead and get started.

So the first event that we had um was our donuts with Santa photo op.

Nate.

So this was our second annual event um Saturday, December 6th at Fire Station 13.

We estimated about 600 people in attendance total, about 150 appointments for family photos, uh, 35 dozen donuts that we went through.

It's a great event, it's very low-key, lots of fun.

Um, it's free.

People get, I would say, a better than mall quality photo with Santa for free.

And it's all very easy for people to get there, get an appointment, walk from where they live.

Um, it's a great partnership that we have with the fire department that lets us use fire station 13.

Monterey PD is there with their hot cocoa bar, my museum is there as well.

Um next year, we hope to expand it a little bit more with a couple of little things, but um, and really not change this event very much at all.

Um, and we have a date set for Saturday, December 5th.

Next event, um, next program is our um field sports.

We um finished soccer and immediately went right into Pee Wee and Youth Flag Football running uh December and January.

160 participants, 20 teams.

Um, games are usually on Saturdays, but there's practices during the week.

Uh right now we are gearing up for our spring youth track and field program in March and April that runs four days a week at MPC, and then also setting up for our summer camp prep.

The next program is our adult field sports program.

So as soon as we finish you uh softball and baseball for adults, we roll into adult ultimate frisbee league.

Um, it's bigger this year than it has been in the past, but it's a short season and not quite as many teams.

It's uh something we're still developing.

So it's 90 participants this time and five teams, and then we had a champion um crowned, which was 17-mile dump was the name that they picked.

Um we're just kind of you know, within reason, we let them pick their team names.

Um then gearing up right now for spring adult softball league.

It is uh typically a little bit of a smaller um group of teams for this fall uh for spring, and that's because we are also trying to utilize the fields around Monterey High School and Pony.

So we typically end up only having um like a Saturday-Sunday league because of all those other um uses of our fields.

Moving on to our adult, our field sports facilities.

Again, there continues to be a high demand for city outdoor sports programs and facilities.

Um right now we're in the process of reviewing the Monterey Amberjacks Summer 25 and their proposal for summer 26.

Um, and then we hope to get back to them regarding that.

And it's also gearing up for and just trying to set the schedule and manage a bunch of different teams and uses of city fields.

So right now, Monterey High School is using uh Solicito for boys' baseball, JAX for girls' varsity, and JB softball, and they just added beach volleyball as a sport, so they're at our volleyball courts down on Wendell on the Bay.

Uh Pony is, of course, using Jack's Aldredi and Ferrante, MPC and Hartnell are also utilizing our beach volleyball courts.

So moving on to the next slide.

We're gonna be on El Estero Park Center next.

Nate, so maybe things have the internet has gone down.

So I'll just go ahead and get started.

Um, El Estero Park Center, uh, we just started offering new Lego workshops in January.

Uh, so those are our new program that we brought out, and then we have also very strong enrollment in preschool, Monday morning stories, dance, our Lego workshops are also already very popular, and then um kids create program.

Our gymnastics program is running uh four days per week, and it's got multiple sessions with wait lists.

We also have um fencing running two days a week with um full enrollment and wait lists.

We um have been continuing to offer sourdough baking for adults, and those programs are full with wait lists.

We usually have quite a few people trying to get in to that program.

Right now we're also staff is working on the monthly paint parties, adding those kids in the kitchen, a spring kids' night out program.

Um preschool's been very busy.

Um we have been trying to keep them as entertained and uh busy as possible.

Kind of uh we have a the window to the outdoor area is covered, they cannot see what they're what is coming for them.

So there's going to be a um very low-key unveiling on Tuesday morning.

We're gonna have all the preschool students there and hopefully their families, and they'll get to see the their new preschool uh playground space.

Um, and you know, hopefully it'll be a big surprise, and they weren't peeking around the corner.

Um, so we're really excited and we're happy about that because that was the oldest piece of play equipment left in the city, probably about 35 years old, and it was on top of a former swimming pool.

So we got to see all of that, and um, yeah, it's gonna be great.

Parks is doing a great job as well as helping us get that updated.

So uh moving on to our next, we're having a little technical difficulty with our slides.

Um Hilltop Park Center.

We are um full as usual with our ceramics class for adults that's offered four nights a week with a wait list.

Uh our enrollment in our Pilates for Bone Health Dance and Piano programs are also um very high, if not almost full.

We are now offering monthly blood drives with VyTalent and American Red Cross, um, actually more than monthly, um, because there's just such a need, and as you can see in that photo, Vitalent usually it just comes in with their own kind of setup, and they have the ability to use indoor space or their um mobile unit, and it's a great um location for them.

Uh we hope to shortly be opening some youth ceramics workshops, um, bringing those back to the center.

Uh, and then we're working on a preschool community helpers day, which is kind of like a field trip for both El Estero and Hilltop to get together.

We usually have Monterey Fire there, AMR, um maybe a dentist, maybe the bookmobile, and kind of the community helpers and not necessarily career day, but something for them to learn.

Um, we're also getting ready for spring break program, um, which is uh the last two weeks, first week of last two weeks of March, first week of April.

Um, getting ready also for Tiny Tot Summer Camp, Imagine Dance Camp, and a new program we're doing with STEAM and Robotics at 831.

That's the name of the company will be doing a camp camps there as well with us.

Yeah, so Schultzy is busy as ever.

Um, we've got 814 participants in a variety of programs, as you can see above.

Um, what I like to see is Tuesdays is bridge, and there's usually like 16 plus people playing bridge.

I can't play bridge, but I love to see them playing bridge.

Um, we also have our meals on wheels served every day Monday through Friday.

On Monday mornings, they can come and pick up a fresh bag of produce in partnership with Monterey County Food Bank.

Um, we have a variety of also just social programs.

Um, there's a senior luncheon, there we did a tree trimming party, we have socials.

In fact, today was a social, which we'll have a photo of next week, uh, next meeting with Gateway and Hope Services.

So for them, we kind of provide them with a lunch, some dancing, some sort of other activity.

Um, so lots going on, and then um we have a play Monterey trip, which we're excited about because our trips have kind of been slow in coming back um post-COVID.

I think it's kind of a combination of like the economy and just where people are.

Um, but we will be going to the Legion of Honor in February, so we're excited for that.

We've got two more trips on the line coming up.

One is to Cambria, um, and hopefully we'll see that one go, but not a guarantee.

Um, and then we're just planning for more events and programs in the spring in partnership with a lot of our Alliance on Aging and other community partners.

And then for us, what's next?

Extensive community outreach efforts for summer 2026 recruitment and also camp marketing.

Misty was just at, I believe, Marina High School this week to help get the word out about our summer camp recruitments.

Where, you know, we need we always need staff.

We want returning staff, but we're always constantly hiring when it comes to summer.

And then again, we've got a full slate of programs that we also have to make sure we kind of market.

We've got parents asking us for summer camp registration.

I had parents asking me for summer camp registration back in September, and I was like, please, please no, not yet.

But I already feel like summer is already here.

We are full esteem ahead.

These are just a highlight of some of the programs that we are doing, in addition to all of the locations we are at, CSUMB Career Fair, MPC Career Fair, all of the high schools we go to multiple times.

But these are a few of the big things we're doing.

So we're going to be at the Kids Hero Run, and we're going to do with in partnership with the Monterey Firefighters Community Foundation on March 7th at San Carlos Beach Park.

Our bunny hop photo op and extra fun is March 28th.

So that ideally will be on Colton Hall Lawn.

And the bunny will be in here with photos.

So you're all invited to drop by.

So we're going to go do that on March 21st.

We have our fund in the park event that we do semi-annually at Montecito Park on May 7th.

And then a spring into parks event that we're still kind of trying to plan for Colton Hall Lawn in partnership with Monterey Bay Parent Magazine.

So what they're going to do is they're slowly going to put something out in their magazine, encouraging people to play and visit a park, in particular, visit a Monterey Park.

Not anything happening at those parks, just an opportunity for people to go and visit a park that maybe they haven't been to before.

And then it culminates in an event on May 17th on Colton Hall Lawn where they can kind of turn in their passport to all of these parks and be eligible for prizes or different things.

So we'll have a fun event that day.

So lots of things happening.

We are full of activities and our staff have are trying to figure out who's going to go where and who's going to do what.

We're reviewing our program offerings, figuring out what we can do based on capacity and budget, having discussions about what we what is essential, what is something that is a need versus a want.

Again, what is their true demand for services?

We are headed into some challenging budget times in terms of closing the city needs to close a budget gap of 10 million dollars.

So we are probably going to be holding the line in terms of expenditures, except we really can't hold the line in terms of part-time salaries because we can't operate without part-time staff.

So that's the challenge.

But just in general, pulling together that budget and presenting that to city council and all of those things are things that we're going to be working on.

And it's just a it's a very busy time of year getting ready for summer, but also trying to get together with our budget.

So I think that's it.

I'll pass that on to Bill.

Good evening.

Let me introduce you to Bailey, who's the uh wonderful little person up there on the screen.

Uh Bailey is one of our two interns that we currently have from CSUMB.

So Bailey and Wilmore are part of the kinesiology program uh at California State University of Monterey Bay.

And they're coming over as interns to help us in the fitness department.

They're going to allow us to do some member services, such as assessments and evaluations and some fitness classes for youth that we wouldn't otherwise be able to do.

So they're really a welcome addition.

We've had a really good relationship with CSUMB and the kinesiology department in particular in terms of creating the opportunities for these younger people to come in and get some hands-on experience in the profession.

And one of the things that we've been able to do now is we're actually working closely with the staff there on creating a partnership for a grant application that essentially would provide an online degree in kinesiology that would be available to working parents to families, to individuals that struggle to get onto the campus.

So it's really kind of a cool opportunity, and we're looking forward to it.

Philip Gianino is also someone that works for us, but as part of his internship at CSUMB was able to work on developing a research project, which looked at the potential of developing the support centers, rental and special event uh components, uh essentially bringing back what we used to have there pre-pandemic, but potentially expanding it.

So Phillip spent a lot of time uh connecting with other agencies and other cities that have community centers looking at their models and looking at some proposals for what would potentially work.

So we see that as a uh really solid potential source of external revenue that could help us meet some of our cost recovery goals.

So I want to commend Philip for his work on his team.

It was excellent.

So good job, Philip.

Next slide, please.

Oh, and on that first slide, just to we are busy.

We are hitting record numbers and memberships, we're hitting record numbers of drop-ins.

From what um John told me, John Dry Spec at today's staff meeting is in the month of January alone.

We had 57,000, over 57,000 visits uh that came into the building.

So, you know, close to 2,000 people a day.

And when you come down there, you'll see it.

If you're trying to take a spinning class, you'll see it.

Uh, you go into the concourse at any given time, every single treadmill is being used uh just all day long.

Uh so it's just been a really uh a really good business uh time for us, uh, but it also puts a lot of challenges on the staff in order to try to resolve challenges between guests and keep the uh younger people kind of in line with uh expectations.

But uh they're doing a fabulous job of that.

Okay, next slide, Nate.

Um, some of the newer uh classes that uh we've put in or some of the newer um items at the sports center.

So uh Laureate has added some uh new classes in terms of kettlebell yoga core and Pilates.

We're close to a hundred classes a week now, which is by far and away above anything else on the peninsula.

Uh pre-pandemic, I think we were close to 120 classes a week.

So we're we're we're reaching uh essentially our capacity in terms of the number of classes that we're able to offer with a space that we have available.

But Laurie has done a really good job, not only in terms of uh developing those programs, but also in terms of evaluating new opportunities, new class formatting and creating, I think not just a program that is popular and and really well received by the community, but also creating a program that really is accessible for all ages and all abilities.

So again, really kudos to uh Lori for the work that she's done in terms of expanding that group exercise program.

Uh, we were able to get new scoreboards installed in the gymnasium.

If you've been there for some of the youth basketball games, uh the scoreboards haven't worked for quite a while.

And so we finally were able to get those into the budget this year and get those replaced.

So we have new scoreboards that we'll be using as our basketball leagues move forward.

Uh, one of the things that we're looking to try to move to next is uh trying to replace the backboards.

So the backboards that we have in the gymnasium are all originally installed back in 1991 when we uh got ready to open the facility, and most of the motors no longer work on them, so it's we can't raise them anymore.

Uh we have pieces that fall out of them.

So structurally, we've had to re-weld sections of those backboards.

So they're just really overdue for replacement.

So that's really one of our next uh targets in the gymnasium to get that up to speed.

And then we did add another uh weight machine, very popular machine.

It's it's called uh uh the uh new true inner-outer thigh machine.

That's something that's been in demand for uh some time.

The one that we had was pretty um not very comfortable to use.

And so we have a new version in there that people are really uh receiving fairly well, and we're just about complete with all of our uh purchases in terms of equipment for the year.

Uh next slide, Nate.

Uh, this is a uh kind of an interesting program.

There was uh a time where um when the kids zone had closed and uh post-pandemic, we were struggling to try to get it open.

One of the things that the previous sports center manager did was uh put a ping pong table into the old kids zone and uh let the kids go in there and play ping pong, and it was used, it was utilized.

And when we converted that room over to the indoor cycling studio that it is, uh there was some real question about would we still have ping pong accessible?

Uh Ryan found it very difficult to program uh availability of ping pong in the gymnasium because of the uh growth of all of our sports programs in the gym.

So we struggled with how to kind of accommodate that need.

And what we we've come up with is now we routinely have a ping pong table available in the concourse just outside the pool entrance doors, and it gets used all day long, gets used by seniors in the morning, gets used by families with their kids, waiting for their swim lesson, gets used by the teenagers when they come in after school.

And so having it out there and accessible and really uh available for them to use and for us to be able to supervise the use to prolong the lifespan of those ping pong tables because they can get abused, um, has been very popular.

But we've also been working with uh a volunteer and some of our guests in terms of making more opportunities for the ping pong tables to be used up in studio two.

So when we moved the cycling program down to the current indoor cycling studio, that gave us access back to studio two, which had been the cycling studio for some time.

That allowed us to move a lot of our bone builders classes, yoga classes, a lot of our senior balance classes up to studio two.

It allowed us to move our martial arts program back up to studio two, but it also allowed us to provide uh opportunities for the uh folks that like to play table tennis, ping pong to go up there and utilize that space during times when we didn't have classes programmed in there.

The other day, Ryan said we had five tables in use in studio two with 18 people playing all at the same time.

That program has really expanded.

We have about 60 to 70 active ping pong players at any given time, and they play throughout the day.

So that essentially is again a credit to Ryan Nunez, our sports coordinator, for trying to think outside the box, working with Laura Tade in terms of trying to make something available.

We now have ping pong instruction, we have ping pong tournaments, we have just revitalized that particular sport.

Ryan's been doing that throughout the gymnasium with the futsal programs and badminton programs and uh just everything that he's developed with the men's and women's basketball leagues, the youth basketball leagues, the footsal youth and adult programs.

So, really uh it's a credit to Ryan, it's a credit to Lori to working together to find an opportunity to make this available.

So those programs are all going really well, and again, just a really strong credit to the staff that we have at the sports center.

Uh, next page, please.

Uh so under uh Lori's watch and working with uh Marcia Di McCario, who's the she's kind of her right-hand person.

It helps run the personal training and helps Lori with the group ex tie program, and she fell in for Laurie when Laurie is uh away.

Uh we've really developed and expanded the personal training packages.

It's more popular than ever, which is a challenging time because people feel it in their budgets and having expendable resources to spend on something like personal training can be challenging when you're trying to make your budget work, and yet people are still committed to taking advantage of that.

They love the staff that we've developed.

A lot of them are CSUMB graduates or affiliated with the program at CSUMB, but we have a really excellent staff, and the uh essentially interest in personal training has really uh expanded.

Uh, we talked about the group exercise and just the number of people that participate there.

And then some of the classes that have been really popular include the Pilates Math, the Restorative Stretch, Zumba, uh Bone Builders, and the Strength and Bone Builder Balance classes.

These are all programs that are really directed towards seniors.

Uh, one of the participants regularly in the bone builder class is 92.

And she goes there for the balance, she goes there for the structural strength.

Uh, she goes there to socially connect with the other participants in the room.

It's the only social connection she gets during the day.

So these are classes that are, you know, fundamentally necessary in terms of need for the community, but also just so important that represents the diversity of what we offer.

You don't see a lot of this in the private sector.

You only see this in a public agency.

So again, kudos to Laurie Marcia for developing that.

Uh, next slide, please.

Uh, community engagement uh just like what Shannon said, we're always trying to reach out to the community and be involved.

And one of the things that uh Lori, again, Laura Tate, her name keeps coming up here.

She's doing a lot of work for us.

She is uh putting together the wellness fairs.

We had the series we did last year with Montage Health.

Uh, she then put together a wellness series um for this year.

We brought in Ohana, we brought in uh Montage Health, we brought in uh Monterey Recreation, the uh public library, Bookmobile, Fleet Feet, uh Skin and Body Method and Pot uh POTA uh foundations for participation.

And these were um different resources and groups that wanted to have an opportunity to connect with the community with uh different perspectives, and they were really well received by the folks we had.

We had a couple hundred people attend.

Uh one of the things that was really cool is the Monterey Public Library has been working with us on installing the booklockers that are just adjacent to the entrance to the sports center.

So they were there to really explain those booklockers and explain how to use them and connect with our members and our guests on what the value of having that booklocker there is.

So you think about all the parents that come in with their young children for swim lessons, uh bringing in their children for the basketball leagues, all of the seniors that come there, where they may not necessarily have the opportunity to also go down to the library on a regular basis.

What they can do is simply order a book from the library, library comes over, drops it off, puts it in the book locker, and they pick it up when they go to use the sports center, and then they drop it off there when they're done with the library and it gets checked back in.

So Esme, um, she's one of our former employees, operates that bookmobile.

So Esme is able to come in, restock it on a daily basis, keep that uh service going, but also what this allowed them to do is really engage with the community about the partnership between the library and the sports center and recreation and that service that we're able to continue to provide for the community.

So it was really really well received.

Uh, next slide, please.

Uh, aquatics uh again continues to be uh really busy uh with the groups one lessons and just the number of participants.

We did a number of lane reservations.

We've been working with the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, California Department official and wildlife, Monterey Bay Aquarium Hopkins diving training in the Monterey Bay Scuba.

Again, just providing access to different groups who otherwise would not be able to have that access.

Uh so Tony Graffanino is our aquatics coordinator.

He's done a really good job coordinating all of this, and we now will be uh entertaining the uh Special Olympics coming up here in a couple of weeks.

It's really a cool program.

So we provide service to a couple hundred participants that are involved with the Special Olympics and they come into the pool and they train and they have coaches, and the coaches are volunteers that come over from DLI.

So DLI has a volunteer expectation on their uh military personnel, and they come down in big numbers and help us run that program and make it available to the Special Olympics participants.

So it's a really cool program.

So again, we we checked.

I checked the um where we were in terms of our participation numbers and revenue just prior to the meeting, and we're well ahead of target on sports, we're well ahead of target on fitness, we're well ahead of target on aquatics, we're well ahead of target on pretty much every metric you look at.

So I think you can say the first six months of the year have been really successful, which really helps us when we go into the budget planning.

And I'm projecting that next year we'll continue to see that growth and continue to see the success of the Sports Center, where we were uh just out of the pandemic and where we are today.

So I I think all of this spells really well for the service that we provide to the community and the expectation that the city has that we're able to do a good job with our cost recovery goals.

Uh next page, please.

Uh what's next?

We got dog scarves coming.

Um we have been working with uh Kelly McKay, who's been doing a uh Monterey Sports Center logo refresh and working on essentially a brand refresh, similar to what she did with Shannon in the recreation department.

And so working closely with Nat in our city manager's office, working closely with Lori Huelga in the city manager's office, trying to make sure that we have some consistency in terms of the color palettes in terms of the font choices, in terms of how the logo is designed.

We have a new logo coming.

Now, you may not see it, but there's a change in that logo up there.

If you look at the little pictogram that's just opposite of Monterey Sports Center, that is no longer a gymnastics pictogram.

It is now a yoga pose pictogram.

And that reflects the fact that we really have moved away from this original concept in the logo that it included gymnastics.

We do weightlifting, we do swimming, we do the basketball and the sports, but we wanted to have a better up-to-date reflection of what it is that we offer the community.

So that's where the logo ended up.

And then the color palette has just really impressed uh city manager's office, really impressed the staff.

Kelly came up with some great designs, and she's also putting together a whole uh suite of templates that we'll be utilizing for flyers and posters and banners and essentially have some really consistent uh branding to what the sports center look is.

This will also be reflected in potential uh uniforms.

This will be reflected in potential uh merchandise that we're able to offer the public.

We've long had requests to offer shirts and sweatshirts and hats.

We had to take the time to get this part of it right, but we do have dog scarves coming, and we think that those are going to be a really big hit.

So a really great job by Kelly McKay and and what she's been able to bring forward as the uh branding for the sports center going forward.

Uh next slide.

And we are back to Balta and the Christmas design.

Thank you, Bill.

Thank you, everybody.

Um, I want to open it up to the commissioners for questions and comments.

I just want to say that I'm a member of the sports center, and it's fabulous.

It's it's really cool.

I go there every morning for whatever class there is, Pilates, um, yoga, whatever strength, functional strength, and it's great.

So thank you.

Thank you so much.

And thanks, Laura.

Okay.

Thanks to you.

Okay.

Okay.

It is a marvelous program and all credit for it.

Good.

Center by Warren Wish.

I love it.

Um, I understand the sports center is just going gangbusters.

Um, I also got some kind of anecdotal information about how the weight uh training area is just so popular that people find it hard to get on the machines or get on the weight training.

Um, I don't know what can be done about that, um, because you want as many people there as possible, but you know, we're six weeks into the new year.

But I know some of that starts to get a little bit easier.

Yeah, the resolutions kind of find their way.

Uh, I will say this.

What what Lori has done is if you recall the old weight room, the old weight room was primarily, and Justin knows this because he worked for me in the old weight room.

Uh, the old weight room was primarily stack weight machines.

You would walk around, do a circuit, stick a pin in there.

We've completely changed that weight room.

It's very much functionally oriented right now.

It's much more popular to a very diverse population.

The older weight room tend to have limited popularity.

And what we found is we were kind of at impact until Gold's Gym opened.

And once Gold's Gym opened, a lot of the younger crowd went over there because they had the equipment they were looking for, and we didn't really have it.

We do now.

And so we're now getting uh a really broad spectrum of users that come over there.

The other thing that we're seeing a lot of lately, a lot more city employees are coming in.

And they're coming in before work, they're coming in during their lunch breaks, they're taking classes together, and we see we have seen a significant upswing in the amount of city employee use of the sports center.

So we think the offering that we have in there has really been attractive, and it's really bringing people into the facility, and that creates a challenges.

But if you also recall, Sid, back 10 years ago, 12 years ago, that concourse area, it was all tables and chairs, it was all tables and chairs and very little use.

And it started when we started working with Prima Hart to do the post-cardiac rehab program, that we started introducing some specialized accessible equipment in there.

And then over time it built it up, and then what really spurred everything was the pandemic.

We had to find ways to space equipment to allow more people to feel safe and comfortable going in.

So that concourse started expanding, and then it far exceeded the electrical supply that we had available.

I remember Jason Bradley coming to me and say, I think we have a real problem with the electrical supply.

I said, Yeah, and the concourse area wasn't really designed for equipment.

And he goes, No, with the building.

There's so many things going on right now that this building wasn't designed for that kind of use.

And so we brought in Sug uh Kirkman, the electrician for the city, and he helped us really upgrade electrical systems.

We brought in quite a few of the public works folks, Steve Lappman and Joe Carvalho, helped really just address a lot of the HVAC issues that we were dealing with there.

And that opened up that concourse that opened up and changed the opportunities in the indoor cycling room that opened up the weight room for a redesign, and we were able to redesign the current cardio fitness room.

So we have significantly more equipment than we had just 10 years ago, but we also have significantly more users.

So you're seeing it all getting utilized.

So you think after eight weeks or so, it'll calm down.

I think you'll see uh less people waiting for a bicycle in the indoor cycling classes, less people waiting for a spot in the kettlebell classes, or the Zumba class at night that's really popular, and you'll see more availability of some of the equipment.

And really, it's for people to kind of figure out okay.

I know if I go there at 4:30 or 5 o'clock, I ain't getting on anything.

But if I go there at 6 30, then yeah, things start to open up for me.

So you'll see some changes in terms of how people utilize it.

I would imagine with that kind of population increase in the sports center that you've got some serious challenges with maintenance and and budget, of course.

So, how do you it's always a challenge?

Um, we I think the last few years we've asked for some more allocations to help us deal with that.

And Shannon talked about really the issue that we're up against this year uh more than ever.

Minimum wage is now $16.90, and we're starting people at 17.

So we're paying a dime more than minimum wage.

And when you look down the street and Panda Express is paying $26 an hour, and In N Out is paying $26 an hour, and even uh Seaside Recreation is starting at 19 or $20 an hour.

Then you're saying, okay, we have a structural challenge here because we're not going to attract the best staff, and we're not going to retain the staff that we need.

And so it's at the point where we can no longer be really creative about being able to attract and retain staff.

We have to address it structurally.

So we're going to be asking for some more allocations in the part-time salaries and benefits so that we can staff appropriately.

It's not just a service level uh issue, it's a safety issue.

Because if we can't staff appropriately, then we can't really offer some of those programs and services.

So that's kind of where we're at with um with the staffing issue.

But we'll support you in that.

Okay.

I wanted to say real quickly, if I could acknowledge Sarah and her staff over at the Silsey Center.

I was able to do a Witcher Wonderland luncheon over there with the Gateway Center and Hope Center.

And Sarah and her staff were amazing.

They invited everyone and was welcome.

The tap bananas played and we made ornaments.

And then we did the Hokie pokey.

It was wonderful to see how delighted everybody was.

So shout out to her.

I just I've been in the park I go to the parks a lot, and I think everything looks just really really good.

And anytime you bring anything up, the Tyson is crew is really responsive.

I just want to give a shout out to that, especially in Oak Newton where I'm at all the time.

Um I had something else I can't remember, but um, there's no time.

Oh, thank you.

And is that is that former Monterey Recreation employee Kelly McKay that's helping doing stuff?

So want to throw that out there too.

Um, yeah.

I'll five follow back up, I'll skip to it.

If no one else has anything, I guess we move on to public comment.

Nate.

Thank you, Chair.

If if you are in the council chambers and 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 raid raise hand feature or star nine if you dialed in by phone.

None in the chamber need.

Thank you.

We have one public comment online, last three of seven zero five.

Right ahead.

Yes, uh Lorna Moffett.

Uh that was a great presentation.

It just sounds like you know, you guys are doing incredible work and uh you know, really helping a lot of people get active.

So thank you for that.

Um I I'm curious.

Have we lost public comment general?

Public comment, because that's one of the items that I wanted to speak on.

That will come up in just a few more items, then we'll have general public comment.

Okay, so um the only thing that I um took exception to is this um invasive uh species um that he mentioned in one of the parks that they were clearing out, you know, invasive species, and that can include the eucalyptus trees.

And I just want to read to you um David uh Mahoney.

Uh he was appointed by the United States Department of Army to be chief of fire prevention at the Oakland Army base, and in 1991.

Um, and this task force was formed to investigate the causes of the most destructive woodland urban interface fires in the history of the United States, the Oakland Berkeley fire of 1991.

And he was to make recommendations to prevent the reoccurrence.

And what he says in his report about invasive species, sound wildfire hazard mitigation does not make a distinction between whether a species was here before or after Columbus landed in the Caribbean.

Sound effective wildfire hazard mitigation does not determine that a plant or species is a fire hazard because of where it originated.

Such a determination is putting, and I'm having a hard time reading this last little bit, I'm almost done.

Ideological or economic consideration ahead of safety of firefighters and the public and gives rise to propagandic statements which disregard to scars the public.

But which have no basis in the science.

So we have to really start looking at this rhetoric that was created originally by Monsanto to sell their herbicides, and uh that's very important for all of us and to save the eucalyptus trees because we need all the trees we can get right now.

Thank you.

Thank you for your public comment.

We have no other public comment on this item.

With that public comment is closed.

That ends the presentation section.

We'll be moving on to the consent agenda.

The citizens, uh all the matters listed under the consent agenda are routine in nature and will be adopted by one motion unless a member of the commission requests discussion on a on anything on there.

The only thing under our consent agenda today is the approval of the December 10th, 2025 minutes.

Would anyone like to make a motion?

So moved.

Second, second.

All right.

So we take a owes.

Who second that?

So first, you did first.

Who second?

Somebody has to.

Okay, we're gonna do Commissioner Nazagari.

Thank you so much.

And why do I have the local who does the rules?

All right, all in favor.

Aye, motion carries.

Oh, Cathy, can you hear us?

I'm sorry, yes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Alright, now that the consent agenda will move on to general public comment.

Nate.

Thank you so much.

Yes, this is the opportunity for general public comment.

These are for items that are not on tonight's agenda.

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

If you are online, please use the raise hand feature or star nine if you've dialed in by phone.

None in the chamber, Nate.

Thank you.

And we have one online.

Please go ahead and make your public comments.

Yes, uh Lorna Moffett again.

So I'd like to continue with Maloney's uh response to wildfire mitigation plan.

Green living trees and cutting them down because they did not originate in California, when it has been shown over and over again that green trees, regardless of where they originated, are a bulwark against wildfire because the moisture they contribute to the ground fuels and because they act as windbreaks from page 13 to 63 of the fire protection handbook as the amount of flammable materials in a given area increases.

The amount of heat a fire produces also increases.

The hottest fires, as well as those most difficult to contain, occur in areas containing the greatest quantities of fuel.

The statement from the plan, heat output from mature eucalyptus trees is high when sufficient fuel has accumulated in the area is misleading and disingenuous.

It strongly suggests and erroneously.

Implies that the heat from a eucalyptus forest fire is greater than the heat from a forest fire involving other species of trees.

In fact, the heat generated by the forest fire is not dependent on the species of trees involved in the fire, but on the quantity of fuel in the area of the fire.

And so we're being told time and time again by our politicians and fuel management programs that it's the tree and it's the eucalyptus, and they're non-native, and they've got to be cut down.

And there's thousands in this area that are going to be cut down, and that means thousands of tons of CO2 that will not be absorbed, air that will not be produced, pollution that will not be sucked in by these wonderful trees.

We have to stop this dialogue.

Thank you so much for listening.

Thank you so much for your public comments.

So no other general public comment.

Sorry, with that, public comments are closed.

And we'll move on to the public appearance uh reports on action actionable items next uh section.

The first uh we have an uh item to recommend to the city council that the parks and recreation related proposed uh neighborhood and community improvement program projects for fiscal year 25-26 are consistent with the parks and recreation master plan and provide direction to the staff to advise city council.

This uh item is exempt from CEQA per Article 19, sections 15301, 15303, 15306, classes one, three, six, and not a project under CQ, Article 20, Section 15378 under General Article 5, Section 15061.

Shannon, I assume Reggie.

So Reggie's gonna take over most of this, so just wanted to add that this is just to recommend council um the projects that are parks and recreation related.

This is the new round of um projects that we have um to allocate the six million, and uh there's quite a few projects that are parks and rec related, but the one that the parks and rec commission advocated the most for um is hilltop park phase two.

Um, and so we'll go ahead and just hand that off to Reggie, and we're here for questions.

I'm sure I'm sure there's questions about.

Yes, all right.

Um thank you, uh commissioners again.

Um, so we'll, yes, item five on this evening's agenda is to present um the parks and rec related projects that'll be going to city council in April.

Before we go to city council, these projects also go to the planning commission.

All of the projects go to a planning commission um, I believe two weeks from yesterday.

Um, so that's on their agenda as well.

Um so just a quick background on this past um cycle.

We got 73 uh applications in total.

We went uh as part of the review process.

Uh 19 of those projects were either withdrawn, consolidated, uh, or not found to be valid, which left uh 54 projects on voting night, um, which was December 17th, if if my memory is correct on that one.

Um, so of those um, and what you'll see is there were a lot of um high price projects this year, way more than uh what's been um I would say um common on average an NCIP project is somewhere between a hundred and a hundred and fifty thousand dollars average project in the past this year.

We're we're like 500,000.

Um, so we only will be recommending um 19 projects to uh city council for approval um this year versus in past years 30 to 40.

So um we're about half.

Um so um and nate, can you go to next slide, please?

So just the breakdown on the projects by neighborhood.

Uh, again, there's 16 total neighborhoods, uh 15 voting um seats on the NCIP committee.

Uh we had some pro a lot of quite a few neighborhoods that did not submit any projects um this year.

Um but then I think our traditional um neighborhoods that tend to submit a lot of projects, they held true again this year.

Uh six in Casanova Oak Knoll, four from Del Monte Beach, uh 12 from the downtown area, and um if you go to the next slide, uh you'll see there was 10 from New Monterey, and then the multi-neighborhood includes um things like the recreation trail, just because it passes through multiple neighborhoods, um, and then place other and then the like fire department, police station, those types of projects.

Okay, next one, please.

So of the the projects that we're recommending uh to go to city uh at city council will be the um another year for community wide fuel reduction, hilltop park center renovation phase two, um project at Casanova Oak Knoll Park, uh replace a gate, uh look at improving restroom lighting, Del Monty Beach, uh project to install some railing at the boardwalk stairs, and then the project that's in yellow is uh what we call a cutoff project.

So the way the NCIP um program works is that uh we can recommend projects up to the funding available for that year with the um with the option for four additional projects.

Uh, if if the previous projects are finished, say under budget with available funding, we can then go to those uh cutoff projects and uh some recreation trail work along lighthouse curve would be um one of those cutoff projects.

So um as Shannon said the in um the parks and rec commission um back in um early 2025 had made uh had identified five projects um to recommend and uh get support to the NCIP committee of those five, the one that did uh make the cut was the Hilltop Park Center facility improvements, um El Estero Park Center, um El Estero uh large barbecue area improvements, the Schulsee Park Center facility improvements, and uh um mural upgrade at Hilltop Park Center.

Uh those other four projects did not um make the cut this year.

So just just for your information, okay.

Uh Nate, you go to the next slide, please.

So again, this is the neighborhoods and uh is there another slide there, Nate?

Um yes, okay.

So just a little bit more detail.

So we're recommending um one and a quarter million dollars um this time around for the fuel and uh forest management.

And uh next slide, please.

We're gonna again, as we had talked about, a million dollars for Hilltop Park Center.

Uh next slide, please.

Um $2,000 for um this gate at the um at Casanova Oak Knoll Park Center.

And just keep in mind that um it's kind of these estimates were kind of working estimates and they can be adjusted as necessary once we get into design and say purchasing of equipment and that sort of thing.

Uh next slide, please.

And here's the the location for the improved railing um along the stairs that go down from Surf and Tide Avenue down to the beach.

So this is this this will be a significant project.

And as we were talking about before, this is one that would require coastal commission input um permitting.

Um, yeah, we'll earn, we'll earn our money on this one.

Um next one, please.

And then here, just uh if you haven't been along the uh recreation trail lately, um there there's some of the wood retaining wall is in need of some uh replacement and repair.

So personally, I'm hoping that we can and make that happen.

Um we'll see.

And I believe that is the last slide, right?

Yeah.

So I'm available for any questions you might have reggie how many people work in your department total yes am i looking at them uh i think n c ip program yeah it's it's me I get help from an administrative assistant um and then you know others chip in where they can I think I we're less than 20 in public works engineering for sure so when a project gets approved from NCIP and goes on to the city council and gets approved there and then you you decide uh you have to put it out for for bid for costs involved um what is what is the timeline of that process of once it's been approved by the city council to get bids on getting it approved getting getting it funded and it's it's it's it's way more complicated than that.

So just as an example in January unrelated to parks we had a project that was originally proposed in 2011 that we just completed.

So I mean it's frustrating um for everyone um the number one question I get is why isn't my project done um it's there's there's just a million different things that go into completing a project so it's it's it's impossible to say I so if I don't know if you noticed on those slides um the NCIP committee had asked me to give some kind of what they call the complexity rating.

So I had rated some projects low medium and high kind of just to give people a feel for um kind of again the complexity but you know what goes into that um things like permitting um so like the Del Monte Beach project if it needs coastal commission approval that would make it a high complexity project things like the fence the gate the gate fence at um Casanova Oak Knoll I would say is a fairly simple project right we can purchase a piece of equipment out of a catalog and we have you know craft workers that can install that without a permit um so it it all really just depends I mean so if we have we utilize what we call on call contracts at times so we have like um maintenance contracts or you know so if it's something that we can do off of an on call contract we can do that way um but so take for example the basketball court at uh via paraizo and um veterans park that was designed in-house we had a couple summer interns that worked on the design and then we have to work on the um you know the uh request for proposal documents and it has to route through various departments of the city uh including finance and city attorney and then it goes out to bid I mean there's just so many um so many steps in the process and unfortunately if something gets stuck along the way then those projects tend to sit and they just unfortunately to be honest don't get done right so if you're if if we're working on a project there's a there's a hitch along for who knows what reason there could be a and then you'll just drop that and move on right because right now I have um there's 80 projects more or less total in the portfolio um 10 of those roughly are in closeout phase what I call them um so there's 70 active or some somewhere around there and if a project gets stuck right I have 69 other projects to move on to um I could work I could spend a a bunch of time working on that one or I can try and get five other ones done so a lot of times I just move on um I think we're all kind of like that.

You know, we we take the path of not the least resistance, but we want to make, want to make progress, and so we go down that path.

And the reason I was asking this is because of the amount of money that has been allocated from NCIP to projects uh that have not been you know, not been utilized.

It's kind of staggering and it was very tempting for the previous city manager to come in and say, Well, you know, if you're not gonna use it, we'll take it um and I I'm concerned about that still being a uh a possibility with the uh the new city manager.

So that was the the purpose for asking about that process.

Yes.

Thank you.

Do those figures account for any permitting costs like for like the coastal commission, or do you do everything in-house, or do you have do you need like environmental consultants for that?

The answer is it depends.

Um, but generally, yeah, the cost does include uh permitting.

So we do the majority, I would say in-house.

So between myself and uh the staff in the planning department, we complete the applications.

Um we do get outside support for yeah, arch archaeological um if that's necessary, um, that sort of a thing.

But yeah, we typically do the majority in-house.

Um, maybe.

Oh, when I think I would what exactly.

Pardon the interruption, but if you could please turn on your microphone.

Sorry.

Okay.

So what ex how exactly do we select which project goes first, second, third, fourth?

Because, um, in my previous jobs, projects regarding safety of the public or safety of our community was number one.

Uh the other projects that were about beautifying stuff were not as important.

So, how do we do it here?

Yes.

Um, so the short answer is there's no formal prioritization.

There's no um key or um it as far as I know, it does not exist.

So what you're asking for, the short answer it doesn't exist.

Um what I personally do is is what I had described in that I'll go through the projects, we identify them in different criteria.

Um, and like I said, location, um, availability of contracting options, funding sources.

Um, if we have enough money in an account.

Um, what I would also say is in my time here, I think that there's room for dispute and disagreement about what is a safety project.

I mean, I've seen someone say, oh, this is an absolute must.

We have to do it, and then you'll have someone else who disagrees.

So it's I mean, I think that this is something that has been a long-term issue with the NCIP program.

Um, and it is not something that has yet been solved.

I mean, it goes along with the backlog of projects.

I mean, we've we've had projects that are on the books for I mean, a long, long time.

I mean, I'm looking at stuff that originally was proposed in 2010, 2008, 2006.

I mean, it goes it goes way back.

I mean, we have I I could tell you a project that I know that's on the books from 2000.

Um, some people would tell you that's a safety project.

Others would say it's not necessary, right?

It hasn't been done in 26 years, so it doesn't need to happen.

So I mean, it's in an ideal world, I think the I the goal for the NCIP project program would be that.

So, for example, this 19 projects that are coming up would be done next year this time, right?

You would finish all the projects in a year.

Um, as far as I know, in 40 years, that hasn't happened.

Okay, we'll work on it.

Thank you.

I do want to commend, thank you for the presentations and thank you for the real questions that can be difficult.

It feels like sometimes we're kicking the can or in circles, not just down the road, but bringing up questions about salary, Bill, thank you for doing that.

Um, uh asking the questions about how we how we do this process.

Thank you for doing that.

Thank you for doing it in the public space that is so necessary because I think we're all sitting in this room trying to come up with solutions to make the situation better.

And unfortunately, um it takes a village and we're all sitting here trying to do that.

So continue to do what you guys are doing.

Thank you.

Anything else from the commission?

Um, uh at this point, Nate, can you open up to public comment?

Yeah, thank you.

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

If you are online and would like to make a public comment, please raise your hand or press star nine.

We have one in the chamber nate.

Perfect.

We have no public comment online.

So we'll go to our one public comment in the council chambers.

Hi, my name's Shelley Schmidt.

I'm the NCIP representative for Casanova Oaknole.

So I might be able to give you some insight on how the committee voted for um the projects to be presented to council in this upcoming cycle.

Um first I'm gonna address uh the Casanova Oak Knoll projects.

We had, I think, six projects, and most of them were centered around the park.

And out of those six, only the one for the safety gates made it to um you and hopefully to council.

Um, and that was because that one is a public safety project.

The others were deemed, there was a trash can, um, similar to the ones that are at Laguna Grande Park proposal.

There was a dog fountain resurfacing of um the handball basketball courts, but the gate project was submitted by a mother in our uh mother of young children in our um neighborhood.

Um there was a gate there before, and it broke.

I did receive information that it broke shortly after it was installed, and so there's been no gate there since.

It's not a lot of people bring dogs to our park and the dogs will run into the playground area that that gate is for the children's playground, and so it'll run in there, knock the kids down, scare the kids.

Um also it's at the corner of an intersection that's fairly busy, and kids have run out towards uh the street.

So that one I think made it because it is a public safety issue.

Also, the bathroom lighting is kind of dark, and the same mother kind of felt it was a little creepy going in there because it's dim lighting.

Um NCIP did try to focus this one given the budget deficit issues that the city's facing on really focusing on public safety issues, and so that's why some of the um parks projects are later, or are not high as highly ranked, is because of that.

They were really trying to focus more on safety.

That was a question and a concern that repeatedly came up.

Is this a public safety issue?

Is this and so some of the projects are like crosswalks and stuff?

They got forwarded, street lighting got forwarded, um, got higher marks in our voting nights.

So we did try to focus more on the public safety issues, and I think that's why that out of the six projects concerning our park, that one was the only one who went forward.

So hopefully you support that project to go to council because it is needed in our area.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for your public comment.

We have no other public comment on this item.

Thank you, Nate.

Um, what one last chance to return to the the commission?

I I want to touch on that.

That is a good point.

Um, my son is a runner, and he uh that parked right up the hill uh from our daycare.

So we go there after daycare, and um, he's bolted a few times.

So it's it I've I've thought i'm thoughts.

Yeah, yeah.

No, no, sorry.

He he he'll be four in April.

He's uh a runner, not a not a not a sprinter.

So I I and I saw where the gates used to be so that is that'll be it's a very welcome addition of the park um there's nothing else do we want to make uh call it a call for a vote to recommend these to the council i move that we recommend the uh highlighted projects to the city council second all right all in favor aye thank you kathy um all right with that that ends um the public appearance section move on to staff comments nicole thank you so i just wanted to comment on the presentations from our leadership team it was really great to hear about having such an engaged and connected community because of many of the things that um our leadership team was able to highlight that our parks and recreation um staff are really passionate about providing to the community so really great to hear all of those things tonight also um the budget season was mentioned by a couple of my colleagues and that was another thing that started uh basically on day one of my arrival here so um we've all been at the table um really working through the details on uh this fiscal year's budget um appreciate the team approach and just also want to um introduce mark ackerman who's out in the audience tonight um he is a management analyst for the city who's going to be working with our um our team on a part-time capacity um and so he'll be assisting us with budgeting but also research and making sure that we are able to continue um to provide up-to-date information and data um to this board uh as well as others uh so we can uh keep on top of all of that so appreciate having you here tonight mark and thank you to the whole team for the presentations I really enjoyed them thank you Shannon so just would like to welcome Nicole again thank you it's great to have you here and have the support um we can arrange for everyone on parks and right to have a chance to stop by El Estero and see the new play equipment at some point when it's all done it's uh I have not seen it I've gotten pictures I've not seen it in person and I can't wait so I'm very excited about that um I'd also like to acknowledge um Mike Lewis who is a management analyst in public works and with the shutdown he helped us move a lot of these projects along so we got approval from city council but then he's helped us with the contracting and um the permitting and so um in conjunction with Reggie um we got approval for we got the RFP sent out for the Via Paraizo and veterans basketball courts and we got this in contract and equipment ordered uh solicito lights he's assisting us still um the El Estero shade structure he's still helping us with those as well so even though he's gone back to his regular duties he's still trying to close out some of those things that he started so we greatly appreciate that because we just don't have the capacity um and then one thing that we were able to do that also sped up this process is we were able to um utilize piggybacking so if anyone's familiar with piggybacking it's um someone has already done the heavy work of an RFP usually there's a national organization or something like that who have gone through and so we're able to get that um competitively bid price and cost um and that kind of smooths things through a little bit faster with our finance department for um contract approval, so it's very helpful.

Um, I like to thank Reggie as well.

He's a huge help.

Um, he's got a big lift, and um, that's really helped us a lot.

Um, we are offering an Alzheimer's association series.

Um, so we'll get that information out to you.

It's gonna be all of our community centers.

Sarah Reed helped coordinate that for us.

We will be having a March meeting.

There's a few things on the agenda.

So please mark March 11th, Wednesday, 5 30.

Um, and then otherwise, I just want to thank you all for everything and all of your support and the recreation team, um, Melissa, Philip, um, Nate, who's our voice in the sky, um, Rachel, Sarah, Misty, Melissa, Brent.

I said Melissa twice.

Chris, um, we're, you know, we're just going full speed ahead.

Things are so so busy.

We have not had a downtime.

Usually we think summer, as soon as summer's over, we can breathe a little bit.

Um, it has not been the case.

So we are um, I it I feel like it's summer already.

It'll be the fourth of July before we know it.

I'm actually working on booking all of those bands and everything.

So um, lots going on.

And um, yeah, and thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you for your support.

Uh thank you for being able to share with the community the work that we do uh on behalf of the community and uh thank you for the opportunity to be able to share our our team success with you.

Thank you.

Um it's great to have a director at the end of this table.

So um again, welcome to Cole.

Um hiring a former intern.

Last time I talked to you all, we have we're talking about our intern that was helping so much at the cemetery and um updating so many records and everything.

So luckily we're we're getting to hire him part-time for a few more months, uh, continue the great momentum that's up there.

So hopefully we'll get some even you know um something to really report at the end because they're they're making so much um progress right now.

So that's really helpful for us.

The capital site, the old capital site, um, the Cyprus fire district recently put in fire gates, which is really cool.

They um and then they're going those gates are gonna lead to these fire these fire roads that have um that are originally in there.

So um we're gonna have some great access roads, which also be you know, kind of our the paths that people be able to walk later on when we hopefully get the open it to the public, but still the that is gonna be really fantastic for our emergency service um folks to be able to get in there really easily um if it anything should happen.

Um, and then lastly, as was already mentioned, cutting day, have it on your calendar a little over a month from now or reaching out to everybody.

I anticipate a much bigger horticulture fair part.

Uh we're actually talking about overflow uh to other areas of the friendly plaza area.

Um, so because we're just we're getting people who want to be part of it, right?

The other day we got a uh the local begonia society reached out to us, which you know, the orchid society, all these groups.

So um I anticipate a very uh a very full horticulture fair portion of our cutting day event.

So we hope to see you there.

What's that?

The whole launch of our well, okay.

It's it's there if we need it, okay.

Appreciate Shannon.

But yeah, no, that's all I got.

Um, but good seeing you all.

Yeah.

Thank you guys so much.

Um it's time for move on to the commissioner comments.

Start over here, Ben.

I just want to say, as always, thank you so much for the hard work you all and your teams do and these amazing programs and exciting projects that are you all do for our community.

It's just blows my mind every time and super thankful.

Sorry.

Um welcome Nicole again.

Um, and I'm um looking forward to working with all of you, really.

So thank you.

Sid.

Um, I think probably we should all take advantage of having a moment with Nicole before we no longer able to have a moment with Nicole because she's she's drinking from a fire hose at this point.

So I would encourage all of us to to make that contact and thank you so much for for taking on this uh um pretty impressive job.

So really looking forward to working with you.

And I am so impressed with the innovations that our people come up with uh at the sports center, the recreation department innovations that you do just to take care of all the the parks uh in the city.

So um it it stuns me every time how how I don't know who's coming up with these ideas but I am uh deeply impressed with the creation that that you've come up with and thank you so much for for what you do for the city of Monterey.

Christian.

Yeah again um thank you Nicole welcome Nicole um it is nice to see a captain of the ship but this ship was not aimlessly wandering you have an awesome team to uh sail it with you um so it'll be awesome to see that collaborative and continue to speak out even with the captain uh bring your voices to the table and let us know not just to be like we've done this it's a great thing but when you have concerns or um you know uh boundaries that you need help um crossing let us know we need we need to hear that we need to hear those voices so thank you for doing that I'm gonna be really looking at this Monterey County uh the the group that you mentioned that you went to um the Monterey County works I'm really interested in and learning more about that but good job great thank you.

Welcome Nicole and also just thank you for everything you do I have not been more proud to be a citizen of Monterey and I've lived here all my all my life so you guys are doing an awesome job and I love to brag to all my friends who don't live here about what a wonderful city we have Kathy you still with us yes I am yes I wanted to also welcome Nicole you landed in a great place I don't think you could have asked for a better staff or more beautiful location um I also want to just take one quick second to thank ties I live next to the tired little park and it is just coming back beautifully it's got trees and what a difference his staff has made there and also seen a lot of the work of the removal of the invasive plants and trees in Laguna Grande and that was a huge project I'm not sure how many people Tys had out here with him but a lot of trucks and a lot of action going on so thank you for that it's always more comfortable knowing that a lot of those dead trees and weeds have been picked up so thank you so much guys um I just want to say thanks again uh for everything um I'm really excited to work and talk to meet our new direct the new director um I'm you know excited that we're back to full capacity um just hearing all the stories of COVID and before that you know eventually get back to get what we need what the staffing we need but it's good to you know slowly get back at least filling the the vacancies um and cuttings days um I I wait it's uh with beta in breath I it it's all around my office I at least five people go and we're just so that it's like a holiday it's I'm very excited um oh yeah black friday christmas my birthday it's all all rolled into one um and uh just an announcement to follow up if you if you're interested in from our last meeting with the lower presidio park the meet the the the meeting is scheduled March 1st I believe I don't want to misspeak but Brian sent the email out um that Sunday March 1st will be the meeting meeting at Lower Presidio Park about the historic monument stuff.

There'll be a walking tour and a a presentation and then or walking tour and then a presentation um and that's all I have.

Um I guess that closes our c that.

Uh the next meeting will be March eleventh, as Shannon mentioned, and without anything else, I will call this to adjournment.