The Committee of the Whole for Parks and Environmental Sustainability met on April 28, 2026, at 4:30 PM at Redmond City Hall. Presiding Officer Menka Soni called the meeting to order with all seven council members present. The agenda covered six items: a contract for website consulting services, an update on the Energy Smart Eastside electrification program, a park impact fee study update, a dog park update, an update on climate resiliency in vegetation management, and a contract amendment for hydrogeological support. Both action items were advanced to consent agendas for future council meetings. The meeting also included a recognition of Deputy Director Dave Tuchak's 38-year career and upcoming retirement.
Good afternoon. I'm calling to order the April 28th, 2026 Committee of the Whole for Parks and Environment Sustainability. In attendance are council members, Council President Stewart, Council Vice President Noakamina, Councilmember Kritzer, Councilmember Forsyth, Councilmember Prakria, Councilmember Parsi, and myself, presiding officer Main Casoni. We have six items on the agenda that has been previously shared with all council members, so we can get started on our agenda. Our first agenda is box is with the PAX department WIP configuration contract with the D2 Creative in the amount of 141,900. And we have with us staff, would you please introduce YASIL? Of course. Good afternoon, Council members. I'm Brittany Pratt. I'm the Recreation Business Manager, and I am joined today by Lindsay Tusing, who is our events and marketing supervisor, and Mac Leonard, who is an events coordinator. So we are here today seeking council's approval to place a contract on the May 5th consent agenda for professional website consulting services for the Parks and Recreation Department. Over the past several years, even as we have worked closely with city communications to keep all of our information online as current and visible as possible. We have consistently heard a clear message from community members. Finding parks and recreation information online is just harder than it should be. This feedback has come through really every channel that we use and receive feedback through, customer service interactions online, in person, over email, over the phone, queue alerts, parks, trails, recreation commission, other commissions, committees, community engagement for the arts plan that's in process, and most significantly the statistically valid survey from our recreation program plan that's also in process right now. One factor contributing is the discontinuation of our printed recreation guide. That guide allowed folks to casually browse and discover opportunities that they didn't already know existed. Our current web structure doesn't offer that same ability to explore. And because our digital platforms aren't well integrated, even if we were to explore the idea of a digital form of a guide, we would risk becoming or creating just another disconnected page. So fixing the underlying structure is really the necessary first step. It's also worth noting that this challenge spans our entire department. It's not just something from the recreation guide, though, that that's worth noting. It's classes, its sports leagues, its rentals, its trails, its parks, its parks amenities, its fence, its arts, all of those things. So we are constantly hearing and consistently hearing that community members run into barriers, not because the programs aren't there, not because they don't exist, but because the systems aren't connected. So this contract is our response, bringing in a consultant to help diagnose the root issue, design a coordinated plan, and then implement it. And with that, I will hand it over to Lindsay to walk through the selection process and the scope. Thank you. I'm Lindsay Tusing, the Parks Department Marketing and Events Supervisor. The Parks Department is seeking a professional consulting service to diagnose and design recommended improvements to our web platforms for all information relevant to parks and recreation. The scope of work and deliverables are included in your packet for review, but I'd like to touch on some key points here. The contract is focused specifically on our parks and recreation department pages and does not extend to all pages within Redman.gov. The work encompasses the community-facing experience of discovering parks and recreation information across Civic Plus, where our main parks content lives, Amelia SmartRec, where program registration takes place, and then Team Sideline where sports league information is managed. Importantly, the replacement of SmartRex registration software is explicitly out of scope. This project went through a full RFP process from February 26th to April 3rd. We received 16 comprehensive applications and began a competitive jury process. Proposals were evaluated using the standard scoring matrix provided to us by the city's purchasing department, and applicants were graded across five weighted categories qualifications, relevant project experience, project understanding, project approach, and proposed cost. The top two scoring applicants were invited to interview with the jury, and following those interviews, we conducted professional reference checks on both finalists. The results of those reference checks were discussed with the jury, and consensus was reached, naming D2 Creative as our top choice. We anticipate the project to run through 2026 and 27 at a total cost of 141,900. And I'll pass it to Mac for more on what this looks like in practice. Thanks, Lindsay. Uh Mac Glenard. Today, a resident trying to find the class, reserve a facility, or learn about a trail has to navigate multiple platforms. Our main parks website on Civic Plus, activity registration on SmartRec, and sports leagues on team sideline. The experience is fragmented, and it means people might give up before they find what they're looking for. From the resident perspective, these systems don't talk to each other. So people sometimes hit dead ends. A user might search for an activity on the main website and not see it at all. Or they find the program page, but the registration link is buried several clicks deep. There's no clear connected path across these platforms.