in progress.
» All right, quite focus without my glasses. I think we can call this
meeting to order. Uh shall we have the roll call?
» Yes.
» Commissioner Chan >> here.
» Commissioner Chang Frank >> here.
» Commissioner Logan >> here.
» Commissioner Martin >> here.
» Commissioner Trinkle >> here. and Chair Abbott
» here. >> As of right now, Commissioner Kent is
absent. Um, and we do have our new commissioner starting tonight,
Commissioner Jennifer Logan. >> Welcome.
» Welcome. >> Uh, did Commissioner Kent say he
wouldn't be here or he may show up or we don't know.
» Um, I didn't get a message saying that he was not.
» We didn't send out a [laughter] We'll see. We have certainly have a quorum
though. That one's unmarked. Okay. I will read the uh land acknowledgement.
Uh the city of Albany recognizes that we occupy the land originally protected by
the Confederated villages of Lejon. We acknowledge the genocide that took place
on these lands and must make strides to repay the moral debt that is owed to
this indigenous people, specifically the Aloney tribe. We thank them for their
contributions which have transformed our community will continue to bring forth
growth and unity. City of Albany commits to sustaining ongoing relationships with
the tribe and together build a better future for all that now make this their
home. >> There we go.
» And we are going to welcome Commissioner Kent.
» Excellent.
We'll give him a moment to uh get settled.
» Actually um while he's getting settled, I just wanted to give an update that um
we are going to bump uh item 4.4-2 4-2 from the agenda. Um, our Dena, our
community development director who is presenting this is sick and I think um I
think it's a good project for her to introduce herself to the commission and
so um uh we're going to push it a month. >> Fair enough. Thank you.
» Sure.
» And let's get the minutes roll of the minutes from the last meeting. Any
» I move to approve the minutes. >> All right. Have a second.
» You may want to view them or >> uh
» you have a comment or >> No, that just our newest commissioners
probably abstain from this one because wasn't here.
» But otherwise, um I I second. >> Okay. Very good.
» Commissioner Chang. >> Yes.
» Commissioner Chang Frank. Yes. >> Commissioner Ch Kent.
» Yes. >> Commissioner Logan's going to abstain.
Commissioner Martin. >> Yes.
» Commissioner Trinkle. >> Yes.
» And Chair Abbott. >> Yes. All right. Very good.
» Motion passes. >> Motion passes.
» All right. Public comment. I see no public in the room. How about virtual
people?
» Uh, no hands raised online. >> Okay. Very good.
another few seconds. All right, moving on then. Presentations. I believe
one is Prop 68 measure M funded projects update.
Jamar to >> Yeah,
I hope you have it. [laughter]
welloiled machine.
» Sorry. Trying to get it to the
There we go.
All right. All right. All right. Good evening,
commissioners. My name is Andre Sterling, project manager at public
works. Here to give you an update on our Prop 68 projects uh for this year. So,
we can go to the next slide. So, we're going to discuss specifically uh Pier
Street Park uh the access and landscape improvements project, Jules Terrace Park
shade improvements and dog amenities, as well as a brief update on the Dartmouth
tot lot uh seating element upgrade. So, next slide, please.
So, we just wanted to highlight uh one project that was completed since our
last uh update uh with pros commission. Uh that's the path lighting project at
Memorial Park. That those were the five new lamp posts that were installed
there. Uh completed in August of 2025. So, it gives obviously more security
there at night at the park as well as a warm color temperature uh lighting
there. All right, next slide, please.
So, our first update is on uh Pier Street Park access, landscape, and shade
improvements, and it's all based on the recommendations uh from the pros master
plan. So, next slide, just as a review of the project scope
since it's been a while uh since our last update. So, new entry stairs, two
sets of stairs with handrails. Uh and that's made from repurposed eucalyptus
tree lumber from Albany Hill. uh new landscape boulders, a native plant
material and trees uh that will be planted uh new asphalt path with a
ballard new shade structure for uh the play
equipment.
Here's our uh conceptual layout. So, it's going to be done in two phases. So
phase one would be the access improvements and as we said with the
with the scope uh a new asphalt path that's in the north side of the park uh
there we're going to relocate some of the existing boulders and also install
new landscape boulders uh to direct traffic to the new entry uh stairways
there. And then uh of course uh the plant
material with the trees and also installing uh phase two the new shade
structure for the play equipment. All right, next slide please. That's a
rendering there of the south uh side of the park uh with newly planted trees,
new landscape boulders, the new lumber uh staircase there.
Then next slide. And then the north side with the asphalt
path uh another lumber entry stairway and then new trees planted near the
benches as well as throughout the hillside.
All right, next slide. So for phase two, we're looking at three options for a
shade structure uh cantal lever style as well as a shade cell. And the
considerations uh for this decision will be uh based on which one is more cost-
effective but more importantly which one provides the best coverage for the play
equipment. Uh there will be a shade study performed uh to help us make that
decision as well. Uh since these are somewhat substantial structures, they're
going to be based on uh engineering plans.
All right, next slide please. Here's our our tentative schedule. So, we're we're
in the uh the bid phase at the moment and hoping to award the contract the end
of this month uh and start construction in March and completed uh in about a
couple months. All right, our next slide.
So, our next project um in the queue would be uh the Jules Terrace Park, a
shade improvements uh and dog amenities project. So,
looking to install shade elements uh there in the picnic area uh which could
be a grove of trees or material furnishing. And then the dog amenities
upgrade would be installing a new signage indicating dog and dog owner
etiquette as well as developing a system that defines the dog play area that's
there. All based on recommendations from the
pros master plan. All right, next slide please.
So the preliminary scope involves uh obviously the picnic area and just
planting additional trees there uh to provide shading for the the picnic
tables and then at the the southwest corner of the park
uh which is usually used for dog play or for like a dog play area there. Uh there
could be a possibility of uh installing a fence [snorts] there to basically make
it an official dog run uh for the dogs there.
Uh next slide please.
Then our tenative schedule uh again would be uh design completing
the design phase uh sending the project out for bid in March awarding the
contract shortly after in May and then starting construction in June and since
it's a smaller uh project it should be completed within a month.
All right, next slide please. All right, just a brief update on the
Dartmouth tot lot of the seating element uh upgrade. So basically to replace
uncomfortable seating elements that are the existing uh seating that's there and
prioritizing community and comfort. So the considerations for that again uh the
most cost-effective option but also considering comfort and uh most
importantly safety for the users of the tot lot and looking at also what best
fits the space as far as size dimension but also aesthetics of the tot lot
and that concludes the presentation. >> All right, thank you very much. Bring it
to the commission for questions. You have any questions?
the dates. Um yeah, I had a few. One was for Pier Street Park. Um
the um plantings, you said there's going to be drought tolerant plants or native
plants or something. >> Native plants. Yes. And uh I know the
first round when the park was first built and commissioned the bunch of the
trees that were planted died and it was um John Hawkage the city urban forester
said there was it was freeway soil. It was just bad news and um maybe there
wasn't a sufficient um watering or something irrigation. Do you know if
there's any plans for um doing a different strategy that will hopefully
lead to better success on the landscaping?
» Yeah, that's a good question. I know that we were discussing we do have some
quick couplers that are there and we're not going to add irrigation at this
point. That's not in this project scope, but we are discussing another solution
for at least watering. But the soil, I know we we've done amendments in the
past and we can probably discuss that looking into improving the soil quality,
but we're not sure how much that's going to improve.
» I can I can maybe jump in since I was sort of involved in the sort of the
initial construction as well as the the the tree issues. Um some of the trees
are doing okay and other ones um it is a difficult environment because it is a
hard pack soil plus there's lots of um lots of debris in it. So
um once a tree takes hold like it it tends to stay it tends to go but there
we have replaced a lot of the trees over time. So that's something we'll find one
that works and um we are trying to water them more on a more regular type basis
but without an irrigation system. Um in terms of amending the soil um we we did
for lots of years and it's it's it's really just a difficult a difficult
location. So, I'm I think there are some plants out there that are doing well and
we'll try to um use those, but um I think that's going to be a ongoing
challenge. Um right now it looks great. We were out there today with Calrans,
but it uh uh the native plants, you know, um
once uh without an irrigation system, they they kind of go brown pretty
quickly. >> Okay. Um it says the bid phase was in
December with breaking ground in March. Um for the shade options you showed us
three. Uh how is that decision going to be made? When is that decision going to
be made and who will be making that decision?
» Well, we're we can look to your recommendation as well for input on that
decision. uh based on the cost u because we do
have uh a limit to the grant funding as well as the matching funds. Um but we're
working with a contractor that's providing a shade study that's basically
going to give us the best look at the best uh shade coverage for the area. So
with those factors um obviously aesthetics, we don't want
something that's going to be an >> eyesore.
» Um >> but the bids went out in December. Does
that mean the plan somewhat people were bidding on it with an unfinished plan or
» I'm sorry >> you said the bids went out in December.
» Yes. >> Does that mean the
request for um proposals or whatever the the bids um does that mean that they
didn't know which option it was going to be, but they're still going to come up
with a dollar figure or how does that work?
» Good question. So we sent out we sent out the RFP and basically with a
recommendation uh for a shade structure but uh they can present an as equal um
option and looking at those um again it's going to be a slightly uh varying
cost in each one. Um but each contractor does know uh that's going to whoever's
going to submit the bid they know that is we will accept an as equal to
whatever recommendations that we sent out. Right. Um and for Jules Terrace
Park, that area where you've um said might be fenced off, uh who's going to
make the decision as to whether or not it's fenced off and um you have a sense
of roughly how big that area is compared to um the Memorial Park, dog park?
» Yeah. So, we're going to still we're still developing the project scope and
once we have a more finalized scope, we can come back to pros and present uh
present that to you basically to make that decision. Um, that's an option. Um,
I don't know how much public polling was was done involving or in the past with
the park, but that's just an option. We're not saying that's the final
decision. Um,
and then for the shade for the picnic area, said it could be plants or it
could be like the awnings or something. Um, do you know who decides that and and
how that works? >> Yeah, that could also be presented to
pros for recommendation, but there were trees planted there previously that were
removed. So, it would make sense to keep it a more natural area and just replant
some trees, native trees there. We're going to work closely with John Oidge as
well with that. >> Okay. Thanks.
» Okay. Other questions?
» Sure.
» Thank you. So, the boulders up top are to keep people from driving cars on or
keeping control access. >> Yeah, that's for vehicle traffic. Um,
it's going to be a six foot wide path with a ballard uh in the middle.
So, similar to the path that's there. I know there's two ballards there,
existing ballards on the other path.
that's not included in this project scope.
» So I can jump in on that. The path the future path will connect into this um a
little further to the north. I think
» well it's going to connect to the south and then come connect to it's it's
connecting on both sides.
But more serious
test.
» Um, we haven't done soils tests. Um, I >> Oh, yeah. Yeah, my speaker was off.
There we go. people can hear me. Okay. Um
» we haven't done soil stress. That might be something we could do. But it is heav
so it's it is the old um highway offramps.
» Yeah. So I know other places like that where it's just almost impossible to
grow and some arborists they just don't even try. They walk away from it that
it's our park. So we have to can't walk away from it. It's not an option.
» Can we augur down you know and just drill a big hole through it? get some
get the roots down deeper or is it just like 20 feet and
» we could we at this point we could try almost anything and it's what like what
what we're doing is marginally effective like there's there's some trees that are
doing okay and and and others that just no matter how many times we replant them
they were kind of getting the same thing. So I'm I'm open to almost
anything and I'm sure John would be too. I don't have any solutions on
» the trees that are doing well. Are they specific varieties or just whatever that
right place and right >> right right place right time. I think I
think one of the struggles you know there um so we did amend it um several
times and every time we would try to rotoill just more pipe and rock and
broken up everything that chunks of concrete from the the highway
keep So so it's it's it's not great material.
» Yeah. Right.
Okay. Um, >> we could I like the idea of the augur. I
can talk to John about that. >> Yeah. I mean, often we if we're working
in industrial sites, you dig dig a hole and they fill it with water and see how
long it takes to if it takes two days and water's still sitting there, then
it's a drainage problem. Then you augur and
» Okay. >> Yeah, maybe be that. It's also obviously
bad soil. Not that it's not like it's going to get
down 18 inches and find good stuff, right?
» Okay. Other uh other questions? >> Yeah, I just had a question. Can you
show the um Jules Terrace Park diagram and go towards that? You we talked a
little bit about that dog run. That's what um Commissioner Martin was asking
about the fenced off area. Is that right? Is it okay?
» So I don't I mean um maybe I'm not recalling correctly. Was
that in the master plan as Okay. >> Okay. As recommendation. Okay. So I
don't remember talking discussing that in depth at any
point here on this commission. So just warning warning. I feel like that might
be a big issue potentially for neighbors. And not to say that overall
the city may totally support it, but it's just something we should be um we
should make sure that the process is good and that there's a lot of public
involvement and a lot of notification. Um
not to say either way, but just to make sure everybody who has a stake in it
feels like they've they've been heard. >> Definitely. I and I would just say that
especially if we're going to put a fence up, even if just signage, we should
probably be sure and reach out, but but if there's going to be a fence,
» I guess this is no longer a question. All right. Uh any other questions? We
jumped right to discussion. >> I think questions I had have been asked.
So, uh go to public, open up for public comment. Uh
» no hands raised. >> No hands raised. Okay. Very good. Now we
can have our discussion. I mean, you're not really looking for anything from us
right now, right? You're just kind of an update. You don't need
» Just an update. Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. Um
» um I mean there is no irrigation, no plans to have irrigation or did you try
to? No, there's no plans. And I guess part
of that would be I know we did discuss briefly that we have existing uh quick
couplers there and just developing either a schedule um in that hillside
there's yeah there's no irrigation that's actually for the field area. So
» that could be completed under another project in the future but not with this.
I think one of the the issues in the development of the project was um not
being irrigated because this was done in the midst of a drought and the idea was
to have drought tolerant plants and not have an established irrigation system.
Um and um did take the opportunity to put some
quick couplers in there to handwater things, but it's not a developed
irrigation system. And it's and it's based off the um water service serving
the uh the restroom facility. So it really doesn't have, you know, the
capacity that you would have to for a developed system.
» It's not enough. >> We wouldn't run it off the bathroom.
» Yeah. Um and and I was surprised at how much irrigation I think was something
like $80,000 to establish a new irrigation a new irrigation line.
Um there has been talk with East Bay Mud bringing recycled water to the area but
I think that's >> cheaper. It's not cheap and it's I think
a long way away >> making its way right is into Berkeley
yet or >> yeah I mean I think I think we've had
engagement with East Bay at different times and I think they've run into
struggles with how to get alignment there and and this is probably as far
away you know it's it's not a huge demand and it's probably the most
expensive to serve.
And this also seems like an opportunity to engage the community of friends of
Thompson Pier Street Park whole park was result of community involvement might be
bras ever that
even if it's even a bucket by the >> true
um any other comment
Other than >> Yeah. Yeah.
» I did want to [clears throat] second uh Commissioner Chang Frank's comment about
the noticing for the dog run. Um so because she and Commissioner Abbott and
I were on the subcommittee for the um Memorial Park dog park and that was it
was a huge elaborate affair. Um this I necessarily anticipate it being as as
much of a thing, but it should be duly noticed and um we have opportunities for
public input. >> And one might think that because it's a
de facto dog park now it wouldn't matter, but one would be wrong.
[laughter] That's why I'm saying even if the signs
go up, you need to reach out. >> Fair enough. All right. [laughter]
Little little gunshy here. All right. [snorts] Uh any other comments?
» All right. Well, thank you very much. Yeah, I I'm I think we're all excited to
see uh >> Yeah, great to see all the progress,
too. >> It's really fun to see these actually
happening. >> Thank you.
» We know you're making it all possible. >> I think I have I think I have um I can
make it work. >> Moving on to the park maintenance update
if we're ready. >> Yes. Um
» and at the beginning of the meeting, if some people just tuned in, we decided to
skip 42 because >> Yes, 42. We're skipp
Well, you know, I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna call a chair's prerogative and say we
may now reopen public public comment. If you would like to step up and and have
your three minutes, please
I just joined the of the USA Northern California. Um, so I'm here for a couple
reasons. One is, um, I just want to make the commission aware of fact that
there's a fair amount of grant funding that the national USDA makes available
for, um, for local t local organizations, whether it's um, whether
it's, you know, community tennis associations or cities. And so I just
want to make myself a resource to thank anybody if anybody's interested and
wants to learn more about that. Um I'd be happy to be or to connect you with
some a staff member at the USDA Noral organization. Um so I wanted to offer
myself as that. Then I also just wanted to comment that I think the courts at
Terrace and uh Memorial falling into pretty like high level disrepair. um
which I think is it's I'm sure you guys have noticed and probably heard from
other people at some point, but I just wanted to point it out and um let you
guys know that they're they get used a ton and um to the point where I don't
play as much at memorial as I used to because I have to reserve reserve them
if I want to. Um but uh they're great sports. It's a great park and um I would
hope that at some point they get fixed up fixed up a little bit and um All
right. Well, thank you very much. >> And to be clear, it's US and not USDA.
» That's true. That's right. I work with US in my regular life and I do not want
to have anything to do with that. >> Um just I give you a little preview of
the next um presentation here talking about park maintenance and one of the
upcoming projects for this uh this year. Uh we have established a annual park
rehabilitation program and we're going to redo the courts at uh Terrace Park.
» Okay. >> It's a little snippet.
» Yeah. Julia knows who I am but if anybody wants to get my contact
information >> I'll give you
» city is notoriously uninterested in sources of money. [laughter]
Sure. It can be large amounts of money for
really large projects or small like there's a fair amount coming that's
small micro grants like in the $2,500 range for like if you want to buy like
new benches or like new nets for all of the ports or things like that. So
there's like there's different types of programs. I am not an expert but I'm
learning about it and I can definitely connect with experts to all right
» to learn more about it. >> Well, thank you. I think they will
gladly take your information. Thanks so much for coming down and making your
comments. >> Thank you guys. All right, we will now
close public comment, move to item 43, of which we've had a tantalizing little
preview. [laughter] Um, I think I could just um The fonts
got a little jacked up when I opened it here. So, I did I saved it as a PDF. So,
that might um
work.
Anything's open.
Maybe you can drive just take the PDF.
You got it.
I stop sharing because I think I was messing things up.
And that's where I got stumped. [laughter]
» Here, I got it. I got it now. >> Okay.
» Yep. All right. >> We're just texting you guys to make sure
you guys are still woke. All right. Back to our regular scheduling program.
» Okay. So,
Um we go. All right. So this is a um update on our parks maintenance. So this
is something we were trying to do a number of times a year, but um due to
staff staff turnover, whatnot, we got out of cycle. So, this is my attempt to
kind of bring us back up to speed and uh let everyone know where we are with some
of the uh park maintenance things. So, let me jump in and um
so we're just going to give an overview of uh our approach to ma um park
maintenance um see how it fits within the larger public works uh environment
and then some of the key activities we've been doing. Um one of the things
I'm really excited about is SB 1383. Um, this is something that we've talked
about uh at prior council meeting or commission meetings and has uh been a
struggle and there's been some recent developments and changes that are
actually in our favor which I'm really excited about. Um, and then we'll just
touch on some upcoming projects including the um uh the the tennis
courts that uh we mentioned. So um so public works has what I think
one of the broader scopes of um scopes of work within the the the city. Um we
have uh what is it 16 uh FTEEs as full-time equivalents and then a single
part-time person and that and that take we take care of a lot of things within
the city. everything from delivering capital projects which Andre talked
about to maintaining all the infrastructure and and uh things in our
rightway and just from I think this is how we organize ourselves within the
budgets and things of that sort. We have sort of functional areas, capital
improvements, rightway, buildings and facilities, parks and playfields, open
space and then sort of departmental management. Um and so like in in right
away it's everything from operation and maintenance of the storm storm drains
regul regulatory uh requirements trash and graffiti
um buildings and facilities. It's you know just the the general maintenance of
the build of the of the facil facilities in um parks and open space. This is um
you know all of our structured parks and I'll say that's like Terrace Park and
and um I even include the greenway in there to a certain extent. Um uh and the
open spaces are more of the bulb and Albany Hill, Cornis Creek. So that's
that's sort of our our division of labor there. Um and our approach to
maintenance generally speaking, we have um seven maintenance workers, three of
which are lead workers. So that's um they're responsible for a functional
area. So we have one person around PI Parks and we see uh Michael Michael Hog
he's our uh lead worker for parks and um so he's kneede in everything related to
parks and and um uh lead workers aren't ex you know we're not large enough to
have people exclusively with parks. So um we do everything but as a lead worker
the idea is he he's spending a portion of his time understanding what's going
on in park. So when there is an issue, he has the contacts to go out and and
and address it. Um and then we have a lead worker for public rideway and then
a lead worker for buildings. And they're supported by four maintenance workers
and these are level two. Um right now we um we have um we're down a couple people
for various reasons. So we're down two people. We're looking to kind of bring
that back up. So that that's a um constraint in what we can do.
Um, and then we have the public works manager, which is a vacant position
right now. And then we have a project manager, Andre, who helps support
projects, and then the or urban forester. And so that's that's sort of
the key folks that are involved in um managing uh the the parks.
Um the park maintenance, we have some sort of what I call core activities, and
we call this the trash run. And it's that's more of um more than just picking
up the trash. What it is, it's a structured time that we go through all
the parks. So, uh Memorial Park is we have a um I think it's route A or
whatever. We have a Monday, Wednesday, a Monday, Friday trash run. And this is
where we go through Memorial Memorial Park, Terrace Park, uh Ocean View Park.
We pick up the trash. We blow all the um the uh pathways. We make sure that the
the sand in the sandboxes are at the right level and there, you know, we we
make sure there's no issues with that. We make sure the bathrooms are stocked.
If there's other issues in going in the park, we either address it right then.
Maybe it's a graffiti issue or we put it on a list that that gets done
separately. So, it's really our eyes in the park uh making sure that it's it's
functional. We also have um you know in different parks different so
basically Monday, Wednesday, Friday we do some version of trash run throughout
the city. Um and then we also do what we call the weekend service and this was
something we uh brought on I would say a couple years ago coming out of COVID
where we found and this is again a good problem to have our parks get a lot of
use. So we would our idea is that we would empty the trash on a Friday it
would be you know and that would be enough capacity to le last us through
the uh through Monday when we get another trash run. That's not the case
after sat after Saturday. In a lot of cases the parks need a little bit of a
tuning up. So, we bring in a maintenance worker on overtime uh for four hours um
four hours on a Sunday morning to really just make sure things are ready for the
next day's uh activities in the parks. And so there's, you know, particularly
Memorial Park and Ocean View parks get a lot of picnics and parties and things of
that sort. So, um that's been really helpful to um that was that was um one
of our largest area of complaints and I think we've really addressed that. So,
the complaints are dropping significantly.
Um, and I'll jump to like we coordinate with wreck a lot on this issue because
um, when recreation has a park attendant out
there and that that person is there to assist people doing rentals and and
whatnot and that person does some of the lift. Um, but we want to make sure that
we come in and do some like underlying heavy stuff. Make sure the restrooms are
stocked. If there's trash cans overflowing from the year the the day
before, we make sure that's taken care of and and cleaned up across all of our
parks. But then the attendant can deal with sort of the, you know, wiping down
tables and helping with trash, but not, you know, they they just don't have the
facilities to do it like we do. Um, and then for our we also rely on contractors
particularly in the landscape maintenance. We um irrigation management
and uh trees, you know, we don't we don't have a tree crew. We also bring in
specialty stuff. We had a storm drain issue in Memorial Park this last year
and so we brought in someone to help clear some storm drains to um help with
some drainage problems. So, um you know, that's
there's it's really a nice combination of work that we do in house versus stuff
that we contract out. And my thought is we want to
do work inhouse that we are best suited to. So things like the trash run like we
know our parks. We going to go do the thing and we can identify when there is
an issue and bring it up and if we if we can take care of it we can we'll do it.
if we need to bring in a contractor um we will and and I think that's that's
working and in a lot of cases our maintenance workers are helping make the
decision of what we can do and what we can't do. Um and then we rely on
community partnerships and this is primarily you know Alb Unified um
particularly with the the baseball team. They take a really um uh active um
engagement in maintaining uh particularly the ball field in Memorial
Park as well as other things and other other people who use the fields come in
and do work days and so forth. Um,
so some of the key activities we've done since um, uh, last the last update,
which I think was almost like a year and a half, two years ago, which so I'm want
to get back on cycle on this. Um, one thing we did a restroom refresh for
Memorial Park, Ocean View, and uh, Terrace Park. And Memorial Park was
probably the largest largest one of these. Um and if you recall maybe what
was that two 2016 2017 there was the update of the uh restrooms in Memorial
Park um I would say in the last couple years they were really in a again they
get a lot of use and which is good but um they were showing some wear and tear
particularly with the partitions at Memorial Park we pulled all the
partitions out took everything and uh we uh redid a surface uh floor surface on
it so So, it's more of an epoxy and hopefully that will last better. We got
new brackets. I think Andre spent a lot of time trying to uh track down the
manufacturer and get brackets to make sure one one of the things the brackets
were were broken. So, the um partitions were just all over the place and they
weren't they weren't functioning. So, we cleaned the graffiti, we recoted them,
reinstalled them, and they look pretty good. um at Terrace Park in Ocean View,
we essentially repainted the inside and outside because again they were looking
tired and that was done uh with our staff.
Um and then one of the things we've been doing the last couple years um
uh and this is primarily in response to the SP 1383 was the winter and summer uh
services for the fields. So, this is where we um close the fields. Um the
winter service we're just coming out of. We close the fields uh in early uh late
November and excuse me. Uh they're basically closed through December and
January. We do a uh uh a top coating of of compost. We uh airate uh we we seed
and it's it's this year. I've got a picture of it at at Memorial Park. It
really looks good. Um, so this is an opportunity. The fields get a
lot of play time. We don't use really any fertilizers or any sort of other
amendments. So giving time for the fields to breathe and just um put some
compost on, we water it and let it go without anyone u on it is really showing
some um some uh improvement. Um and at Ocean View there were a number of uh
uh bare spots um that we were getting a lot of complaints from particularly the
soccer folks about um playability in the co in the fields being super hard, no
grass. Um and then we had some other issues too with irrigation where um we
had some breaks in the line and areas with coverage. So with this this
service, we went and um uh we had a contractor with our with Michael um we
went and um uh basically did an audit of our system figuring out where the
coverage issues were um and we identified a number of leaks that we
fixed because there were there were areas that were consistently wet and
then we have areas that were drying. So, um hopefully we're going to have much
better performance on the um u irrigation side which will help help the
fields. Um then we also have done
this down here. This if you've been out in the bulb, we constructed a new set of
ADA spaces. This came from a um a a complaint from the public, not this last
July, but the prior July, with someone who was had accessibility issues, was
having some struggles getting out to the bulb. And um they brought it to our
attention and we realized that the spots that we had there that were ADA that we
identified for ADA um weren't really um up to snuff. And part
of it was when East Bay Regional Parks built their
parking lot that took the pathway that these
these spots um these spots use. So we took a step back and we constructed
these uh two spots in the middle of the um uh in that that sort of island area
between the pathway and the and the road. Um, and so there are two nice
spots with a pathway to the trail and then we uh fixed some of the issues
within the trail and I think that's gotten a good response and it quite
frankly opened up a little more parking spaces uh for uh other folks. So I think
that was a really good thing. Um we've also done uh these picnic tables. You
really can't see it too well, but uh Peter in our uh maintenance uh he's a
lead worker for buildings and he's really good carpenter. He has replaced
at Memorial Park all of the old sort of tres or or composite uh picnic material,
you know, material for the picnic tables. And um they made it with nice
wood. And he's it is much easier to maintain because as people cut things
into it or um uh do we we can sand it out and repaint it and it's a much it's
a much better um long term for us to maintain our plan. And we're um what he
does is he buys the wood and we let it sit for a period of time so it dries
out. And we're planning to um do the same thing at Terrace Park because they
have the same same type of um uh picnic tables.
Um the other thing that we that's it's on its way with the construction of the
dog park and this is uh back to the comment about uh the dog. Nothing
changed in the dog park when we uh other than switching the the gate location.
The park's basically the same. baseball is basically the same, but uh balls
going over the over the fence were um a big big issue and we got lots and lots
and lots of comments about that. So, we we worked with uh Albany Unified and um
you know trying to figure out what what's the real issue and it seems like
most of the comments come not during games because the games really aren't
the problem. It's during practice where someone's taking batting practice and
the coach is very passionate and and one of the time we got lots of calls. They
were coming up against a a pitcher who can like throw 90 whatever 90 miles per
hour and and everyone was fouling it off and so you know everyone's practicing
and fing it all off to the dog park and the dog park's full and so I think
that's that's the that's the sort of the use case that we're trying to um to
address. So, we we found this product that that's used at other high schools
and the uh Albany Unified coach said, "Yeah, that's he's seen this work." And
it's called a um batting turtle. So, it's kind of this cage that that you sit
in and it prevents foul balls from going out in either ways. So, we have that on
the way. And as baseball's ramping up now, our hope is um and as we've talked
with Sid is this this will be a requirement to use um for anyone who's
renting the fields, whether it be Albby Unified, the Cyclones, I guess that's a
travel ball team that uses it. Um the Albany Little League, they'll use that
during practice and then games will will happen as normal. So
» fold up or something. >> Yeah, it's it it folds up. Apparently,
it's not too hard to move. It looks gangly to me, but um uh they cleaned out
an area that they can keep it up on the first baseline. And um I think I think
this hopefully this will um maybe not address all the problems, but really
take a take a bite out of them. So, um and then we also do um you we uh we just
finished uh pruning the trees in Terrace Park today. Um so we do we've gone
through most of the parks doing uh trimming work and uh we do play
equipment inspections. Um this helps we actually have an outside person come and
identify you know defects with this in the in the play equipment. This is the
play structures at the parks and you know a lot of them are things that I
probably wouldn't have had caught like um when the coating comes off of it that
creates an issue for the kids and and whatnot. So, they give us
recommendations and we went through a process of replacing a bunch of
equipment and we'll have another inspection here in um well, not the
equipment itself. We've replaced components of the the the damaged
components of the equipment and we'll likely have another inspection here
shortly to see if anything else is going on. Um and then we monitor all the the
sand and sort of fiber um playground fiber, you know, safety surfaces in the
playground areas to make sure they're up to stuff. Um they surprising how how
much stuff we go through. Um uh and then
our challenges. So it's this is the exact same slide
other than the updated pictures that we had before. Um it's vandalism and
graffiti. Uh these pictures are from last weekend where we had someone come
through and basically the same style of graffiti starting at the bulb working.
that's all all the way through the parks and up and down the greenway. Um
we have really made a concerted effort to jump on graffiti as quickly as we
can. U we found that it goes away. Um you know someone's going to do this but
if it we leave it there more comes if we take care of it quickly. Um, I don't
know if you've noticed it with the columns along the BART tracks where
we've we've basically taken over manage of that from BART because they weren't
keeping up and it was really becoming an issue.
Um, so some of the things we've done to respond to the graffiti and vandalism is
um we have the weekend park checks and that's kind of keeps us on on um you
know on top of things before it really spins out of control. One of the things
we've done too, which is interesting, is um the bathrooms lock on a timer and
we've adjusted those times um just to throw people off just um and
like I I one of the things we've we open them
later and sometimes it's after school after school um starts because that
means people aren't going around in the bathrooms before
school. And then um depending on what the rentals are, particularly with
daylight savings, we shift the time because you know they in the summertime
when there's b uh softball games going on, we 10 o'clock's a perfect time. In
the winter it's not. And and what happens is people go in there and we
have problems. Um and we've coordinated with uh Alb
Unified and they've been really great to help. Um particularly one of the issues
we've had was um uh trash during uh at Memorial Park during lunch and um
they've been great to work with in terms of yeah getting reminding people to do
it. We we coordinate our trash to our Wednesday trash um to happen after
lunch. I don't know if our students have noticed that, but um we we then you know
after lunch then we go and clean up the park, make sure there's no overflowing
trash cans, and that seems to have alleviated that issue. But um uh there's
usually someone from the school there also reminding people to um to put away
their trash. But it and I guess it's like
people for it it goes in waves. Um and in some cases we involve all Albany
um police department um particularly with um we have people um living you
know we'll we'll spend night in the bathroom and so on things like that we
have our our maintenance workers call PD to make sure it's safe to go in and
clean up. Um
all right SP 1383. So, this was a and just for people who
aren't familiar, this was a um state law that was enacted, I don't know, four or
five years ago, something along those lines. And it really it really impacted
how um uh solid waste management happens. And um one of the components
that relates to us is um this this requirement for purchasing and use of
organic material. So it was a a way of uh developing a market for um organic
material for use in you know um whole host of things you can do with it. Um so
each city was given an allocation based on some formula and our initial
allocation was uh 1364 tons and this is not tons of this was I I call this tons
of SP 1383 compliant organic material because
» and that's annual >> annually
» and because there's this long list of things that can contribute and then a
conversion factor to this this madeup up tons tons things. So um so I I have this
is all in um compliant organic material. Um the 1364 was going to be a heavy
heavy lift not only for us but for every other municipality. Um, and we jumped on
it and tried to do our and and the way this was done, it was phased in over I
think it was four years or three or four years where you would phase up and we
were meeting our targets and but quite frankly
if the if things didn't change I I don't know what we would have done. Um so our
target our revised target is now 460 which is hugely different and I think I
think um this was our local our local regulator our local agency is stop waste
and they worked with um was it Cal Recycle to lower the to to make the case
to lower the um uh requirements for cities. So, and and that's that's great.
And now we're sitting in a great look a great position because the our bakedin
uses are we do two annual um uh twice annual compost giveaway and this is
through waste management. Um you can see the the pallets and we have most of our
our crew out there. Um, and it's something that, um, I think people line
up for pretty darn early in the morning. And it's and it's a really good thing.
And that that provides about 69 tons. And our our field services, our winter
is uh, almost 300. Our summer service, which is very similar, but we do less
fields for less time. We only do the ball fields instead of sort of broader
in the parks. And that's that's 215. And then we support
uh compost to the compost hub and that's at the gil track and that is that totals
662 which is way above our requirement and so this this is this is great for
us. So now we're actually in a position where we're digging into
um so when we when we started this and and I'm I don't know if you guys
remember like we're just kind of throwing everything out there trying to
get uses that make sense. Now we now that we've met our requirement and from
what I understand this requirement is going to stay stable unless there's some
other determination that we would have time to react with it. So from my
perspective we're going to start organizing our effort around meeting
that requirement while um I think particularly for the um field services
we've gotten a lot of benefit out of um out of doing this. So, what we're going
to probably do is go through and see which ones are sort of the best the best
use for our money um in this and I could see backing off on maybe the summer
service or some part of it and um and really dialed this in to to be the most
impactful at at cost. So, um, we're in a really good spot for this and we'll
we'll obviously not dial it in too tight so that we, you know, we're not, um, so
we don't miss a compliance. And like other things that we've tried to do in
public works, we um, we want to make sure the activities that
we're doing flow into the compliance reporting so that um, the first couple
years it was like, wait a minute, I remember that project. Where's that
receipt? Let's get the thing. So, we want to make sure that we we're actually
talking with Waste Management, our um hauler to to to help us um
and right now we buy our our compost through our landscape contractor and so
that has a higher higher cost. We can buy it through Waste Management who has
a company that um makes out in the Central Valley for organic farming and
whatnot. So, it's really really quality stuff. um they can deliver it here. We
have a certain amount built into our franchise and that could lower our unit
cost um pretty significantly in a um uh in rough numbers. Um when we buy um
uh compost in this switching instead of SP 1383 compliant units cubic yards
normal cubic yards we buy it for about $50 a ton or a cubic yard um delivered
from aapokco we buy it from our contractor at roughly 40 kind of pulling
it out it's roughly 40 I think with waste management what what we have built
built into our contract, it might be between 20 and 30, which really drops
our costs. So, um, so this is this is like this is great. We can start
thinking about this rather than worrying what's the, you know, giving it in
little baggies and everyone's going to have to take some home for something.
So, >> just thinking how much can we dump on on
Peggy Thompson, >> right? Well, that seriously
» that that was one of our thoughts was maybe we just make piles, compost piles,
and move them around and see what happens. Um, yeah. Um,
so, and now we get to some forwardlooking things. Um,
one of So, one of the things we've done in all of our um all of our systems, and
I think you know, we've talked about the the trees and street lights and and
things. We're kicking off an an uh an effort actually I think in the coming
weeks um to do an ass inventory GIS inventory of all the facilities in our
parks. So this will be a basis for us to start doing um a replacement schedule um
around our play equipment and other things fencing so that so one we're very
clear what we have what's what its condition and then we can start um
putting a replacement program and this goes handinhand with a new feature that
we have in our uh capital improvement program. Um the we've in other areas
we've established these what we call it programs like we have a sewer program,
we have a uh sidewalk program, we have a road program and the idea is we want to
be investing a certain level every year in and year out. Not so much in a um
like a signature project. is just in the basic stuff so that we don't have
comments like we had today about you know the the playability of our courts
um being in a in a in bad shape and you know I I don't think there's there's a
lot of things are looking tired there could use a refresh. So this is going to
be our um in the current CIP we have about $200,000 a year for a fiveyear
plan. Hopefully when we get to the end of that we can we can in the new plan
extend that and adjust it based on what our needs are.
So this year we have a couple things in the plan. We have at Memorial Park the
back stops at the the padding on the back stop is just deteriorating before
our eyes. It's um and so we're going to replace that. We're getting a quote for
that right now. And then we're going to do the Par Terrace Park tennis courts.
And this is one thing that I wanted to bring up with um unfortunately Dena is
not here. Um but I wanted to have the conversation uh in the master plan. Um
there was discussion about flex courts and what we do with flex courts and how
we integrate those. And one of the opportunities to for flex courts is um
when we redo tennis courts and and it's it's not a big lift to
paint lines to support another use. the lift is are we all on the same page of
what that other use is and one of the things I wanted to do and it's it's kind
of great that um we had the commenter and Andre has contact because one of the
things I want to make sure is that we don't degrade the playability for tennis
because um you know the courts at Albany High are Albany High's home court the
the courts at Terrace Park are used by St. Mary's College High School and um
and and so we want to make sure that they're playable from a you know a match
play or whatever. Um but this is the opportunity to bring that in. So um
that's one thing that I want to be talking about so that um Andre doesn't
have to make it up himself. Um and then uh we have the Aloney Linear
Park fitness equipment replacement. Um I believe Andre has meeting with uh
vendors right now to look at different options. So that should be coming to the
commission here um in 2026 if not um early 2027. And then we want to do the
citywide turf audit. Um this to me is one of the big things where we decide
where we want turf, where we don't want turf, what what could it be? And that
folds into a couple of other studies. the
programming along the Aloney Greenway and Peggy Thompson Pier Street Park
which are you know slated for 27 and 28. And in my mind the Aloney Greenway
programming and Peggy Thompson programming go hand inand with the um
project that Dean is going to be leading on the the sort of you know what what
uses can go in different places. Um, so
and then so we get into the measure. I don't have
budget numbers because I just quite frankly didn't have enough time. Um, I
do have a um tab open to I have links. Um, all this stuff is on our website, so
I can Let me see if I can get this up here.
Um, [clears throat] and show folks where it is.
Um okay.
So sharing we go.
So this is um on our website where we detail really everything that's going on
in a lot lot of areas. This is the uh page that deals with the measure M or
the open parks and open space part parcel tax. Um these reports they have
reports here of um projects and pro program expenditures and that's updated
annually. Um give you a heads up it hasn't been
updated um with the new audit that was just completed but um we're working on
that and should should be done fairly soon. But it does detail
what we spend the money, what revenue has been coming in by fiscal year, and
you can see exactly how we're spending it. And um way we've budgeted things,
and it's a really a a little bit of a tug a tug. It it
supports both operating costs as well as capital. Um so it's um it's something we
keep an eye on and and probably will adjust over time as needs as needs come.
Then I have uh [groaning]
let me see and then um the next slides around the um construction alerts. This
is another um city projects. We call it construction alerts but it's it's really
um all projects on the website. We try to keep this updated about all the
things going on in public works because we have a lot of them. And we have um
uh every project has has a page um and we try to give um here let's see if we
can get into this one. Um what we do is identify the project the project number.
There's usually a um a contact a little history. Um this was the Albany Albany
Hill um forest management plan. So we have the the the final
uh we have documents related this one is the plan development FAQs but then we
have all through the this is where the sort of the repository of the history of
the projects and um so we try to keep all I think some of it's
been archived but we try to keep everything on here as long as we can so
that people can understand what's going on and um
look to hear for the most current information.
All right, let's see if we can get back to
uh Oh.
All right. [clears throat]
So, there's there's the link for Oh,
there we go. Um there's a construction zone
construction alert. Um and then finally, how to report issues. So, um, one of the
things we do do is we've we have a, um, uh, it's actually a GIS tool that you
can report an issue. You can report the location, snap a picture, upload it, and
on the I guess the landing page, it's called the first page of the when you go
to the website, we have these um uh tabs down here and one's report an issue and
this will take you to to that and you can uh report an issue and then Jamra
will tell one of us to go do it. Um, and with that,
let's open it up to questions and discussions.
» All right. Maybe you would like to take a breath. [laughter]
That was a lot. Drink water or something.
» Well, once I get going, I could I could I [laughter] could keep going.
» Well, we should. All right. Uh, questions.
» Clarifying question. The 200,000 for the capital improvement plans over five is
that each year? >> Yeah. So, it's a million dollars over
five years. >> Okay. Thanks.
» Other questions? >> Yeah, I had a few. Um, one was for for
maintenance. The staffing is important and you said we're down some FTEES. You
mentioned there's 16 FTEEs in your department with 16 point something with
the part-time. Um, how many of those positions would you say are are vacant
now and what challenges, if any, do you anticipate in filling them?
» So, we have um two open open positions and one is someone's out on a different
issue. Um so part of it is um uh the maintenance workers we've had
some turnover because um people find different jobs and one of the things
that um I think the people here have a a um a
good experience and it's a good place to work but there's there's not a lot of
opportunity. you know, we we have a small crew. There's not a lot of
movement and um uh all the people who have left have left for like, oh yeah,
that makes sense. You're going to another place, less commute, something
different. And so, um I think the maintenance worker side is is something
that's just always going to be one of these cycling in. The good news is we
have three really good um lead workers. They're they're
I think all of them have been with the city longer than me. I think some I
think Michael's probably the the the longest tenure
maybe pushing 20 years. Um, so we we do have some good institutional knowledge,
but what we don't want to have is um uh we just had one one person uh retire
um a while ago about a year ago and AJ he had been with the city for gosh and
he walked out with a lot of knowledge that we're we just realized that we're
relying on him. So, one of the things we're trying to do is is make it so that
everyone knows how to do everything in some ways. So, it's it's um building
that capacity, but I think some of the um
some of the um some of it's just part of the part of do doing business and on on
that in in that maintenance worker side. Um the office positions, we have a um uh
public um the public works manager position open has been um open for a
while. Hoping to fill it here shortly. Um but part of that was me wanting to
stick my that's why you're seeing more and me more of me. Um I really stuck my
nose into that end side of the house to really understand what's going on and
try to try to improve level of service. So, I think we're at a point where we're
going to start bringing in people. And one one of the things I want to do is uh
implement a new um uh enterprise asset management program like
a work order program essentially that's tied to more GIS. That's why we're
supporting the GIS. Um and and that will help us be more effective on the work
order side of things. >> Okay. Thanks. Um the uh for irrigation
you mentioned uh I said I remember irrigation was going to be rerouted and
improved in the dog park was part of the plan. It was very forward thinking. That
was great that you the city and you were working on that. Um the irrigation
issues you discussed tonight, the dry patches, the wet patches, is that there
is that what you're talking about or is it lots of other locations? It's it's
it's really all over the place. And some of it is um you I walked it with Michael
um and [clears throat] our and our contractor um like over time some of the
irrigation heads because you know it's mowing they get pushed down and so um
some of them get buried and some of them are at an angle so they're not as
effective. Some of them are just broken and like there's a crack down below and
and that's that's the persistent wet spot. So it was really just diligently
going through the system and trying to correct as many issues we as we can and
we've also done that along the greenway to a certain extent.
» Okay. So those sounds like more like local damage and things like that
whereas the dog park was a big system that
» dog park >> Yeah. dog park was a really unique thing
because >> it different.
» Yeah. Be because the dog as you remember the dog park wasn't a dog park. it was
» it was section B and then before that it was uh an athletic field and the
irrigation system for that was comingled with the the infield system. So when
they did the infield system they watered you know you couldn't couldn't control
them and Andre and his project they separated that so we don't
» so that was a big job and the other things you're describing are little
repairs here. Yeah, they're they both have impact because the area the areas
where um it was wet um like it was always wet and so I I think this will be
you you'll have I think we'll have better control and better performance of
the of the irrigation system and therefore we'll have better um uh you
know the grass will be will be much much
better condition. Um you mentioned the picnic tables going to
actual wood >> from the trex or whatever it was and um
do you anticipate any of the milled lumber from the eucalyptus trees on Alb
Hill being used for things like that or benches or
» probably not. I think um we've used that in so Andre is using some in his part in
his um his project but we've also used most of that on Albany Hill for small
retaining walls and steps and things of that sort. So, um I and and I think
dimensionally that's not as consistent. So, um I think I think it works better
on the hill than it does in a in the park.
» Um Okay. And who owns Memorial Park baseball field and what's the financial
agreement with the schools for the baseball field and who paid for the
turtle? >> Um so,
boy, there's a lot in there on that one. Um so it is it the the city owns the BA
is owns the uh baseball field. It is a um there's a joint facilities agreement
that outlines how a lot of the things are done. Uh not just with ball fields
but um uh use of various school facilities like we host I think we host
pickle ball in the in the gymnasium. Um, [clears throat] in as far as the turtle,
we're buying the turtle um because it's we have the obligation to maintain the
asset. And so this is this is this is part of um addressing an issue about
playing playing as a baseball field, not necessarily a Albany High School things
because it's used as an adult league. There's there's many people that use it.
» Summer camps would maybe use it as well. um not so much summer camp, but there's
there's um little league, there's a travel ball, and if you drive by,
there's a an older like a like an adult league that uses it. So, the idea would
be that whenever they're doing batting practice or practice, they would need to
use the turtle. And then you mentioned flex courts and um doing something with
I I'm forgetting exactly what you said was going to be updated or considered
for updating in the tennis courts around town. Um I was on the subcommittee with
Commissioner Chang Frank and Commissioner Kent maybe on flex courts
and um and so that would be something that would be I'm hoping would come
before us. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. um as
you're like before actual improvements are done to the netting and
» yeah so I think what we would do is line out a project line out a project and
hopefully and and hopefully through the project that Dena's um doing we can get
some ideas of what a flex court means >> and then that can flow into our design
that we would then come and present to you guys that then would um uh receive
you know comments so that we're all on the same page with what is being
constructed. Okay, great. And those that's the kind of thing you anticipate
there's regular maintenance on the courts throughout like annual or
whatever, but is this is this something you see happening this year? Is it
» Yeah, I'm I
» possibly late spring. >> Okay. In a few months.
» Yeah. >> Right. I look forward to that.
» Yes. So, so that's this this is the first year of that program that we're
doing. So, we want to um like we want to start getting ahead of steam um and and
took a little bit of time on the sidewalk program. Now, now we execute
sidewalk pro uh projects without a lot of um
they they come pretty routine, but in the beginning it wasn't because we're
kind of finding our way and I think this will be a little bit of that too. But I
imagine once we get the program going, once we understand sort of the assets
that need to get replaced, we can we can get the decisions out ahead of time.
» Okay, that was it for me. Thanks. >> Did anybody think of just uh recruiting
better batters? Okay. Um more more [laughter]
comments or discussion? I I do I do say when I first got here and this is total
tangent. There was I got out there and we needed to we need to we needed to
raise the um uence >> the fence because some kid was hitting
it out and breaking windows across the street and I was like give the guy a
star. >> Oh, that's that's a good hit.
» And we haven't had that same problem in the
» field. Yeah. >> So
» there a discussion? Yeah, please. Um is like field service for winter and summer
also include like pier street like you said or like the parks itself or is that
just >> So in the um so it's it it is focused on
turf in the winter service we do um on the south side of Memorial Park. You
probably noticed that the we fence off part of the area. We sort of flip-flop
one. So this is the area on the south side of Memorial Park. It's sort of
unstructured play area. We host um movie in the park and things like that there.
And we've we we don't want to close all of it. So we do
one one side one year, the other side the other year. Um and we also do
terrace park, but it is really just um the service is the same. We airrate, we
try to as much as we can keep people off of it, we top dress it and and and
seating. And um I would say it's probably less effective than the ball
fields just because I think there's I mean it's just a snow fence keeping
people out. So it's it it I don't think I don't I don't know there's there's
rule followers and there's people who just do it. [snorts]
» But it's not like individual like or anything. No like
» No. No. It's it's really just blocking it off and giving this the the giving it
a little time to rest.
Yeah. Um, just for clarification, like what's the difference between like the
normal maintenance of the tennis courts and what you're going to do with like
the um 200,000 >> the terrace?
I I didn't hear all of that, but let me I can
» um like what's the difference between the normal maintenance of the tennis
courts and like what you're going to do with the
» So, in the normal maintenance and we've been probably pretty spotty on doing
some of this, you know, there's there's cleaning and and actually in a part of
our trash run, we go and clear the courts. Um but there there is buildup
particularly at tennis at terrace park where there's a lot of stuff from the
trees coming down and sits in the corners and it builds up and that
degrades the the the surface. Um, and that's that can be done on uh regular
maintenance, cleaning it, and then having a contra there's a contractors
that can come in and do surface um surface cleaning um to prolong the
service. And we that's one thing I want to start doing um particularly at Ocean
View that we redid. What we're doing here is we're going to strip the court
of its posts, everything. There's a large crack on the on the eastern side
of the the court, the one that's a little higher up. Um, we're going to uh
resurface it with asphalt to address the crack, reinstall things. So, it's it's
um it's be like a new court. >> And are there any like plans to do that
to the memorial park tennis court? >> Um, we're going to move to that one
next. That that's on the list. It's just um Terrace Park is really the there's
there's a crack there and um uh the posts were
they're they're bent over and and whatnot. We've we've patched it together
as much as we can. >> The terrace is marginally usable.
» Yeah. >> So,
one one idea I had and maybe maybe we already do this, you know, just the
stuff that comes to mind that do we at lunch is over. Do we have trash cans on
that end? because I know the trash cans generally are the street. Are they
between the park where kids are eating lunch and the school where they walk?
» So, this is interesting. Um, last was it last year?
Not not this la this this school year. Last school year when this blew up, we
we actually did a it wasn't really a study. We went out there and saw where
the trash cans are, where they're being used because some were overflowing, some
weren't used at all. and um and and including the ones that were along the
the roadway where the uh cars parked. Those ones those were issues um on
another because people would stuff in their cars and just overload the trash
cans. So, we actually removed those and we repositioned trash cans in areas
where um uh kids were or pe not not only kids but
um the the people were using the park where the trash was h happening and um I
think it's addressed um a little bit I don't know if it's come back but um kids
would would sit at um the bleachers near the tennis courts and and eat I think
and that the little trash cans inside the tennis courts were just overflowing
with trash. I think we got rid of those or did we?
» But the idea was we wanted to limit um trash going into those and make them put
in the big bellies. And I think I think it's working
» easier to do the right thing. >> Yeah.
» Right. Uh, I had one more question. I forgot to ask uh for I did ask about the
ballpark in Memorial Park for for the for USD. The tennis courts at Terrace
Park that you were just talking about. Um, you said they're used by um St.
Mary's. >> Yep.
» And uh I was wondering what kind ofou or what kind of financial arrangement do we
have there? >> So I don't know exactly but I
» private entity. >> Yeah. I think they they pay a rental fee
like any other user. So, I think they're just like
» they just reserve in advance. >> Yeah. And that's um Joy in recreation.
She handles a lot of that. And I think all the leagues whether it's soccer,
baseball, tennis um put reservations for um various courts and courts or fields
and she tries to come up with a schedule but um the only ones the everyone other
than Alb Unified pays you know our our the rate that we
have in our our rate schedules. >> Okay. Okay. So, they're just a a regular
rental user. >> Yep.
» Okay.
» All right. There uh anyone else want to weigh in? All right. See? None. We will
close the item. Thank you very much. Always good to get these. Was there Did
you check public comment? I forget. You >> did. Okay, great. We did. Um did right.
» I think so. I don't know. I was >> either way there's no hands raised.
» No public I I guessed that, but I was pretending.
All right. Um uh moving on. Subcommittee updates.
Not seeing any subcommittees. Announcements and future agenda item.
» You want to do your announcement? You don't have one?
» Yeah. >> Um just to piggy back off what Mark was
talking about, um the dog park is now back open. So, it's open for public use.
Um, the other ball fields and stuff are open as well. Um, and that's weather
permit permitting right now because if it starts storming, we will have to
close it to keep the fields from getting too messed up. Um, my next announcement
is the Kids and Family Expo. Join us for a fun, familyfriendly afternoon at the
Kids and Family Expo, a one-stop shop for programs and services for kids and
families. bring the whole family to the community center on Saturday, February
28th from 1 to 4:00 p.m. Guests can explore local programs and family
services, including summer camp previews and the opportunity to sign up for our
popular Friendships Club summer program, as well as special discounts available
for registrations completed at the event. Enjoy a variety of activities for
kids and parents alike, including tasty snacks, free face painting, a free
raffle, free biking, and stro uh strolling magi mag magician from 1:30 to
2:30. Come out and connect with uh community resources and join in on the
fun. >> All right, announcements.
I just I should have said this during the agenda item. I uh we mentioned you
mentioned the uh request service or the report a problem tool. I use it a lot
because we see stuff on the blue glove crew and I just have to say they're very
responsive. I hope it's not because I'm the one submitting it. [laughter] I
trust that it's not but but oftentimes just a day or two the thing's gone. So I
I kudos to that. That's great. >> I'm not biased. I respond accordingly.
» The only thing I would say is that is that um I'm a little shocked to hear
they all go to you. Yes. Because the hardest part is figuring out which
category to put. It doesn't matter. >> You don't need that. You don't need that
button. >> It It does because it's whether because
that gives her the information to tell one of whomever to go do the work.
» But I don't know the right I'm not doing the right one half the time. I'm sure
[laughter] >> I I usually can figure it out. So
» that's the thing. Give away the secret recipe. [laughter] We get a stack of
» All right. Anyway. All right. Uh other announcements, agenda items. So, we do
have >> clearly we'll have the parks master plan
studied edenum coming up. >> Yes, we'll have the parks master plan.
Um, we might have what I'm super excited about actually uh Hillary Sardinas um
has been working talking with Margot and I think she's doing a project. This this
sounded amazing. She's doing a project on Alb Hill and she's putting little
trackers on monarchs >> and um I was like really? Um, and so she
likely or might be coming to do a presentation on that, which I think
would be just fascinating. Um, and then, um, I I haven't heard anything about it,
but it is sugarsw sweetened beverage time, so that'll be on the on it, but
I'm less excited about it this year than I have in the past.
» I think with the the butterfly things, the hardest part is getting them with
the dart to get them to go to sleep. >> Actually, Margot explained it a little
bit. It's really fascinating. >> It is. I'm sure.
» How big is that thing? I mean, can they fly with it?
» Yeah, it's >> No, I I ran into um
» Hillary. Yeah. Hillary in the grocery store and she show I was like, "Really?"
And she showed me a picture. It was amazing. And then they have this
» thing is this very educational because then they with the GPS tracker you can
see, oh, this one originated at Albony Hill and it goes here. Like,
» yeah, >> it's f it is fascinating. And I I
couldn't believe that it can be >> it can go to a butterfly,
» right? >> Yeah.
» I know. And and Margot said, I guess they they attach it by cooling them, so
it it kind of slows things down, but then when they warm them up, like one of
them like she said it >> was like rolling around like a dog would
be to, you know, something off its back. >> So
» yeah, >> we can understand. All right.
» Yeah. When uh one agenda request is when you
do or related to something you already mentioned was for flex courts um is when
you do uh agendaize that to >> um make sure to look at old contact
lists for all the tennis people, all the pickle ball people um because they were
very engaged with all of that. But then also it should also include whoever we
have on the volleyball people and then some of these flex nets can also do bad
mitten. So I don't know who we would contact for that but that would be
basically cast a wide net. >> Yep.
» Would be my recommendation. >> No pun.
» Yes. Yes. [laughter] >> Still regulation.
» Okay. >> All right people. We got to keep these
things light. >> All right. Any uh All right. Seeing
nothing else, we will adjourn and see you March 12th.