[0:00] in progress.
[0:07] » All right, quite focus without my
glasses. I think we can call this
[0:12] meeting to order.
Uh shall we have the roll call?
[0:16] » Yes.
[0:19] » Commissioner Chan
>> here.
[0:21] » Commissioner Chang Frank
>> here.
[0:23] » Commissioner Logan
>> here.
[0:26] » Commissioner Martin
>> here.
[0:28] » Commissioner Trinkle
>> here. and Chair Abbott
[0:31] » here.
>> As of right now, Commissioner Kent is
[0:35] absent. Um, and we do have our new
commissioner starting tonight,
[0:40] Commissioner Jennifer Logan.
>> Welcome.
[0:43] » Welcome.
>> Uh, did Commissioner Kent say he
[0:46] wouldn't be here or he may show up or we
don't know.
[0:48] » Um, I didn't get a message saying that
he was not.
[0:50] » We didn't send out a [laughter] We'll
see. We have certainly have a quorum
[0:55] though. That one's unmarked. Okay.
I will read the uh land acknowledgement.
[1:02] Uh the city of Albany recognizes that we
occupy the land originally protected by
[1:06] the Confederated villages of Lejon. We
acknowledge the genocide that took place
[1:10] on these lands and must make strides to
repay the moral debt that is owed to
[1:14] this indigenous people, specifically the
Aloney tribe. We thank them for their
[1:18] contributions which have transformed our
community will continue to bring forth
[1:22] growth and unity. City of Albany commits
to sustaining ongoing relationships with
[1:26] the tribe and together build a better
future for all that now make this their
[1:30] home.
>> There we go.
[1:32] » And we are going to welcome Commissioner
Kent.
[1:36] » Excellent.
[1:39] We'll give him a moment to uh get
settled.
[1:43] » Actually um while he's getting settled,
I just wanted to give an update that um
[1:48] we are going to bump uh item 4.4-2 4-2
from the agenda. Um, our Dena, our
[1:57] community development director who is
presenting this is sick and I think um I
[2:02] think it's a good project for her to
introduce herself to the commission and
[2:06] so um uh we're going to push it a month.
>> Fair enough. Thank you.
[2:11] » Sure.
[2:16] » And let's get the minutes roll of the
minutes from the last meeting. Any
[2:28] » I move to approve the minutes.
>> All right. Have a second.
[2:34] » You may want to view them or
>> uh
[2:36] » you have a comment or
>> No, that just our newest commissioners
[2:39] probably abstain from this one because
wasn't here.
[2:42] » But otherwise, um I I second.
>> Okay. Very good.
[2:47] » Commissioner Chang.
>> Yes.
[2:50] » Commissioner Chang Frank. Yes.
>> Commissioner Ch Kent.
[2:54] » Yes.
>> Commissioner Logan's going to abstain.
[2:57] Commissioner Martin.
>> Yes.
[2:59] » Commissioner Trinkle.
>> Yes.
[3:00] » And Chair Abbott.
>> Yes. All right. Very good.
[3:03] » Motion passes.
>> Motion passes.
[3:05] » All right. Public comment. I see no
public in the room. How about virtual
[3:10] people?
[3:16] » Uh, no hands raised online.
>> Okay. Very good.
[3:21] another few seconds. All right,
moving on then. Presentations. I believe
[3:28] one is Prop 68 measure M funded projects
update.
[3:43] Jamar to
>> Yeah,
[3:46] I hope you have it. [laughter]
[3:52] welloiled machine.
[4:01] » Sorry. Trying to get it to the
[4:11] There we go.
[4:15] All right.
All right. All right. Good evening,
[4:18] commissioners. My name is Andre
Sterling, project manager at public
[4:21] works. Here to give you an update on our
Prop 68 projects uh for this year. So,
[4:27] we can go to the next slide. So, we're
going to discuss specifically uh Pier
[4:32] Street Park uh the access and landscape
improvements project, Jules Terrace Park
[4:37] shade improvements and dog amenities, as
well as a brief update on the Dartmouth
[4:42] tot lot uh seating element upgrade.
So, next slide, please.
[4:48] So, we just wanted to highlight uh one
project that was completed since our
[4:51] last uh update uh with pros commission.
Uh that's the path lighting project at
[4:56] Memorial Park. That those were the five
new lamp posts that were installed
[5:00] there. Uh completed in August of 2025.
So, it gives obviously more security
[5:07] there at night at the park as well as a
warm color temperature uh lighting
[5:13] there.
All right, next slide, please.
[5:18] So, our first update is on uh Pier
Street Park access, landscape, and shade
[5:24] improvements, and it's all based on the
recommendations uh from the pros master
[5:28] plan. So, next slide,
just as a review of the project scope
[5:33] since it's been a while uh since our
last update. So, new entry stairs, two
[5:38] sets of stairs with handrails. Uh and
that's made from repurposed eucalyptus
[5:43] tree lumber from Albany Hill. uh new
landscape boulders, a native plant
[5:48] material and trees uh that will be
planted uh new asphalt path with a
[5:54] ballard
new shade structure for uh the play
[5:58] equipment.
[6:01] Here's our uh conceptual layout. So,
it's going to be done in two phases. So
[6:06] phase one would be the access
improvements and as we said with the
[6:10] with the scope uh a new asphalt path
that's in the north side of the park uh
[6:16] there we're going to relocate some of
the existing boulders and also install
[6:20] new landscape boulders uh to direct
traffic to the new entry uh stairways
[6:25] there.
And then uh of course uh the plant
[6:29] material with the trees and also
installing uh phase two the new shade
[6:35] structure for the play equipment.
All right, next slide please. That's a
[6:40] rendering there of the south uh side of
the park uh with newly planted trees,
[6:46] new landscape boulders, the new lumber
uh staircase there.
[6:51] Then next slide.
And then the north side with the asphalt
[6:56] path uh another lumber entry stairway
and then new trees planted near the
[7:03] benches as well as throughout the
hillside.
[7:08] All right, next slide. So for phase two,
we're looking at three options for a
[7:13] shade structure uh cantal lever style as
well as a shade cell. And the
[7:19] considerations uh for this decision will
be uh based on which one is more cost-
[7:24] effective but more importantly which one
provides the best coverage for the play
[7:29] equipment. Uh there will be a shade
study performed uh to help us make that
[7:34] decision as well. Uh since these are
somewhat substantial structures, they're
[7:38] going to be based on uh engineering
plans.
[7:44] All right, next slide please. Here's our
our tentative schedule. So, we're we're
[7:50] in the uh the bid phase at the moment
and hoping to award the contract the end
[7:54] of this month uh and start construction
in March and completed uh in about a
[8:01] couple months.
All right, our next slide.
[8:11] So, our next project um in the queue
would be uh the Jules Terrace Park, a
[8:16] shade improvements
uh and dog amenities project. So,
[8:20] looking to install shade elements uh
there in the picnic area uh which could
[8:25] be a grove of trees or material
furnishing. And then the dog amenities
[8:31] upgrade would be installing a new
signage indicating dog and dog owner
[8:35] etiquette as well as developing a system
that defines the dog play area that's
[8:40] there.
All based on recommendations from the
[8:43] pros master plan. All right, next slide
please.
[8:49] So the preliminary scope involves uh
obviously the picnic area and just
[8:54] planting additional trees there uh to
provide shading for the the picnic
[8:58] tables and then at the the southwest
corner of the park
[9:03] uh which is usually used for dog play or
for like a dog play area there. Uh there
[9:09] could be a possibility of uh installing
a fence [snorts] there to basically make
[9:14] it an official dog run uh for the dogs
there.
[9:19] Uh next slide please.
[9:23] Then our tenative schedule
uh again would be uh design completing
[9:29] the design phase uh sending the project
out for bid in March awarding the
[9:34] contract shortly after in May and then
starting construction in June and since
[9:39] it's a smaller uh project it should be
completed within a month.
[9:43] All right, next slide please.
All right, just a brief update on the
[9:47] Dartmouth tot lot of the seating element
uh upgrade. So basically to replace
[9:53] uncomfortable seating elements that are
the existing uh seating that's there and
[9:58] prioritizing community and comfort. So
the considerations for that again uh the
[10:03] most cost-effective option but also
considering comfort and uh most
[10:08] importantly safety for the users of the
tot lot and looking at also what best
[10:14] fits the space as far as size dimension
but also aesthetics of the tot lot
[10:21] and that concludes the presentation.
>> All right, thank you very much. Bring it
[10:26] to the commission for questions. You
have any questions?
[10:31] the dates. Um yeah, I had a few. One was
for Pier Street Park. Um
[10:39] the um plantings, you said there's going
to be drought tolerant plants or native
[10:45] plants or something.
>> Native plants. Yes. And uh I know the
[10:48] first round when the park was first
built and commissioned the bunch of the
[10:54] trees that were planted died and it was
um John Hawkage the city urban forester
[11:00] said there was it was freeway soil. It
was just bad news and um maybe there
[11:06] wasn't a sufficient um watering or
something irrigation. Do you know if
[11:12] there's any plans for um doing a
different strategy that will hopefully
[11:17] lead to better success on the
landscaping?
[11:20] » Yeah, that's a good question. I know
that we were discussing we do have some
[11:24] quick couplers that are there and we're
not going to add irrigation at this
[11:28] point. That's not in this project scope,
but we are discussing another solution
[11:32] for at least watering. But the soil, I
know we we've done amendments in the
[11:36] past and we can probably discuss that
looking into improving the soil quality,
[11:41] but we're not sure how much that's going
to improve.
[11:43] » I can I can maybe jump in since I was
sort of involved in the sort of the
[11:48] initial construction as well as the the
the tree issues. Um some of the trees
[11:52] are doing okay and other ones um it is a
difficult environment because it is a
[11:58] hard pack soil plus there's lots of um
lots of debris in it. So
[12:03] um once a tree takes hold like it it
tends to stay it tends to go but there
[12:09] we have replaced a lot of the trees over
time. So that's something we'll find one
[12:13] that works and um we are trying to water
them more on a more regular type basis
[12:19] but without an irrigation system. Um in
terms of amending the soil um we we did
[12:25] for lots of years and it's it's it's
really just a difficult a difficult
[12:30] location. So, I'm I think there are some
plants out there that are doing well and
[12:34] we'll try to um use those, but um I
think that's going to be a ongoing
[12:39] challenge. Um right now it looks great.
We were out there today with Calrans,
[12:43] but it uh uh the native plants, you
know, um
[12:49] once uh without an irrigation system,
they they kind of go brown pretty
[12:53] quickly.
>> Okay. Um it says the bid phase was in
[12:59] December with breaking ground in March.
Um for the shade options you showed us
[13:04] three. Uh how is that decision going to
be made? When is that decision going to
[13:10] be made and who will be making that
decision?
[13:15] » Well, we're we can look to your
recommendation as well for input on that
[13:19] decision.
uh based on the cost u because we do
[13:23] have uh a limit to the grant funding as
well as the matching funds. Um but we're
[13:29] working with a contractor that's
providing a shade study that's basically
[13:34] going to give us the best look at the
best uh shade coverage for the area. So
[13:38] with those factors
um obviously aesthetics, we don't want
[13:42] something that's going to be an
>> eyesore.
[13:44] » Um
>> but the bids went out in December. Does
[13:46] that mean the plan somewhat people were
bidding on it with an unfinished plan or
[13:50] » I'm sorry
>> you said the bids went out in December.
[13:53] » Yes.
>> Does that mean the
[13:56] request for um proposals or whatever the
the bids um does that mean that they
[14:03] didn't know which option it was going to
be, but they're still going to come up
[14:07] with a dollar figure or how does that
work?
[14:09] » Good question. So we sent out we sent
out the RFP and basically with a
[14:14] recommendation uh for a shade structure
but uh they can present an as equal um
[14:19] option and looking at those um again
it's going to be a slightly uh varying
[14:25] cost in each one. Um but each contractor
does know uh that's going to whoever's
[14:31] going to submit the bid they know that
is we will accept an as equal to
[14:35] whatever recommendations that we sent
out. Right. Um and for Jules Terrace
[14:40] Park, that area where you've um said
might be fenced off, uh who's going to
[14:47] make the decision as to whether or not
it's fenced off and um you have a sense
[14:51] of roughly how big that area is compared
to um the Memorial Park, dog park?
[14:58] » Yeah. So, we're going to still we're
still developing the project scope and
[15:02] once we have a more finalized scope, we
can come back to pros and present uh
[15:06] present that to you basically to make
that decision. Um, that's an option. Um,
[15:12] I don't know how much public polling was
was done involving or in the past with
[15:16] the park, but that's just an option.
We're not saying that's the final
[15:20] decision.
Um,
[15:24] and then for the shade for the picnic
area, said it could be plants or it
[15:28] could be like the awnings or something.
Um, do you know who decides that and and
[15:33] how that works?
>> Yeah, that could also be presented to
[15:36] pros for recommendation, but there were
trees planted there previously that were
[15:41] removed. So, it would make sense to keep
it a more natural area and just replant
[15:47] some trees, native trees there. We're
going to work closely with John Oidge as
[15:50] well with that.
>> Okay. Thanks.
[15:55] » Okay. Other questions?
[16:04] » Sure.
[16:17] » Thank you. So, the boulders up top are
to keep people from driving cars on or
[16:22] keeping control access.
>> Yeah, that's for vehicle traffic. Um,
[16:29] it's going to be a six foot wide path
with a ballard uh in the middle.
[16:35] So, similar to the path that's there. I
know there's two ballards there,
[16:38] existing ballards on the other path.
[16:51] that's not included in this project
scope.
[16:54] » So I can jump in on that. The path the
future path will connect into this um a
[17:00] little further to the north. I think
[17:05] » well it's going to connect to the south
and then come connect to it's it's
[17:08] connecting on both sides.
[17:24] But more serious
[17:28] test.
[17:33] » Um, we haven't done soils tests. Um, I
>> Oh, yeah. Yeah, my speaker was off.
[17:40] There we go. people can hear me. Okay.
Um
[17:43] » we haven't done soil stress. That might
be something we could do. But it is heav
[17:48] so it's it is the old um highway
offramps.
[17:51] » Yeah. So I know other places like that
where it's just almost impossible to
[17:54] grow and some arborists they just don't
even try. They walk away from it that
[17:59] it's our park. So we have to can't walk
away from it. It's not an option.
[18:04] » Can we augur down you know and just
drill a big hole through it? get some
[18:08] get the roots down deeper or is it just
like 20 feet and
[18:14] » we could we at this point we could try
almost anything and it's what like what
[18:18] what we're doing is marginally effective
like there's there's some trees that are
[18:22] doing okay and and and others that just
no matter how many times we replant them
[18:29] they were kind of getting the same
thing. So I'm I'm open to almost
[18:33] anything and I'm sure John would be too.
I don't have any solutions on
[18:37] » the trees that are doing well. Are they
specific varieties or just whatever that
[18:41] right place and right
>> right right place right time. I think I
[18:45] think one of the struggles you know
there um so we did amend it um several
[18:50] times and every time we would try to
rotoill just more pipe and rock and
[18:54] broken up everything that
chunks of concrete from the the highway
[19:00] keep So so it's it's it's not great
material.
[19:04] » Yeah. Right.
[19:07] Okay. Um,
>> we could I like the idea of the augur. I
[19:10] can talk to John about that.
>> Yeah. I mean, often we if we're working
[19:15] in industrial sites, you dig dig a hole
and they fill it with water and see how
[19:18] long it takes to if it takes two days
and water's still sitting there, then
[19:22] it's a drainage problem. Then you augur
and
[19:26] » Okay.
>> Yeah, maybe be that. It's also obviously
[19:31] bad soil.
Not that it's not like it's going to get
[19:35] down 18 inches and find good stuff,
right?
[19:41] » Okay. Other uh other questions?
>> Yeah, I just had a question. Can you
[19:46] show the um Jules Terrace Park diagram
and go towards that? You we talked a
[19:52] little bit about that dog run. That's
what um Commissioner Martin was asking
[19:57] about the fenced off area. Is that
right? Is it okay?
[20:00] » So I don't I mean um
maybe I'm not recalling correctly. Was
[20:06] that in the master plan as Okay.
>> Okay. As recommendation. Okay. So I
[20:14] don't remember
talking discussing that in depth at any
[20:17] point here on this commission. So just
warning warning. I feel like that might
[20:23] be a big issue potentially for
neighbors. And not to say that overall
[20:28] the city may totally support it, but
it's just something we should be um we
[20:32] should make sure that the process is
good and that there's a lot of public
[20:36] involvement and a lot of notification.
Um
[20:40] not to say either way, but just to make
sure everybody who has a stake in it
[20:45] feels like they've they've been heard.
>> Definitely. I and I would just say that
[20:51] especially if we're going to put a fence
up, even if just signage, we should
[20:55] probably be sure and reach out, but but
if there's going to be a fence,
[20:59] » I guess this is no longer a question.
All right. Uh any other questions? We
[21:04] jumped right to discussion.
>> I think questions I had have been asked.
[21:08] So, uh go to public, open up for public
comment. Uh
[21:14] » no hands raised.
>> No hands raised. Okay. Very good. Now we
[21:19] can have our discussion. I mean, you're
not really looking for anything from us
[21:23] right now, right? You're just kind of an
update. You don't need
[21:25] » Just an update. Yeah.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Um
[21:30] » um I mean there is no irrigation, no
plans to have irrigation or did you try
[21:35] to?
No, there's no plans. And I guess part
[21:40] of that would be I know we did discuss
briefly that we have existing uh quick
[21:46] couplers there and just developing
either a schedule um in that hillside
[21:51] there's yeah there's no irrigation
that's actually for the field area. So
[21:56] » that could be completed under another
project in the future but not with this.
[22:01] I think one of the the issues in the
development of the project was um not
[22:06] being irrigated because this was done in
the midst of a drought and the idea was
[22:11] to have drought tolerant plants and not
have an established irrigation system.
[22:16] Um and um
did take the opportunity to put some
[22:21] quick couplers in there to handwater
things, but it's not a developed
[22:24] irrigation system. And it's and it's
based off the um water service serving
[22:30] the uh the restroom facility. So it
really doesn't have, you know, the
[22:34] capacity that you would have to for a
developed system.
[22:38] » It's not enough.
>> We wouldn't run it off the bathroom.
[22:42] » Yeah. Um and and I was surprised at how
much irrigation I think was something
[22:47] like $80,000 to establish a new
irrigation a new irrigation line.
[22:53] Um there has been talk with East Bay Mud
bringing recycled water to the area but
[22:57] I think that's
>> cheaper. It's not cheap and it's I think
[23:02] a long way away
>> making its way right is into Berkeley
[23:06] yet or
>> yeah I mean I think I think we've had
[23:10] engagement with East Bay at different
times and I think they've run into
[23:14] struggles with how to get alignment
there and and this is probably as far
[23:18] away you know it's it's not a huge
demand and it's probably the most
[23:23] expensive to serve.
[23:29] And this also seems like an opportunity
to engage the community of friends of
[23:33] Thompson Pier Street Park whole park was
result of community involvement might be
[23:39] bras
ever that
[23:45] even if it's even a bucket by the
>> true
[23:51] um any other comment
[23:55] Other than
>> Yeah. Yeah.
[23:58] » I did want to [clears throat] second uh
Commissioner Chang Frank's comment about
[24:02] the noticing for the dog run. Um so
because she and Commissioner Abbott and
[24:10] I were on the subcommittee for the um
Memorial Park dog park and that was it
[24:18] was a huge elaborate affair. Um this I
necessarily anticipate it being as as
[24:23] much of a thing, but it should be duly
noticed and um we have opportunities for
[24:29] public input.
>> And one might think that because it's a
[24:32] de facto dog park now it wouldn't
matter, but one would be wrong.
[24:35] [laughter]
That's why I'm saying even if the signs
[24:39] go up, you need to reach out.
>> Fair enough. All right. [laughter]
[24:43] Little little gunshy here. All right.
[snorts] Uh any other comments?
[24:49] » All right. Well, thank you very much.
Yeah, I I'm I think we're all excited to
[24:53] see uh
>> Yeah, great to see all the progress,
[24:56] too.
>> It's really fun to see these actually
[24:57] happening.
>> Thank you.
[24:58] » We know you're making it all possible.
>> I think I have I think I have um I can
[25:03] make it work.
>> Moving on to the park maintenance update
[25:07] if we're ready.
>> Yes. Um
[25:10] » and at the beginning of the meeting, if
some people just tuned in, we decided to
[25:14] skip 42 because
>> Yes, 42. We're skipp
[25:26] Well, you know, I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna
call a chair's prerogative and say we
[25:31] may now reopen public public comment. If
you would like to step up and and have
[25:36] your three minutes, please
[25:48] I just joined the of the USA Northern
California. Um, so I'm here for a couple
[25:53] reasons. One is, um, I just want to make
the commission aware of fact that
[25:58] there's a fair amount of grant funding
that the national USDA makes available
[26:03] for, um, for local t local
organizations, whether it's um, whether
[26:10] it's, you know, community tennis
associations or cities. And so I just
[26:14] want to make myself a resource to thank
anybody if anybody's interested and
[26:18] wants to learn more about that. Um I'd
be happy to be or to connect you with
[26:23] some a staff member at the USDA Noral
organization. Um so I wanted to offer
[26:29] myself as that. Then I also just wanted
to comment that I think the courts at
[26:33] Terrace and uh Memorial falling into
pretty like high level disrepair. um
[26:39] which I think is it's I'm sure you guys
have noticed and probably heard from
[26:43] other people at some point, but I just
wanted to point it out and um let you
[26:49] guys know that they're they get used a
ton and um to the point where I don't
[26:54] play as much at memorial as I used to
because I have to reserve reserve them
[26:58] if I want to. Um but uh they're great
sports. It's a great park and um I would
[27:04] hope that at some point they get fixed
up fixed up a little bit and um All
[27:10] right. Well, thank you very much.
>> And to be clear, it's US and not USDA.
[27:16] » That's true. That's right. I work with
US in my regular life and I do not want
[27:22] to have anything to do with that.
>> Um just I give you a little preview of
[27:28] the next um presentation here talking
about park maintenance and one of the
[27:31] upcoming projects for this uh this year.
Uh we have established a annual park
[27:36] rehabilitation program and we're going
to redo the courts at uh Terrace Park.
[27:40] » Okay.
>> It's a little snippet.
[27:43] » Yeah. Julia knows who I am but if
anybody wants to get my contact
[27:47] information
>> I'll give you
[27:51] » city is notoriously uninterested in
sources of money. [laughter]
[27:57] Sure.
It can be large amounts of money for
[28:00] really large projects or small like
there's a fair amount coming that's
[28:04] small micro grants like in the $2,500
range for like if you want to buy like
[28:09] new benches or like new nets for all of
the ports or things like that. So
[28:13] there's like there's different types of
programs. I am not an expert but I'm
[28:17] learning about it and I can definitely
connect with experts to all right
[28:20] » to learn more about it.
>> Well, thank you. I think they will
[28:22] gladly take your information. Thanks so
much for coming down and making your
[28:25] comments.
>> Thank you guys. All right, we will now
[28:27] close public comment, move to item 43,
of which we've had a tantalizing little
[28:33] preview. [laughter]
Um, I think I could just um The fonts
[28:39] got a little jacked up when I opened it
here. So, I did I saved it as a PDF. So,
[28:44] that might
um
[28:49] work.
[29:05] Anything's open.
[29:15] Maybe you can drive
just take the PDF.
[29:31] You got it.
[29:35] I stop sharing because I think I was
messing things up.
[30:05] And that's where I got stumped.
[laughter]
[30:16] » Here, I got it. I got it now.
>> Okay.
[30:18] » Yep. All right.
>> We're just texting you guys to make sure
[30:22] you guys are still woke. All right. Back
to our regular scheduling program.
[30:28] » Okay. So,
[30:36] Um we go. All right. So this is a um
update on our parks maintenance. So this
[30:45] is something we were trying to do a
number of times a year, but um due to
[30:50] staff staff turnover, whatnot, we got
out of cycle. So, this is my attempt to
[30:54] kind of bring us back up to speed and uh
let everyone know where we are with some
[31:00] of the uh park maintenance things. So,
let me jump in and um
[31:05] so we're just going to give an overview
of uh our approach to ma um park
[31:11] maintenance um see how it fits within
the larger public works uh environment
[31:15] and then some of the key activities
we've been doing. Um one of the things
[31:18] I'm really excited about is SB 1383. Um,
this is something that we've talked
[31:23] about uh at prior council meeting or
commission meetings and has uh been a
[31:29] struggle and there's been some recent
developments and changes that are
[31:33] actually in our favor which I'm really
excited about. Um, and then we'll just
[31:38] touch on some upcoming projects
including the um uh the the tennis
[31:43] courts that uh we mentioned.
So um so public works has what I think
[31:50] one of the broader scopes of um scopes
of work within the the the city. Um we
[31:56] have uh what is it 16 uh FTEEs as
full-time equivalents and then a single
[32:02] part-time person and that and that take
we take care of a lot of things within
[32:08] the city. everything from delivering
capital projects which Andre talked
[32:11] about to maintaining all the
infrastructure and and uh things in our
[32:16] rightway and just from I think this is
how we organize ourselves within the
[32:22] budgets and things of that sort. We have
sort of functional areas, capital
[32:25] improvements, rightway, buildings and
facilities, parks and playfields, open
[32:30] space and then sort of departmental
management. Um and so like in in right
[32:37] away it's everything from operation and
maintenance of the storm storm drains
[32:41] regul regulatory uh requirements trash
and graffiti
[32:46] um buildings and facilities. It's you
know just the the general maintenance of
[32:49] the build of the of the facil facilities
in um parks and open space. This is um
[32:57] you know all of our structured parks and
I'll say that's like Terrace Park and
[33:02] and um I even include the greenway in
there to a certain extent. Um uh and the
[33:08] open spaces are more of the bulb and
Albany Hill, Cornis Creek. So that's
[33:13] that's sort of our our division of labor
there. Um and our approach to
[33:19] maintenance generally speaking, we have
um seven maintenance workers, three of
[33:24] which are lead workers. So that's um
they're responsible for a functional
[33:30] area. So we have one person around PI
Parks and we see uh Michael Michael Hog
[33:35] he's our uh lead worker for parks and um
so he's kneede in everything related to
[33:40] parks and and um uh lead workers aren't
ex you know we're not large enough to
[33:47] have people exclusively with parks. So
um we do everything but as a lead worker
[33:53] the idea is he he's spending a portion
of his time understanding what's going
[33:58] on in park. So when there is an issue,
he has the contacts to go out and and
[34:02] and address it. Um and then we have a
lead worker for public rideway and then
[34:08] a lead worker for buildings. And they're
supported by four maintenance workers
[34:13] and these are level two. Um right now we
um we have um we're down a couple people
[34:20] for various reasons. So we're down two
people. We're looking to kind of bring
[34:23] that back up. So that that's a um
constraint in what we can do.
[34:29] Um, and then we have the public works
manager, which is a vacant position
[34:33] right now. And then we have a project
manager, Andre, who helps support
[34:38] projects, and then the or urban
forester. And so that's that's sort of
[34:42] the key folks that are involved in um
managing uh the the parks.
[34:50] Um the park maintenance, we have some
sort of what I call core activities, and
[34:56] we call this the trash run. And it's
that's more of um more than just picking
[35:01] up the trash. What it is, it's a
structured time that we go through all
[35:04] the parks. So, uh Memorial Park is we
have a um I think it's route A or
[35:10] whatever. We have a Monday, Wednesday, a
Monday, Friday trash run. And this is
[35:14] where we go through Memorial Memorial
Park, Terrace Park, uh Ocean View Park.
[35:19] We pick up the trash. We blow all the um
the uh pathways. We make sure that the
[35:25] the sand in the sandboxes are at the
right level and there, you know, we we
[35:29] make sure there's no issues with that.
We make sure the bathrooms are stocked.
[35:33] If there's other issues in going in the
park, we either address it right then.
[35:37] Maybe it's a graffiti issue or we put it
on a list that that gets done
[35:41] separately. So, it's really our eyes in
the park uh making sure that it's it's
[35:46] functional. We also have um
you know in different parks different so
[35:52] basically Monday, Wednesday, Friday we
do some version of trash run throughout
[35:56] the city. Um and then we also do what we
call the weekend service and this was
[36:01] something we uh brought on I would say a
couple years ago coming out of COVID
[36:05] where we found and this is again a good
problem to have our parks get a lot of
[36:10] use. So we would our idea is that we
would empty the trash on a Friday it
[36:14] would be you know and that would be
enough capacity to le last us through
[36:18] the uh through Monday when we get
another trash run. That's not the case
[36:23] after sat after Saturday. In a lot of
cases the parks need a little bit of a
[36:26] tuning up. So, we bring in a maintenance
worker on overtime uh for four hours um
[36:33] four hours on a Sunday morning to really
just make sure things are ready for the
[36:39] next day's uh activities in the parks.
And so there's, you know, particularly
[36:43] Memorial Park and Ocean View parks get a
lot of picnics and parties and things of
[36:47] that sort. So, um that's been really
helpful to um that was that was um one
[36:54] of our largest area of complaints and I
think we've really addressed that. So,
[36:58] the complaints are dropping
significantly.
[37:01] Um, and I'll jump to like we coordinate
with wreck a lot on this issue because
[37:08] um, when
recreation has a park attendant out
[37:13] there and that that person is there to
assist people doing rentals and and
[37:19] whatnot and that person does some of the
lift. Um, but we want to make sure that
[37:25] we come in and do some like underlying
heavy stuff. Make sure the restrooms are
[37:29] stocked. If there's trash cans
overflowing from the year the the day
[37:33] before, we make sure that's taken care
of and and cleaned up across all of our
[37:37] parks. But then the attendant can deal
with sort of the, you know, wiping down
[37:42] tables and helping with trash, but not,
you know, they they just don't have the
[37:48] facilities to do it like we do. Um, and
then for our we also rely on contractors
[37:55] particularly in the landscape
maintenance. We um irrigation management
[37:59] and uh trees, you know, we don't we
don't have a tree crew. We also bring in
[38:04] specialty stuff. We had a storm drain
issue in Memorial Park this last year
[38:07] and so we brought in someone to help
clear some storm drains to um help with
[38:12] some drainage problems. So, um you know,
that's
[38:18] there's it's really a nice combination
of work that we do in house versus stuff
[38:23] that we contract out. And my thought is
we want to
[38:29] do work inhouse that we are best suited
to. So things like the trash run like we
[38:34] know our parks. We going to go do the
thing and we can identify when there is
[38:38] an issue and bring it up and if we if we
can take care of it we can we'll do it.
[38:43] if we need to bring in a contractor um
we will and and I think that's that's
[38:48] working and in a lot of cases our
maintenance workers are helping make the
[38:52] decision of what we can do and what we
can't do. Um and then we rely on
[38:57] community partnerships and this is
primarily you know Alb Unified um
[39:01] particularly with the the baseball team.
They take a really um uh active um
[39:09] engagement in maintaining uh
particularly the ball field in Memorial
[39:13] Park as well as other things and other
other people who use the fields come in
[39:18] and do work days and so forth.
Um,
[39:24] so some of the key activities we've done
since um, uh, last the last update,
[39:30] which I think was almost like a year and
a half, two years ago, which so I'm want
[39:34] to get back on cycle on this. Um, one
thing we did a restroom refresh for
[39:38] Memorial Park, Ocean View, and uh,
Terrace Park. And Memorial Park was
[39:43] probably the largest largest one of
these. Um and if you recall maybe what
[39:48] was that two 2016 2017 there was the
update of the uh restrooms in Memorial
[39:54] Park um I would say in the last couple
years they were really in a again they
[40:00] get a lot of use and which is good but
um they were showing some wear and tear
[40:05] particularly with the partitions at
Memorial Park we pulled all the
[40:08] partitions out took everything and uh we
uh redid a surface uh floor surface on
[40:15] it so So, it's more of an epoxy and
hopefully that will last better. We got
[40:19] new brackets. I think Andre spent a lot
of time trying to uh track down the
[40:24] manufacturer and get brackets to make
sure one one of the things the brackets
[40:28] were were broken. So, the um partitions
were just all over the place and they
[40:34] weren't they weren't functioning. So, we
cleaned the graffiti, we recoted them,
[40:39] reinstalled them, and they look pretty
good. um at Terrace Park in Ocean View,
[40:47] we essentially repainted the inside and
outside because again they were looking
[40:50] tired and that was done uh with our
staff.
[40:55] Um and then one of the things we've been
doing the last couple years um
[41:01] uh and this is primarily in response to
the SP 1383 was the winter and summer uh
[41:07] services for the fields. So, this is
where we um close the fields. Um the
[41:12] winter service we're just coming out of.
We close the fields uh in early uh late
[41:17] November and excuse me. Uh they're
basically closed through December and
[41:23] January. We do a uh uh a top coating of
of compost. We uh airate uh we we seed
[41:31] and it's it's this year. I've got a
picture of it at at Memorial Park. It
[41:37] really looks good. Um, so
this is an opportunity. The fields get a
[41:43] lot of play time. We don't use really
any fertilizers or any sort of other
[41:48] amendments. So giving time for the
fields to breathe and just um put some
[41:54] compost on, we water it and let it go
without anyone u on it is really showing
[42:00] some um some uh improvement. Um and at
Ocean View there were a number of uh
[42:07] uh bare spots um that we were getting a
lot of complaints from particularly the
[42:12] soccer folks about um playability in the
co in the fields being super hard, no
[42:17] grass. Um and then we had some other
issues too with irrigation where um we
[42:22] had some breaks in the line and areas
with coverage. So with this this
[42:27] service, we went and um uh we had a
contractor with our with Michael um we
[42:32] went and um uh basically did an audit of
our system figuring out where the
[42:37] coverage issues were um and we
identified a number of leaks that we
[42:41] fixed because there were there were
areas that were consistently wet and
[42:44] then we have areas that were drying. So,
um hopefully we're going to have much
[42:50] better performance on the um u
irrigation side which will help help the
[42:55] fields. Um
then we also have done
[43:03] this down here. This if you've been out
in the bulb, we constructed a new set of
[43:08] ADA spaces. This came from a um a a
complaint from the public, not this last
[43:14] July, but the prior July, with someone
who was had accessibility issues, was
[43:19] having some struggles getting out to the
bulb. And um they brought it to our
[43:23] attention and we realized that the spots
that we had there that were ADA that we
[43:29] identified for ADA um
weren't really um up to snuff. And part
[43:36] of it was
when East Bay Regional Parks built their
[43:41] parking lot that took the pathway that
these
[43:46] these spots um these spots use. So we
took a step back and we constructed
[43:52] these uh two spots in the middle of the
um uh in that that sort of island area
[44:01] between the pathway and the and the
road. Um, and so there are two nice
[44:05] spots with a pathway to the trail and
then we uh fixed some of the issues
[44:10] within the trail and I think that's
gotten a good response and it quite
[44:14] frankly opened up a little more parking
spaces uh for uh other folks. So I think
[44:19] that was a really good thing. Um we've
also done uh these picnic tables. You
[44:26] really can't see it too well, but uh
Peter in our uh maintenance uh he's a
[44:31] lead worker for buildings and he's
really good carpenter. He has replaced
[44:36] at Memorial Park all of the old sort of
tres or or composite uh picnic material,
[44:44] you know, material for the picnic
tables. And um they made it with nice
[44:49] wood. And he's it is much easier to
maintain because as people cut things
[44:54] into it or um uh do we we can sand it
out and repaint it and it's a much it's
[45:01] a much better um long term for us to
maintain our plan. And we're um what he
[45:07] does is he buys the wood and we let it
sit for a period of time so it dries
[45:11] out. And we're planning to um do the
same thing at Terrace Park because they
[45:17] have the same same type of um uh picnic
tables.
[45:23] Um the other thing that we that's it's
on its way with the construction of the
[45:28] dog park and this is uh back to the
comment about uh the dog. Nothing
[45:33] changed in the dog park when we uh other
than switching the the gate location.
[45:39] The park's basically the same. baseball
is basically the same, but uh balls
[45:44] going over the over the fence were um a
big big issue and we got lots and lots
[45:49] and lots of comments about that. So, we
we worked with uh Albany Unified and um
[45:55] you know trying to figure out what
what's the real issue and it seems like
[46:00] most of the comments come not during
games because the games really aren't
[46:03] the problem. It's during practice where
someone's taking batting practice and
[46:08] the coach is very passionate and and one
of the time we got lots of calls. They
[46:12] were coming up against a a pitcher who
can like throw 90 whatever 90 miles per
[46:17] hour and and everyone was fouling it off
and so you know everyone's practicing
[46:22] and fing it all off to the dog park and
the dog park's full and so I think
[46:26] that's that's the that's the sort of the
use case that we're trying to um to
[46:31] address. So, we we found this product
that that's used at other high schools
[46:35] and the uh Albany Unified coach said,
"Yeah, that's he's seen this work." And
[46:40] it's called a um batting turtle. So,
it's kind of this cage that that you sit
[46:46] in and it prevents foul balls from going
out in either ways. So, we have that on
[46:51] the way. And as baseball's ramping up
now, our hope is um and as we've talked
[46:57] with Sid is this this will be a
requirement to use um for anyone who's
[47:03] renting the fields, whether it be Albby
Unified, the Cyclones, I guess that's a
[47:08] travel ball team that uses it. Um the
Albany Little League, they'll use that
[47:13] during practice and then games will will
happen as normal. So
[47:18] » fold up or something.
>> Yeah, it's it it folds up. Apparently,
[47:21] it's not too hard to move. It looks
gangly to me, but um uh they cleaned out
[47:26] an area that they can keep it up on the
first baseline. And um I think I think
[47:31] this hopefully this will um maybe not
address all the problems, but really
[47:37] take a take a bite out of them. So, um
and then we also do um you we uh we just
[47:46] finished uh pruning the trees in Terrace
Park today. Um so we do we've gone
[47:51] through most of the parks doing uh
trimming work and uh we do play
[47:55] equipment inspections. Um this helps we
actually have an outside person come and
[48:01] identify you know defects with this in
the in the play equipment. This is the
[48:06] play structures at the parks and you
know a lot of them are things that I
[48:10] probably wouldn't have had caught like
um when the coating comes off of it that
[48:14] creates an issue for the kids and and
whatnot. So, they give us
[48:17] recommendations and we went through a
process of replacing a bunch of
[48:20] equipment and we'll have another
inspection here in um well, not the
[48:25] equipment itself. We've replaced
components of the the the damaged
[48:29] components of the equipment and we'll
likely have another inspection here
[48:32] shortly to see if anything else is going
on. Um and then we monitor all the the
[48:38] sand and sort of fiber um playground
fiber, you know, safety surfaces in the
[48:43] playground areas to make sure they're up
to stuff. Um they surprising how how
[48:48] much stuff we go through. Um
uh and then
[48:55] our challenges.
So it's this is the exact same slide
[49:00] other than the updated pictures that we
had before. Um it's vandalism and
[49:04] graffiti. Uh these pictures are from
last weekend where we had someone come
[49:10] through and basically the same style of
graffiti starting at the bulb working.
[49:14] that's all all the way through the parks
and up and down the greenway. Um
[49:20] we have really made a concerted effort
to jump on graffiti as quickly as we
[49:25] can. U we found that it goes away. Um
you know someone's going to do this but
[49:29] if it we leave it there more comes if we
take care of it quickly. Um, I don't
[49:34] know if you've noticed it with the
columns along the BART tracks where
[49:38] we've we've basically taken over manage
of that from BART because they weren't
[49:43] keeping up and it was really becoming an
issue.
[49:47] Um, so some of the things we've done to
respond to the graffiti and vandalism is
[49:54] um we have the weekend park checks and
that's kind of keeps us on on um you
[49:59] know on top of things before it really
spins out of control. One of the things
[50:02] we've done too, which is interesting, is
um the bathrooms lock on a timer and
[50:08] we've adjusted those times
um just to throw people off just um and
[50:17] like I I
one of the things we've we open them
[50:22] later and sometimes it's after school
after school um starts because that
[50:27] means people aren't
going around in the bathrooms before
[50:31] school. And then um depending on what
the rentals are, particularly with
[50:36] daylight savings, we shift the time
because you know they in the summertime
[50:41] when there's b uh softball games going
on, we 10 o'clock's a perfect time. In
[50:46] the winter it's not. And and what
happens is people go in there and we
[50:50] have problems.
Um and we've coordinated with uh Alb
[50:54] Unified and they've been really great to
help. Um particularly one of the issues
[50:57] we've had was um uh trash during uh at
Memorial Park during lunch and um
[51:06] they've been great to work with in terms
of yeah getting reminding people to do
[51:10] it. We we coordinate our trash to our
Wednesday trash um to happen after
[51:18] lunch. I don't know if our students have
noticed that, but um we we then you know
[51:24] after lunch then we go and clean up the
park, make sure there's no overflowing
[51:28] trash cans, and that seems to have
alleviated that issue. But um uh there's
[51:34] usually someone from the school there
also reminding people to um to put away
[51:39] their trash. But it and
I guess it's like
[51:44] people for it it goes in waves. Um
and in some cases we involve all Albany
[51:53] um police department um particularly
with um we have people um living you
[52:00] know we'll we'll spend night in the
bathroom and so on things like that we
[52:04] have our our maintenance workers call PD
to make sure it's safe to go in and
[52:08] clean up.
Um
[52:12] all right SP 1383.
So, this was a and just for people who
[52:18] aren't familiar, this was a um state law
that was enacted, I don't know, four or
[52:25] five years ago, something along those
lines. And it really it really impacted
[52:29] how um uh solid waste management
happens. And um one of the components
[52:36] that relates to us is um this this
requirement for purchasing and use of
[52:43] organic material. So it was a a way of
uh developing a market for um organic
[52:50] material for use in you know um whole
host of things you can do with it. Um so
[52:55] each city was given an allocation based
on some formula and our initial
[53:00] allocation was uh 1364 tons and this is
not tons of this was I I call this tons
[53:08] of SP 1383 compliant organic material
because
[53:14] » and that's annual
>> annually
[53:16] » and because there's this long list of
things that can contribute and then a
[53:21] conversion factor to this this madeup up
tons tons things. So um so I I have this
[53:30] is all in um compliant organic material.
Um the 1364 was going to be a heavy
[53:39] heavy lift not only for us but for every
other municipality. Um, and we jumped on
[53:46] it and tried to do our and and the way
this was done, it was phased in over I
[53:50] think it was four years or three or four
years where you would phase up and we
[53:54] were meeting our targets and but quite
frankly
[53:58] if the if things didn't change I I don't
know what we would have done. Um so our
[54:03] target our revised target is now 460
which is hugely different and I think I
[54:10] think um this was our local our local
regulator our local agency is stop waste
[54:16] and they worked with um was it Cal
Recycle to lower the to to make the case
[54:22] to lower the um uh requirements for
cities. So, and and that's that's great.
[54:26] And now we're sitting in a great look a
great position because the our bakedin
[54:33] uses are we do two annual um uh twice
annual compost giveaway and this is
[54:40] through waste management. Um you can see
the the pallets and we have most of our
[54:44] our crew out there. Um, and it's
something that, um, I think people line
[54:50] up for pretty darn early in the morning.
And it's and it's a really good thing.
[54:54] And that that provides about 69 tons.
And our our field services, our winter
[55:00] is uh, almost 300. Our summer service,
which is very similar, but we do less
[55:06] fields for less time. We only do the
ball fields instead of sort of broader
[55:12] in the parks. And that's that's 215. And
then we support
[55:17] uh compost to the compost hub and that's
at the gil track and that is that totals
[55:23] 662 which is way above our requirement
and so this this is this is great for
[55:29] us. So now we're actually in a position
where we're digging into
[55:34] um so when we when we started this and
and I'm I don't know if you guys
[55:38] remember like we're just kind of
throwing everything out there trying to
[55:42] get uses that make sense. Now we now
that we've met our requirement and from
[55:47] what I understand this requirement is
going to stay stable unless there's some
[55:51] other determination that we would have
time to react with it. So from my
[55:54] perspective we're going to start
organizing our effort around meeting
[55:58] that requirement while um I think
particularly for the um field services
[56:04] we've gotten a lot of benefit out of um
out of doing this. So, what we're going
[56:09] to probably do is go through and see
which ones are sort of the best the best
[56:15] use for our money um in this and I could
see backing off on maybe the summer
[56:20] service or some part of it and um and
really dialed this in to to be the most
[56:26] impactful at at cost. So, um, we're in a
really good spot for this and we'll
[56:31] we'll obviously not dial it in too tight
so that we, you know, we're not, um, so
[56:38] we don't miss a compliance. And like
other things that we've tried to do in
[56:43] public works, we um,
we want to make sure the activities that
[56:48] we're doing flow into the compliance
reporting so that um, the first couple
[56:52] years it was like, wait a minute, I
remember that project. Where's that
[56:55] receipt? Let's get the thing. So, we
want to make sure that we we're actually
[57:00] talking with Waste Management, our um
hauler to to to help us um
[57:08] and right now we buy our our compost
through our landscape contractor and so
[57:13] that has a higher higher cost. We can
buy it through Waste Management who has
[57:18] a company that um makes out in the
Central Valley for organic farming and
[57:22] whatnot. So, it's really really quality
stuff. um they can deliver it here. We
[57:26] have a certain amount built into our
franchise and that could lower our unit
[57:30] cost um pretty significantly in a um
uh in rough numbers. Um when we buy um
[57:41] uh compost in this switching instead of
SP 1383 compliant units cubic yards
[57:46] normal cubic yards we buy it for about
$50 a ton or a cubic yard um delivered
[57:55] from aapokco we buy it from our
contractor at roughly 40 kind of pulling
[58:02] it out it's roughly 40 I think with
waste management what what we have built
[58:07] built into our contract, it might be
between 20 and 30, which really drops
[58:14] our costs. So, um, so this is this is
like this is great. We can start
[58:19] thinking about this rather than worrying
what's the, you know, giving it in
[58:24] little baggies and everyone's going to
have to take some home for something.
[58:27] So,
>> just thinking how much can we dump on on
[58:30] Peggy Thompson,
>> right? Well, that seriously
[58:33] » that that was one of our thoughts was
maybe we just make piles, compost piles,
[58:37] and move them around and see what
happens. Um, yeah. Um,
[58:44] so, and now we get to some
forwardlooking things. Um,
[58:49] one of So, one of the things we've done
in all of our um all of our systems, and
[58:53] I think you know, we've talked about the
the trees and street lights and and
[58:59] things. We're kicking off an an uh an
effort actually I think in the coming
[59:04] weeks um to do an ass inventory GIS
inventory of all the facilities in our
[59:10] parks. So this will be a basis for us to
start doing um a replacement schedule um
[59:16] around our play equipment and other
things fencing so that so one we're very
[59:21] clear what we have what's what its
condition and then we can start um
[59:25] putting a replacement program and this
goes handinhand with a new feature that
[59:29] we have in our uh capital improvement
program. Um the we've in other areas
[59:35] we've established these what we call it
programs like we have a sewer program,
[59:39] we have a uh sidewalk program, we have a
road program and the idea is we want to
[59:45] be investing a certain level every year
in and year out. Not so much in a um
[59:51] like a signature project. is just in the
basic stuff so that we don't have
[59:55] comments like we had today about you
know the the playability of our courts
[59:59] um being in a in a in bad shape and you
know I I don't think there's there's a
[1:00:06] lot of things are looking tired there
could use a refresh. So this is going to
[1:00:11] be our um in the current CIP we have
about $200,000 a year for a fiveyear
[1:00:18] plan. Hopefully when we get to the end
of that we can we can in the new plan
[1:00:23] extend that and adjust it based on what
our needs are.
[1:00:28] So this year we have a couple things in
the plan. We have at Memorial Park the
[1:00:32] back stops at the the padding on the
back stop is just deteriorating before
[1:00:37] our eyes. It's um and so we're going to
replace that. We're getting a quote for
[1:00:41] that right now. And then we're going to
do the Par Terrace Park tennis courts.
[1:00:45] And this is one thing that I wanted to
bring up with um unfortunately Dena is
[1:00:50] not here. Um but I wanted to have the
conversation uh in the master plan. Um
[1:00:55] there was discussion about flex courts
and what we do with flex courts and how
[1:00:59] we integrate those. And one of the
opportunities to for flex courts is um
[1:01:05] when we redo tennis courts and and it's
it's not a big lift to
[1:01:10] paint lines to support another use. the
lift is are we all on the same page of
[1:01:16] what that other use is and one of the
things I wanted to do and it's it's kind
[1:01:20] of great that um we had the commenter
and Andre has contact because one of the
[1:01:26] things I want to make sure is that we
don't degrade the playability for tennis
[1:01:29] because um you know the courts at Albany
High are Albany High's home court the
[1:01:36] the courts at Terrace Park are used by
St. Mary's College High School and um
[1:01:42] and and so we want to make sure that
they're playable from a you know a match
[1:01:46] play or whatever. Um but this is the
opportunity to bring that in. So um
[1:01:51] that's one thing that I want to be
talking about so that um Andre doesn't
[1:01:56] have to make it up himself. Um
and then uh we have the Aloney Linear
[1:02:02] Park fitness equipment replacement. Um I
believe Andre has meeting with uh
[1:02:09] vendors right now to look at different
options. So that should be coming to the
[1:02:13] commission here um in 2026 if not um
early 2027. And then we want to do the
[1:02:21] citywide turf audit. Um this to me is
one of the big things where we decide
[1:02:25] where we want turf, where we don't want
turf, what what could it be? And that
[1:02:29] folds into
a couple of other studies. the
[1:02:33] programming along the Aloney Greenway
and Peggy Thompson Pier Street Park
[1:02:37] which are you know slated for 27 and 28.
And in my mind the Aloney Greenway
[1:02:45] programming and Peggy Thompson
programming go hand inand with the um
[1:02:50] project that Dean is going to be leading
on the the sort of you know what what
[1:02:56] uses can go in different places. Um,
so
[1:03:01] and then
so we get into the measure. I don't have
[1:03:06] budget numbers because I just quite
frankly didn't have enough time. Um, I
[1:03:10] do have a um tab open to I have links.
Um, all this stuff is on our website, so
[1:03:17] I can Let me see if I can get this up
here.
[1:03:21] Um, [clears throat]
and show folks where it is.
[1:03:29] Um
okay.
[1:03:39] So
sharing we go.
[1:03:46] So this is um on our website where we
detail really everything that's going on
[1:03:53] in a lot lot of areas. This is the uh
page that deals with the measure M or
[1:03:58] the open parks and open space part
parcel tax. Um these reports they have
[1:04:05] reports here of um projects and pro
program expenditures and that's updated
[1:04:09] annually. Um
give you a heads up it hasn't been
[1:04:13] updated um with the new audit that was
just completed but um we're working on
[1:04:18] that and should should be done fairly
soon. But it does detail
[1:04:23] what we spend the money, what revenue
has been coming in by fiscal year, and
[1:04:27] you can see exactly how we're spending
it. And um way we've budgeted things,
[1:04:32] and it's a really
a a little bit of a tug a tug. It it
[1:04:37] supports both operating costs as well as
capital. Um so it's um it's something we
[1:04:44] keep an eye on and and probably will
adjust over time as needs as needs come.
[1:04:51] Then
I have uh [groaning]
[1:04:58] let me see and then um the next slides
around the um construction alerts. This
[1:05:05] is another um city projects. We call it
construction alerts but it's it's really
[1:05:10] um all projects on the website. We try
to keep this updated about all the
[1:05:14] things going on in public works because
we have a lot of them. And we have um
[1:05:21] uh every project has has a page um and
we try to give um here let's see if we
[1:05:29] can get into this one. Um what we do is
identify the project the project number.
[1:05:36] There's usually a um a contact a little
history. Um this was the Albany Albany
[1:05:43] Hill um forest management plan. So we
have the the the final
[1:05:48] uh we have documents related this one is
the plan development FAQs but then we
[1:05:53] have all through the this is where the
sort of the repository of the history of
[1:05:58] the projects and um so
we try to keep all I think some of it's
[1:06:05] been archived but we try to keep
everything on here as long as we can so
[1:06:08] that people can understand what's going
on and um
[1:06:13] look to hear for the most current
information.
[1:06:18] All right, let's see if we can get back
to
[1:06:28] uh Oh.
[1:06:44] All right.
[clears throat]
[1:06:49] So, there's there's the link for
Oh,
[1:06:57] there we go.
Um there's a construction zone
[1:07:01] construction alert. Um and then finally,
how to report issues. So, um, one of the
[1:07:07] things we do do is we've we have a, um,
uh, it's actually a GIS tool that you
[1:07:14] can report an issue. You can report the
location, snap a picture, upload it, and
[1:07:20] on the I guess the landing page, it's
called the first page of the when you go
[1:07:24] to the website, we have these um uh tabs
down here and one's report an issue and
[1:07:30] this will take you to to that and you
can uh report an issue and then Jamra
[1:07:37] will tell one of us to go do it.
Um, and with that,
[1:07:43] let's open it up to questions and
discussions.
[1:07:48] » All right. Maybe you would like to take
a breath. [laughter]
[1:07:51] That was a lot. Drink water or
something.
[1:07:54] » Well, once I get going, I could I could
I [laughter] could keep going.
[1:07:58] » Well, we should. All right. Uh,
questions.
[1:08:03] » Clarifying question. The 200,000 for the
capital improvement plans over five is
[1:08:08] that each year?
>> Yeah. So, it's a million dollars over
[1:08:10] five years.
>> Okay. Thanks.
[1:08:15] » Other questions?
>> Yeah, I had a few. Um, one was for for
[1:08:22] maintenance. The staffing is important
and you said we're down some FTEES. You
[1:08:27] mentioned there's 16 FTEEs in your
department with 16 point something with
[1:08:31] the part-time. Um, how many of those
positions would you say are are vacant
[1:08:36] now and what challenges, if any, do you
anticipate in filling them?
[1:08:39] » So, we have um two open open positions
and one is someone's out on a different
[1:08:46] issue. Um so part of it is um
uh the maintenance workers we've had
[1:08:52] some turnover because um people find
different jobs and one of the things
[1:08:57] that um
I think the people here have a a um a
[1:09:03] good experience and it's a good place to
work but there's there's not a lot of
[1:09:06] opportunity. you know, we we have a
small crew. There's not a lot of
[1:09:10] movement and um uh all the people who
have left have left for like, oh yeah,
[1:09:15] that makes sense. You're going to
another place, less commute, something
[1:09:19] different. And so, um I think the
maintenance worker side is is something
[1:09:23] that's just always going to be one of
these cycling in. The good news is we
[1:09:28] have three really good um lead workers.
They're they're
[1:09:35] I think all of them have been with the
city longer than me. I think some I
[1:09:39] think Michael's probably the the the
longest tenure
[1:09:43] maybe pushing 20 years. Um, so we we do
have some good institutional knowledge,
[1:09:49] but what we don't want to have is um
uh we just had one one person uh retire
[1:09:57] um a while ago about a year ago and AJ
he had been with the city for gosh and
[1:10:03] he walked out with a lot of knowledge
that we're we just realized that we're
[1:10:07] relying on him. So, one of the things
we're trying to do is is make it so that
[1:10:12] everyone knows how to do everything in
some ways. So, it's it's um building
[1:10:17] that capacity, but I think some of the
um
[1:10:23] some of the um some of it's just part of
the part of do doing business and on on
[1:10:29] that in in that maintenance worker side.
Um the office positions, we have a um uh
[1:10:37] public um the public works manager
position open has been um open for a
[1:10:42] while. Hoping to fill it here shortly.
Um but part of that was me wanting to
[1:10:48] stick my that's why you're seeing more
and me more of me. Um I really stuck my
[1:10:52] nose into that end side of the house to
really understand what's going on and
[1:10:57] try to try to improve level of service.
So, I think we're at a point where we're
[1:11:01] going to start bringing in people. And
one one of the things I want to do is uh
[1:11:05] implement a new um uh
enterprise asset management program like
[1:11:12] a work order program essentially that's
tied to more GIS. That's why we're
[1:11:16] supporting the GIS. Um and and that will
help us be more effective on the work
[1:11:20] order side of things.
>> Okay. Thanks. Um the uh for irrigation
[1:11:27] you mentioned uh I said I remember
irrigation was going to be rerouted and
[1:11:33] improved in the dog park was part of the
plan. It was very forward thinking. That
[1:11:37] was great that you the city and you were
working on that. Um the irrigation
[1:11:42] issues you discussed tonight, the dry
patches, the wet patches, is that there
[1:11:46] is that what you're talking about or is
it lots of other locations? It's it's
[1:11:49] it's really all over the place. And some
of it is um you I walked it with Michael
[1:11:55] um and [clears throat] our and our
contractor um like over time some of the
[1:11:59] irrigation heads because you know it's
mowing they get pushed down and so um
[1:12:05] some of them get buried and some of them
are at an angle so they're not as
[1:12:09] effective. Some of them are just broken
and like there's a crack down below and
[1:12:14] and that's that's the persistent wet
spot. So it was really just diligently
[1:12:18] going through the system and trying to
correct as many issues we as we can and
[1:12:23] we've also done that along the greenway
to a certain extent.
[1:12:26] » Okay. So those sounds like more like
local damage and things like that
[1:12:29] whereas the dog park was a big system
that
[1:12:31] » dog park
>> Yeah. dog park was a really unique thing
[1:12:34] because
>> it different.
[1:12:35] » Yeah. Be because the dog as you remember
the dog park wasn't a dog park. it was
[1:12:41] » it was section B and then before that it
was uh an athletic field and the
[1:12:47] irrigation system for that was comingled
with the the infield system. So when
[1:12:53] they did the infield system they watered
you know you couldn't couldn't control
[1:12:57] them and Andre and his project they
separated that so we don't
[1:13:01] » so that was a big job and the other
things you're describing are little
[1:13:04] repairs here. Yeah, they're they both
have impact because the area the areas
[1:13:10] where um it was wet um like it was
always wet and so I I think this will be
[1:13:18] you you'll have I think we'll have
better control and better performance of
[1:13:21] the of the irrigation system and
therefore we'll have better um uh you
[1:13:28] know
the grass will be will be much much
[1:13:32] better condition. Um you mentioned the
picnic tables going to
[1:13:38] actual wood
>> from the trex or whatever it was and um
[1:13:42] do you anticipate any of the milled
lumber from the eucalyptus trees on Alb
[1:13:46] Hill being used for things like that or
benches or
[1:13:49] » probably not. I think um we've used that
in so Andre is using some in his part in
[1:13:54] his um his project but we've also used
most of that on Albany Hill for small
[1:14:01] retaining walls and steps and things of
that sort. So, um I and and I think
[1:14:06] dimensionally that's not as consistent.
So, um I think I think it works better
[1:14:12] on the hill than it does in a in the
park.
[1:14:15] » Um Okay. And who owns Memorial Park
baseball field and what's the financial
[1:14:20] agreement with the schools for the
baseball field and who paid for the
[1:14:23] turtle?
>> Um so,
[1:14:28] boy, there's a lot in there on that one.
Um so it is it the the city owns the BA
[1:14:33] is owns the uh baseball field. It is a
um there's a joint facilities agreement
[1:14:40] that outlines how a lot of the things
are done. Uh not just with ball fields
[1:14:46] but um uh use of various school
facilities like we host I think we host
[1:14:52] pickle ball in the in the gymnasium. Um,
[clears throat] in as far as the turtle,
[1:14:58] we're buying the turtle um because it's
we have the obligation to maintain the
[1:15:04] asset. And so this is this is this is
part of um addressing an issue about
[1:15:10] playing playing as a baseball field, not
necessarily a Albany High School things
[1:15:16] because it's used as an adult league.
There's there's many people that use it.
[1:15:21] » Summer camps would maybe use it as well.
um not so much summer camp, but there's
[1:15:25] there's um little league, there's a
travel ball, and if you drive by,
[1:15:30] there's a an older like a like an adult
league that uses it. So, the idea would
[1:15:35] be that whenever they're doing batting
practice or practice, they would need to
[1:15:39] use the turtle. And then you mentioned
flex courts and um doing something with
[1:15:46] I I'm forgetting exactly what you said
was going to be updated or considered
[1:15:50] for updating in the tennis courts around
town. Um I was on the subcommittee with
[1:15:55] Commissioner Chang Frank and
Commissioner Kent maybe on flex courts
[1:15:59] and um and so that would be something
that would be I'm hoping would come
[1:16:05] before us.
>> Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. um as
[1:16:07] you're like before actual improvements
are done to the netting and
[1:16:11] » yeah so I think what we would do is line
out a project line out a project and
[1:16:16] hopefully and and hopefully through the
project that Dena's um doing we can get
[1:16:21] some ideas of what a flex court means
>> and then that can flow into our design
[1:16:26] that we would then come and present to
you guys that then would um uh receive
[1:16:32] you know comments so that we're all on
the same page with what is being
[1:16:35] constructed. Okay, great. And those
that's the kind of thing you anticipate
[1:16:40] there's regular maintenance on the
courts throughout like annual or
[1:16:43] whatever, but is this is this something
you see happening this year? Is it
[1:16:47] » Yeah, I'm I
[1:16:52] » possibly late spring.
>> Okay. In a few months.
[1:16:56] » Yeah.
>> Right. I look forward to that.
[1:16:58] » Yes. So, so that's this this is the
first year of that program that we're
[1:17:01] doing. So, we want to um like we want to
start getting ahead of steam um and and
[1:17:08] took a little bit of time on the
sidewalk program. Now, now we execute
[1:17:12] sidewalk pro uh projects without a lot
of um
[1:17:17] they they come pretty routine, but in
the beginning it wasn't because we're
[1:17:21] kind of finding our way and I think this
will be a little bit of that too. But I
[1:17:25] imagine once we get the program going,
once we understand sort of the assets
[1:17:28] that need to get replaced, we can we can
get the decisions out ahead of time.
[1:17:34] » Okay, that was it for me. Thanks.
>> Did anybody think of just uh recruiting
[1:17:39] better batters? Okay. Um more more
[laughter]
[1:17:43] comments or discussion? I I do I do say
when I first got here and this is total
[1:17:49] tangent. There was I got out there and
we needed to we need to we needed to
[1:17:52] raise the um uence
>> the fence because some kid was hitting
[1:17:57] it out and breaking windows across the
street and I was like give the guy a
[1:18:01] star.
>> Oh, that's that's a good hit.
[1:18:03] » And we haven't had that same problem in
the
[1:18:06] » field. Yeah.
>> So
[1:18:07] » there a discussion? Yeah, please. Um is
like field service for winter and summer
[1:18:15] also include like pier street like you
said or like the parks itself or is that
[1:18:20] just
>> So in the um so it's it it is focused on
[1:18:24] turf in the winter service we do um on
the south side of Memorial Park. You
[1:18:30] probably noticed that the we fence off
part of the area. We sort of flip-flop
[1:18:35] one. So this is the area on the south
side of Memorial Park. It's sort of
[1:18:41] unstructured play area. We host um movie
in the park and things like that there.
[1:18:46] And we've we we
don't want to close all of it. So we do
[1:18:51] one one side one year, the other side
the other year. Um and we also do
[1:18:55] terrace park, but it is really just um
the service is the same. We airrate, we
[1:19:02] try to as much as we can keep people off
of it, we top dress it and and and
[1:19:06] seating. And um I would say it's
probably less effective than the ball
[1:19:11] fields just because I think there's I
mean it's just a snow fence keeping
[1:19:16] people out. So it's it it I don't think
I don't I don't know there's there's
[1:19:21] rule followers and there's people who
just do it. [snorts]
[1:19:24] » But it's not like individual like or
anything. No like
[1:19:29] » No. No. It's it's really just blocking
it off and giving this the the giving it
[1:19:35] a little time to rest.
[1:19:39] Yeah. Um, just for clarification, like
what's the difference between like the
[1:19:42] normal maintenance of the tennis courts
and what you're going to do with like
[1:19:45] the um 200,000
>> the terrace?
[1:19:50] I I didn't hear all of that, but let me
I can
[1:19:53] » um like what's the difference between
the normal maintenance of the tennis
[1:19:56] courts and like what you're going to do
with the
[1:19:58] » So, in the normal maintenance and we've
been probably pretty spotty on doing
[1:20:03] some of this, you know, there's there's
cleaning and and actually in a part of
[1:20:07] our trash run, we go and clear the
courts. Um but there there is buildup
[1:20:13] particularly at tennis at terrace park
where there's a lot of stuff from the
[1:20:17] trees coming down and sits in the
corners and it builds up and that
[1:20:20] degrades the the the surface. Um, and
that's that can be done on uh regular
[1:20:27] maintenance, cleaning it, and then
having a contra there's a contractors
[1:20:30] that can come in and do surface um
surface cleaning um to prolong the
[1:20:35] service. And we that's one thing I want
to start doing um particularly at Ocean
[1:20:39] View that we redid. What we're doing
here is we're going to strip the court
[1:20:44] of its posts, everything. There's a
large crack on the on the eastern side
[1:20:49] of the the court, the one that's a
little higher up. Um, we're going to uh
[1:20:54] resurface it with asphalt to address the
crack, reinstall things. So, it's it's
[1:20:58] um it's be like a new court.
>> And are there any like plans to do that
[1:21:05] to the memorial park tennis court?
>> Um, we're going to move to that one
[1:21:08] next. That that's on the list. It's just
um Terrace Park is really the there's
[1:21:12] there's a crack there and um uh the
posts were
[1:21:18] they're they're bent over and and
whatnot. We've we've patched it together
[1:21:22] as much as we can.
>> The terrace is marginally usable.
[1:21:25] » Yeah.
>> So,
[1:21:33] one one idea I had and maybe maybe we
already do this, you know, just the
[1:21:37] stuff that comes to mind that do we at
lunch is over. Do we have trash cans on
[1:21:42] that end? because I know the trash cans
generally are the street. Are they
[1:21:45] between the park where kids are eating
lunch and the school where they walk?
[1:21:50] » So, this is interesting. Um, last was it
last year?
[1:21:55] Not not this la this this school year.
Last school year when this blew up, we
[1:22:01] we actually did a it wasn't really a
study. We went out there and saw where
[1:22:05] the trash cans are, where they're being
used because some were overflowing, some
[1:22:08] weren't used at all. and um and and
including the ones that were along the
[1:22:15] the roadway where the uh cars parked.
Those ones those were issues um on
[1:22:20] another because people would stuff in
their cars and just overload the trash
[1:22:25] cans. So, we actually removed those and
we repositioned trash cans in areas
[1:22:31] where um
uh kids were or pe not not only kids but
[1:22:37] um the the people were using the park
where the trash was h happening and um I
[1:22:42] think it's addressed um a little bit I
don't know if it's come back but um kids
[1:22:48] would would sit at um the bleachers near
the tennis courts and and eat I think
[1:22:53] and that the little trash cans inside
the tennis courts were just overflowing
[1:22:59] with trash. I think we got rid of those
or did we?
[1:23:02] » But the idea was we wanted to limit um
trash going into those and make them put
[1:23:08] in the big bellies. And I think I think
it's working
[1:23:12] » easier to do the right thing.
>> Yeah.
[1:23:15] » Right. Uh, I had one more question. I
forgot to ask uh for I did ask about the
[1:23:21] ballpark in Memorial Park for for the
for USD. The tennis courts at Terrace
[1:23:26] Park that you were just talking about.
Um, you said they're used by um St.
[1:23:32] Mary's.
>> Yep.
[1:23:33] » And uh I was wondering what kind ofou or
what kind of financial arrangement do we
[1:23:37] have there?
>> So I don't know exactly but I
[1:23:40] » private entity.
>> Yeah. I think they they pay a rental fee
[1:23:43] like any other user. So, I think they're
just like
[1:23:46] » they just reserve in advance.
>> Yeah. And that's um Joy in recreation.
[1:23:51] She handles a lot of that. And I think
all the leagues whether it's soccer,
[1:23:57] baseball, tennis um put reservations for
um various courts and courts or fields
[1:24:04] and she tries to come up with a schedule
but um the only ones the everyone other
[1:24:11] than Alb Unified
pays you know our our the rate that we
[1:24:16] have in our our rate schedules.
>> Okay. Okay. So, they're just a a regular
[1:24:21] rental user.
>> Yep.
[1:24:23] » Okay.
[1:24:27] » All right. There uh anyone else want to
weigh in? All right. See? None. We will
[1:24:33] close the item. Thank you very much.
Always good to get these. Was there Did
[1:24:37] you check public comment? I forget. You
>> did. Okay, great. We did. Um did right.
[1:24:43] » I think so. I don't know. I was
>> either way there's no hands raised.
[1:24:47] » No public
I I guessed that, but I was pretending.
[1:24:52] All right. Um uh moving on. Subcommittee
updates.
[1:24:58] Not seeing any subcommittees.
Announcements and future agenda item.
[1:25:04] » You want to do your announcement? You
don't have one?
[1:25:07] » Yeah.
>> Um just to piggy back off what Mark was
[1:25:11] talking about, um the dog park is now
back open. So, it's open for public use.
[1:25:18] Um, the other ball fields and stuff are
open as well. Um, and that's weather
[1:25:23] permit permitting right now because if
it starts storming, we will have to
[1:25:27] close it to keep the fields from getting
too messed up. Um, my next announcement
[1:25:34] is the Kids and Family Expo. Join us for
a fun, familyfriendly afternoon at the
[1:25:39] Kids and Family Expo, a one-stop shop
for programs and services for kids and
[1:25:44] families. bring the whole family to the
community center on Saturday, February
[1:25:48] 28th from 1 to 4:00 p.m. Guests can
explore local programs and family
[1:25:54] services, including summer camp previews
and the opportunity to sign up for our
[1:25:59] popular Friendships Club summer program,
as well as special discounts available
[1:26:04] for registrations completed at the
event. Enjoy a variety of activities for
[1:26:09] kids and parents alike, including tasty
snacks, free face painting, a free
[1:26:14] raffle, free biking, and stro uh
strolling magi mag magician from 1:30 to
[1:26:19] 2:30. Come out and connect with uh
community resources and join in on the
[1:26:24] fun.
>> All right, announcements.
[1:26:30] I just I should have said this during
the agenda item. I uh we mentioned you
[1:26:33] mentioned the uh request service or the
report a problem tool. I use it a lot
[1:26:39] because we see stuff on the blue glove
crew and I just have to say they're very
[1:26:41] responsive. I hope it's not because I'm
the one submitting it. [laughter] I
[1:26:46] trust that it's not but but oftentimes
just a day or two the thing's gone. So I
[1:26:50] I kudos to that. That's great.
>> I'm not biased. I respond accordingly.
[1:26:55] » The only thing I would say is that is
that um I'm a little shocked to hear
[1:26:59] they all go to you. Yes. Because the
hardest part is figuring out which
[1:27:02] category to put. It doesn't matter.
>> You don't need that. You don't need that
[1:27:06] button.
>> It It does because it's whether because
[1:27:09] that gives her the information to tell
one of whomever to go do the work.
[1:27:14] » But I don't know the right I'm not doing
the right one half the time. I'm sure
[1:27:17] [laughter]
>> I I usually can figure it out. So
[1:27:20] » that's the thing. Give away the secret
recipe. [laughter] We get a stack of
[1:27:24] » All right. Anyway. All right. Uh other
announcements, agenda items. So, we do
[1:27:30] have
>> clearly we'll have the parks master plan
[1:27:33] studied edenum coming up.
>> Yes, we'll have the parks master plan.
[1:27:35] Um, we might have what I'm super excited
about actually uh Hillary Sardinas um
[1:27:42] has been working talking with Margot and
I think she's doing a project. This this
[1:27:47] sounded amazing. She's doing a project
on Alb Hill and she's putting little
[1:27:51] trackers on monarchs
>> and um I was like really? Um, and so she
[1:28:00] likely or might be coming to do a
presentation on that, which I think
[1:28:04] would be just fascinating. Um, and then,
um, I I haven't heard anything about it,
[1:28:10] but it is sugarsw sweetened beverage
time, so that'll be on the on it, but
[1:28:14] I'm less excited about it this year than
I have in the past.
[1:28:18] » I think with the the butterfly things,
the hardest part is getting them with
[1:28:21] the dart to get them to go to sleep.
>> Actually, Margot explained it a little
[1:28:27] bit. It's really fascinating.
>> It is. I'm sure.
[1:28:29] » How big is that thing? I mean, can they
fly with it?
[1:28:31] » Yeah, it's
>> No, I I ran into um
[1:28:33] » Hillary. Yeah. Hillary in the grocery
store and she show I was like, "Really?"
[1:28:37] And she showed me a picture. It was
amazing. And then they have this
[1:28:41] » thing is this very educational because
then they with the GPS tracker you can
[1:28:44] see, oh, this one originated at Albony
Hill and it goes here. Like,
[1:28:47] » yeah,
>> it's f it is fascinating. And I I
[1:28:50] couldn't believe that it can be
>> it can go to a butterfly,
[1:28:53] » right?
>> Yeah.
[1:28:54] » I know. And and Margot said, I guess
they they attach it by cooling them, so
[1:28:59] it it kind of slows things down, but
then when they warm them up, like one of
[1:29:03] them like she said it
>> was like rolling around like a dog would
[1:29:07] be to, you know, something off its back.
>> So
[1:29:12] » yeah,
>> we can understand. All right.
[1:29:14] » Yeah.
When uh one agenda request is when you
[1:29:18] do or related to something you already
mentioned was for flex courts um is when
[1:29:24] you do uh agendaize that to
>> um make sure to look at old contact
[1:29:31] lists for all the tennis people, all the
pickle ball people um because they were
[1:29:38] very engaged with all of that. But then
also it should also include whoever we
[1:29:43] have on the volleyball people and then
some of these flex nets can also do bad
[1:29:47] mitten. So I don't know who we would
contact for that but that would be
[1:29:51] basically cast a wide net.
>> Yep.
[1:29:53] » Would be my recommendation.
>> No pun.
[1:29:55] » Yes. Yes. [laughter]
>> Still regulation.
[1:30:02] » Okay.
>> All right people. We got to keep these
[1:30:04] things light.
>> All right. Any uh All right. Seeing
[1:30:09] nothing else, we will adjourn and see
you March 12th.