2007-07-09 - Laserfiche WebLink

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NOTICE OF SPECIAL MEETING A SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CHARLOTTESVILLE CITY COUNCIL WILL BE HELD ON Monday, July 9, 2007 AT 5:00 p.m. IN THE Herman Key Recreation Center, 800 E. Market Street. THE PROPOSED AGENDA IS AS FOLLOWS: Work Session: Future of recreation facilities in Charlottesville through potential partnerships BY ORDER OF THE MAYOR BY Jeanne Cox HERMAN KEY RECREATION CENTER – July 9, 2007 Council met in special session on this date with the following members present: Dr. Brown, Ms. Hamilton, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Norris, Mr. Taliaferro. Mr. Mike Svetz, Director of Parks and Recreation, said that the City has an opportunity to enhance recreation programs through partnerships with the Boys and Girls Club and YMCA. He provided an overview of Recreation programs. Mr. Svetz said the first decision point for Council is: Does the City reaffirm its commitment to residents by continuing to provide the Charlottesville Parks and Recreation Department with resources necessary for the expansion and improvement of programs and outreach activities within public housing sites, neighborhood parks/centers and schools? Mr. Lynch asked about specific resources and outcomes. He said he broadly supports the decision point, but before saying yes needs more specifics on what it will cost to do what. Mr. Norris said there is concern and fear by some in the community that entering into partnerships may result in scaling back of neighborhood recreation centers. He said he would like to go on record that the neighborhood centers will not be scaled back, and that we will actively seek to expand and enhance them. Dr. Brown said we need to know if expanded partnerships will result in annual costs. For instance, does the YMCA want land or also programming assistance, and the same goes for the Boys and Girls Club. Mr. Lynch said he would like to expand local programming, but wants to know what it means and what it will cost. Ms. Hamilton said she is generally supportive of a lot that is on the table, but said we are light on specifics. She said we may want guarantees from the YMCA and Boys and Girls Club. Mr. Taliaferro said he supports the neighborhood concept, but agrees with Mr. Lynch that we need to know what we are improving and what we are expanding. He said he wants to see more details. Mr. Lynch said he thinks we will continue to run a budget surplus. He said we have been putting one half of the surplus into the School CIP, and said that for the next several years we could take half of the surplus and put it in the Parks and Recreation CIP. He said that could be used to replace Smith, Crow and Onesty pools). He asked what would it cost if we open all centers on Saturdays and half a day on Sunday. He proposed that this year and the following year that we adopt a policy to take half of the budget surplus and give it to Parks and Recreation CIP. Ms. Hamilton said we may want to think about that proposal a little more. She said there are other CIP needs such as sidewalks, sewers, and housing.