Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 11-26-2007 special agenda — reading text

football attracts 120 adults per year. Softball includes 500 men and 200 women each year. Adult basketball includes 75 participants. Cheerleading and flag football serves 300 youth. Summer camp has two ( 2) sessions with 72 and 60 children, respectively. I Other activities include ballet, gymnastics, yoga, marshal arts, fitness for kids, belly dancing, mom and me fitness for babies, talent shows, track meets and rallies, I Christmas Camp, spring break camp, City picnic ( 600 to 700), Christmas Parade with I 100 floats, a gold tournament with 112 participating, Sunday in the Park ( three per year), gospel concerns ( 1500 to 2000), two Kids Days, and an Easter Egg Hunt ( 2500 I children). In addition, the Department cooperates with the local schools as they use City II Alternative Services Delivery Study for Fort Walton Beach, Florida Page 10- 3 Ii  Parks and Recreation fields, including baseball fields and participation in camps. There are also boat- launching 111M ramps. I Senior Center Seniors do pay for services that include their membership to the centers and for r special classes. The Senior Center collects about $ 28, 000 per year in revenue, while but expenses are about $ 119, 000 per year. About 179 City residents have memberships non- residents also members. Thus, the City is 233 county residents and 89 are services to City residents. If the non- City members significantly subsidizing non- generated revenues that covered costs as in golf, this would not be a concern but that is t not the case for the Senior Center. Tennis Center and BMX I: The Tennis Center and BMX Skateboard Park are managed privately. The City costs, and L maintains the Tennis facility, pays for the utilities and telephone any renovations. The Department believes this private contract for tennis saves the City 150, 000 per year. The City gets a percentage of the Tennis Center' s income of over 32, 000 per year except the contractor get all revenues from the lessons it provides. The L BMX contract also includes the payment of utility costs by the City. The BMX contractor is responsible for the grounds but the Department does help them with maintenance. There is no profit sharing arrangement. The City gets $ 125 per week. I Parks System ( Maintenance) The Parks System is similar to Maintenance in the Golf Course in that they are I concerned with turf management for the recreation fields and the parks. Staff also takes grounds of the parks playgrounds and the recreation centers as well I care of the exterior the lining the game fields and vandalism. Staff occasionally borrows equipment from I Golf Club. They work with church groups to repair park facilities. IJ Alternative Services Delivery Study for Fort Walton Beach, Florida Page 10- 4 E  Parks and Recreation Museum For the past 35 years, the City Museum has maintained an excellent collection of American Indian Artifacts plus an Indian Burial Mound. The Museum charges a $ 5 fee r for adults. There is a new director who is full of ideas and energy but also has strong marketing skills beyond her professional museum background. The museum' s activities t: includes giving school tours, educational lectures, celebrating local history including heritage day, sponsoring history camp, having a Christmas open house, doing a Camp i: Walton School House, and a Haunted House. Its expenses are about $ 200, 000 per year E and its revenue is about $ 70, 000. Thus, the City subsidizes this City function. The new director has many ideas. She wants to have a greater use of volunteers I and is especially looking for business partners. She wants to focus on more history to create projects. She wants to seek grants to upgrade what they are doing. She hopes an endowment. She wants better relations with local universities such as getting internships, help to do research on native American topics, do survey research on She existing historical buildings, and sharing ideas on topics such a disaster planning. hopes to work more with American Indian tribes. Library The City has a new 24, 000 square feet library building and is open 64 hours per I week. It has a circulation of about 124, 000 and 16 computers for patrons. There is no that collects state county library but there is an active county cooperative library system I money. It does provide in- kind service including a web site and programming money. is City received $ 189, 000 from this source. The total annual revenue I Last year, the about $ 60, 000 and expenses are $ 596, 912. All cash receipts are taken to the City I Finance Department for their processing. I Alternative Services Delivery Study for Fort Walton Beach, Florida Page 10-5 I r Parks and Recreation The functions of the Library are as expected for a municipal library. Staff circulates books, especially best sellers, DVDs, and audio books. They help children with homework, provide space for tutoring, assist children with computers, offer story i: time for children, sponsor a teen book club, sponsor an art program, focus on increasing literacy, provide study rooms, offer passport assistance, cooperate with the Museum on projects, and offer a computer lab. The Library also services the magnet schools ( Marine School and Ballet Academy) and provides Books by Mail. The Library does contract out some activities, including janitorial services ( shared I: with the Museum) and the landscaping function. More complex maintenance is contracted via interagency agreement with Public Works. Parks and Recreation provides assistance for odd manpower needs such as moving shelves. The problems of the Library are minor. They do have trouble staffing its 64- hour week. There is a night shift security concern. 10. 2 Maior Policies and ODerationallssues t: Expenses and Income t: The Parks and Recreation Department has an income of $ 800, 000 per year and All of the income goes expenses of $3, 159, 000. Thus, the net expenses are $ 2, 359, 000. I to the General Fund as Parks and Recreation is not being run as an enterprise fund its gyms, activity. The Department has rental income of about $ 50, 000 per year from I auditorium, ball fields, and pavilions. The Department does use concession stands and does get rental income from them but no profit sharing arrangement exists with those I profit making activities. 1',":.',<' 11 Alternative Services Delivery Study for Fort Walton Beach, Florida Page 10- 6 II  Parks and Recreation Areas of Concern t: The Department does have problems and it involves mostly capital needs. There are three ( 3) old recreation buildings that require upgrading, particularly due to mold and mildew damage. Lighting poles are old and should have been replaced on a five- year L cycle but that program had to be delayed. There is turnover in the class of Maintenance Service Workers including the loss of three ( 3) in recent months due to a view that there are non- competitive salaries. The Department has difficulty keeping its park usage this task. The current I statistics and needs an automated program to accomplish computer equipment is old and needs to be updated. Ideally, the Department should I monitor the water system by computer to spot improper water flows in the irrigation system and bathrooms. Vandalism of property is a problem but there is no reported E violence in the parks. The vending machines were vandalized and therefore the Department lost their use from vending companies. This also meant a loss of revenue to 0 of the revenue from the machines that were provided the City as 200/ to the City. This L Department must leave much of its mowing equipment outside and the equipment suffers accordingly. There is also the need for more mowing machines and spraying equipment. Equipment needs better maintenance. larger equipment is sold, the City allows the equipment to remain t When the outside often for over three to six months in the City yard. Thus, it loses value and I lowers the amount at the sale of the equipment. The City should sell such equipment faster to get a higher price for that used equipment. I The Department has added seven ( 7) acres in the