Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 10-22-2007 special agenda — reading text

CHESTER PRUITT CENTER MGR ( 1) RECREATION SPECIALIST ( 1 & 4PT) ATTENDANT ( 1 & 1PT) Alternative Services Delivery Study for Fort Walton Beach, Florida Page 10-2  Parks and Recreation Major Services The Parks and Recreation Department runs a large number of services for the City: a senior center, a library, a museum, tennis courts, a BMX skate park, and three ( 3) recreation centers. In addition, it has its own parks maintenance unit. The Department runs 23 parks, 20 ball fields, 20 tennis courts, three ( 3) regular recreation centers, and one ( 1) senior center. It must maintain 143 acres. Parks and Recreation does not maintain its own building as it has an interagency agreement with Public Works for such services, although all such repairs are charged to the Parks and Recreation Department. The Department does have its own janitorial service that conducts minor maintenance, and provides its own irrigation. The Department uses full and part- time employees but also many youth workers during the summer. Recreation Centers The three ( 3) recreation centers are very active. There are five ( 5) to 15 baseball leagues servicing 400 to 500 youth each year. Soccer is equally popular with 450 children involved each year. Youth basketball has 400 to 500 participants each year. Flag and tackle football have 400 to 500 youth per year. Adult flag 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. 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, Christmas Camp, spring break camp, City picnic ( 600 to 700), Christmas Parade with 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 children). In addition, the Department cooperates with the local schools as they use City Alternative Services Delivery Study for Fort Walton Beach, Florida Page 10-3  Parks and Recreation fields, including baseball fields and participation in camps. There are also boat- launching ramps. Senior Center Seniors do pay for services that include their membership to the centers and for special classes. The Senior Center collects about $ 28, 000 per year in revenue, while expenses are about $ 119, 000 per year. About 179 City residents have memberships but 233 county residents and 89 non- residents are also members. Thus, the City is significantly subsidizing services to non- City residents. If the non- City members generated revenues that covered costs as in golf, this would not be a concern but that is not the case for the Senior Center. Tennis Center and BMX The Tennis Center and BMX Skateboard Park are managed privately. The City maintains the Tennis facility, pays for the utilities and telephone costs, and 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 Centers income of over 32, 000 per year except the contractor get all revenues from the lessons it provides. The 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. Parks System ( Maintenance) The Parks System is similar to Maintenance in the Golf Course in that they are concerned with turf management for the recreation fields and the parks. Staff also takes care of the exterior grounds of the parks playgrounds and the recreation centers as well lining the game fields and vandalism. Staff occasionally borrows equipment from the Golf Club. They work with church groups to repair park facilities. Alternative Services Delivery Study for Fort Walton Beach, Florida Page 10-4  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 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 includes giving school tours, educational lectures, celebrating local history including heritage day, sponsoring history camp, having a Christmas open house, doing a Camp Walton School House, and a Haunted House. Its expenses are about $ 200, 000 per year 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 and is especially looking for business partners. She wants to focus on more history projects. She wants to seek grants to upgrade what they are doing. She hopes to create 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 existing historical buildings, and sha,ring ideas on topics such a disaster planning. She 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 week. It has a circulation of about 124, 000 and 16 computers for patrons. There is no county library but there is an active county cooperative library system that collects state money. It does provide in- kind service including a web site and programming money. Last year, the City received $ 189,000 from this source. The total annual revenue is about $ 60, 000 and expenses are $ 596, 912. All cash receipts are taken to the City Finance Department for their processing. Alternative Services Delivery Study for Fort Walton Beach, Florida Page 10-5  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 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 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 OIJerationallssues Expenses and Income The Parks and Recreation Department has an income of $800, 000 per year and expenses of $3, 159, 000. Thus, the net expenses are $ 2, 359, 000. All of the income goes to the General Fund as Parks and Recreation is not being run as an enterprise fund activity. The Department has rental income of about $ 50, 000 per year from its gyms, 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 profit making activities. Alternative Services Delivery Study for Fort Walton Beach, Florida Page 10-6  Parks and Recreation Areas of Concern 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 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 statistics and needs an automated program to accomplish this task. The current computer equipment is old and needs to be updated. Ideally, the Department should 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 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 the City as 20% of the revenue from the machines that were provided to the City. This 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. When the larger equipment is sold, the City allows the equipment to remain outside often for over three to six months in the City yard. Thus, it loses value and 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. The Department has added seven ( 7) acres in the last eight ( 8) years that included two new restrooms and new trails. However, there has not been an increase in employees. The Department was able to re- do Liza Jackson Park due to a $ 150, 000 grant and to create a Sound Park with a $ 1. 7 million grant. Alternative Services Delivery Study for Fort Walton Beach, Florida Page 10- 7  Parks and Recreation 10. 2 Alternative Service Delivery Options Finding: The Senior Citizens Center can be privatized and turned over to a private concern that would charge fees that would cover costs. Given the low City resident participation this is an option that should be given serious consideration. The City Manager' s recommended budget identifies two ( 2) choices for cost reduction, including a reduction of hours ($ 15, 667 reduction), and the closing of the Center ($