Recording.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, everybody.
Today is June 21st and it's the meeting of the Seattle Park District and the Seattle Park District Board will come to order.
It's 3.50.
I'm Deborah Juarez, President of the Board, and I'm also joined by my colleagues and the Vice President of the Board, Council Member Alex Peterson.
Roll call.
Clerk, will you please call the roll?
Gonzales.
Here.
Herbold.
Here.
Lewis.
Present.
Thank you.
Morales.
Here.
Mosqueda.
Present.
Peterson.
Present.
Sawant.
Strauss.
Present.
President Juarez.
Here.
8 present.
Thank you, Madam Clerk.
I'm sorry.
I'm trying to fix my hair.
I'm looking at Council President's face, and she's like, it doesn't look good.
No, no, no, no, no.
I was just noting there's nine council members logged in, but only eight.
Yeah, I'm sure they'll show up.
Thank you.
OK, so we will go to the approval of the agenda.
If there is no objection, the agenda will be adopted.
Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.
I'll go to approval of the minutes.
The minutes of the November 23, 2020 Seattle Park District Board meeting have been reviewed.
If there is no objection, the minutes will be signed.
Hearing and seeing no objection, the minutes will be signed.
Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf?
With that, we will move to public comment.
I'm going to give a brief overview and then I'm going to hand it off to our clerk.
At this time, we will open the remote public comment period.
I ask that everyone please be patient as we learn to operate this new system.
It remains the strong intent of the Seattle City Council and the Seattle Park District Board to have public comment regularly included on meeting agendas.
However, the Seattle Park District Board reserves the right to end or eliminate this public comment period at any point if we deem that the system is being abused or is unsuitable for allowing our meetings to be conducted efficiently and in a manner in which we are able to conduct our necessary business.
The public comment for this period is up to 20 minutes.
Each speaker will be given two minutes.
My understanding, Nageen, correct me if I'm wrong, is we have five speakers?
That is correct.
Okay, so we have five speakers signed up for the Metropolitan Park District public hearing.
The clerk will call on two speakers at a time, and in the order in which registered on the online sign-up sheet, If you're not yet registered to speak, but would like to, you could sign up before the end of this public comment period by going to the council website at seattle.gov slash council.
The public comment link is also listed on today's agenda.
Negin Kamkar from our office will explain the directions for today's public comment, and then I will return to start the actual hearing.
Go ahead, Negin.
All right, thanks, Council Member.
Once the speaker's name is called, I will unmute the appropriate microphone and an automatic prompt of you have been unmuted will be the speaker's cue that it is your turn to speak.
The speaker must also touch star six on their phone to unmute themselves after their name is called.
Please begin by speaking, please begin speaking by stating your name and the item that you are addressing.
As a reminder, public comment should relate to an item on today's agenda.
Speakers will hear chime when 10 seconds are left of the allotted time.
Once you hear the chime, we ask that you begin to wrap up your public comment.
If speakers do not end their comments at the end of the allotted time provided, the speaker's microphone will be muted to allow us to call on the next speaker.
Once you have completed your public comment, we ask that you please disconnect from the line.
And if you plan to continue following this meeting, please do so via Seattle Channel or the listening options listed on the agenda.
The public comment.
period has opened by President Juarez of the NPD Governing Board.
And we will begin with the first two speakers.
We have Susan Health listed first, and then Elizabeth Riggs listed second as not present.
So Elizabeth, if you can try and log in again, that would be great.
Susan, are you on the line?
Yes.
Can you hear me?
Yes.
Please go ahead.
Hi my name is Susan Health and I'm addressing Seattle Parks cycle of funding capital construction.
I'm a founding member of Save Evans Pool and Green Lake Community Center.
I'm here today to request funding for the second of design phase to replace Evans Pool and Green Lake Community Center.
Parks and Recreation has indicated that these facilities are at the top of its list for replacement.
Our group has been active since 2017 working to get our buildings repaired and eventually replaced.
SPR spent $1 million to replace the boilers at HVAC system, and those improvements will last for about nine years.
In 2019, we were allocated $1 million for the first design phase, which is now completed.
The results are posted on the virtual open house attended by hundreds and hundreds of people, all of whom supported the new pool and community center.
According to David Graves, who oversaw this design phase, we need $4 to $5 million more to complete the second design phase, bringing the project to the point where it is shell ready.
We request that the Park District Board approve four to $5 million for this purpose and the 2022-23 budget.
Also, we request that these buildings be replaced sooner rather than later.
With the huge amount of money flowing into the Park District Fund from all the houses being sold for large amounts of money, we think that there should be enough available to replace Evans Pool and Green Lake Community Center.
Thank you.
Thank you, Susan.
Next, we have listed Elizabeth Riggs, who is listed as not present.
Elizabeth, if you can, try and review the email that IT sent to you to sign back in.
Until that time, Tim Mozer is next.
Tim, are you on the line?
Yes, I am.
Go ahead.
My name is Tim Mozart.
I'm here at your meeting today as a concerned Lake city resident about the $5 million of funding needed for our aging community center.
This project is shown in the city's adopted CIP as a project to be funded in the 2022 park district budget.
This is a decision that's been approved by the mayor, the budget office, and the city council.
This allocation will not increase what our community thought was the current city commitment of $16.5 million.
Without the approval of this funding, our allocation commitment would be reduced to $11.5 million.
This reduction could be devastating in trying to obtain the funding needed to replace our vintage 1960 community center that does not have a gym.
I'm aware that the public hearing for the 2022 Park District is not until October 18th.
I'm here to get the wheels rolling so that staff involved in preparing the draft 2022 Park District budget have clear direction related to this funding priority.
I'm aware that this will raise some concerns about the 2020 impact on the 2021 tax rate of 21.3 cents.
The latest budget office shows projections of property tax revenue increasing.
If the 2021 inflation rate is used for the 2022 Park District budget with no other additions to tax rate due to higher property valuations actually may decrease the 20.6 cents.
If the one-time expense for our community centers added, the tax rate would increase for one year to 22.5 cents.
This increase would cost the owner of a house or a condo valued at $1 million to make $12 for just one year.
There is a desire not to increase the 2021 tax rate, and some of this cost could be included as part of the funding for the capital projects in the 22 budget, assuming COVID is not an issue.
I'd like to add one quick comment related to the first cycle evaluation and recommendation.
on page 15, consider adding major replacement aging park facilities as a line item.
I want to thank the Park District Board for consideration to my request and comment.
Thank you, Tim.
The next two speakers are Rebecca Baer, followed by Mike Stanley.
Rebecca, are you on the line?
Yes, I'm here.
OK, great.
Can you hear me?
Yes, please go ahead.
OK, great.
Thank you.
Thank you, Chairman Juarez and members of the Park District Board.
I'd like to introduce myself.
I am the new CEO and president of the Seattle Parks Foundation.
And the mission of Parks Foundation is to support, to bring together community leaders, donors, and public partners to create a thriving and accessible system of parks.
Rebecca, we can no longer hear you.
That is either an accident or you have concluded your comments.
I'll give you a second to try and speak again.
We have lost the caller.
Okay, we can go ahead and move forward.
And then if Rebecca can call back in, then we can give her that time back.
The next two speakers, we have Mike Stanley followed by Elizabeth Riggs.
Mike, are you on the line?
Yes, I'm here.
Can you hear me?
Yes, we can hear you.
Please go ahead.
Great, thank you.
My name is Mike Stanley.
I'm here to speak about the other park facilities on Green Lake.
We've presented to the PDOC many times over the last six years.
If I understand the primary reason for today's meeting, this could be our final opportunity.
I'd like to begin with a simple thought exercise.
Imagine a nonprofit organization with a 72-year track record came to you with a simple proposal.
They had secured city, secured funding to cover over 85 percent of the cost to replace one of the city's most heavily used community centers.
No strings attached.
Would you take it.
What if they told you they had all their permits public meetings city reviews all those were complete and they were shovel ready.
What if they told you they had the strong backing of the state King County and hundreds of community donors.
And what if they told you they never turn any youth away that they provide over 13 percent of their youth participants with financial aid and 43 percent of those identified as BIPOC.
What if they told you their current participants had no bathrooms and that the use of both sexes have to change in the public restrooms in the park?
And what if they told you the community center fails those with physical challenges and with this funding they could offer adaptive programs could finally reach all youth regardless of physical challenges?
Finally, what if they said they needed an answer in 30 days?
We're compelled to ask these questions because the coalition of funding we've put together over the last six years to replace the aquatic facilities on Green Lakes coming under fire from private donors private foundations and public agencies due to the project delays.
We are running out of time.
If you answered yes I as I expect you have you understand the importance of meeting the city's obligations to its private partners.
If your answer is no I hope you will think about how we message this to our donors the youth of Seattle and the tens of thousands of North End residents who have been waiting decades for the city to fix the deficient community facilities at both ends of the lake.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mike.
And I believe we have Elizabeth Riggs on the line.
If you could press star six, you may begin.
Elizabeth, are you on the line?
Hi my name is Elizabeth.
My name is Elizabeth Riggs.
In 2017 I was a co-founder of Save Evans Pool and Green Lake Community Center with thousands of members.
We want to address the next six year budget cycle of the Metropolitan Park District.
We request four to five million dollars total divided into 2022 and 2023 to complete the design project management and permits for this project.
In 2020 Seattle Parks held three online public outreach events to ask our community about location and activities in the new facility.
These outreach events were enormously successful with strong public engagement and enthusiasm.
We don't want to lose that momentum.
Actual construction of our new facility could start later in the budget cycle as our economy recovers.
However, we would like the design process to be completed for project ready.
We are proud to offer a homeless hygiene center currently and would like to continue to do so.
In the future, we hope to offer a clean air and cooling center for heat waves and forest fires.
We could serve as a vaccine center and as a local earthquake support center.
But in the severe earthquake, we expect our buildings to fall down.
Thank you so much.
I saved my time.
Thank you so much.
So the last person, Council Member Juarez, listed as Rebecca Bair, but is listed as not present.
I will flag that she was able to send an email with her written testimony on Friday of last week.
We have now concluded the public comment list.
Welcome.
Thank you.
Two items.
Council Member Sawant has joined us.
Welcome, Council Member Sawant.
And that is correct.
We did receive on Friday, June 18th, a three-page letter from Rebecca Bair, president and CEO of the Seattle Parks Foundation.
And we also received on Sunday, June 20th, Superintendent Agare's response to the letter.
And I will let the superintendent respond to some of the issues that were raised when he does his presentation.
With that, we will close public comment.
Thank you for your comments today.
So, what we're going to do today is we have a presentation and we have two resolutions, 42 and 43. So, I'm going to have Nagin read that into the record, do the presentation, and then we'll vote on each resolution separately.
So, Nagin, you want to go ahead and read all three items, one through three into the record?
Yeah, I'll go ahead and transfer it to Jodi.
Thank you, Negin.
Agenda items one, two, and three.
Agenda item one, Seattle Park District 2015 through 2020 cycle end 2020 updates for briefing and discussion.
Agenda item two, resolution 42, a resolution delaying the six-year planning cycle of the Seattle Park District for discussion and possible vote.
And agenda item three, resolution 43, a resolution authorizing an amendment to the interlocal agreement between the city of Seattle and the Seattle Park District for discussion and possible vote.
Thank you.
Thank you, Jodi.
So again, as I shared, we will have the presentation.
And I understand it's a large PowerPoint that the superintendent is going to walk us through.
So before we get started, can I ask our presenters to please introduce themselves for the record?
Good afternoon, council members.
Jesus Aguirre with Seattle Parks and Recreation.
Michelle Finnegan with Seattle Parks and Recreation.
Tracy rats of council central staff.
So my understanding is that you have a 22 page PowerPoint, which we will review.
And they also regarding resolution 42 is that again, delaying the six year planning cycle that we did back in October, 2020, correct me if I'm wrong.
And the second item 43 is a dissolution of the PDOC.
the Park District Oversight Committee, and combining it with the Board of Parks and Recreation Commission, which I understand the two groups work together to bring this to the superintendent's attention.
So with that, Jesus, I'm just gonna let you go ahead and go through your presentation.
Colleagues, if you have questions, please feel free to put them to the superintendent and his staff.
And Tracy's here for any other questions as well.
Go ahead, superintendent.
Thank you Council Member, Council Chair Juarez, excuse me, Board Chair Juarez.
We will go through the presentation and there's a lot of information here so I will go relatively quickly and highlight some of the key points here but essentially what we're hoping to do today is provide you an update, excuse me, sort of the end of cycle update for the Park District as the Council Members are aware.
Um, you know, we finished the first year cycle of the Metropolitan Park District and the department and the park district oversight committee work together to provide both annual reports as well as a mid cycle report.
Um, and also then this final report and all of this is stipulated in the interlocal agreement between the city and the Seattle park district.
Um.
I'm sorry, Michelle, can you go ahead and click to the next slide please?
Of course it's not working, so I'm going to try to reshare.
I apologize.
Thank you.
So as council members you stated, we've got quite a few slides.
In the next dozen or so slides, we'll kind of summarize some of the content that our team is working on this cycle and report that you'll be receiving.
And we'll go over a timeline with you all on when you should receive that.
The report's gonna start off with providing some background information.
I think just by way of context for folks, just to let folks know how we got here and acknowledge all the reporting and sort of the analysis that's done previously.
As folks know, obviously on the call and in the public, the Metropolitan Park District was created in 2014 when Seattle voters approved Proposition 1. This provides a park district that collects property tax that allows us to fund recreation and park services.
And of course, we do that with the support of this board as well as with a Park District Oversight Committee, which I'll talk about in a few minutes as that's one of the proposals we have to you.
And the initial six-year cycle was from 2015 to 2020. And prior to this end-of-cycle report that you'll receive this fall, we've also provided, for each of the first six years, an annual report as well as a mid-cycle report that covered the first three years.
Next slide, Michelle, please.
Having a heck of a time.
It always works in practice, doesn't it?
I apologize.
Great.
Thank you.
This slide gives you a very high-level overview of the financial aspects of the first six-year cycle of the Park District.
It shows you our initial adopted budget for 2015-2020, and our plan for this was essentially to spend about 62% of the resources that came in through the Park District on capital projects and 38% to support our Park and Recreation operations, including programs.
Um, excuse me, as you can see on the right on a revised budget, um, as, as with happens often with budgets, budgets, especially over such a long timeframe, there were some revisions, um, and to our final budget, uh, actually invested 56% of the, uh, funding from the park district and capital and 44 on operating.
And as we talked several times with this board and with the council, the significant shifts that happened were really pandemic related.
And those are the ones that allowed us to keep our operations running.
And so we'll come back to some of these as we go over it.
But overall, as you can see, throughout the first six year cycle, we collected essentially $267 million of additional resources that supported both capital and parks and recreation program and services and operations.
Um, as we go through, um, Uh, as you might recall, the, the initial six year cycle had several broad categories.
Uh, the first of those was major maintenance.
Um, and, and several, and I'll highlight just a few of these in terms of the initiatives that were covered under this, um, for six year cycle.
One of those was really about, um, uh, restoring our urban forest and, uh, in.
As a result of funding provided by the Park District, we brought in more than 540 acres of our city urban forests into restoration, which means they have begun the four-phase process to be restored.
We launched over a hundred or completed over 120 major maintenance projects during the sixth year, which included park facilities, play areas, and pools.
Six of our community centers are receiving structural and system upgrades to stabilize them and extend their life.
And of course, this pool of money also included major maintenance support for the zoo and for the aquarium facilities.
The next broad category was maintaining parks and facilities.
A couple of key highlights of this section, we created a third shift of staff that were able to go into our community centers and do a lot of the work and maintenance and preventative maintenance that needs to happen in these buildings, but they were able to do it overnight, which mitigated any programmatic impacts.
And it also allowed us to just do a bunch of the work all at once without having to come back several times.
So this was a really, I think, efficient and effective way to bring back our facilities to deal with some of the deferred major maintenance that had been in them.
Uh, we also, um, uh, doubled, uh, the cleaning of, uh, our high volume restrooms.
Uh, and then we also partnered with, uh, animal control to increase the, um, uh, patrols and citations for folks who are not obeying the city's leash laws or the scoop laws.
Uh, and, and, uh, one aspect of this also funded improvements to our, um, uh, pea patches that are operated on both parks and recreational land, as well as, um, other land.
For programs for people, this really, in terms of the community services offered by Recreation Division, was really emphasized on improving access.
And so you'll see here we added a million dollars to increase program access for community members who couldn't afford it.
We also created, as a highlight, three grant programs at the Arts in the Park that get moving and the Rec for All programs that really increase participation.
And we're focused on reaching members of the community who weren't necessarily accessing our services.
So we're really excited by the result of that specific initiative as well.
And of course, we added additional programs for our constituents with disabilities as well as for our older adults.
On the building for the future.
This was really focused on a couple of pieces included land acquisition as well as park improvement projects through the funding provided by the first cycle of park district we purchased over, we purchased 18 properties a total of over 19, excuse me, nine acres of land.
We also completed five of the 14 land bank sites.
And to refresh your memory, Memories Council member, these land bank sites were properties that were purchased with prior levy funds.
And the development began through the first cycle of the Park District.
And then we also awarded over $7 million in grants for community-based projects through the Major Projects Challenge Fund, one of which you heard from when Mr. Stanley talked about the Green Lake Small Craft Center.
So the first five years of Park District, I think, went more or less as planned.
But of course, 2020 forced us to shift and pivot in many different ways.
So it was a very different year for us, both in our normal operations, but also in the implementation of the Park District.
And we'll touch on some of these in more detail later in the presentation.
But truly, the Park District funding allowed us and gave us flexibility to respond to this truly major set of unprecedented emergencies.
We moved from our regular parks and recreation activities to mission essential functions and our staff became essential workers.
And again, this park district funding supported some of these efforts.
As you can see, some of the services that weren't typical parks and recreation services that we were able to provide included, we stood up emergency shelters to support our in-house individuals and mitigate COVID spread within that population.
We provided and continue to provide showers and hygiene shelters, provided childcare for essential workers.
We continue to clean and maintain our parks safe and accessible to our residents.
We supported food distribution, testing, vaccination, and of course, in alignment with public health messaging.
We encourage folks to social distance while in our parks and wear masks, etc.
And then, as I mentioned earlier, we really focused on the individuals who couldn't come out.
We provided virtual programming for our special populations and our older adults for the folks who couldn't get outdoors.
So really, I did an incredible job.
And on the next slide, you'll see some examples.
Hold up, Jesus.
You always worry me once you get on a roll.
My colleagues have get it.
First of all, thank you.
We talk weekly.
Well, we talk a lot.
And I really want to thank you and your staff for the information that you get us Friday by close of business to give my colleagues an update about the Clean Cities Initiative and where the money is going and what the staff is doing.
along with the help of SPU and SDOT.
So I really appreciate that.
I know how much work you put into that and also into the parks and doing the deep cleaning.
So I want to encourage my colleagues to keep sending us information and questions and concerns in your particular district.
And those of you obviously who represent the city citywide about where if we do need to do more intense cleaning or pick up our garbage or hand washing station, or all those other things that we've been working on that we continue to have that success.
So thank you, Jesus.
And please, a big thank you to your staff and the work that they've been doing.
I appreciate it.
Thank you so much, Council Member.
Thank you for recognizing the great work of our staff.
And this pandemic really allowed our staff to show their true colors.
They really stepped up.
And as I said, they became essential workers.
For example, in the photos here, you see some of our operations that weren't normal parks and recreation operations, including standing up shelters for our unhoused community members.
providing childcare, initially starting with our essential workers, and then our social distance ambassador program, which was a new program in response to this pandemic as we looked to ensure that we could keep our outdoor spaces safe for our community as we were all in quarantine.
So thank you.
And really our staff stepped up.
I do want to plug, and I love how you called it the pandemic pivot, that you also did a really good job of not having to let people go during the pandemic.
that you were able to keep people working.
And I really appreciate that.
I don't think people realize that I think you might be the second largest city department or maybe the largest.
Anyway, I appreciate that we worked really hard and worked with the unions to keep people in their jobs during this pandemic when we were, you know, kind of just trying to figure out who is an essential worker and some areas, some people may have had some disagreement, but I appreciate that you stepped up during the evenings and on weekends to call me to figure this stuff out.
So I want to thank you for that.
And before we close, because I know you've got a few more slides to go, just quickly, are you going to bring up the thing about the pools and the chlorine tablets?
Because we've got a few calls about that.
So if we could just get that out of the way just quickly and then move forward.
Sure, I'll do that right now.
Thank you, council member.
And thanks again for highlighting the great work of our staff.
So we were very fortunate and much due to the availability of park district funding to mitigate a pretty significant set of reductions in our budget, both from the general fund reductions that were a result of the reduced tax revenue, as well as our own park fund resources.
As you know, much of our budget comes in from the fees that we charge for the programs.
So I too am very proud that we were able to put together revised budgets with such significant reductions that didn't lay off any staff.
Now, I will say that part of what we did do was we didn't lay off any full-time staff.
We did reduce our reliance on temporary and seasonal staff.
So we weren't able to hire those individuals last summer, which is creating some challenges for us and bringing back our operations for our pools and our waiting pools.
And so related to the issue you just brought up, we're gonna have reduced operations even this summer, even as we emerge from the pandemic, because we're having a hard time finding staff to be in our facility.
So certainly a quick plug for the public, for anyone who's interested, go onto our website and we have lots of jobs available, including for young folks.
But another piece that is impacting us in addition to all of these is that there's a chlorine shortage across the country.
So we are likely going to have to modify our wading pool operations and other operations during the summer, just as the supply continues to catch up to the demand.
So thank you for giving me a chance to do that.
Councilor Mosqueda has a question.
I see your hand up.
Councilor Mosqueda.
All right, thank you.
Thank you for your fast response, Council Member Juarez.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Director Aguirre, thank you very much for your work.
We are all so very excited about the water parks and the swimming areas.
So many of our community members have been saying how important it is to like have a sense of community, especially during these very hot days of global warming.
But I do want to ask you if you might be able to comment.
I did hear from some folks, especially here in District 1 in the North Delridge area, that there was concern that they thought that the um, waiting pool area was closed on the weekend and that it looked like there was a disparity, I guess, in only Delridge being closed on the weekend and not other areas.
Can you comment on that?
Or is that accurate?
I don't, honestly, Council Member, thank you for the question.
I don't have the specifics on the Delaware rating pool.
I can provide the overall schedule for all the waiting pools.
The way we're approaching this, frankly, in response to both the staffing challenges, as well as now the chlorine issue, we're trying to open as many of these pools as we can as quickly as possible.
So as we get more staff, we'll continue to add operations.
Given the chlorine shortage right now, we are reducing the operations at some of these waiting pools just until the supply catches up and then we'll go back to what we had originally planned for the summer.
But I can send to you the schedule for each of the pools including the one at Delridge and I apologize I don't have that in my brain right now.
Thanks so much.
Yeah, I was looking at that the other day as well.
But yeah, if you happen to see any of the disparities in terms of hours prior to the chlorine tablet shortage, that would be helpful to know.
And since I have the floor, if I might, because I don't see the good chair on screen, I'll just throw in my other two questions that perhaps you can address by the time you wrap up your presentation.
And apologies if you're getting to this.
If that's OK, Director DeGette.
Of course.
So the other two questions that I just had that I will throw out, if it's okay with you, Madam Chair, is could you please at some point give an overview of the general fund and REIT reductions from parks to cover the shortfall in the 2021 budget, given some of the concerns we had about this being maybe precedent setting?
It does seem like we did some similar efforts in 2021. So I just want to have a refresher on that.
And then are there any projections at this point about Seattle Parks and Recreation's revenue recovery and outlook for the 2022 budget so that we might be able to anticipate additional revenue on the horizon as folks begin to participate in their reactivated parks and community centers?
Sure, great question, thank you.
I'll start with the second aspect of that.
So certainly the revenue projection piece is always a challenge for us.
Certainly we have historic use and plan our budgets accordingly.
2020 was different and 2021 has been different.
So as we go into through the summer and into the fall, we're continuing our planning and our projections and do have some expectation of increased revenue coming in.
And that will be reflected in our budget that we submit to the mayor.
I think the challenge though for us is going to be in addition to the uncertainty around the pandemic, which looks like we're doing better, which is which is really helpful.
The issues that I mentioned earlier about well two things, the the staffing and availability of staffing is going to is going to is going to create additional challenges.
But also, if you recall, and I'll give you a quick recap of the numbers, but when we made decisions about 2021 and took a lot of reductions, we made some decisions about facilities closures and operations that were incorporated into these budget reductions.
So for example, there are going to be several community centers that will not be open during the fall and into next year.
And those are the community centers that are undergoing CIP projects, which made sense.
So we went ahead and sort of recouped those savings to try to fill the revenue gaps.
Additionally, our indoor pools, we weren't planning on opening all of them, again, dealing with this budget revenue and figuring out how to meet those shortfalls.
So even though the pandemic piece is getting better, and I think the revenues are getting better, there's still going to be some sort of historical decisions that we made that we sort of have to deal with as we emerge from this.
But to give you a recap, in 2020, we had a $10 million general fund one-time reduction.
And in 2021, we had a $9 million general fund one-time reduction.
And then ongoing, we had $5.3 million in 2020, and then 4.1 in 2021. So pretty significant reductions.
And as Council Member Juarez mentioned at the beginning, we really focused on a people's first budget, trying to eliminate any full-time staff reductions, which then necessarily both really impacted the operations that remain.
So we really pushed folks to save on vacancies and to curtail operations.
But then it also necessitated the pause of several capital projects, as we'll talk about as we go through this as well.
I hope that answers your question.
Thank you.
Shall we continue Council Member Juarez?
Okay, so thank you.
And again, so this just highlights some of the things that our staff were able to do in this slide.
Really proud and impressed by our staff ingenuity that Parks and Recreation people generally have, but this pandemic really allowed them to shine.
We quickly learned how to do virtual programming and we had over 2700 participants in our virtual programming for lifelong recreation, for example, we had hundreds of hours of programming that was posted and available for both lifelong rec as well as our special populations.
programming.
We enhanced the way we cleaned our facilities and our parks.
As we learned about the pandemic, we wanted to make sure that we kept everything clean and safe for folks.
And again, our staff really stepped up to do great work there.
Next slide please Michelle.
Thank you.
So, as we, again, we're here to talk a little bit about the, the report that we're going to provide to you all as part of the final delivery deliverable on this park district and.
This kind of, you can't read the text here, but it should show you sort of what the report is going to look like.
We'll have a description of each of the initiatives.
We have lots of initiatives in each of those buckets of expenditures that I went over.
We'll talk about the financial summary for each of those initiatives, give you some information on the mid-cycle progress for those initiatives, and then results by the end of the cycle.
And of course, in the situations where we've had to make some of these pivots for 2020, and particularly around Either either capital projects that were delayed or programs or operations that were either delayed or eliminated during 2020 and 21 because of the pandemic, those will be noted in the report as well.
So it should be a pretty comprehensive overview of where we've been and sort of what we've done.
Um, another key aspect of the report, which I think is really important is we will talk a little bit about some of the lessons that we've learned throughout the six year program.
So this, this park district was brand new for us.
Um, and, and we've, we've learned a lot through the process and, and I could take advantage of, of this opportunity.
Council member has to address, uh, some of the concerns that were raised by, uh, Rebecca bear, one of our key partners at the park foundation.
But one of the lessons that we learned was really around the the way the Park District Oversight Committee interacted with the Board of Park Commissioners and then interacted with this board.
And we, again, from both the Park District Oversight and the Board of Park Commissioners learned that often their work was confusing as they worked together.
The Park District Oversight Committee had very specific set of deliverables within the interlocal agreement.
Those were around the reporting, Um, the, um, the financial plan that we're proposing.
Um, is to take the park district oversight committee.
Um, So we'll have one larger board that incorporates both of what the board of park commissioners normally did, which is provide advice on everything that we do.
And then bringing in the oversight committee to, to add to that.
Um,
We did receive her letter on the record, the President of the Park Board, Rebecca Bair, Steele Parks Foundation, and she wrote a three-page letter, and I know you got it because I saw your response on Sunday.
So I just want to make some points here, and then if you want to add to that, I think it's important first.
So people who had some concerns about the consolidation, my understanding is that you've been working on this for months to join the two groups.
That there will be no reduction in oversight.
In fact, it will increase clarity and transparency.
That the PDOC and the park board made this a request, I believe, to consolidate because there's overlapping.
And they're essentially some of the same 15-member park board were on each board or each commission.
And that you will share the same four oversight duties and responsibilities.
If you just want to briefly, if you're going to get to that slide, that's okay, but I'm trying to get my colleagues up to speed, and then most of them are, that this is a good thing to combine them while we're doing it, and it makes sense, and that it still will remain a 15-member board that will still provide critical insight and guidance to you and to us.
So is that fair to say?
Absolutely.
I think you've covered it all.
I think that's exactly right.
Okay.
Oh, okay.
Oh, and there's another slide that gives a little bit more but I can I can hold off and kind of recap at the end there.
And so, so I guess this is, Michelle read my mind, this is the slide.
So one of the lessons we learned was really about governance.
And again, we think that the fundamental government structure that's outlined in the interlocal agreement, establishing the park district works and is sound.
And so during the first cycle, we did learn quite a bit.
And the first issue here, as you said, is just looking to create clear community oversight with these two boards.
Um, one, one example that I would give you is, is we would have, um, uh, joint meetings between the two, the park board and the oversight committee, because we want to keep all of them, uh, informed and, and particularly when we're starting that when we're doing our strategic planning process and starting to think about the next six year cycle of the park district.
we wanted to keep all of them informed.
And often folks would get frustrated because depending on which official board meeting it was, some could vote, some couldn't, it just created a lot of just frustration.
And I think some lack of clarity to the public who were participating in these meetings.
So that's one of the lessons learned.
And that's what, in addition to these two boards requesting it, we also have been analyzing this and we believe that this is the best path forward I think it would be clear to the public.
Another aspect that was addressed in the letter from the parks foundation board is really around this major projects challenge fund.
This was one of the specific items over of oversight that the park district oversight committee.
We found, as part of this process, that it created a challenge for the community-based organizations that were looking to raise money.
These were larger projects, which immediately limited the number of organizations that could apply for these, and it made it really difficult for us to support community-based organizations.
We're going to keep some version our plan is to propose keeping some version of this kind of investment, but to do it in a way that's really focused on equity and that to remove sort of the major part of it so it doesn't have to be a $2 million project because we know that there's smaller ones and we know that there's smaller organizations with different capacity.
and not necessarily make it a challenge and just work through to how do we highlight the places where we need additional investment, where there's community voice already there that we can push those.
So that's another lesson learned here.
And then we're also looking to shift the timing on the reporting so that we keep doing reports, but as we do these reports, it's important to think about how we're planning for the next cycle.
So we have some recommendations for you all on the reporting cycles for the next park district.
We only have one interlocal agreement though, right?
That's correct.
Yeah.
OK.
Thank you.
More, more as we come through and you'll see more of this when we bring you the report.
But another another key aspect of this, I need to stop you before you start again.
I think Council Member Herbold has a question.
Thank you so much.
And so does Council Member Strauss afterwards.
I just want to be very clear.
All the people who are on the parks district oversight board and all the people who are on the park board are just simply going to.
meets together.
Is that correct when you say consolidate?
That's correct.
OK.
So the two bodies are just simply going to meet together on a regular basis.
It's not like one body is taking over the responsibilities of the other body or that only some people will be part of a new entity.
It's that these two groups that already exist are going to jointly meet on a regular basis through the oversight.
I'm sorry, Council Member, let me clarify, actually.
So we are taking the individuals who still are on these boards and have terms that aren't going to expire, they essentially will be folded into this, but it will be a new board.
So we're taking the Park District Oversight Committee and the Board of Park Commissioners, taking all of their responsibilities and creating a new board that's going to be called the Board of Parks and Recreation, which encompasses everything.
the same oversight that they had before that.
That's super helpful, I understand.
So everybody who's participating now is going to continue to participate, but they'll be on a new entity.
It's not the two existing entities meeting jointly.
Okay, thank you for that clarification.
One of the recommendations or requests for us to consider as a recommendation from the Parks Foundation was that we explicitly request that there be public meetings at least quarterly to review the spending and activities of the park district for this new entity.
Is that something that would be helpful or is it duplicative of the expectation for this new entity?
I think it would be fine to do.
And again, I mean, this is sort of the work that we do regularly in terms of both the reporting that we do to you all, at least on an annual basis, et cetera, but also with the Board of Park Commissioners.
So I think it's our regular work that we meet with them.
We normally work with an executive team that sort of helps us craft the agenda, and we respond to that.
So if they would like us to do quarterly financial updates, we're happy to do that as well.
I think the only the only the only challenges I want to make sure that part of why we're doing this is because and this is the slide that that is the next slide but part of as we're doing this made it really challenging is that.
Most of the work that we do at Seattle Parks and Recreation gets funding from several different sources.
So community center operations, for example, gets funding from the park district, from the general fund, from the park fund.
So when we report just on the park district, it was just a sliver and it didn't really allow us to show how we were progressing.
So one of the things we're doing is moving to this line of business reporting that takes all of those initiatives and says, instead of just this little chunk of community center operations, this little chunk of major maintenance, this little chunk, et cetera, And then we're saying, okay, here's everything that pays for aquatics, for example, and here's how we can report on.
And I think that, to the request of the foundation, I think this creates transparency, creates better transparency, better accountability, and allows us to really tell the story of what all of these multiple funding sources are providing for the residents.
I should probably, Council Member Herbold, I probably, I'm sorry, I probably confused a few folks when I used the word consolidation, but it's actually the combining of the two, to create a new board.
Council Member Strauss, you had your hand up, no?
Sorry.
Yes, I did.
Thank you, Chair, Board President.
I could save these comments for slide nine.
I'll just make them right now since you already gave me the floor.
Just to say we heard from public commentators this afternoon talking about Green Lake and Superintendent.
I know that you are already very aware and you've been very helpful moving not only the pool and the community center redevelopment program forward that we will need to look for in the next round of funding for the park district.
And then you've also been very helpful with the Green Lake Boat Center redevelopment, which is, as I mentioned this morning during council briefing, only about a million dollars away from being fully completed in their funding.
As you heard in public comment, they have their permits, they have their designs, they're ready to go.
So while this funding might not be fast enough for them, I just make these statements to let you know that I'm looking everywhere that I can to help them close this last funding gap.
And I know that you are as well.
So just raising those items as things that I'll be advocating for in the next round.
Thank you, superintendent.
So we continue to transform waters.
Yeah, go ahead.
Thank you.
So, and we're wrapping up by I really appreciate the time I know there's a lot of slides here.
But, but in the vein of continuous learning, there are a couple of things that were also funded as part of the park district we've had three evaluations that were conducted as we've gone through this during the first cycle.
The first two we've already presented to the board.
One was on our overall parks maintenance strategies and implementation, and we've got some findings that have already been put into action, including things as simple as additional restroom cleanings, routine condition assessments, et cetera.
We had another evaluation of our recreation division, which looked at our relationship, for example, with SPR and ARC and looked at how we And so we're looking at how we can.
Maximize what's happening in our buildings.
And then of course, really looking at how we can further support our neediest communities.
The third evaluation that was funded by the first cycle of the park district is one to look at that looked at a planning development division in terms of how we plan develop and deliver a major capital projects.
Michelle, if you can go to the next slide.
And this shows you essentially the timeline.
So part of the reason we're presenting this now just as a draft was when the pandemic hit, the city implemented a freeze on all spending, including contract spending.
So we put this one on hold.
And so it's not quite finished.
It's still in the draft form.
But I think that the key message here for us is that the evaluation was fantastic and gave us a lot of great insight.
But these were issues, frankly, that we had already been working on.
And I had actually already talked to council.
prior to this evaluation.
And those were things about just looking at the overall structure of the planning and development division, looking at the overall resourcing of the division, the staffing, how we train staff, and then how we develop projects.
So implementing technology solutions to do a better job of tracking and holding ourselves accountable for this.
Sorry, so this, thank you, Michelle, you know, looked at on our people side, you know, what's the structure?
How are we supporting our staff?
How are we diversifying the staff?
How are we providing additional training on the process side?
Like, how do we deliver projects?
We implemented stage gating for the first time.
It really allows us to make go, no-go decisions as we go along that really keeps us, keeps budgets on track.
And already we're seeing great results here.
And then increasing the technology, we, in addition to some of the other systems that were funded for maintenance, we just launched a new project delivery system.
We're going from, it's called, let's face it, we used it.
Anyway, the technology is getting better.
Project management technology is allowing us to do a better job of keeping track of projects and keeping them on.
on schedule and on budget.
To give you an example of the recommendations that are in the draft evaluation, there were 34 draft recommendations at this point.
We've already fully implemented 21 of those.
And again, that's a consequence of the fact that this evaluation was very much aligned with efforts we were already working on to improve the delivery of projects.
Eight of these are in progress.
And then we've got two that we're considering that are going to be part of the negotiations and discussions for the next round of the park district, including the major projects challenge fund evolution that I mentioned, and creating new mechanisms to inform the public about how we deliver projects.
And then there were three recommendations here that really impacted other agencies across the city.
So these are these are not necessarily just our work.
So we would have to work with other other agencies or other agencies control.
The aspect of the recommendation.
So we're very confident that the implementation of the ones we're doing are really going to continue to improve the work that we're doing and delivering projects again on time and on budget.
And, and in terms of the, the, okay, sorry, next slide, please, Michelle.
publication of this report so those are and I know that there you had questions long I'm happy to answer more questions or I'm also happy to toss it over to Tracy Ratzlaff who's gonna walk through the actual legislation for the request we have today
I'm sorry, I was on mute and I was just chatting away again.
Are there any questions from my colleagues?
I do not see any.
So, hey, Tracy, you want to just take it away?
I sure will.
Michelle, you want to move to the next slide, please?
So, council members, you had read into the record two resolutions for your consideration.
The first is Resolution 42, and this resolution would simply delay the next six-year funding cycle of the Seattle Park District by one year, having it begin in January 1 of 2022. to develop a plan then for 2023 through 2028. And this is again due to the delay in being able to do robust public involvement as it relates to that plan due to the continuation of the pandemic.
Great.
You want to talk about three as well?
I will.
So resolution 43 is, as Superintendent Gary mentioned, fundamentally the biggest change is that it does combine the Park Board of Commissioners board with the Park District Oversight Committee and then makes other minor changes on the reporting that is provided to the Park District Board that's more consistent with when bodies of work are done and then when it makes sense to report on them.
Great.
So with that, Tracy, thank you.
And I'm gonna briefly before we move to a vote, is there anything else from any of my, oh, Council Member Herbold, go ahead.
Thank you.
I heard Council Member Mosqueda ask a question that I had as well, but I didn't, and I may have missed it.
I didn't hear the answer.
We have a request that we include language in Resolution 42, that the Park District Board is committed to returning the general fund expenditures to the general fund and the REIT expenses to REIT once the emergency declaration is lifted.
And I think Council Member Mosqueda asked for sort of a production.
And I think that inquiry relates to this public comment that we received from the Parks Foundation.
And I'm just wondering whether or not an amendment like that, an aspirational amendment signaling a goal is something that would be appropriate to include in Resolution 42.
I'm afraid it would be outside the title of that resolution.
The title of that resolution is a resolution delaying the six-year funding cycle of the Seattle Park District.
Fundamentally, it's about delaying that next six-year plan.
It isn't about what is the council going to do, for example, in the 2022 budget process.
I think it actually might require, well, actually, I wonder.
No.
I don't think it works for resolution 42. I'm trying to think whether it works for resolution 43 as the more appropriate place.
No, I'm going to be real straightforward here.
Okay.
I would not entertain an amendment for that because we are working on the delay, not a fiscal commitment and some of the other issues you raised, but Councilor Herbold and Councilor Mosqueda, we are going to meet again in October.
Is that correct?
Yes.
If we meet again in October, Um, we can entertain, um, much more than aspirational.
Um, some fiscal directives, um, that comes back down from the executive.
Would that be would that be.
more pertinent and that would give our colleagues more time to get an opportunity.
Yeah, I wasn't planning on introducing an amendment.
Okay.
Whoa, let's hold up here.
But I do like what you said come from her role because I know that sometimes this seems just kind of pro forma when we do the Metro Park District and things just kind of blew up with the pandemic and not being able to have these as Tracy pointed out.
these robust community plans, and everyone was excited about the next six year cycle.
And as you know, Council Member Strauss had all his buddies here for Green Lake, and we're gonna see much more of that coming up.
And I wanna have those community meetings that we had last time.
And then it was so wonderful that Jesus hired these folks to come in and evaluate his executive team, how we can do things better.
We had to adjust the operating and the capital budget, as you know, Council Member Herbold, because you've been around long enough to know how this works probably better than me.
So that is some stuff that we're teeing up to look at, and I'm totally game for all those kind of amendments when we get it from the executive.
But as you say, you are not doing that from the floor today, but that's where we stand.
Did I fix that?
Is there anything else, Council Member Herbold?
No, but I would like to hear from Superintendent Garrett just about the REIT picture and whether or not there are any projections, because I thought that was Council Member Muscaira's original inquiry.
Thank you, Council Member.
I'm trying to understand the question.
So the question is about what our anticipation is in terms of REIT projections and whether we're going to be able to backfill.
Okay.
Yeah, we're still working with CBO on those reprojections.
Our REIT budget probably took the biggest hit, not just for 21 and 22, but in the out years.
So we really are concerned about the capital projects involved there, but we're working with CBO on how some of those can be backfilled.
So more to come.
Yes, more to come in September, I suspect.
Actually, no, we actually have a better update in August with the revenue update will tell us where our rate revenues are.
So that will help to give you a sense.
That will be Jesus, you know, one thing I want to say is quickly, I don't know if you guys had a chance to look at, but Jesus on June 14th said it's a really good memo for today about the proposed legislation for for consideration that kind of broke down both resolutions and their analysis.
I'm guessing we'll get the same thing before another one in August and then we can finalize some of the numbers on the Capitol and the operational side before our October meeting.
Is that is that fair to say, Susan Tracy?
I would not expect that Superintendent Gary would be giving an opinion after the revenue update.
That'll be what you get from the budget office.
And that will give you all an idea of, okay, is REIT going back to our prior pandemic levels?
So that might give us more flexibility in terms of where those funds go, like for example, to the parks department, or will we have other priorities or lesser REIT that limits our ability to reallocate accordingly.
And in the words of Council Member Herbold, more to come.
More to come.
Mostly, I think, on the park side, I would expect when the budget is delivered on the budget office side in August when we get our revenue updates.
OK.
Is there anything else, Superintendent Aguirre, that you want to add before I say a few closing comments, see if my colleagues have anything, and then move to a vote?
No.
Thank you so much.
Thanks for your time.
Is there anything else for my colleagues?
We can do the comments now or we can just go ahead and move forward and we'll do the vote on 42 to 43. Is there anything else?
Well, let me just wrap things up here.
I'm excited that we get to finally get to resolution 42 and just have the one year delay.
And as Tracy again pointed out, we do really need that robust public comment for a lot of these outstanding issues and capital projects that we didn't get to for the six year planning.
So I'm happy about that.
Um, also about the, you know, the dissolving the PDOC and combining it with the new board, I think is really a stroke of genius.
And I'm glad the 2 boards came together and brought this to you superintendent that we get this done because it was confusing for for me.
Anyway, since I got this committee, I remember Tracy doing a flow chart for me and explaining the different boards and we were basically always got the same information almost.
with the same insight, concern, and attention to detail from both boards, as you know, which are volunteers and very involved in this process, certainly during budget.
So with that, I want to thank them.
Okay, so I'm going to go to, I want to move to agenda item number two, which is resolution 42, delaying the six-year planning cycle of the Salem Park District.
Second.
Oh, thank you, council member, vice president.
All right, there is a second.
So I was going to move that the Board adopt Resolution 42. So now it's been moved and seconded.
And there's no further discussion.
Can the clerk please call the roll?
Gonzales?
Aye.
Herbold?
Yes.
Lewis?
Yes.
Morales?
Yes.
Mosqueda?
Aye.
Peterson?
Aye.
It's a one?
Yes.
Strauss?
Yes.
President Juarez?
Yes.
Nine in favor, none opposed.
Thank you.
The motion carries.
The Seattle Park District's board adopts resolution 42. Will the clerk please affix my signature to the resolution on my behalf?
OK, so let's go on to agenda item number three, which is resolution 43, authorizing an amendment to the interlocal agreement between the City of Seattle and the Seattle Park District that, among other things, merges, combines, however you want to say it, consolidates, creates between the PDOC, the Pacific, or I'm sorry, the Park District Oversight Committee with the Parks Board of Commissioners and modifies the timing of the Park District and related reporting requirements.
So with that, I move that the board adopt resolution 43.
Second.
Motion has been moved and seconded.
There's no further discussion.
I don't see any.
Will the clerk please call the roll?
Gonzalez?
Aye.
Herbold?
Yes.
Lewis?
Yes.
Morales?
Yes.
Mosqueda.
Aye.
Peterson.
Aye.
Sawant.
Yes.
Strauss.
Yes.
President Juarez.
Yes.
Nine in favor, none opposed.
Thank you.
The motion carries and the Seattle Park District Board adopts Resolution 43. Will the clerk please affix my signature to the resolution on my behalf.
So with that, before we adjourn, let me share that our next scheduled meeting of the Seattle Park District Board will be held on October 18th, 2021. Is there any further business?
I see that Council Member Mosqueda has another vote up on the screen there.
So with that, there's no further business.
I don't see any.
We will be adjourned.
Thank you.
Thank you.
you