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Home My Public Portal About17-ParksRec Dept. Rpt. November 2020Memo To: City Council From: Kurt Wolf, Parks and Recreation Director CC: Anette Spickard, City Manager Date: 11/24/2020 Re: Monthly Department Report — November 2020 City of McCa11 1. Recreation Program Updates & Registrations: Program descriptions, free events and local resource guide are available on www.mccallrec.com. As we continue to operate and manage programs within the national guidelines and recommendations pertaining to COVID-19, we will update program participants of any changes to guidelines. • Elementary Basketball: This season will be a series of 4 -weeks, 1.5 hour practices to learn skills and play drills. Registration numbers were kept low, only 12 participants per team and a total of 2 teams. Boys basketball will be held in January. Girls wrapped up last week, on Thursday, November 19. Feedback from parents were positive and grateful to have something for their kids to do. • Tots and Tykes: The program, originally hosted October 26 -November 19, served 12 youth, 5 parents and 1 staff The final week was cancelled when rolled back to Stage 2, due to group sizes of 10+. A majority of parents and youth (ages 5 or less) were not wearing masks. Although equipment was cleaned before and after classes, the risk of hosting the program with shared equipment and close contact with others outside individual households was high, thus cancelled. The next session is to be scheduled for the end of January for 3 weeks. • Swim Lessons and Transportation: The final week of transportation was cancelled due to the roll back to Stage 2. Parks and Recreation staff contacted the CDH offices, who advised the transportation during stage 2 was considered high risk. • No School Fun Days: Another teacher workday on November 6 was added last minute, and the program hosted 14 kids and 2 staff. Plans included swimming in Cascade, lunch outside at the 'Fish Park' in Cascade, movie and snacks back in McCall at the Community Senior Center and finally back to the park for basketball before parent pick up. • Mobile Tutor Unit: The group decided to pause the mobile tutor mobile until Stage 3. To date, the bus ran a total of 4 weeks, servicing approximately 15 kids a week with tutoring services, library books and STEM kits (provided by the PLCA). The group is currently looking into indoor opportunities at the Senior Community Center and will meet after Thanksgiving holidays to reassess community health risks and services. Monthly Department Report — Parks & Recreation • Staff is currently working on winter recreation program planning efforts (including McCall Gives Thanks, full -moon snowshoe events, holiday tree lighting, Calls from the North Pole, luminary walk, cross country skiing, etc.) for elementary basketball program and tots and tykes. 2. Coronavirus Recreation Updates: Staff continue to work on a variety of responses to address recreational offerings, partnerships, and future strategies as it relates to pandemic updates. • Online Recreation Center: Virtual recreation and educational opportunities are still running live and have been well received. Please visit the website and view the drop -down menu at the top of the page to view activities and ideas associated with the virtual recreation center. www.mccallrec.com • Professional and educational trainings: Staff have been utilizing the time to keep up with training opportunities and research new ideas and what other communities are doing during these times to get through this and provide offerings for the community in conjunction with changes, guidelines, and restrictions. • Outreach: Tara Woods, Recreation Supervisor, is working with local resources to help advertise and provide links to organizational efforts; such as University of Idaho Extension courses and classes, Payette Children's Forest online educational videos and events and Forest Service Agents of Discovery app. • Winter staffing needs and schedule: Tara Woods will continue with behind the scenes organization efforts for all recreation programs and leagues. TJ Brady, P&R Maintenance Coordinator, will be stepping in to help run programs, maintain equipment and communicating with program participants and parents. Other staffing needs will be pieced together with current parks and recreation staff. • Weekly National Leadership Calls: Kurt Wolf, P&R Director, and Tara Woods continue to attend bi- weekly, online video meetings with parks and recreation professionals nationwide. This has been a great recourse to network with communities that are further along in the pandemic and discuss challenges and solutions. • Winter Outdoor Program/Event In the works: Working on partnerships with outside agencies on outdoor program ideas and events that can be safely run during the winter months. 3. Special Events: Halloween Trunk or Treat Trail: The event was well attended on Friday, October 30 at the Alpine Village parking lot. 25 vehicles participated and the parks and recreation handed out 200 treat bags within the first hour. First, second, and third place prizes were awarded for the best decorated vehicles. The event was scheduled from 4:00-7:00 pm; however, a majority of vehicles ran out of treats by 6:00 and left. Future events will run from 4:00-6:00 pm. Witches on the Water: The event hosted 24 witches and their watercraft on Saturday, October 31. The group left Legacy Park and paddled to Rotary Park. Return services back to Legacy Park were offered; however, witches either arranged their own ride at Rotary, continued to Shore Lodge or made the return paddle to Legacy Park. Staff returned to Legacy Park. 4. Parks Overview and Staffing: Parks staff are in full swing and continue to make additional efforts to service facilities in conjunction with best practices as it relates to COVID-19. Monthly Department Report — Parks & Recreation • Sidewalk summer maintenance program: Staff continue to work and adjust this new program which includes scheduled pressure washing, minor repair and maintenance, and communication with business and property owners. The program is working well, and feedback has been positive to date. • Winter Sidewalk Maintenance Program: Now that most of the Downtown Core Project is complete, Parks and Streets have updated the coordinated snow removal plan. Several small changes to the plan should help increase efficiencies and make the downtown core more accessible for the public this winter. Program will remain the same with city staff addressing conditions each morning as needed. Property owners/businesses will be responsible for maintaining a safe clearance across their respective properties during the day or business hours. • Keeping staff informed on the continuously changing environment, addressing staff safety needs and protocols, and adjusting schedules as needed to ensure a safe working environment around COVID-19. Adjusting shifts and schedules to limit interdepartmental overlap. • Parks Staff have adjusted their schedules to 7 days a week to limit the amount of people on site at one time with varying days off. • Parks and Recreation are researching and working toward building an outdoor ice-skating rink. We have had numerous requests with offers of volunteer assistance to implement and create another opportunity for safe outdoor recreation. Plans are to have it available by winter carnival, hopefully sooner depending on weather conditions. • We are working with local contractors on better screw -in anchors for the lane line docks at Rotary Park. Temporary concrete anchors will be removed in late fall/early winter or next season when lake levels rise. The project received an overwhelming amount of positive comments and praise. Brown Park and Shoreline Restoration Update: Kurt Wolf continues to work with staff and the engineering team on design work for both the playground replacement, shoreline restoration and repair, and facility improvements at Brown Park and along E. Lake Street. Design and drawings will be done through a combination of in-house staff work for the park and play structure with engineering contracted out through Horrocks Engineering and Baer Land Group in conjunction with the McCall Redevelopment Agency (MRA). Project #1A is under contract and work is going well and on schedule. The contractor is scheduled to have the primary excavation and embankment work done by the first week of December. Project #1B will focus on additional shoreline repairs from Brown Park south to the Marina along E. Lake Street and will include on the water improvements such as docks and recreational amenities, Project #2 will consist of a phased approach to include improvements and repairs within Brown Park. Included in this work will be the replacement of the playground which was funded through a Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) grant. Project #3 will focus on design engineering and the future re -construction of E. Lake Street. Brown Park Playground: Parks staff removed the old play structure at Brown Park in an effort to prepare site for new playground installation in the spring. Materials from the old playground will be repurposed in other parks projects and we are researching liability with re -use of old sections and elements of playground that are in salvageable condition. Monthly Department Report — Parks & Recreation :t ` SLAY C6ZY 041.1 MIS C6LD FRIDAY AID KEEP Y6VR PTS 6k! COME C6MF1'- BLAIKET t SNFXY 6PTT61AL •o Ali I -w1 \ y 4 A MCCALL PARKS & RECREATION ► A A Tr �►a sca4aa1. 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