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PRPSC MINS 02-13-2006 City of Federal Way City Council PARKS, RECREATION, & PUBLIC SAFETY COUNCIL COMMITTEE Monday February 13, 2006 6:00 p.m. SUMMARY In attendance: Council Committee members Chair Jeanne Burbidge, Deputy Mayor Jim Ferrell, Linda Kochmar, Derek Matheson, Interim City Manager, Anne Kirkpatrick, Director of Public Safety, Amy Jo Pearsall, Assistant City Attorney, Donna Hanson, Director PRCS, B Sanders Park Planner, Mary Jaenicke, Administrative Assistant. Guests: Charlie Demming, Heery International, Ed MacLeod & Lauren Perry, MacLeod Reckord; Barbara Reid, H. David Kaplan; Citizens, Chair Burbidge called the meeting to order at 6:06p.m. PUBLIC FORUM H. David Kaplan: Mr. Kaplan stated that he is appalled at the condition of French Lake Park. The garbage cans are full, the grass is gone, and there are branches all over the park. Mr. Kaplan said it looks as if we want the dog park to fail. French Lake Park needs a lot of attention now. Mr. Kaplan has met with Deputy Mayor Ferrell, and Interim City Manager Derek Matheson regarding the Banners that were hanging at Celebration Park. The Historical Society now has the banners. Barbara Reid, Bob Kellogg and Mr. Kaplan each kept a banner. He stated that Mr. Matheson would look for funding to make new banners to be placed inside the new Community Center. Barbara Reid: Ms. Reid stated that she was opposed to French Lake Park becoming an off leash dog park. But when it was voted in, she chose to support it, because she supports parks. Simple fixes that should have been made last summer were not done. The condition of the park is a serious problem. The City has a commitment and hasn’t honored it. Donna Hanson, PRCS Director stated that she has been working with a dog owner committee, and stated that they are working on a work plan. It is too early in the season for the grass to be re-seeded. Ms. Hanson stated that they were hesitant to make big changes to the park since the long-term plan for the park is unknown. She did say that if French Lake Park becomes a permanent off leash Dog Park, then changes would be done. She also stated that she would look into why the garbage is not being taken care of. Mr. Kaplan emphasized that this type of information needs to be provided to the public. The public needs to know that issues at French Lake Park are being worked on. COMMISSION COMMENT None APPROVAL OF SUMMARY Council members Ferrell and Kochmar moved to accept the January meeting minutes as written. Motion passed. BUSINESS ITEMS Community Center Update Mr. Demming presented the Community Status report for January 2006. The change orders to date to Absher construction are $150,869.00. The change order amount includes the kitchen equipment and installation. The soft costs have not changed since last month. The schedule has progressed, and the majority of the planned work has been completed. The gymnasium slab has been poured. The community wing is 60% complete. The slab on the bottom of the lap pool has been poured. The pool piping is complete. They have dealt with the pool piping installation, and have increased attention in that area to ensure that the project is done correctly. They have negotiated with Absher on cost related issues. Absher is on their third project manager for the Community Center. Mr. Demming stated that it is unusual to have that many changes for a project this size. The new manager has been catching up on all of the past issues relating to the project, and they are dealing with the cost issues at this time. The scheduled inspection for the steel in Canada has been resolved. They are hiring an inspector from Canada that will inspect the steel, test the steel and the coating that will go on the steel for the natatorium area. The project team has also selected the climbing wall contractor. Mr. Demming stated that he would be available to give tours of the site on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. PARKS, RECREATION, & PUBLIC SAFETY COUNCIL COMMITTEE Monday February 13, 2006 Summary Page 2 Lakota and Sacajawea Parks Master Plan Ms. Sanders stated that staff hired the firm of MacLeod Reckord to prepare the master plans for the redevelopment of Lakota and Sacajawea Parks. Several public meetings were held; the athletic organizations were encouraged to attend these meetings. The consensus from these meetings was that we needed to start over. Both sites have severe problems with drainage on the fields, and as a result of that they have gotten dangerous. Many different alternatives were developed, and they have come up with plans that everybody is in agreement on. Ms. Sanders introduced Ed MacLeod and Lauren Perry from MacLeod Reckord. Mr. MacLeod presented the master plan for both parks. Mr. MacLeod stated that it has been a long process, but also a very valuable process. It allowed them to develop a plan that addresses most peoples concern. The Parks Commission was very involved and very helpful throughout the process. Most importantly they all had the sense that the need is growing for these kinds of Parks in Federal Way. It became very important to try and maximize the athletic facilities potential in each of them. This has led them to plans that exceeded the expectations in terms of costs for the project, but in the long term the master plan is in the direction that the community wants to go in. Some of the items that both plans include are: public gathering areas, athletic events, a multi-use path system, parking, restrooms, children’s play areas, basketball court. Sacajawea will include tennis courts, and Lakota will include volleyball courts. It will feel like you’re walking into a park setting. Mr. MacLeod stated that synthetic fields are now half the price of astro turf. The cost of maintaining the field in the long run is less. We will offset the cost in about 10 years. Ms. Sanders stated that the synthetic fields we currently have are groomed once a month, instead of every day that they’re played on. The striping is repainted one to two times per year instead of everyday. This is a big savings for our maintenance crew. The cost estimate for Lakota Park is $12,644,417.00, and the cost estimate for Sacajawea Park is $11,041,994.00. Deputy Mayor Ferrell moved to adopt the Lakota and Sacajawea Park Master Plan as prepared and place this item before Council on March 7, 2006. Council member Kochmar seconded. Motion passed. Proposed Ordinance to Criminalize Drug-Related Loitering, Non-felony Counterfeiting, Non-felony Vehicular Assault and Hit and Run, Pedestrian Ms. Pearsall reported that there have been several instances where a crime or an activity took place that wasn’t really a crime because it did not meet the standards for a felony. The Police Department were not able to contact somebody, or the prosecutors were not able to charge a person because it did not meet the elements of a crime that are currently on the books. This Ordinance is an attempt to create some code language so that activities that should be a crime will be covered. Council member Kochmar moved recommend approval of the proposed Ordinance and forward to full Council for first reading at the February 21, 2006 City Council meeting. Deputy Mayor Ferrell seconded. Motion passed. Proposed Police Cadet and Reserve Officer Programs Chief Kirkpatrick, stated that the issue at hand is the concept of being able to use volunteers in the police department in one of two capacities: either through a Cadet Program or through a Reserve Officers program. The most functional Police Cadet Program that they are aware of is out of Olympia Police Department. In the Cadet Program they are not commissioned officers. They are civilians, and they are like interns. Majority of the participants are college kids, and young adults that are interested in a law enforcement career. They serve many functions; vacation home checks, removing abandoned vehicles, picking up found property, assist in crime prevention and presentations. The Olympia Police Department Cadets are employees. They receive a salary between $11.00 and $14.00 per hour. They are part time and do not receive benefits. The Cadet Program would have a potential conflict with the City of Federal Way Police Support Officers (PSO) staff members. Many of the types of jobs that a Cadet would do, are also the same types of jobs that the PSO’s would do. The good thing about a Police Cadet program is that they are not commissioned and there is not any training or screening involved. It is a good field program for people to see if they really want to become Law Enforcement Officers. In the Reserve Program, the Reservists are Commissioned Officers. They become fully Commissioned Officers when they are called into service. They have full Police powers, but only when they come in to work. Regular Officers always have full Police power. The current local departments that have Reserve programs are: Seattle, King County, Des Moines, Fife, Milton and Tumwater. Chief Kirkpatrick has had personal experience of a Reserve Officer Program when she was the Chief of Police in Ellensburg. They have a very long-standing program there. She stated you could find thriving reserve programs in smaller departments. The good thing about Reserve Programs is that you have a fully Commissioned Officer that is out in the field in a complimentary role to the other commissioned staff. The negative is when you cross into supplanting police. This is where you will draw your unfair labor practices A Police Officer goes through the police academy and they receive approximately 770 hours of training. Reserve Officers have to go through a training course required by state law of 224 hours of training. The negative associated with that is we don’t send the reserve officer to the academy for that training, we have to do the 224 hours of training. This causes paying overtime, or taking officers of the street to put on an academy. There are times when agencies will pull together and put on an PARKS, RECREATION, & PUBLIC SAFETY COUNCIL COMMITTEE Monday February 13, 2006 Summary Page 3 academy. Once the Reserve Officers are trained, they become commissioned in a limited capacity –they cannot ride by themselves. When a training officer or reserve officer is put with another officer, they view that as one officer unit. Chief Kirkpatrick stated that she likes both programs, and thinks that both can be successful, but the timing is not right at this time. She would like to stabilize her staffing. When that is stable Council can choose which direction they would like her to go. The Reserve Officers are volunteers, and are not paid. The cost to us is managing the program, which is broken down as follows: $1,081.00 per person for the testing application process, $1,100.00 for the equipment, and the total background investigation cost is $1,735.40 and then a Lieutenant will oversee the whole program so there is a cost for that. PENDING ITEMS Dangerous Dogs. ANNOUNCEMENTS - Council member Burbidge encouraged people to complete the Parks, Recreation and Open Space Plan Survey Ms. Pearsall will look into the issue of the tidelands and allowing people to walk across them. NEXT MEETING – March 13, 2006 6:00 p.m. in the Hylebos Conference Room ADJOURNMENT - Meeting adjourned at 7:35p.m.