Parks Comm MINS 12-05-2019CITY OF FEDERAL WAY
PARKS AND RECREATION
PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION
December 5, 2019 Hylebos Conference Room
6:30 p.m. City Hall
MEETING MINUTES
Present: Chair Laura Belvin, Vice Chair Dawn Coggins, Thomas George, George Pfeiffer, Dave Berger and Bobby
Jennings
Excused: David Wilson, Michael Campsmith and George Vadino
Staff: John Hutton, Parks Director, Jason Gerwen, Parks & Facilities Manager and Mary Jaenicke, Parks Adm.
Asst. II.
Chair Belvin called the meeting to order at 6:30pm.
None
PUBLIC FORUM
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Vice Chair Coggins moved to approve the November Parks and Recreation Commission regular meeting minutes as
written. Commissioner Berger seconded. Motion passed.
COMMISSION BUSINESS
Elections of Chair and Vice Chair
Chair Belvin self -nominated herself for chair at the November meeting. She opened discussion for further
nominations. There were no other nominations. Nominations were closed. Vote passed unanimously. At the
November meeting Vice Chair Coggins stated she would be willing to serve as Vice Chair again. Discussion was
opened for further nominations. There were no other nominations. Nominations were closed. Commissioner
Pfeiffer moved that by acclimation to forego the vote on Vice Chair. Motion passed.
New Start Time for Parks and Recreation Commision Meetings
At the November meeting the Parks & Recreation commission discussed starting the meetings at 5:30pm.
Commissioners Jennings and Pfeiffer stated that 6:00pm would be a better option for them. Discussion was
held. Vice Chair Coggins moved to change the start time of the Parks and Recreation commission
meetings to 6:00pm. Commissioner Berger seconded. Motion passed.
2020 Parks and Recreation Commission Work Plan
The commission reviewed the draft work plan. Commissioner Berger suggested adding neighborhood parks to
the plan. Commissioner Berger reviewed the PROS Plan and felt that the most important thing the
commissioners could do was to take on the key recommendation in section five of the PROS Plan regarding
neighborhood parks. The recommendation is to attempt to create partnerships with the neighborhoods around
each one of the neighborhood parks. The goal would be to get the neighborhoods to buy -in to the parks and
address the needs identified in the plan for each park. He suggested starting the effort by taking three
neighborhood parks and divide those parks up amongst the commissioners. Staff Gerwen suggested starting
with Mirror Lake Park. Staff would not be able to take this on internally but they do have the ability to support
volunteers. Staff Gerwen stated that if this is something the commission decides to take on and only needs
support services from staff then this is something that would be doable. Commission discussed if this was
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Parks and Recreation Commission, December 5, 2019 Page 2
something they would like to add to the Work Plan and is this something that everyone has time to put in to it.
This would require the whole commission to take part in. Vice Chair Coggins was in favor of the idea but felt
that they should start with one park and see how it goes. Staff Hutton also suggested scheduling a work party
at a neighborhood park and sending a mailer to that surrounding neighborhood. This would provide an
opportunity to start a conversation with people regarding what improvements they would like to see at that
park. This would be a good way to gauge their interest. Chair Belvin stated that this has been tried in the past
without much success and suggested working with established groups to have them adopt a park. Trying to
establish a group is beyond the commission's scope at this time. There is a process that needs to be followed in
order to establish an Adopt -A -Park program. After a long discussion the commission added Neighborhood
Parks, Master Planning Steel Lake Park, Brooklake Community Center and Lakota Park to the work plan.
There was also discussion on adding Developing a Prioritization Matrix to the Work Plan; a matrix would
assist the commission in prioritizing their projects. Vice -Chair Coggins moved to approve the amended
2020 Parks & Recreation Commission Work Plan to the January Parks, Recreation, Human Services
and Public Safety Committee for approval. Discussion was held. Chair Belvin requested one small change
to the Work Plan. Vice -Chair Coggins withdrew her motion and moved to approve the 2020 Work Plan
with the discussed changes. Commissioner Pfeiffer seconded. Motion passed
STAFF REPORTS
Park Code Update
Staff Gerwen received feedback from the sub -committee; Commissioner Campsmith had a few minor changes
which staff Gerwen has not reviewed. Staff Gerwen requested that the commission review the updated Park
Code. A new version with Commissioner Campsmith's changes will be sent to the Commission the following
week. The commission was asked to read the updated code and be prepared to discuss and approve the code at
the next meeting. Chair Belvin stated that this item is important enough to hold a meeting in January.
Commissioner Berger moved to change the meeting date to January 91h at 6:00pm. Vice -Chair Coggins
seconded. Motion passed.
OTHER BUSINESS
The Tree Lighting will take place on December 7 at 4:00pm.
Chair Belvin will be singing at the PAEC on December 15.
Commission Business
Park Code Update
Prioritization Matrix
Staff Reports
None
NEXT MEETING/AGENDA ITEMS
ADJOURNMENT
A motion was made by Commissioner Pfeiffer and seconded by Vice -Chair Coggins to adjourn the meeting.
Chair Belvin adjourned the meeting at 7:53 pm.
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