Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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those volunteers to get their projects done in a way that did not increase maintenance costs for the City. There was considerable give and take involved. Mr. Medlin said that sometimes the division had to decline projects, but volunteers in general were a great resource. He suggested that beyond the monetary contribu- tion, the value of volunteers was in neighborhood building, the ownership such projects gave residents, and the extra “eyes and ears” on the parks that volunteers provided. Ms. Ortiz questioned if there was a way to allow residents to adopt a park and do minor maintenance of the facility. Mr. Medlin said the City had an “adopt the park” program and was open to volunteer maintenance as long as the City was notified and could coordinate the effort and ensure it met applicable regulations and practices. Mr. Pryor expressed appreciation for the presentation. He recalled that in 2006, Mr. Medlin proposed a bond measure to the council for maintenance and acquisition. The council declined to place such a measure before the voters, and instead decided the proceeds of the bond would be completely dedicated to acquisition. He regretted the council’s failure to accept Mr. Medlin’s proposal. He said the existing situation was not due to staff, which had been diligent in bringing forward its best recommendations. Mr. Pryor acknowl- edged the budgetary constraints facing the City and the difficulty of funding parks maintenance given other needs. Responding to a question from Mr. Brown, Mr. Medlin clarified that the 2006 bond did not include any funds for renovation. He reviewed the projects that would be funded with the remaining money. Mr. Brown asked if there were barriers to using some of that funding to acquire Civic Stadium. Mr. Medlin suggested that was a legal question and the answer was dependent on whether one could define Civic Stadium as a community park. Mr. Brown observed that the council had been scheduled to discuss the issue of Civic Stadium in September but that discussion had not occurred. He suggested the possibility of a land exchange to free up money from the bond to buy Civic Stadium. Responding to a question from Mr. Brown, Mr. Penwell clarified that $3.2 million was the current replacement value for the buildings at Laurelwood Golf Course. Mr. Medlin estimated the land itself was valued at approximately $250,000/acre, and there were approximately 80 acres in question. Mr. Clark asked how much money was set aside from the bond for acquiring land for Santa Clara Community Park. Mr. Medlin estimated $1 million was available. He said staff continued to negotiate for the last 16 acre parcel. At this time, the City had acquired less than 24 acres for the park. Mr. Clark asked if the City had enough money to acquire the entire acreage desired for the park. Mr. Medlin said yes; at this time, the barrier to completing the park acquisition was the lack of a willing seller. Mr. Clark said that during a recent Santa Clara Community Organization meeting, attendees had discussed vandalism in neighborhood parks and many had volunteered to clean up and had asked how they could become involved. He thought many residents would volunteer for graffiti clean-up in their neighborhood parks, which would increase their sense of ownership of such facilities and perhaps decrease City costs. Mr. Clark agreed that parks and recreation were important to citizens’ quality of life but the City would face many budgetary challenges in the next few years. He said the council needed to consider both how to bridge the funding gap while reducing the cost of providing the same level of services. Mr. Clark was also interested in examining under-used park assets, such as the back nine at Laurelwood Golf Course, for possible disposition. MINUTES—City Council October 11, 2010 Page 5 Work Session