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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - December 5, 2006 SSCITY OF LODI INFORMAL INFORMATIONAL MEETING "SHIRTSLEEVE" SESSION CARNEGIE FORUM, 305 WEST PINE STREET TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2006 An Informal Informational Meeting ("Shirtsleeve" Session) of the Lodi City Council was held Tuesday, December 5, 2006, commencing at 7:32 a.m. A. ROLL CALL Present: Council Members — Hansen, Johnson, Mounce, and Mayor Hitchcock Absent: Council Members — Beckman Also Present: City Manager King, City Attorney Schwabauer, and City Clerk Johl B. TOPIC(S) B-1 "Discussion of Joint Hutchins Street Square Parks and Recreation Registration Programs and Coordination of Similar Program Offerings" City Manager King provided a general overview of the topic. Steve Baker, Interim Community Center Director, provided a presentation regarding the proposed joint registration efforts. Topics of discussion included the current class offerings at Hutchins Street Square and Parks and Recreation; Safari Software and Activa registration systems; sports leagues; marketing through Hutchins Street Square catalog, flyers, newsletters, and websites; and moving forward with new class offerings, space constraints, registration, and marketing. Discussion ensued between Mayor Hitchcock, Mr. Baker, Parks and Recreation Director Goehring, and City Manager King regarding the benefits associated with both combining the programs and keeping them separate, including the possibility of hiring staff for marketing purposes. Council Member Mounce inquired about utilizing the services of the current staff that handles marketing for Hutchins Street Square. Mr. Baker stated it may be possible; although, donators may have a certain connection with the Square and the programs it provides. Mayor Pro Tempore Johnson inquired about a surcharge for marketing purposes. Mr. Goehring stated it may be possible. He stated they have reduced the number of hardcopies and have relied more heavily on an e -newsletter, which has drastically reduced the marketing budget. Mr. Goehring stated they have not tracked how this specific change has affected participation; although, generally participation is down about 10% from 2005 to 2004. City Manager King provided an overview of the relationship between program participants and the availability of venues. Mayor Hitchcock inquired about training and logistics associated with staff training at different locations. Mr. Goehring stated it may be a challenge as some programs are much simpler to register for than others, but both departments are trying to collaborate and streamline the overall registration process. Mayor Hitchcock suggested having special classes as one category and sports as another for registration purposes and training. She also suggested considering revenue and expenditure concerns associated with the combined registration. Continued December 5, 2006 C. COMMENTS BY THE PUBLIC ON NON -AGENDA ITEMS None. D. ADJOURNMENT No action was taken by the City Council. The meeting was adjourned at 8:04 a.m. ATTEST: Randi Johl City Clerk W AGENDA ITEM 5*0 1 AhCITY OF LODI COUNCIL COMMUNICATION M AGENDA TITLE: Discussion of Joint Hutchins Street Square Parks and Recreation Registration Programs and Coordination of Similar Program Offerings MEETING DATE: December 5,2006 PREPARED B Y Steve Baker, Interim Community Center Director Tony Goehring, Parks and Recreation Director BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Staff was asked to look into better coordination between Hutchins Street Square and the Parks and Recreation Department in registration, class offerings and marketing. Because these programs are fee -driven in both departments, better coordination on marketing, registration and offerings can result in higher class participation (and revenues) as well as improved convenience for the public. Outlined below is the current status within each department, followed by a discussion of where to go from here. Class Offerings: Hutchins Street Square (HSS) offers specialty arts classes including culinary arts, dance, visual arts, music and leisure. A list of the classes currently offered is attached. All of these classes are held at the Square and many of them are offered most of the year. Parks and Recreation (P&R) offers specialty classes including tennis, kayak & canoe trips on the Mokelumne River, lifeguard training, KidSafe, cheerleading, mommy/daddy and me swimming lessons and self defense. Some of these classes are seasonal in nature. A list of classes currently offered or offered in previous years, is attached. Other classes currently being considered are tot tumbling, baby talk, introduction to fly fishing, tai chi and others. These classes are held at various locations within the City of Lodi. Traditionally, HSS has offered "arts classes" and P& R has offered "recreation classes". Many classes can easily fit into either category (e.g, hip hop dance). Registration: In the past, HSS and P&R have had separate registration systems with different software. Effective with the fall 2006 catalog, HSS began using the same software that P&R has been using for class registrations as well as league sign-ups. While neither HSS nor P&R have signed up students for the other department's classes, with training on the requirements of the other's classes, this would be possible. Registration for HSS classes can be done on-line through a separate software system, Activa. P&R classes are currently not available on-line. APPROVED:- 1314h-King, PPROVED:BI ' ing, City Manager Marketing: HSS puts out a course catalog three times per year. Effective with the fall 2006 HSS catalog, some P&R league information was included in the catalog, with the intent of increasing such information in future issues. The catalog is sent to all local schools (packaged for individual classrooms), mailed out to a mailing list developed overtime, and also available at HSS and P&R, The classes are also on the Arts Commission website. Flyers are also printed for instructors who want to market the classes. Instructors also sometimes place advertisements in local papers, particularly on start-up classes. P&R used to put out a catalog twice a year, however, this publication ceased in December 2004 due to budget constraints. P&R also has flyers available at their location and they send them to local schools, PIR also puts out two electronic newsletters; 1) is sent on a monthly basis which goes to customers who have signed up for the newsletter through our website and; 2) The second newsletter is sent as a broadcast email and is photocopied for our front office, HSS, and the Library. This newsletter now includes HSS class offerings. Sports Leagues: PIR also handles sports leagues, many through the Boosters of Boys and Girls Sports. These leagues now have fairly complex registration processes with the timing and cost of registration dependent on residency. Many also require proof of age (e.g. birth certificate). These registrations are also staggered so that not all are occurring at the same time. Potential Changes and Challenges: Class Offerings: Both HSS and P&R staffs are exploring additional classes. There may be an opportunity to offer classes that have not traditionally been offered by either department, but have worked in other communities. The major challenge to increasing the number of classes is space. P&R has virtually no space available to it for indoor classes. One possibility is to allow P&R to offer recreation type classes at the Square, provided that they are compatible with the other activities at the Square. HSS currently has space, however, HSS space is becoming limited as class numbers and room rentals increase. Registration (Classes): With the installation of the Safari software at HSS, P&R and HSS staff would have the capability to sign up individuals for each others classes. Training would be critical to make sure that the information being given by staff for the other facility was accurate. New procedures would also need to be put into place so that the registration funds reached the correct account. Registration forms, liability waivers, etc. would also need to be standardized. Currently, HSS offers on-line registration for classes, using Activa software. P&R classes could be added to the current list. The Safari software also has the ability for performing on-line registrations. Staff is working with the Information Services Division to see if using the Safari software would be more efficientleffective for on-line registration in the long run. One other advantage to joint registration is that the HSS Box Office is currently open until 7:30 on Wednesdays, so class registrations could be done after the normal closing time. Sports League Registrations: Sports League and class registrations present a special challenge. Currently P&R offers access to registration forms but is not geared up for on-line registration. The nuances and complexities inherent in the P&R sports league registration requirements make joint or cross over registration opportunities very difficult to accomplish at this time. The complexities are described below: Unlike specialty class offerings, league registration requires other kinds of criteria. Age and residency verification are essential to proper placement of sports league participants. Both require physical proof of age (i.e. birth certificate) and proof of residency (i.e. utility bill). Other requirements also may apply. Swim lessons, for example require that the participant be at least 36" tall. Basketball participation is based on grade level. 2. Many of the P&R sports activities are offered by and run through the Booster of Boys and Girls Sports (BOBS). Their leagues (i.e. soccer and baseball) have extended registration requirements that are controlled by National associations — i.e. CYSA Soccer and Little League Baseball. 3. The recently implement "Tiered" registration system, has different deadlines for Lodi residents, non -Lodi residentswithin the Tokay-Lodi High School attendance area and others outside Lodi. The prices for each of these tiers are also different. Because the registrations are staggered, deadlines for tiers are different for different, but overlapping, sports seasons. It is a complex system that was designed to increase revenues and to insure that Lodi residents get first chance for city -sponsored leagues. With sufficient training, HSS staff could register participants for sports leagues and classes. Because of the complexities above, the chances for errors in either registration or information about the particular program would be high. This would be particularly true if done infrequently. The relatively high costs of training may not be worth the benefit of having more than one site to register. On-line registration is even more difficult. The necessity of providing documents that must be seen in person and copied means that the participant would need to come into the office anyway. (Coaches possibly could collect such information at the first meeting; however, different sports programs have specific requirements for document verification to discourage cheating). The tiered pricing schedule and deadlines would also be challenging to implement on-line and to explain on-line to the potential registrants. More research would need to be done on the procedure necessary to make internet registration successful before implementing. Marketing: Joint marketing efforts by both entities are already underway and are proving to be productive. As mentioned above, P&R classes are being advertised in HSS publications and HSS class offerings are being presented in the P&R quarterly newsletter website and a -news letter. Because the marginal cost of providing additional information through these avenues is relatively low, these types of joint marketing activities should continue. Also most of the printing and distribution costs of the HSS catalog are covered by advertising. Targeted marketing and joint marketing should continue. E-mail is a particularly inexpensive method of advertising classes to targeted audiences and could be expanded. Marketing and outreach materials from each department are placed at the other department. A more comprehensive catalog of class and recreation opportunities, preferably supported by advertising, may also need to be explored. Joint training of staff in both departments on all city offerings may also help staff to guide potential participants to suitable activities. Marketing efforts by P& R were reduced in the past due to budgetary constraints. The Boosters of Boys and Girls Sports (BOBS) advertise in the local newspaper. P&R also advertises some sports activity in the local paper as well (e.g. swimming). Some P&R activities (e.g, youth sports programs) that are subsidized do not improve their net revenues even if additional marketing results in additional participants. Tony hr' Interim Community Center Director Park andRecreation Director Hutchins Street Square Arts Specialty Classes Culinary Arts Chocolate Heaven Carnival Fare Easy Entertaining Pies, Cakes, Tarts Cookie Calls- hands -On Italian Cuisine Asian Cuisine Gourmet Truffles- Hands on Sunday Brunch Appetizers for Entertaining Thanksgiving 101 Gingerbread House Workshop (parent-child Dance Pre -School Ballet Beginning Ballet/Ballet I Advanced Beginning Ballet Beginning Ballet/Ballet II Ballet III/IV Pre-Pointe/Pointe Adult Ballet Lodi Youth Ballet Movement Fun for Children City of Lodi Ballroom Dance Team Ballroom Dance (I/II) Beginning Jazz Belly Dance — Level I Beginning Adult Tap Advanced Performance Tap Belly Dance (Intermediate/Advanced) Hip Hop Dance Kinder Tap American Dance Camp Pre -School Boogie Jazz Tiny Tot Tap Private Ballroom Instruction Swing Dance/Practice Parties Music Piano Lodi Children's Chorus Piano Lessons Violin/Viola/Chamber music Beginning/Intermediate Guitar Vocal Lessons Art Art Explorers Art with Children Beginning/Advanced Cartoon Strips Beginning Knitting and Crocheting Beginning Pencil Drawing Techniques Beginning Watercolor Painting Delta Discoverers Kinder Nature Drawing Made Easy Kinder Art Painting with Claire Oak Sciences Stars Wheel Thrown Pottery One Stroke Method of Painting Other Hatha Yoga Wine Tasting 101 Digital Photo Basics E -Bay for the Rest of Us PARKS AND RECREATION SPECIALTY CLASSES CURRENT CLASSES — • Tennis PREVIOUS CLASSES — • Drop In Hockey** • Easter Egg Hunt** • Fly Fishing • Fly Tying • Golf Camp • Golf Lessons — both Youth and Adult • Gymnastics • Halloween Harvest Downtown** • Hip Hop Dance • Hunter Safety Course • Jr. Lifeguard Camp? • Kayak & Canoe Trips? • Karate • KidSafe Cheerleading • KidSafe Self Defense • Lifeguard Training? • Movie Night at the Pool • New Years Eve Sleepover • Santa's Calling** • Start Smart • Table Tennis • Tai Chi • Tumbling for Tots • Wading Tales • Water Aerobics • Water Polo • Winter Volleyball Clinic • Women's Self Defense • Wrestling • Yoga ** Free Program ? May be offered again during the appropriate season