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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee - 06/07/2018 WATERSHORE AND BEACH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING Regular Called Meeting, Thursday, June 7, 2018 5:30 pm Staff Conference Room, City Hall 1201 Leopard Street, Corpus Christi, TX Members Present Members Absent Staff Present Cliff Schlabach Jyoti Patel Jay Ellington Terry Palmer Jennifer Pollack Josh Wentworth Phillippe Tissot Meredith Darden Darren Gurley Daniel Mazoch Martha Lawhon Carrie Robertson Meyer Mukesh Subedee I. CALL TO ORDER Meeting called to order at 5:30 pm. II. ROLL CALL The roll was called and a quorum was present. III. ADOPTION OF MINUTES Minutes from the May 3, 2018 meeting were distributed for review and changes approved. Carrie made a motion to accept the minutes as changed, Terry seconded, unanimously approved. Motion passed. IV. HEAR FROM THE PUBLIC There was no one from the public in attendance. V. BUSINESS FOR DISCUSSION/POSSIBLE ACTION 1 New Business a. Paulette Kluge: SHOT Funds Discussion Paulette first covered the Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT). This tax (15%) comes from out of town people staying in our hotels. The 15% is divided as follows: 6% to the state, 7% stay in our city and 2% goes to the convention center. The short version of the process is a 2 step one; the first step being that the dollars must directly enhance and/or promote our city. Paulette did note that this tax may not be used for general revenue purposes. The second criteria for using HOT funds is that it must fit into 1 of 9 categories and they are listed in the handout from her, but basically the expenditure must bring people in from outside of the city. The SHOT fund is 2% of the state's share of the HOT tax. Paulette handed out copies of an email that explains some of the SHOT questions. She also provided the group with 2 names of people in the know regarding the HOT and Shot taxes. The funds for the SHOTs come in monthly and are usually 2 month behind. The SHOT funds that are not used for budget purposes goes into the reserve, which could be used for emergencies like Hurricane Harvey, once City Council approves it. The HOT funds can go into the general fund and can be used to clean the beaches. These funds are State regulated. Jerry noted that he had a conversation with Todd Hunter and relayed that Todd would take ours and PRAC recommendations or ideas to Austin and pitch them. The short rule for the HOT and SHOT money is "for heads and beds". Darren explained that with his 2019 budgets, he has already spent 99% and that he has only spent 34% of salaries because of hiring issues and that he is not allowed to spend those salary savings. 2 b. WBAC:What are our duties? Jay Ellington spoke of having met with Cliff regarding the duties of WBAC: first he told the committee that he requires 2 superintendents to be assigned to this committee and that there be a PRAC representative also assigned to this committee. WBAC is to cover all the beach areas with sand, the Packery Channel and the surrounding areas (and facilities). All the restrooms on the gulf beach; portable and stationary. The bay beaches' restroom are under park Operations. Jay relayed that our committee advocates to him and that he is usually the one that does the advocating from us. Jay then spoke about the budgets; they are still working on them. Cliff asked specifically about the dividing line between our committee and PRAC and also what would the boundaries be between Bay beaches and the Gulf beaches. Jay stated that the problem would get relayed because Josh (Bay beaches) and Darren (Gulf beaches) are both attend this committee and the problems are going to be heard. Carrie noted that according to the ordinance (WBAC) we should be discussing capital improvements and master plans as they pertain to the Bay & Gulf beaches. Cliff read the PRAC guidelines and those guidelines address PRAC being responsible for parks and the adjoining facilities. Terry suggested that because of the overlapping of duties between PRAC and WBAC, if a subject has been discussed at PRAC, we should just hear about and not discuss it, unless it is a major issue/item. Jay reminded the group that the SHOT fund budgets were brought to WBAC; staff chose us to work on it. Jerry wanted the committee to know that PRAC is overloaded! Cliff did state that he believes that homelessness is not a WBAC issue. It was decided that the committee members would vote on whether or not to take up an issue. One final comment; if you are not informed on an issue, don't vote. c. North Beach Bath House Problem Carrie passed out some photos taken at North Beach and spoke about them. The main problem at North Beach is homelessness. As a side, Carrie has met with City officials and others regarding this problem but it is not a WBAC issue at this point. The Surfside Park bathhouse is right next to the beach walk and is on GLO land. Carrie relayed that City employees clean it but the design is bad; the floors never dry. The bath house are outdated and need to be replaced. Carrie hopes that these bath house could be replaced with simpler setups (she had some pictures). Darren did explain that there is other expenses involved with have portable toilets; more then just paying the rental on the units and the homeless will use these if they want to. Darren also wanted the group to know that he has been discussing the homeless issue and the City's compliance officers are not to get involved with the homeless folks. d. Update: Cole Park and Dimmit Pier Josh reported that the last report he saw on Cole Park was that it was not repairable, there is structural damage. Dimmit Pier has the same issues (structural damage) but during the ISAC meeting there was talk of maybe using RESTORE money to get Dimmit Pier repaired. 2 Old Business a. Update: Beach Pit/Holes Darren reported that he is working on this; it is going to be added to the rules and/or an ordinance. b. Update: Six Pack Projects Darren is still trying to get the accounting code so that the PO for the ADA mats can be created. Darren is still working on putting the new maintenance building together with the pavilion and this would be paid with TIRZ money. VI. PARK AND RECREATION ACTION COMMITTEE—Jerry Plemons • Jerry reported that at the last meeting of PRAC there wasn't quorum so no action was taken. • Jerry did have a chance to speak with Capt. Broyles about the bath houses at North Beach and he relayed that this problem is everywhere. • Nothing has changed with the North Beach Offshore Island plan and Jerry is keeping this issue on his radar. • The county has its own version of PRAC and Jerry will try to get a liaison from that committee for the City's PRAC. C:AUsers\NormaD2\AppData\Local\Temp\Minutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee-06_07_2018_4042204\Minutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee-06_07 2018.doc 3 • PRAC is starting to work on Bond 2018 and there is nothing in it for Parks. • With regards to the BBQ issue at North Beach; Jay believe that it is within his power to change the signage and he will do that. VII. ISAC Report • Cliff reported that the meeting did not have much to do with our committee. • There was talk of getting an engineer to look at the Packery Channel and design the repairs within the next 2 months. This will be a long process. The monies should be coming from FEMA, TIRZ and maybe the RESTORE Act. • There was discussion about a pier on the gulf beach, most do not think this will materialize, and extending the Packery Channel. VIII. STAFF LIAISON REPORT • Josh reported that he did get 3 trash bag boxes put in at North Beach. • Darren reported that 2 officers were hired and there is an ATV at North Beach. • Darren spoke of the good turtle season on the Gulf beaches; so far there have been 8 on the City's beaches. • The new restrooms are back on the beach and being locked at 6 PM and being unlocked at 7 AM. • Darren is working with Utility to get an account setup for the showers at 3A, and with the Dune Commission to get permission to run the water line down the beach. • There was a 20% increase in sales of parking permit from Memorial Day last year. IX. IDENTIFY ITEMS TO BE PLACED ON NEXT AGENDA 1. Deidre Williams: Packery Channel Monitoring Process 2. Absenteeism 3. Hurricane Plan 4. Beach Adaptive Maintenance Plan 5. SHOT Fund: Review the Expenses 6. Recommendations for North Beach budgets 7. Update: North Beach Initiative 8. Update: North Beach Bathrooms 9. Update: Beach Pits/Holes 10. Update: Six Pack Projects X. ADJOURNMENT As there was no further business the meeting adjourned at 7:32 pm. Martha Lawhon, Management Assistant C:AUsers\NormaD2\AppData\Local\Temp\Minutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee-06_07_2018_4042204\Minutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee-06_07 2018.doc