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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee - 03/07/2019 WATERSHORE AND BEACH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING Regular Called Meeting, Thursday, March 7, 2019 5:30 pm First Floor Staff Conference Room City Hall, 1201 Leopard Street, Corpus Christi, TX 78401 Members Present Members Absent Staff Present Cliff Schlabach Darren Gurley Philippe Tissot Josh Wentworth Carrie Robertson Meyer Martha Lawhon Terry Palmer Daniel Mazoch Mukesh Subedee Meredith Darden Lauren Williams Jyoti Patel I. CALL TO ORDER Meeting called to order at 5:30 pm. II. EXCUSED ABSENCES: Jyoti Patel Philippe made a motion to excuse last month's absences and Meredith seconded, unanimously approved. III. ROLL CALL The roll was called and a quorum was present. IV. ADOPTION OF MINUTES Minutes from the February 7, 2019 meeting were distributed for review. Meredith made a motion to accept the minutes, Terry seconded, unanimously approved. Motion passed. V. HEAR FROM THE PUBLIC There was one person from the public in attendance; he introduced himself and stated that he would be interested in being on this committee in the future. VI. BUSINESS FOR DISCUSSION/POSSIBLE ACTION 1 New Business a. Keith Selman: Salaries and Retention Keith explained that one of the bases for salary is qualifications and if a person is overqualified, chances are they would not stay. Carrie wondered if because North Beach was so isolated, it should require a higher salary. Josh explained that they only can choose a person that has applied for the position and that the majority of these are not qualified for higher positions/salaries. He explained that the Park Tech Is are what is budgeted for at North Beach. Raises in salaries happen annually. Keith also explained that this position (Park Tech I) is an entry level position and good people in this position tend to move upwards; the City encourages this. According to the CVB survey, cleanliness and security were the 2 top issues. Carrie asked if WBAC could make a recommend to the City regarding the North Beach person prioritizing littering. Cliff suggested that it might be better for the North Beach residents to take their"suggestion" to Josh (the boss) instead of telling the employees directly. Darren did explain that there is extra pay for early and late hours and for weekend work. Keith did say that the City could look at scheduling and have a management team look at how best to utilize these positions. Josh explained that the Park Tech I position stays open all the time and maybe out of a group of 15 applicants, 2 would show up for the interview. Carrie suggested that a motion be made; to help with the lack of employees to pick up trash, the Park Compliance Officer should enforces and educates the public about littering, Jyoti seconded, the committee approved. Motion passed. 2 b. North Beach Eco Park Project Carrie attended a meeting at the end of February with Josh, the National Park Services, Parks and Recreation staff and representatives from the Lexington and the aquarium. The group is getting together a survey to put online, drawing up a timeline and planning a community event to spread the word. The project space is 30 acres. Dolphin Park would not be included because the maintenance/service levels are different but the park would "flow"with the project area. The NPS will help with finding sources of funding, and they are doing most of the work to get the plan together. Carrie will keep the group posted on this. c. SHOTs Wish List The new budget starts in October and the budgets are being planned now. Carrie wanted the budget for North Beach to not be divided by categories but to be used anywhere within the North Beach budget; Darren explained why that can't be done. Once money is budgeted for salaries, you can't use the excess dollars for any other expenses. Also any monies not spent in a budget year go into a reserve account which could be used for an approved expense in a SHOT budget or kept in the reserve to be used in an emergency, like a hurricane. On the wish list for North Beach is more trash cans (with directions on where they should be placed) and a boardwalk from the playground to the beach. On the Gulf Beaches they would like updated/better Rip Tide signs. Meredith noted that visitors tend to be confused about the bacterial signs/flags but Darren explained that there is signage explaining them. Philippe explained how and when the bacterial counts get dangerous; it is after rainstorms and thought that maybe the signage could explaining that. Darren said that would be the Health Department's and/or GLO's call, not Beach Operations. 2 Old Business d. Update: North Beach Nourishment Darren reported that the contracts are ready and being sent to the City to sign. FEMA will pick up 75% of the cost and CEPRA is taking 15% so that leaves 10% that the City will pay. This should be happening this year. a. Update: North Beach Breakwater Carrie met with Carolyn Vaughan and Jeff Blackard and was shown a plan very similar to the Gateway plan. Not much has changed; they are working on getting materials from the Harbor bridge construction and possible using the materials from the dredging of the ship channel to aid in creating the "islands". Carrie thinks that by spring there will be some big announcement and she will bring it to WBAC. b. Update: Packery Channel: USACE Permit (Moving Sand) Darren is working with engineering and they gave him a price to modify the existing beach maintenance permit to include moving sand by any means necessary. The current permit expires in 2 years so in that time it can be modified and hopefully extended easily. VII. PARK AND RECREATION ACTION COMMITTEE—Jerry Plemons Jerry did not attend this meeting. VIII. ISAC Report The meeting was short; but what Cliff discovered is that WBAC covers a lot more stuff/issues than ISAC. The monitoring contract is schedule to go to City Council on March 19th for the first reading. The permits for the Packery repairs are moving along, but very slowly. The boat parking lot pavilion is going out for bids soon. The shower is in at the end of 3A, for now and Darren will be adding a dressing room after Spring Break. IX. STAFF LIAISON REPORT Josh relayed the Spring Break schedule for North Beach: employees will clock in at 7 am and clock out at 8 pm. This time will be split between 6 employees. The restroom hours will be extended to 6 pm. McGee beach now has 3 showers. Meredith relayed that there is a volley ball tournament at McGee on March 15th and 16tH Regarding Cole Park and Dimmit Pier: the bond passed but there is not enough money to repair both of these. Josh thinks Dimmit should be repaired because there might be enough funds to do that. The problem with Cole Park are larger, mainly ADA issues. C:AUsers\NormaD2\AppData\Local\Temp\Minutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee-03_07_2019_4364199\Minutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee-03_07 2019.doc 3 Darren reported that Beach Operations is getting ready for Spring Break. Latchkey will help with permit selling the first week. This year there will only be 1 berm creating an lane that will be for emergency vehicles only on JP Luby beach. X. IDENTIFY ITEMS TO BE PLACED ON NEXT AGENDA 1. Update: North Beach Breakwater 2. Update: North Beach Nourishment 3. Update: Packery Channel: USACE permit (moving sand) 4. Update: Cole Park & Dimmit Piers 5. Update: SHOTS Wish List XI. ADJOURNMENT As there was no further business the meeting adjourned at 7:10 pm. Martha Lawhon, Management Assistant C:AUsers\NormaD2\AppData\Local\Temp\Minutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee-03_07_2019_4364199\Minutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee-03_07 2019.doc