OC Parks Update
Posted by: Jubal | 05/05/2008 3:01 PM
I mentioned in an earlier post the OC Parks Commission had its monthly meeting last week, so I thought I'd provide a few highlights.
Ongoing Commission Turnover
All five Board of Supervisors appointees were present. The two League of Cities appointees -- HB Mayor Debbie Cook and Fullerton Councilman Don Bankhead (who are also chair and vice-chair of the commission, respectively) -- weren't. Cook's and Bankhead's terms expired that day and they aren't seeking re-appointment, so maybe they figured there wasn't any point in showing up.
The OC League of Cities's City Selection Committee is supposed to appoint two new commissioners when it meets this Thursday evening.
As of last Thursday, San Clemente Councilman Steve Knoblock and Huntington Beach Councilman Gil Coerper are interested in the Coastal Cities appointment, and Mission Viejo Mayor Trish Kelley and Costa Mesa Councilwoman Wendy Leece are seeking the Inland Cities appointment.
I've been on the commission for about 18 months. When the two League of Cities appointees come on board, that'll leave only one commissioner who was there when I was appointed.
2008-2009 OC Parks Budget
OC Parks Fiscal Officer Doug Berry gave us a run-down on the proposed OC Parks budget for FY 2008-2009. Now that the parks department is free from the yoke of the county bankruptcy, that picture has brightened.
Although the OC Parks budget derives from several funds, the overwhelming preponderance comes from three: Operating Fund 405, Capital Projects Fund 406 and the Newport Tidelands Fund 106.
The requested appropriations for these three:
Operating Fund 405: $100,945,702
Capital Projects Fund 406: $64,274,818
Newport Tidelands Fund 106: $12,651,386
When you add in the several smaller funds, the total 2008-09 budget is $180,223,589.
OC Parks proposes increasing its emergency reserves by $3 million and reserver for future capital projects by $16 million.
Campsite WiFi
One of many improvements planned for the parks is the installation of WiFi access at county parks with campsites, which will be a nice amenity for campers.
Outsourcing Parking Management
The OC Parks Department wants to contract out parking management at county parks now utilizing pay-and-display machines -- which basically means Coastal and Wilderness parks. The pay-and-display system where you park, put money into a machine for a parking permit, and then display that permit in your window.
Currently, OC Parks uses older machines that only take cash, are often in poor condition or are down for repairs. That consumes staff time and reduced parking revenues.
OC Parks Director Mark Denny wants to contract this function out to Parking Concepts, Inc. PCI will install and service new machines that accept not only cash but credit cards, debit cards, smart cards and annual passes.They'll also provide real-time, online reporting on level of use at each parking lots managed by PCI.
By outsourcing this function, OC Parks visitors will experience less frustration, the department will save money and OC Parks staff can focus on the parks instead of worrying about fixing the old machines.
The commission unanimously recommended the Board of Supes approve the contract.
Dem Bones
I don't think many people are aware, but OC Parks possesses a huge archaeological and paleontological collection -- much of it unearthed during the construction of the toll roads. It includes one of the best collections of ancient sea mammals in the world.
These 20,000 cubic feet of really old stuff, accumulated during the past 35 years, sits in warehouses in Santa Ana. Rather than let them continue to pile up there, OC Parks issued a request for concepts and qualifications to "preserve the County's historical, cultural and scientific resources, and find a permanent home for the collection."
Cal State Fullerton's RFCQ was rated hands-down the best, and so it's being recommend to the Board that CSUF be selected to manage, curate, preserve and exhibit the archaeological/paleontological collection. Among CSUF's plans is partnering with the Discovery Science Center on creating a rotating exhibit gallery for the collection.
New OC Parks Location
OC Parks recently moved its management operations into the old Irvine Company offices at the Irvine Ranch Historical Park, and last week the commission met in the conference room there -- which used to be the office of James Irvine himself. It's a beautiful old building, and still has the old company vaults and safe.
Since the new HQ is more centrally-located and accessible than the OC Parks Commission's customary meeting place -- the Muth Interpretive Center in Upper Newport Bay -- we decided to make it our permanent meeting location.
Ongoing Commission Turnover
All five Board of Supervisors appointees were present. The two League of Cities appointees -- HB Mayor Debbie Cook and Fullerton Councilman Don Bankhead (who are also chair and vice-chair of the commission, respectively) -- weren't. Cook's and Bankhead's terms expired that day and they aren't seeking re-appointment, so maybe they figured there wasn't any point in showing up.
The OC League of Cities's City Selection Committee is supposed to appoint two new commissioners when it meets this Thursday evening.
As of last Thursday, San Clemente Councilman Steve Knoblock and Huntington Beach Councilman Gil Coerper are interested in the Coastal Cities appointment, and Mission Viejo Mayor Trish Kelley and Costa Mesa Councilwoman Wendy Leece are seeking the Inland Cities appointment.
I've been on the commission for about 18 months. When the two League of Cities appointees come on board, that'll leave only one commissioner who was there when I was appointed.
2008-2009 OC Parks Budget
OC Parks Fiscal Officer Doug Berry gave us a run-down on the proposed OC Parks budget for FY 2008-2009. Now that the parks department is free from the yoke of the county bankruptcy, that picture has brightened.
Although the OC Parks budget derives from several funds, the overwhelming preponderance comes from three: Operating Fund 405, Capital Projects Fund 406 and the Newport Tidelands Fund 106.
The requested appropriations for these three:
Operating Fund 405: $100,945,702
Capital Projects Fund 406: $64,274,818
Newport Tidelands Fund 106: $12,651,386
When you add in the several smaller funds, the total 2008-09 budget is $180,223,589.
OC Parks proposes increasing its emergency reserves by $3 million and reserver for future capital projects by $16 million.
Campsite WiFi
One of many improvements planned for the parks is the installation of WiFi access at county parks with campsites, which will be a nice amenity for campers.
Outsourcing Parking Management
The OC Parks Department wants to contract out parking management at county parks now utilizing pay-and-display machines -- which basically means Coastal and Wilderness parks. The pay-and-display system where you park, put money into a machine for a parking permit, and then display that permit in your window.
Currently, OC Parks uses older machines that only take cash, are often in poor condition or are down for repairs. That consumes staff time and reduced parking revenues.
OC Parks Director Mark Denny wants to contract this function out to Parking Concepts, Inc. PCI will install and service new machines that accept not only cash but credit cards, debit cards, smart cards and annual passes.They'll also provide real-time, online reporting on level of use at each parking lots managed by PCI.
By outsourcing this function, OC Parks visitors will experience less frustration, the department will save money and OC Parks staff can focus on the parks instead of worrying about fixing the old machines.
The commission unanimously recommended the Board of Supes approve the contract.
Dem Bones
I don't think many people are aware, but OC Parks possesses a huge archaeological and paleontological collection -- much of it unearthed during the construction of the toll roads. It includes one of the best collections of ancient sea mammals in the world.
These 20,000 cubic feet of really old stuff, accumulated during the past 35 years, sits in warehouses in Santa Ana. Rather than let them continue to pile up there, OC Parks issued a request for concepts and qualifications to "preserve the County's historical, cultural and scientific resources, and find a permanent home for the collection."
Cal State Fullerton's RFCQ was rated hands-down the best, and so it's being recommend to the Board that CSUF be selected to manage, curate, preserve and exhibit the archaeological/paleontological collection. Among CSUF's plans is partnering with the Discovery Science Center on creating a rotating exhibit gallery for the collection.
New OC Parks Location
OC Parks recently moved its management operations into the old Irvine Company offices at the Irvine Ranch Historical Park, and last week the commission met in the conference room there -- which used to be the office of James Irvine himself. It's a beautiful old building, and still has the old company vaults and safe.
Since the new HQ is more centrally-located and accessible than the OC Parks Commission's customary meeting place -- the Muth Interpretive Center in Upper Newport Bay -- we decided to make it our permanent meeting location.
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OC Parks
Mr. Ayer registered as a Republican to be electable in an interim election with no incumbents. He did...
Jubal: I'm on the Regional Parks and Trails commission. This commission is due to "sunset" today. Since I rarely use the trails (horses, bikes and hiking) I didn't know a lot about this commission, but like anything you just learn. I've been on a parks commission in my city for a few years so it was an easy learn.
What I noticed most about this commission is that they connect really well with several conservancy groups, and the county gets a whole lot of free labor out of these many groups (Trails for All, etc). Hikers regularly cut back brush along the trails and haul it away; horse trails are regularly addressed by these volunteer groups and the bike trails are technically under the OCTA now.
In the county "overhaul" I know they meant to do away with having so many committees and commissions. And on a conservative basis I agree with the concept. But when I got to know this group my mind was churning about all the cash the people that interact with this commission save the taxpayers on just labor alone.
At our last meeting, I sat and heard four county employees talk about how they wanted to extend the commission for one year to see how it fit in with new directions and if it should continue after that. It was amazing to me that four county employees will take one entire year to study this when it is delightfully obvious to me that this commission directly contributes as the best money saver the county has.
As a matter of fact, as a fiscal conservative, it's the first time in my life that I see the value of maintaining a committee that has done so much good for the county. The drawbacks I see are cutting up this one place where the public can come and air their issues/ and hand this over to four agencies in the county who will probably have to hire four more people to cover all these bases.
I sat there and listened to Mark Denny, Jeff Dickman, Ted Rigoni (who didn't say much), and Greg Nord from OCTA and wondered just how the County was going to save any money by doing away with this particular commission and replacing it with four different departments/areas that will be responsible for corrdinating all these trails. It's an unpaid commission, people do this because they love it. They love their horses, their bikes and their hiking trails. I'm sure there is a lot of tree-hugging going on, but these are good tree huggers who contribute a great deal of free labor to the County.
The Commission is realistic and doesn't see another place for all these trail lovers to actually go and address the many issues that come up at these meetings. I guess the OC BoS will be seeing a lot more people at their meetings in the future.