To: Honorable Mayor and Members of City Council
From: John Coates, Parks & Recreation Services Director
Prepared By: Katrina Gregory, Recreation Manager
TITLE:
Title
Maintenance of School Sports Fields for School and Community Use
LABEL
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommendation
Authorize the City Manager to execute Amendment No 1 to City Agreement No. 6718, Addendum 5 for the Joint Agreement for Maintenance of School Sports Fields for school and community use.
Body
DISCUSSION:
The Napa Valley Unified School District and The City of Napa have participated in a long standing cooperative agreement to provide recreational amenities to the community. Seventeen (17) school sites have been utilized by community sports groups for use. The City and the District entered into the original addendum to this agreement for the maintenance of school sports fields in November of 2000. The City contributed $130,000 annually for the maintenance of district fields that benefited the community. Sports user groups also contributed a user fee to supplement some of the maintenance cost.
In November 2010, the original addendum for the sports field maintenance expired. The District took over the full financial responsibility for school field maintenance at that time and the City did not contribute any additional funding due to budgetary constraints. Without the additional financial contributions from the City, the District absorbed costs for sports field maintenance within their existing operating budget and within the sport user group fee fund. While the use of the sports fields by the community user groups did not decrease, the resources available for field maintenance were greatly reduced. This impacted the quality of the playing fields and decreased the field availability for community use.
In 2015, City and District staff met to develop a plan to improve the overall maintenance of school sports fields for the benefit of both District educational programs and City and community recreational programs. It was agreed that additional funding and resources were needed to supplement existing maintenance efforts and the level of oversight of this program needed to increase as well. However, the District requested additional time to analyze these costs. It was decided at this time that the City would contribute $130,000 for the term of one year until a time that the District could analyze the total costs for the maintenance of the District’s sports fields. The Addendum allowed for a one-year extension if additional time was needed.
In June 2016, the City provided notice to NVUSD to exercise an extension of the Addendum for one additional year, or through June 30, 2017. The extension period would allow NVUSD to continue its analysis and documentation of maintenance costs and for the continued joint use of the NVUSD’s sports fields. During this extension period, both parties would continue the discussions and negotiations with the objective of drafting and finalizing an updated long-term agreement to be executed before the expiration of the extended term. In accordance with the Addendum, the City would continue to contribute an amount of $130,000 to NVUSD during FY16-17.
This past year NVUSD was dealing with several significant items affecting their schools, including the October 2017 wildland fires, which impacted the timeframe to complete the negotiations and prevented the City and NVUSD from finalizing a new master agreement. The proposed Amendment No. 1 to City Agreement No. 6718, Addendum No. 5 provides an additional extension to use the sports fields as well as provide payment of $130,000 to NVUSD for FY17-18. In addition, the Amendment would extend the agreement to June 30, 2019 if needed. Since there has been progress with the negotiations, staff anticipates the final agreement will be presented and approved by December 2018. After the new joint use agreement is approved, it will replace the existing agreement.
It is the mutual goal for the City and the District to determine the following: 1) equitable contribution by each party for the maintenance efforts in order to sustain and improve the quality of the facilities for the community; 2) anticipate and plan for the long-term maintenance needs and associated replacement expenses; 3) develop stronger maintenance standards to ensure higher quality sports facilities and create a methodology to monitor and adhere to these standards; 4) maximize resources and develop efficiencies using alterative maintenance solutions; 5) improve communication with the community users groups; and 6) improve oversight and adherence to facilities policies. These responsibilities and contributions will be incorporate into a long-term joint use agreement that will be presented to both the Napa Valley Unified School District Board and the Napa City Council for review and approval.
FINANCIAL IMPACTS:
In anticipation of the reach agreement on the master joint agreement, the Parks and Recreation Department submitted Decision Package DP-0446 as part of the two-year budget process, requesting a funding allocation. The decision package was approved with the adoption of the FY17-19 budget, Resolution R2017-091, at the Council’s June 20, 2017 meeting. Funding in the amount of $325,000 for Fiscal Year 2017-18 and $325,000 for Fiscal Year 2018-19 has been approved in the Parks and Recreation General Administrative budget ($130,000 in GL45010-55002 and $195,000 in GL45010-53201 for contract services).
CEQA:
The Parks and Recreation Services Director has determined that the Recommended Action described in this Agenda Report is not subject to CEQA, pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15060(c).
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
ATCH 1 - Amendment No 1 to Agreement No. 6718, Addendum No. 5
ATCH 2 - Agreement No. 6718, Addendum No. 5
NOTIFICATION:
None