Fort Wayne Parks & Recreation Department Staff Reports reporting December 13, 2018 thru to February 12, 2019 Steve McDaniel ~ Director The design team members for the next phases of Riverfront Development were in town in January for a public engagement meeting at the Grand Wayne. We had great attendance for this event by the public. The consultant for the Franke Park Master Plan had two concepts that they showed at a public meeting on February 7th. That gave the public an opportunity to see the plans and make comments before the final draft plan will be put together. NIPSCO demobilized their work at the Old Fort and in the river. They will be restoring the site in the spring. We have been approached by the landowners of a parcel adjacent and north of Kreager Park. We received two appraisals which the average came in at a little over $2,400. We are putting together a purchase agreement contingent on Board and City Council approval. We received the second disbursement from Regional Cities for RDA funds for Promenade Park in the beginning of January. We are working with a vendor on lease documents, buildout plans, and costs for the restauranteur for Promenade Park. Legal will be reviewing the lease as we look at the construction plans for the buildout of the space. We received qualifications from several companies as we look at a different ticketing system for the Foellinger Theater. We have started the internal review process to determine which system would be best for our use and the customer. We are starting the process to update our Community Needs Assessment. Staff members are looking at the questions we had from 2011 and are making recommendations for updates. We are reaching out to a couple of vendors who might be able to do the statistical information gathering that is required. The annual IPRA conference is February 19th-21st. We have received an award for one of our programs and will be in attendance to accept the award. We have contracted with a local engineering firm to evaluate the possibility of building a marina. With us having a few boats and others in the future, we thought it would be best if we could keep them in the water on a daily basis. Their first concepts look promising and we will continue to explore what it might look like and potential costs. City Utilities will begin working on the retrieval shaft in Foster Park as early as March. They have said that they will be working at the park on a regular basis moving forward. We continue to work with the Law Department and the City and Arts United with regards to Freimann Square and their plans on renovations and expansion. The Mayor held his State of the City address on February 13th at the Grand Wayne Center. The Department was mentioned with several of our projects. I will be the guest on Councilman Didier’s call in show in March. We will be discussing all that Parks & Recreation has to offering this spring. Marketing Marketing Team is continuing to work on various Riverfront Marketing tasks including attending various meeting and preparing documents. A total of 6,692 hits to riverfrontfw.org web site in January. These statistics are included in the total web statistics for the month. Completed Web Quarterly Report. Marketing Team assisted with Winterval coverage and promotion. Web Statistics: Users: 25,452 Hits: 74,502 Completed Spring Fun Times (to be released on February 6) and Post Card mailer. Prepared 6 Botanical Conservatory Promotional pieces. Prepared 4 Promenade Marketing pieces. Fort Wayne Parks & Recreation Department Staff Reports reporting December 13, 2018 thru to February 12, 2019 SUBMITTED: 2 LARE grants with the DNR: 1 for an engineering study for riverbank stabilization on the St. Marys at Foster Park and another LARE application for construction of a drainage project at Franke Park to improve the Shoaff Lake. RECEIVED: ME Raker Foundation: $1000 to support police mentor program for youth centers. This is a first time request to Raker for this program. RECEIVED: $5000 from 3 Rivers Credit Union for the police mentor program. Prepared information for Mayor’s State of the City presentation. Started to work on the Annual Report. Goal: to be completed in February. Creating an Employee Slide Show for the Annual Meeting. Social Media Totals to date: o FB Followers 42,324 o FB Likes (January) 40,794 o FB Reach (January) 144,807 o Twitter Followers 8,213 o Instagram Followers 6,915 Chuck Reddinger ~ Deputy Director, Recreation Services, Headwaters, Riverfront Travel Services The January 19th trip to the Detroit to the Auto Show at the Cobo Center was canceled due to poor weather. The bus company felt like they could get us to Detroit, but could not guarantee we would get back. Riverfront December Birdwatching cancelled due to weather. January Birdwatching and Young Naturalist Series were cancelled due to weather Assisted with Riverfront Input Meeting in January, as well as had a vendor booth for Promenade Park. There were several hundred people in attendance at the Grand Wayne Convention Center On January 26th we had the third annual Winter Cozy event. We made large strides in improving guest experience with better décor, better lighting, improved signage, additional hot chocolate bar offerings, and an extended food service from Shigs in Pit and a bar with eight beers from eight different local breweries, local wines, and spirits from Three Rivers Distillery. However, due to the severe weather (about 15 degrees and several inches of snow that fell that evening) our attendance was down to 46. We look forward to moving the event to Promenade Park next year where we will have far better event offerings and the opportunity for reduced event production costs. Community presentations: Purdue Fort Wayne Chapman Scholars – 15 full-scholarship students Community Center Free Tax Assistance from AARP began Jan 28th on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Patti Davis, Community Center Manager was sworn in on January 15th for as the IPRA Northern District Chair. She is replacing Kathy Pargmann, Lead Marketing Manager. Outdoor Recreation The Prohibition Kitchen: Holiday Drinks class on December 10th 7-9pm had 17 people enrolled. Participants learned to navigate the necessary tools and technique for creating craft cocktails while learning about the history and traditions associated with them. Christmas on the Farm was held on December 1st. It was a very cold, rainy, windy and wet event. In spite of the weather there were 108 cars and 322 people in attendance. Most vendors were happy with sales despite the weather 15 cooking classes were offered in the new teaching kitchen in December and January. Fort Wayne Parks & Recreation Department Staff Reports reporting December 13, 2018 thru to February 12, 2019 The Winter Walk at the Farm on January 20th had 20 total participants for the morning and afternoon hike. Golf Interviews have completed for the Manager of Golf Operations and an offer will be going out the week of February 11. Seven candidates were interviewed and narrowed down to two final candidates. Completed the purchase of equipment from the previous Manager of Golf Operations, Rick Hemsoth. An internal team has been formed to help in the new operational model transition and assist the new Manager of Golf Operations after they start. Athletics and Aquatics Continue to assist with the golf manager hiring and transition process. Seven interviews and two on-site visits are complete. Working on a landscaping plan for the three swimming pools. Started Recreational Basketball Winter Session. We have 14 signed up for Monday night and 12 for Wednesday night. We are starting to see a trend in that not as many are signing up for the full session, but choosing drop-in. We are actually generating more revenue this way. Started Recreational Volleyball. We have 18 signed up, which is capacity. This continues to be very popular. Mitch Sheppard ~Deputy Director, Community Outreach/Youth Centers, Playgrounds, Food Service / Foellinger Theatre Community Outreach/Youth Centers, Playgrounds, Food Service: Metrics – December 2018 Days of Service = 19 Sign In -- Total of 3,002 o Daily Average Overall 157 o Per Center . Weisser 74 . Cooper 19 . Jennings 21 . McMillen 43 Home Work – 650 o Daily Average Overall 34 o Per Center . Weisser 14 . Cooper 10 . Jennings 7 . McMillen 3 Snack – Total 1,508 o Daily Average Overall 79 o Per Center . Weisser 34 . Cooper 14 . Jennings 14 . McMillen 17 Kids Cafe – Total 1,669 o Daily Average Overall 88 o Per Center . Weisser 27 . Cooper 13 . Jennings 15 . McMillen 33 Adult Programs: Open Gym-1,550 . Cardio Fit-110 . Pickleball- 703 . Zumba-39 . Pro AM Basketball Leagued – (80-Registered Players) Metrics – January 2019, Days of Service = 20 . Sign In -- Total of 2,854 o Daily Average Overall 43 Fort Wayne Parks & Recreation Department Staff Reports reporting December 13, 2018 thru to February 12, 2019 o Per Center . Cooper- 22 . Weisser- 54 . Jennings- 21 . McMillen 46 Home Work – Total 683 o Daily Average Overall 34 o Per Center . Cooper 4 . Weisser 17 . Jennings 8 . McMillen 5 Snack – Total 1,667 o Daily Average Overall 84 o Per Center . Cooper 14 . Weisser 36 . Jennings 16 . McMillen 18 Kids Cafe – Total 2,084 o Daily Average Overall 104 o Per Center . Cooper 17 . Weisser 34 . Jennings 17 . McMillen 36 Adult Programs: Open Gym-2,175 . Pro AM Basketball Leagued – (80-Registered Players) . Cardio Fit-148 . Zumba-39 . Pickleball- 703 Highlights – December: Dec. 2nd- Annual Wassail program at Jennings Recreation Center- The program was spectacular! There were over 100 in attendance.