HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/30/07CITY OF SANTA ANA
COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON
PARK, RECREATION, EDUCATION AND YOUTH
SPECIAL MEETING
July 30 30, 2007
MINUTES
CALLED TO ORDER
The meeting convened at 6:10 p.m. in the City Hall -Ross Annex Building, Room 1600,
20 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana, California.
ATTENDANCE
Councilmembers Present: Sal Tinajero (Chairperson), Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez,
Vince Sarmiento.
Staff Present: Gerardo Mouet, Executive Director PRCSA; Joe Fletcher, City Attorney;
Ron Ono, Administrative Services Manager.
Public Present: Glen Stroud; Julie Stroud; Bill Cook; Rick Niedermayer; Doug Irving.
Pledge of Allegiance lead by Sal Tinajero
SANTA ANA STADIUM RFP- PLAYER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
• Staff presented that the stadium is a regional facility that serves as a home
field to local high schools and college football games. The stadium is also
used for a variety of special events open to the general public. The general
use of the stadium is divided into two seasons:
o Local competitive football/Youth Competitive Soccer (Sept to Dec)
o Local Recreational Youth and Adult Soccer (Dec to Aug)
• The Stadiums priority use are:
o City Sponsored Events
o City approved Commercial Events
o Local Resident League Events
o Non-Resident League Events
• There are over 6,000 youth soccer players using City fields. Most of these
youth are in recreational soccer and 20% of these youth are in competitive
soccer. Competitive soccer provides the youth a better chance of playing
soccer at colleges and universities. Santa Ana youths need to improve as
players and scholars in order to have an opportunity to succeed.
• On April 18, 2005 the City Council approved an agreement with Toros, a non-
profit Soccer Club organization to develop a player development program for
Santa Ana youth to improve their competitive soccer skills and to provide
PREY Special Meeting -Minutes 1 July 30, 2007
educational support so they can go on to college. This program lasted two
years and was terminated on June 18, 2007, because Toros did not fulfill their
agreement with the city.
• The new synthetic turf at the stadium will allow the city to increase
programming in the stadium. Therefore, a second effort to provide a similar
youth soccer player development program was identified. A Request for
Proposal (RFP) was prepared to allow any non-profit soccer organization to
submit a proposal for this program. The program will allow the competitive
soccer organization to identify the stadium as their home field for practices
and games.
• The RFP was released on May 10, 2007 to nine Santa Ana Youth Soccer
Leagues with a due date of June 6, 2007. The RFP criteria stated the
organization selected must:
o be a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization
o Provide Santa Ana Youth an opportunity to develop their soccer skills
at no cost.
o Invest in the participants' academic development by providing tutoring
for high education.
o Enhance community outreach opportunities for Santa Ana Youth.
o Provide an annual marketing contribution at the Stadium and through
other media.
• The concept was discussed with the Committee on Field Usage (COFU), of
which a member of COFU provided an update to the Board of Recreation and
Parks on May 23, 2007 and the RFP was placed on the June 6, 2007 agenda
of the PREY Committee for discussion.
• Apre-proposal conference was held on May 23, 2007 in which six soccer
organizations attended. Three proposals were received, one was disqualified
for non compliance and two proposals were evaluated by a committee from
various agencies. ConquistAmerica Soccer Club was selected based on 1)
experience, 2) Sustainability and 3) Past performance.
• ConquistAmerica offered the following commitment in their proposal:
o Hosting a minimum of four free soccer clinics per year for Santa Ana
Youth.
o Program fees are free to participants. Currently have 55 players of
which 98% are Santa Ana residents.
o Provides Princeton Review SAT and ACT Preparation free to their
participants.
o Provides laptop computers to their participants for homework.
o Provides Tutoring and Mentoring to their participants.
o Provides academic counseling and college transition support.
o Provides financial aide and scholarship guidance for college expense.
o Committed $25,000 per year to the city for program marketing on the
stadium scoreboard.
• On July 2, 2007 City Council continued the approval of the agreement and
requested staff to further review this item with the Parks, Recreation,
PREY Special Meeting -Minutes 2 July 30, 2007
Education and Youth Committee (PREY) and the Board of Recreation and
Parks.
2. COMMITTEE 8~ PUBLIC COMMENTS
Claudia Alvarez:
o Was Toros cancellation discussed with COFU or PREY?
^ Response: Yes, Toros cancellation was discussed with COFU,
but not with PREY.
o Why were we releasing the RFP if organizations that do not have
501(c)(3) can not qualify?
^ It was decided that the agreement needed to be with a soccer
organization that is anon-profit and not a business.
o Was Toros status ever discussed with COFU or other organizations?
^ Response: Yes.
o Out of the nine soccer organizations, how many have a 501(c)(3) non-
profit status?
^ Response: AYSO, Boys Scouts and ConsquistAmerica have
501(c)(3) non-profit status. Others indicate they will be obtaining
or are working on obtaining the 501 (c)(3) status.
o Who came up with the selection criteria? It wasn't COFU, the Board of
Recreation and Parks or PREY.
^ Response: The selection criteria is typical under most Request
for Proposals; which is Experience, Sustainability and
Performance.
o Who came up with the age group?
^ Response: The RFP did not provide an age group, but only
indicated the program is for SA Youth. The organizations
proposal identified the age group.
Rick Niedermayer (AYSO):
o The RFP was not on the May 23~d agenda, but the minutes indicate the
item was discussed.
o Has concerns about the RFP proposal, there are nine organizations
with 6,000 players. Each organization provides a unique program to
the community and all provide some type of player development
program. The player development program failed because it was
opened to a selected few.
o ConquistAmerica only has 55 players and only provides soccer
opportunity to boys, not girls.
• Glen Stroud:
o Member of COFU and past member of the Board of Recreation and
Parks and the Stadium Blue Ribbon Committee.
o ConquistAmerica Program only selects a competitive few that go onto
college. They need to serve all the kids.
PREY Special Meeting -Minutes 3 July 30, 2007
o SA College has an excellent program they need to focus on sending
kids to SA College instead of the high universities.
o The $25,000 marketing payment to the city, how long is it for?
o Who provides the equipment storage at the stadium?
o They need to serve S.A. residents.
o Can the stadium be used for practices or do they have to go to other
fields?
o The city's reservation team meets weekly. COFU meets monthly and
makes recommendations to the city on facility use.
• Julie Stroud:
o The Board of Recreation and Parks representative at COFU only
indicated the RFP was mentioned at COFU.
o She was concerned that ConsquistAmerica's program only represents
boys not girls.
o The program needs to serve younger children.
o ConquistAmerica is strong on the educational component, not the
recreational component.
o ConquistAmerica only serves 55 kids; they need to serve more kids.
o Are the practices on Tuesday and Thursday going to be at Godinez
High School and the Saturday and Sunday games at the Stadium?
Vince Sarmiento:
o Expressed appreciation for everyone's involvement in this matter. Now
there's some structure to identify and serve Santa Ana kids. With the
completion of the synthetic turf fields we are at the stage to allocate
fields.
o Conquest America has a proven program to serve kids in education
and athletics. We need to serve both sexes.
o This subcommittee needs to provide direction and analyze if this is a
fair process.
o Do we want to revisit the process since 2/3 of the nine organizations
were ineligible or limit the term of the agreement to one year?
^ Response: We should probably revisit the process, but not limit the
term.
Claudia Alvarez:
o Will not support the one year term of the agreement.
o Concern of the potential conflict that exist with one of the council
members and the company.
o Feels the process was not fair and the public was not aware this item
was going to be discussed at COFU and Board meetings.
o The synthetic turf project was approved with the understanding it will
serve more participants and not exclusive to one organization.
o If it is such a good program, why shouldn't we make it available for
free?
• Response: It is free to the players.
PREY Special Meeting -Minutes 4 July 30, 2007
• Sal Tinajero:
o Thanked everyone for attending the meeting.
o Recommended staff to re-open the process with the following
conditions:
^ Serve younger children
^ Serve both sexes
^ Organizations to obtain 501 (c)(3) non-profit status
^ Consider a lottery system to distribute field
• Claudia Alvarez:
o Consider recommending that COFU come up with the criteria with the
Board of Recreation and Parks.
• Vince Sarmiento:
o Does the organization need to be a legal body?
^ Response: City Attorney responded - "it's better if the organization
is a legal entity. The 501 (c)(3) non profit status provides another
oversight other than the city."
Rick Niedermayer:
o The park policy procedure is used for all the parks, but not used for the
stadium. Why is the stadium treated differently?
o ConsquistAmerica has a great program that needs to be presented to
the other leagues.
Claudia Alvarez:
o RECOMMENDED ACTION:
1) Take the program back to COFU to discuss if:
a. Should the city consider a player development
program?
b. If so, should the program be at the stadium?
c. Do they agree with the criteria?
2) Take COFU's recommendation to the Board of Recreation
and Parks to consider and formulate a
position/recommendation.
3) Take COFU and the Board of Recreation and Parks
recommendations to PREY for review and recommendation
to City Council.
PREY Special Meeting -Minutes 5 July 30, 2007
3. NEXT MEETING:
• To be determined.
4. ADJOURNMENT:
• Meeting adjourned at 7:23 p.m.
u~~~
Gerardo Mouet
Executive Directo
Parks, Recreation and Community Services Agency
PREY Special Meeting -Minutes 6 July 30, 2007