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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-10-29• MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON PARKS, RECREATION, EDUCATION AND YOUTH October 29, 2012 CALL TO ORDER The regu!ar meeting convened at 5:31 p.m. in the City Hall, 2nd floor conference room, 20 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana, California. FAT T'' ? ?? P? r? f+'; CG E Counci6 rnaGnbers Present Michele Martinez (Chair); Sal Tinajero Vincent Sarmiento Staff Present: Gerardo Mouet, PRCSA Executive Director; Jose Sandoval, Chief Assistant City Attorney, Ron Ono, Administrative Services Manager; Jenny Rios, Community Services • Manager; Jose Perez, Community Services Supervisor; Public Present Shane Barrows, Resident Michelle Bretza, Pony Baseball John Bretza, Pony Baseball Carlos Nava, Pony Baseball Gilbert Ochoa, Pony Baseball Sulema Urquiza, Pony Baseball Lori Elizalde, Pony Baseball Raul Ortiz, Resident/Pony Baseball Tony Zuniga, Pony Baseball Eric Eckenwiler, Pony Baseball Javier Ollevidos, Pony Baseball Brandie Nava, Santa Ana Pony Baseball Brett Franklin, Resident Mark Mulkerin, Resident Leon Raya, Resident Julie Stroud, Resident Glen Stroud, Resident Ron Foster, Little League Jorge Robles, SA Pony Baseball Elsie Robles, SA Pony Baseball Jessie Anguiano, Santiago Little League • Jose Rivera, Santa Ana OCRBL PREY Regular Meeting Page 1 October 29, 2012 • Henry Buenrostro, SA High School Harvey Contreras, Valley Little League Jaime Contreras, Valley Little League Erasmo Ramirez, Segerstrom High School Mike Jurado, Santiago Little League Peter Zapata, Santiago Little League Oscar Diaz, Valley Little League • APPROVAL OF MINUTES o Minutes of September 25, 2012 accepted as presented. • PUBLIC COMMENTS: o Tony Zuniga indicated he lived in Santa Ana and provided background on why as a youngster he went to Tustin Pony League. At the time, Santa Ana had no Pony League and he wanted a league to compete and improve his skills. o Eric Eckenwiler indicated he played in the Little League program, but went to the Tustin Pony League because it was more competitive. Other cities around Santa Ana have Pony League, whereas Santa Ana does not. o Glen Stroud indicated he lives in Santa Ana by Riverview Park. He coached Little League at Riverview Park, but is concerned that children across the • river cannot play little league at Riverview. He supports the program changing over to Pony League. o Raul Ortiz indicated he was President for Valley Little League for two years. He is not sure if Pony Baseball is the right thing, but supports the fact that he has a choice. o John Bretza spoke in favor of transitioning Little League to Pony League. Pony League prepares players to real baseball and they are better equipped to play baseball. o Shane Barrows indicated his son is 6 years old and is here to gather information and asked if there is an existing contract with Little League. o Henry Buenrostro indicated he is the Head Coach for SA High School. The high school has been losing games and players are leaving the district. o Julie Stroud indicated the coaches are excited and are getting behind the team, but players need to be better equipped. She supports the transition to Pony League. o Leon Raya indicated we need to look at the process to transition from Little League to Pony League. Kids are not being recruited by Little League and Pony League. It's Travel Ball where the kids are being recruited. He is in the process of establishing a Travel ball League, but his goal is to recruit from Santa Ana kids. Councilmember Vince Sarmiento arrived at 5:50pm. o Erasmo Ramirez indicated he is the Head Coach of Segerstrom High School. • He has played professional baseball for over 10 years and later obtained his PREY Regular Meeting Page 2 October 29, 2012 • teaching credentials. He played with Valley Little League and learned a lot, but feels there is a problem since players are leaving to other city leagues. We need to keep players here in Santa Ana. If we have a Pony League, kids would play here and stay in the Santa Ana Unified School District. o Jamie Contreras indicated he is a coach for Valley Little League. He is concerned that kids are leaving, because we don't play year round. If baseball is not allowed to play year round, kids will go to travel ball. o Harvey Contreras indicated he is the President of Valley Little League. He supports both the Little League and Pony League programs. We need to keep kids in the baseball program. There are not enough fields in Santa Ana and other sports have priority in September to December. Santa Ana has 39 fields and it is difficult to share the fields all year long. o Mark Mulkein indicated he lives in Santa Ana and has seen kids play in Northwest Little League and Pony League. The leagues have outreached to the community. Little League provides recreational play and fairness. He has talked to some of the residents and indicated the community supports the transition to Pony League. o Peter Zapata indicated he is President of Santiago Little League. Most important is to teach the kids the fundamentals of the game. Pony needs to run some clinics for each of the leagues. He has coached in both Pony and Little League and indicated it boils down to how kids are being taught. o Ron Foster of District 30 indicated right now there are 5 leagues and there is • no Northwest Little League. It comes down to preference and the level of coaching. September 29, 2012 minutes approved as presented. • NORTHWEST LITTLE LEAGUE PROPOSAL o The Santa Ana Pony Baseball proposal was distributed to the PREY Committee by Carlos Nava. o Councilmember Tinajero indicated he has been part of both Little League and Pony League. In Fountain Valley both Little League and Pony share a park. Pony and Little League has different rules. Pony is strict on starting on time. The average team per league is 6 teams, but the numbers have decreased to 1 or 2 teams per league. If players want to improve they have to go outside of Santa Ana. Change is difficult. Little League has a great concept but need to change with the times. We need to provide options for the kids to choose. Need to have a park where all the fields are used by the league. o Councilmember Sarmiento indicated he is in support for kids having options. Kids have talent and need options to thrive and be successful. The basic fundamental issues are: 1) Lack of fields; 2) Year round sports on the field; and 3) the introduction of providing a new layer of options. o Gerardo Mouet indicated staff prepared a handout and will be monitoring field usage. At this point there is not a problem of providing the fields. PREY Regular Meeting Page 3 October 29, 2012 • o Councilmember Sarmiento expressed concern of cost to the player. Indicated we need to keep it affordable. Indicated we need to have a program for kids to sharpen their competitive edge. o Carlos Nava indicated Pony Baseball is set up as a non-profit organization and has the proper insurances. Little League is a good establishment. The cost is about the same and a scholarship program has been set up for kids that cannot afford to play. Pony Baseball has been holding clinics for years. Status quo is not working. Pony will be an asset to push kids to a higher level. o Leon Raya asked about the process in which to transition from little league to pony baseball. He also indicated extending the boundaries will not help since all the fields are at maximum capacity. o Gerardo Mouet replied fields need to be monitored to ensure fields are used through the reservation process. o Councilmember Sarmiento requested staff to balance the use of the fields. If boundary's changes can fields be shared or adjusted based on the change? o Ron Foster indicated currently there is no Northwest Little League organization. The boundaries would have to shift. o Councilmember Tinajero indicated he does not want Northwest Little League to be targeted to move. The reason Santiago Little League is increasing is because of the leadership. He recommended staff monitor the use of Riverview Park ball fields by Pony Baseball and report back in one year. o Councilmember Martinez indicated she has experience growing up with the • various leagues and was disappointed when she reached high school. Her i h h h exper ence t roug t e leagues lacked training to prepare her for high school. Some residents just want to play recreational ball and not necessarily competitive play. Staff is currently working on a master joint use agreement with the school district to make additional field's available afterschool. We don't want children to miss opportunities to succeed. Santa Ana is a young city and needs fields for youth. She asked the leagues to provide options to select healthy snacks at the concession stand. o RECOMMENDATION: • PREY approved Pony Baseball to use Riverview Park ball field on a 6 month trial basis and staff to report back to PREY on field usage. • STAFF UPDATE o Gerardo Mouet provided an update on pending agenda items requested by PREY and provided a list of 11 items. o Councilmember Martinez recommended the following items for the next agenda: ¦ CDBG FY 13-14 Priority Setting • Update on Parks and Recreation Agency Budget for FY 13/14. • Update of HEAL Resolution • Amendment Update on Play Rules for Non Organized Sports • Zoo RFP Update PREY Regular Meeting Page 4 October 29, 2012 • o Next meeting is tentatively scheduled for January 28, 2013. Staff will check if the January 28th date will work for the Council Committee and staff. COMMITTEE MEMBER COMMENTS o Councilmember Tinajero thanked everyone for attending and clarified for the audience that PREY is recommending a 6 month trial for Pony baseball and requested staff to obtain usage numbers. o Councilmember Sarmiento thanked everyone for attending and indicated he is looking forward to implementing a better system of providing options for the kids. o Councilmember Martinez thanked everyone for attending and reminded the leagues to provide healthy choices in the snack bar. ADJOURNED: 7:00 p.m. • Gerardo Mouet Executive Director, is PREY Regular Meeting Page 5 October 29, 2012