MINUTES
SUNNYVALE parks and Recreation Commission
SPECIAL MEETING
March 21, 2005
City Hall Council Chambers
SALUTE TO FLAG
Acting Chair Pole led the salute to the flag.
ROLL CALL
|
Present: |
Acting Chair Raymond Pole |
|
|
Commissioner Howard Chuck |
|
|
Commissioner Robert Lawson |
|
|
Commissioner Robert Locke |
|
Absent: |
Chair Jeff Arnett (excused) |
|
Staff Present: |
Curtis Black, Interim Director of Parks and Recreation |
|
|
Cathy Merrill, Assistant to the Director |
|
|
John Lawrence, Recreation Superintendent |
|
|
Tricia Lord, Recreation Supervisor |
|
Commissioner Locke moved, Commissioner Chuck seconded, to excuse Chair Arnett’s absence.
Motion carried unanimously 4-0 |
SCHEDULED PRESENTATION - None
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS - None
CONSENT CALENDAR
1.A. None
CITIZENS TO BE HEARD
Mr. Lu Zentner, citizen and volunteer instructor, distributed class flyers for PC Computers, a class at the Sunnyvale Senior Center. He requested that the computers used by the Senior Center Computer Club be connected to the City’s Internet line instead of a dial-up connection that he said is too slow. Acting Chair Pole thanked him for his comments and asked staff to look into this matter.
Mr. Robert Harms, Chair, Friends of the Library, spoke about an upcoming book sale and encouraged citizens to purchase the donated books for sale to support the Sunnyvale Library.
PUBLIC HEARINGS/GENERAL BUSINESS
2. Draft RTC – Options Regarding Future of Senior Lunch Program and Budget Modification No. 29 (Council Action 3/29/05)
John Lawrence, Recreation Superintendent, presented the staff report.
Commissioners’ questions were answered regarding clarification of overhead costs and staff’s willingness to look at reducing these costs. Questions were also answered regarding the amount of money paid to Bateman for meals and other related expenses; estimated cost of the senior lunch program; benefits of reducing the lunch price; contract expiration; seniors socializing over brown bag or other means rather than the senior lunch program; current use of Senior Center kitchen by other groups; obtaining views of the senior community to review the proposals before the final proposal is accepted; how to reduce fixed staff costs; and the possibility of a mixed lunch program (gourmet meals on some days and brown bag on other days).
Acting Chair Pole opened the Public Hearing.
The following members of the public provided comments regarding the senior lunch program:
Robert Eustace
Gert MacFarlane
Patricia Fitzgerald
Robert Harms
Ron Carpenter
Helen DeWolf
Paul Werner
Terry Baskins
Warren Heath
Myrial Thompson
Members of the public spoke of the senior center revolving around the lunch program; importance of socialization; suggestion to contact De Anza College or other organization to use the senior center kitchen for training; lunch cost ($5 - $7 is too high and $4.50 is stretching the limit of amount folks can pay); few people participating in the program due to poor quality of food; quality of food has declined; investigation of county/state subsidies for the senior lunch program; investigation of culinary school to provide the lunch program; not in favor of continuing with Bateman Senior Meals for the lunch program; not in favor of decreasing lunch cost to $3 and then requesting more monies from the General Fund; exploration of 50/50 program (Caterer provides 50% and City provides 50% of lunch program.); Senior Center staff has done a wonderful job but it is all about the lunch—what one is willing to pay versus the quality of the meal and the fact that other lunch programs are subsidized; in favor of getting proposals from food service contractors.
Acting Chair Pole closed the Public Hearing and thanked the speakers for their comments.
|
Commissioner Lawson moved to recommend that Council accept Alternative No. 1, Request Proposals from Food Service Contractors to Provide a Service Level of 21,000 Meals Prepared On-Site and Approval of Budget Modification No. 29. Request proposals from food service contractors to provide a senior lunch program with meals prepared on-site to meet a service level of 21,000 meals and an 85% customer satisfaction rating with an initial participant fee of $4.50 per meal (with reservations) and an annual increase not to exceed $.50 per year. Allow six (6) months for staff to issue a request for proposals, evaluate the proposals and report back to Council. Continue the existing senior lunch program with Bateman Senior Meals during this process, at a reduced fee of $3.00 for members ($3.50 without reservation). Approve Budget Modification No. 29 in the amount of $80,000 for Fiscal Year 2004/2005 and increase the Recreation Division budget for Fiscal Year 2005/2006 with an additional subsidy of $25,000 to fund the senior lunch program during the time it will take to complete the request for proposal process.
In addition, the following changes were recommended:
- Drop membership discount for one year.
- Do not drop the lunch price to $3.00; leave it at $4.50 to help cover costs.
|
|
Motion failed for lack of a second |
|
Acting Chair Pole moved to recommend that the “Options Regarding Future of Senior Lunch Program and Budget Modification No. 29” be presented at a Study Session before the Commission makes a recommendation. |
|
Motion failed for lack of a second |
|
Commissioner Lawson moved, Commissioner Locke seconded, to recommend that Council accept Alternative No. 1, Request Proposals from Food Service Contractors to Provide a Service Level of 21,000 Meals Prepared On-Site and Approval of Budget Modification No. 29. Request proposals from food service contractors to provide a senior lunch program with meals prepared on-site to meet a service level of 21,000 meals and an 85% customer satisfaction rating with an initial participant fee of $4.50 per meal (with reservations) and an annual increase not to exceed $.50 per year. Allow six (6) months for staff to issue a request for proposals, evaluate the proposals and report back to Council. Continue the existing senior lunch program with Bateman Senior Meals during this process, at a reduced fee of $3.00 for members ($3.50 without reservation). Approve Budget Modification No. 29 in the amount of $80,000 for Fiscal Year 2004/2005 and increase the Recreation Division budget for Fiscal Year 2005/2006 with an additional subsidy of $25,000 to fund the senior lunch program during the time it will take to complete the request for proposal process. |
Commissioner Lawson said that keeping Bateman Senior Meals on a month-to-month basis is a weak strategy because the seniors don’t care for the quality of the food; so it is best to go out to bid for proposals from food service contractors and review the options. However, he does not think that there is a benefit to decreasing the price of the lunch.
Acting Chair Pole is opposed to the motion because he said the budget modification is to cover the overhead costs and has nothing to do with the quality of food.
|
Motion passed 3-1 with Pole dissenting and Arnett absent |
NON-AGENDA ITEMS AND COMMENTS
Commissioner Lawson requested that a Study Issue paper be prepared regarding studying/coordinating with other county/state programs and investigate how to get broader support for these agencies to provide lunch programs for Sunnyvale residents. Commissioner Lawson indicated he would contact Ms. Merrill, after he puts his thought together, to further clarify the focus of the Study Issue paper.
Acting Chair Pole co-sponsored the above noted Study Issue paper.
Ms. Merrill thanked the Commissioners for arranging their schedules to hear this agenda item on a Monday evening. She also thanked the members of the public who came to express their thoughts regarding the senior lunch program.
INFORMATION ONLY ITEMS
ADJOURNMENT 8:50 p.m.
Cathy E. Merrill, Assistant to the Director
Parks and Recreation Department
Reviewed by:
Curtis Black, Interim Director
Parks and Recreation Department