Highlights from The Week in Review

Here are some of the items of interest from "The Week in Review" (TWIR). You can read the entire TWIR by clicking on the link on the right side of this page.

Parks and Recreation:
Big League Dreams 1st Quarterly Report: The City has received the 1st Quarter – 2008 Retail Revenue Report for the Big League Dreams Sports Park (copy attached). Growth continues in both revenue and attendance as all facilities are up and running, some at capacity. 1st Quarter retail revenue reached $462,720, which exceeds the 1st Quarter 2008 revenue by $117,648 – a 34% increase. The City received a rent check for $74,035 for the 1st Quarter 2009. A busy January contributed to the majority of this increase. Due to the strong start and financial performance of the facility in the first lease year, early rent provisions of the lease were triggered, and the City has been receiving rent payments since the 4th Quarter of 2007 (over two years ahead of schedule). Paid attendance for the 1st Quarter of 2009 totaled 97,522, compared to 71,337 for the same period in 2008 – an increase of 27%. The 2009 retail revenues are expected to continue to exceed original pre-construction projections for this lease year by over 10% or $150,000. Future revenue growth is expected to be in the 5 to 10%.

Parks/Golf/Park Planning:
Landscape Maintenance Districts – Written 30-day notices have been issued to contractors who are currently maintaining the landscaping in the City’s Landscape Maintenance Districts. The notices will inform the contractors that the monthly services that they have been providing will no longer be needed after June 30, 2009. Parks maintenance staff will assume responsibility for landscape maintenance of the LMDs on July 1.
Staffing and Service Levels – Four parks maintenance workers retired this week, and a fifth maintenance worker transferred to the Water Division. This reduction in work force will most likely begin to have an impact on maintenance service levels in parks in the very near future. Parks staff has worked cooperatively with Public Works staff to consolidate efforts where possible to provide relief to the General Fund and to improve efficiencies. One area in particular where Public Works assistance will help is trash removal from park sites. Staff has worked together to develop a plan and to install new trash receptacles in parks. The plan would have the trash receptacles in parks emptied on the same schedule as when the residents in the respective neighborhoods would have their trash removed. It is anticipated to have minimal impact to the operation of the Solid Waste Division, primarily because they would already be in the area. However, it is anticipated that this will allow Parks staff to reallocate more than 20 hours each week to other tasks.

Parks and Recreation Staffing: May 21 marks Steve Houx’s last day with the City of Manteca. Steve has elected to take the early retirement incentive that we’ve been offering to retirement-eligible employees. This program allows employees to receive two additional years of service credit if the City does not fill their position for two years. Steve has worked for the City for nearly 24 years – most of which he has served as the City’s Parks and Recreation Director. Although it is impossible to fill Steve’s shoes, I needed to appoint someone to step in and oversee the overall operations of the department. Effective May 23, Assistant City Manager Karen McLaughlin will oversee the department. Mark Hall, Deputy Director of Parks and Recreation/Facilities, and Bruce Mulder, Deputy Director of Parks and Recreation/Services, will continue to lead their respective divisions, and will remain directly responsible for them. I appreciate everyone's cooperation during these transitional times.