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Home My WebLink About13A - COUNCIL COMMITTEE RPT - PREY• MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON PARKS, RECREATION, EDUCATION AND YOUTH May 21, 2012 CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting convened at 3:45 p.m. in the City Hall, Room 831, 20 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana, California. ATTENDANCE Council members Present Michele Martinez (Chair); Sal Tinajero Vincent Sarmiento Staff Present: Gerardo Mouet, Executive Director; Joe Straka, Assistant City Attorney; Ron Ono, Administrative Services Manager; Kent Yamaguchi, Zoo Manager, Robert Carroll, Sr. • Management Analyst, Ethan Fisher, Santa Ana Zoo Animal Registrar Public Present Rick Biddle, Schultz & Williams Joe Adams, Discovery Science Center Sean Fitzgerald, Discovery Science Center Steve McGuigan, Friends of Santa Ana Zoo Mark Harrison, Friends of Santa Ana Zoo Joaquin Avalos, SEIU Don Cribb, Santa Ana SA Council of the Arts & Culture Michelle Callgilen, Heritage Museum of Orange County Escarlet Mar, Santa Ana Public Library • APPROVAL OF MINUTES o Minutes of April 2, 2011 accepted as presented. • PUBLIC COMMENTS: o Escarlet Mar distributed a flyer on the SA Library's Santa Ana Summer Youth Volunteer Festival that will be held on Saturday May 26th; 12pm to 5pm at the • Main Library. Event will include volunteer opportunities, local band performance, fashion show, food trucks and dunk tank. PREY Regular Meeting - MINUTES 1 May 21, 2012 13A-1 • o Don Cribb spoke to the committee on the SA Council of the Arts & Culture and the privatizing of the Zoo. • SANTA ANA ZOO MANAGEMENT & ASSESSMENT STUDY o Staff introduced Rick Biddle of Schultz and Williams and provided background on the hiring of the firm on October 2011 to prepare a SA Zoo Management and Assessment Study. o Mr. Biddle (Schultz and Williams) indicated they met with staff, analyzed the zoo operations and are prepared to present management options. ¦ Mr. Biddle indicated 238 zoos are accredited by AZA and 76% are managed through private/public partnership. ¦ Other zoos are going through the same issues as Santa Ana and his firm is currently doing 4 other zoo studies. ¦ Mr. Biddle indicated he found residents and staff were excited about the zoo. The marketing theme of 50 monkeys, the 20 acre zoo size, visitor experience, 230,000 to 250,000 visitations is only limited by available parking. o Mr. Biddle explained three options the city could consider: ¦ Option 1: Close the zoo (not recommended as an option) ¦ Option 2: Maintain status quo (short term option) ¦ Option 3: Private/Public Partnership 4# Partnership with FOSAZ ? Management concept with the Discovery Science Center • ¦ There may be an opportunity to leverage two options. ¦ Whatever the City decides, AZA wants to see Santa Ana's Plan. ¦ Overall, the city needs leadership for long term success. o Councilmember Sarmiento asked "What's the difference between LA and Dallas Zoo operation?" ¦ Mr. Biddle responded LA is still a City managed Zoo and the Dallas Zoo is privately run with an annual subsidy adjustment. o Don Cribb indicated the public has not been included in any conversation related to the zoo operation analysis. o Councilmember Sarmiento indicated: ¦ The future of the Zoo needs to be determined at some point. ¦ FOSAZ has done a great job, but we need to excel from where we are? ¦ There is interest by others (Discovery Science Center) to help market the zoo, but they may not be the only ones. ¦ FOSAZ will be consulted in the decision making process. ¦ Need to look at this very seriously; SEIU is here to help provide information on the decision process. ¦ Need to revitalize the entire 1St Street corridor and SA Zoo is an anchor in this corridor. o Councilmember Tinajero indicated zoo attendance has been level for several years and went down when the economy changed. Recently we have seen a • slight growth in attendance. PREY Regular Meeting - MINUTES May 21, 2012 13A-2 • o Mr. Biddle indicated: ¦ Attendance has been stable and recently went up due to the construction of the two new zoo exhibits. ¦ This zoo is an important anchor along 1St Street. ¦ Zoo's that went from public operation to private operations has not reverted back to public operation. ¦ The current admission price is not an issue. o Councilmember Martinez asked if the City owns the zoo assets and we privatize what would be the cost and city liability. o Mr. Biddle indicated: ¦ The City needs to invest in the zoo to be successful. ¦ The City should also address deferred maintenance cost in the overall maintenance and management of the zoo. ¦ The liability issue is normally handled by the private/non-profit entity. o Councilmember Martinez indicated we need to put staff at ease on whichever option is selected. o Mr. Biddle indicated typically 80% to 90% of the time zoo employees are transferred over to the new management group. o Gerardo Mouet indicated if the City elected to go in the direction of private operation a Request for Proposal (RFP) needs to be prepared and released to all parties interested. Most of the questions will be addressed in the RFP. o Councilmember Sarmiento made the following statements: • ¦ Where do we go from this point? ¦ FOSAZ has supported the success of the zoo. ¦ We need to move on to discuss the RFP. ¦ A successful zoo will encourage successful development around the zoo and along 1St Street. o RECOMMENDATION: ¦ 'Continue the item for 2 weeks (June 4, 2012). • STAFF COMMENTS o None COMMITTEE MEMBER COMMENTS o Items for next agenda (June 4, 2012): ¦ Santa Ana Zoo Management Options (Next Step) ¦ Update of Five on Five Rule in Parks ¦ Update on Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) Resolution ADJOURNED: 4:31 p.m. e -r- aj:n?-gr Gerardo Mouet • Executive Director, PR6SA PREY Regular Meeting - MINUTES 3 May 21, 2012 13A-3 13A-4