CITY OF INDIO

Youth Master Plan Steering Committee Meeting

May 2, 2005 at 5:00 p.m.

Council Chamber

150 Civic Center Mall

Indio, California

                       

 

Regular meeting called to order at 5:06 p.m. by Vice Chairperson Jim Ducatte.

 

Pledge of Allegiance led by Ron Hare.

 

Committee Members Present: Jim Ducatte, Boys & Girls Club, Vice Chair; Carey Carlson, Coachella Valley USD Administration (arrived at 5:09 p.m.); Ron Hare, Indio Chamber of Commerce; Don Martin, CV Recreation & Park District; Brad Ramos, Chief of Police/IYTF; Father John Vieira, Ministerial Alliance/OLPH.

           

Committee Members Absent: Mike Wilson, City Council, Chair; Trina Jellison, JFK Memorial Hospital; Regina Hawkins, Youth Advisory Council Advisor; Luciano Ramirez, Desert Sands USD; Pamper Rodriguez, Parks & Recreation Commission; and Ann Reinhagen, Coachella Valley USD.

                       

Staff Present:  Glenn Southard, City Manager; Mark Wasserman, Assistant to the City Manager; David Ison, Youth Coordinator; Ben Guitron, Administrative Officer; and Martha Sommons, Executive Assistant.

 

Youth Advisory Councilmembers Present:  Jacquie Bethel; Nicole Purdy; Roxanne Cota; Lucinda Perez; Allen Huang; and Leslie Rivas.  Councilmembers and Advisor arrived at 5:20 p.m. to the meeting.

 

1.      Introduction of new City Manager Glenn Southard

 

David Ison introduced new City Manager Glenn Southard and will provide an overview of the process Claremont went through.

 

Glenn Southard stated there were no youth programs before the Youth Master Plan.  He doesn’t see the Claremont model as the Indio model. This City is far more disjointed than Claremont. This City has 2 school districts versus one in Claremont.  Claremont has a Human Services Department, whereas, here we have some pieces of it.  Coordination with non profits is sketchy at best.  This is a far bigger and more diverse community with many different needs.  The challenge is to get the plan, but we also need to start programs. The biggest need is have places to do things.   South Jackson Park is a good start. Another need is park land. Presently, we are looking for purchasing park land.  We are also proposing raising the Quimby fees and we are looking for more from development community to help us.  Acquiring park land is our second priority to streets.  

 

 

2.      Update on 2004/2005 Budget Revisions

 

David Ison reported on the proposed revised budget submitted for Fiscal Year 2004-05 for the Augustine grant funds.  This budget focuses more on delivery programs for youth.  As a result, there are a number of changes with the support of the Augustine Tribe. We are waiting for documentation from the County to make changes and then disbursements will be made at the end of this June.  As per the Capital Outlay list passed, it shows funds allotted for wide ranging programs for youth.  The monies will be expended in a timely manner.  We will know if this grant was approved on June 9th.  A brief discussion followed concerning the grant fund process and the how these funds will be spent.

           

3.      Update on June 7, 2005 Community Meeting

 

      David Ison reported the June 7th meeting is scheduled at 4:30 p.m. with asset developers hosting guest speaker Mark Scharenbroich of the Search Institute at Fantasy Springs Casino.   Today, we received an invitation from the League of California Cities to participate in a master planning process. Indio will be one of 16 cities involved in this pilot program. He asked if we wanted to postpone meeting to late June or go ahead with the June 7th meeting.   After a brief discussion, it was agreed that the meeting will be held on June 7th with Mark Scharenbroich.

 

David Ison stated this meeting is similar to the one we already held. He is working with Desert Sands USD to make sure there will be present as many educators, parents and community based organizations as possible. After the Youth Advisory Councilmembers attended the November conference, they suggested that we do something spectacular to get attention, enthusiasm and effort from the community for the community meetings.  There will be a mariachi group, goodies, local media, parents, the Youth Advisory Council and the Boys and Girls Club. This meeting will kickoff to focus for the next 5 months on the community meetings for the development of the master plan.

 

4.      Discussion of Proposed Committee Structure

 

David Ison reported there will be 5 age groups we will be focusing on 0-5, 6-10, 11-13, 14-18 and 19-21.  We need to look at a variety of issues each age group has. Education came up in a number of conversations and transportation is an issue for all age groups.  We need to establish from the community what the role of this issue is.  We need to recruit bilingual chairperson, so that in June we can move forward with the actual planning process after the June meeting.  There are other issues such as safety.  After a discussion, it was agreed that the committees should be structured based on issues.  After a second discussion, it was agreed that the committee will meet at lunch to agree as to what the issues will be.

        

5.   Approval of minutes – December 6, 2004

 

Motion by Don Martin, seconded by Brad Ramos to unanimously approve the December 6, 2004 minutes.

 

PUBLIC COMMENT

 

None.

 

ADJOURNMENT

 

Motion by Ron Hare, seconded by Brad Ramos with all in favor to adjourn the meeting at 6:04 p.m.