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CC - (1) Receipt and Filing of an Update on the Parks, Recreation and Community Services (PRCS) Department Rec Extension Program and Wi-Fi Support at PRCS Facilities; and (2) Direction to the City Manager as Deemed Appropriate.
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Meeting Date: September 14, 2020
Contact Person/Dept: Corey Lakin/PRCS
Phone Number: (310) 253 - 6682
Fiscal Impact: Yes [] No [X] General Fund: Yes [] No []
Public Hearing: [] Action Item: [X] Attachments: Yes [] No [X]
Commission Action Required: Yes [] No [X]
Public Notification: (Email) Meetings and Agendas - City Council (09/10/2020)
Department Approval: Corey Lakin, PRCS Director (09/03/2020)
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RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the City Council (1) receive and file an update on the Parks, Recreation and Community Services (PRCS) Department Rec Extension Program and Wi-Fi support at PRCS facilities; and (2) provide direction to the City Manager as deemed appropriate.
BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION
On August 17, 2020, the City Council requested staff bring an item to the City Council to discuss expanding the new Rec Extension program in response to schools operating virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic. This expansion includes allowing registration for Culver City Unified School District (CCUSD) students as well as Culver City residents for the full-day childcare program. Additionally, the City Council wanted to verify there was adequate WiFi at the parks since the children need internet access to login to their virtual classrooms.
Rec Extension
The Rec Extension program (full-day childcare) began by being offered at the Culver City Senior Center, since that is the only PRCS facility that has public WiFi and internet. Due to COVID-19 restrictions from the Los Angeles County Public Health Department, the program capacity is limited to no more than 12 children in one room as well as the requirement for at least six feet of distance between the participants within the room. Based on the room capacities and number of rooms available at the Senior Center for the program, only 48 registrants were allowed to participate in the Rec Extension program. Due to limitations with the wireless connectivity at the Senior Center, the IT Department was able to set up an interim WiFi solution at three locations at Veterans Memorial Park (Vets), two locations in the Veterans Memorial Building and one at the Teen Center. This allowed for approximately half of the enrolled participants to move to Vets for the Rec Extension program. However, no additional enrollment was possible because of very limited bandwidth.
Due to the extremely high demand for this type of program and the limited capacity, the likelihood of it selling out within the first week was high since CCUSD schools were beginning the school year meeting virtually. Culver City PRCS classes, camps and programs traditionally afford Culver City residents at least one-week priority for registration before non-residents can register. Since the Rec Extension program was anticipated to sell out, it was only opened for Culver City residents due to the limited space and in order to not provide non-residents false hope that registration would be available after Culver City residents registered. In fact, the first week of the program sold out in less than one week. Staff anticipated that program would be opened to both Culver City residents and non-residents once the program could be expanded to Vets since the expansion would allow for at least double the capacity. This expansion was conditioned upon City Council approving the funding for WiFi at Vets. On August 17, 2020, the City Council approved the funding.
The capacity of the expanded program not only depends on the number of rooms in the facility and the size of each room (no more than 12 children per room), but also depends on the number of available Recreation Leaders. One staff member is needed in each room for the entire 9-hour day, five days a week; therefore, requiring staff to be available either in the mornings or afternoons for at least five consecutive hours. Finding staff with open availability while school is in session is a significant challenge. Staff began another recruitment for Recreation Leaders in August and is hoping to have staff in place by the time the WiFi is operational at Vets.
WiFi at Parks, Recreation and Community Services Facilities
The recently approved funding for the WiFi at Vets will make it the first park in Culver City to have public WiFi. Currently, Vets has extremely limited connectivity with Spectrum offering limited free WiFi (30-120 minutes per day). Additionally, the City pays for Spectrum internet for the computer lab in the Teen Center. None of the City parks or park buildings have public internet access, therefore restricting the ability of Rec Extension and other programs that require WiFi access to operate at other facilities. In order to get WiFi at the other parks, additional analysis of each facility will be needed to determine what infrastructure is required for the internet circuit. Parks that are high on the priority list include Lindberg Park, Culver West Alexander Park, Blanco Park, El Marino Park and Syd Kronenthal Park. Each of these facilities have buildings that offer classes, camps and programs, which is why they are a higher priority for WiFi than other parks that do not have buildings.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
There is no fiscal impact relative to this update. If the City Council wishes to proceed with seeking WiFi for additional parks, staff can provide cost estimates to Council for future consideration and/or present the cost estimates to the City Manager for administrative approval, if applicable.
MOTION
That the City Council:
1. Receive and file an update on the Parks, Recreation and Community Services (PRCS) Department Rec Extension Program and Wi-Fi support at PRCS facilities; and,
2. Provide direction to the City Manager as deemed appropriate.