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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES Family Advisory Board 2018-07-05RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Town of Estes Park, Larimer County, Colorado, July 5, 2018 Minutes of a special meeting of the Family Advisory Board of the Town of Estes Park, Larimer County, Colorado. Meeting held in Room 203 of the Estes Park Town Hall on the 5th day of July, 2018. Present: Laurie Dale Marshall Rachel Balduzzi Karen Randinitis Nancy Almond Tyler Schmitt Jodi Roman John Bryant Also Ron Norris, Town Board Liaison Present: Travis Machalek, Assistant Town Administrator Suzanna Simpson, Administration Executive Assistant Carlie Bangs, Town Board Trustee Absent: Courtney Hill Sue Strom Guests: Katherine Chu, Larimer County Department of Health and Environment (Communities that Care) Charley Dickey, EVECE Naomi Hawf, Estes Park Housing Authority (EPHA) Kelsey Lyon and Sara Rhoten, Larimer County Department of Health and Environment (Community Health Improvement Plan) Michael Moon, Estes Valley Early Childhood Education (EVECE) Michael Moore, Presbyterian Community Church of the Rockies Jon Nicholas, Estes Park Economic Development Corporation (EDC) Jim Pickering, EDC Jane Stuart, Estes Valley Investment in Childhood Success (EVICS) Chair Randinitis called the meeting to order at 3:31 p.m. Public Comment: Jon Nicholas stressed the importance of workforce housing as a top issue in the community and suggested that the group provide input in the Stanley Park Master Planning process as it relates to workforce housing. Continuing Discussion on Childcare Needs Assessment with Stakeholders: This portion of the meeting was facilitated by Denise Lord with Estes Valley Restorative Justice Partnership. Following ground rules and introductions, Denise asked each group to specifically state their current initiatives, information gathered, and recommendations as they relate to childcare. Member Bryant for the Park School District: Current initiatives: A half -day pre-school, and a focus on the employee side of the childcare issue. With over 100 employees, they continue to see those with young families leave their positions, or not accept a position due to the childcare issue. The School District wants to be part of community solution, but the focus is internal for now. Additionally, Bryant's involvement in boards addressing childcare is one way they are involved. RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Family Advisory Board — July 5, 2018 — Page 2 Information Gathered: None, was a member of the Childcare Needs Assessment effort. Recommendations: No recommendations. Additional Comments _Trustee Bangs asked for more detail on internal initiatives. Member Bryant stated that the school district used to provide childcare — approximately 12 years ago — which could be a potential model to replicate. The school has space/buildings and can prioritize the uses, as well as relevant experience in the area around funding and resources for children. Michael Moon for Estes Valley Early Childhood Education (EVECE): Current initiatives: Listed in detail in the presentation contained in the packet. He does not see overlap between the organizations addressing childcare. The focus of EVECE is to advocate for public funding to support childcare efforts. Information gathered: He has gotten a lot of good information from Colorado Association of Ski Towns (CAST) communities who have been working on this for 15 — 20+ years. Rather than set up something from scratch, he feels we should model our efforts after what has worked in other mountain communities. He feels one cause of our limited funding options is due to our size within our county (one of the smallest municipalities), whereas other mountain communities are the largest communities in their respective counties. The biggest push now is the option to pursue legislation which will allow childcare as a taxing district. He is concerned about coming together as a community and convincing the community to prioritize childcare. Recommendations: Capacity building, funding for childcare programs and parental choice and he is building the business plan. Nancy Almond for Estes Valley Investment in Childhood Success (EVICS): Current initiatives: A scholarship program to help lower income families pay for childcare (they currently have money in the fund, but there is a lack of places for families to take children), training and support to licensed childcare providers, a recruitment program, community investment initiatives, promotion of community awareness, collaborating with other agencies, and a parent education program. Information gathered: needs assessment and anecdotal info from community. Recommendations: For the Town's 2019 strategic plan, EVICS would like to request that the Town identify and dedicate space for the construction of a childcare center for ages 0-5, establish a Town -managed community fund to collect seed money for the construction of a facility and appoint a task force to raise additional money including employers and donors, dedicate Town staff time to coordinate the work in cooperation with FAB and other agencies (one year goals), identify and create a sustainable funding source for childcare subsidies (five year goal), and secure grants for construction of a facility many years down the road. Denise Lord recommends adding the last one to the parking lot for a future meeting. RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Family Advisory Board — July 5, 2018 — Page 3 Chair Randinitis for Courtney Hill and Dave DeLuca with YMCA of the Rockies: Current Initiatives: the YMCA is seeking to improve the current preschool program, increasing hours to close between 5 — 5:30, currently staff are reimbursed for half of all childcare costs as a benefit, but not focusing on infant/toddler care specifically. Jim Pickering for the Estes Park Economic Development Corporation (EPEDC): The board heard in detail Mike's EVECE presentation but did not take any formal action. The EPEDC sponsored the Childcare Services Committee and partnered with EVICS as a fiscal partner. Pickering cites a free market failure as it relates to childcare. Their core recommendation is to focus on capacity building and funding. Naomi Hawf for the Estes Park Housing Authority: Naomi pointed out that there is one housing development in progress which is planning to build a childcare facility on property. This property — Wind River — is going before the Estes Valley Planning Commission July 17. Kelsey Lyon — for Larimer County Department of Health and the Environment: The Health Department has identified childcare as one of two priorities. They are currently working with the Early Childhood Council of Larimer County, have met with individuals in Estes Park, and plan to foster partnerships and support these teams moving forward. This is an unfunded mandate, but they will partner with other entities for grant -writing support. She also stressed that they are focused on quality childcare. Trustee Norris stated that staff is beginning work on the 2019 budget based on the initial strategic plan provided by board. Discussion followed on the process of making recommendations to the board and how other advisory boards have fared with their recommendations. Vice -Chair Marshall presented a diagram to run each recommendation through — does the town have the capacity? If no, parking lot. If yes, consider for a recommendation. If the FAB wants to make the recommendation, does the FAB like how it's written? No, edit then put on recommendations, if yes, put on list as is. The final recommendations that the group agreed on are: 1. Engage local, county and statewide organizations to advocate for the passage of a childcare taxing district at the 2019 state legislature and other legislation supporting childcare 2. Establish a community fund to collect seed monies for the startup costs of a quality childcare center with a two-year target of $1 million, contribute to this fund, and coordinate efforts to engage others to contribute to this fund. 3. Identify and dedicate town property, such as Stanley Park, of approximately 4 acres to be the site of community based high quality childcare 4. Identify and create multiple sustainable funding sources for ongoing investments in quality childcare. 5. Dedicate town staff time to coordinate quality childcare initiatives in cooperation with FAB and other community organizations It was moved and seconded (Balduzzi/Schmitt) to present all 5 recommendations to the Town Board to be added to the 2019 strategic plan and the motion passes unanimously. RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Family Advisory Board — July 5, 2018 — Page 4 Approval of May Minutes (Regular and Special Meeting) It was moved and seconded (Roman/Schmitt) to approval the minutes from both the regular meeting in May and the special meeting and the motion passes unanimously Review and Approval of Memo Recommending a Code Change for Childcare Facilities in the S1/52 Categories It was moved and seconded (Marshall/Almond) to approve the memo recommending code changes to the review process for S1/S2 categories as they relate to childcare facilities and the motion passes unanimously. Opportunity to Create Colorado Association of Ski Towns (CAST) Childcare Study Assistant Town Administrator Machalek briefed the group on an opportunity to create a CAST survey on childcare. CAST will not facilitate the survey because they have only heard that childcare is a priority issue in 2 communities. They did agree to distribute a survey on our behalf. The request is to nominate 2 people to work with Assistant Town Administrator Machalek to draft questions to bring back to FAB for CAST. The group decided to place this item on the agenda for August and focus on the strategic plan recommendations for now. Rescheduling Jennifer McAtamney's Visit Jennifer McAtamney's visit will now take place July 26 with the same agenda as the previously cancelled visit in June. Seeing no further business, Chair Randinitis adjourned the meeting at 6:04 p.m. Next Meeting The next meeting of the Family Advisory Board will take place Thursday, August 2, at 3:30 p.m. in Room 203 at Town Hall.