Honoring Her Leadership
Oct 08, 2024 12:20PM ● By Shaunna BoydBarbara Sestito recently retired from the Fair Oaks Theatre Festival board. Photo courtesy of the Fair Oaks Recreation and Park District
FAIR OAKS, CA (MPG) - Barbara Sestito was honored at the Sept. 18 Fair Oaks Recreation and Park District (FORPD) Board of Directors meeting upon her retirement from the Fair Oaks Theatre Festival board, where she has served since 1993.
State Senator Robert Niello, County Supervisor Rich Desmond and a representative for Assemblyman Josh Hoover attended the meeting to present Sestito with their own proclamations recognizing her contributions as a cultural cornerstone of the Fair Oaks community.
Sestito accepted the proclamation and said Fair Oaks has been “a wonderful place to live” and that serving at the theatre has “always felt like a homecoming.”
Fair Oaks Recreation and Park District Chair Ralph Carhart announced that two chairs in the new amphitheater will be dedicated to Sestito and her late husband, Tony, who was also a foundational member of the Theatre Festival.
Barbara Sestito, center, is honored with a proclamation by the Fair Oaks Recreation and Park District. Photo courtesy of the Fair Oaks Recreation and Park District
The board then considered the possible reappointment of Measure J Bond Oversight Committee (BOC) members Garret McDermid and Diana Storo, who have served on the committee since 2021. Their terms are expiring.
District Administrator Mike Aho said that the board has previously approved some one-year term extensions “because we are getting closer to the finish line here and it’s very beneficial to keep these folks in this as we continue to get closer and closer to finishing.”
The Measure J-funded construction in the Village is expected to wrap up early in 2025 and the Bond Oversight Committee will disband after the bond funds are spent. Aho said that the scheduled Bond Oversight Committee meetings have already been substantially reduced as there are far fewer expenditures to review at this point in the process, so bringing on new members wouldn’t currently make sense
The board voted unanimously to approve the Bond Oversight Committee reappointments.
Next, the board was prepared to receive a consultant report regarding possible updates to improve safety at the disc golf course at Miller Park. Parks and Facilities Manager Sean Ventura, however, said the report was not quite finished because the consultant wanted to visit the site again before submitting his findings. Ventura said the report will be submitted by the October board meeting.
The district also scheduled a public outreach meeting for 6 p.m. Oct. 3 at Miller Park to receive feedback from the community about the issues at the disc golf course.
During Public Comment on this item, Fair Oaks resident Lindsay Kopperud said she first brought this issue to the board at the June meeting, describing various incidents of children being hit by discs and yelled at by players on the course. Kopperud said she is frustrated because negative interactions are still occurring, with families frequently dealing with aggressive confrontations by disc golfers.
“Nothing has been done. Why is this not moving forward?” said Kopperud. “I cannot walk my children safely to school without almost being hit by discs. I’m tired of it. And I think this board needs to do something about it.”
District Administrator Mike Aho said that this issue has proved to be more difficult to manage than first anticipated.
“When we look at a park like this, we have users on both sides that really are passionate about that park. And we want to be able to hear those concerns and have those concerns represented,” Aho said.
Director John O’Farrell said that the disc golf course has been there for about three years, while the park itself and the nearby school have been there for 50 years. So he’s sympathetic to the concerns of the families trying to use the park.
“If there’s some people out there that are rude, threatening, they should not be out there,” O’Farrell said.
Vice-Chair Delinda Tamagni said that the disc golf course is supposed to be closed during the hours when children walk through the park to and from school, so “we need to find a way to enforce those rules. … If it’s closed, it is closed,” Tamagni said.
Aho said the district was “trying not to be too heavy handed” with enforcement and to encourage “voluntary compliance.”
The disc golf users are a very active group, Aho said, so “this is a tough balance. Any time you have multiple users in a park, it can cause conflicts. It’s really hard to look at one and the others and say what are the priorities.”
O’Farrell agreed that it can be difficult to make everyone happy but park users should not feel threatened.
“It’s not right,” O’Farrell said.
Chair Carhart suggested they could look at options for relocating the disc golf course to another park within the district where there would be fewer conflicts of use. He said Phoenix Park has plenty of large open spaces that could work well for a course.
Director Raymond James Irwin suggested adding additional signage throughout the course to clearly state the hours of use and that pedestrians have the right of way. He also said the signs should have a phone number to call to report problems. Irwin said they don’t have to wait for the consultant’s report to make some immediate changes.
Kopperud said she and many others have sent emails to report issues but they have not received any responses. Aho apologized for that and said he will follow up on the lack of response.
Many written comments were submitted by residents sharing their concerns about the disc golf course, detailing various confrontations and times when they or their children have been hit by discs. Many asked that the course be moved out of that park because the site is too small to accommodate both a public park and disc golf.
Director Irwin said he would like staff to compile all the complaints about the disc golf course for the board to review. He said that Miller Park might not be the best place for this course.
“It does not sound good and I’m not comfortable with what I’m hearing,” Irwin said.
Irwin encouraged residents to keep submitting complaints and documenting the incidents, which will provide the board as much information as possible.
Carhart agreed that the board wants to know about every incident that occurs, especially when youth are affected. He said having that information will help when they address the issue with the disc golfers to remind them of their responsibility to follow the park rules.
Finally, Aho provided a brief update about construction in the Village, stating that the current estimate of full completion is the end of January 2025. While certain aspects of the work will be done sooner (the park areas and landscaping should be finished in December and the Clubhouse is expected to be completed in early January), the district must wait for an occupancy permit from the county, which won’t be issued until all the work is completed.
Carhart said he predicts as they get closer to finishing, “everything will accelerate. It’ll all come together and look really good really fast.”
The next Fair Oaks Recreation and Park District Board of Directors meeting is scheduled for Oct. 16.