Public Safety Committee Canceled Due to Lack of a Quorum

The fiscal year 2023 budget workshop for the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department on Wednesday, May 18, during its regular meeting, along with the budget workshops for the Pasadena Fire Department and Public Health Department was postponed on Wednesday due to the lack of a quorum.

A quorum is the minimum number of members that must be present at the meeting to make the proceedings of that meeting valid.

The budget workshop for the Police Department which started last week was also scheduled to be held at the meeting.

It is not known when the meeting will be held.
For 2023, the Parks, Recreation and Community Services (PRCS) Department is recommending a budget of $23.7 million, up by 3.4 percent from this year’s adopted budget.

Some local residents have called on the city to decrease the police budget and move some money to housing. Others cite a recent officer-involved shooting as a reason to defund the police.

Among the significant changes in the PRCS budget are the addition of two new MASH (Municipal Assistance, Solutions, and Hiring) program employees that are necessary to run an additional 30 acres of parkland, a new Community Youth Scholarship program that aims to increase the number of participants for next year, additional funding to cover a water rate increase by Pasadena Water and Power last April and an upcoming increase by January 2023, and the replacement of park equipment such as lawn mowers and leaf blowers.

The PRCS Department will prioritize increasing youth participation in its programs at the different public parks in Pasadena, increasing City-operated activities with the goal of returning to pre-COVID-19 participation numbers, the Community Youth Scholarship Program, and working with public health officials, other local agencies and professional organizations to implement the best practices or protocols in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Department will also prioritize developing a year-round aquatics program beginning in 2024 at the new Robinson Park pool, the report showed.