1. FACILITY OPERATIONS:
ASSIGNMENT 1
Sara De Ruyte (sderuy01)
Julisa Henry (hnrj0089)
Madison Press (No1101507)
Jasmine Ung (N01108033)
OCTOBER 7, 2016
BRAD SLOSS
RECL 216
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Table of Contents
Purpose…………………………………………………..……….………………..2
Introduction………………...……………………………………………………..2
History and Background …………………………………………………………………2
Physical Structure ………………………………………………………………..………2
Floor Plans ………………………………………………………………………….……2
Facility Operations………………………………………………………………..2
Operational Structure & Management……………………………………………………2
Main Sources of Revenue……………………………………………………...…………3
Operating Budget …………………………………………………………...……………3
Summary of the Programming Categories…………………..……………………………3
Key Facility Policies ………………………………………………………..……………3
Key Standard Operating Procedures ……………………..………………………………4
Maintenance Equipment & Machinery……………………………...……………………5
Types of Health & Safety Protective Equipment ……...…………………………………5
What People Notice……………………………………………………………….5
Main Flaws………………………………………………………………………..………5
Unique & Outstanding……………………………………………….……………………6
Furniture, Fixtures, & Equipment………………………………………………6
Furniture…………………….…………………………………………………….………6
Fixtures………………………………………………………………...…………………7
Equipment ……………………………………….…………….…………………………7
Appendices ………………………………………………………………………..8
Appendix A………………………………………………….……………………………8
Appendix B………………………………………………….………………………...…10
Appendix C………………………………………………………………………………11
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Purpose
To provide an operational overview of a recreational and/or sport facility and meet with a
Manager or Operator to gather non-invasive Facility Operations information.
Introduction
History and Background
Flower City Seniors Centre is a senior center located within the flower city community campus.
It is a municipal recreation facility operated by the City of Brampton, Public Services
Department, Recreation and Cultural Division. The Flower City Lawn Bowling Facility is
adjacent to the Seniors Centre built on a government grant and used to facilitate linkages and
sharing of program space between the two facilities. The two together offer an extensive range of
programs and activities for people 55+. The center opened September 28 in 2005 for an
anticipated 500 community members. The center offers a wide range of workshops, bus trips,
fitness programs, educational programs, special interest programs, card and games programs,
dance programs, arts and crafts programs and special events to nearly 5000 active members now
in 2016.
Physical Structure
The Flower City Seniors Centre is located in Brampton, Ontario at 8870 McLaughlin Road. 5
minutes from downtown Brampton. It features a full service cafe that provides daily lunches,
snacks, sandwiches, hot and cold beverages. A full service salon, Multipurpose auditorium,
gymnasium, billiards room, woodshop, ceramic room, craft room, library, meeting room, games
room, and 2 multipurpose rooms within the spacious lawn bowling club.
Floor Plans
For the floor plans please see appendix A. (A.1 & A2)
Facility Operations
Operational Structure & Management
For a copy of the staff flow chart please see appendix B. Only the full time facility operators
and full time facility clerk are unionized.
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Main Sources of Revenue
The core product and the main revenues of the Flower City Seniors Center come from both the
programming and a significant amount of money comes from the cafe. Because a lot of the
programming is run and facilitated through volunteers the center is able to sustain its low cost
and keep most of its revenue. The Cafe offers both hot and cold food and drink options all under
5 dollars.
Operating Budget
Taking into consideration the several sub-budgets, such as advertising, salaries, and
administrative expenses the annual overall operating budget of the Flower City Seniors Center is
approximately 2.2 million dollars.
Summary of the Programming Categories
Arts and Crafts
Examples: crochet, jewelry making, quilting, crochet, knitting, floral design, painting,
wood crafting, stained glass projects
Cards
Examples: cribbage, bridge, euchre
Dance Drama and Music
Examples: ballroom dance, belly dance, Bollywood dance, hula dancing, Latin dance,
learn to act, guitar lessons
Education and Culture
Examples: gardening, emergency preparedness, driver refresh program, aging at home,
retirement and income planning, tax free savings accounts, book club, writing workshop,
language classes, technology classes
Fitness and Health
Examples: balance and flexibility, boot camp circuit, cardio fit, chair-ercise, easy fit,
Nordic walking, Tae kwon do, tai chi, yoga
Sports and Games
Examples: billiards, chess, bingo, carpet bowling pickle ball, table tennis, volleyball
Special Events
Examples: high tea, dances, holiday bazaar, Christmas lunch and dinner
Travel
Examples: bus trips to Casino Rama and Casino Niagara, cars and butterflies Cambridge
tours, Kawartha Downs and craftworks at the barn.
Key Facility Policies
1. No Refunds On Memberships: The membership at the facility costs $20.50 for the
whole year. Non-residents may join for $25.60. Membership is free of charge for anyone
over the age of 90. Proof of age may be requested at the time of registration. City wide In
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order to cancel a membership there is a 10-dollar filing fee that would be half the cost of
the annual membership, so memberships are nonrefundable at this particular center.
2. Facility Bookings: The facility can be rented out for many purposes (weddings, baby
showers etc.) through the front desk. Wherever possible they try to restrict the events that
it is rented out for to seniors and events for seniors. This is to keep true to the purpose
and focus of the center.
3. Memberships: you must be a member to participate in any activities at the center. All the
programs at the center are only offered to those 55 or older so to monitor and control this
membership is mandatory.
4. Safety: In order to take part in the woodworking class, participants must complete a
safety course. This ensures the safety of the participants of the class to know how to
effectively use equipment and what to do on the case of an emergency. The safety course
must be repeated yearly.
5. Well Wishing and Farewell Notices: members who are in the hospital will receive
sympathy and get well cards. If a member passes away a notice will be posted at the
center. Everyone gets a shout out when it is his or her birthday.
6. Program Areas:
1. Woodwork and ceramic participants are required to pay the drop in fee per for
each time period.
2. Closed toe shoes are required in the hobby shop while participating in the wood
working program
3. Closed toe shoes are required in the café kitchen at all times
4. Closed toe shoes are required in the ceramic room and standing might be a
requirement, outlined on brochure.
5. Registrations cannot be processed if your membership card is not up to date.
Key Standard Operating Procedures
1. Operating Hours: the hours that the facility is open reflect the clientele that the facility
is used for. Monday- Friday it is open 8 am - 8:30 pm, Saturday 8:30 am - 2:30 pm, and
Sunday 8:30 am - 3 pm. This is different than most city of Brampton facilities that may
be open earlier in the morning for things like swims and gym services, and later in the
evening for lessons of varying nature. This center is focused on the aging population
within the community and the times that are most active for the kinds of programs it
offers.
2. Entry to Facility: most facilities in Brampton are open to the public for those of all
ages. Flower City Community Center is not. This facility is for those who are 55 or
older. The only exception to this rule is if your spouse is 55 or older you will be able to
get a membership so you can recreate together.
3. Drop in Program Structure: This is unique in the sense that you can pay for an activity
and be able to drop in and out of that activity all day. You can even leave the facility and
come back during the same day and your ticket is still valid. With the exception of stain
glass and woodwork. This isn't the case in other facilities in Brampton.
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4. Volunteer Run Programs: Due to the fact that this facility has very few paid employees
majority of the programs are run by volunteers. Volunteers apply for an activity that they
feel they are an expert in and they help to run that program entirely, if qualified/selected.
The programmer of the facility will take over when there is a customer service element or
safety concern.
5. Sign In: For liability reasons when you enter the building you must scan your
membership at the front desk. This is to ensure that if anything happens there is proof that
you were there at the time.
Maintenance Equipment & Machinery
The Parks and Recreation department is on campus that deals with the maintenance
Mechanical room with 2 main boilers (both on site and at the lawn bowling building)
Frequent hand sanitizer dispensers
Frequent garbage and recycling bins
“Gym Wipes” - hand wipe stations attached to garbage for disposal
Hooks attached to the wall to hang mats
Racks for weights
Lawn Bowling building is equipped with an Automatic Bowls Polisher (for picture see
appendix C)
Types of Health & Safety Protective
2 Automatic External Defibrillators on site
Safety/Caution signs (wet floor etc.)
First Aid kits with eyewash
Mini first aid kits in all program areas
Fire Extinguishers
Extension cords that hang from the ceiling to avoid tripping and creates an accessible
space (for picture see Appendix C)
Suppression features in the mechanical room
Emergency shut off buttons in the woodworking room
Seniors must take a safety course before attending the woodworking program and repeat
annually.
Every staff is required to be CPR and standard first aid certified
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What People Notice
Main Flaws
1. The Cafe: When the building was originally designed it was built to hold 500 members
and the cafe sits about 50 people but serves over 500 patrons per day. Brampton has
expanded rapidly over the years and the baby boomers are now aging. As a core product
of the center Flower City realized the need and will be undergoing renovations to expand
the seating area as well address storage within the cafe. (For picture see appendix C)
2. Structure: Due to the fact that the building was originally used for OPP training facility,
things like the size of the hallways are very narrow. Furthermore because the building
was built before the AODA the washrooms are not very wheelchair friendly (there is only
one wheelchair accessible washroom now). There is only one door in and out of the
gymnasium. This becomes an issue when events are going on that causes overflow of
members to wait down the hallways. (For picture see appendix C)
3. Storage: The facility itself has very little storage available. In some cases offices have
been taken over and made into storage to help out. (For picture see appendix C)
4. Space: Some of the activity rooms are too small for the activity they are used for
(billiards room and dance studio). In the case of the dance studio they were able to make
it larger by knocking out the wall separating the computer lab and combining the 2
rooms. This worked out better for the computer classes that were moved to the lawn
bowling club. Members can now use their own technology (tablets and laptops) to learn
instead of the outdated computers that used to be in the lab. (For picture see appendix C)
Unique & Outstanding
1. Volunteers: The majority of the people who work at the center are volunteers that live or
grew up within the community. All specialize in a program or activity and run that
program or activity for the seniors. There are 176 volunteers in total.
2. Unique Programs: Woodworking, stained glass, salon, billiards. Only offered at this
facility and only to those who are 55 or older. (For picture see appendix C)
3. BBQ’s: There are BBQ’s every Friday during the summer season.
4. Parks Division Headquarters: The Parks and Recreation division headquarters for
Brampton is on within the same campus.
5. Bus Trips: Members have the ability to go on day bus trips to places such as the casino,
Niagara on the lake and the Chrysler factory.
6. Altered Picnic Tables: Outside there are picnic tables altered for wheelchairs with one
side of the table with a bench and the other side open for a wheelchair to go (for picture
see appendix C)
7. Brochure: Normally in Brampton there is one brochure released for all the programs
across all the facilities. Flower City Senior Center releases a separate brochure available
to seniors that has information like hours of operation, contact information, emails of
head staff, address, descriptions of all programs as well as an overview of all programs
and policies. (For picture see appendix C)
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Furniture, Fixtures, & Equipment
Furniture
1. Chairs: The seniors’ center has both comfortable lounging chairs as well as folds up
chairs. The lounging chairs looked both comfortable and aesthetically pleasing. Whereas
the fold up chairs looked more basic they are more convenient for storage and moving to
other rooms in the building.
2. Tables: Range of table sizes for different uses. Every room had different tables depending
on the use of that room. For some programs fold up tables are used since they are more
convenient for travel and storage.
Fixtures
1. Light fixtures: All rooms were ceiling lit giving the rooms a lot of light but high enough
to not get in the way of people walking. Majority of the rooms have motion sensor lights
to save energy.
Equipment
1. Green Facility: water fountain, cleaning products, upgrading boilers to more green,
motion sensor lights, and battery drop off box.
2. Extension Cords: hang from the ceiling instead of in an outlet dragging on the floor. The
cord is pulled down when in use. This makes the rooms’ wheelchair accessible and safer
for seniors. (For a picture see appendix C)
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APPENDIX B
Only the full time facility operators and full time facility clerks are unionized indicated in green.
Director,
Recreation
and Culture
Ed McNeice
Manager
West Side
Sharon
Bonello
Recreation
Supervisor
Kyra
Bishop
Recreation
Coordinator
Full time
Recreation
Programmer
20 Part
Time staff
Full Time
Recreation
Programmer
15 Part time
staff
Full Time
Recreation
Programmer
15 Part time
Staff
Jimmy
Badunas
Operations
Coordinator
Full Time
Facility
Operator
Full Time
Facility
Operator
Full Time
Facility
Operator
20 Part time
operations
staff
Full Time
Facility Clerk
10 Part-time
Customer
Service
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APPENDIX C
BowlsPolisherforlawnbowling.
Locatedin the lawnbowlingclub.
2016 Fall Brochure;ActivityGuide
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Convenient and affordable
Extensioncordshangingfromthe
ceiling.
Alteredpicnictablesforthose in
wheel chairs.
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FlowerCitySalonphotos
fromfall brochure.
Hobby Shop: wood burning &
Woodcarving
BilliardsRoom
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Structure: The Narrow hallway,
leadstothe onlyMenand Women
washroomsandthe onlyaccessible
washroom(nexttogymnasium).
Café Lounge.SeatsApproximately50
Libraryalso showsmoviestwice a
week.
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Café Kitchen.
Renovateddance studio,you
can see the flooringshows
where the computerlabuse
to be.
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Office turnedintostorage.
Office Space