June 2021 - Parks & Recreation - 27

On or about December 9, 2014,
the City and LCRA entered into
a Management Agreement for
a term of five years, which outlined their obligations as to the
operations of the boathouse and
the related rowing infrastructure.
LCRA agreed to pay the City $500
per month and be responsible for
" managing, directing, operating
and coordinating the daily activities " at the boathouse. LCRA had
" exclusive right to possession and
management of all interior areas "
of the boathouse, subject only to
" City's right to use the outside
surrounding areas and its right to
enter for maintenance, repair, and
use of any docks or mooring facilities located on the lake adjacent to
or near " the boathouse. The Management Agreement also required
LCRA to ensure that the City complied with its obligations under its
agreement with Lake County for
the Capital Projects Funding Program. Under the agreement, the
City retained responsibility for the
unpaved grounds around the boathouse, landscaping, maintenance
of restrooms, utilities and structural issues arising out of or related to
the boathouse (HVAC, plumbing,
structural integrity, roof, etc.).

Learn to Row Program
LCRA hosts a " Learn to Row "
summer camp and an after-school
program at the boathouse. The
summer camp is designed to
teach students how to row. The
after-school program is a competitive program that involves traveling
throughout the state and southeast
to compete against other teams.
LCRA employees, Knutz and Outlaw, coach the programs.
F.V., a minor diagnosed with
	

autism, participated in LCRA's
summer camp beginning mid-July
2018 through the beginning of
August 2018. F.V.'s uncle enrolled
F.V. in the summer camp. At the
time of enrollment, he informed
two females who were taking
completed
applications
that
F.V. was autistic. Coach Knutz,
however, did not know that F.V.
was autistic, but noticed that
something was different with F.V.
when he started working with him.
According to Coach Knutz, during
camp F.V. made violent comments
about " guns and shooting and
blood. " Coach Knutz requested that
F.V. stop making those comments,
but F.V. was non-responsive. F.V.
continued to be non-responsive to
the coaches throughout the entire
time he was in the program. The
coaches decided to pair F.V. with
an older partner. The coaches
believed the older and more mature
athletes would not react to F.V. and
would provide rowing support for
him as well.
On the last day of the summer
camp, Perez learned that LCRA
offered an after-school program.
She expressed an interest to Coach
Knutz in enrolling F.V. in the
program. Coach Knutz told Perez that F.V. could not attend the
after-school program. Coach Knutz
explained that the after-school program did not have the resources to
supervise F.V. with the other students. Specifically, Coach Knutz
stated that they try to keep a specific coach-to-rower ratio.
Coach Outlaw also agreed that
F.V. was not capable of rowing
in team boats in a competitive
program. Because F.V. was
not following directions and
non-responsive in the summer

program, F.V. would need to have
his own coach when in the boat,
as well as direct supervision when
the team was doing its exercise on
land. According to Perez, Coach
Knutz stated, " I don't think it is a
good idea, F.V. is not competition
material, competition ready to
row, and it is just not a good idea. "
Perez decided not to submit an
application for F.V. to participate in
LCRA's after-school program. F.V.
was, however, invited to participate
in LCRA's summer camp again.

According to Perez, Coach
Knutz stated, " I don't think
it is a good idea, F.V. is
not competition material,
competition ready to row, and it
is just not a good idea. "
ADA Complaint
On August 13, 2018, Perez submitted an ADA complaint with
the City. The City's public works
director responded to Perez's complaint and informed her that her
complaint related to a program offered by LCRA, which is an entity
separate from the City. The City
informed Melissa Coleman, the
president of LCRA at the time, of
Perez's complaint. Coleman, Paul
McPherson (founding member of
LCRA) and Coach Knutz subsequently met with Perez to discuss
her complaint.
Coleman agreed to include
F.V. in the after-school program
and provide F.V. individual lessons. Coleman stated that LCRA
would " still have him practice, be
part of the team, be able to get

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Parks & Recreation

27
June 2021 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of June 2021 - Parks & Recreation
