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Home My WebLink About5.5 Mayor’s Appointment to Parks and Community Services Commission Unscheduled Alternate Vacancy STAFF REPORT CITY COUNCIL Page 1 of 2 Agenda Item 5.5 DATE: January 13, 2026 TO: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers FROM: Colleen Tribby, City Manager SUBJECT: Mayor’s Appointment to Parks and Community Services Commission Unscheduled Alternate Vacancy Prepared by: Marsha Moore, MMC, City Clerk EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The City Council will consider the Mayor’s appointment to fill an alternate unscheduled vacancy on the Parks and Community Services Commission. STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Confirm the Mayor’s appointment of Amarissa Koelling to the unscheduled alternate vacancy on the Parks and Community Services Commission with a term ending December 2026. FINANCIAL IMPACT: None. DESCRIPTION: An unscheduled vacancy occurred on the Parks and Community Services Commission on August 19, 2025. A notice seeking applications was posted on August 21, 2025, with a deadline of September 12, 2025. That position was filled on October 21, 2025, leaving an unscheduled vacancy in the alternate position. Applicants were provided an opportunity to be considered for the alternate position. After reviewing applications from Daniel Hor, Shubha Kandukoori, Amarissa Koelling, Horatio Ulescu, Debbie Wagner, and Wilfredo Yee, Mayor Hu selected Amarissa Koelling to fill the unscheduled vacancy. STRATEGIC PLAN INITIATIVE: None. 77 Page 2 of 2 NOTICING REQUIREMENTS/PUBLIC OUTREACH: The City Council Agenda was posted and applicants were notified. ATTACHMENTS: 1) Parks and Community Services Commission Applications 78 Attachment 1 79 80 81 Parks and Community Services Commission Application The Parks and Community Services Commission is an advisory body to the City Council and City Staff. This Commission is made up of five members of the community who serve four-year staggered terms and one student representative who serves a one-year term. This Commission acts in an advisory capacity to the City Council regarding the City facilities, parks, and recreational activities and programs. The Parks and Community Services Commission is part of the City’s Conflict of Interest Code, and if appointed, you will be required to fill out a disclosure statement which identifies certain financial interest beginning with the immediate twelve-month period prior to your appointment (FPPC Form 700) and attend Ethics Training. The Parks and Community Services Commission Bylaws and Rules of Procedure govern the meetings and activities of the Commission. To browse past Agendas and Minutes for the Commission, visit the City's Online Records Portal. Date Time * 9/11/2025 First Name * Daniel Last Name * Hor Address * Street Address Address Line 2 City Dublin State/Province/Region CA Postal/Zip Code 94568 Country United States Phone (Primary)*Phone (Secondary) E-mail * How long have you been a resident of Dublin?* 4+ Have you participated in Inside Dublin?* Yes No If yes, what year? Are you a Lobbyist?* Measure JJ, the Government Accountability Act, approved by the voters in November 2024 prohibits commissioners from being lobbyists. 82 Yes No Application Questions What knowledge do you have of the programs offered through the Parks and Community Services Department? Have you or a family member participated in a program sponsored by the Department? The department oﬀers a wide range of recreational, educational, and community-oriented programs and services. These include things like coordinating the oﬀerings within in the seasonal activity guides; planning various festivals and events (e.g. St Patrick’s Day, Splatter, the new night market); managing our various parks, trails, and facilities (e.g. The Wave); and art & community programs (e.g. public art murals & displays, People of the Parks). Yes, my family and I have enjoyed many of these programs and facilities since moving to Dublin 4+ years ago. For instance, we march in the St Patrick’s Day parade every year as part of our daughter ’s school contingent (fun fact: I’ve been the school mascot for 2 years), and we greatly enjoy the food and vendor market after the parade. We also participated in the Shamrock 5K Fun Run this year and hope to make it an annual tradition. I’ve also signed up my daughter for many of the youth sports and arts classes through the activity guide; and we’ve also participated as a family in many holiday events listed there, like the Ghosts of Dublin graveyard tour, and Breakfast with Santa. We’ve also been to The Wave many times – almost every summer! How do you feel about user fees for recreation programs and park/facility reservations? In an ideal world, I’d prefer for our core facilities and programs to be oﬀered free, or at minimal charge, especially for Dublin residents. While I understand that we need money to pay for upkeep and other needs, I’d point out that we do pay for them through our taxes. There is also a philosophical consideration where we can decide as a community what things we value enough to oﬀer as public goods at low to no cost for the beneﬁt of all, especially to those who are less able to aﬀord them. Not everything should be seen through just cost perspectives. That said, I also understand the need for some balance in oﬀering free services and charging for things, especially value-added options. For example, while I would lean more towards having free-to-low charges for entry to The Wave, I’d be more open to charging for facility rentals, like reserving cabanas at The Wave or picnic areas at our various parks. How do you feel about making a decision for the overall good of the community but unpopular with neighbors, residents, or organizations? Making “unpopular decisions”, if justiﬁable and is truly in the best interests of the community, isn’t something I’d shy away from. Leaders should strive to make the best decisions for all, especially if they have additional information and insight that outsiders do not. Leadership shouldn’t be seen as a popularity contest where the aim is to please people without regard to the actual impact of the decisions that are made. On the other hand, leading is also not about making decisions without regard for other people’s views. Leaders should be transparent and seek to understand diﬀerent perspectives, especially for contentious issues. What is the most important contribution you can make as a member of the Parks and Community Services Commission? I am a user experience researcher by profession. In my job, I use data and user research to inform decision-making for systems and services. In a nutshell, I know how to make things easier and better for people. But leading and making decisions on issues that impact people isn’t just about reading numbers and facts in a cold, calculated way. My background, including a previous career in communications, has given me great people-centric perspectives, empathy, and soft skills to work collaboratively with others, as well as understanding the value of hearing from the people whom we serve. Why are you interested in serving on the Parks and Community Services Commission? My family and I have enjoyed living here, in part due to the many facilities, services, and events that the Parks and Community Services Department manages. Dublin is our home and I want to do my part to help serve our community and give back to our city. And what better way to do that than to step up to answer a call to ﬁll an unexpected vacancy on commission and work to further improve the same facilities, services, and events that my family and I have grown to love? In what organizations are you currently a member? Please list. I am an active participant in the Parent-Faculty Club of Murray Elementary (where our daughter attends), and have volunteered in many of the PFC’s and the school’s community and fundraising activities. I am also a member of the Dublin USD’s Citizens Bond Oversight Committee, an independent citizen body that oversees the spending of bond funds for major school projects in our city. Additionally, I was recently on the Parks and Community Services Department’s Art Selection Committee for the new mural art by our library – an engagement that I enjoyed contributing towards. 83 What knowledge do you have of the City-owned community facilities in Dublin, such as the Dublin Senior Center, Shannon Community Center, or The Wave? Have you or a family member rented facilities with the City of Dublin? I am familiar with all 3 of those facilities, having attended events at all of them and, with The Wave, enjoyed family outings there during the summer. We have not had the opportunity to rent facilities with the city, but only because we didn’t need to. However, I’m certainly familiar with the concept and have attended events where others have rented facilities, whether a hall at the Senior Center to host a school event, or picnic facilities for a birthday party at a local park, or something else. How can the City provide better equity and inclusion to all persons that use our parks, trails, and facilities, and access our programs? As I had implied in my earlier response, public goods and facilities would be more inclusive and open for all if they were free (like our public parks) or more aﬀordable (especially to residents). Cost is always a major consideration and barrier. Other ways we can prioritize equity and inclusion can be things like ensuring facilities are more easily accessible and welcoming to people of diﬀerent cultures and national origins, as Dublin has a signiﬁcant and diverse immigrant population. This might mean ensuring that language isn’t a major barrier, or that we provide a welcoming and safe environment for people who might have diﬀerent beliefs or backgrounds. Similarly, we should also consider aspects like accessibility, age, and sexual orientation, to ensure that no one in our community feels left out. That said, I am happy to see as an ordinary resident that the city already implements many of these considerations in what it does. 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96