Loading...
Park Board Minutes 2007 07-12-07 APFROVED UNITED CITY OF YORKVILLE Parks and Recreation Department Board meeting Administration Office—Riverfront Building,201 W.Hydraulic Street Yorkville,IL 60560 Thursday,July 12,2007 Call to Order Chris Rollins called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. Roll Call Chris Rollins, Ken Koch, Van Truman, Debbie Horaz and Kelly Sedgewick. Introduction of Guests. City Officials and Staff Director of Parks and Recreation David Mogle introduced Vickie Coveny,the new board member appointed by Mayor Valerie Burd. Coveny said she's looking forward to serving on the board and that her whole family is in involved in various park districts. Her father retired from the Fox Valley Park District and she said she's spent her whole life watching parks be built. She's always enjoyed watching things change. In addition to Mogle, Superintendent of Recreation Sue Swithin, Superintendent of Parks Scott Sleezer and Park Planner Laura Haake were in attendance. Approval of Minutes Minutes from the June 28, 2007 Park Board meeting were approved without changes. Koch made the motion to approve the minutes and Horaz seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved by voice vote. Bills Review Rollins informed Coveny that the board reviews the cash analysis and reviews bills at every meeting. He said it's the board members' opportunity to learn how the park&rec. department is spending money. He said it's the community's check and balance system. Koch questioned the line item for$685 for movies in the park. Swithin said the fee definitely isn't for photos. She said it's likely for the movies themselves, but that she would check into it for sure. Truman asked about the cost of the bounce house. Swithin said that the district split the cost between two accounts and that the city now owns a bounce house. There were no other questions about the bills. Truman made a motion to approve the bills. Sedgewick seconded the motion. The motion was approved by roll call vote. Rollins, Koch, Truman, Horaz, Sedgewick and Coveny voted yes. Old Business Parks and Recreation vision and mission statements: Mogle said that at the previous meeting the board members were fine with the mission statement but asked Mogle to try to edit the vision statement, which was too long. The draft version in the board packets is shorter, he said. But since that time, he, Swithin and Sleezer met and narrowed the wording even farther. He asked board members for input on whether the new statement is too short. As proposed, the vision and mission statements are now each one sentence long. Rollins said he likes the suggested revisions. The newly proposed one-sentence vision statement reads: "To be recognized as an innovative and efficient park and recreation system having abundant resources to achieve its mission." Mogle said the staff thought it was important to leave in that the department is recognized as a model agency. While the department wants to be innovative, it wants to be efficient as well, he said. The staff felt the newly proposed vision statement is short, to the point and visionary, Mogle said. Horaz said she would like to have time to review it before she approved it. Truman suggested changing the wording from"having abundant resources"to "developing abundant resources."He said it will always be developing and that it's an ongoing process. Overall,he said the statement is good; it just needs a little tweaking. He said it's 99.9 percent there. Rollins asked if Mogle, Swithin and Sleezer could continue to look at the statement and bring it back to the next meeting. Future staffing needs: Mogle said the city is aggressively moving forward with its budget schedule and that the park board needs to get its staffing needs out there. One of the most needed positions is a recreation supervisor that would report directly to the superintendent of recreation. The supervisor would act as an assistant to the superintendent of recreation with an emphasis on program and event supervision. Mogle said the position would be similar to the foreman in the superintendent of parks area. Swithin said the work is already being done in the department because it is needed. Instead of adding another coordinator, Swithin said this new position would entail a greater workload and more authority. Truman cautioned that if a coordinator were promoted to this position, a coordinator's position would be left vacant. "You don't want to shrink the staffing budget to promote someone,"he said. Rollins agreed saying that if the district plans to promote from within,the head count from the position that person currently occupies must be kept open. The coordinator's position in the past has been limited to the number of expansions and the number of programs, he said. He added it's probably overdue to have a supervisory position. Mogle said the staff is trying to be realistic. He said it would be a long shot to get both positions in the same year. Swithin suggested saying in the budget request that the coordinator spot would remain open until the need arises. In other staffing needs, Mogle said the department is working on a master plan to hire part-time clerical support for the superintendent of parks and the park planner. What the department is considering is to increase the hours of the part-time clerical staff already working in the department. Currently, those people work 10 hours per week. The position would ideally go to 20 hours per week. Mogle said there's already money in the budget to pay for the increased hours. Looking ahead to 2008/09, Mogle said the department would like increase the administrative assistant's position from half time to full-time. He said there's an enormous load of record keeping and filing involved in the department. This person would serve the director and the two superintendents. Also, the department would like to add 1.5 maintenance worker positions. With the new parks coming on line, Mogle said the positions are necessary. The rationale is to meet the standard of 1 worker per 20 acres of parkland. The operator 2 position is another one proposed for 08/09. Mogle said the position is a trades position. He said the department needs someone with more trades background. Eventually,the department could possibly install its own park equipment. Currently, 40 to 45 percent of the cost for new playground equipment is the installation cost. The budget proposal for 08/09 also includes an arborist/forester position. Mogle said the department is only exploring the need for the position. He said the need for an operator 2 position is more critical. Rollins said the city is probably a ways away from needing a full-time forester. Mogle said the department could look at hiring a forester on a contractual basis or it could be part of a shared position. Also, for FY 09/10, a position is being recommended by staff for a recreation coordinator to help with programming for teens and senior citizens. For FY 2010/2011,Mogle said the department would like to add a half-time marketing assistant position. This person would be in charge of designing and drafting the program catalog and annual brochures. Swithin said having someone to do the catalog would help her greatly. When the catalog is due, everything on her desk comes to a halt. Mogle said he would like the park board to discuss whether the proposed staffing needs are on the right track. Truman said full job descriptions need to be created for each of the proposed position. In response to a question from Koch, Mogle said the department could look into hiring someone whose duties would include that of an arborist. Or, he said the city and the parks and recreation department could look at sharing someone in that capacity. He said he would look at the options. New Business Heartland Circle Park conceptual plan: Haake presented the plans for the Heartland Circle Park. She said it has a space theme with a rocket ship play structure. Sleezer said it was a unique opportunity to get a circle for a park. He said they talked about many themes and settled on the space theme for the best fit for the park. Haake said there is an existing asphalt path around the park and six entrances from that path. It's about 1/3 mile around the park and mile markers would be erected for walkers or joggers. In addition to the rocket ship structure,the playground would feature swings and a sandbox. A metal bowl that looks like a moon crater is planned for the skate park element. The skate park element hits an age group where the park district is a little soft, he added. Haake added that if necessary, there is room to add a baseball diamond or soccer field. For now,that space is being left open until after the community meeting. A meeting is planned for 7 p.m. July 30 for the Heartland Circle residents to view the plans and give feedback. Sleezer said in the annexation agreement for the subdivision,the developer states that no organized ball games are permitted in the park. Rollins said he would be distressed to learn of any such agreement regarding parkland that had been donated to the city. Mogle found the Heartland agreement and distributed copies to the board. In the agreement, it states that the city may install park improvements such as permanent athletic fields,backstops, goals and nets with the recommendation of the Heartland Circle Homeowner's Association. The agreement states the city shall not erect any temporary or permanent lights for any athletic usage on the park unless recommended by the homeowner's association. It further states that the park is designed for informal recreational usage. Rollins said for him this is a problematic agreement. He wants to know what constitutes the recommendation of the homeowner's association. He also wants to know the definition of"informal recreation." Since the agreement has already been made, Rollins said there's nothing to do except ask for clarification on these issues. Sleezer, however, said he doesn't believe it will be an issue. Rollins still said the agreement is dangerously close to letting someone dictate what's going on in a city park. He said the city has always maintained the concept of neighborhood parks, but he doesn't want to see people dictating what can go in those parks. He said the city should know what the reasonable limits of what an agreement like this might be. Mogle said he would talk to the city attorney about the issue. He also said it will be interesting when the plan is presented to the homeowner's association. The homeowner's have been eager to see the park plans. While he definitely has concerns about the agreement, Rollins said he likes the proposed theme and the design. In response to a question about parking, Sleezer said there's adequate parking even if a ball field is built. Community members will have the option to view the plans at the July 30 meeting. Then, on Aug. 3, a park party is planned at the site. The party will feature a movie, the bounce house and other activities. It's a meet and greet type of event, Sleezer said. Haake added a postcard will be sent to Heartland Circle residents inviting them to the meeting and the park party. The events are also listed on the park page on the city's website. The board gave unanimous consensus to move the plans forward to the town meeting. Recreation programs for special populations: Mogle said completed research gives some sense of a need for programs for special populations. He included information in the packets for board members to review. He said he'd bring the issue back to the board at the July 26 meeting. He said there are three phases to start with. The first phase is the research component. The second phase is to look at what options are available to the city. Does the city join a special recreation organization and levy a tax to provide the programs or does the city try to do it on its own? In the third phase, the city would need to find out what is needed to levy a tax if that's the direction the city intends to go. The Kendall County clerk told Mogle the city may have to hold a referendum if it wanted to levy a tax for these purposes. However, Mogle said it used to be that the city could levy up to 4 cents per $100 of assessed valuation for special recreation. It's an issue that needs to be resolved, Mogle said. Mogle anticipates that once a special recreation program is promoted, it would become popular very quickly. About a year ago a couple of families approached the city seeking help to send people to a special education camp. The director of the United Way approached Mogle about finding funds to help those families. Last year, two families were helped and this year four families were helped. Mogle said the city needs to look at whether it would be more beneficial for city's population or get involved in a special recreation organization. The community is growing and as it grows, the needs for special recreation will grow, he added. Swithin said the city already is seeing a need. There are one to two students each year who request special accommodations in the recreation programs, she said. Coveny said that whatever the city decided, it's from her experience,that adequate staffing would be essential. So far, Rollins said that if the city hasn't had to deny assistance or turn people away,the city's okay for now. However, it said it's good to try to be ahead of the curve and have information on hand. The next step is to get the levy issue resolved and to find out how much special recreation association fees would be. Donation/gift procedure: Mogle said the parks and recreation department staff is looking at coming up with a consistent method by which gifts and donations are accepted. Swithin created a draft of a memorials and gifts catalog that lists items the department would like to see donated as gifts. But she added the department is always open to new ideas. Most important is the language on Page 3, she said. She asked the park board members to review it and give her feedback. The board liked the idea of having a brochure on hand and directed Swithin to continue working on it. Reports Director Report: Mogle said he included the status of the parks and recreation department's annual objectives in his report. While headway has been made on most of the objectives,there still is no site for the new maintenance building. He said the city has been unable to pursue anything of any substance. Rollins said the parks and recreation department spend a lot of money to plan and attempt to get a facility erected and now without a site it seems the department is back to where is started. Mogle said that on a positive note, Mayor Burd recognizes the need for a maintenance building and"hot on the issue" as well. Rollins said he's upset that the planned site by Menard's didn't work out. Objections by residents of the nearby subdivision were predicated on non-factual information, he said. Now that the four-story Smith Engineering building is going up by the subdivision, a maintenance building wouldn't be out of place. He said it might be time for the city to consider revisiting the possibility of putting a maintenance building at that location. Mogle said the mayor's hope is to find something located in an industrial park. Rollins said the park board liked the other location because it's centrally located. Regarding the lease agreement for the Hoover property, Mogle said Kendall County wants the city to provide additional funding. Rollins said the city, county and Forest Preserve District had an agreement to purchase the property. The city held up its end of the agreement and the city council needs to hold fast on it. Mogle said he doesn't want to blow the issue out of proportion,but that the city was asked to look at doing more. He said there's a meeting in about two weeks and he'll more know then. Meanwhile in another update, Mogle said he met with officials from Edwards Hospital. The officials agreed to include the city's questions in its business plan for a new fitness center agreement. He said the officials were open to what the park staff had to say and that staff members would soon visit several fitness center sites where similar arrangements are in place. In her report, Swithin listed some of the activities that took place in June and said June was a successful month. Rollins then said that at the funeral for Yorkville resident Sid Chapman Sue suggested the city look into hosting a Gus Macker basketball tournament in his honor. Rollins wanted the board's opinion on the matter and said if the board decides to pursue it, the process could take two to three years. Before the meeting adjourned Mogle requested an executive session to discuss personnel. The regular session concluded at 10:35 p.m. Koch made a motion to suspend the regular session to go to executive session. Truman seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved by voice vote. After the executive session, the regular meeting adjourned at 10:55 p.m. Truman made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Koch seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved by voice vote. Minutes respectfully submitted by Dina Gipe.