Park Board Minutes 2006 02-09-06 UNITED CITY OF YORE- I LE
YORKVMLE PARKS & RECREATION DEPARTMENT BOARD MEETING
Parks & Recreation Administrative Offices Riverfront Building
Thursday, February 9,2006
MINUTES
CALL TO ORDER:
Meeting was called to order by Chris Rollins at 7:02 p.m.
ROLL CALL:
Chris Rollins, ICen Koch,Van Truman, Heather Fiala, Gary Golniski , and Alderman
Paul James
GUESTS/CITY OFFICIALS/STAFF:
Scott Sleezer, Interim Director/Superintendent of Parks
Sue Swithin, Interim Director/Superintendent of Recreation
Bob Nelson, Tanglewood Homes, LaFox, Illinois
Mike Brandenburg, Tanglewood Homes
Traci Pleckham, Finance Director
PUBLIC COMMENTS:
None
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Minutes from the .January 26, 2006 board meeting will be forwarded to the next meeting.
The Board did not adjourn to executive session as mentioned in the minutes.
BILLS REVIEW:
Cash Analysis & Bills List
The check paying Marty Munns for refereeing is still being reviewed. There was
question whether Marty Munns was in violation of the state statute of collecting funds
from the Park Board which is City funded. The City Attorney has been made aware of
the situation.
Ken Koch wanted to clarify that a 1099 form will be issued to all referees who make
more than $600 in the year. Sue Swithin indicated that they have made everyone aware
of the situation.
Gary Golinski questioned why John Wyeth is being paid out of the Parks and Recreation
budget. Traci Pleckharn indicated that any attorney questions coming from Parks and
Recreation, including phone calls,will be changed to Parks and Recreation. For
confidentiality reasons it is not itemized but Parks and Recreation can request it.
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Van Truman motioned to approve the bills list and was seconded by Ken Koch. Roll call
vote: Chris Rollins—Yes, Ken Koch—Yes, Van Truman—Yes, Heather Fiala—Yes,
( and Gary Golinski—Yes. The motion was unanimously approved.
OLD BUSINESS:
White Pines Farfns Tanglewood Development
Bob Nelson returned to inform the Board of some changes that have been made to the
Tanglewood Homes Development property which is on the coiner of Ash and Galena.
Plan Council made a change to the centrally located eight acre park. The park was 305
feet fiom right of way to right of way and the park standards for a soccer field are 450
feet. Tanglewood Homes extended that property to 10.1 acres and retained the 58
parallel parking spaces with the potential to add more panting. There will be a direct
connection through the detention area to the park. And there will be approximately
twenty acres designated for local commercial.
There was a recommendation at the Plan Council to bring Beecher Road trail all the way
through the ComEd easement. The Piairie'Tiail system will be on the north side of
Galena Blvd. The cost for 1,000 feet often feet wide trail is $20,000 for pavement and
$12,000 for five feet wide cement sidewalk. The sidewalk should be adequate.
We will be requesting all land cash with the increase of the park size and will leverage
the cash fiom another development to enhance this park site. Tire layout ofthe park is
nice and we do not get many opportunities to get land like this for our athletic programs.
It has nice exposure and plenty of parking. 'The Board would like any more parking that
is available so that spectators will also have a place to park, especially since there will be
multiple fields for multiple age groups.
Travis Miller—Park Planner Job Description
Travis Miller presented the revised city park designer,job description and the planning
department schematic. Since the last meeting he has presented the description to the
Administration Committee in which they have reviewed it and given their input. It is
scheduled to go to the Committee of the Whole next week. IIe is still on the same
timeline, planning to get it advertised in March and start interviews in April. The job
description has been reviewed by the legal department so that the language is correct
fiom a legal standpoint. Travis Miller read the position description overview and the
eight essential job functions as provided on his handout. One of the essential job
functions was to attend all regular Park Board meetings and work closely with the Parks
and Recreation Executive Director and Department Staff'. Of the five position
requirements, Travis Miller specifically noted that the person needed to be proficient with
AutoCAD 2000 or better software and must have the ability to develop high quality
graphics and reports. The minimum and preferred experience and education included a
Bachelor's degree in landscape architecture, urban planning, urban design,
parks/recreation, or related field and three years of experience. The salary range will be
$41,000—$57,000. The funds allocated are $48,000. Depending on the number of
candidates, he may put together a selection committee to help make the final selection
and would like Parks and Recreation's input as well.
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The cost center for this position will be Planning and Development, but for certain
projects it may come out of land cash, the general budget, etc. The work will be project
oriented so it should be easy to log time Van Truman's concern is that since land cash
dollars will be funding this position why isn't there any organizational reporting
relationship between the park designer and the executive director, The Board and staff
do a lot of work on the design of the parks and he would like to make sure that their
decisions are relayed and carried out by the park designer. Iravis Miller assured him that
there would be a direct relationship between the two and the Board will have an influence
on the design. The park designer will be attending all of the Park and Recreation Board
meetings to be informed of the decisions. In fact, Travis Miller indicated that there is an
advantage of having this position in planning and development because he will also be
working with the urban designer and himself on other projects, and they will be able to
tie city and park projects together. He informed them that the park designer will also
have to answer to the Board. He will get day to day direction from staff too and when
key decisions need to be made he will present it to Parks and Recreation for their input.
Chris Rollins takes comfort in that they have a fairly well developed process for our
Parks and Recreation master plan so it would be the park designer's responsibility to
maintain and implement it, not to draft it or alter it in any way. IIe does not want a lot of
land cash used without getting what we need. This position should, however, offer some
relief from the expenditures we have been experiencing for park design services, but will
need to be watched.
As a staffed salary employee, this should be a budgeted line item out of the general fetid.
It is not the intention to fund an employee with land cash. This is just to get the
employee started.
Travis Miller will provide a list where the advertisement for this position will be
published. His intention is to have it listed nationally as well as locally.
Parks Maintenance Facility
The Public Works Committee was happy with the proposed letter. Mayor Art Prochaska
also gave the go ahead. Sentle Rubel will revise the estimates and Scott Sleezer will
bring this information back to the Board,
Youth BaseballAgmement
Chris Rollins signed the Youth Baseball Agreement with the revisions made as
mentioned at the last meeting. It will now go to the Committee of a Whole.
Kendalwood Estates Bid
It was proposed to ask Kendalwood Estates to put in a bid to put in a trail on the
Commonwealth Edison easement since they are adjacent to the property. This is not
property of Kendalwood Estates but they should be able to give a fairly good bid, but
they will still look for the best bid. The trail here may need to be a different standard
since it will need extra strength for trucks to drive on it for maintenance purposes. This
section of the trail will probably be compacted stone instead of pavement so that the trail
does not get damaged too quickly. This does not mean, however, that we cannot pave it
or get a grant to pave it in the future. This is a fifteen acre section and the funds will
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come out of land cash. The Board gave unanimous consent to ask Kendalwood Estates to
put in a bid.
NEW BUSINESS:
Revised Budget
Traci Pleckham presented the proposed revised budget, Some of the items that she noted
were-
0 There is a $60,000 carry over for the purchase of two trucks„
• The parks capital fee is rip from$13,750 to $20,000 which was from money that
was not spent.
• Park capital donations are up $7,000 because the baseball equipment has not been
purchased yet.
• There was a decrease in employee salaries due to the Executive Director vacancy.
• Park Contractual has gone up for electrical contract work, Fertilizing will be
brought in-house however.
• Program refunds are up$7,000, but this is because we are offering more
programs.
• Most of the land cash carry over is from build-out.
• The big change is in the Hoover holding costs which were not in the budget
before. It was transferred from Land Acquisition. Chris Rollins indicated that if
we value keeping funds on a contingency basis,then we cannot purchase land.
However, if something comes up we can ask how we can fund it. We should not
have a loss in flexibility by using the funds in this way. We need to start working
on our strategy for land acquisition in our master plan, though. Chris Rollins
asked if we needed to worry about the variability of what we will have to pay for
the holding cost at Hoover. Scott Sleezer will ask the Forest Preserve and will
confirm the time frame and the interest on it. It is believed that if we do not
purchase the land,the forest preserve has the right to sell it. The obligation is
actually with the County and we need to reimburse them. They do not believe
that the forest preserve is interested in selling the land elsewhere,though.
• A lot of the land cash went down. The major ones were Grand Reserve and
Autumn Creek. They are taking a different direction on these. Most,however,
are just running behind. Regarding Grand Reserve, since we will never see the
money, it was questioned what is our leverage if they do not pay for something
such as the concession stand. They are obligated to us for a certain amount of
money under Yorkville's specifications. Currently,they want us to guarantee
certain dollar amount parks, which is not something that we can do. We can,
however, guarantee them that there will be a park. We do not build substandard
parks. Our parks are well in line with the needs of the community and we point to
them with pride. The City Administrator is working with the person from Grand
Reserve to resolve the situation.
• Gary Goldinski asked about the$10,000 for a Master Plan update if a new
planning tech is not hired. The new director will need to review the master plan.
There are a lot of things that need to go in the next update. Chris Rollins feels it
would be in our best interest to wait until the new director and park planner are in
place so both can participate in that process. It will save us money because of the
hours involved.
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REPORTS
Recreation Report
Sue Swithin provided the recreation report for the Board's review. She also informed the
Board that they have hired Kathy Kastak at the Receptionist/General Secretary for the
Recreation Office. She will start on February 13, 2006. She has sent a memo to Mayor
Prochaska to inform him and the Council too. There were approximately 50 applicants
for the position. Kathy was originally one of the full-time applicants that the City had
shared with Parks and Recreation.
Richard Korinek cannot attend the City Council meeting on February 14, 2006 to accept
his plaque. The presentation of the plaque will be rescheduled to February 28, 2006 at
7:00 p.m.
On March 11, 2006 from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. the Yes, Yes, Walk for Kids Rally from
the Yorkville Schools Referendurn Committee would like to rent the River$ont Park and
would like us to waive the fee. Sue Swithin wanted to know if this was okay because it is
a political issue. The Board had no problem with them using the park. They did not want
to waive the fee to use the facility, however, because they did not want to set a precedent
where they would have to waive the fee for everyone.
We received a grant for Whispering Meadows,
ADDITIONAL BUSINESS
( None
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 9:08 p.m. following the motion by Heather Fiala and seconded
by Ken Koch. The motion was unanimously approved.
Minute Taker—.Ieahne Arbet
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