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Park Board Minutes 2006 09-25-06 Page 1 of 3 Yorkville Parks & Recreation Department Special Meeting of the City of Yorkville Park Board Monday, September 25, 2006 7:00 pm Riverfiont Park Building 301 E. Hydraulic St. Yorkville, 11, 60560 1. Call to Order The meeting was called to order by Ken Koch at 7:00 pm. 2. Roll Call Kelly Sedgwick, Debbie Horaz, Gary GolinsId, Ken Koch, and Van Truman were in attendance. Parks Superintendent, Scott Sleezer and Executive Director of Parks, Dave Mogle were also present. Steve Hansen, Lauren Underhill, Pete Athens, Mike Romano, Ben Asel, and Chester Hughes were here on behalf of the Yorkville Youth Baseball and Softball League and the Yorkville Reds, 3. Old Business Youth Baseball Field Usage—The Yorkville Reds and the Yorkville Youth Baseball and Softball League presented the Board with their Baseball field needs. The Yorkville Reds have had 100 children try out and 69 children have been accepted so far. They have one team for each level age 10 through 14, and a second team for the 13 year old level. They are requesting the use of 3 fields. Beecher 5 can accommodate an 80 foot baseline. Beecher 1 and 2 as well as the Fox Hill West Field can accommodate 70 foot baselines. The Reds were asked what their contingency plan was. In the worst case scenario all the games would be away games. The Yorkville Youth Baseball and Softball league is projecting a 20% increase in enrollment overall, They are projecting a 25% increase in the K—8 teams. They are adding Friday play as well as full Saturday play. There are 1,200 players in the league and they are all Yorkville School District kids. No one who wants to play is cut from the team. This is a strictly volunteer group with no paid employees. The pitching machines the league uses require electricity. They will be needing additional fields to accommodate their needs. The Harris fields and possibly the Cross Fields could be used for the transition league program. They would need another field with access to electricity for the pitching machine. A question was raised about improving fields with the Forest Preserve or Cross Lutheran. The Forest Preserve is not interested in any improvements or additions to the fields. They also have limited parking. The fields at Cross could possibly be used for practices, YYB&S practices begin the end of April and play runs until July 40', The travel league plays through the .3`d week of July. The Reds begin the 3`d week of March and run through August 15t March IS`is the deadline for getting the field schedule to the Parks & Recreation Department. Page 2 of'3 Until the lease agreement is signed with the Forest Preserve for the Harris fields there is still a gray area. The Boy Scouts will still get preferred treatment. The Reds had to get a permit from the county as well as the Boy Scouts in order to use the fields in the past. There was a question about whether YYB&S thought they would use all their make up game dates. Last year they did not make up all the games they had originally scheduled. Each field requested by YYB&S will have 100 games and practices played on them. There was a question about where the shortfall was. At what age? The projections are not that detailed. That will be answered after sign-ups. If new fields were made able to handle multiple distances it would give greater flexibility. The mound could be portable. Scott Sleezer asked if partnerships could be created. World there be any funding from the YYB&S for improving fields? The answer was yes, a prioritized list could be made for field improvements. Grande Reserve and the School district have lighted fields. More games can be played on lighted fields. YYB&S are able to use the fields at Circle Center and they have 1 month of usage on the Freshman Boys field at the High School. It has a 90 foot baseline, and that works for the 14 year old boys. There was some discussion about whether the YYBS agreement was exclusive. YYBS gets priority for field reservations. The next priority would be for private groups that are made up of 80% Yorkville Residents. If the fields at Hoover were taken out of YYBS schedule it would make an additional shortage of 137 field slots. If'partnerships were created, it may be possible to create another field. The feasibility of adding lights to an existing field was discussed. Beecher would not get lights. YYBS asked to keep things the same as they were in the past. They are trying to improve the program for the kids. They will have an honest account for the exact fields needed by March Ist Scott Sleezer said that Baseball and Soccer are expanding rapidly and besides the additional baseball field needs there are also soccer field needs. A plan has to be made that will include all kinds of fields. In the Spring the Recreation department will have Adult Softball In-House that will also need fields. YYBS has an elite traveling team. They have try outs for this team and if the child does not make it on this team they have the opportunity to play on a different team in the league. The Reds have try outs, and if the child does not make the team there is no other offer. YYBS has one team at each age. The Reds have one at each age and a 2"d 13 year old team. If the lighted fields are considered the Parks and Recreation department only comes close to breaking even on YYBS'needs. There may be other organizations with private fields or space for fields such as churches or the Legion. The cost for lighting fields at Hoover was expensive. It was thought it would cost 12 million and 450,000 would be just to run the electric lines to it. t Page 3 of 3 The next step for this would be to turn it over to staff. Both organizations will receive a follow up call. 4. Adjournment Debbie Horaz moved to adjorun the meeting, Kelly Sedgwick seconded the motion. All were in favor. The meeting was adjotuned at 8:07 pm Minutes submitted by Laura Leppert. l