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Park Board Minutes 2012 06-14-12 APPROVED 7/12/12 Yorkville Parks and Recreation Department City Hall 800 Game Farm Road June 14, 2012 at 6:00 p.m. Call to Order: Ken Koch called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Roll Call: Ken Koch - yes; Debbie Horaz - yes; Kelly Sedgwick - yes; Amy Cesich - yes; Dan Lane - yes; Mark Dilday - no; Seaver Tarulis - yes. Introduction of City Officials and Staff: Laura Schraw - Director of Parks and Recreation Scott Sleezer - Superintendent of Parks Tim Evans - Superintendent of Recreation Bart Olson - City Administrator Gary Golinski - Mayor Other Guests: Tony Scott - Kendall County Record Public Comment : None. Approval of Minutes: The minutes from the April 26, 2012 meeting were approved. Motion made by Kelly Sedgwick and seconded by Deb Horaz. The May 10, 2012 minutes were approved. Motion made by Deb Horaz and seconded by Amy Cesich. The May 24, 2012 minutes were approved. Motion made by Kelly Sedgwick and seconded by Amy Cesich. Bill Review: Motion was made to approve the bills list. Motion made by Seaver Tarulis and seconded by Amy Cesich. The bills list was approved by voice vote. The Board reviewed the April and May budget reports. Old Business: 2012 Grant Application - Laura stated there are two different properties to discuss, which will be discussed in executive session. New Business: Baseball Field Maintenance - Ken Koch said there are many e-mails that have been circulated for about a month. Ken said the board members all went and looked at the baseball fields since safety issues were brought up. Ken stated every town he has ever been in the fields look identical to the Yorkville fields. Ken said if this becomes a safety issue, it creates issues for this board, the department, and the city. He said if you feel it is unsafe, do not put your kids on the fields. Ken said he downloaded some examples of safety equipment he showed the board. The board looked at masks and heart guards. Ken said if the child that got hit had a mask on, it would not have hurt his eye area. Ken said in Dixon, they require heart guards to be worn. Ken said the organizations said if they want to push the safety issue, these are some of the things that they can consider. Ken said the other thing the organizations can do is use a wood bat. Ken said the bats are juiced up and made of composite material. Kelly Sedgwick said there have been a lot of studies and the kids should be able to react in time as long as they are paying attention. Dan Lane pointed out that the skill level of the child comes into play too. Mayor Golinski stated he heard the child was hurt by a ball that was hit by a coach. Ken said that all sports have an inherit risk. Ken said the board needs to review their policy about risk. Scott Sleezer said a couple of years ago the city has the opposite circumstances with too much rain. Scott said the city would check the fields and now the youth groups call the fields themselves. Scott said field safety is taken very seriously by the city and there is good equipment and staff. Scott said with this heat and no rain it is a matter of moisture. Scott stated the professional and college teams are being hosed down every couple of hours. The city physically cannot do it. Scott said the fields are hard, but they are smooth and even. Scott said the city's fields have very few lips. Scott said the city looks for the big safety concerns. Scott said 10 years ago the city took the fields back from the youth organizations and the city put thousands of dollars into the fields by adding clay, sodding, getting rid of lips, fixing backstops etc. Scott said lack of rain is what is causing the issue. Scott said some towns are adding liquid chloride on the fields and he said that its a mistake it makes them pack harder and burns skin or eyes. Scott said any complaints he receives he takes it very seriously and unfortunately the fields are hard because mother nature is not giving us rain and two years ago, we had the opposite with too much rain causing issues. Scott said he receives a lot of compliments on fields from others. Ken said there were 95 teams in Yorkville with over 220 games played on these fields and the only complaints I received was for Legion Field, which the city doesn't maintain. Mayor Golinski said the tournament games were 8-14 year old kids and these are high powered teams from all over Chicagoland and not a single complaint about the fields. Mayor Golinski said he asked Mr. Reifstick to attend tonight and he did not. Mayor Golinski said he relies on the professionals that work for the city and not a part time coach who is a banker who coaches a part time team and thinks he knows all about field maintenance. I will not take his advice over the professionals that work for our city. Scott said he has attended seminars and the city is trained on how to maintain fields. Water is what is needed at this time. Ken said the agreements need to be reviewed. Bart Olson said they were reviewed today in preparation for this meeting and the city is fully protected. Mr. Olson said the associations are the ones that take on responsibility for any incidents that might occur. The Board discussed improvements that could be made when funds are available like rolling the outfields and adding a warning track at some fields with fences. The board discussed irrigation improvements suggested in the e-mails and the significant cost involved in that. Scott said he has yet to see irrigated infields. Scott said the staff spends the same amount of time on all the fields in the city. Dan Lane said he has lived here for two years and he has seen all the fields and he said they are outstanding. Dan stated he also spoke with some of the managers and Mr. Reifsteck is not speaking for all of the managers because they don't agree. Ken said when this was made a safety issue the board had to take this seriously. Deb said the staff goes above and beyond. Ken asked what the next action will be. Bart Olson said he can read the minutes from this meeting and let him know the city feels the fields are safe and it is at your discretion to play on them. Scott stated that the organization would like to use the city equipment to maintain the fields. The board said that is not going to happen and not possible. Scott said the city staff works extremely hard to take care of the parks and fields and to say the city is not doing their job is unfair. Ken said for the immediate future this issue will be handled by staff. Skate park Proposal - The board discussed different skate parks in different communities and what they are made out of. Laura said a resident of Yorkville approached the city about fund-raising to put in a skate park in Yorkville. Laura said one location discussed was Bristol Bay 65. Kelly suggested a place where kids can ride bikes or walk to it. Scott said several of the city parks already have grind rails and different skate elements kids can use. Scott said most other communities are putting them in visible locations. Scott said he and Laura have tried to incorporate several skate elements into several parks so that kids can get a taste of it. Laura suggested Raintree Park B or Hiding Spot Park. Laura said all the city has room for is a big bowl. If the city wants a large skate park, it has to be master planned. The board discussed if the resident will be able to raise the money and the city will base what element is put in on how much money he raises. Based on what he raises, the city could budget for some of it too. Scott said he would like to have one located on the south side of town. Scott said the city could help construct it. The board discussed the location and decided on Raintree B as a good location for the stake park. A motion was made to proceed with fundraising for a skate park. A motion was made by Amy Cesich and seconded by Dan Lane. Motion approved by voice. Waiver of Fees Request - Laura said the Push for the Path organization requested a waiver of fee for Town Square Park for a fundraiser. Laura said the fee is $25.00. Ken said he would rather say no to the waiver and he will pay the $25.00 as a donation to their organization. Ken said the board wants to stick to not waiving fees for anyone. Ken stated he also worries that those that are against the path will think the city is helping get the path in. The board doesn't want things to become political and the board has not been waiving fees anymore because it was becoming too common. Laura asked if the city is not going to support Push for the Path on anything then. Laura pointed out this will not be the last request from them. Laura said the city is already supporting this and the board needs to decide if they are going to support them or not because Push for the Path is directly for the city. Scott said a survey was done years ago and one of the things the community wanted was bike paths. Tim said maybe at the next Park Board meeting the board needs to discuss how the board will handle this in the future. The board discussed paying the fee out of their pockets and then the fee doesn't have to be waived and then the board is supporting the cause. Amy said that the fees are for everyone and it is dangerous to say that if we don't give them a waiver we are not supporting them. She said that is not the case, so because we support this group for these events then they can use a park for a set price. Amy said she wants to keep things fair for everyone that wants to use the park. Laura said this is directly for something for the city. Amy said maybe we need to change the rules that if it benefits the city with infrastructure the parks can be used. Scott said if the Push for the Path doesn't raise the money, the city has to pay the difference. Amy said the reason the fees are there is to cover the staff costs to clean up etc. Laura said she will let them know it is on a case to case basis and the board understands that it is working for the city. Tim said this needs to be handled carefully because then they might want a booth at Hometown Days or use the REC Center. Ken asked the board to approve a motion for Push for the Path on their request for this first event and the board will have further discussion on future events. Ken Koch - yes; Deb Horaz - present; Kelly Sedgwick - yes; Seaver Tarulis - no; Amy Cesich - yes; Dan Lane - yes. Motion was approved. Park Vendor Application - Ken said the request is for Lottie's Lemonade. Tim stated she is a farmers market vendor and she just wants to stay later. Motion to approve the vendor application was approved. Motion made by Kelly Sedgwick and seconded by Deb Horaz. Reports: Directors Report - Laura said the parking lot at Riverfront Park will not be in before the festival because there is a disagreement with the contractor. City Council did put on the consent agenda the Riverfront Park application so the city is reapplying. REC Report - Tim said Chamber Night is coming up and he said the city could use extra help with this event and the city gets the money from the wristbands. He said on July 14th the city really needs help with selling beer, wristbands and maybe hot dogs for the Ribs on the River. Tim said the city will also need help at Hometown Days. Tim said that John was made full-time a couple weeks ago. Tim said Shay is going to work more with the child development program. Tim said he feels it is important to attend the meetings on the REC Center to give our opinion. Tim said a lot of the issues have been solved and we need to make sure that we are getting the right information out to the residents. Amy said we need to let residents know purchasing this building will not increase their taxes. Amy said a lot of residents are misinformed. Deb said the residents need to see it is not costing them more money. Tim said the partnership being discussed will end up costing more. Parks Report - Scott said the Cub Scouts planted some day lilies at Raintree B and it has been tough with the weather keeping them watered. Scott said the construction at Raintree B is continuing and the hope is to be laying brick by the end of the month. Scott said on September 15th, The Day of Giving, Cross Lutheran Church has 500 kids coming to Kendall County to help and the city will use them to help in the park. Scott said the city is looking at some other projects they could help with. Scott said that the city set up the Memorial Day Services held in the park. Suspend Regular Meeting to go Into Executive Session: The Regular meeting was suspended to go into executive session at 7:53 p.m. Motion made by Deb Horaz and seconded by Amy Cesich. Regular Meeting Called to Order: The Regular Meeting resumed at 8:18 p.m. Ken Koch made a motion to approve the 2012 OSLAD Acquisition Grant for the Evergreen Farm Project. Motion made by Amy Cesich and seconded by Deb Horaz. Ken Koch - yes; Deb Horaz - yes; Kelly Sedgwick - yes; Amy Cesich - yes; Dan Lane - yes. Additional Business: None. Adjournment: There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:20 p.m. Motion was made by Seaver Tarulis and seconded by Deb Horaz. Minutes Respectfully Submitted by, Lisa Godwin