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City Council Minutes 2012 11-27-12 special meeting SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF THE JOINT MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL AND THE PARK BOARD, HELD IN THE CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS, 800 GAME FARM ROAD ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2012 Mayor Golinski called the meeting to order at 5 : 59 p.m. ROLL CALL / INTRODUCTIONS City Council present: Park Board members present: Mayor Golinski Present Mark Dilday Absent Alderman Colosimo Present Debbie Horaz Present Alderman Milschewski Present Matthew Konecki Present Alderman Kot Present Seaver Tarulis Present Alderman Munns (Arrived 6 : 04) Present Dan Lane Present Alderman Funkhouser Present Kelly Sedgwick Present Alderman Spears Present Amy Cesich (arrived 6 : 10) Present Alderman Teeling Present Alderman Koch Present Also present: City Clerk Warren, City Attorney Orr, City Administrator Olson, Chief of Police Hart, Finance Director Fredrickson, Building Code Official Zabel, Superintendent of Parks Sleezer, Superintendent of Recreation Evans, Park Designer Schraw, Office Supervisor Reisinger, and Recreation Coordinator Rosborough. Mayor Golinski said the Park Board requested to sit down with the City Council to talk about the future of recreation services. There will be no vote on any issue this evening. CITIZEN COMMENTS Ralph McGrand Yorkville resident, is against the City purchasing the Rec Center. Adonna Stevens, Raintree Village, doesn't believe the City should invest in the Rec Center. Andrew Bobbit, executive director for the Fox Valley Family YMCA., came on behalf of the board of directors. He wanted to officially communicate to Yorkville that the YMCA is here as a nonprofit organization to support Yorkville residents. Chris Mullett, Yorkville resident since 1994, stated since this issue was placed on the ballot the City Council should respect the citizens of Yorkville and honor the vote. Ali Jabwee, member of the Kendall County Property Tax group, is against the purchase of the Rec Center. REC Center Debbie Horaz addressed the issue of taxes on the Rec Center. Mayor Golinski stated the purchase of the Rec Center will not affect taxes. Kelly Sedgwick stated the City' s purchase of the Rec Center, at the current proposed cost, would result in lower payments per month. City Administrator Olson discussed how backing out of the Rec Center will affect the City' s financial situation. Amy Cesich questions whether the vote was an actual consensus of the residents. She wondered if the referendum was clear enough to provide the residents the necessary information to make an informed decision. She stated before the YMCA got involved, research showed the most fiscally responsible thing to do was keep the Rec Center. Alderman Spears believes residents are capable of making informed decisions. The Park Board is an advisory committee to the elected City Council representatives. Dan Lane stated there have been situations where the City Council did not listen to residents because the Council misunderstood the information. Maybe the residents didn't have all the proper information. Good schools and recreation - programs keep the residents property values up. Matt Konecki stated businesses are not flocking to the towns that have poor programs. Alderman Spears asked Mr. Lane if the residents he spoke with had concerns about infrastructure. Mr. Lane didn't think residents moving into a new community think about infrastructure first. They are looking at putting down roots. Matt Konecki stated once he moved to Yorkville he realized there were things missing. He wants to make sure his children live in a proud community. This is a step in the right direction. Mayor Golinski stated walking away from the Rec Center does not give the City more money for infrastructure; it gives it less. If the City walks away from the Rec Center it has to come up with $720,000 over the next two years. If the City keeps the Rec Center it will be in the black in the next two years. Amy Cesich said it has the ability to pay back the deficit that the City The Minutes of the Special City Council Meeting — November 27, 2012 — Page 2 of 2 incurred the first three years. Alderman Kot said for the Council to go against the will of the people would be doing a disservice to Yorkville. He thought this meeting was about moving ahead. Amy Cesich stated the Park Board wanted to have a say. Alderman Funkhouser said voters are not uneducated. This issue has been a public topic for discussion for over a year. The Council has done a good job of getting out the information in regards to this issue. Residents voted and it was a majority. If the City walks away it is not generating any additional taxes to the City' s general fund. Recreation in Yorkville was established through the Park Board which was established by the City Council. The Council decided to provide park services and recreation through the creation of the Park Board. The directive of the City Council is to provide services. Services of recreation and parks do not generally pay for themselves . They are subsidized. He appreciates the input from the Park Board. It looks like the Council needs to discuss following up on the ADHOC as to what the City could be doing if it does not pass the purchase agreement. Alderman Munns stated under the repair maintenance line item the Rec Center went from $61 ,000 to $ 11 ,000 and then the total expenses went down $790,000 to $610,000 . Is that because the City had no payment that year? City Administrator Olson stated under the lease cancelled policy the City assumed in fiscal year 13 if the City walked away it would need to put in about $50,000 worth of work in order to properly mitigate any wear and tear on the building from when the City took over. The City has the repairs but also has the $ 100,000 out clause at the end of the lease that was approved in the original document. Between those the City has $ 150,000 that basically has to be made up . It is time the City makes a decision. Dan Lane stated the City is losing revenue with Rec Center. Alderman Munns asked where did recreation programs fall in the City' s survey that was conducted. Amy Cesich stated the recreation facility was third, an indoor recreational pool was fourth, and a recreation center with gym was the fifth most requested parks and recreation service as identified by the Yorkville survey respondents in 2007 . The first and the second most requested services were paved bike trails and outdoor recreation pool respectively. In 2007 the City chose to lease the Rec Center. Mr. Evans stated there are about 1600 members and another 2,000 people who use the Rec Center. Mr. Sedgwick stated if the City is going to lose the Rec Center because the City is losing $20,000 while serving 3 ,000 people then the City needs to start looking at cutting other programs that serves less people for more money. Alderman Munns agrees with Mr. Sedgwick on that point, but the Rec Center would need a great deal of work. Mr. Sedgwick stated it would be cheaper to repair that building than to build a new one. Dan Lane stated the City doesn't have to pay taxes on that building anymore which is $60,000 a year and the City gets the rent from those three which comes out to be $50,000 a year. The City makes $ 110,000 a year. Kelly Sedgwick stated the Park Board has figured out all the numbers. Purchasing the Rec Center is the best for all the citizens. Alderman Munns asked if the committee ever made a formal recommendation of what to do. Amy Cesich stated the first option was buying the Rec Center, next was to get out of it. Option C was schools, and the last option was looking into building the City' s own building. More pros went into the recommendation of buying the Rec Center. Alderman Spears and City Administrator Olson discussed the City' s replacement of the HVAC units. City Administrator Olson stated the parks and recreation transfer from the general fund in 2009 was 1 .08 million, in 2010 it was 1 . 1 , in 2011 it was $951 ,000, in 2012 it was $736,000 and then in 2013 the City is projecting it $955 ,000 . The reason it jumped was that the City moved the health insurance costs. Alderman Spears read an email from a resident that is a member of the Rec Center. It was in regards to the old and out dated machines in the Rec Center. Kelly Sedgwick stated in the past when the Walkers ran the Rec Center they were charging about $20 more than what the City is charging. The City hasn't invested much money in the equipment for that would be fiscally irresponsible for the City to buy equipment now if the City is not going to keep the building. Alderman Spears asked if it was fiscally responsible for the City to replace the HVAC units at tax payers' expense. Kelly Sedgwick stated it wasn't at taxpayers' expense. It came out of the Rec Center money. Alderman Spears asked where that money comes from. Kelly Sedgwick stated it comes from the members. Alderman Spears still stated the taxpayers pay for it. Mayor Golinski stated the only way the taxpayers pay for the Rec Center is if the City walks away from it. He viewed this as a binding referendum. He doesn't believe residents are uneducated. All the information was out there. Yorkville has to start looking at a future without the Rec Center. Mayor Golinski looks at this from a financial perspective, and stated the fact is the City is going to be paying more money for fewer services. Dan Lane wanted the board to know that he was talking to the owner and a new agreement is on the table concerning a lease. Mayor Golinski stated that the owner of the Rec Center could give it to the City and this room would be against it. He considers this issue dead. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Golinski thanked everyone. Meeting adjourned at 6 : 54 p .m. 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