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Park Board Minutes 2005 11-10-05 I UNITED CITY .OF YORKVILLE YORKVILLE PARKS & RECREATION DEPARTMENT BOARD MEETING Parks & Recreation Administrative offices Riverfront Building Thursday, November 10, 2005 MINUTES = CALL TO ORDER: Meeting was called to order by Chris Rollins at 7 : 01 p.m. ROLL CALL: Chris Rollins, Ken Koch, Van Truman, Richard Kormek, Tammy Smock, and Alderman Dean Wolfer �I GUESTS/CITY OFFICIALS/STAFF: Scott Sleezer, Interim Director/Superintendent of Parks Sue Swithin, Interim Director/Superintendent* of Recreation Dale Woodworth Jim Olguin, Hudson Lakes I Tedd Lundquist, Hudson Lakes Dan Harper, Hudson Lakes PUBLIC COMMENTS . Dale Woodworth has fourteen acres of land along the Fox River in which the City has run sewer lines that would be ready for development for ten houses. Dale, however, does not want to develop on this land. He tried selling the land to the forest preserve but they were not interested because there was not enough land. He talked to -other nearby landowners who were also.-interested in making their land into a forest preserve. Combining their land they could make a continuous strip of land totaling approximately . 50 acres running from Gruel Street to Fox River Gardens. The forest preserve, however, still was not interested because the price was too high and because they also have some forest preserves around Yorkville already. Dale Woodworth would, therefore, like to know if Parks and Recreation would like the land. Otherwise, the .only option may be to develop the land. Chris Rollins stated that when things are approached from a market standpoint it is difficult to have ready funds because we haven't budgeted for a particular land such as this. Chris Rollins suggested that if the people have the desire to keep it in open land condition there is also the ability to do a conservation trust so that it will not be - r developed. Parks and Recreation will get a fuller picture of what the cost would be. When they know the cost they will then get all landowners together and discuss with them what our options would be in terms of acquiring the land. Our land acquisition is funded by land cash, so. we need to wait for someone to- develop land to get land or cash from them. This process is extremely slow and we get things in small increments. So to be able to gather enough funds to make a purchase such as this is very -difficult. Chris Rollins assured him that with his and the other landowner' s patience the Board will - I 1 i definitely discuss acquiring the river front properly, but unfortunately, none of the solutions are ones that can be arrived at very quickly. They require a lot of discussion and the involvement of other organizations . It will probably not be solely a City solution. It will have to be a collision of forces to make it happen. Dale Woodworth indicated that Kendall may be interested. He would much rather see his land go to a forest preserve or a park district rather than to the City. Scott Sleezer and Sue Swithin will gather the appropriate information to move forward in this matter. Dale Woodworth supports the idea of Parks becoming a park district because land that had been designated for parks is being sold by the City. Only small. areas of land are for parks and he is very disappointed about this . He would like to see a referendum on the ballot about becoming a park district. Chris Rollins indicated that we are planning a meeting to discuss the question about having a park district and invited Dale Woodworth to attend this meeting for his respected input. APPROVAL OF MINUTES . Minutes from the October 27, 2005 board meeting were .approved on motion by Ken Koch and seconded by Van Truman. The motion was unanimously approved. I BILLS REVIEW: Cash Analysis & Bills List Scott Sleezer indicated that Traci Pleckham suggested that for the Hoover Boy Scout Camp they take $ 150,000 from Land Acquisition rather than from Land Cash Reserve so that we do not spend down the reserve. This amount was coming from Reserve because it was unknown what the end budget will be because it depends how fast the buy out happens. The Board does not see the necessity to change this and would like Traci Pleckham to explain this further. I Tammy Smock motioned to approve the bills list and was seconded by Richard Korinek. Roll call vote: Chris Rollins—Yes, Ken Koch—Yes, Van Truman—Yes, Richard Korinek—Yes, and Tammy Smock—Yes. The motion was unanimously approved. OLD BUSINESS : C Update on the shed Sue Swithin received signatures from the church representatives for purchasing the shed for storage for the preschool . It was agreed that we were able to move the shed if we so chose to do. She needed signature from the Board on the agreement. i Reimbursement for ,Sewer Operations ,Salaries from 1012 7105 Bills List Scott Sleezer provided explanation for the charge for the reimbursement for sewer operations part-time and overtime salaries that the Board questioned on the October 27, 2005 bills list. The explanation was sufficient to the Board and they will reimbursement Public Works in the amount of $ 8,278 .31 . Update on future soccer field location Scott Sleezer talked with Becky to alleviate the parking situation we have at Fox Hill . ( We will be able to utilize Park E in Grand Reserve which will help alleviate the parking situation. Also, there is enough open space coming to us in the near, future that will be 2 able to be utilized. The number of games held at Fox Hill will be reduced. Scott Sleezer will draft a letter to the homeowners association indicating that after examining the situation we will reduce the number of active soccer fields during the soccer season at Fox Hill which, therefore, will reduce the parking pressure on that site. We do not feel l any further remedy is necessary at this time. He will also indicate that the City, can assist in having better signage so that there are spots that are not utilized by park goers. Update on divider curtain for Parkview Sue Swithin talked to the owners of the Foundation about helping to pay for the divider curtain at Parkview. Unfortunately, they do not have the funds at this time but would approve anything that we would want to do . NEW BUSINESS . (This was discussed before Old Business so the developers did not have to, wait so long.) Hudson Lakes Development Hudson Lakes Development has submitted an application for concept plan review with the City. They have about 141 acres on which they are proposing 255 units which is very consistent with the other developers and with the zoning standards. They have parks that are already planned all around them so they felt it may be best to just expand on the Prestwick Park by adding one acre, increasing the size of the park to 71/2 acres. In addition to that, they have tried to create a connection to the north part of Raintree Village so they have provided an open space corridor which a pedestrian connection may be used, which is where the future school site would be. The land cash obligation will be approximately 9. 5 acres of land. They will have Penrnnan Road curvy to slow the speed down so that people do not use it as a direct route to Route 126. Along Pemmnan Road will be the trail corridor. The only other thing suggested was possibly adding some off- street parking for the Prestwick Park. Agreement with Trinity Church Sue Swithin made arrangements with Trinity Church to use their facility in order for us to provide programs during the day. A signature by the Board was needed on the agreement. The agreement is identical to the agreement that was drafted for Yorkville Congregational Church for us to run the preschool there. We will be paying $400 per month donation to the church whether we fill a roster for classes there or not. Sue Swithin, however, does not foresee us having a problem filling the classes . We will have three classes to use during the day. Our roaming custodial person will clean this church. ' The agreement will end at the end of the school year because we do not foresee the need to use the facility during the summer as we will be using Parkview School for our programs during that time. There will be a two year old introductory to preschool program there that will use the preschool teacher on their off days . The agreement will j have to go to Council for the Mayor' s approval. The Board unanimously agreed to recommend Council to sign and accept this agreement. REPORTS Park and Recreation Report Sue Swithin put together a service report to use as a tool to single out the recreation department and to update and share more information with a different visual to see the growth. This will be updated at the end of this fiscal year also . This will be a tool for her 3 I existing staff to see and for the hiring of new staff. She asked the Board to look over it and give her any input so that she can make it a more usable tool for everyone. Sue Swithin. supplied the Building Permit Report to see if permits are at the level that the j City is expecting them to be at. She will supply this report on a monthly basis . The Recreation Department Report for programming was also supplied to be reviewed which will be continually received on a monthly basis . i ADDITIONAL BUSINESS Chris Rollins wanted to make sure that everyone received the packet involving questions for interview purposes along with the cover memo from the labor attorney and that everyone was receiving applications by mail as they come in. Sue Swithin will be out of town starting Sunday, November 13 , 2005 through Wednesday, November 16, 2005 for professional development school. Scott Sleezer will be going to China for two weeks to adopt a child. He will be leaving on November 23 , 2005 . When he returns, Scott will be taking intermittent Family Medical Leave time. He will work two to three days a week to at least the end of the year. It is very important to develop a strong bond with an adoptive child. He will have his phone and will be available. Traci is working with Nextel to get Scott a phone that Scott can go to China with so that he is reachable for important issues . Tony is, however, informed on all that is going on. Scott has made the developers aware of the situation and he does not anticipate any issues coming that could not wait two weeks until he �• comes back. After he comes back, Scott does still plan on attending the Plan Council, Chris Rollins requested that Scott give them a tentative schedule for when he returns and to specify who the point people will be in his absence. Sue Swithin will continue working on hiring a 20-hour receptionist/secretary to be at the Recreation office and at the Administration office. This is a budgeted position. Dean Wolfer informed the Board that the Safety Committee is getting complaints about the lighting issue at Parkview for the karate classes at night. Sue Swithin had also received these concerns. This is an issue because the karate class is asked to use the back gym entrance. There is a step up with no railing at this entrance. The reason why they are using this back entrance is to keep the people from walking through the main portion of the school. Sue Swithin was going to get estimates on railings and security lighting and take those dosts and estimates to City Council and ask for financing from the City budget for these building issues. Tammy Smock felt that it probably isn't necessary to j overact right away. Chris Rollins felt that it shouldn't be our goal to make improvements to other people' s assets. Dean Wolfer had stated that some improvements may be necessary because of the liability purposes . Chris Rollins stated that if it is a code issue the building owner should pay for it since it is their building. He feels that we should not be poor business people. We have the City' s interestto protect. He feels that we need to have a city inspector come to see if the building meets code or to have the people enter in ( an adequately lit entrance. Chris Rollins does not feel we need to take on unnecessary liability. Scott Sleezer suggested going to Parkview and examine the situation first so 4 that we know how to react. Sue Swithin suggested putting up some cones on the outside of the platform so the step is noticeable and also coning off the area near the entrance so to not- allow parking directly by the entrance. There is nothing that they can do regarding the limited parking issue. Chris Rollins feels we need to preserve whatever means we have financially to construct public facilities rather than band-aiding private facilities. Dean Wolfer just wanted to know if there was an issue and since we have this facility what we can do temporarily to use this building. If it makes it easier for the park board to put a light on the building, it may be worth it. It was decide that Scott Sleezer and Sue Swithin will first investigate if there is an issue. In the mean time, Van Truman suggested to just tell the people that if they have a problem with the back door, they are free to use the main door. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned to Executive Session at 8 :35 p.m. following the motion by Richard Korinek and seconded by Van Truman. The motion was unanimously approved. The meeting reconvened from the Executive Session and adjourned at 10 : 15 p.m. following motion by Richard Korinek and seconded by Tammy Smock. The motion was unanimously approved. I Minute Taker—Jeanne Arbet i a i II I t 5 II ATTENDANCE Yorkville Parks & Recreation Department Board Meeting Thursday, November 10, 2005 Please Sign In - I GUESTS/CITY OFFICIALS/STAFF: Scott Sleezer, Interim Director/Superintendent of Parks Sue Swithin, Interim Director/Superintendent of Recreation I Dale Woodworth Jim Olguin, Hudson Lakes Tedd Lundquist, Hudson Lakes _ Dan Harper, Hudson Lakes i Alderman Dean Wolfer (Arrived at 7.•30 p. m) BOARD MEMBERS : ❑ Heather Fiala ❑ Alderman Paul James rn Ken Koch Richard Korinek ] Chris Rollins 'VJ Tammy Smock 1 Van Truman