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Park Board Minutes 2005 07-11-05 UNITED CITY OF YORKVILLE YORKVILLE PARKS & RECREATION DEPARTMENT BOARD MEETING Parks & Recreation Administrative offices Riverfront Building Monday,July 11,2005 MINUTES CALL TO ORDER: ARMED Meeting was called to order by Chris Rollins at 7:01 p.m. ROLL CALL: Heather Fiala, Tammy Smock, Van Truman, Ken Koch, Chris Rollins, and Richard Korinek GUESTS/CITY OFFICIALS/STAFF: Laura Brown, Park and Recreation Director Sue Swithin, Superintendent of Recreation Kerstin Valencia, Summer Intern Traci Pleckham, Finance Director Kevin McCanna, Speer Financial Tony Scott,Kendall County Record Alderman Dean Wolfer PUBLIC COMMENTS: (None) APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Minutes were approved on motion by Van Truman and seconded by Tammy Smock. The motion was unanimously approved. BILLS REVIEW: Cash Analysis Under the program revenue fees Laura noted that concessions are at 104%profit after Sue Swithin's reallocation of management. Bill List The office software fee was for the licensing of the two new computers. We did receive $80 discount per license. The Elan Financial Services charge was for the movie screen, fan and blower that will be used for the Movie in the Park. Richard Korinek motioned to approve the bills list and was seconded by Ken Koch. The motion was unanimously approved. 1 Signature Card for Bank & Resolution The signature card from Castle Bank needed to be updated so all Board members have a signature on file. Currently, only Board members have signing authority for the account which means that no one at City Hall can stop payment on a check if none of the Board members are available. This situation did just arise. Laura suggested that the Board give Finance Director, Traci Pleckham signature authority for purposes like that. A second signature is still required for signing checks, but it does enable her to make a stop payment on a check if the need arises . A motion to include Traci Pleckham on the signature resolution of the Castle Bank Account was made by Tammy Smock and was seconded by Heather Fiala. The motion was unanimously approved. The Board and Traci Pleckham filled out signature cards for Castle Bank. OLD BUSINESS : Senior Service Ad4oc Meeting — Update from Meeting of July 11 There was no new information at this time. Park Maintenance Building — Finance Options with Alternative Bonds Kevin McCanna from Speer Financial and Traci Pleckham our Finance Director came to give information on Alternative Bonds and to answer any questions . Kevin McCanna indicated that the City as a whole has a debt limit of 8 5/8 % of assessed value. This includes all referendum bonds and all debt certificates of the City. The City is at its debt limit for the year. Alternate bonds are not included in the City' s debt limit, but a known j revenue source is required. I What the Board needs to decide is how they are going to pay off their debt — existing revenue, referendums, etc. Referendum success rate has been going down by 38% 6 j Referendums are usually more successful for a finite building project (such as a pool) . Another type of referendum goes toward just getting revenue by using sales tax, but this is not capped and is usually more difficult to pass because the public likes to see that the j debt will be paid off, The City has other facilities they are looking at that are going to be a conflict. Because of the growth cycle of the city, this is a time for a lot of debt to be issued to get ready for the growth. So the Board is going to have to decide how they are going to sell the referendum. The referendum must be tailored to what you think will work. In considering a public/public partnership, the county debt percent is 5 % compared to the city' s of 8 5/8 %. Kevin McCanna is pretty sure that the county has not met its limit yet, but is unsure by how much. In certain circumstances, a county can do 10- 12 year debt. If a sales tax referendum which has no expiration were passed, a referendum could be passed to lower the tax rate. If you were to keep the sales tax the same, the sales tax would not be limited to a pool . City Council would have to designate the funds to pay off the pool and the extra funds could go to any city recreation or non-recreation facility. When using a municipality tax levy we use a general fund levy. Under this general fund is the amount used. A breakout can be made to have a separate line just for recreation. Yorkville currently does not have this . If Yorkville is at its tax cap rate and we can 2 i generate any new funds, we can break out a line on our tax bill to say that this portion is being appropriated for Parks and Recreation. To increase your tax rate, however, you do need a referendum. This probably gives you the most flexibility in terms of building and personnel. It would enable us to borrow and build now instead of having that levy come in over time to service the debt. It is then suggested to pay off a lot of debt early on so that the debt structure goes to smaller payments and would preserve the City' s bonding ability in event they would like to borrow more money for something else. The construction and transfer of ownership in a public/private partnership is different in each situation. In a public/private partnership there needs to be an economic reason to be a partner. For a pool, for example, a health club, hospital, or rehabilitation center may be some considerations . The important thing is to find the right kind of partner. On the issue of the parks maintenance building, the projected land cash payments using alternate bonds is doable because it does not count against the city' s limit. By not using alternate bonds there are a fair number of other demands on land cash, such as a police station, to keep under consideration. City Council would decide how the funds get distributed. There is probably not enough land cash to do the pool, but there may be enough for the maintenance building. Using alternate bonds is probably the quickest way to get the building started only because there are no restrictions as far as the debt limit. There is a risk factor when land cash is tied to a building permit because when the housing market slows down, so does the land cash revenue. We do ask for up front funding although we do not always get it. It is important to watch how you are forecasting the housing market so that you don' t get to year five or six and not be able to fund it. There are two options, the first being alternative of revenues . The "what ifs" must be considered because ultimately it is not Park Board debt, it is City Council debt. The second option is long term—how do we get to where we want to go? Are there options for us to explore? We would need City Council to get approval on any option. We would need to present to Council the problems and specify the cost of a park maintenance building and the cost of a pool . We would need to educate City Council on how to go forward with the options that we have. Laura requested direction from the Board on where they want to go . Van Truman suggested going to City Council with a RFQ (Request for Qualification) to explore the option of a public/private partnership for the pool. The need for a pool is there and it' s not going away. On the recreation center issue, Chris Rollins suggested possibly building a structure that would accommodate both recreation use and maintenance use, like a field house kind of building. He felt that it may be easier for the people to understand the need. The funds are probably not there at this time for such a building, however. If City Council approves for the Park Board to proceed at exploring the option of a public/private partnership, it would then get publicized to project managers or construction managers organizations, tourism, hospitals, hotels, or developers. It will be solicited broadly. Laura Brown recommended that while presenting this to City Council indicate the expenses of the multiple parks being currently built. By using an alternate bond, you can get the alternate bond process started. There is a 30 day waiting period 3 i before the bond can actually be issued and you have three years to issue the bond. We would need to first announce our intentions to the public to issue these alternate bonds with a not-to-exceed amount followed by a waiting period for public comment. The bond can then sit until we are ready to proceed. There are no administrative fees charges up to this point. Laura Brown will type up a RFQ and Kevin McCanna and Traci Pleckham will prepare a brief for City Council . The Board would like to see this memo before it goes to City Council. In August, instead of meeting on the fourth Monday as a Board, we will request to meet with Public Works to explore funding options for this building. Public notice will be posted that we will not meet as scheduled. The space needs analysis was for a park maintenance building only and was presented to City Council in that way. The park maintenance building will, however, house a few of Public Works ' trucks . The building and property were designed to expand. So if Public Works did their own space needs analysis and wanted to add into the park maintenance building that could be considered. Currently, Sentel Rubel designed the building for a ten year build out. There is the possibility of lending Public Works space until the park maintenance staff is at its build out. Discussion about future Pool Development or Recreation Community Center Funding Options – Referendum when, how According to Kevin McCanna, statistics show that it really does not make a difference when you do a referendum. You must focus on what you really think you need and know what your shared vision is . This will show the public that we are taking positive steps to move forward so that it is a process that builds momentum. There are three dates every two years to have a referendum—one in November and two in the spring. NEW BUSINESS : Bid Opening Results for Sunflower Equipment After a review of all the playground equipment and shelters the following was chosen: • The swings of the Zenon Playcraft -- they were strongest with the theme • Two sand diggers from Gametime • Two barnyard animal spring riders from Zenon • The Litchfield Shelter -- has a more barn-like look • Option 1 using Zenon REPORTS Recreation Report The fine arts festival was a great event. There were a few sponsors to cover the cost and Tim will be sending out a survey to get feedback on how the artists liked everything. The golf outing was very profitable. They plan to use outings like this to keep the reserve and to earmark the funds to start purchasing the buses for the preschool and other recreation programs . Currently, the profit is used to offset the general budget for the department. Director Brown indicated that in order to reserve these profits the board would have to make up the difference to cover the expense through other means . This 4 i would mean offsetting with general fund money or additional program revenue. City Council approval will also be needed. I Summer is going really well. All the programs are filling up nicely. Kerstin Valencia, the summer intern from Western Illinois University, will be with us for twelve weeks. She will be running the Pet Parade and will be teaching some of the classes. She will be in charge of coming up with an idea for recreation standards and/or budget issues which will allow us to justify our need for more instructors. Kerstin will put together a report and will share this with the Board. Music Under the Stars is having an unbelievable turnout and the Movie in the Park should pick up. The front desk poll which is surveying how the public is hearing about our programs will help us decide if we want to keep doing flyers to the schools, doing newspaper ads, informing on the internet, etc. i The catalog will be printed this week and will be out by the middle of August. i Soccer is having a great turn out. This season we are only taking as many children that there are coaches for. There has not been any problem in getting enough coaches . j i ADDITIONAL BUSINESS Single Source Bid Award Memo We will be going to City Council on Tuesday regarding the issue of the sinking problem with the playground equipment at Rice Park. The options are very limited. If we were to go out to bid our warranty would be null and void. We feel we need to stay with the same installer. It was not the installer' s fault for the situation—it was the nature of the earth and the effects of the previous farmer. In order to fix the situation, we will need to knock all the old footings, readjust everything so it is aligned, and then re-pour the spread footing that will distribute the weight. Land cash out of the reserve will fund this, and we will work with the developer to see if there is way that they will share in the cost. This needs to be fixed right away because of safety issues . Residents have already been informed about the issue. There was a question from the public about where we get the water for the parks . Some people don't feel it is fair that they cannot water but the park trucks are going around watering. There is a water tower in Grande Reserve in which 300,000 gallons of water needs to be flushed a day in order to keep the lines clear of sediment. The water for the trucks is being taken from this water tower. Fields also need to be watered a certain amount due to safety. CORRESPONDENCE : Miscellaneous Correspondence Glory Spies, by request of Laura Brown, wrote an article to give more exposure to the parks about their themes and unique features. i 5 i Laura Brown followed up with Schoppe Design and Associates ' cost estimates regarding the Cannonball Ridge Park. Mike has explored it more and assured Laura that the bids will come in much closer in the future. i ADJOURNMENT : The meeting adjourned at 9 :20 p .m. following the motion by Heather Fiala and seconded by Ken Koch. Respectfully Submitted, Jeanne Arbet Minute Taker I I I I I I I I i 6 i i ATTENDANCE Yorkville Parks & Recreation Department Board Meeting Monday, July 11, 2005 Please Sian In GUESTS/CITY OFFICIALS/STAFF: I Laura Brown, Parks and Recreation Director Sue Swithin, Superintendent of Recreation Traci Pleckham, Finance Director Tony Scott, Record Kevin McCann, Speer Financial Kerstin Valencia, Summer Intern Alderman Dean Wolfer I i I BOARD MEMBERS : Heather Fiala ❑ Alderman Paul James Ken Koch Richard Korinek Chris Rollins Tammy Smock Van Truman i