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Park Board Minutes 2013 05-23-13 APPROVED 6/13/13 Yorkville Parks and Recreation Department City Hall 800 Game Farm Road May 23, 2013 at 6:00 p.m. Call to Order: Deb Horaz called the meeting to order at 6:03 p.m. Roll Call: Deb Horaz – yes; Kelly Sedgwick – yes; Seaver Tarulis – yes; Mark Dilday – no; Amy Cesich – yes; Dan Lane – yes; Matt Konecki – yes. Introduction of City Officials and Staff: Laura Schraw – Interim Director of Parks and Recreation Tim Evans – Superintendent of Recreation Scott Sleezer – Superintendent of Parks Ken Koch – Alderman Jeff Wechbach – Administrative City Intern Other Guests: None. Public Comment: None. Presentation: None. Approval of Minutes: There were not minutes for approval. Old Business: Camping at Riverfront – Geneva Kayak asked if the city would allow camping in the woods behind their building from Memorial Day through Labor Day. The police are fine with trying it. The board discussed where this is located and if the police will supervise the camping. Matt voiced concern about the railroad tracks and asked if a snow fence could be put up to mark the tracks off. Laura said the city would designate the camping spots and post each one. Deb asked about bringing in firewood. Laura said the county has it available to purchase it on site at Hoover. Laura said Geneva Kayak could purchase them from a gas station and have them there for purchase. Deb has concern about the Emerald Ash Boar. The board discussed it is really impossible to monitor the firewood. Kelly said the campers are made aware before they camp to purchase the wood in the county and there is no way to police it. It is in the agreement wood has to be purchased in the county. Scott said things like this is an honor system. Laura said in the policy it states to buy wood in the county. Deb asked for the language in the contract to be strengthened regarding the firewood. Deb asked about if a deposit if forfeited, who receives it. Laura said those are details that need to be worked out with 1 Geneva Kayak. Dan said Laura did a great job making up these rules and regulations. Kelly asked about the $100 deposit and if that is standard. Laura said on a credit card it is a good idea. Scott said he agrees in case someone does something that has to be fixed. Matt said if people have skin in the game, they will be more respectful. The board discussed adding in the rules walking into campsites only and no picnic tables provided. Dan asked how many sites. Scott said 8 to 10 sites. Deb said this is a test to see how it goes. Scott said there is a port-a-potty and there is a changing room attached to that. Matt said maybe there should be a patrol through there. Scott said the police are aware this will be happening. Scott said in the future if this works, maybe the boy scouts could help clean this area up and build fire pits. Motion to approve policy of camping at Riverfront with approved changes. Motion made by Seaver Tarulis and seconded by Kelly Sedgwick. Roll call: Deb – yes; Kelly – yes; Amy – yes; Dan – yes; Matt – yes; Seaver – yes. New Business: 2014 OSLAD Grant Application – Laura said that Bart Olson stated that she could get help in the future, so based on that do another grant application for a development project. She said she and Scott discussed what location would be best. Laura said Bristol Bay is a good one and it has some elements we could use for higher points. Laura said things that would give us points are lighted volleyball courts, tennis courts, skate parks. Those would be the strongest in getting the city another grant. Laura said she wants to discuss what the city can afford using the land by Grande Reserve, so stay around $400,000. Laura said there will be more land cash coming from Autumn Creek. Deb said the board has always wanted a really nice skate park for the kids, but it would take up a lot of the money. Deb asked about parking. Laura said the city could put gravel lots in for now. Scott said the city says we have three years to pave the lots. Matt asked about the Bristol Bay location. Scott said Bristol Bay is designed to be a community park. Scott said the skate park would be for skateboards or bikes, similar to the one in Oswego. The board discussed what kind of skate park and what materials would be used – concrete is the best option and lasts the longest. Laura said the stake park was designed by committee, which is what we would do as well. Kelly said the city needs to hire a professional skate park concrete company to build it. Scott agreed. Matt asked about putting the skate park in that location where it is seen by those driving by to get more people to use it. The board discussed the location of Bristol Bay pros and cons. Scott said skate parks should not be close to playgrounds. The board discussed pros and cons of putting in another tennis court. Scott said there are other cheap things to add to help the score like tether ball or horseshoes. Laura said the city can apply for skate park and volleyball for now. The board discussed having a sled hill or running hill there. Kelly brought up putting cross fit equipment there. Scott said that is a great idea – it is really popular right now. 2 Laura said the city will apply for lighted sand volleyball, skate park, sled hill/running hill fitness equipment and tether ball, horseshoes. Laura said she will finalize the drawing and estimate and bring it thth back to the June 13 meeting and bring it to city council by June 11 to let them know this is something the board wants to do. Laura said this could be six years down the road, so there should be money by then to fund the parking. Strategic Planning – Laura put on the white board a plan for discussion to come up with goals for park board. Laura said she would like to come up with several goals in their discussion and then pick one or two to work on now and come up with a five year plan. Laura asked where does the city want to go with our Recreation programming. The board discussed what classes were cut. Tim said the city has a very small staff of three to four people to run everything. Tim said the new healthcare law is going to cause an issue. Tim said he proposed making the preschool teacher full time and giving her some more responsibility. Ryan will be the new full time athletic coordinator and it would be good to get him a part time helper. Tim said the tournaments are a big business for the city, but it is a big job for him and Scott. Matt asked about volunteers. Tim said that is how we run all the programs is volunteers, but we need an employee to coordinate and oversee the programs. Tim said if the board decides to do an in house baseball league, we will have to discuss having more staff. Tim said his biggest concern is making sure that we are paying the staff we have now well. Shay does a lot and she is extremely low paid. Tim said he worries that the great staff we have now will leave because of low pay. Deb said this is something that needs to be discussed. Deb said we need to make sure people get raises and that the city has enough staff. Amy asked if Tim can do some comps around the area for the board to look at. Laura said the city received a 2% raise this year and we are frozen for four more years. Tim said the healthcare law is going to effect our hiring employees. Tim said anyone over 20 hours will be IMR positions. Tim said now over 20 hours have to be capped at 28 hours or the city has to pay healthcare. Amy said not everyone takes the insurance either. Tim said it has to be budgeted because we won't know if they will need it or not. Deb asked if it would be worth it or necessary to run our own in-house program. Laura said an in-house league could be a goal in the future, but for now the city is not going to get another staff person for a couple years. Tim said each full time person would have a part time assistant and then it could potentially work. Dan asked why is the city wanting to run baseball. Tim said issues of YYBSA and Fury purchasing their own fields. Tim said the city is seeing a dramatic drop in the use of our fields and we still have to maintain them and the concession stands losing revenue. Scott said over the past years there has been a big shift from recreation ball to travel ball and that seems to be their focus. Dan asked if this is a need in our community then he agrees, but not for the sake of competing against them. Dan said if it is exactly the same thing they are running, the city should not do it. 3 Tim said the Ready Set Go program has taken off this year, so obviously, it is a need. Dan stated he wants to make sure that the city is going into things that are needed. Tim said that the entire preschool age programs are in great demand. Tim said child development is a great need and it is something that the city can address and he said the city needs to focus on that. Matt said adding more options with earlier and later times for parents that work would be a great idea. Matt said that he currently goes to Oswego for childcare. Deb said that is an area that the city is not tapping into. Tim said the sports leagues are doing well and the city needs to continuously address that. Special events are going well and we have added a couple this year and expanded Holiday Under the Starts and that is an area that can continue to grow. Deb said a wine festival with food and art would be good for Yorkville. Tim said remember we have only five or six staff to help with these events. Deb said that is the problem then, not enough staff. The board discussed having more events at Riverfront. Scott said Parks and Rec are always thinking up new ways to make money. Scott said this year the city is holding more tournaments to make up the difference of losing money from YYBSA. Scott said Tim is great about looking ahead on these issues. Scott said we are not a park district so we have to come up with funds. Kelly asked if the board want to address alcohol sales at Bridge for the adult leagues. Scott said lets see how the Moose event goes and revisit it. Deb said she would be more willing to see after that event to re-address it. Tim said one area we could do better is in sponsorships. Deb said the economy has been tough, which has effected that. Amy asked if the board can look at allowing more banners with business names at Hometown Days and not have to have a booth. Tim said booths are available for $150.00. Tim said the online registration will be a great new thing for the city. Tim said the city now has smart phones with credit card capability at the concessions and that should increase revenue. Tim said another field at Bridge would be a good idea to have more space for youth tournaments and only use Bridge and Beecher for tournaments so concessions will be used. Tim said that a park needs to be close the ARC building for preschool crossing Route 47 is not an option. Scott said that is an unserved area. Tim said for a quality preschool program and summer camps, there needs to be a playground out there. Kelly asked about putting lighted sand volleyball courts at Bridge instead of another baseball field. Scott said if the city can have beer sales out there and a couple courts that would be good. Tim said parking would be a problem there, it is already a problem for tournaments. Kelly said for programming during weeknights have just two sand volleyball courts it might be a more economical idea instead of putting in a new softball field. Scott said not before the city applies for the grant, that could hurt us. Tim said the biggest issue in the budget is addressing salaries of Ryan and Shay. Tim said the facilities will be fine other than storage. Scott said the city might have to rent a storage place somewhere or build something. Tim said a truck would be a great investment for Recreation to move and set things up. 4 Laura asked the board if she was not here would you want a park director or designer. Laura said as a board they need to decide if they want a director, or work with or another park designer or grant writer. Laura said there is still Riverfront, Clark Park, Grand Reserve and other things coming up. Deb asked what Laura wants to do. Laura asked the board in the long term how would the board want the structure to be. Amy said Laura has been interim for two years and she can't be that way forever what do we want from her. Deb said Laura is a park designer and a grant writer and she is great at those things. The board agreed that Laura has too much on her plate. Laura said Bart Olson said she could get some help and manage another firm to do the drawings. Laura said if she is not here to do both things, what would the board want to do. Scott said looking back as to why the city wanted a director and someone who knew landscape architecture it was a cost savings. Scott said the director was for development and that has pretty much stalled, but the city has a lot of administration things and the grant writing and design work, which there is a lot of those things coming up. Scott said there are two good superintendents in place that can handle the Park and Rec needs. Tim said he thinks the board needs to fight for Laura to be the permanent director. Amy said she would like Laura to become director and have an assistant. Laura said Bart said that some of the work can be outsourced. The board discussed the most economical way to do things. Deb said if the board makes Laura the permanent director, how does that help her, will she be director or park designer. How does this help her work overload. The board agreed that everyone has too much work and that won't change regardless. Ken said that there needs to be a job description for Laura. The board discussed how these things usually work. Tim said a Director in a Park District is a lot different. Tim said there is a big advantage now that Laura has the trust of Bart Olson. Tim said to lose her would be a huge loss. Scott said that the city has a great management team now and they all work well together. Scott said that Laura can do everything that is needed. Laura said she talked to Bart and he said next year the city can have an intern and/or a firm to help. Kelly said to make Laura director and that allows the city to hire someone at the bottom of the pay scale out of college to do designing to help out and Laura would oversee it. Dan said he wants to see her job description. Tim said if Scott and him left, you will never find anyone to take on the workload that we do. Deb said she thinks this is a staff issue not a title issue. Amy said the title gives more money. Deb said she gets that, but the city needs more help. Scott said that the board needs to review the director job description and make some decisions. Scott said the board can review her job description and see what she is doing and decide what the board wants her to be doing and make some decisions for the future. Laura said if she is not here, what does the board want. Deb said she wants her to be a park designer and a grant writer. Amy said maybe we don't need a director. Scott said Laura is not going to say it, but she wants to be the director. Laura is doing everything now anyway. Scott said there is a reason the city is getting grants, she is great at doing this and has great connections down state and she does 98% of that. Dan said the areas of Laura's strengths are grant writing, good 5 administration skills etc. Dan feels that giving up anything would be the design and Laura said that is easy to oversee. Dan said stay with the things that you are great at and oversee the design. Laura said if she is not here the board can still have someone to do the grant writing. Dan said the city is lucky to have the knowledge that Laura has. Laura said she thinks after four years, it is time to have a director. Tim said there should not be a search and it should be Laura. Kelly said he would like Laura to be director and do the grant writing and overseeing the park designs and he said the board should go to city council and say that is what we want. The goal of the board after discussion is to review the administration structure and job descriptions for all of the staff. Laura said the board used to make these recommendations. The board discussed being looked at as an advisory board only. Dan said the board should have a job description for everyone. Seaver said to revisit what the role of the board is. Tim said the Mayor wants to work with you guys, which before was not the case. Seaver said the role of the park board was to manage parks and recreation and he said he has not seen any managing. Laura said maybe to review the mission statement and Laura said she depends on the board to set policy, so we don't have to go to city council. Scott handed the board a sheet with prices for vehicles the city has and a sheet with parts and replacements. Scott said at staff meetings and budget meetings this has been discussed in public works and police department too. He said right now the city is operating if something breaks, we decide if we need it replaced or can the city do without. Scott said the mowers are becoming an issue. Scott said four years ago we laid off one staff member and the city has 100 acres more since that person left. Scott said they are grossly short handed and he said they rely on public works to help parks keep up on things. The board discussed hiring another staff member for parks. Scott said everyone needs more help and he said he does ask and we do get turned down. Scott asked if this is important to the board. Scott said the parks look bad because we are so short handed. Scott said he has been here 20 years and he has built every playground and when he walks the parks and sees how bad they are where 10 years ago, we had flowers in the parks and we could treat weeds and trim etc. to keep them looking good and now the city is just putting out fires. Kelly said all this points to why Yorkville needs to become a district, which is out of our hands. Scott said that he loves what he does and wants to retire here. Dan said it is a money thing, but you take care of things that are important to you, so does city council think these things are important. The board discussed this all comes back to a money issue and needs versus wants. Laura said the city can't add more playgrounds because we can't keep up on what we have unless we hire another person. Yorkville for the size it is has great parks and a great master plan that has been followed. Deb said it is not the quality that it used to be. Laura said the city is adding miles of trails soon, which is another consideration on how to maintain it. Scott said the park department is very frugal with the money they have and they do as much in house as 6 possible. Laura said something the board should consider when the city gets questions about Caldonia or Beecher, we tell them we are maxed out on staff. Laura said we are getting to the point where we can request things and we can prioritize needs. Scott handed the board a list of park replacement to review. The city has 23 playgrounds. Deb said this is a list that the board needs to prepare for. Laura asked were the board wants to spend land cash. Scott said land cash is for community event or parks. The board agreed not to spend land cash. The board discussed Caldonia and developing it. The board discussed not having money for staff and their needs, so cannot develop other parks. Laura asked the board if it is one of their goals is to finish a regional park. The board agreed if it is from grants yes. Dan said shouldn't a goal of the board be to continue to write grants and get as many as we can. The board agreed. Tim said in the last year things have gotten better with city council and last year Tim was able to add a staff person and there has been progress. The board decided to work on Administration Structure/staffing and to pursue grant funding. Deb said this was a good meeting for tonight and the board might want to do another one. The board wants to have job descriptions for the next meeting and to discuss the director position. Adjournment: There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:40 p.m. Motion made by Kelly Sedgwick and seconded by Dan Lane. Minutes Respectfully Submitted by: Lisa Godwin Minute Taker 7