Park Board Minutes 2014 04-10-14
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Yorkville Parks and Recreation Department
ARC Building
201 W. Hydraulic Avenue
April 10, 2014 at 6:30 p.m.
Call to Order: Kelly Sedgwick called the meeting to order at 6:35 p.m.
Roll Call: Deb Horaz – yes(6:40 p.m.); Kelly Sedgwick – yes; Seaver Tarulis – yes; Mark Dilday – no;
Amy Cesich – yes (7:09 p.m.); Dan Lane – yes; Matt Konecki – yes.
Introduction of City Official and Staff:
Tim Evans – Superintendent of Recreation
Scott Sleezer – Superintendent of Parks
Shay Remus – Recreation Manager
Diane Teeling ‐ Alderman
Other Guests: None.
Public Comment: None.
Presentation: None.
Approval of Minutes: The minutes from the March 13, 2014 minutes were approved. Motion to
approve the minutes was made by Seaver Tarulis and seconded by Matt Konecki.
Bills Review: April 10, 2014 ‐ Matt asked about golf instruction. Tim said it is an outside group that we
pay for instruction. Shay said golf was at Grande Reserve for a kids class. It is a contractual program
that the city started to teach classes. Dan asked about softballs. Tim said they were purchased for the
softball leagues. Kelly said the city has to supply them so that people cannot do anything to the balls to
doctor them up.
The board asked about the maintenance on the trucks. Scott said the trucks are running well because
the city is maintaining them. Dan asked about the small engine company and Scott said they use the
one in Naperville because they do the best service for the best price.
New Business:
Riverfront Rentals – Tim said he worked with city hall and from their perspective Robyn and Eric are up
to date with their taxes. Tim said there are lease payment and tax issues with Geneva Kayak. Bart has
spoken to Ryan about those things and there are issues with the building. The city is waiting for the
weather to warm up to see what damage is done to the building.
Scott said we think Ryan shut power off during the winter and did not winterize the building. There was
probably frozen pipes. The good thing is the water comes up into the bathroom, so there won’t be as
much damage. The city will have to see what happened when it gets warmer and get an estimate and
make sure he pays for it. Deb asked if he is required to keep the heat on. Scott said probably, or he
should have winterized the building.
APPROVED 5/8/14
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Scott said the building is all electric and he probably thought it would save money. Scott said in future
the city needs to put some clauses into leases about those things. Scott said he has not been able to see
Ryan yet, but they are probably not up and running for business yet. Matt asked if they are coming
back. Scott said yes, the city just needs to straighten out some issues. Scott said the plumbing is fixable,
but we need to see if it froze into the ground.
The building is technically a trailer and if it froze underneath, it could be a significant cost to fix. Scott
said he can see once it is warmer and they are up and operating. Bart is working with him on working
out the lease payments and tax issues. Scott said the last he heard, he was out of town on excursions
and when he is back he will meet with Bart. Tim said there are legal issues and Bart wants to make sure
that they work with the city attorney.
Scott said the inspector we have is a certified licensed plumber. Deb asked if there was damage inside.
Scott said he thinks the toilet cracked. Scott said those things are fixable, but the service line is his main
concern. Kelly asked how deep it is. Scott is not sure probably at least 5 feet deep.
Diane Teeling asked about the River City Roasters hours. Scott said he talked to him in March sometime
and he plans on regular hours during the latter part of April, but in March they were only seeing one to
maybe two customers per day. Diane said during the summer, the building needs to be open. If he is
not open, the city needs to have something down there as far as concessions.
Diane asked if that is addressed in the lease as far as hours. Tim said he doesn’t believe so. Diane said
next time, that might be something that the city put in the lease. Kelly said the city cannot tell people
how to run their business. Kelly said then the city should charge more for a lease. Kelly said
government should not tell them how to run their business. Diane said it is a service for people that
come downtown.
Kelly said when the lease needs to be renewed, we can say they are not open enough so we will not
renew the lease. Dan said it is because of the construction. Dan said I would not want to go down
there either. Scott said he will follow up with him. Diane said she is talking about the seasonal time not
the winter. Scott said he has another location in Wheaton.
Diane Teeling said the intention was to have a private business in there to support business and for
people going down to Riverfront. Diane said she would just like to know what the hours will be for our
information. Tim said he will follow up with Eric, Robyn, and Geneva Kayak so the city knows.
Deb said she feels bad for all businesses downtown. Robyn said she thinks this year will be better.
Robyn said with the construction this year it has been horrible, but it will be done soon and this year
should be good. Tim said he would like to keep this item on the agenda, so that the board can keep on
top of what is happening with these businesses.
The board had a discussion with Robyn about the names of the businesses and different bills and who is
responsible for what. Tim said things are getting worked out and he will have that information at the
next meeting.
Amy said she went down to Robyn’s place and walked into River City Roasters and because of their new
shop in Wheaton, they are just using their place here as a kitchen to cook all the food for Wheaton. The
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guitar guy has moved out, so that entire room is torn up. Amy said the kid working did not have any
information.
Amy said when that side room was set up it was to be a community room and a portion of the sales
come to the city since the rent is $200 a month. She said with construction it is an issue, but now there
is nothing in there.
Scott said at the end of April it will be full hours again. Scott said the décor the city doesn’t have control
over that. Matt asked if it was dirty. Amy said the bathrooms could have been cleaner. Scott said some
of those things the city does not have control over that the health department takes care of that.
Deb said if they are cooking there and taking the food to Wheaton where is our 5%. Tim said that is
something the board can discuss. Amy said she has an issue with him taking the food from here to
Wheaton and our community is not making money from this. Deb said is there a clause of a breach of
contract. Tim said these are questions for the city attorney.
Dan said the nature of the business has changed. The board does not want him just using the kitchen
here in Yorkville and taking the food to Wheaton. Scott said I am sure that he could operate his business
in Wheaton without Yorkville. Amy said there is not a kitchen in Wheaton.
Matt said we need to see how the summer progresses and ask him for his hours and then take some of
these questions to the city attorney. Tim is taking a list of concerns to the city attorney. Amy said if the
city is going to allow them to do that can we put into there about cleanliness of building. Scott said that
is the health department criteria they follow. Amy asked when is the last time the health department
was there. Deb said we can call the health department if we think there is a violation.
Robyn said they look more at how they store the food and the heat of the water things like that. Amy
said she understands the situation down there is dire. Amy said he did not tell us the guitar guy was
leaving and we do not get updates and then we hear he is obtaining another restaurant. Tim said there
has been a lack of communication, so it will be on the agenda every month to keep on top of it.
Deb said each of us should go in and grab a cup of coffee and see what is going on. Tim said as issues
come up, email me right away and we can make sure we are on the same page. Amy said as a customer,
if I walked in there, normally there is a menu on the chalkboard there was nothing on there but coffee
they were not even serving food. Scott said if no one is coming, you are not going to make food it will
be a waste and lose money.
Deb said maybe he should close for certain months. Amy said there is nothing to offer, so maybe shut
down in the winter.
Parks and Recreation Survey ‐ Tim said in the packet is the last survey we did in 2008, as part of the
master plan. Tim said in talking with Bart and the facility grant, it is time for another survey for updated
information. Tim said we put something together. He said by the end of summe,r we would like to get a
survey out to the community so when grant opportunities come we have updated information.
Deb asked if we can do it every year with Survey Monkey with the water bills. Tim said we can decide if
we want to do a phone call one. Scott said it was $10,000, but Northern Illinois, the structure of the
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questions are better to get more honest answers. Tim said this example is what we put together in a
few minutes to start the ball rolling.
Dan said the question needs to be included about having a park district. Scott said Northern Illinois
guaranteed a certain percentage of participation. Deb said it was $12,000 and Dan asked if we have to
ask the city for it. Scott said it is probably in the budget or Tim said we could find the money.
Tim said he thinks they should try Survey Monkey on the water bill and then if the board thinks it was
not good enough, next March or April, we could plan for $12,000 for a survey. Dan said that is a great
plan. Seaver said people don’t want to take the time to fill out a survey.
Scott said he agrees that Survey Monkey is free and worth a try. Tim said there are things from before
we would not want on there or changed. Deb said the city budget actually determines what the park
board can do. Tim asked the board if they want to go home and think about what things they want
included.
Deb asked if they could be passed out at the REC when people come in and sign up for classes. Scott
said we need to make sure it goes out to everyone, so the results are not skewed. Amy said several
could be taken off and replaced with better questions and shortened a bit.
The board decided to go through the questions and discuss which ones are relevant or helpful. Dan said
we need to look at the purpose of the questions.
Thinking about the facilities and parks you visited in the past 12 months how do you rate these facilities?
The board said to take 12 months out. Scott said in looking at the questions, do we want recreation on
there or just parks. Scott asked if we should keep facilities in the question. The board decided to leave
facilities in there.
The questions refer to facilities and Scott asked if it should be amenities instead. Tim said I would not
use the word REC Center maybe community center instead. The board discussed different wording in
questions on the survey. The board discussed which things to leave in the survey and what things to
remove.
The board discussed how many questions to put on the survey and how long it should take. The board
went through all the questions on the survey and changed and/or added wording. Scott said to separate
the parks and recreation programs. Matt said maybe split the survey into two one for parks and one for
recreation. Tim said for Survey Monkey, but not with Northern Illinois.
The board agreed that it might be less confusing and discussed what time of year to do each survey. The
board discussed that people might think that both surveys are the same. Shay said we need to know
what each household is using parks and/or recreation.
The board decided to combine some questions and remove some questions that they felt were
redundant. The board discussed the question about referendums and several on the board did not like
it. The board doesn’t want to appear they are asking for more money. Tim said the point of the
question is what people would pay, so that we can get information for the future to see if it would work.
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The board discussed having a park district. Tim said in Oswego it is between $200‐$500 per year for a
park district. Deb said it would be about the same as supporting a city. Tim said if we went to a park
district we would have to hire staff and it would double our expenses and we would need a facility
immediately.
Scott said there are around 6,000 homes and businesses in Yorkville. Deb said what about adding Bristol
and Plano and spread it to the county. Deb said a park district could be set up differently. Deb wants to
ask about a park district and Scott said he needs to see if we can ask that question.
Old Business: None.
Reports:
Recreation Report – Tim said the city received the grants for Bristol Bay 65. Deb said Alderman are
already asking how we are going to pay for that. Scott said we are matching the grant using land at
Kennedy Road and Bristol Ridge as our matching piece. The city has to develop it, but it is minimal with
a few benches and mow a path and some signage.
Scott said it is a good thing. The parking alone will be huge and help the city utilize the space. Scott said
the parking will come off of Bristol Bay Drive where the school is, it will allow people to park in the
center of the park. Deb said it was not explained in the paper very well. Scott said people are already
asking why this money is not for roads.
Tim said I am sure Bart will address it at city council today. Deb said if there is another grant
opportunity she talked to city council about meeting together and they were okay with that. Tim said
there are three other grants going. Scott said the grant the city is moving on the quickest is for Prairie
Meadows the fireman park. The matching site Grande Reserve B, we are working on getting data
collected to move forward on constructing that park.
Scott said the city has to move forward and if we don’t we have to give back the money we got for
building Reminsnider Park. There are some disk golf, pavement and community gardens. EEI is creating
a map to see the elevations and look at the plan for the subdivision then begin building.
Scott said the other thing is finishing up the trails grant at Hopkins/Clark and having that park done by
July 1st. He said they are almost done with the shelter and there is some concrete work to do. The
match on that grant was 20% and it will be matched with our labor, so no out of pocket costs.
The next one is Riverfront Park and the city is moving forward with EEI to get an overall general idea of
where things go. The fishing pier and the playground. The city has to work around festivals and not
disrupt anything. There is a significant amount of brickwork to be done down there. Scott said he
would like to get some ideas of playgrounds.
Scott said consider doing a volunteer build. Matt asked about rubber ground. Scott said that is really
expensive and not something we could do in house. Scott said rubber tiles in this area look bad after a
few years. He said the playground would have to be smaller, if we wanted the rubber ground. The
board can discuss those things.
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Bristol Bay this summer we will see how busy it is, but he wants to work with the public works and
maybe rent some of the equipment and core that out ourselves. Scott said they use that park to get rid
of black dirt. He said he would like to put down some sort of fabric and work with contractors in the
county and see if we can get asphalt grindings for free as a base.
Bristol Bay does not call for it to be paved, it has to be gravel. The grindings would help save money, so
we could spend more on something else. Scott said maybe the board wants to look at a grant for next
year. Deb said the match would be hard. Amy said a grant every year, we could take a break on that.
Tim said we need to show some progress on things like Riverfront and get some other things done. Tim
said we are ending the fiscal year. Tim said we are projecting a surplus in our budget and putting
together some minor projects. Tim said we would like a playground down here for the preschool. He
said we are looking at $18,000.
Scott said the preschool staff asked if there was anything we could do with the backyard. Scott said yes,
on the green piece for 2‐5 year old kids. Scott said there are certain things for that age with ground level
activities with a few small slides. Scott said probably not swings, but we could get something under
$20,000 that would be nice. We don’t need a large park.
Scott said it would be nice for the preschool and the community for smaller kids. Tim said the kids only
need something for 15‐20 minutes. The board asked about the River being there. Scott said the river is
a natural hazard. Tim said he will keep the board updated on this item. Tim said other minor things the
HVAC system at Bridge Park always breaks which we want to replace.
Scott said we are ordering an IPAD to take pictures and store things, damages etc. Deb said what about
our IPADS. Tim said we can look into it. This is the time to do something if you want something like
that. Matt asked if there are landscaping funds to make what we have look better. Scott said yes, but
then it needs maintenance.
Matt said at Grande Reserve the other day and the canopy was rusting a bit. Matt said some of the
parks could be touched up a bit. Scott agreed. Matt asked about the landscaping at Sleezer Park and
suggested it could be cleaned up a bit. Scott said the city works with cub scouts and churches to help
with maintenance.
The board discussed taking a tour together to see all the parks. Scott said he wants to come up with a
time and get something like that scheduled. Tim said they are going to get a photographer to take
pictures of the parks to put on the website. Scott said on Google Earth all the parks are tagged.
Dan asked how many parks to visit. Scott said 23 playgrounds and there are more parks than that. Scott
said we could work with KATS and use their bus for a few hours. Scott said it is good for the board to
see it together. Scott said to bring dates for next meeting. Amy said it all just has to be transparent, to
let people know what we are doing not secretly meeting.
Shay said the catalog was finalized today and being delivered by the end of the month. People are
already calling about classes. Preschool only has 4 spots left in the morning for next year. Shay said
Ready Set Go is still growing and going well. Soccer started this week it was delayed a week because of
weather.
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Shay said all of the child development classes are going well and spring break went great. The revenues
have grown there are 30 more soccer this year than last. Softball and baseball is up and running this
week. Softball for adults is up and going.
Additional Business:
None.
Adjournment: There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:40 p.m. Motion was
made by Seaver Tarulis and seconded by Matt Konecki.
Minutes Respectfully Submitted by:
Lisa Godwin
Minute Taker