Park Board Minutes 2016 01-14-16Page 1 of 4
APPROVED 2/11/16
Yorkville Parks and Recreation Department
Park Board Meeting
ARC Building
201 W. Hydraulic Avenue
6:30 p.m.
January 14, 2016
Call to Order: Deb Horaz called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.
Roll Call: Deb Horaz ‐ yes; Mark Dilday – yes; Amy Cesich – yes; Dan Lane – yes; Matt Konecki –
yes; Gene Wilberg – no ; Sash Dumanovic ‐ yes.
Introduction of City Official and Staff:
Tim Evans – Director of Parks and Recreation
Scott Sleezer – Superintendent of Parks
Shay Remus – Superintendent of Recreation
Joel Frieders & Ken Koch – Alderman
Steve Redman
Other Guests: None.
Public Comment: None.
Presentation: Yorkville Girl Scout Troop #1441 “Little Free Library” Presentation
Tim introduced Park Board to the girl scout troop before the presentation. Jennifer Carter thanked the
board for their help with this project. The Little Free Library is a free sustainable library where you give
a book and take a book for everyone to participate. The troop wants to promote literacy and the love of
reading.
The troop explained to the Park Board how their idea would work. The troop would like to open on
March 3, 2016. The troop has a website for the library. Tim said the board is looking forward to working
with the troop on this project.
Approval of Minutes: The minutes from the November 12, 2015 meeting were approved. Motion by
Amy Cesich and seconded Sash Dumanovic. Minutes approved.
Minutes from November 18, 2015 special meeting were approved. Motion made by Sash Dumanovic
seconded by Amy Cesich.
Bills Review:
Bills List – January 14, 2016 – The board discussed a few items on the bills list.
Budget Report – October and November 2015 – Informational item.
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Old Business:
2016 Youth Baseball Field Usage Agreement – Tim said baseball will be getting started the end of
March. Tim said as of today, the city is not going to be replacing the two employees they lost last year
because of the uncertainty of the state budget. The organizations are going to have to take on the field
maintenance themselves. The Mayor is going to recommend to eliminate all fees, if the city is asking
them to maintain the fields. The organizations will have to spend their own money on maintenance.
Matt asked about the standards that will be set. Amy asked if there will be a problem with people
maintaining them. Tim said no because there will not be a fee and the teams will be able to invest in the
fields. The fields need to be maintained at the quality the city has been maintaining them the past few
years. Without the extra employees, the city cannot keep up with everything. This will be for this year
and we will reevaluate this next year.
Tim said if the funds are not there, this could be a two to three year thing. The teams will have to bring
their own groomers. The parks will still cut the grass. Scott said that the city will set a standard, but the
organizations might not always meet it. Scott thinks the city should be maintaining the fields, but with
this situation, something has to give.
Ken asked about people who bring out something like kitty litter after it rain. Scott said that will not
matter, we will have people that dig fields to dig a trench to drain the field those things happen with the
city doing maintenance. Those people will only hurt themselves; they will be the ones using the field the
next day. The teams will not have the equipment to drag the fields the way you should. Matt asked how
often the fields were dragged. Scott said every day.
Scott said there is a mowing route right now that no one is assigned to. Tim said Route 47 is done and
there is more grass space to maintain with 6 guys. Amy asked about the fees the teams pay to cover the
costs for employee? Tim said no. Amy said she cannot believe the city cannot hire a couple people to
help out seasonally. Tim said the city cannot pay over $1000.
Scott said seasonal is May to August. Scott said he really needs someone year round. The city tried to
find retired people and the city cannot find people to work for 8 months for $10.00 per hour. Tim said
the city will maintain Bridge fields. Tim said there is definitely issues with our city staff with events and
more parks going in.
Dan asked if the schedules will stay the same. Tim said yes. The teams understand the situation. Amy
asked will this be written up in the agreement. Tim said he put an agreement together. Tim said he can
update whatever is needed. Tim said the uncertain state budget is affecting everything. The union
contracts also affect things. The city will review this after a year and see how things worked. Sash asked
if the city can include a reasonable restoration clause in the agreement. Tim said yes. Tim told the
board to get suggestions together for approval at the February meeting.
New Business:
Community Apiary at Bridge Park – Tim said some residents contacted the city about this. Some
residents want to do a Bee Garden. Scott has been involved in making sure this is done correctly. Tim
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said there is a location that will work at Bridge Park away from fields and homes. The board looked at a
map for the location. There are 25 acres at Bridge Park.
There is a delegated area, a flat fee and there is an entrance to put your bees. Most bee keepers in the
area pay a rental fee or have bees illegally and most people don’t know.
A community Apiary submits the location to the government. Deb said some communities want people
to pay insurance. Joel said you check your bees every few weeks. The city will not be responsible for
any damage. Joel said this location is a great for many reasons. There is not a limit of how many hives
can be put in there. There are 25 acres of woods there.
There will be annual registration and applications for a permit. Matt asked how much maintenance will
be involved. Scott said there is a gate and a few times a year the city will mow where the cars will park.
Joel said there is not a lot of coming and going just a few times a year. The board asked some questions
about how this would work. This will not cost the city any money, we just need a piece of ground. The
board had some questions about insurance. Tim said he will look into it. Deb told the board to look at
Schaumberg because they have been doing this for a while. Motion passed.
Steven G. Bridge Park Alcohol Policy – Tim said the alcohol policy has been successful and sustained
the teams that the city had. This was a positive thing and it was not being hidden. Teams stayed here.
Tim said he wants to make this a permanent policy. Tim said there were no issues.
Motion to approve an ordinance to permanently allow alcohol to be purchased and consumed at Steven
G. Bridge Park on Tuesday and Thursday nights from April to November by Amy Cesich. Seconded by
Matt Konecki. Motion passed.
Reports:
Recreation – Tim said there was an incident last week at a basketball game with some parents fighting
and they have been suspended from the program. The child can still play. Tim said we will see what the
legal process does. Shay said the mom called and clarified she got the notice and didn’t fight about it.
Shay said registration is next September and the city can revisit things at that point. The board
discussed what happened and if there was anything that could have been done.
Shay said there were some adults there that helped while the police were called and the police arrived
in about 5 minutes. Tim said he doesn’t want the employees getting involved in the fight calling the
police was the right things to do. Tim said the level of intensity at the games is getting worse. Scott said
go sit in the stands and you will not believe how serious people get and the things that are said are
unbelievable. No one was hurt and no kids were involved. Shay said there was not any parents calling
concerned.
Tim said the Plano School district might start to work with us for some of our programs and potentially
use their gyms in the future. That gives Yorkville opportunity to expand some of our programs.
The board discussed the skating rink. It is small, but there are a lot of people who want one and it is a
trial basis. Tim said it was $500 and it will see if there is an interest in the community and how much
upkeep it will take. Dan said the one in Sandwich is great. Deb said they have a park district. The board
discussed the ice rink. Scott said he has not seen anyone on it, but he said there are skate marks so he
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knows people have been on it. Tim said he will evaluate it and see what happens. Tim said the
Riverfront Park is the city priority.
Parks – Scott said the winter has been mild so far and the city has fixed some issues on playgrounds.
Scott said because it is mild the parks are getting a lot of work done. The city is renting a machine to cut
down invasive species in March. Scott said there was a repair on one of the trucks from a plow. It was
in the budget. Scott said there was money donated for a bench at Clark.
Shay said the piano program is going great and the preschool programs continue to do well. Basketball is
70 more than last year. There were over 25 special events in 2015 with estimated of 25,000‐30,000
people attending and we plan to continue these for 2016.
Additional Business: None.
Adjournment: There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:10 p.m. Motion by
Amy Cesich seconded by Mark Dilday. Meeting adjourned.
Minutes Respectfully Submitted by:
Lisa Godwin
Minute Taker