Park Board Minutes 2011 04-14-11 Q
Yorkville Parks & Recreation Department
Administration Office - 201 W. Hydraulic St Yorkville, IL 60560
Park Board Meeting Minutes
Parks and Recreation Administration Office
7:00 p.m.
April 14 2011
Call to Order: Ken Koch called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
Roll Call: Ken Koch —Yes; Seaver Tarulis — Yes; Amy Cesich — Yes; Kelly Sedgwick - Yes
Introduction of Guests, City Officials and Staff:
• Interim Director of Parks and Recreation — Bart Olson
• Interim Superintendent of Recreation —Tim Evans
• Superintendent of Parks — Scott Sleezer
City Officials and Guests
• City Council Liaison to Park Board — Diane Teeling, Ward 4 Alderman
• Tim Rochford, Yorkville
• Linda Cabanban, Yorkville
• Lisa Welz, Yorkville
• Gary Golinski, Yorkville Mayor-Elect
• Lynn Dubajic—Yorkville Economic Development
Public Comment:
Ron and Sue Walker, owners of the former Club 47 and landlords for the REC Center, were present
to discuss negative statements in the local papers regarding the REC Center lease. They do not
believe the actual lease is the overall problem with the REC Center. Mr. Walker indicated the REC
Center could be in better financial situation if the adult and student membership rates were kept the
same as they were at Club 47, and there were no reduced prices to residents. In his view, by
decreasing membership rates, the REC Center was losing about $80,000 per year on membership
alone. Ken Koch said that the prices were lowered to bring in more memberships. Mr. Walker also
indicated that his price structure always worked. He said when there are resident and non-resident
rates; it tells people there is a subsidy out there. If Yorkville is not willing to subsidize the REC
Center, the prices should not have been changed. He also commented that he did a lot of the
maintenance himself when he was managing Club 47.
Mr. Walker advised that he met with Mayor Burd, Scott Sleezer & Tim Evans in mid January to talk
about the lease. Ken Koch advised that the board has a copy of the lease and he was not aware of
any negotiations.
Mr. Walker advised that if the City bought the building, they would not have to pay the $54,000 in
real estate taxes except for the first year of ownership. He also advised that he would have the
ability to owner-finance. There was discussion of doing a building appraisal. Also discussed were
repair issues, HVAC replacements, and the Walkers' responsibility to take care of some of these
issues.
The board thanked the Walkers for their comments.
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April 14, 2011
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Lisa Wells, reporter, Record Newspaper, spoke to the group. She indicated she was not attending
the meeting as a member of the press, but as a resident. She questioned whether the REC Center
was "over$250,000 in the hole?" Bart Olson reviewed the budget and indicated that the cumulative
debt was $227,000. Bart did say that the budget would be distributed at the next meeting, and that
the ($227,000) should be less.
Ms Wells was concerned that the city was in distress and that several things needed to be
considered:
• The board should hear from residents
• No bike trails —we don't have money
• We are struggling on how we are going to pay for things
• REC Center price structure—reduced membership is a benefit as a resident
o Do not raise student rate from $20 to $30
o The presentation given by the Walkers was all in their favor at keeping the rent as is
o There is a possibility that fiscally, we may need to walk away
o She wants assurance that we are going to look into it
o Do due diligence with negotiating the rent or purchase price
Ms Wells thanked the board for the job they do. She appreciated their time and efforts on behalf of
the residents of Yorkville.
Members commented that playgrounds do not make money— REC Center is playground for adults.
If we do not go forward with the lease or purchase of the REC center, we have to come up with
money for preschool and other programs.
Ms Wells commented that one of the most valuable things for the board to do would be to invite all
the aldermen to a board meeting and have open communication about the REC Center.
Presentations:
None
Approval of Minutes:
March 24, 2011*
Ken Koch asked for a motion to approve the meeting minutes of March 24, 2011. Kelly Sedgwick
made the motion and Seaver Tarulus seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved
by voice vote.
Bills Review:
Bill list*
Members reviewed the bills list. Ken Koch asked for a motion to approve the bills list. Amy Cesich
made the motion and Kelly Sedgwick seconded the motion. The motion was approved by roll call
vote: Ken Koch—Yes; Seaver Tarulis—Yes; Amy Cesich —Yes; Kelly Sedgwick - Yes
Park Board Meeting
April 14, 2011
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Old Business:
REC Center
Members discussed the REC Center as follows:
• Purchase of the REC Center
• Business appraisal will need to be done—the cost of$6,000-$7,000 for the appraisal
will be money well spent—anytime the city enters into a purchase contract, an
appraisal must be done.
• Mayor has met with Walkers—outcome is what we heard tonight
• We have to prove the building is worth a certain amount
• Walkers will finance and hold the mortgage
• REC Center lease history
o Everything in business plan has been in line
o The reason the building went for lease is that the City would not bond this out to buy
building —option to buy was gone.
o Buyout could be done at any time
• Future
• It has to make sense financially for the community
• Notification to be done in December, but it could be extended
• Process needs to be evaluated now
Whitewater course naming
Ken spoke with Marc Miller, IDNR. They are supporting the request to name the whitewater course
after Marge Cline. Lynn Dubajic reported that she has been working with the Illinois Paddlers
Council. She indicated that at Canoecopia, paddlers were passionate about Marge Cline and do
consider her a person of great importance to that group of individuals. Ken advised that when the
board previously discussed the naming request, they did not question Marge Cline's importance and
impact in the paddling community, but wanted to find someone tied to the community, or defer the
naming to the IDNR.
After discussion, members felt that if IDNR and the paddling community feel they want the
whitewater course named after Marge Cline, the City should be respectful to IDNR and to the people
who are coming to use this new amenity and honor the request. In the paddlers' world, it will have a
positive impact in our community.
Members recommended that the whitewater course at Bicentennial Riverfront Park be named the
Marge Cline Whitewater Course. Family of Marge Cline would possibly want to have a separate day
to name the course in addition to the May 14 ribbon cutting celebration for the facility. It was noted
that memorials to honor any local people could be located in the park.
The motion to recommend naming the whitewater course at Riverfront Bicentennial the Marge Cline
Whitewater Course was made by Seaver Tarulis and seconded by Amy Cesich. All present were in
favor. Recommendation will go to City Council.
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April 14, 2011
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New Business:
REC Center small gym usage
Bart advised that Tim Rochford had made an unsolicited offer to the City to permanently rent the
small gym at the REC Center. Tim was present at the meeting and outlined his plan to relocate his
business, Empower Training. He advised that the building they were currently leasing was going
into foreclosure. For their classes, they would need to install permanent mats on the floor of the
small gym.
Members discussed the current usage of the small gym as a space to hold classes, provide an open
gym for kids, and serve as occasional rental for small groups. The biggest impact would be removal
of basketball and batting cages due to the installation of permanent mats on the floor.
Tim advised that he looked forward to partnering with the REC Center. He would bring more people
into the building; he would not compete with what the REC Center offered. Empower Training offers
programs for every age group. He said the current REC Center members would see the programs
his business offered. Currently, he has 125 people enrolled in his classes. In the past, he taught
classes at the Beecher Center and Parkview, and then went on his own. There was discussion on
how Tim's people would sign in and out. He gave an overview of his classes and schedules.
Members agreed that the park board has a good history with Tim. Lynn Dubajic commented that
there are no businesses looking for space like the small gym.
Members requested that Bart put together a lease agreement for Tim and bring it to the next
meeting for review.
Bike trail referendum result
The Bike Trail did not pass in the referendum. Members discussed the bike trail referendum and the
best ways to plan for bike paths in the future. It was noted that there is still an opportunity with the
Rt.47 widening and trail projects as they come up.
Diane Teeling & Lynn Dubajic have met and are attempting to organize privately funding a bike trail
project. Discussion followed:
• Hold a bike event with private donations and sponsors.
• Not in favor of bike stickers
• Higher gas prices— people will bike rather than drive
• IDOT needs to know in September if we want the bike trail
• Talk with finance director regarding establishing a trust for donations
• Do not want to create major issue for auditors —have REC center as point of drop-off. Tim
has program to keep track of money.
• Rt. 47 widening project—sell a foot for $10/foot— Lynn said people in her subdivision would
support it as well as people who voted for the bike trail.
• Lynn contacted Jeff Lamar, Fox Valley Trophy, regarding providing plaques for larger donors.
$8 for plaque for$1,000 donors. He also has a process where he could gold plate the
plaque - $5,000 donor(cost $20). Print latitude and longitude on certificates.
Park Board Meeting
April 14, 2011
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• Diane Teeling, Amy Cesich, and Lynn Dubajic will be on bike trail committee. Diane will talk
with Green Committee. Will also present to Chamber of Commerce.
• Promote this through Facebook, contact local bike clubs, cycle stores, Kohl's, Target.
• Work out budgeting and accounting with finance manager— budget for expenses
• Adopt a committee to make recommendation to city council
The Board supported private individuals organizing a bike trail committee to take ideas to City
Council.
Old Business: Continued
Strategic Planning
Tabled
Reports:
Director's Report
None
Recreation Report
Written report— March good month for REC Center
Parks Report
• Started construction on tennis courts
o Proof roll on clay, gravel
o There are a couple of spots that are giving us a wrinkle
o 3 inches of pavement
o Shave off some of the bad spots—may need to spend extra $5,000
o This would be a change order
• Board gave consensus to do repairs as needed — under$5,000
Parks Designer Report
None
Additional Business:
Scott indicated that it was extra work to get the room ready for the board meeting; and then put it
back together for the preschool. He recommended the Board meeting at the Riverfront building.
Suspend Regular Meeting to go into Executive Session
Seaver Tarulis made the motion to suspend the regular meeting and Amy Cesich seconded the
motion. The regular meeting was suspended at 9:20 p.m.
Regular Meeting Call to Order
Ken Koch asked for a motion to call the regular meeting to order at 9:35 p.m. A motion was made
by Kelly Sedgwick and seconded by Seaver Tarulis.
Ken Koch advised that an e-mail was forwarded to members regarding liability for the canoe chute.
This will be an agenda item for the next meeting.
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April 14, 2011
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Adjourn Meeting:
Ken Koch asked for a motion to adjourn the regular meeting at 9:37 p.m. Amy Cesich made the
motion and Kelly Sedgwick seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved by voice
vote.
Next meeting: Thursday, April 28, 2011
*Items needing Board approval or recommendation
Respectfully Submitted By.
Louise A. Beukelman