Park Board Minutes 2010 08-26-10 APPROVED
Yorkville Parks & Recreation Department
Administration Office - 201 W. Hydraulic St Yorkville, IL 60560 630-553-4357
Park Board Meeting Agenda
Parks and Recreation Administration Office
7:00 p.m.
August 26, 2010
Call to Order: Ken Koch called the meeting to order at 7:15pm
Roll Call: Ken Koch - Yes, Debbie Horaz - Yes, Kelly Sedgwick —Yes and Vickie Coveny— Yes
Introduction of City Officials and Staff:
Interim Director of Parks and Recreation — Bart Olson
Superintendent of Recreation — Sue Swithin
Superintendent of Parks — Scott Sleezer
Park Designer— Laura Schraw
City Council Liaison to Park Board — Diane Teeling, Ward 4 Alderwoman
Guest:
Jeff Naumam (arrived 7:30pm left at 8:10pm)
Public Comment:
Public Comment took place after the Athletic Field Policy discussion
Resident Jeff Nauman spoke about YTS (Yorkville Travel Sports) having three travel teams this
year with 9, 11 and 12 year olds. He said as far as he knew there were about 32 kids being
100% Yorkville residents.
Nauman said that the YTS was all about giving kids the opportunity to play against their friends.
He explained why he and other parents started YTS. He said people were done with the politics
and everyone involved with YTS were more concerned about their kids.
Nauman went onto explain they were a non-for profit group and no one was getting paid a dime.
Again Nauman stressed they were dong this for their kids and not trying to hurt YYBSA.
Discussion continued back to the RED AND YYBSA Agreement
Presentations:
None
Approval of Minutes:
Park Board meeting—August 5, 2010*
In the following sentences the word filed should be changed to field: page two, second and third
paragraph; page three, seventh paragraph; and page four, seventh paragraph.
Page five, second paragraph, third sentence the first word, by should be omitted. Page five, #2
under directors report the verbiage, one of their, should be omitted. And the last sentence
should read: She had some issues and was still out.
1
Deb Horaz noted the minutes were missing the discussion when she questioned the recent roof
leak at the REC Center. She noted she asked Sue Swithin if the roof was leaking. Swithin said
that it had leaked and that they had sent a notice to the owner.
Ken Koch asked for a motion to approve the minutes of August 5th with the above amendments.
Deb Horaz made the motion and Kelly Sedgwick seconded the motion. The motion was
unanimously approved by voice vote.
Bills Review:
Bill list*
Ken Koch asked about the seal coating of park trails charge on page five. He asked if they did
their own seal coating and Scott Sleezer said they had never had them done before. Sleezer
noted they did gather bids for the work and it had been budgeted for. Bart Olson noted any bids
under $20,000 did not have to come to the Board and they went with the lowest bid.
Deb Horaz questioned the legal expense on page twelve for $92.50. Olson said he it was in
regards to the lawyer's review of the executive session minutes.
Vickie Coveny questioned the computer class instruction on page three and noted the library
gave computer lessons. Sue Swithin said that they were computer classes for tots for kids. She
said they had all levels and ages that are interested in computers and had been doing this
before the library. She also noted the company that taught the class brought in the computers.
Coveny asked about the carpet care on page twelve for $1,044. Swithin explained they took the
lower bid and had the carpets cleaned at the REC Center.
Ken Koch asked for a motion to approve the Bills List. Deb Horaz made the motion and Vickie
Coveny seconded the motion. The motion was approved by voice vote: Ken Koch - Yes,
Debbie Horaz - Yes, Kelly Sedgwick — Yes and Vickie Coveny— Yes
Old Business:
Athletic Field Policy*
Bart Olson said they made one change with the field policy and the second one was up for
debate. The first change related to tournament rentals and allowed organizations that had an
approved athletic field agreement to have two 10'x10' booths or tents on-site each day of the
tournament at no-cost.
Second item discussed was the rental time for tournaments. Olson explained as written
currently, the policy allowed tournament play to extend until 6pm on Sunday for the normal
$1,100 tournament fee. The ending time could be extended through Sunday at 9:45pm for an
additional $150. The discussion was whether to change the 6pm ending time to 9:45pm, and
charge $1,250. He noted that staff believed the earlier ending time with having the optional
9:45pm extension for an additional charge made for a better policy and it gave the renter choice
as it advertised a lower rental price to the potential tournament planner. Olson said he was
looking the Park Board's direction on the ending time.
Kelly Sedgwick asked if the fee would be the same if they played one game or five games.
Olson said it would be the same no matter how many games they played.
Deb Horaz pointed out that the fee was an option and recommended to note it that way in the
policy.
2
Scott Sleezer said he would put in verbiage stating they would need to be notified by a certain
time if they wanted to extend tournament play.
Ken Koch brought up the point that they considered organizations to do their own field prep.
Sleezer said they had to put some criteria together and it just could not be just anybody doing
field prep. He said that they would spell out what they could and could not use and put that in
the policy. Deb Horaz said that they should have a clause that there would be some sort of fine
if damage was done. Sleezer agreed that there should be some kind of accountability.
Ken asked for a motion to send the Athletic Field Policy to City Council. Kelly Sedgwick made
the motion and Deb Horaz seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved by
voice vote.
REC Center
Bart Olson explained the buyout to the Board and noted he explained this several times at the
City Council meeting a couple weeks ago and it went as follows:
Olson said they were in a deficit each year assuming they did not do anything operationally to
change that however they were trying. He explained the deficit was $60,000 a year.. He noted
there were three years left on the contract so by operating the REC Center each year it was
costing $60,000 x three years equaled $180,000.
He explained if they kept operating it they were going to be out$180,000. The flip, Olson said,
was they could get out of it whenever they wanted but it would cost them $100,000 plus the
remaining term of the contract which was about $600,000. He explained it would cost about
$700,000 to buy the contract out. So the conversation was: there is money saved by canceling
the contract with $180,000 dollars saved in operational costs but they would be spending
$700,000 to save that $180,000 so the net was really $520,000. Olson said if they were to buy
out the contract they would be out $520,000 and if they continued to operate it they were out
$180,000 assuming they did not do anything to change the state of the financials.
Olson explained that the cost benefits analysis of operating the REC Center was they were out
the $520,000 if they wanted to cut their losses right now or it would take $180,000 to keep
operating it. Deb Horaz noted that was assuming that there were no more major problems. She
noted that $180,000 may not be exactly right and could be worse however Olson said he has
been explaining it could be better.
Olson noted each year they had lowered the deficit. He said if they could really help lower the
deficit if they could negotiate the lease price, taxes or get some leagues in there that those
would help offset the cost.
Sue Swithin talked about her maintenance budget and how spending any of it would help them
keep their programs that make them money. She explained any expenditure for maintenance
and repair is under discretion because of the deficit.
Olson felt they were nowhere near making it worth getting out of right now. Horaz agreed it was
not feasible for $500,000.
Horaz questioned if we had lost revenue due to roof leaks. Swithin said that they had not lost
revenue due to the roof leaks however it had been an inconvenience.
3
Horaz said she was concerned about the leaks and possible mold due to leaks. She noted they
asked for the mold test but never had one done. Olson said they could do it however it was
$1000.
Horaz wanted to ask the owner for a reduction of rent when leaks occur and that a letter should
go out every time there was a leak. Olson said they were in negotiation with them about the rent
and other things and said the conversation between now and then had to be positive.
Alderwoman Diane Teeling asked about the leaks causing damage to thing such as the ceiling
that we had to replace. Swithin said that they signed the lease accepting that they knew there
was a leak.
Kelly Sedgwick made the point in that they would have rent coming in from the businesses once
they owned the building.
Ken Koch noted that they would hear more about discussions with the owner in September.
New Business:
June 2010 and July 2010 Budget Reports— Discussion
Bart Olson said they changed around the physical structure of the report. Ken Koch asked if the
report would change with the new finance person came in and Olson said that they would keep
the same structure until they changed their form of budgeting. He noted as of now they did not
have a finance director.
Deb Horaz said she would like to see what the actuals were from month to month. That would
give them a better idea of when they were busy or not. Olson said they could work on it for next
month.
Olson explained they were right in line where they thought they were going to be with the
budget.
YYBSA Agreement
Bart Olson explained that this agreement along with the REDS agreement was similar and the
dollar amounts were the same as YYBSA and that was communicated last meeting: $5 for in
house games and $19 per travel game. Everything else corresponds to the athletic field policy
or the general field policy.
Olson said that there was still going to be some back and forth between the organizations to set
schedules. Olson said it would be about November when they would be picking fields and
times.
Olson noted this needed no approval tonight, in fact they were ahead of schedule on this and it
would come back.
Reds Agreement
The Board agreed they were okay with this agreement and the YTS agreement.
Resident, Jeff Nauman said he talked to Tim Evans and asked if they could use football lights
for free to light their fields. He explained that the one of the guys he works with coaches at
Plano High School and they were getting new lights and looking to donate their old lights.
Nauman thought YTS could provide them this service.
4
Scott Sleezer expressed interested and said they would take them. Board and Staff agreed this
was generous and they could use them to possibly light up Van Emmons again. Ken Koch
thought it could possibly open up another time slot for the kids and that would be great.
Yorkville Travel Sports Agreement
Sue Swithin questioning who would get precedence as far as the other groups went? Each
agreement she felt should have dates listed. No other organizations had agreements yet.
Swithin felt that if YYBSA was holding precedence with September 1St then the REDS should
have September 15th then beginning October 1St scheduling could open to the public. She
wanted to give the agreements prioritizing and said it was important and gave Tim the direction
he needed.
Olson asked if they wanted to put a max of tournament dates. Board felt two weekends each for
tournament and the rest were open after October 1St. Olson said he would put this under the
tournament times section of the agreement.
Reports:
Director's Report
Bart Olson touched on the Bike Trail Referendum —While this agenda item did not go in front of
the Park Board, it dealt with a recreation amenity. He said the City Council chose to approve a
resolution that authorizes a public question to be placed on the ballot for the November 2010
election, which asks for $1 million for bike trails in the City. He noted they would have to
maintain them and one million dollars would buy them thirteen miles of trail however not all
connected. He also noted some sections may take ten years to be built.
Recreation Report
Sue Swithin gave a verbal report: She said they had a preschool orientation last night which
was the largest one they've ever had. She said open houses were held at the proper pre-
schools. She and Tim organized the orientation and open house because Angie was out on
leave.
Swithin reported out of their six staff they hired four teachers and classes started the 9th and 10th
of September.
Parks Report
Scott Sleezer gave a verbal report: he said concrete in town square would extend into
September. The north and south sides were done however the west side would be a little
different because they were doing a carriage walk so they would be removing grass to allow for
angle parking. He noted there never was a good time to do the work, due to programming, that
was the only drawback.
Sleezer reported the playground build went real well even though it was wet and sloppy; they
had a lot of serious volunteers.
He said they moved their soccer program up to Bristol Bay and it was nice because was now all
in one place. They were no longer at the Rotary.
Sleezer said they did construct in the infield at Riemenschneider Park and they were getting a
new back stop. He said it would go sixteen feet straight up instead of cantilevering because it
was cheaper and he was hoping it would all be completed by the end of September.
5
Sleezer was also happy to report that they were half way through getting recycle bins in the
parks. He said they had a grant for this and was hoping to have all the recycling bins out by mid
September. He said because of the grant 95% of the parks would be getting the recycling bins.
Parks Designer Report
Laura invited Board to read her report, in the packet, at their leisure.
Executive Session:
For the discussion of minutes of meetings lawfully closed under this Act, whether for
purposes of approval by the body of the minutes or semi-annual review of the minutes as
mandated by Section 2.06.
Executive session was tabled.
Additional Business:
Alderwoman Diane Teeling brought up the fact that the Park and Recreation meetings were
starting late and that was unacceptable. She expressed her concerns that people needed to be
on time and that it is not acceptable to continue to show up late or not at all.
She said that the meetings start at seven and they paid for a minute taker starting at 7:00pm
and noted that if they showed up late it would be written up in the paper. They could not be late.
The Board agreed that if one chose to be on the Board that they should commit coming to the
meetings and being on time.
Adjournment:
Ken Koch asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:35pm. Deb Horaz made the motion
and Kelly Sedgwick seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved by voice
vote.
Next meeting: Thursday, September 9, 2010
*Items needing Board approval or recommendation
Minutes Respectfully Submitted:
Jamie Cheatham
6