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Park Board Minutes 2009 03-26-09 Yorkville Parks & Recreation Department Administration Office 201 W. Hydraulic St Yorkville, IL 60560 6305534357 Park Board Agenda Thursday, March 26, 2009 7:00 p.m. - Park Board Meeting Administration and Recreation Office Call to Order: Ken Koch called the meeting to order at 7:12 pm. Roll Call: Ken Koch - Yes, Debbie Horaz - Yes, Vickie Coveny - Yes, and Garrick Gillette - Yes Introduction of Guests. 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 Haake City Council Liaison to Park Board Joe Plocher, Ward 2 Alderman Public Comment: None Presentations: None Approval of Minutes: Minutes - Regular Park Board Meeting March 12, 2009* Vickie Coveny noted a spelling error on page four under Recreation Expenses, the first sentence, first word should be part-time. Ken Koch asked for a motion to approve the Regular Park Board Meeting March 12, 2009. Garrick Gillette made the motion Deb Horaz seconded the motion and the motion was approved unanimously by voice vote. Bills Review: Cash Analysis* 1. Ken Koch brought up the lease payment for the REC Center. The Board agreed with Ken that there were some concerns over getting the work done before the lease payment was made. Bart Olson recommended paying it this month and seeing if there was anything that could be done before next month's payment was due. Bart felt that they should pay it unless they had further direction from their attorney on not paying it. He said he did not know the ramifications of not paying it. The Board agreed to pay the lease payment now however they wanted to move quickly with the repairs. 2. Vickie Coveny asked if there were multiple referees working each night. She wanted to know if they were all basketball referees. Sue Swithin noted that 1 they had multiple games a night; they had leagues going on the weekend and that would explain the referee fees. Vickie felt that they could use staff and employees to referee. Sue said that she has her payroll employees already supervising the games, the scoreboard, the clock and the book. She said beyond that she is exhausting her staff and she has to have other referees. Sue said she is monitoring the budget, and where they can cut referees, they are. Ken Koch asked for a motion to approve the Cash Analysis and Bills List. Garrick Gillette made the motion and Deb Horaz seconded the motion. The motion was approved by voice vote: Ken Koch - Yes, Debbie Horaz - Yes, Vickie Coveny - Yes, and Garrick Gillette - Yes Old Business: FY Budget 09110 Bart Olson noted that in general the operating budget was zeroed out so hopefully by next year they could erase their budget deficit of $41,000. He also noted they were projecting for the REC Center budget, not to erase the total deficit, but to improve it year to year. He said this would be the first full year in operation and the goal is by the end of the five year lease that they could have the deficit turned around. He said the REC Center is self sustaining and would turn around. Bart also noted that the numbers on the budget were more concrete; however were subject to small changes. Vickie Coveny asked about the IMRF Participants. She wanted to know if the part- time employees got this. Bart said if they work more than 1,000 hours a year they are covered by it. He said that City Council would have to approve part-time employees who get IMRF benefits. Deb Horaz asked if they had figured out where the 2007 deficit came from. Bart said that some program expenses were higher than expected, there were some revenue violations and the general transfer fund had been decreased. He said he was not sure on the specifics without the audit reports to look at but he said these were contributing factors to the deficit and they would still have to make it up. Sue Swithin said when they were made aware of the deficit after the mid-year budget and it was very difficult to pull back on spending and what had already taken place. She said now they are monitoring everything much closer, she said and they are learning from past mistakes. Bart said the only caveat in going forward is tracking it because they are both unaudited numbers and at the end of the year in the audit numbers they may find mistakes. He said they get audited once a year and they have to wait until the end of the fiscal year. Vickie felt they should do an audit more than once a year to avoid mistakes. Bart said it would not be practical to do it more than once a year due to the time, effort, and cost that is put into the audit. He felt the best way to avoid mistakes is to make your budget and tracking as detailed as possible. 2 Bart said that the 09/10 budget would be voted on at the City Council meeting on April 28`h. REC Center Update Bart Olson said he talked to Ron Walker and went over the memo he typed up for the board on what they discussed. 1. The repairs on the roof were started in late fall, and were not able to be looked at due to bad weather. 2. The total cost of the contract for the repairs has not been paid by Ron because the contractor has not finished the work to a satisfactory level; and the warranty for the repairs has not taken effect because the work has not been completed. 3. The contractor is scheduled to finish in mid-April, when the weather will be appropriate. 4. The roof leaks that had been discovered will be worked on under this contract for repairs and are pursuant to article 5.3 of the lease agreement. 5. Any roof leaks that are discovered after the contract and repairs have been completed will be addressed under the general repair section of the lease agreement. Bart said Ron intends to fix all the leaks in the roof; if something happened for example to a machine due to a leak then he would pay for it. Ken Koch said the real issue was that they redid the ceiling over the pool; if the ceiling leaks and ruins some of the repairs they made it may void their warranty. Bart said that he and Ron had scheduled two City building inspectors to come out and they did a walk through. He said that they got a list of things that needed to be done immediately and list of things that could be done later. He said that the punch list was not extensive and he still had to go over it with Sue. Bart said there are two problems, the exterior roof leaks and interior roof needs to be repaired above the pool. He said there will be a punch list of items that they would have to take care of and a punch list for Ron to take care of. Sue said that there were some things Ron said he would address on the outside of the building and if those things did not get addressed then there would be some exterior damage taking place. She felt that since these were exterior building issues they should not have to take them on due to the fact that they are leasing the center. Bart asked that as things come up to let him know and he would make sure they would get it documented at future Park Board Meetings and addressed in the proper manner. 3 New Business: REC Center Membership Cost Sue Swithin said that she, Hopkins and Bart reviewed the rate for different passes, training and tanning. It was brought to their attention that the percentages of non- residence fees were not as high as they should be compared to residence fees. Sue said that she took area caparisons of clubs and what they charged. She checked rates at new and old facilities. She went over the basic membership fees and noted the 15% increase would be taking effect June I"if approved. Sue noted that the biggest change addressed non-residence fees and a slightly higher rate on a second adult on a single pass membership. Sue said that because she reduced the child's membership that put them in the hole when it came to the kids club. She found that they were hurting due to having to have staff participate in the kids club. She said that she has to have one staff member on in the morning and one in the evening to babysit. Ken pointed out the price for a resident with a basic membership went from $60 to $240 for a year with an additional child on the membership. Sue said the markup there would help them with paying for the staff. Sue said that they were still marketable and still within the range of other clubs with the 15% markup. Bart noted that if anyone happened to leave over the increase it would be offset from the revenue with the people who kept their memberships. Vickie Coveny wanted to see a list of percentages of memberships that were residences versus non-residences. Sue said that right now they are looking at roughly 70% of their members were residents and 30% were non-residents. She also said that is pretty consistence to what their programs run. She said with she could get more accurate percentages by running some reports through their REC Track System. Sue said the people are pleased with the improvements and that the price increase is okay because there had been club improvements. She said that they would be tracking the revenue monthly and they were shooting for a 30% profit margin across the board. Ken asked for a motion to recommend changes to the City Council to raise the fees to what is listed in Sue's memo for June 1st, 2009. Deb Horaz made the motion and Garrick Gillette seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved by voice vote. Revenue Generating Ideas Sue Swithin said that they were going to up their offerings in swim classes. She said that they had already upped their swim classes and times. 4 Deb Horaz asked if they could get Ron to put up an awning and fix up the outside of the building. Sue said that if Ron fixed the gutters and painted the interior that would be a tremendous help. Bart Olson said they could put some of these things in the letter to Ron. Revenue Generating Ideas Discussed: 1. Sue said that they are adding another 5K in April. She said that there would be exhibitors coming and it would get people in their building. 2. Sue said that they are going to do a weight loss/fat loss training program. Members would sign up with a trainer and would compete in groups with other groups and staff. It would be a 12 week class that will bring in some great revenue. 3. Vickie wanted to hold a volleyball tournament. 4. Alderman Plocher said he received input from some residents and some thought that the City could take part in a scavenger hunt. Another idea was to set up cans around at local businesses for "Pennies from Heaven" and those proceeds would go to the food pantry. 5. Vickie thought a landscaping company could sponsor a park and take care of part of the park and in some way advertise their company. 6. Vickie wanted to look into a paper retrieval system. 7. Garrick suggested they look at doing a haunted house at the REC Center or other appropriate location. 8. Vickie suggested doing a themed parade on the 4th of July. 9. Deb putting together a hair, salon, spa day package that could be done at the REC Center. 10. Garrick asked what it would take to take over the youth baseball. He said there would be a lot of money to be made there but it would be a lot of work. Sue said she would take heed to the Board's ideas especially the haunted house. One concern she had over the haunted house was she was worried about upsetting the paying members at the Club however she would look into it. Reports: Director Report Bart Olson said, for the record, the bill that was taken off the bills list last week in the amount of $4,403.33 was a close out from a checking account they had not used in two years. He said it was just sitting there and it was transferred into the general money market account. He said that the finance department saw it and for audit purposes and they had to show the check cashed. He said that account was closed in early October of last year. Parks Report Scott Sleezer asked the Board to read the report at their leisure and asked the Board for any questions. 5 Additional Business: Vickie asked if the Beecher center was closed on Saturday and Sunday and if so thought it would be a good place to hold a haunted house. Bart Olson said we could possibly use the center if the seniors could find a way to lock up their equipment if we wanted to use it for activities. He said it is being used quite often. Ken Koch asked for a motion to suspend the regular meeting for an Executive Session. Deb Horaz made the motion and Garrick Gillette seconded the motion. Roll Call Vote: Ken Koch - Yes, Debbie Horaz - Yes, Vickie Coveny - Yes, and Garrick Gillette - Yes Executive Session convened at 8:45 pm. At 8:55 pm the Executive Session was adjourned and the Board resumed their regular meeting. Adiournment: Ken Koch asked for a motion to adjourn the regular Park Board Meeting at 8:46 pm. Deb Horaz made the motion and Garrick Gillette seconded the motion. Next meeting: Thursday, April 9, 2009 *Items needing Board approval or recommendation Minutes Respectfully Submitted by: Jamie Cheatham 6