Park Board Minutes 2009 04-23-09 AMW
Yorkville Parks & Recreation Department
Administration Office -201 W. Hydraulic St Yorkville, IL 60560 630-553-4357
Park Board Agenda
Thursday, April 23, 2009
7:00 p.m. —Park Board Meeting
Administration and Recreation Office
*Revision 4120109
Call to Order: Chris Rollins called the meeting to order at 7:10 pm
Roll Call: Chris Rollins -Yes, Kelly Sedgwick- Yes, Vickie Coveny—Yes, and Garrick Gillette—
Yes
Ken Koch (arrived 7:45 pm)
Introduction of Guests. City Officials and Staff:
Interim Director of Parks and Recreation — Bart Olson
Superintendent of Recreation— Sue Swithin
Park Designer— Laura Haake
City Council Liaison to Park Board - Joe Plocher, Ward 2 Alderman
Bob Allen, Ward 1 Alderman
Public Comment:
Alderman Bob Allen brought forward a parks naming application for the consideration of Fox Hill
West Park for the suggested name of Bretthauer Park. He said that there was quite a bit of
history behind the Bretthauer family so he thought Larry Bretthauer's name would be more
appropriate because he lives in the city. Mr. Allen also said that Mr. Bretthauer was a former fire
chief, very active in forest conservation activities, sponsored 4H groups, and they were the only
grocery store in town for many years.
Chris Rollin's thanked Alderman Allen for the application and said the Board would consider his
application.
Presentations:
None
Approval of Minutes:
Minutes— Regular Park Board Meeting—April 9, 2009*
Corrections on page three: First sentence under Revenue Generation, dodgeball was
misspelled. Item number three under Revenue Generation Ideas, Rollins was misspelled.
Chris Rollins asked for a motion to approve the minutes with the two amendments.
Kelly Sedgwick made the motion and Vickie Coveny seconded the motion. The motion was
unanimously approved by voice vote.
Bills Review:
Cash Analysis & Bill List*
Chris Rollins asked if the Comcast cable charge on page two was for the REC Center. Sue said
it was.
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Chris Rollins asked for a motion to approve the cash analysis and bills list. Vickie Coveny made
the motion and Garrick Gillette seconded the motion. The motion was approved by voice vote:
Chris Rollins -Yes, Kelly Sedgwick - Yes, Vickie Coveny—Yes, and Garrick Gillette -Yes
Old Business:
Hoover Intergovernmental Agreement— Update
Bart Olson reported that the City had voted on the Forest Preserve District's offer for termination
of the intergovernmental agreement for use of the Hoover Forest Preserve. No terms of the offer
were changed during the City Council meeting.
Bart said they were waiting for the check from Jason Pettit.
Athletic Field Policy Revision*
Bart Olson said that the major changes in the revision had been in practice however the policy
had not been voted on. He noted this would come back in a month when they do a
comprehensive revision of the ordinance; he noted they would be changing the fees as they do
every year.
Bart said there were two major changes.
1. The refund notice.
a. Persons would be required to give more advanced notice for a refund.
2. New soccer field prep fees.
Vickie Coveny wanted to know if they should have some kind of medical support on hand during
some of the larger events. Sue Swithin said that was a very good question and said that at
some of the larger events Police did have to be present. The board agreed that it would be a
good idea to have some type of medical support at their larger events.
Sue said by state law they would need a defibrillator at Bridge and or Beecher Park. She is
hoping they could get one donated to them.
Bart said he would look into medical and security for the next round of revisions on the policy.
Sue suggested that they look at what, for example, Fox Valley does. Rollins said we do not want
to require something no one else requires or else people would not use our facilities.
Chris Rollins asked for a recommendation of the approval as submitted. Bart said the changes
would be then taken to the City Council. The board gave their unanimous consent on the
changes submitted.
REC Center Maintenance— Update
Bart Olson reported that he and Sue Swithin met with Ron Walker to discuss the roof repairs.
Bart said the roof repairs were scheduled for tomorrow.
Bart also noted that the fire department's punch list were mostly the City's responsibility. He
said they were minor things such as: name plates over the doors, posting fire evacuation plans
in specific areas, replacing a light bulb on an exit sign and replacing ceiling tiles. Ron's duties
included (but not limited to)testing the sprinkler and back flow system and replacing sprinkler
heads.
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Bart noted that the Fire Department notices were due May 8, 2009.
Bart also noted the documents Sue put together. Sue passed out a building footprint which
showed all the building leaks along with pictures. She said she was planning on giving it to the
contractors when they came out to do roof repairs.
Sue noted that she was documenting, on a spreadsheet, detailing what operations were being
affected by the leaks.
Sue said she would also be submitting to Ron, a cost on what she had exhausted in 2x4'
panels.
New Business:
Haehner Annexation
Bart Olson said the City would put together an annexation agreement for this property. He said
this was a basic first level annexation agreement. They were not asking for much in the way of
entitlements, Bart said, other than the unit count and zoning. He said they are not looking to
subdivide the property. They are going to have to come back to the City Council when they do
decide to develop the property at which point , Bart said, we could look at land plans and figure
out where we would want parks and how big they should be or if we want cash.
Bart had concerns over the land-cash fees which he outlined in his memo. He said that they
waived the obligation for land-cash fees consideration until the land subdivided. He wanted to
make sure that their rights were protected so they could decide where the parks were going to
be located.
Chris Rollins said the only catch to picking it for a park would have to be wary of how drainage
is run, how it is to be subdivide, and it would be nice to preserve the trees and to get adjacency
to neighboring properties. As of right now there are no neighboring properties.
Bart said that it would be on for a public hearing on May 14th and then they should find out if the
property owner came to the city or if the city went to the property owner for the annexation.
Rollins wanted to know the size of the area. Olson reported it was 111 acres.
Rollins asked for a general recommendation to craft a park so as to preserve trees and the
natural features of the creek; he asked if anyone had anything they wanted to consider.
Kelly Sedgwick said that we should highlight the areas we were interested in. He said that until
they found out how they planned on developing the space or else it would be hard to make any
decisions.
(Revision) Fox Hill West Park Naming Application*
Ken Koch asked if someone from the family could come in and represent Larry Bretthauer since
he was not able to due to his health.
Laura Haake suggested that Alderman Allen get more information on how long Larry Bretthauer
was a firefighter, where his store was, pictures of the store, etc. She said it would help her out
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with the biography that she would publish in the Master Plan for the Parks and Recreation. She
said she would like to put in as much information as she could.
Alderman Allen stated that Larry Bretthauer was on the fire department from 1966-1987, he was
captain from 1975-1984 and was chief from 1984-1987.
Vickie Coveny also wanted more history on Larry Bretthauer's business. She felt as a fire chief
he could be recognized under another park category such as the Fire Department Park.
Ken Koch said that he too would like to know more about the family. Kelly Sedgwick wanted to
know what the other family members had contributed to the community as well.
The Board's unanimous agreed they needed more information on the business and what he
contributed to the City.
Alderman Allen expressed his concern over the unclear Parks Naming Policy. He said it was not
clear on what needed to accompany the application. Rollins agreed that the policy was not well
defined. He did note that it is a high honor to have a park named after someone. He said that
we should set a high standard, and it is worth a good effort on why we should name a park after
someone.
Rollins noted that the policy had been used but it had not really been in use. The Board agreed
that they would define the Parks Naming Policy. In the mean time they encouraged Alderman
Allen to come forward with more information on the Larry Bretthauer and his family and what the
Bretthaure's had contributed to the community. They would like to have someone come in and
represent Larry and or letters of recommendation from his family members.
The Board also agreed that they needed to make sure they had permission from person or
families being recommended for park names.
Rollins thanked Alderman Allen for taking the initiative in coming forward with park naming
applications.
Reports:
Director Report
1. Bart Olson said that the 09/10 budget report was approved in the City Council April 14'"
meeting.
2. Bart noted that future agenda items for Park Board were listed on a spreadsheet and
passed out. He said he was taking suggested agenda topics and asked for questions.
He said he would update it every week and send it out before the agenda went out.
He reminded the Board that anyone could recommend an agenda item at any time. He
said they were putting out the agendas the Friday before the meeting. Also once
something is on a posted agenda, he said, you never want to take it off until the meeting.
That way there was record that it was tabled in case a resident reads it on the website
and they show up at the meeting and it was not talked about.
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3. Bart also noted that the Community Relations Officer Spies has offered to assist the
Parks and Recreation Department with press releases, ads, and future stories. He said
the goal is to have a feature story on a Parks and Recreation class, event, or promotion
every month.
Recreation Report
Bart Olson said that Scott was moving ahead with usual spring activity and encouraged the
Board to read Scott's report at their leisure.
Parks Report
Sue Swithin reported that they had 130 runners participate in the 5K Tax Dodge Run. She
noted this was the first time success.
Sue noted the golf outing would be next Friday May 15'.
Additional Business:
1. Chris Rollins noted the letter to the editor was from by a poorly informed man who
thought the Hoover deal fell through was because we insisted on lit ball fields out there.
The writer thought that it was inappropriate because he felt we were going to pollute the
night sky. The Board felt that they should have a press release with the facts put out for
citizens. They noted in the last two years they have had only a few reporters attend the
Park Board meetings.
Vickie Coveny shared with the Board her letter to the editor, Proud of land agreement
between Yorkville, County.
2. Chris Rollins wanted to know if the City owned any historical sites such as an old church
or post office. Rollins noted that per he had heard thanks to our new Governor, Pat
Quinn, there might be a new cycle of grants coming out. He said Quinn has been eager
to reopen state historical sites that have closed. Part of what he is proposing to do to
reopen them is to have reorganization of HPA, which use to be closely tied to the state
museum. He said that that they were going to merge with lands. He said that where
these grants would come into play for the city is that any historical features city owned or
controlled could be in a position to receive grant money from the state to maintain them
as historic sites. He said the only criteria are going to be is that it has to be open to the
public and it has to be government entity or non-for profit that owed it.
Adjournment:
Chris Rollins asked for a motion to adjourn the Park Board meeting at 9:15 pm. Ken Koch made
the motion and Kelly Sedgwick seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved by
voice vote.
Next meeting: Thursday, May 14, 2009
*Items needing Board approval or recommendation
Park Naming Policy
Update on the caboose
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Minutes Respectfully Submitted By
Jamie Cheatham
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