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Park Board Minutes 2009 08-13-09 Yorkville Parks & Recreation Department ftft Administration Office 201 W. Hydraulic St Yorkville, IL 60560 6305534357 Park Board Meeting Agenda Parks and Recreation Administration Office 7:00 p.m. August 13, 2009 Call to Order: Ken Koch called the meeting to order at 7:25 pm. Roll Call: Ken Koch —Yes, Debbie Horaz—Yes, Kelly Sedgwick—Yes, Garrick and Gillette— Yes Vickie Coveny- (arrived at 7:34 pm) 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 City Council Liaison to Park Board — Diane Teeling, Ward 4 Alderman Mayor Valerie Burd George Gilson Jr, Ward 1 Alderman Patrick Kennedy, Resident Public Comment: Patrick Kennedy, resident, noted the many parks in Yorkville that have gone up in the past years. He said the City had done an incredible job developing so many great parks, and brought up his concerns that he has had to travel 40 minutes just to get to a dog park. Kennedy wanted to know what direction the City was going in with regard to the development of a dog park. He felt that having a dog park could be a great revenue generator for the city. Ken Koch said that they had talked about a dog park, and the first dog park would be dedicated to the first canine police dog in Yorkville. The Board reassured Kennedy that they had been considering a great location for a dog park, as was noted by Deb Horaz. Presentations: None Approval of Minutes: Park Board—July 23, 2009* Ken Koch asked for a motion to approve the minutes of July 23, 2009. Deb Horaz made the motion and Kelly Sedgwick seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved by voice vote. Bills Review: Cash Analysis & Bill List* 1 Deb Horaz asked which areas the ceiling tiles were replaced in. Sue Swithin said some were in studio 1 & 2, the kid's club, and the weight room. Ken Koch asked for a motion to approve the cash analysis and bills list. Kelly Sedgwick made the motion and Deb Horaz seconded the motion. The motion was approved by voice vote: Ken Koch - Yes, Debbie Horaz-Yes, Kelly Sedgwick - Yes, Vickie Coveny—Yes and Garrick Gillette—Yes Old Business: Park Review—New Selections Bart Olson asked the Board members to study the following parks for discussion at the August 27th meeting: 1. Grande Reserve Park A 2. Grande Reserve Park B 3. Stepping Stones Park 4. Rotary Park Olson said some of these parks were developed and some were undeveloped. He said that he would email the Board members directions to the parks. Whispering Meadows Caboose Update Scott Sleezer voiced that he was still waiting to get a hold of the right people and said it was taking some time. Deb Horaz said she talked to her neighbor, stating that he had been employed with a company who worked with cranes. Horaz asked this neighbor if his company would be willing to donate their service; she was waiting to hear back from him. Chris Rollins looked into information about getting the caboose moved; Bart Olson hoped to bring back that information to the next meeting. New Business: June 2009 Budget Report Discussion Bart Olson noted the June 2009 budget report included in their packet; he reminded Board members that the bottom line number would be less useful than looking at the individual line items. Olson outlined his memo on the budget report. He pointed out that, at the close of the fiscal year, they would end up with more concession money than they anticipated which was ultimately good for the budget. He said that the concessions had been doing well despite the weather. Olson noted that the golf outing was canceled due to the weather; however, they still made about $3,500. Olson also explained that membership fees were again online for about a straight 1/12'" of the total year's budget. He said if you take what they budgeted and divide it by 12, we met that 2 number. Olson pointed out the pie chart on the back of his memo, showing expenses for the REC Center for the last year's budget numbers over ten months. Ken Koch asked if they were not meeting their numbers if there was a certain time they could raise the membership fees. Sue Swithin offered that she could at any time raise the fees, but that they may have to face the fact that people may not renew memberships. Swithin called attention to the tough economical time and they too had to remain competitive. Olson said his goal would be to watch the membership numbers month to month, indicating that the numbers were looking good thus far. Deb Horaz wanted to see a comparison on expenses and revenue from last year to this year. Bristol Bay Park A— Concept Plan* Scott Sleezer said this was their newest project and it was located next to the clubhouse in the Bristol Bay subdivision. Sleezer said that Bart was working with the developers to collect the landcash fees. Sleezer said that he and staff were recommending a Circus theme for this project. Sleezer said this would be the first park in Yorkville where children would be able to use their imagination to tame lions, practice their trapeze skills, walk the tightrope, and put on a show under a big top. He noted they would like to have three play structures for ages 2-5, ages 5-12 and swings. He said there was a shelter or shady structure also budgeted for, however they are leaning towards a shade structure because it was cheaper and made of fabric. He passed out a sample of the fabric. Sleezer noted that this was a more modern play area. It was more extreme, with equipment for kids to decide on how to play with it. He said a lot of manufactures had circus playground equipment where kids could play individually or together. Sleezer said that they thought they could get a set of bleachers to go with the stage, rather than using benches under the shade structure, that way it would be like they were watching a stage show. He said that they also felt that they could possibly get some unique and custom trash cans as well as different landscapes to bring the theme of the park together. Sleezer observed that, to go along with the budget, they could save on install of the equipment if they did a community build. He also felt the community could really get something out of it if they did a community build. Sleezer said they sent out their proposal to eight manufactures to get bids and from those bids they would figure out what equipment they would pull from which manufactures. He said they really wanted their ideas. Sleezer reiterated that the diagram he showed the Board was their ideas and examples of the equipment that they are thinking of. He said they would not know the cost and actually equipment until they get the bids back from the manufactures. Olson explained landcash to the new alderman and how the annexation agreement works within its clauses. 3 Mayor Burd brought up a good point about educating the public on landcash. She said that this money cannot be used on something else. The money comes from the developers to develop these parks and it is not peoples tax dollars. She said lately there has been publicity in the news papers about the City spending frivolous dollars. Mayor Burd noted that it is just a matter of educating people that we just cannot take this money and use it on something else. Sleezer noted that he and Laura Haake were going to teach a session on how to do a public build with Tom from Game Time. They would learn how to lead a community build. Vickie Coveny asked about restrooms at the park. And Sleezer talked about the expenses of building a building versus if it would be acceptable to have portable johns. He said they always consider those for their community parks. Deb Horaz asked if there would be any unforeseen costs with this project such as landscaping they would have to add later. Koch reminded the Board that the numbers Scott put together were just design numbers and the bid numbers coming in would be different. Sleezer said the major costs of the park would be the equipment and that would be a defined number. Horaz said she would like to see a little cushioning with the budget numbers for the park. Sleezer said that he was looking for approval to send the proposed design sketches and ideas to advertise and release an RFP for equipment proposals. He said he would come back with a date for town meeting with Bristol Bay. Sleezer said this would come back to the Board after he received numbers from the manufactures. The Board unanimously approved Sleezer to release his sketches and ideas to advertise and release an RFP for equipment proposals. Smoking Ban in City Parks Scott Sleezer said that the littering of cigarette butts was becoming more and more of an issue at the regular play grounds. He declared that they are trash and that they had to pick them up. Ken Koch was concerned about the enforcement of it and how they could accomplish it. Sleezer said that they could put some signage out in hopes that people who did not smoke and were offended by smokers would feel comfortable telling smokers there was no smoking in the parks. After some discussion the Board felt that they could put up signs that said, "Thank You for Not Smoking". They felt they would start with that to see if the littering would subside. Whispering Meadows Park— Change Order#2' Scott Sleezer said they were under budget on this park and that completion of the park was necessary. He said that they did not have the equipment in-house to the grading that it needed. He said that a bulldozer and land grader would be needed. Sleezer said he was asking the Board to move forward with this. Bart Olson said this change order had been approved through email, and that it was for grading around the trail. Vickie Coveny felt that Sleezer should have negotiated with other companies for the bid. Sleezer noted the urgency to get this done. He explained that if they bid it out for another 4 contractor to do this and they did not do it according to the way it needed to be done, that more cost could be incurred. Koch asked for a motion to okay the change order for$7,785. Kelly Sedgwick made the motion and Deb Horaz seconded the motion. The motion was approved by voice vote: Ken Koch -Yes, Debbie Horaz- Yes, Kelly Sedgwick - Yes, Vickie Coveny— No and Garrick Gillette—Yes USGS/IDNR Bypass Gauges Bart Olson said that IDNR would be installing gauges on the island the bypass. He said if IDNR does it, they will put in a bare-bones system that would not be as detailed and precise as a USGS system. He commented that access to the gauges via IDNR would be through phone lines, and data access would be delayed nearly 24 hours after conditions had occurred. Olson explained that the USGS would be interested in putting in the system and, although more expensive, the gauges were more accurate and give real-time readings. He noted that the cost of installation and maintenance of the gauges would even out to be $5,000 per year. The Board said that $5000 a year was too much money and that kayakers would be on the water no matter what. They felt that the INDR gauges would be sufficient. Role of Park Board Members Bart Olson said he put together a memo about what the clear lines were between Alderman and Board members. Olson briefly reviewed the governing order excerpts in the included packet. Olson felt that the Board should be made aware of their role and responsibilities before they went into their strategic planning meeting in November. He also went over process issues. Olson drew attention to his footnote at the end of his memo on page two. He noted that whenever there is a question asked there is usually a context specific answer. He felt that routing the question through the director gave him the chance to provide context specific information with the answer, which intern leads to a better informed Board. He noted that when a Board member came to him with a question that he would then share that answer with everyone. Reports: Director's Report 1. Bart Olson reported that all items that went to the City Council on July 28I' that were approved. Those items were: a. Bristol Bay mowing proposal. b. Resolution approving a park naming policy. c. Authorization for part-time employees to work beyond 1000 hours. d. ComEd trail lease e. CorLands extension would take them through the end of December. f. Boat Launch grant was being finalized and would come back to the Board the next meeting. 5 2. Olson noted that he was trying to introduce future agenda items early to ensure ample preparation for upcoming issues. a. Fox Hill naming request is coming up at the next meeting. b. Ad-space proposal on outfield walls—Staff would be drafting a policy with guidelines to sell limited advertising space on outfield walls of baseball fields. Deb Horaz said it would be appropriate at ball fields, but we have to be careful that they would not be offensive to neighbors. Recreation Report Sue Swithin reported: 1. The fall soccer and flag football league registration ended in July. She said that they were maxed out on that. 2. The summer swim program was going fantastically and they were bringing in between $4,000 to $5,000 per month in revenue. 3. She had an intern for a short time and she did a very nice job. 4. The HVAC was approved and a letter was sent to Mr. Walker as the Board suggested regarding the cost of the system being added to the purchase price. She said the HVAC was ready to be delivered and installed tomorrow morning. 5. A grant had been received and The REC Center would be a recipient of a rain garden that would be put on the south side of the building. With Ron's approval they would put in a nice 60 x 10 foot rain garden and would be done by September 24'". 6. Gutters and rain spouts for the REC Center had been ordered through Ron. They are at the sight awaiting installation. 7. Swithin would be working with the green committee October 24'". They were going to work with the City on another recycle day out at the Kendall County fairgrounds. She said they would be collecting soccer shoes, athletic shoes, football and other sporting equipment, and things that are recyclable. They would bring these items back to the REC Center and given to people who were in need of them at no cost. 8. A master sheet for volunteers was passed out for Hometown Days. 9. Swithin passed out the complying materials for fire evacuation, hazardous waste material, and medical emergency and blood-borne pathogens as per Federal and State Code for a public facility. She said they would all be available at the front desk at the REC Center. Parks Report None Additional Business: Deb Horaz asked who maintained the pond in front of the health club because it looked like it needed some treatment. Swithin said that they maintained the pond. Sleezer said the biggest problem last year was the need to cut the willows down because of blowing trash getting stuck in them. He said he would talk to Laura about doing something with it, but that it would be expensive. 6 _Adjournment for Executive Session: Ken Koch asked for a motion to end the regular session meeting to go into executive session 9:52 pm. Deb Horaz made the motion and Kelly Sedgwick seconded the motion. The motion was approved by voice vote. Executive Session: 1. For the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees of the public body or legal counsel for the public body, including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against an employee of the public body or against legal counsel for the public body to determine its validity. Ken Koch asked for a motion to end executive session and reconvene the regular meeting at 11:10 pm. Kelly Sedgwick made the motion and Deb Horaz seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously by voice vote. Adjournment: Ken Koch asked for a motion to end the regular meeting at 11:15 pm. Deb Horaz made the motion and Vickie Coveny seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved by voice vote. Next meeting: Thursday, August 27, 2009 *Items needing Board approval or recommendation Respectfully Submitted by: Jamie Cheatham 7