Park Board Minutes 2009 09-24-09 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.
September 24, 2009
Call to Order: Ken Koch called the meeting to order at 7:20pm
Roll Call: Ken Koch -Yes, Debbie Horaz-Yes, Kelly Sedgwick- Yes, and Vickie Coveny -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 — Diane Teeling, Ward 4 Alderman
Public Comment:
None
Presentations:
None
Approval of Minutes:
Park Board—September 10, 2009*
Ken Koch asked for a motion to approve the September 10th Park Board Minutes. Deb Horaz
made the motion and Kelly Sedgwick seconded the motion. The motion was approved by voice
vote.
Bills Review:
Cash Analysis & Bill List
Ken Koch asked for a motion to approve the cash analysis and bills list. Kelly Sedgwick 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:
Lease of Riverfront Buildings*
Bart Olson said he was looking for the Board's direction on this matter. The first choice is
whether they are comfortable in talking to the two people who came forward with interest in
renting the building, to see who had the most favorable terms. The second choice is to craft an
RFP style document and submit it to everyone, waiting to see what would come of that. Olson
said that the RFP would take more time but they could, however, get more favorable terms. He
said it would take a few weeks to advertise as well as two to three weeks to draft the lease.
Olson said that both parties were still interested in whether or not they did a concession lease
for the riverfront building.
Vickie Coveny and Board agreed that they should advertise for it because they had time to
advertise and do a concession lease.
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Olson said he would inform the Administration Committee of this at their Monday meeting, run it
by the Mayor and take it to City Council. He said we would try to have something drafted by next
meeting and that he would find out if an advertisement could be printed in the paper before
going to the City Council.
New Business:
Resolution to Close Checking Account for REC Center Improvement Fund*
Bart Olson requested that this checking account associated with the REC Center Improvement
Fund be closed. He said the account had been depleted and the remaining funds of about $150
would be rolled back into the Park and Recreation checking account.
Ken Koch asked for a motion to move the balance of checking account into the Park and
Recreation checking account and to close the account. Deb Horaz made the motion and Kelly
Sedgwick seconded the motion. The motion was approved by voice vote: Ken Koch -Yes,
Debbie Horaz-Yes, Kelly Sedgwick -Yes, and Vickie Coveny-Yes
Whispering Meadows Park— Construction/Status Update
Ken Koch noted that this park that they had a grant extension on and the grant would be due on
Dec 31,2009. Koch expressed his concerns that they were running out of time.
A video of Whispering Meadows, shown by Koch, was presented to discuss his concerns
regarding the park.
Scott Sleezer reviewed the timeline he passed out. Sleezer noted that weather, original bids
coming in high and getting the path in held them up. He said that Laura Haake redesigned the
park to lower the price, and it did, however they lost a lot of time and delayed the contractor.
Sleezer noted that the park should have been completed by May 15, 2008. He pointed out that
a storm sewer bid was awarded May 131h so there was no time for the contractor to finish it in
our time line.
Sleezer said they should have gone back to the general contractor for an extended contract and
that is why they were struggling to get it done now. He said he does check on the park and he
calls the contractor regularly; he felt it would still get done. He also noted that they do mow it
according to their weed ordinance.
Sleezer said that they need to finish the ball field and they need to finish the landscaping. He
said he told the Mayor that the BMX course would be a work in progress and felt that the
remaining work would take about four weeks to complete.
Koch mentioned that there were twelve plus acres and there was going to be a school built out
there. He also noted that a school was no longer in the plans and, unfortunately, that is where
they were going to get their road access and parking from.
Sleezer had made it clear to the contractor that the park had to be finished and they will get in
when the grading is done. He also pointed out that they would not be hiring general contractors
in the future. They would be general contractors to save money and only hire contractors.
He said they would be getting bids for themselves for things such as asphalt.
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Sleezer explained the change orders, how much was put into the park and what they had to
spend to complete the park. He said that the approximate cost of park completion would be
$140,000.
Sleezer said that Neil Dodd with LJ Dodd is the company who was coming out to finish the park;
they are aware of their timeline.
Koch wanted a punch list of items that are being looked at every day. Sleezer said he had a
punch list for what JL Dodd would have to complete. Koch wanted to follow up with a list of
things that were not completed or not completed correctly. He said that he wanted to keep on
top of Dodd to make sure everything was done correctly and on time.
Olson said he talked with the grant writer about the BMX track and he would get the standards
from them on the track so they knew where to go from there. Sleezer said they would be looking
for black dirt and clay for the track and reiterated it would be a work in progress.
Koch next expressed his concern over the entrance way. He wanted to know if they could
essentially put in a gravel parking lot if they widened the entrance way. He felt that gravel would
be a cheaper way of getting a parking lot, adding that the police would be more cooperative in
policing the area if they could get a parking lot in there.
Olson said they should get a temporary easement from the school for a gravel parking lot for the
park.
Kelly Sedgwick offered that when they talk to the school, if they continue leasing out their land
to farmers, that the farmers should be required to continue growing soy beans. Or, at the very
least, that they should not be permitted to ever grow corn, or no one would be able to see into
the park.
Sleezer iterated that he shared Koch's concerns and he would get him his punch list and would
follow up with Neil Dodd and their timeline. He said he would also contact the water department
about the clay for the BMX track.
Summer 2009 Programs Performance
Bart Olson noted he posted on the wall a complete list of summer programs offered by the REC
Center along with their stats.
He noted that 74% of the classes ran and 26% of the classes canceled. The percentage of
classes that ran hit their goal of 30% and profit was 84%.The percentage of classes ran that
beat their estimated profit margin was 72% and only 28% of classes did not beat or meet the
estimated profit margin.
Olson noted that Music under the Stars should have been on the list as the third best revenue
making program but was not listed on the memo handed out in the packet.
Sue Swithin noted that the swim class had done great and would be picking up again in the
spring.
Koch Koch noted that the softball had done a real good job and was a great revenue generating
program for them.
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Vickie Coveny asked about the farmers market and Swithin said that there were little expenses
to begin with so the market was able to make a profit. Swithin said they had more vendors this
year as well.
FY 09110 revised budget—first draft
Bart Olson highlighted the first draft of the FY 09/10 revised budget.
He noted he was not seeking approval of this budget because many more steps had to made
before a final revised budget was presented to the Mayor and then to the City Council.
Olson noted that he and the Mayor had briefly reviewed the budget and their general
understanding was that the transfer from the general fund into the operating budget probably
would remain the same, but may decrease.
Olson then highlighted the following Items of the budget in his memo:
1. Parks Capital Budget
a. They received the money from Bristol Bay and $48,000 went to Parks Capital
and that money is going to be used to complete the items in the Regional Park
but in the short term they would use the money to buy some equipment to
maintain that property in the next few years. He then noted that $50,000 of it
went into land-cash.
b. Olson said that in the next couple of months they would bring forward some
proposals to buy some equipment that would be within the current bidding
procedures.
2. Land-Cash
a. Olson said that there were some grant expenses that would have to be budgeted
for. He said that he would be taking this to the City Council. He briefly went over
the revenue and expenses within the land-cash with the Board.
3. Operating Budget
a. Olson noted that there would be a final break down of Hometown Days.
b. He noted as discussed that the IMRF authorizations, is offset by a decrease in
the program expenses line-item.
c. He noted that the deficit at $18,000 and was at zero at the beginning of the year.
He said that he was working with Sue and Scott in making a list of options thing
to cut to meet that deficit.
4. REC Center Budget
a. Olson said the main increase was the membership fees. He said he increased
the total year's budgeted amount by 2% to $410,000. He noted that the REC
Center budget beginning balance was better than what they estimated it should
be. He said there would still be an audit and this was just a draft audit.
REC Center Website
Olson said that this item would be tabled for this meeting because he was still working on
getting the website up. He said the website would be: Yorkvillereccenter.com
Reports:
Director's Report
1. Bart Olson said the Athletic Filed Policy Revision and YYBSA Agreement were approved
by the City Council and he would be going to the YYBSA with the changes.
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Olson said that there was an invitation included in the packet for a Community Volunteer
Appreciation Day put out by the Community Relations Officer Spies and the City's Human
Resources Commission.
Parks Report
Scott Sleezer wanted to note that they do make use of a tremendous amount of people for
community service. He said they use a lot of these people for painting and typically these are
persons who have been court ordered for community service.
City Parks Designer Report
Laura Haake asked the Board to read her report and ask questions if they had any. No
questions were raised.
Additional Business:
Bart Olson said that their goal setting meeting would be held Saturday morning November 14'h,
2009. The Board agreed that they would convene at 9:00 am with coffee.
Executive Session:
None
Adjournment:
Ken Koch asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:35 pm. Deb Horaz made the motion
and Kelly Sedgwick seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved by voice
vote.
Next meeting: Thursday, October 8, 2009
*Items needing Board approval or recommendation
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By:
Jamie Cheatham
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