Park Board Minutes 2009 11-14-09 � o
Yorkville Parks & Recreation Department
Administration Office 201
W. Hydraulic St Yorkville, IL 60560 6305534357
Park Board Agenda - Special Meeting
Saturday, November 14, 2009
9:00 a.m. — Special Park Board Meeting
Administration and Recreation Office
Call to Order: Chris Rollins called the meeting to order at 9:30 am
Roll Call: Chris Rollins - yes, Ken Koch . yes, Debbie Horaz - yes, and Kelly Sedgwick —
yes
Vickie Coveny (arrived 9:45 am)
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 Schraw
Mayor Valarie Burd
Alderman Joe Plocher (arrived 10:35 am - Noon)
New Business:
Goo/Selling
Bart Olson noted that he wanted to hold a goal setting meeting and reminded the Board
that they did not have to solve the goals in this meeting however they would work on the
goals with staff.
Chris Rollins went over their mission and vision statement, which is in the Master Plan. He
said that in the last year they had some real success in meeting and realizing the vision.
He said there had been recognition for the quality of their efforts and design efforts. He
said that more than anything that going forward they needed to get their resource system
stabilized. He noted that they however did not want to decrease their quality efforts.
Discussion:
1 . Operations during new economy
Programs and Services that meet & renew projects
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Balance of park planning without new developments
2. Land-cash budgeting
Accurate picture of budget slate
Long term planning
3. Grant Administration
Completion of current grants
Rollins said that there had to be a match with grants etc. He would like grants in the
pipeline and spend more attention and resources towards getting our paperwork done so
that they could get paid by the state. Mayor Burd explained how the grant process
worked.
Deb Horaz said going forward they should save more money and not go out on such a
limb on some projects.
4. Fund Balance in Parks and Recreation.
New Programming — event disaster possibilities mitigation
Build it
Olson said they needed to put some of their own money into the fund. He said they
needed to have 15 or 25% of their yearly operating budget in a fund balance for a rainy
day fund.
5. Programming
Financial Reporting
Staffing Levels vs Financial Performance
Resources vs Financial Performance
Public Use vs Financial Performance
Kelly Sedgwick said bringing in more programs would allow them to make more money.
Rollins noted they should look at all sides of programming; what are their strengths and
weaknesses were.
b. Program Agreement
Continue current agreements
7. Festivals/Events
Kayak/canoe & White water
Frisbee Golf tournaments
Softball
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Antiques/Flea Market
Hunting and Fishing tournaments
Bike Races
Car Show
5K and 8k run/walk races
Triathlons/kayak's on the river
Basketball/ 3 on 31 travel team
Ethnic Festivals
Oktoberfest
Haunted house/Halloween festival/Fall Festival
Tractor show
PNA Camp
Lumber lack Activity
Indian Heritage Day
Sue Swithin said that she would look into getting some of these programs kicked off
especially the kayak and canoe activities were going to be their priority.
Rollins said we should do something more collaborative but to put on the activities
ourselves.
8. Program/Event Marketing
Tim Evans said that they should do better marketing and play off of events already
planned.
Pork Planning Processes
Laura Schraw handed out a memo; Olson requested be put together, on the Park Planning
Process.
Laura said her report listed which parks were left to be done and where they were at on
each one in the planning process along with their deadlines. She noted they were also
listed in priority as discussed with Sleezer however she said they could change.
Chris Rollins thanked Laura for the memo because it gave them a better point of
interaction and let them know where they stood in the planning process; he encouraged
the Board to keep this with their master plan information.
Laura then highlighted her project list and noted that she felt that the master plan did not
need to be updated. She felt it was not a priority at this time and the Board agreed.
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Laura said they would update trail maps and some documents had to be updated, for
example some parks now had names and the transportation plan would need to be
added.
Rollins recommended an appendix be added to list the changes before they did a whole
full blown updated master plan.
REC Center
Chris Rollins said they should revisit some of the metrics of the business plan they put into
place in the beginning. He felt they should try not to look at balancing that budget. He
wanted to know what they could do to subsidizing the facility.
He said we need to look at programming space and noted before the leasing of the REC
Center they did not have a facility for their programs.
Rollins reiterated they need to be good managers of their situation.
Sue Swithin talked about maintenance issues that they have had at the center and said
that there would always be some kind of issues. She said there is a lot of equipment,
HVAC units, water heaters and water softeners and they were her responsibility to get
them fixed when they need it. She noted those things were not going to go away. Olson
said that they would have to make emergency repairs and those could not be budgeted
for.
She explained she had to spend money to make money and noted that people would not
buy memberships to a club that was not in tip top shape with updated equipment and
clean locker rooms.
Kelly Sedgwick said that they should look at sponsorships so they could get upgraded
equipment. Swithin said she would continue to look into that.
The Board discussed on whether or not the REC Center would ever make money. Sue
explained everything that went on at the REC Center and she encouraged any of the
Board members to come out to the Center and see what it took to run the place and to
see what it means to so many people.
Deb Horaz said they were close to where they had to make decisions on the REC Center.
The Board felt a referendum would fly in this economy. Swithin said at the end of this next
fiscal year they could look at the deficit and see if things are turning around. She said
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that every year she was hoping she could reduce the deficit every year or every two
years. She said her goal was to reduce that deficit.
Mayor Burd said that she was still 100% for the REC Center. She said she that she never
thought the Center would be 100% sustainable and noted that they would always need a
facility for recreation.
Swithin went over her changes that she is making now until April and what next years
plans were. She said that she was making staff changes on staff and operations budget.
She noted she reduced staff hours and would be moving staff from this building to the
REC Center. Swithin noted that she needed two people on at the REC Center at all times.
Swithin said she would a better handle on her budget this year with her instructors and
noted they were at 50% right now and 50% of their budget. She said her general
maintenance would go down because she had large onetime expenses this last year that
they would not have this next year. She said the budget is quite different and she said she
would be watching the budget very closely. Swithin felt that the budget would get better
and better every year.
Meeting Schedule for 2010
Bart Olson said there were some thoughts of having one meeting a month versus two.
Ken Koch said that the two meetings they have now run long so he felt that they should
keep it at two. The Board members felt that they still needed two meetings a month
especially with the lack of board members and two meetings were needed in order to get
the bills paid.
Kelly Sedgwick said they may have to come up with an attendance policy. He felt if you
sit on the board you need to be committed board meetings.
The Board went over the meetings for 2010. They decided the November meetings for
2010 would be the 4' and 18" and December would be the 2na and 18".
Directors Search
Chris Rollins talked about the process in searching for a new director. He felt they were
not in a huge hurry. Koch said he read in the paper that they were not replacing the
director.
Mayor wanted to know the Boards thoughts on this.
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Rollins wanted to know if there would be a best time for the search and wanted to be
sensitive to the City's budget. He wanted to know if getting a director in at a prorated
salary would be the way to go.
Mayor Burd said that she was hoping to hire another financial person. She said the
Director and the City Administrator positions were appointed positions and she was
appointing Olson to the City Administrator Position and there would be a City Council
vote.
Mayor Burd said she was in support of the search of for a director. Rollins said that they
need to set criteria on what kind of person they are looking for. Rollins was in favor of
making a more extensive search and felt that they could possibly promote within.
Rollins felt we could spend the majority of one of our upcoming meetings on what they
were looking for.
Sue Swithin said she felt that things had gotten better with Olson and got the privilege of
finding out where numbers where at in working with him.
Rollins talked about hiring within because after all a new person would have to learn
what was going on and be able to work closely with Scott and Sue. He said he did not
want to overlook any possibilities. Rollins said that they should possibly look at
reorganizing responsibilities for everyone especially with the let go of certain personal.
Code Blue Internet Viewing
Scott Sleezer said that they were having problems viewing the camera from their home
however they could pull it from any city computer. Sleezer said he would email the board
the address so they could log on and look. The unit its self is up and running Sleezer said.
They do weekly maintenance on the unit as well.
Protocol, Policies, and Procedures
Vickie Coveny said she would like the Board to put their ideas into new parks before they
were planed out by staff.
Bart Olson said that they should maybe have a global discussion on concepts of the parks
in the future. He said that any time the Board wanted to change the process in which
they plan a park that was up to them.
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Deb Horaz said she would like to see the direction of parks change a little bit because
she felt not every park should have a playground. She said there should be open space
or trees in some and something more for the eye.
It was brought up, stated in the Mast Plan, residents wanted parks with playgrounds. Ken
Koch said that the Master Plan was more of a plan and it did not have to be followed
and they were free to change anything within its guidelines.
Sleezer said they take concepts to the public and then takes them to the board. He noted
they would not want to have a sculpture park in the middle of a neighborhood. He said
that people are telling them they want play grounds. Horaz said that they would like
more of a variety of parks.
Sleezer reminded the board that the reason they theme their parks is because that they
did not want every park to be the same.
Coveny said she would eventually like to see the code blue device in every major park.
Additional:
Kelly Sedgwick noted he gave Bart some information about some portable lighting
devices. He said the nice thing about the devise is that it tells you how far away the
lighting is.
Adjournment:
Ken Koch asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting at 1 :05 pm. Deb Horaz made the
motion and Kelly Sedgwick seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved
by voice vote.
Next meeting: Thursday, December 3, 2009
*items needing Board approval or recommendation
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By:
Jamie Cheatham
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