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Park Board Minutes 2008 01-10-08 aa000 CAD Yorkville Parks & Recreation Department Administration and Recreation Office 201 W. Hydraulic St Yorkville, IL 60560 6305534357 Park Board Agenda Thursday, January 10, 2008 7:00 p.m. - Park Board Meeting Administration and Recreation Office Call to Order: Ken Koch called the meeting to order at 7:07 pm Roll Call: Ken Koch, Van Truman, Debbie Horaz, Kelly Sedgwick, Vickie Coveny (arrived at 7:10 pm) Introduction of Guests. City Officials and Staff: Joe Plocher, Ward 2 Alderman, City Council Liaison to Park Board (arrived at 9:00 pm) Director of Parks and Recreation - David Mogle Superintendent of Recreation - Sue Swithin Superintendent of Parks - Scott Sleezer Park Planner - Laura Haake Public Comment: None Presentations: None Approval of Minutes: Minutes - Regular Park Board Meeting - December 13, 2007* Amendments made on page two, first paragraph under Park and Development Standards. First sentence should read: Dave Mogle noted that Laura and Scott had been working on this. Page 3 Cob Park should be spelled Cobb Park. Page four, second paragraph under Review of 2007 YYBSA Agreement should read . . . about changing the agreement from April 1st to July 30th range to April 1st to September 30th. Ken Koch called for a motion to approve the Regular Park Board Meeting, December 13, 2007, minutes. The motion was made by Van Truman and seconded by Deb Horaz. The motion was unanimously approved by voice vote. No Minutes from December 27, 2007. Meeting cancelled for lack of quorum. 1 Bills Review: Cash Analysis* Bill List (from Dec. 27, 2007) With no questions or comments regarding the cash analysis or bills list for December 27th Ken Koch asked for a motion to approve the cash analysis and bills list as submitted. Van Truman made the motion and Deb Horaz seconded the motion. The motion was approved by roll call: Koch-Yes; Horaz-Yes; Truman-Yes; Coveny-Yes & Sedgwick-Yes Bill List (current)* Ken Koch brought up the City Attorney charges on page two. He wanted to know what the charges were for. Mogle stated a large portion of those charges were for when the attorney sat in on the Hoover meetings. Mogle said that he sat through the meetings as our legal opinion and reviewed documents. Truman wanted to know if we had received a legal opinion in writing. Mogle said that we had not. Concern was brought up by the board that we get something in writing when an attorney sits in on these meetings. Truman felt we should get a work product, some kind a summary notation of that meeting in their opinion especially since we have chanced City Attorneys. Truman felt that if we had something in writing it would be easier to hand off to the new City Attorney. Mogle said that sounded reasonable and would ask for that going forward. With no questions or comments regarding the current cash analysis or bills list Ken Koch asked for a motion to approve the cash analysis and bills list as submitted. Vickie Coveny made the motion and Van Truman seconded the motion. The motion was approved by roll call: Koch-Yes; Horaz-Yes; Truman-Yes; Coveny-Yes & Sedgwick-Yes Old Business: Rescheduled School Board/City Council Joint Meeting Dave Mogle stated that the meeting had been rescheduled for this Monday January 14th at 7:00 pm at the Yorkville Junior High School. Mogle encouraged Park Board members to attend. He said that issues such as Game Farm Road and the sidewalk program for schools would come up. Mogle passed out a list of interactions and cooperative ventures from the past and present, which he would be presenting at the meeting. Van Truman said he would like to see a time line when these interactions started happening. Swithin thought it should be put in chronological order or they should be segmented to show what was in the past and what we are currently working together on. 2 Review of 2007 YYBSA Agreement and Discussion for 2008 Dave Mogle attached the current drafts of the agreement and policies. Changes from 2007 are in color. Also attached is a letter from the YYBSA President, Pete Athens, in response to proposed fees. Deb Horaz asked about number two on the agreement regarding the portable mounds not being developed. Mogle explained why we won't put in portable mounds and refers her to number two on the agreement for further reasoning. Scott Sleezer reiterates that the portable mounds are extremely heavy to move and that they would want to fill in the gap in front of and behind the mounds with clay. In doing so it would become labor intensive and once you take the mounds off the field the next day there would be material there you either would have to rake back into the field or pick up. He explains it added time in getting that field up and operational. Truman thought we don't really need that bullet point at all. He felt that we should just say that we are not going to build permanent mounds and we are not going to invest in portable mounds for reasons of our own design. However he felt we should add as a private organization if you want to bring them out yourself you should be able to. Sleezer said that for weekend play it didn't worry him but if it were everyday play he was worried about them bringing out their own mounds. Truman said that if they purchase the three-day premium package and they want to come out and invest, provide and care for their own mounds he didn't want to close the door on that. Sleezer was also concerned that people would be driving on the grass and if we didn't have staff out there to stop them he felt it would happen on a daily basis. Truman looked at the memo and the YYBSA agreement and wanted to massage the verbiage of the fees and have it say along the lines that the fees come from the players and not the YYBSA themselves. He wanted to leave the argument of their budget off the table. He wanted to add a levy. Truman explained that we should leave it up to the YYBSA to decide where to get the money. Sleezer said that they could fundraise for it if they wanted to; we didn't want to tell them how to come up with the money. Mogle stated that it didn't have to be a surcharge however the amount had to be per player. He also said in 3 the recommendation that it was Pete Athens idea that they didn't include t-bailers. Mogle said they agreed that was reasonable. Koch said that the YYBSA thought that the ten-thousand dollars was a double tax. Truman said that argument doesn't hold water on any level and every program puts together a fee schedule. He gives an example: if your child wants to play any sport you'd have to pay another fee other than your property tax. Koch said that their other issue was the timing on this. They felt that this should have been decided a long time ago and not a week before registration. Sleezer said this was talked about last year and they knew a certain amount of money for field maintenance costs would be asked for. He said this has been on the table for a year. Koch said that it should have been in the agreement last year so they knew it was coming and he felt we should run it by City Council. Mogle said that he would let the Council know of the controversy. Swithin said that she's a renter of a facility every year, paying a rent fee, and as she sets budgets for programs she takes the initiative, as a renter, to go to that facility to see and agree very early and begin dialog to see if there are any increases that are coming months in advance. She felt that they should have done the same and that they have the responsibility to come to us to see if there were fee increases. Mogle stated how we could not raise it every year. They want quality and we want to provide it. Once they see what it takes cost wise they should understand. He said the short of it is we need money for service. Koch explained to them that we were bringing on 130 new acres this summer of maintenance and we're bringing on two more fields. Swithin shows on the handout costs of maintenance and explains that it doesn't show certain coasts, such as mowing expenses, because we'd be mowing anyway. Truman felt that what the price list shows was efficient enough to show a ten-thousand dollar charge. FY 200812009 Preliminary Budget Dave Mogle goes over the first draft of the proposed budget in the Parks and Recreation Department areas. Mogle highlighted the following: He said the golf outing, in the revenue area, is still a strong source of income that we can apply toward special projects in special areas. 4 On page 4 of 4 of the Parks and Recreation Comments he noted that point 5 this is initially what they put in for staff. He said the Administrative Assistant would be to help he and Sue with clerical duties. He noted that Scott recommended three positions: a Park Operator, and two Maintenance Workers. The Park Operator would be a higher paid position. He noted we are looking for someone in the trades for carpentry for example; someone that could do work that we would normally contract out and pay more for. Mogle noted that the four individuals starting would be staggered. Individuals would be starting June 1st, September 1st, and November 1st. Mogle noted, page 2 of 4 under Recreation Expenses, pre-school salaries are up because we are looking at hiring an extra aid to work on the floor if the enrollment numbers go up. He said, page 3 of 4 under Recreation Expenses, recreation equipment had jumped considerably because recently new legislature requires us to have AED machines at outdoor facilities such as ball fields and soccer fields. Swithin said that they we will need to have them at the concession stands. Mogle said they run about $1,500 - $2,000 each and we are going to invest in at least six of them. Mogle explained, under the reserves line item on page 3 of 4, the net gain from the golf outing goes into this fund for special purchases such as the white van and movie screen that have been purchased. Swithin said that's the whole reason the golf outing exists however it's been misnamed reserve. When Council looks at this they are confused by it because it's not really a reserve it's an account that we put the proceeds from the outing into. Mogle noted that they are looking at giving it another name however he is looking at getting it approved from finance department. In the Land Cash section Mogle said that the Heartland Circle land cash is a mistake and the $25,000 for Autumn Creek is for the special permit for this year. Getting into expenses Mogle said that the priorities are Heartland Circle. Laura and Scott have put together the conceptual plan. They will get a park this year. 5 Under parks and recreation capital page 1 of 1, Mogle said that there are a couple of vehicles that are up for replacement. Sleezer said that they are replacing a pick-up truck and a dump truck. He said that some of the equipment is over ten years old and they would like to get a new paint sprayer and turf roller as well. He said there is a great need to roll ball fields. In the land acquisition fund Mogle explained that the Clark purchase may come out of our land cash. Koch said the funding might however come elsewhere. Mogle stated that so far it's a balanced budget however this is still a preliminary budget and there would be adjustments. He said the budget runs from May 1st to April 30th and he would give updates as changes were made. New Business: 2008 IDNR Bicycle Grant Cycle and Potential Project* Dave Mogle said this is just informational at this point. He said the staff had met with the grant consultants on December 19th. They talked about all potential grant projects. Mogle touched base on the seven potential bicycle trail projects from the meeting. The first one is the ComEd Easement form Van Emmon Street south. He said that this trail is most expensive and they are still working with IDOT and ComEd on this. The second is the Blackberry Woods to Rt. 34 west to Kendall Marketplace. This is north of the river. There is an issue with the grant because of the large ravine that lays on the other side and it would take a large bridge to go over it. Laura Haake said that the property on the other side of the ravine is only 60ft wide so we don't have a lot of area to get up the slope to the other side. We may have to discuss with the PNA camp to see if we can get an additional acre there to help us bring that path back and forth. We won't know until we have preliminary engineering done, she said. The third is Kennedy Road from Bridge Park to Autumn Creek. This is based on existing paths in Autumn Creek. The fourth is Fox Road to Hoover and Silver Springs. He said that Hoover is owned by the Forest Preserve and that creates a challenge. 6 The fifth is Cannonball Trail link form Rt. 34 to Rt. 47 and right now the pathway is about a mile along the commercial frontage and ends at the northeast corner. Sixth is Fox Hills along Rt. 34 to the retail area. Mogle said that it runs in front of Rush Copley and they are required to put a path in front of their facility. The last one is Mill Rd. link to Oswego. That is up near the Grand Reserve area. Mogle said that the one we're focusing on most is number three. We will take it to our grant writers and they will take it from there. Reports: Director Report None Parks Report Scott Sleezer mentioned the letter sent to the City Hall from a resident who complained about the City shoveling snow into their driveway thus the reason they shoveled it back into the street. The resident wanted to see some of the overstaffed parks department to shovel his driveway instead of shoveling parks and walkways that no one uses this time of the year. Sleezer wanted to point out that it is necessary to shovel those parks and walkways because they are used by public access. A lot of times school buses stop at corners and we have to absolutely have to sidewalks shoveled he said. He also noted that we can't take the chance of someone walking on the street, because they are plowed and the sidewalks are not, and they get hit by a car. Recreation Report Sue Swithin reported that over 70 kids wrote Santa letters. She said that we received a nice thank you letter from a mother who expressed her thanks for getting a personalized letter back to her daughter. She said we always appreciate those nice letters. She also noted that basketball is about to start up. Swithin noted that her administrative assistant, Shay Rosborough was doing very well. She also mentioned that Winter Fun Day is coming up on January 18th and 2 Ball is beginning February 15th 7 Additional Business: Future Meeting Schedule & Agenda Items None Van Truman announced that he had been working with a company called the Hon Company and this past week he settled on an offer. He will be moving down to Kentucky to head up their wood and leather seeding division in the position of controller. He stated he would be starting on January 28tH Adiournment: Ken Koch asked for a motion to suspend the regular meeting at 9:45 pm. Horaz made a motion and Sedgwick seconded the motion. Ken Koch asked for a motion to enter into executive session, for the purchase or lease of real property for the use of the public body. For the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance or dismissal of specific employees of the public body or legal counsel for the public body. Sedgwick made a motion and Truman seconded the motion and all in favor by voice vote. Adiournment• Ken Koch called for a motion to end the executive session and to reconvene into regular session at 10:55 PM. Deb Horaz made the motion and Vickie Coveny seconded the motion and it was unanimously approved by voice vote to end the regular meeting. Next meeting: January 24, 2008 Minutes respectfully submitted by Jamie Cheatham, Minute Taker 8