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Park Board Minutes 2008 05-22-08 Aftwo Yorkville Parks & Recreation Department Administration & Recreation Office 201 W. Hydraulic Street Yorkville, IL 60560 630.553.4357 Park Board Agenda Thursday, May 22, 2008 7:00 p.m. - Park Board Meeting Administration & Recreation Office Call to order: Chris Rollins called Meeting to order at 7:03p.m. Roll Call: Chris Rollins-Yes; Debbie Horaz-Yes; Sedgwick-Yes; & Vickie Coveny-Yes Introduction of Guests, City Officials and Staff: Joe Plocher, Ward 2 Alderman, City Council Liaison to Park Board Director of Parks and Recreation - Dave Mogle Superintendent of Recreation - Sue Swithin (arrived 7:50 pm) Park Designer - Laura Haake Public Comment: None Presentations: None Annroval of Minutes: Minutes - Regular Park Board Meeting - May 8, 2008 Chris Rollins asked for a motion to approve the Park Board minutes of May 8th. 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 Chris Rollins asked for a motion to approve the cash analysis and bills list as submitted. Vickie Coveny made the motion and Kelly Sedgwick seconded the motion. The motion was approved by roll call: Rollins- Yes; Sedgwick; Horaz-Yes; & Coveny-Yes Old Business: HOOVER Agreement Update Dave Mogle stated that since the last Board Meeting he had conveyed to the Forest Preserve District that they did not wish to drop any 1 features in the current version however they were willing to move the locations of certain features, within reason, around. Chris Rollins felt that they needed to see a plan from them and until they did there was no real productive approach on their part. The Park Board discussed and felt it was necessary to get a plan for the Forest Preserve District and to find out what their particular objections were. Rollins made a point that the more we make design changes the more it's costing us. Laura Haake noted that we really need to see a design plan from them even if it's preliminary. The board discussed joint sight improvements and that they must agree on land portions before any more changes their plan should be made. Haake stated that they could get out and survey the land if Jason agreed. She also noted she would like to know what specs they are giving their designer so she had something to work off of. Rollins felt that Haake should go ahead and contact their design consultant. He felt they should take our drawings and attach GPS reality to it. Kelly Sedgwick suggested that the boards get together to go over each of their plans and stated that we need to be working together because we really can't react to something we don't have plans for. Mogle noted that the Forest Preserve District will be meeting next week, June 4th, and they should know more then. He invited all who could attend. Rec Center Update Sue Swithin reported on the following: She updated the schedule of fees, the City Attorney was approving the contract, and she put together a waiver form with a questionnaire with physical ability questions. She also noted that the membership meetings went well. She said some seniors were concerned about prices and classes however most people were happy. She noted that non-resident prices went up and some non-residents were concerned however Rollins stated that there were probably not enough non-residents concerned to make a big impact. Swithin noted that we've had some very happy people and she is pleased with that. She felt that most people would be happy. Swithin also noted that she was interviewing 25 people most of those to be instructors and part time employees and said that Amanda Walker would be the facility coordinator. She also reported she had inspectors come in to look at signage. Swithin stated that she had gotten some estimates on new flooring and would expect that to be done in July and August. Also the pool rehab would take place in the fall but noted she had vendors and 2 contractors coming in and giving estimates. She also stated that she was getting Rec Trac training in June. Rec Center Phone System Quote Sue Swithin said that she needed a new phone system and was looking for approval on Rec Center upgrades. She said that the system they are looking at is the same one they have now and they will be able to work with one another. She said that there would be room to grow with the upgrade and they would be able to add on an extension module later if needed. She said the Cat5 network is done and the server will hold the Rec Trac system. She said there is a lot of technology to be up and running but it should be done by the end of June. She was even looking at getting the club closed down for a day during the July 4th weekend to change over the system. Rollins felt that closing the club down for a day would be a good idea to get make sure everything was up and running smoothly! Rollins asked for a motion to approve the phone upgrade for the Rec Center not to exceed $5,190.00 from the 2007/2008 budget. Vickie made the motion and Kelly seconded the motion. The motion was approved by roll call: Rollins-Yes; Sedgwick; Horaz-Yes; & Coveny-Yes New Business: Park and Facility Rental Policy Revision Dave Mogle noted that he would like to table this until he was able to talk to other departments on what their costs would be. The board agreed that we should do our research on what it would really cost us to allow festival type events in our parks. Park Naming Policy Discussion Dave Mogle was looking for direction from staff and noted that there were 17 parks that need names. There are three development grants in the works now he said and they should get signs soon. He noted that the current naming policy is real restrictive. He felt that we should broaden it and felt that names could come from a unique geographical area, be a historical aspect, theme, landowner or someone connected to recreation somehow. He thought we could look at the features of a park for a name and even get some ideas from the public giving them some kind of criteria. Chris Rollins felt that we shouldn't name parks after landowners unless they donated the land. He likes all the other ideas other than the landowner. He didn't think that some traditional landowners name should be on a park unless there was some kind of historical aspect behind it. 3 Deb Horaz brought up that she doesn't like the name of the Yorkville Junior Women's Club on the sign. Mogle said that they want their name established in stone at the park and we don't want them to walk away because they are willing to help maintain the park. Rollins argues that the name is not so bad however Sedgwick suggested that they maybe put a name of a woman who helped found the Yorkville Women's Club. Mogle said that he'd get with Scott and talk to them. Rollins stated that the naming policy has really helped us from getting parks with bad names however now we have a lot of parks that need names, which is actually a good problem to have. Special Recreation Program Reimbursement David Mogle stated that the reimbursement policy says that we will pay the resident rate of a certain group of programs that the Fox Valley special recreation offers. We will pay the non-resident rates for our residents to participate in our programs but it excluded certain programs that were real expensive. In the past United Way has stepped in and funded the money to pay for Yorkville residents that couldn't pay the non-resident camp fee. Mogle noted that there was one family with three special needs children, Yorkville residents, who couldn't afford the transportation fees for their children to go to camp. The transportation for the three children for the summer was $1,100.00. Mogle said that he bumped the scholarship budget up to almost $7,000 because he predicted that the United Way wouldn't be able to front funds again this year. He said it doesn't go against our policy because it doesn't say anything about transportation and he wanted the Board's blessing to take on the transportation fee for this family. After discussion the Board felt that once we do this we'd have to do it for other families. Mogle said that he would like to get some kind of sponsor to support these kids so they could go to camp. Sue Swithin felt that in the future that the cost of transportation should be in the cost of the camp. The Board agreed that they didn't see an issue in going to other businesses to see if they wanted to contribute to this cause. They felt that if United Way was not going to come up with the funds then we need to ask another organization to step in and take over the obligation. 4 City Integrated Transportation Plan Dave Mogle reported that the Park and Recreation Department has been invited to participate in the selection committee for a consultant to advise the city on a program that will evaluate city trails and downtown pedestrian corridors. He noted that Scott Sleezer will be the department representative for this committee. It is a funding source of a grant the city received. He stated that the first step is to get a base idea so we know what to do with our downtown area. He said the first meeting will be May 291h and that they would be interviewing consultants and get one on board. Right now this is informational only. Reports: Directors Report 1. Mogle noted that we got another grant for $50,000.00 for the wooded area across from FE Wheaton to do a pavilion and nature woodchip trail. He said it was a federal grant that they applied for last year. 2. Mogle stated that he talked to the Mayor today and she does have an individual in mind to come on board for the Park Board his name is Garrett Gillette. He will be at the next meeting. 3. Mogle also noted that the Mayor asked him to get the Board's input on getting someone to be a school board liaison. He said that is a board position and needed a board vote. Horaz noted that they would have to change the ordinance on that. Rollins said they don't want to fill the position but it's an invaluable position to have filled. He felt that there are too many joint school board decisions to be made and that position should be filled. Rollins said that he would help draft a letter and get the board members contacted directly. 4. Mogle noted that Deb Horaz is leaving the Green Committee and the Mayor wanted to know if there were anyone else interested in sitting in on the meetings. Horaz said they were held on Monday's twice a month for two hours at a time. Vickie said she would check her schedule and expressed some interest. Additional Business: Kelly Sedgwick noted that he had been talking to the Mud Slingers and Scott Sleezer about the BMX track. They said that they needed help on the track on Saturday May 31St to relay the track and get it smoothed out. He said that they would be looking for volunteers with rakes. Mogle said that he'd get that in their press release that they were looking for volunteers. 5 Adjournment: Chris Rollins asked for a motion to adjourn the Park Board Meeting at 11:30. Deb Horaz made the motion and Kelly Sedgwick seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved by voice vote. Next Meeting: June 12, 2008 Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Jamie Cheatham 6