Park Board Minutes 2008 10-09-08 ANWO
(Yorkville Parks & Recreation Department
Administration and Recreation Office
201 W. Hydraulic St Yorkville, IL 60560 6305534357
Park Board Agenda
Thursday, October 9, 2008
7:00 p.m. - Park Board Meeting
Administration and Recreation Office
Call to Order: Ken called the meeting to order 7:10 pm
Roll Call: Ken Koch-Yes, Debbie Horaz-Yes, Kelly Sedgwick-Yes, & Garrick Gillette-
Yes
Vickie Coveny (arrived 7:17pm)
Introduction of Guests, City Officials and Staff:
Joe Plocher, Ward 2 Alderman, City Council Liaison to Park Board (arrived 9:30pm)
Director of Parks and Recreation - David Mogle
Superintendent of Recreation - Sue Swithin
Park Designer - Laura Haake (arrived 7:20 pm)
Public Comment:
None
Presentations:
None
Amnroval of Minutes:
Minutes - Regular Park Board Meeting - September 25, 2008*
Deb pointed out the following amendments on page two. Under Park & Recreation
Master Plan second sentence should say Oct 9tn's meeting not the 19tH
Under the Discussion on Public Act 0950032 the last three sentences should
read as follows: Mogle said Wiese was emphatic about the fact they could not be in
parks but he said case law was a little more complex. Deb wanted to keep pictures
of the sex offenders in Yorkville on file for staff just so they were aware of whom
they are. She would ultimately like to have safe-zones for children in the parks.
Next amendment is on page four under Additional Business number three the first
sentence should read: Deb Horaz said the Sperling Foundation had given the City
and the River Front Parks a Code Blue Emergency Distress Unit with and ADE Unit
option. The last sentence should read: Finally she noted that it would take two to
three weeks to get the unit.
Ken asked for a motion to approve the minutes of the September 251h park boards
meeting with the mentioned amendments. Kelly made the motion to approve and
Garrett seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved by voice vote.
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Bills Review:
Cash Analysis & Bill List*
Ken Koch asked about the two ComEd bills. The $1943 ComEd bill on page three
was for the ball field. He wanted to know what the $4,396 ComEd bill was for.
Mogle said it was for the Rec Center. Sue noted the $4,396 was for two months.
Mogle said the City held off paying the first month because there was a question on
weather or not we had to pay taxes.
Ken also brought up the percentages in the budget under the legal expenses. Mogle
said mid year they would add more money and try to gauge what legal expenses
will come down the road. Ken wanted to know how we would add more when we
have to cut our budget. Mogle said after all the cuts were made they would have to
go to some other account and cut that even further and move that money to that
account. Mogle said they would try to avoid as many legal matters as possible
mentioning that we had two big ones this year in Hoover and the Rec Center.
Deb wanted to know if we would have to cut back on programming. Sue said that
it's always been based on supply and demand. If there is a demand then she said
she would adjust staff and budget accordingly. Mogle said when Sue offers a
program the class fee gives us the revenue.
Ken brought up the manual check in the amount of $824.25 to Illinois State Police
for background checks that was processed but never added into the city's system to
reflect the budget or bills list for Oct. 9, 2008 meeting. The check was originally
signed at the June 12th meeting.
Ken asked for a motion to approve the Cash Analysis and Bills List. Kelly made the
motion to approve and Garrett seconded the motion. The motion was approved by
roll call: Ken Koch-Yes, Debbie Horaz-Yes, Kelly Sedgwick-Yes, & Garrick Gillette-
Yes & Vickie Coveny-Yes
Old Business:
REC Center Capita/Improvement Quotes*
Sue Swithin said there were no improvements that needed the board's approval
tonight.
She did report that the Rec Center's roof repairs had been started. She said that
there were workers power washing the roof and due to the vibrations it had shaken
down some batting from above the pool. She said the batting had dropped into the
pool and it would have to be vacuumed out.
Swithin noted she would be getting the rest of the carpet in and all the signs would
be up soon then she wanted to have a Fall Open House with a
registration/membership drive. She is also planning a big day in January that will
be advertised in the catalog. Swithin wants it to be a two-day type open house
party with exhibitors in the Rec Center.
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Deb said she would like to see it painted before the open house, however, Sue said
there isn't money in the budget for it and they do not have the man power to get it
done.
Park and Recreation Master Plan*
Ken asked if the Park Trail Policy standards had changed. Laura said the Park
Development Standards is a whole new section that directly references the Park
Trail Policy.
Laura mentioned to the board that this was not the final version and that she would
like to take the board's suggestions and make changes and then she said then it
would go to City Council. Council would then have to approve it before it was final.
Ken wanted the Master Plan to show in the Park Board section that there was a
position open on the board.
Ken brought up the pie chart area on page 1.6 and wanted to know if it were the
most modern pie chart. He wanted to call the 2005 chart 2008 because we were in
2008. However Laura said the page before shows the population charts for the
population trend for the years 2003 and 2005 and those were based on National
Data per the latest census. Laura said the comparison was comparing data in the
past and 2008 is just a projection because we're not through 2008 yet and that's
why it doesn't say 2008.
Laura mentioned section five was brand new because the Rec Center is new and
she said they would be expanding it as time goes along. Deb noted that this
master plan is a living document and things will come and go.
Deb had some questions about the land in section three. Deb wanted to know if
York Wood Estates Park and those others listed are actual parks called by those
names. Ken said that they are designated as parks but they may not materialize for
some time and they do not have names yet. Laura said those parks have to follow
the land plans that they fall in if they do develop those areas. She said they are in
the map because they are annexed in. She noted they are future parks that we
may get.
Deb also said some maps have colored key charts and some do not. She noted
some maps have different colors. Deb did not understand the colors on the maps in
the sub planning areas because they were not color-coded and she wanted to know
if Laura could get those to be clearer. Laura said the yellow was actually the city
limits and was annexed in and other cities have their own colors.
Laura said they would like this to pass with the comprehensive plan and then the
plan is every November work on the revisions and put out a new addition 2009.
Dave Mogle said Laura had put in a lot of time and effort into this master plan and
had done a good job.
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Ken asked for a motion to take the master plan to City Council for approval with
suggestions noted. Deb made the motion and Kelly seconded the motion. The
motion was approved by roll call: Ken Koch-Yes, Debbie Horaz-Yes, Kelly Sedgwick-
Yes, & Garrick Gillette-Yes & Vickie Coveny-Yes
Riverfront Park Memorial(s)
Dave Mogle passed out a memo of what their staff recommendations were for
Riverfront Park Memorial(s). Mogle said assuming that the staff does go with a
memorial we would want to establish a policy on how we would handle memorials
in a park in the future. Mogle's thought was to then have some kind of memorial
but not list names because we may not have all the names and then if we had to
add names then it would be difficult, for example a bronze plaque would be difficult
to add names to.
Kelly thought people could get their loved ones engraved on a brick at the park that
could be part of the walk way or wall. Deb thought even having a nice poem on a
plaque would be fine.
Dave said he and Laura talked about the construction of the new dam and how it
will create a safer environment. Deb mentioned that the tragedies caused the
improvements to be made.
What we do now would be temporary and we should not go over the top at this
point with it, Garrett said. He wanted to stay away from the name and plaque idea
however he was more in favor for family members buying a tree or bench for their
loved ones as a memorial if they so chose to.
Laura felt that we should have a policy that states a loved one can put up a
memorial for 90 days and then they would have to remove it. Kelly felt that maybe
in the policy on the anniversary of the tragedy loved ones can leave a memorial for
a certain amount of time as well.
The board agreed they should do more research and find out what other parks do.
Mogle said that they would bring it back to another meeting.
YYBSA Agreement Discussion for 2009
Mogle said that the meeting with the YYBSA was really positive. They talked about
what they were doing together that was working. However, they both agreed that
communication between them could improve.
Mogle said two major areas were talked about. The first one was that the Parks and
Recreation programs were growing and they received top priority. Such as we
would need another night at Bridge Park and that left the YYBSA with possibly only
one night there, said Mogle. However with the new Whispering Meadows Park that
would alleviate that problem and the YYBSA would be able to use that park.
Second issue they talked about Mogle said, was the fee. He said that some of their
board members were going to talk to the Alderman. Mogle contacted the Alderman
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to give them a heads up to let them know that their members should bring it up
with their staff. Dave felt that they were not asking for anything outrageous and
there would be more to come.
New Business:
Bristol Bay Park Update
Mogle said the bad news is we did not make the first cut for the grant. It was to be
soccer complex and then in phase two tennis courts and a shelter in later phases.
Mogle said that it was not anything we did or did not do, but they said they did a
statewide survey and came to the conclusion there were more soccer fields in
Illinois than needed. Even though Mogle and staff felt that we had a need in our
community he said they have to have standards to go by. Mogle said if we would
have known this they would have asked for something else such as multi purpose
fields.
The good news is we had the deed from Centex to apply for the grant. Centex was
doing $460,000 worth of grading. They are doing phase one and two of grading,
which would be 50 acres of flat grass that they will maintain for one year.
Mogle noted, pertaining to the grants, that the other facilities we could not say we
are in need of were shelters. He said there are enough based on a statewide basis.
Green's Filling Station (Autumn Creek) Park Update
Mogle said that Scott came to him and asked him about another ball field at
Autumn Creek. Mogle said they checked with the school and they were not for it.
Mogle said the Mayor wants to be in on any land cash projects and is in favor of
doing this project. He said that the main thing is we would be getting back a check
from Autumn Creek and even though it would not be $30,000 we can do this ball
field with the money we do get back. The Mayor was in favor of the park said
Mogle. He said the developers would cut us a check and have no problem with it.
It will be an in-house project. Dave asked for the board's consensus. Deb wants to
call it a sports field. Laura said it could be a double use field. Board gives their
consensus.
Playful Cities/Riemenschneider Park Event
Mogle said this even was put together recently and they planned it during the day
when the kids were off school on Columbus Day. He said there would be a ribbon
cutting. He noted they were going to play down their dedication and they would
have their Playful City Dedication next spring for the park. He said they would still
be out there on Monday and that the ribbon cutting will be from 12:00pm -
2:00pm. He noted that there would be a lot going on and they would mention the
spring dedication with the Riemenschneider family.
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Reports:
Director Report
None
Parks Report
None
Recreation Report
Sue said fall classes had started and both of her preschools got in on time for
school. She encouraged the board members to go look at the Pre School in Unit D
to see how they turned the unit into a preschool.
She said fall classes have started such as girl's basketball and they had been using
gyms for practice.
She also noted that youth flag football was new this year, per request, and in a
matter of weeks they had 80 kids playing. She said they were sharing a facility at
the Bristol Bay School's field. Soccer and flag football were being played there and
later tackle football was being played there as well.
She said softball is coming to an end and going well and Shay is changing the
leagues with 12 teams for next year.
Sue said she said she had new surveys come in at the Rec Center on the classes
and people were thrilled about the classes and the instructors.
Sue said Tim Evans put the Hometown Days revenue report together and she went
over the break down. She noted even though the economy is sliding people had still
coming out to the festival. She reported that the revenue was up this year and
overall the numbers were higher. Mogle asked why, on page two, there were no
expenses under the Football Contest. Sue said that there were no expediters.
Sue said the profit was rolled over into new classes and that they operated on their
profits. Mogle said Tim did an incredible job. Sue has been a great mentor and this
being his second year he did a great job! All departments truly enjoyed working
with Tim, he said.
Additional Business:
1. Dave Mogle went over the City meeting calendar for 2009. The board agreed that
they would have one meeting in November and that would be on Thursday the 12tH
December's meetings would be on Thursday the 3rd and Thursday the 17th. Every
other meeting listed would stay the same.
2. Mogle said they had been working on finishing up Riemenschneider Park and we
wanted to get Whispering Meadows Park done. He passed out a change order
regarding both projects together. He said it was a reduction in landscaping costs so
it would be real easy to take forward. He asked for a node of approval to take to
City Council. The net reduction for both projects was $17,279.15. This needed to be
approved by IDNR and Mogle asked for the board's consensus to take to the City
Council. The board unanimously agreed to take the change order to City Council.
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3. Mogle brought up the fact that the Rec Center is an option to purchase and a
referendum was talked about previously. Mogle said he and Sue had talked about
going to referendum and he asked the board if they thought it was a bad time. The
board all agreed with the economy and election it was a bad time. Mogle said he
would get more details on going to referendum if he knew the timing were right.
Kelly wanted to see us in the Rec Center for at least a year and the board agreed.
4. Mogle brought up the Hoover and said that the Forest Preserve would pay the
City $730,000. However they were not clear on how much land they would be
getting. He also noted that right now the new agreement had not been written.
Executive Session:
For the purchase or lease of real property for the use of the public body.
The board agreed no executive session was needed this meeting.
Adjournment:
Ken Koch asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:45. Deb made the motion
and Kelly seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved by voice
vote.
Next meeting: October 23, 2008
*Items needing Board approval or recommendation
None
Minutes Respectfully Submitted by:
Jamie Cheatham
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