Park Board Minutes 2008 12-18-08 AFFIMp
Yorkville Parks & Recreation Department
Administration and Recreation Office
201 W. Hydraulic St Yorkville, IL 60560 630SS343S7
Park Board Agenda
Thursday, December 18, 2008
7:00 p.m. - Park Board Meeting
Administration and Recreation Office
Call to Order: Ken Koch called the meeting to order at 7:10 pm
Roll Call: Ken Koch-Yes; Debbie Horaz-Yes, Vickie Coveny-Yes and
Garrick Gillete-Yes
Introduction of Guests, City Officials and Staff:
Joe Plocher, Ward 2 Alderman, City Council Liaison to Park Board
Director of Parks and Recreation - David Mogle
Superintendent of Recreation - Sue Swithin
Superintendent of Parks - Scott Sleezer
Park Designer - Laura Haake
Public Comment:
None
Presentations:
None
Approval of Minutes: Minutes - Regular Park Board Meeting -
December 4, 2008*
Ken Koch asked for a motion to approve the minutes of December 4th
meeting. Deb Horaz made the motion and Vickie Coveny seconded the
motion. The motion was unanimously approved by voice vote.
Bills Review:
Cash Analysis & Bill List*
Deb asked about the Visa bill on page eleven. She wanted to know
what the bodypack transmitter was. Sue explained it was the
microphone that the instructors used while teaching their classes. She
said the one that came with the club broke but that they had two now.
Mogle handed out the itemized list of attorney fees. Ken asked about
Dave's phone call with the Attorney regarding the "rent" in lease issue.
He wanted to know if Dave was on the phone for an hour and a half.
Mogle stated that there phone call was short but she also billed for
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time she made for follow up calls to ComEd. Mogle said that she would
charge for any work she'd have to do regarding the subject matter.
Ken Koch asked for a motion to approve the cash analysis and bills list.
Garrick Gillete made the motion to approve and Vickie Coveny
seconded the motion. The motion was approved by roll call vote: Ken
Koch-Yes; Debbie Horaz-Yes, Vickie Coveny-Yes and Garrick Gillete-
Yes
Old Business:
Park Naming Requests*
Dave Mogle said that he went to visit Dorothy Olson with Laura. He
said that she was a very interesting lady and they had a very
interesting conversation. He said she was going to turn 105 this
October and she was a lifelong resident of the Yorkville community.
She started teaching at age 17 and taught for 33 years. Mogle went on
to say she had a sharp memory of all the places she taught at. He
said she told him she had a relative by marriage that was also 105
years old and she was actually six months older than she and was also
a lifelong resident of Yorkville.
Scott said as soon as the article of Dorothy Olson ran in the paper
people would come forward and say that their relatives lived until such
and such age. Laura said that if we were going to include an individual
in a park name their should be some kind of criteria like they had to be
over a hundred years old and lived most of their life in Yorkville and
contributed something to the community.
Scott said that we should name a park after a theme and honor that
park by adding names to it ever so often. Mogle again brought up the
fact that we could name a shelter after Dorothy or add a feature with
names such as bricks with names on a walkway. Scott suggested that
it did not even have to be a park with playground equipment.
Mogle was worried that if we say you had to be over a hundred that
might being discriminatory. Deb thought if we had a teacher's park it
should be by a school however she doesn't like the categories like
Teachers Park or Mayors Park rather she liked categories like Memorial
Park or Centurion Park. The Centurion Park idea was suggested by
Vickie Coveny.
Ken wanted to be able to honor Dorothy by naming a shelter after her
and Deb agreed. Ken agreed that she was deserving of some kind of
recognition. Mogle said that if we're going to do something for Dorothy
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we should do it sooner than later and wanted to move forward with a
decision sooner than later.
Ken said they should do a centurion park theme and name a feature of
it after Dorothy. Garrick and Deb agreed that the centurion park was a
good idea. Mogle said that now they would have to decide what park
would be fitting for that. Laura felt that a park with playground
equipment would be better fitting because there would be more
features to name than perhaps just a park with a pavilion. She felt
that these people were active once in their life time and it would be
appropriate. Garrick felt that we have to be careful not to name each
item after someone because over time there would be many names
added.
Scott said that there could be a plaque explaining the reason why the
park was called Centurion Park.
Mogle said that there was a consensus that there be a Centurion Park
and we would honor Dorothy in that park. He also said that he would
do the research on the other park naming requests.
REC Center Report & Capita/ Improvement Quotes*
Dave Mogle asked the Board if they had any questions over the report
that was handed out in the last meeting. Mogle said that they would
give the City Council what was handed out to them along with the
summary. Mogle said the top page was a list of questions that the
committee would want to know.
Ken asked Sue if they had thought about a future budget. Ken wanted
to know what if they were prepared to answer question such as how
much they were spending on electricity. Mogle said that they would
probably get asked those questions and those questions could be
answered by the monthly budget print out. He said that they would be
ready for the budget questions.
Sue noted that there would be a Winter Open House on January 9th to
showcase the facility and attract new memberships. This will be in
place of their usual Winter Fun Day however there would be activities
and games at the club. She said that there would be announcements
on the radio and adds in the paper about the Winter Open House.
Mogle said that when he got the summary done for the Administration
Committee he would share that with the board. He said that there
have been a lot of improvements in the club and people are happy
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with it. He said even though times are slow that their bigger months
are coming up and they felt optimistic about what was to come.
Employee Wellness Program at REC Center*
Dave Mogle said that he and staff had looked into this and they
thought if you were a full time employee of the city you would be able
to participate at no charge in a premiere type package at the Rec
Center. He said however that this would not include their families.
Scott said that the club might actually make money because if he
joined he would pay for his wife and kids to join to go with him.
Ken asked if the city could compensate the fees. Mogle said that the
city would benefit more indirectly from this but that there would be no
impact of the city's health insurance premiums if employees were
active in an established wellness program.
Mogle said that they would like to have this happen in January and
Sue said that she had city employees already asking her about it and
they had been saying that they would sign up their families if they
could use the facility for free.
The board discussed the pros and cons to allowing the city employees
to use the Rec Center free of charge. Garrick said that we should look
at the big picture and not what we were just giving away.
Mogle said that he felt the way the board felt was that we could offer a
discounted rate to city employees, not their families. Ken said that
even at a discounted rate it would still motivate them to get their
families memberships there. Scott said that he disagreed and felt that
we should give the employees free use of the club because for twenty
dollars a month he could join Cardinal Fitness. He said he did not think
the club would see a movement on a discount program. He really felt
that the employees would sign up their families if they could use the
Rec Center at no charge.
Alderman Plocher said that it's not going to cost us any more money
because having the machines and the building there are all ready
costing us this amount of money and if all the staff were to start going
it is not going to over flood the place.
Vickie felt that the city employees should be able to go at a discounted
rate but not for free.
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Mogle thought because this was such a big decision that we should
wait for Chris and Kelly to be present for the decision. He said however
he would like to move on this decision as soon as possible. He said he
would bring it back to the board and get more information from
Harold. He thanked the board for their input.
FYO8O9 Midyear Budget Revisions*
Dave Mogle said that he took the Park Board's sentiments on the land
cash to the Mayor and she found out, through the attorney, that it was
legal to use salaries on land cash. Ken wanted to know if it had to be
documented. Mogle said that because the Mayor talked to the
attorney he did not have much detail on it. Ken said that he felt that
the reports should at least show that Laura took over Shoppe's
expenses.
Mogle went over the midyear budget report and said it would be taken
to the City Council.
New Business:
Grant Projects Report
Laura Haake gave an update on status of current grant projects. She
noted that the Grant Award for the ComEd Trail was pending award.
She said that the grant application had been submitted but not yet
awarded. The ComEd Trail was through the ITEP Grant Program.
Legislators have knowledge of it and are supportive.
Also noted in the grant project report the grant for Bristol Bay Park in
the amount of $400,000 was denied in October of 2008 through the
OSLAD Grant Program.
The project report also stated that the reimbursement process for
Riemenschneider Park had begun and the auditor attestation must be
submitted. Whispering Meadows Development (Bristol Station Park)
awaits asphalt trail, ball field fencing, and fine grade/seed to be
completed spring 2009.
Raintree Park A Playground RFP*
Dave Mogle said that this was actually for Raintree Park B Equipment
Recommendation.
Scott Sleezer said that they went to six different playground
manufacturers to get proposals for playground equipment for children
between the ages of 5 to 12. He said they wanted the cost of a
climbing net to be included in the bids for the playground equipment.
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Sleezer said that they really liked the Zenon Company's proposal. He
said that staff recommended changes to their design to add more ADA
elements and make the entire park more wheelchair user friendly. He
went over the Zenon Company's proposal and their custom round 5
modular playsystem.
He said that we worked with this developer and we brought the price
in at $56,169. He said that there was about a $4,000 savings in the
shelter and they stayed within the budget and that was $103,000.
Scott said that there were things that they could contract out
themselves such as the tennis courts and a small parking lot.
Scott said that they are looking at alternative lighting for the park as
well and overall they had the ability to make this one of the best parks
Yorkville has.
Laura said they would know more once they got the playground in and
completed the budget and bid documents and got it all bid out.
Scott said Zenon would hold their numbers until April. He said that this
project is fully within their budget and that the budget had been
submitted to the IDNR Grant Program.
Ken Koch asked the Park Board's approval for the playground design,
including an age appropriate sign and swings, from Zenon Company in
the amount of $56,169.00 and the shelter design from the Icon
Company in the amount of $22,000. Deb made a motion to approve
and Garrick seconded the motion. Roll call vote was taken: Ken Koch-
Yes; Debbie Horaz-Yes, Vickie Coveny-No and Garrick Gillete-Yes
Reports:
Director Report
Dave Mogle said that the Mayor and Brendan had met with Bill Foster.
The Mayor wanted to relay to the board in terms to the open space
that she is putting the regional park active recreation idea out there as
a top priority. She also felt that she would like to see the city acquire
some river front property. He said that there were some other capital
improvement programs mainly water infrastructure, regional bike trails
and road construction. Mogle went through some of the goals, which
the City of Yorkville seeks, funding sources. He said they could be
ready for construction in one or two year's time. He said that the
Mayor's first priority however was the regional park in the south a top
priority.
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Parks Report
None
Recreation Report
None
Additional Business:
None
Executive Session: For the purchase or lease of real property
for the use of the public body.
Dave Mogle said there was no need for an executive session this
evening.
Adjournment:
Ken Koch asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Deb made the
motion and Vickie seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously
approved by voice vote.
Next meeting: January 8, 2009
*Items needing Board approval or recommendation
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Jamie Cheatham
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