Minutes_Park and Recreation Commission 10 12 10PRESENT:
OTHERS:
MINUTES
APPROVED;
VOTE:
APPROVE
AGREEMENT
WITH HILLCREST
FAMILY
SERVICES FOR
USE OF MURPHY
PARK; VOTE:
APPROVE
CAPITAL
IMPROVEMENT
BUDGETS; VOTE:
PARK AND RECREATION COMMISSION MEETING
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
4:30 p.m., Snack Bar, Bunker Hill Golf Course
Bob Blocker, Tom Blocklinger, Paul Hoffmann, Karen Lyness, Evelyn Nadeau,
Mark Noble, David Schlueter
Staff present: Marie Ware, Pat Prevenas, Bob Fritsch and Eileen Trimble
It was moved by Hoffmann, seconded by Blocklinger, to approve the minutes of
the September 14, 2010, meeting. The motion passed unanimously.
Leisure Services Manager Marie Ware informed commissioners that Hillcrest
Family Services was seeking approval for their annual request to use Murphy
Park for the Festival of Lights fundraiser. The agreement is the same as past
years, with set -up to begin November 1st.
It was moved l Lyness, seconded l Nadeau, to approve the agreement with
Hillcrest Family Services to use Murphy Park for their annual Festival of Lights
fundraiser. The motion passed unanimously.
C.I.P. priority list for Fiscal Year 2012 through Fiscal Year 2016 may be found
as part of the original minutes.
PARK: Leisure Services Manager Marie Ware said park employees gave
ideas on new 2016 projects and projects that might need to be moved up. Due
to the budget crunch we had to set priorities and delete some projects so that
others could be moved forward. • #8 Granger Park trail is funding from a TIF
district so those funds cannot be used for anything else. • A lot of the 2016
projects are ongoing need issues like playgrounds, street trees, sidewalk,
maintenance - related and keeping up what we already have. • Last year
several donated park areas had development funds cut but the money for
engineering was left in 2015 so those developments are now being requested
in 2016. A number of these were given as part of a subdivision. Serenity
Development never materialized and that was in 2014 so that left us with
$100,000 to use for other projects. • One project was moved up for safety — a
shower and rest room rehabilitation for Maintenance Headquarters. During
prime summer season there are 35 people working out of the shop with only 2
stools and 1 urinal and no "women only" rest room. Several staff mix
chemicals as part of their job and they need proper showering area to clean off
in case of a spill or chemical accident. • #103 Comiskey Park playground
improvements does not have an amount yet. We are trying to create more
pride in the neighborhood and hope it will lessen some of the negative
perceptions of the park. We are looking at moving the young children's
playground away from the basketball court and closer to the building which
gets the younger kids away from the adults and teens and closer to the parking
lot and rest rooms, etc. Playground safety surface may be changed to rubber
instead of mulch which will make it easier to clean trash that is dropped in that
continued
INTOXICATING
BEVERAGES IN
PARKS; VOTE:
October 12, 2010 meeting
page two
area. We want to place some nice benches; have more open and visible
spectator area by the basketball courts; new park sign in addition to the
memorial plaque; more programming in the building and special events — bring
people to the park so they can see it is not a bad place to go. Commissioner
Hoffmann asked for some kind of itemized list in written form once the plans for
Comiskey are more final and if funding is available. Ware will present a plan to
the Commission at an upcoming meeting.
Commissioners asked: • Commissioner Nadeau asked that #59 rest rooms
for Jackson Park be moved up if possible because of the high usage of that
park. • Commissioner Lyness asked about #40 electronic locking devices.
Manager Ware explained that they are auto locks that can lock at a certain time
or staff could lock by Internet off -site so patrol would not have to physically go
to the parks to lock buildings. • What about development at Usha Park?
Manager Ware said the church and new bank say their private parking lots are
being used a lot, especially with the cricket league going on at the park. Ms.
Ware said we should probably revisit the original plan from 1999 to see if we
still want all the original proposed developments — what are the needs of the
area now versus the original plan?
RECREATION: For pools, #21 create family rest rooms is an amenity that is
really important to people and it needs to be addressed. The project was
dropped last year during the budget process due to budget constraints but we
are requesting it again in FY 2016. Golf: phase 1 of the irrigation system
renovation is going on now. We removed replace tee signs off the priority list
and will try to fund through memorial donations, since the course has enough
trees now.
It was moved l Blocker seconded by Lyness, to approve the Park and
Recreation Division C.I.P. budgets as presented l staff. The motion passed
unanimously.
Manager Ware explained that she was approached by the Community Oriented
Police and our park patrol regarding the city ordinance which allows and /or
prohibits alcoholic beverages in city parks. The current city ordinance only
prohibits the consumption or use of alcohol, wine and beer with some
exceptions. There is no provision for possession in a park. The COP unit and
park patrol feel that adding a provision related to possession will better allow
the police department and park rangers to limit possession, use, and
consumption in the parks. Additional changes included a prohibition of
possession, use or consumption on recreational trails, in vehicles within parks,
and in parking lots associated with facilities managed by the Leisure Services
Department. We worked with the Legal Department to recommend changes to
the ordinance and are requesting you recommend acceptance of the changes
to the City Council. Commissioner Nadeau thought there should be some type
continued
1
of explanation in the ordinance about why certain parks / areas are exempt so
people understood the rule. Manager Ware said it would probably not be
proper in the ordinance but could be explained in the memo to the City
Manager and City Council.
It was moved l Schlueter, seconded l Blocklinger, to approve the changes
to the city ordinance regarding intoxicating beverages in parks, and
recommend acceptance to the City Council. The motion passed 6 — 1, with
Blocker, Blocklinger, Hoffmann, Lyness, Noble and Schlueter voting ves;
Nadeau voting no.
PARK DIVISION Park Division Manager Bob Fritsch updated commissioners:
REPORT:
continued
October 12, 2010 meeting
page three
• Campground flooded September 22nd and parts of it are still under water;
we had to close three times this year including closing early for the season and
canceling the Halloween activity. We are concerned about the depth of mud;
will take approximately two weeks to clean; will try to clean as much as
possible this fall. • Park area at Grandview /Rockdale is about 99% complete.
The money came from Mark Falb and some of his friends; great addition to the
neighborhood; waiting on pedestal to put electricity for lighting flags etc. •
working on CIP and operating budget; city is revamping the performance
measures to better explain how we do things and why we do things a certain
way. One of the good things with this is that we will be able to highlight the
percentage of natural areas we have and percentage of ornamental
landscaping.
Commissioners asked: • how much did it cost to take out electricity at Miller
Riverview - $2,000 + each way when electrical boxes came out and they came
out three times this year. • Can we get federal aid for any of the damage —
FEMA reimbursement request for damages from the July storm is in progress.
• Is there any way to raise electrical boxes higher — there is a CIP project
requested for that in the future.
RECREATION Recreation Division Manager Pat Prevenas updated commissioners:
DIVISION • after school sports flag football program had 11 school sites and volleyball
p g ball p g y
had 10. • adult basketball has 37 teams registered — couple up from last year;
adult volleyball is down from last year. • Volunteers are still working at the
BMX bike track at McAleece — there is a demand for it; we have 20 kids
registered for a skateboard class. • Sutton Pool is designed to fill when the
river floods and unfortunately it had been newly painted and a few hours later it
started to fill with river water. • Bunker Hill irrigation project is underway -
meeting with the contractor Wednesday; to be completed by the end of
November; September golf rounds were down but October up from last year;
the nationwide trend for golf rounds seems to be down, but Bunker is doing
well; not accepting tree donations anymore because the course has enough
now. Third Sunday of November is the projected closing date for the golf
course.
OTHER
BUSINESS:
ADJOURN;
VOTE:
October 12, 2010 meeting
page four
• Commissioner Hoffmann asked about offering more substantial items at the
McAleece concession stand like brats and burgers. Manager Prevenas
explained that we do have a grill outside on weekends when tournaments are
scheduled but have found it is not worthwhile during the week for league
nights. He said maybe we could try doing the brats and burgers on the grill
during the week if we have an event that will draw a good size crowd.
• Commissioner Lyness asked about the pool concession stands — she was
at the pool a couple times this summer when it was during the middle of the
day and very hot and the concession stand was closed. She asked if the
contract requires them to be open certain hours or are they free to do what
they want. Mr. Prevenas said it is basically the concessionaire's decision —
maybe they had a hard time staffing the operation.
It was moved by Nadeau, seconded by Schlueter, that the meeting be
adjourned at 5:40 p.m. The motion passed unanimously.
Attest
Chairperson