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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-17-07 Minutes SBBPC OUTH END OARD OF ARK OMMISSIONERS RM EGULAR EETING D17,2007 ECEMBER The Board of Park Commissioners of the Park District of the City of South Bend, Indiana met on th Monday the 17 of December 2007 at the OBrien Administration & Recreation Center, 321 E. = Walter St., South Bend, Indiana for its regular meeting. Notice of the date, time and place of the meeting were duly given as required by law. Park Board members present were as follows: Mr. Robert Henry, President Mr. Robert Goodrich, Vice President Dr. Thomas Kelly Mr. Garrett Mullins Park Board members absent were as follows: None Staff members present: Phil St. Clair, Superintendent; Bill Carleton, Fiscal Officer; Susan OConnor, Recreation Director; Randy Nowacki, Director of Golf Operations; Terry DeRosa, = Zoo Director; Mark Bradley, Director of Marketing & Promotions; Thomas Bodnar, Park Board Attorney I.The meeting was called to order by Board President Robert Henry at 4:01p.m. II.The first order of business was the interviewing of interested citizens. 1.Mr. Vinnie Bumbaca, Patrol Leader of Boy Scout Troop 584, informed the Board that his troop was in attendance at the meeting to fulfill their requirements for the citizenship and leadership merit badges. 2.Mr. Terry Ohlman, of the South Bend Silver Hawks, reported that next year all staff will be returning. The early bird schedule will be coming out this week. This year there will be ten home games in April as opposed to seventeen last year. There will be thirteen fireworks nights. The Famous Chicken will be back. On April 2 there will be an exhibition game with Notre Dame. Professional Sports Catering will be back to handle the concessions. Pizza and a nacho stand will be added. He thanked the Board for the new field tarp. Conversations are underway with an architect regarding the Coveleski Neighborhood Project. They will be getting back with ideas in January. 3.Ms. Martha Lewis of the Botanical Society presented the Board with a list of accomplishments for the year. III.The next order of business was unfinished business. There was no unfinished business. - - 1 - - IV.The next order of business was new business. 1. Arborist License Renewals- The following license renewal was presented for approval by the Board: A. Bellini Landscaping & Design Mr. Bodnar noted that the insurance requirement was not met. There was a general aggregate of $500,000, not the $1,000,000 required by statute. Mr. Goodrich made a motion to conditionally approve the renewal of the Arborist License for Bellini Landscape & Design and that Superintendent St. Clair is authorized to sign the license for the Board when the proper insurance certificate is supplied. Dr. Kelly seconded the motion. It was passed 2. Request to Approve Change Order for O’Brien Storage Building- Bill Carleton Mr. Carleton requested the Board to approve a change order for the O’Brien Storage Building in the amount of $6,900. The contract for the building was originally awarded to Kaser-Spraker in the amount of $34,670 at the July meeting. Dr. Kelly made a motion to approve the change order in the amount of $6,900, not to exceed the original budgeted amount. Mr. Goodrich seconded the motion and it was passed. 3. Request to Dispose of Zoo Copier- Terry DeRosa Mr. DeRosa requested that the Board approve a request to declare the Imagistics copier in the Zoo office obsolete and allow them to dispose of it. A new copier has been purchased to replace it. Mr. Mullins made a motion to approve the request to declare the Zoo copier obsolete and dispose of it. Mr. Goodrich seconded the motion and it was passed. V.Approval of Minutes Mr. Goodrich made a motion to approve the minutes of the regular Board meeting held on November 19, 2007 as mailed. The motion was seconded by Dr. Kelly and approved. VI.Approval of Maintenance Vouchers A motion was made by Dr. Kelly to approve maintenance vouchers for the month of November 2007 totaling $923,994.52. It was seconded by Mr. Mullins. There being no further discussion, the motion was passed. VII.Business of the Superintendent 1. Superintendent St. Clair reported that 2007 was a great year for the Department. The highlight was the accreditation of the Department. He felt there would be a lot of positive things that would come from the accreditation. Internal policies and procedures are being redone and will be brought to the Board. He highlighted the spray parks that were installed at the King and O’Brien Centers this - - 2 - - year, as well as the River walk extension, and the Belleville national tournaments. In addition the renovation of Leeper Park Tennis Center and the national conference held in conjunction with the NIH about the WE CAN program were significant events this year. Next year he listed the upgrade of the irrigation system at Elbel, the taking over of the After School Program and the Building Blocks grants, the City mowing project, and the $1.4 M in improvements at Potawatomi Zoo as projects that will enhance the City. He thanked the staff for their work in 2007. VIII.Comments by the Golf Operations Director 1. Mr. Nowacki reported that in speaking with other golf professionals in the area that rounds are down locally and down 8% nationally. Erskine and Elbel are down 2% for the year. Revenues are up over 2006, however. There were 41 rain days this season, ten of which were weekend days. He asked the Board’s permission to advertise for bids for the irrigation upgrade project at Elbel in 2008. He proposed sending the bid package out in January and open bids at a special meeting early in February. He hoped to award the bid at the February 18 meeting. It is hoped that the work would be completed by June 15. A January 28 meeting date was agreed upon for the special meeting. Dr. Kelly asked why Erskine had a $11,000 loss to date. Mr. Nowacki felt it was due to lower cart rentals and concession sales compared to Elbel. Superintendent St. Clair added that he is meeting with the golf staff later in the week to discuss this. He noted that the average revenue per season pass round is $6 and twilight fees make up 30% of overall play. They will look at ways to address these revenue problems. Mr. Nowacki added that the twilight fees included league play on Monday through Friday. President Henry asked if a marketing plan could be brought to the Board at the March meeting. Mr. Nowacki said he would do that. IX.Comments by the Director of Marketing & Promotions 1. Mr. Bradley presented the Board with a copy of the new activity guide. It has more space for information due to smaller margins and is easier to read thanks to larger fonts. The back cover has a map of the new trail system. 2. The Marketing division is working with the Golf division on a marketing plan for 2008 and will present it at a later date. 3. The 2008 Camp Fair will be held on March 29, 2008 at O’Brien. 4. Downtown for the Holidays was covered well in the paper and the Christmas tree lighting was also covered on TV. 5. A timeline for the master plan update is being put together. X.Comments by the Recreation Director 1. Ms. O’Connor reported that Downtown for the Holidays was two weekends ago and - - 3 - - had good attendance. 2. A Motown Christmas was held at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center. It was held for the third year. 3. The Howard Park Ice Rink has opened with a slow start due to the rain over Thanksgiving. Holiday hours will start next week. 4. River City Basketball ended last weekend and the winter league will start in mid January. 5. The 2009 Men’s Major Fastpitch tournament has been awarded to us and we received the award of excellence for the men’s and women’s tournaments we hosted this past summer. We will host a 10 and under and 12 and under youth tournament this summer. The number of teams is large and we will be using Newton Park as well as Belleville. It will last almost a full week. Mr. Goodrich asked about Breakfast with Santa. Ms. O'Connor said it went well with 164 participants. The Tea with Santa had 129 participants. XI.Comments by the Zoo Director 1. Mr. DeRosa reported that he has been working with GTC Associates on the Zoo renovations. A meeting is scheduled for January 7 to formulate a timeline. 2. He said there are openings for two maintenance positions, a grounds position and the veterinarian to be filled. 3. Notre Dame engineering students presented their findings on projects they did concerning wayfinding, an otter exhibit, and conservation and recycling. 4. The Horticulturalist from Meijer Gardens was here and gave a public presentation at the Zoo. Ms. Ann Puzello, City councilwoman, announced that Santa was coming down the East Race on December 18 at 5 pm.. Superintendent St. Clair commented that he had received a phone call from the Streets Commissioner commending Mr. Jim Byers and his crew for their efforts plowing streets during the recent snow storm. Mr. Greg Kil introduced the Boy Scout Troops in attendance. XII.There being no more business to come before the Board the meeting adjourned at 5:01 p.m. The next regular meeting will be held January 21, 2008 at 4:00 p.m. in the Boardroom of the OBrien Administration Center. = - - 4 - - Respectfully Submitted, William Carleton Executive Secretary - 5 -