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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAugust 26 2019 Park Board MinutesSOUTH BEND BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING AUGUST 26, 2019 The Board of Park Commissioners of the City of South Bend, Indiana met on Monday, August 26, 2019, at the O’Brien 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. Mark Neal, President Mr. Dan Farrell Ms. Aimee Buccellato Ms. Consuella Hopkins Park Board members absent were as follows: none VPA staff members present: Aaron Perri, Executive Director; Eva Ennis, Operations Coordinator; John Martinez, Faculties & Ground Director; Bridget Noonan, Special Events Coordinator; Jonathan Jones, Recreation Director; Amy Roush, Development Director; Annie Gawkowski, Chief Development Officer Other city representatives present: Clara McDaniels, Assistant City Attorney I. Call to Order President Mark Neal called the meeting to order at 5:06 pm. II. Approval of Minutes Motion to approve minutes of the July 15, 2019, Park Board meeting by Consuella Hopkins, supported by Aimee Buccellato, motion carried. III. Consent Agenda Motion to approve the consent agenda by Aimee Buccellato, supported by Dan Farrell, motion carried. IV. Interviewing of Interested Citizens Conrad Damien requested information on how to find out about the change in date for Park Board meetings. Eva Ennis responded that any meeting notices including date changes are posted on city’s website, outside the meeting room, and sent out to a media email list. She added that she can add Mr. Damien or others to the email list if requested. V. New Business 1. Enfocus Consulting Agreement – Employee Transportation Pilot Program John Martinez explained that the Employee Transportation Pilot Program will provide Uber, Lyft, and Lime vouchers for transportation options for part-time labor. This is an extension of a previous pilot that worked well and will continue through the end of the year with no cost to the city. Next year, VPA would start the program at the beginning of the year. VPA is also looking forward to offering it to full-time employees in the future. Funding for the program comes through the Mayor’s Bloomberg Program. Motion to approve the Enfocus Consulting Agreement for Employee Transportation Pilot Program by Dan Farrell, supported by Consuella Hopkins, motion carried. 2. Second Amendment to Community Tree Nursery Collaboration Agreement John Martinez explained that the Community Tree Nursery Collaboration Agreement is a partnership with the Bowman Creek Educational Ecosystem to develop urban tree nurseries in vacant lots in the city. This amendment is to expand the program to another location on the west side of South Bend. The vacant lots are formally held city-owned lots that can be used to plant small starter trees for transplantation at other locations when grown to maturity. Mark Neal asked if there was any feedback from residents. John Martinez replied that VPA meets with neighbors first and has taken properties off the list if there is opposition from residents in the area. Consuella Hopkins asked if a tree is ever given to residents, would VPA be responsible for maintaining the tree. John Martinez replied that once a tree is given to a resident it is no longer under the city’s care and is the property of that resident. Motion to approve the Second Amendment to the Community Tree Nursery Collaboration Agreement by Aimee Buccellato, supported by Consuella Hopkins, motion carried. 3. 2019 Fee Changes Jonathan Jones reviewed the proposed changes to the 2019 fees which were approved at the end of 2018. The fee changes are all related to Howard Park ice skating and room rentals. Dan Farrell asked about cost of admission being inclusive of the skate rental and why that decision was made. Jonathan explained that the cost structure was determined to make it easier to have one simple and clearly listed price for ice skating instead of multiple. The price was also determined based on benchmarking other rinks in the area and evaluating the cost recovery model. Dan Farrell noted that there is a precedent at other rinks that there is a cost for admission plus skate rental so it should be clearly marketed that the price includes admission plus skate rental. He recommended overcommunicating that this is an experience like a theme park not just a rink with skates. Jonathan Jones noted that VPA is also looking at promotions for discounted rate nights. Jonathan Jones also explained “Skate It Forward” which is a program VPA is instituting to provide free skating to community members who couldn’t afford it otherwise. The program will be funded through 10% of every regular priced admission sale. Aimee Buccellato asked about reasoning for the youth ages. Jonathan Jones explained that the age brackets were based on what the Potawatomi Zoo charges. Aimee Buccellato noted that the cost to rent the skate assists makes a youth price the same as an adult price. Jonathan Jones replied that there is a cost for skate assists at Merrifield, as well. Dan Farrell asked about benchmarking for the party packages. Jonathan Jones replied that they benchmarked other local experiences like Skyzone for birthday prices. The price is also based on the cost of room rental prices plus the cost of admission for skating. Jonathan Jones announced that the Grand Opening for Howard Park is on November 29 at 6:00 pm. Motion to approve the 2019 Fee Changes for Ice Skating and Howard Park by Consuella Hopkins, supported by Dan Farrell, motion carried. 4. 2020 Fee Changes Aaron Perri noted that there are no proposed changes for 2020. VPA did work several years ago to adjust fees to the right prices for cost recovery so there was no need to make fee changes this year. Mark Neal asked if the fee changes in the past had positive or negative impacts to participation numbers overall. Aaron Perri replied that the fee changes are working well except there is a need to revisit the O’Brien Fitness Center. Motion to approve the 2020 proposed fees by Dan Farrell, supported by Consuella Hopkins, motion carried. 5. Grassroots Media Professional Service Agreement Aaron Perri explained that VPA would like to work with Grassroots Media to produce a historical video about Howard Park for the grand opening event. Motion to approve the Grassoots Media Video Service Agreement by Consuella Hopkins, supported by Dan Farrell, motion carried. 6. 1st Source Zamboni Naming Rights Agreement Annie Gawkowski explained that 1st Source Bank will sponsor the Zamboni at Howard Park. The development team benchmarked nationally and locally for Zamboni naming rights costs. 1st source will pay for $135,000 over 3 years of payments for naming rights of the Zamboni which will include a wrap and a plaque. Motion to approve the 1st Source Naming Rights Agreement by Dan Farrell, supported by Aimee Buccellato, motion carried. 7. Rask Family Fountain Naming Rights Agreement Annie Gawkowski explained that the water fountain at Howard Park will be named the Rask Family Fountain. A plaque will be located at an adjacent seat wall. The cost of the naming rights is $75,000 for 15 years paid in a lump sum. Motion to approve the Rask Family Fountain Naming Rights Agreement by Dan Farrell, supported by Consuella Hopkins, motion carried. 8. Cassady Family / William A. Farmer Community Room Naming Rights Agreement Annie Gawkowski explained that one of the community rooms at Howard Park is sponsored by the Cassady family and will be named William A. Farmer Community Room Community Room Agreement. The agreement is for 15 years at $30,000. Motion to approve the Cassady Family Community Room Naming Rights Agreement by Dan Farrell, supported by Consuella Hopkins, motion carried. 9. VLocker Rental Agreement for Howard Park Aaron Perri noted that this item will be moved to next month’s agenda because there is still additional legal work needed to complete the agreement. The agreement to procure lockers for Howard Park. VI. Report by Recreation Director Jonathan Jones Jonathan Jones gave the following updates: • Recreation saw attendance increases in majority of summer camps this year. • New programs this year include a teen camp at the MLK Center in which 30 teens went through intense leadership and growth training. • VPA offered an adaptive tennis clinic at Leeper Tennis Facility for those with mobility needs. • There have been 19 deployments of Boomer this year already. The average attendance approximately 150 attendees. Boomer is visiting every district at least twice. • The 2nd Annual In the River Challenge is next week. It is a head-to-head racing challenge in partnership with U93. Funds go to Ronald McDonald and VPA Scholarship Fund. • South Bend Code School partnership begins this fall at MLK Center and Charles Black Center. 4 weeks of coding classes provided for free through grant dollars. • Music programming at Charles Black Center is about to kick off at the new music studio. • VPA is offering adult recreational opportunities through open gym basketball and Legendary Era Basketball League with life skills components. Mark Neal asked if there are other programs at Charles Black Cener that we are able to do because of the new building. Jonathan Jones replied that more space has allowed more groups to use the space such as a Boy Scouts troops, martial arts programming, and other activities happening all at the same time. It has also been a great space for many community events to take place. VII. Business by Executive Director Aaron Perri Aaron Perri gave the following updates: • $2 million total in our neighborhood parks investment. VPA has received lots of great feedback especially about Brownfield Park’s zipline equipment piece. • In the next 6 months, VPA will need to adopt a nuisance wildlife strategy in regard to the Canada geese. It has become a concern and needs a county-wide strategy to deal with overpopulation. • Workout for Water is a VPA-sponosred event in which workouts will take place on the Colfax overlooking the River Lights as a fundraiser for UNICEF. A national Les Mills presenter leading the classes on September 19. • Presale started today for Second City tickets and the public sales go live tomorrow. The Second City event is a fundraiser for Howard Park. • VPA is hosting a Day of Giving for Skate it Forward on Wednesday, October 2. There will be a social media based push to get fundraising for Howard Park. • Studebaker Fountain lighting party for donors was August 25. The party was a sneak preview of the fountian for the donors but the fountain will not open again until the rest of the park construction is open. • There will be a public ribbon cutting ceremony for Leeper Park on October 7 at 1 pm. • Howard Park Grand Opening is scheduled for November 29. There will be a private event for stakeholders at 4:00 pm and a public event at 6:00 pm. • A joint groundbreaking for Seitz Park was on August 19. Firefighters Memorial sculpture and the light forest portion of the River Lights have been removed and stored so they can be put back into the new park. • Century Center announced the Bendix E-Sports Arena transformation in 2020. It is a $2 million project funded by hotel/motel tax. • Aaron Perri noted that he had mentioned previously that there was a million deficit for VPA in 2020. Due to a more favorable projection in property taxes, reduction in IT allocations, and support from the general fund, the deficit is much less than originally anticipated. VIII. Adjournment No other questions or comments from the Park Commissioners, meeting adjourned at 6:29 p.m.by President Mark Neal. The next regular meeting will be held Monday, September 16, 2019, at 5:00 p.m. in the Boardroom of the O’Brien Administration Center. Respectfully Submitted, Eva Ennis