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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJanuary 21, 2025 Park Board MinutesSouth Bend Board of Park Commissioners Regular Meeting  January 21, 2025   The Board of Park Commissioners of the City of South Bend, Indiana met on Tuesday, January 21, 2025, at Howard Park Event Center, 219 S. St. Louis Blvd and virtually on Microsoft Teams for its regular meeting.  Notice of the date, time and place of the meeting were duly given as required by law. The public was provided with a link to join the virtual meeting.   Park Board members present were as follows:  Mr. Mark Neal, President   Mr. Sam Centellas Park Board members virtually present were as follows: Ms. Consuella Hopkins VPA staff members present: Jordan Gathers, Interim Executive Director; Officer; Amy Roush, Chief of Development; Anastasia Smith-Davis, Executive Assistant; Macey Hanna, Director of Recreation; Dezha Moore, General Manager of Venues; Stefanie Coleman, MLK Dream Center Manager, Daniel Marshall, Events Coordinator MLK; Olivia Sanchez, Special Events Manager; Phillip Williams, Program Coordinator MLK; Therae Washington, Violence Prevention Coordinator; Cedrick Joseph-Pauline, Project Manager; and Kelli Notteboom, Aquatics Manager. Other city representatives are present: Michael Schmidt, Assistant City Attorney Call to Order  Mark Neal called the meeting to order at 5:04 pm. Minutes of the Regular Board Meeting held on December 16, 2024. Motion to approve the meeting minutes of December 16, by Sam Centellas, supported by Consuela Hopkins, motion carried. Roll call vote 3-0. Consent Agenda Motion to approve the consent agenda of January 21, 2025, by Sam Centellas, supported by Consuella Hopkins, motion carried. Roll call vote 3-0. Interviewing of Interested Residents No residents commented during this meeting. Use of Parks- New Events Mark Neal questions if there is any decision needed for the Parker Wedding in Leeper Park on June 21, 2025. No comments are made by VPA staff or Commissioners. Motion to approve the Use of Parks for the Parker Wedding, by Same Centellas , supported by Consuella Hopkins, motion carried. Roll call vote 3-0. New Business Tree Nursery Agreement Erin Michaels, Property Development Manager for department of Community Investment, offices at the County City Building on the 14th floor. Erin begins with a refresher on the 2017 RDC and BPC approval of the Tree Nursery agreement for an urban tree nursery program on scattered lots. In late 2024, VPA and DCI staff changed the direction of where the trees would be planted, going from scattered lots across the city to focusing on a new lot located in Ignition Park, also known as “RDC Lot”. RDC approved the proposed second amendment on October 24, 2024 which will be effective until December 31, 2029. This agreement automatically renews each year after unless RDC or VPA delivers a notice of termination. She continues to say the agreement can be terminated at any time with sixty (60) days notice. Erin concludes and ask if the Commissioners have any questions. Member, Sam Centellas questions how the trees will be placed. Will they be staggered, and how are they harvested/ removed? Erin answers that DCI is leaving all the logistics and management to VPA. DCI is collecting a list of scattered lots across the city to continue the project. President, Mark Neal questions Executive Director, Jordan Gathers if VPA is aware of any expectations? Executive Director, Jordan Gathers answers that with Brent Thompson (Head Forester for COSB), not being present, he is happy to share that he is fully confident in the division to ensure that all proper precautions as it relates to trees planting happen. Motion to approve the Tree Nursery Agreement by Sam Centellas, supported by Consuella Hopkins motion carried. Roll call vote 3-0. YMCA & VPA MOU Michael Schmidt gives a brief overview of the partnership between VPA and the YMCA, stating this agreement has been in the works for over a year. He comments on how the relationship between the two organizations has strengthened while working on the agreement. He continues with the agreement being a year in the making, the opening recital date is marked for 2024. Michael then instructs President, Mark Neal to scribble out the 2024 out on his execution and add 2025. The agreement shows nominal pay from some cost sharing, with some sensitivity granted to Y to protect some of their client’s health base. He goes on to say one of the nice things about this agreement is, as VPA incorporates the downtown facility, this is just one year, with possibility of extension after seeing how the relationship works downtown. May see a possible merger of programming, payment, and other things of that nature. Agreement has some built in flexibility. Michael Schmidt concludes his presentation by stating, this agreement is not about getting rich, this is a long-term relationship that we want to protect. He continues to say going forward then, as the flexibility with numbers continues to increase downtown, we can make sure if we need to, we can bring both facilities together, operating in sync rather than on separate sides. President, Mark Neal questions if the downtown facilities where connected to the Redevelopment Commission. Michael Schmidt confirms that they were not apart of this agreement. President Mark Neal makes a few comments on the agreement, then poses the question if the agreement is working well to Maurice Scott, Chief of Community Initiatives. Maurice Scott states that VPA is doing a lot and has really drawn the line to allow the Y to focus on the fitness/ fitness classes while VPA focuses on programming the space. Mark Neal questions if the Y still offers child watch and Maurice Scott confirms the Y still offers child watch services. Motion to approve the YMCA and VPA MOU, by Same Centellas, supported by Consuella Hopkins, motion carried. Roll call vote 3-0. Department Report by Maurice Scott Maurice Scott begins with thanking the Commissioners and starts his presentation with a video. Technical issues transpired, resulting in the video not playing. Mark Neal congratulates Maurice on his recognition received on Monday, January 20th at the annual MLK Breakfast. Maurice gives a summary of what is to be seen in the video. A timelapse of the Dream Center’s progression and how it is narrated by one of Dr. King’s speeches. The significance is not only the speech in the video, but also the time in which it happened, April 3rd, 1968, the day before his assassination on April 4th. Maurice shares that the ribbon cutting for the Dream Center will happen on April 4th 2025. He continues to share how important the Dream Center will be for the community and the City of South Bend. Stating the City’s cemetery is only 2-3 blocks away from the Center, housing so many dreams of young people, it’s time to steal dreams from the cemetery and give them back to young people through programming, projects, and events in the Dream Center. He introduces the Dream Center’s manager, Stefanie Coleman, and gives a shout out to the Dream Center team present. Maurice shares his excitement about the Center and it’s future programming. He shares the first annual Dreamers Gala is the following evening, one of the purposes of the Gala is to create a development opportunity for the Dream Center to be able to increase their programming efforts. With the success of the previous Center, a thought for the new Center is how it can go beyond the successes of the past. Maurice goes into what thinking outside of the box looks like for his staff, he says there is no box. He continues to share that with the new Center, everybody that uses the space will be a member. Ages 5 to 22 will have no fees, and ages 23-54 will be only $20.00 for the fitness spaces. Memberships will allow tracking and data collection to help improve programming. Following the standard signature programming like our other community rec centers, the Dream Center will program from birth to death literally. Maurice shares his excitement for the Gala, commenting that the Keynote speaker is a former King Center kid who is now a Emergency Room Physician. A former Washington High School student and graduate, he studied in the medical magnet program and shadowed under Dr. Ferrick at SBO. A full circle moment as SBO is the title sponsor for the gala. Sam Centellas comments that he had a chance to join a tour of the facility and how great it was to see the progress and the attention to detail in the programming. Consuella Hopkins congratulates Maurice Scott and encourages him and his team to keep up the good work. She shares her excitement about the many program opportunities and the financial hub that will live in the Dream Center and all the other wonderful things. Mark Neal also mentions he would like to join the next tour of the Center and looks forward to seeing the progression of the center. Business by Executive Director Jordan Gathers Jordan Gathers thanks the Commissioners and all those attending the meeting for braving through the cold weather and wishes all a happy new year. He follows up with the following updates: Many VPA projects are moving along. Morris expansion project is moving at a rapid pace, steel beaming are going up. Looking forward to this project progressing and adding to the art infrastructure. Moving forward on Seitz, hoping to open soon. Although the goal was to open last year, but want to ensure the safety of all visitors is our number one priority. Dream Center and Four Winds Field renovations and expansions are moving forward. Ice skating is a phenomenal experience at Howard Park, such a great attraction, a great opportunity for the community to come and enjoy the ice and hot cocoa and other festivities. Today’s skating sessions have been closed due to weather conditions but hope to be back tomorrow. Want to continue to build upon the exciting news on the Kennedy Park project. Currently finalizing the design, a public engagement session information will be coming out soon. Daddy Daughter dance is 14 days away. This year’s theme is Trolls, will be a fun event. Looking forward to seeing the numbers compared to last year's event. East Side Little League, our team is having continued conversations with East Side leadership and continuing to build upon and expand upon baseball and softball at Boehm Park in Tarkington. Still ironing out details and looking forward to bringing it to the board and putting it on the agenda. Jordan gives a special shout out to the Board, City team, and VPA. Jordan introduces the new General Manager of Venues, Dezha Moore. Adjournment Mark Neal adds final comments on how well VPA is doing and encourages the organization to continue. No other questions or comments from the Park Commissioners, meeting adjourned at 5:37 pm by President Mark Neal.    The next scheduled meeting will be held Monday, February 17, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. at Howard Park Event Center and virtually. Respectfully Submitted,   Anastasia Smith-Davis