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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-16-2014 Minutes SOUTH BEND BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING JUNE 16,2014 The Board of Park Commissioners of the Park District of the City of South Bend, Indiana met on Monday June 16, 2014 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. Robert Goodrich, President Ms. Amy Hill, Vice President Mr. Garrett Mullins Mr. Bruce BonDurant Park Board members absent were as follows: Staff members present: Phil St. Clair,Director of Parks; Bill Carleton,Director of Financial Services; Susan O'Connor,Deputy Director; Randy Nowacki, Director of Golf Operations; Mike Dyszkiewicz, Maintenance Superintendent; Mark Bradley, Marketing Director; Paula Garis, Special Events Supervisor; Paul McMinn, Assistant Recreation Director; Cheryl Greene, Park Board Attorney 1. The meeting was called to order by Board President Robert Goodrich at 4:00 p.m. 2. The first order of business was the interviewing of interested citizens. 1. Johnna Segner addressed the Board to ask if there were a park that she could bring two ponies for her child's birthday party. Ms. Greene replied that she had checked the ordinances and didn't find anything specific to ponies, but did find a reference about horses. She said that the onus was on the Board to decide. Ms. Garis said that Potato Creek State Park had an area specifically for horses and ponies that would work for a birthday party. She said she would look into that option. 3.Report By Organizations 1. Potawatomi Zoological Society-Dave Nufer a. Mr.Nufer reported that the American Zoo and Aquarium accreditation team was in town last week to do their inspection. A report will be sent to the Zoo once they compile their results. b. Attendance up a little from last year. Food and Gift sales are up quite a bit from 2013. c. He thanked President Goodrich,the Park Board, Ms. Greene and Director St. Clair for their work with the Zoological Society to make the transition a reality. President Goodrich thanked the PZS board for working well with us in the discussions. 2. South Bend Silver Hawks-Peter Argueta, Assistant General Manager a. Mr. Argueta informed the Board that the season is half over. Attendance is 103,856 which is up 8,000 over last year. - - I - - b. Six players are going to the all-star game. c. The team finished in second place and secured a playoff spot. d. The Country Fest Concert will be held the next Saturday at Coveleski Stadium. 4. The next order of business was unfinished business. 1. Master Plan Update-Matthew Moyers, Special Projects Manager a. Mr. Moyers gave an update on the survey results and public meeting comments that have been compiled so far. A rough draft of the plan is expected to be done by the end of July. b. The City Voice phone call in portion of feedback is still ongoing. It will be active until the middle of July. 143 calls have been received. c. Fifty parks have been visited by staff to evaluate their current conditions and work on the capital improvement plan. 5. The next order of business was new business. 1. Request for Use of Parks-Paula Garis a. ROC UR Body-Reducing Obesity Coalition of St. Joseph County-Howard Park- September 12, 2014 b. 3 for 3 Triathlon-YMCA of Michiana-Northside River-walk from Memorial Park to Howard Park-August 17, 2014 c. Tree of Life Fellowship- McKinley Terrace Kid's Club-McKinley Park(a.k.a. Helmen mini park) -June 23-27, 2014, d. First United Methodist Church, Sunday morning services, 8:30-10 a.m-Leeper Park East—Jun 1 —Aug 31, 2014, e. South Bend Museum of Art-RKM Fireworks from Seitz Park(fish Ladder) for Meet Me on the Island-July 3, 2014 f. Greater Holy Temple Church—Give-away Event—Coquillard Park-August 12, 2014 g. Church for All People-Free Lunch-LaSalle Park-3rd Saturday of Month thru October Ms. Garis recommended approval of items A through F. Reverend Tim Aydolotte of the Church for All People requested the use of LaSalle Park from noon to two o'clock on the third Saturday of the month to serve a free lunch to the youth of the area. He would like to start this month and going through October. Martins and Sam's Club is providing free food for the program. Mr. BonDurant made a motion to approve requests A through G as they appear on the agenda. Mr. Mullins seconded the motion and it was passed. 2. Request to Approve Metal Detecting Permit Form-Bill Carleton a. Ms. Greene informed the Board that under section 19-42, a-17 of the City ordinance, no one can use a metal detector in parks without the approval of the Park Board. She asked that the Board approve this form of permit. There is no fee. Mr. BonDurant made a motion to approve the form subject to revisions by the Legal Department. Mr. Mullins seconded the motion and it was passed. - - 2 - - 6.Approval of Minutes Ms. Hill made a motion to approve the minutes of the regular Board meeting held on May 19, 2014 as mailed. The motion was seconded by Mr. Mullins and approved. 7.Approval of Maintenance Vouchers A motion was made by Mr. BonDurant to approve maintenance vouchers for May 2014 totaling $867,526.05. It was seconded by Ms. Hill. There being no further discussion, the motion was passed. 8.Business by Director St. Clair a. Director St. Clair reported that a preliminary city wide meeting on the 2015 budget was held earlier this month. We will be working with division heads to put together a budget. The challenges are doing this with flat revenue from property taxes, giving a 2%pay raise to employees, and increased health care costs. b. A group of park employees, including himself, did an inspection of all 57 parks last week over four days. It was a detailed inspection. They found issues related to mowing and trimming. Most equipment was in good order. Attention to detail was lacking due to cuts in staffing over the last few years. Building inspections will be done next. c. With the closing of USA Fitness on Ireland Road, we have been working with them to offer a special rate for their members. d. The Park Rangers will be undertaking park inspections during their shifts. e. The Jefferson Boulevard project has resulted in calls about Howard Park. We are not doing any projects there, but the construction will result in the storing of some materials there. f. Country Fest will be held this Saturday. Ticket sales are going well. A film was done at a Challenger Little League game that will be shown during the concert to demonstrate the intent of the concert. President Goodrich asked about the status of the donation to Challenger Little League. Director St. Clair said that we were still waiting for their 501 c3 application to be approved. President Goodrich thought it was a good idea to do an assessment of the parks. He felt that staff needed to be out more often to inspect parks and facilities. 9. Comments by the Assistant Recreation Director a. Mr. McMinn reported that Fitness USA called to inform us that they were closing their facility on Ireland Road and wanted to see if we would offer their members a special rate to join the O'Brien Fitness Center. We have agreed to do that. b. Mr. McMinn read a letter from a parent commending the staff at the Kennedy Water Playground for saving her 2 '/2 year old child that had gone under water and couldn't get up by their self. President Goodrich asked about the river rescue school that Parks developed. Mr. McMinn said that the DNR and Fire Department still do 4-5 sessions per year. These sessions have approximately 45 students and 10 instructors. - -3 - - 10. Comments by the Golf Operations Director a. Mr.Nowacki reported that the Golf Now point of sale software and hardware are running at Elbel and Erskine. b. Tee time bookings are working well. We are able to change pricing to help sell times during slow periods of the day. c. Mowing has been busy over the past few weeks. d. Bernie Crothers, the greens superintendent at Erskine for forty-one years, will retire in two weeks. His job has been posted and interviews are ongoing. e. The First Tee program begins next week. f. Junior Golf program starts June 13 and 36 are registered. g. Junior Tour program starts on June 16 and 71 are registered. h. Erskine is running their first night golf event. 72 are registered to play in this event. i. The golf budget for 2015 is being put together. j. This past weekend on Father's Day, Erskine and Elbel were booked solid from 6 a.m. until 5 p.m. 11. Comments by Maintenance Superintendent a. Mr. Mike Dyszkiewicz informed the Board the mowing crews have been catching up after the storm damage. b. Picnic tables are going out into parks. c. The Kelly Park project is moving forward. All equipment and the pavilion have been removed. d. Hitting boards at tennis courts and backboards at basketball courts have been replaced. e. Air conditioning has been turned on at various facilities and they haven't found any major problems with the systems. f. Splash pads are running. g. Drinking fountains are being repaired or installed in the parks. h. The Zoo parking lot is having hole patching this week in preparation for paving and lining it, in addition to adding a new lot to the east of the existing. i. Country Fest set up begins this Thursday. j. Court repairs begin this week, also. 12. Comments by the Marketing Director a. Due to technical problems, he was unable to show the Challenger Little League video that was taken and edited recently. It will be shown this weekend at Country Fest. He hopes to bring it back to the next meeting for the Board to see. There being no more business to come before the Board the meeting,President Goodrich adjourned the meeting at 5:03p.m. - - 4 - - The next regular meeting will be held at 4:00 p.m. in the Boardroom of the O'Brien Administration Center. Respectfully Submitted, William Carleton Executive Secretary - 5 -