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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-20-2015 Minutes SOUTH BEND BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING JANUARY 20,2015 The Board of Park Commissioners of the Park District of the City of South Bend, Indiana met on Tuesday January 20, 2015 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 of Parks; Paul McMinn, Assistant Recreation Director; Randy Nowacki,Director of Golf Operations; Mike Dyszkiewicz, Maintenance Superintendent; Michael Schmidt, Park Board Attorney 1. The meeting was called to order by Board President Robert Goodrich at 4:06 p.m. H. Election of Officers for 2015 Mr. BonDurant made a motion to retain the present officers for 2015,with Mr. Goodrich as president and Ms. Hill as vice-president. Mr. Mullins seconded the motion and it was passed. III. The first order of business was the interviewing of interested citizens. 1. Councilperson Henry Davis,Jr.- Constituent concern regarding renaming of Park Ms. Cyd Dinardi-Maravolo, President of the Edgewater Place Historic District, addressed the Board regarding changing the name of what is believed to be named Voorde Park in their neighborhood to Edgewater Park. She said the residents felt that it would better represent the character of the neighborhood. There is also another park in the city named Voorde Park. She said she spoke to John Voorde,Jr. and he had no objection to the name change. President Goodrich thanked her for her request and said that the board would consider her request with staff and let her know of their recommendation. IV. Report By Organizations 1. South Bend Botanical Society-Heidi Gray a. Ms. Gray discussed the replacement of HVAC units in the conservatory for more efficiency and quieter operation. b. They have been awarded a Community Foundation matching grant of$7,000 and - - I - - hope to refurbish the remaining greenhouse. Fund raisers are scheduled to raise funds for the matching portion of the grant. c. A Murder Mystery event will be held again on two nights. d. Switchback will be playing on March 7. e. A sensory garden is planned on the north side of the conservatory near the pergola. f. A trivia night will be held as a fund raiser this Saturday night. g. Mr. Bob Olzinski gave a presentation on the sensory garden. It will incorporate items for all five senses. He estimates that as planned it will cost between $20,000 and $30,000. V. The next order of business was unfinished business. There was no unfinished business. VI. The next order of business was new business. 1. Request for Use of Parks-Paula Garis a. Urban Adventure -Potawatomi Park-July 25, 2015 b. DTSB Howard Parks - SB 150 -May 22-24, 2015 c. Zombie Walk-Howard Park-August 21-22, 2015 (set-up on the 28') d. First United Methodist Church—Leeper Park— Sunday Mornings 8:30-10 a.m. Memorial thru Labor Day. e. Cinco de Mayo—Rum Village—May 3, 2015—South Bend Police Dept. f. Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation Ride for Kids—Pinhook Park—June 27-28, 2015 g. Walk to Help Families Now Alzheimer's and Dementia Services -Howard Park- June 13, 2015 h. Michiana Military Stand Down—Four Winds Field—September 24, 2015 i. Making Strides Breast Cancer Walk—Howard Park—October 24, 2015 j. Girls on the Run—Potawatomi—May 16, 2015 Ms. Garis recommended approval of all except items b and j. Ms. Meg Sauers spoke regarding the Alzheimers and Dementia Walk. Ms. Jen Adams spoke regarding the Girls on the Run event. Ms. Hill made a motion to approve all requests except items b and j. Mr. BonDurant seconded the motion and it was passed. 2. Request to Approve Arborist Licenses a. Quality Turf Management b. San-Mar Tree &Maintenance c. Mark Temple Tree Service d. Miramontes Tree Service e. Acorn Landscaping,LLC f. Michiana Tree g. C &B Tree h. KC Tree, Inc. i. Envirovision, Inc. j. Walt Temple Tree Service k. Kevins Tree &Landscaping of Michiana, Inc. - - 2 - - Attorney Schmidt requested that the arborist license approval be moved to a later time in the meeting so he could review the applications. 3. Coveleski Stadium Property Transfer Attorney Schmidt was introduced by Director St. Clair as the new attorney for the Park Board. Mr. Schmidt explained that he was requesting the Board to approve resolution 15-1 that states that the Parks Department is accepting the conveyance of lots 1 and 6 of the Coveleski Park Minor Subdivision from the Redevelopment Commission and conveying its interest in lot 4 to the Redevelopment Commission. The Redevelopment Commission has passed a similar resolution. Mr. BonDurant made a motion to approve the adoption of Resolution 15-1. Ms. Hill seconded the motion and it was passed. Attorney Schmidt requested that the Board execute a quit claim deed for lot 4 to go to the Redevelopment Commission. Mr. BonDurant made a motion to authorize execution of the quit claim deed for lot 4 to be executed when a notary public is present. Ms. Hill seconded the motion and it was passed. VII. Approval of Minutes Mr. Mullins made a motion to approve the minutes of the regular Board meeting held on December 15, 2014 as mailed. The motion was seconded by Mr. BonDurant and approved. VIII. Approval of Maintenance Vouchers A motion was made by Mr. BonDurant to approve maintenance vouchers for December 2014 totaling $854,217.40. It was seconded by Ms. Hill. There being no further discussion, the motion was passed. IX. Business by Director St. Clair 1. Director St. Clair reported that the first reading of a $5.6 million park bond before the Common Council has taken place. He distributed a timeline of the process when approved. The second and third reading will take place on January 26. The closing in anticipated to take place in early March. He also distributed a tentative list of projects that may be undertaken with the proceeds although he stressed that this was not a final list. 2. He went over the Activity Report that is submitted to the Mayor on a weekly basis. 3. He announced that at the Indiana Parks and Recreation Association's annual conference recently that the Department was recognized for outstanding programming for our Senior Fitness program and excellence in innovation for the City Voice survey that was done in conjunction with our recent master plan. 4. Director St. Clair noted that he recommended to the mayor's office that Mr. Goodrich and Mr. BonDurant be reappointed to the Board. He is awaiting a response. 5. He distributed a copy of four proposals that Councilman Fred Ferlic is considering to deal with the cost of maintain the tree lawns in the city. He made no recommendation. 6. Director St. Clair reported that the staff participated in over 4,100 hours of training in 2014. The majority of the hours were by Recreation staff. - -3 - - 7. The monthly customer service survey done through 2014 include 3,015 individual surveys and they averaged 4.74 out of 5. He felt this was very good and reflected the quality of our staff and programs. X. Comments by the Deputy Director 1. Deputy Director O'Connor commented on the annual reports for the Recreation Department that the Board members received. She thanked Amy Roush for her work in putting the reports together. 2. Ms. O'Connor reported that over a thousand skaters were at the Howard Park Ice Rink over the past four day weekend. 3. The Maintenance Department has fabricated some assistive devices for skaters with disabilities at Howard Park Ice Rink. 4. River City Basketball League practices begin this week. 5. Youth Instructional classes have begun with twenty classes offered. 6. The state Indiana Parks and Recreation Association was held last week in Michigan City. The Senior Fitness class received an award for outstanding programming. Our partners in this class from the St. Joseph Regional Medical Center were able to attend and were present for the award presentation. 7. The Daddy-Daughter dance will be held February 10 at the Century Center. 8. Meetings for the International Softball Congress tournament in August are beginning. XI. Comments by the Director of Golf Operations 1. Mr. Nowacki reported that Erskine was open for 10 days in December thanks to moderate weather. 2. Hiring for the Greens Superintendent opening at Elbel is underway. 3. Staff is beginning to gear up for the coming season. 4. The 50"birthday of Elbel is coming up this year. That will be promoted extensively this year. 5. The 12"annual open house is coming up on Saturday February 21 at the Erskine Clubhouse. 6. The maintenance staff is going through equipment. 7. Mr. Nowacki thanked purchasing manager George King for his assistance getting purchase orders through in record time. Mr. Goodrich asked about the house at Elbel and Mr.Nowacki replied that it will be torn down now that superintendents will not be living there. It is not in good shape and will need a new roof soon. XH. Comments by Maintenance Superintendent 1. Mr. Mike Dyszkiewicz informed the Board that with a break in the weather, crews have been able to concentrate on picking up limbs and trash. 2. The annual Christmas tree pick up is underway. 3.New lockers have been installed at the Charles Black Center. 4. A pavilion at Rum Village burned down recently. It was scheduled for demolition. 5. A new pickup truck was recently delivered. It is the first in the fleet to have optional compressed natural gas capability. - - 4 - - 6. The Howard Park Ice Rink is running well. 7. In 2014,the Graffiti program removed graffiti from 568 sites. Our retag rate is one half the national average because it is removed so quickly. 8. A meeting will be held tomorrow regarding the addition of gps tracking to city vehicles, including parks. XHI. Comments by the Director of Marketing 1. Mr. Bradley commented that Drew Cash is the new president of the Parks Foundation Board. 2. Over 300 attended the latest Passport to Play event that was held at St. Patrick's Park. The next one will be held February 12. 3. We have begun using Google calendar for the listing of our classes and events. 4. An updated branding program is underway for 2015. Social media and television will be used. 5. The use of quick response (QR) codes is being implemented. This will allow smart phone users to read the code with their phone and receive information related to the code that may pertain to a class, event, location or any other information we would like to offer. XIV. New Business (Cont'd) 1. Request to Approve Arborist Licenses Director St. Clair reported that they had reviewed the applications and all met the requirements to be approved. He recommended approval of all applications. Mr. BonDurant made a motion to approve all the applications submitted. The motion was seconded by Ms. Hill and the motion was passed without objection. XV. There being no more business to come before the Board the meeting adjourned at 5:20 p.m. by President Goodrich The next regular meeting will be held on February 16, 2015 at 4:00 p.m. in the Boardroom of the O'Brien Administration Center. Respectfully Submitted, William Carleton Executive Secretary - - 5 - -