The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About2024-01-08Regular Meeting Parks and Leisure Services Board January, 08, 2024 CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting of the Parks and Leisure Services Board was called to order at 7:00 PM. On Monday, January, 08, 2024, in the Council Chambers of the Euless City Hall building by Chairman Jones. Other Board Members present: Magen Brown, Steve Doty, Jason Reyes, Isha Sharma, and Roger Sickler. Members absent: John Raab and Laird Leavoy. Staff members present: Director of Parks and Community Services Duane Strawn, Parks Manager Randy Leach, Parks at Texas Star General Manager Chris Thames, Aquatics/Senior Superintendent Rich Sharnsky, Recreation Superintendent Alex Harvey, Senior Center Supervisor Sonja Howard and Administrative Secretary Jodie Dunn. Visitors present: Loretta Doty and Robert Howard INVOCATION Roger Sickler gave the invocation. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chairman Jones asked if there were any additions or corrections to the minutes from the December 04, 2023 regular meeting. Steve Doty made the motion to approve the minutes as presented and was seconded by Jason Reyes. The vote was unanimous. I. Election of Officers Chairman Jones advised that the current Park Board Officers are: Chairman — Randy Jones, Vice Chairman —John Raab and Secretary — Steve Doty. The current Tree Board Officers are: Chairman — Jason Reyes and Vice Chairman — Roger Sickler. Chairman Jones stated that each officer will be elected by nomination and then vote of the Park Board. He opened the floor for nominations. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 1 Roger Sickler made a motion to nominate Randy Jones for Chairman of the Park Board. The motion was seconded by Steve Doty. There were no other nominations and the vote to approve was unanimous. Randy Jones made the motion to nominate John Raab for Vice Chairman. The motion was seconded by Jason Reyes. There were no other nominations and the vote to approve was unanimous. Randy Jones made the motion to nominate Steve Doty for Secretary. The motion was seconded by Roger Sickler. There were no other nominations and the vote to approve was unanimous. Steve Doty made the motion to nominate Jason Reyes for Chairman of the Tree Board. The motion was seconded by Roger Sickler. There were no other nominations and the vote to approve was unanimous. Steve Doty made the motion to nominate Roger Sickler as Vice Chairman of the Tree Board. The motion was seconded by Randy Jones. There were no other nominations and the vote to approve was unanimous. The new 2024 Park Board Officers are: Chairman — Randy Jones, Vice Chairman — John Raab and Secretary —Steve Doty. The new 2024 Tree Board Officers are: Chairman — Jason Reyes and Vice Chairman — Roger Sickler. II. Board Member Reports a. Magen Brown — West Park & Wilshire: No items to report. b. Steve Doty— Midway & Blessing Branch: No items to report. c. John Raab — Bob Eden & Trailwood: Not present. d. Roger Sickler — Heritage Park & South Euless: No items to report. e. Jason Reyes — J.A. Carr & Kiddy Carr: No items to report. f. Laird Leavoy — Preserve & McCormick: Not present. g. Isha Sharma — VOBC & Reflection: No items to report. h. Chairman Jones — Parks at Texas Star: No items to report. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 2 III. Business of the Tree Board Tree Board Chairman Jason Reyes reported the following for December 15t — December 3111, 2023: a. Total man hours for December 11t — 315t = 467.5 • 106 Horticulture • 196 Forestry • 28 Greenhouse • 137.5 Special Projects • 0 Training ➢ Removed 2 dead trees at J.A. Carr Park and 2 dead trees from field across the creek ➢ Fixed 2 bricks on Legends bleacher area and replaced 5 stones on monument at City Hall. ➢ Leaf management city wide in all parks and ROW's ➢ Removed metal half of advertisement boards at Parks at Texas Star North for new score boards ➢ Stepped up trees at old green house for Arbor Daze ➢ Removed dead pecan tree at Trailwood and storm debris ➢ Tilled and leveled volleyball court and weld brackets on pole to standard height ➢ Removed large hackberry tree number 10 at Texas Star Golf Course ➢ Re-route the trail at VOBC due to bank erosion, added product, and moved split rail ➢ Moved 2 Bald Cypress trees with tree spade at hard volleyball court site ➢ Grinded numerous stumps at the Parks At Texas Star baseball field complex ➢ Removed 4 home plate and batter's box and installed all new turf at Park at Texas Star North complex ➢ Removed the 250' softball fence and cleaned out back storage area ➢ Fixed irrigation wires and a main line leak behind Champion Field IV. Parks and Community Services Reports a. Athletics' Report — Chris Thames • Introductions of staff members. Sandy Purcell handles Softball related activities, Grey Smyers handles baseball related activities and Danielle Franklin handles all concessions for Parks at Texas Star. • The Athletic office is comprised of 4 offices as well as a copy and break room. There is also a storage garage. It is a total of 1800 sq ft. The building is located at 915 Highland Dr., in close proximity to both the North and South parks. This makes it a convenient location for need of the staff and public. • Currently staff is focusing on softball and baseball registrations. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 3 b. Parks Report — Randy Leach • Introduction of staff members and himself. Randy became a certified arborist in 2011 and in 2009 became a licensed landscape irrigator and is also CPSI Certified. • Derrick Fennell as been promoted to Parks Superintendent. In 2015 Derrick completed his degree in Horticulture. Derrick is a TNLA certified nurseryman. Derrick also has his TDA pesticide license. • Johnny Grubbs was promoted to crew leader for the South East division and he has his backflow license and is an irrigation technician. • Chandler Oster was promoted to crew leader for the North West division and he has a backflow license and is CPSI certified. • The Parks department used their Tree Spade to remove trees that were in the area that the new hard surface volleyball court will be placed c. Aquatics & Senior Center Report— Richard Sharnsky • Introduction of staff members and himself. Richard was promoted to Aquatics & Senior Center Superintendent. Richard has worked in Parks & Rec for 32 years. • The Aquatics staff held a Swim with Santa event on December 15, 2023 that was very well attended. The participants decorated sugar cookies and had Apply Cider. • The outdoor Aquatic breakroom was painted with their Aquatics design. • The members of the Senior Center entered a float in the Parade of Lights and enjoyed every minute of it. • Upright Theatre serenaded the seniors and also did some caroling at the Senior Center. • HEB had 100 students in the Suzuki String participate in a serenade at the Senior Center. • January opened a new session for swim lessons. • Hiring for summer staff has ramped up. d. Recreation Report —Alex Harvey • Introduction of staff members and himself. Alex been promoted to Recreation Superintendent. Alex has been a Euless resident all his life and participated in the summer camp program and Texas Trash off as a kid. • The rec center has had several promotions in the last few weeks. Chane Boyd was promoted to Recreation Center Supervisor and will still continue to work on Special Events. Justin Pickens was promoted to a full time Recreation Assistant and will also be the Volunteer Coordinator. Holden Garner was promoted to a Recreation Specialist and will work with Rec programs and instructors. • The rec staff participated in Family's feeding families and gave out free Thanksgiving meals. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 4 • Parks and Community Services hosted the Parade of Lights on December 02, 2023. This parade had a great turn out and was well received by the citizens of Euless. • The department also hosted Heritage Park Christmas on December 09, 2023. The event had many things for families such as making reindeer food, decorating tree cookies, letters to Santa and Mr. and Mrs. Clause. • The Historical Preservation Committee was present for the event and had such a great turn out of people touring the grounds. • With the remodeling of the Police Department the Recreation department had to relocate one of our biggest programs to the Senior Center. With the move will come some challenges but we have been able to find solutions this far. • The Daddy Daughter Dance will take place at the Raven's Grille on February 2, 2024 @ 6:30 PM. e. Director's Reaort — Duane Strawn • All Board members should be registered for NRPA and should be receiving notifications. All board members have been also registered for TRAPS and should start to see those emails coming soon. • The Volleyball court at Midway is beginning. You should start to see the forms go up starting this week. Chairman Jones thanked the staff for their reports. V. Other New Business • No new items to report. VI. Input from City Council Members and Visitors • No items to report. ADJOURNMENT Chairman Jones gave the benediction. There being no further business to conduct, the meeting was adjourned at 8:03 PM. ttest Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 5