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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-11-02 Regular Meeting Parks and Leisure Services Board November 2,2009 CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting of the Parks and Leisure Services Board was called to order at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, November 2, 2009, in the Council Chambers of the Euless City Hall building by Chairman Eric Owens. Other Board Members present: Randy Jones, John Elder, Jeremy Tompkins, Carroll Scott and alternates Alex Horton and Johnson Obamehinti. Members absent: John Raab. Staff members present: Director of Parks and Community Services Ray McDonald, Parks Superintendent Terry Boaz, Parks Manager Randy Smith, Recreation Superintendent Michael Davenport, Athletic Supervisor John Douthit and Administrative Secretary Linda Lux. Visitors present: Council Member Tim Stinneford and Faye Stinneford, Council Member Leon Hogg and Jan Hogg, Council Member Linda Martin, John and Helen Voss, Jerrie Keller, Darrell Knobloch, Julie Laverty(BESA) and Garry Pearson (BESA). INVOCATION Randy Jones gave the invocation. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chairman Owens asked if there were any additions or corrections to the minutes from the October 5, 2009 regular meeting. Randy Jones made the motion to approve the minutes as presented and was seconded by Carroll Scott. The vote was unanimous. I. Board Member's Reports Carroll Scott said he walked both McCormick Park and the Preserve at McCormick Park and they were both very clean. He did notice some logs in the playground area at the Preserve that need to be removed. John Elder said Reflection Park was nice and clean. On his visit to the Villages of Bear Creek Park there was lots of activity with walkers,joggers and he said the dog park was packed. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 2 November 2,2009 Alex Horton said both Bob Eden and Trailwood parks overall looked great. Randy Jones said Kiddie Carr Park was very clean but the basketball net needs to be replaced. J. A. Carr Park was also clean and he noticed there were fire ant mounds by the swing area and the water fountain needs to be repainted. Jeremy Tompkins said his park is the Parks at Texas Star athletic complex and the facility was nice and clean. The water fountain by the concession area was not working. Jeremy said the October special events held were: • On Friday, October 16th the Stars Over Euless event was held at Bob Eden Park and there were about 200 in attendance • On Saturday, October 31st The Halloween Thing event was moved inside the Midway Recreation Center due to the wet ball fields. This event was a great success with 400 to 500 in attendance. As always Jerry Poteet does an excellent job with the volunteers that work the events. He commented on the next upcoming events: • Saturday, December 5th — A Santa Express Party — 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. — Midway Recreation Center • Saturday, December 5th — Christmas Parade of Lights — 6:30 p.m. — Midway Recreation Center • Saturday, December 12th — Heritage Park Celebration — 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. — Heritage Park • Saturday, December 12th—Ice Fest 2009— 1:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. —Dr Pepper StarCenter Johnson Obamehinti said Blessing Branch Park and Midway Park both looked nice. He mentioned that staff does a good job of tending to the parks. Chairman Owens read John Raab's report which was e-mailed to him. "John said West Park looked good, was clean and some citizens were using the park on Sunday. The graffiti on the AT&T boxes had been removed. Wilshire Park also looked good and clean and there were lots of people using the park on Sunday. Everything looked great. Chairman Owens said both Heritage Park and South Euless Park were well manicured and clean on his visit. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 3 November 2,2009 Chairman Owens thanked the Board Members for their reports. H. Volunteer of the Month Chairman Owens said the November 2009 Volunteer of the Month is Faye Stinneford. She joined our volunteer program in March of 2008 and has volunteered for the following events: 2008 • Easter Egg Stuffing Party • Easter Egg Scramble • Texas Junior Angler's Fishing event • Treasure in You Concert • Fruits and Veggies Aren't Scary Fest • Heritage Park Christmas 2009 • Greet the Soldiers • Tarrant County Food Bank • Arbor Daze Festival • Movies in the Park • Texas Junior Angler's Fishing event • Stars Over Euless • And she has already verbally committed to work the Christmas Parade of Lights and the Heritage Park Christmas Celebration Chairman Owens presented Faye with a plaque for all her work with the community. She thanked the Board Members and staff for the award. III. Business of the Tree Board Carroll Scott reported on the following for October 1 —31, 2009: • There were 620.00 total man hours o Horticulture 302.00 o Forestry 34.00 o Greenhouse 279.00 o Special Projects 0 o Training 5.00 Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 4 November 2,2009 • Trimmed and raised trees on Fair Oaks medians • Trimmed various damaged limbs at city hall, South Euless Park and Midway Park • We hosted an Open House on October 3rd which highlighted the greenhouse operations and the water reclamation project • Removed stumps at South Euless Park IV. Athletic Associations a. BESA(Bedford Euless Soccer Association) Julie Laverty — BESA President thanked all the members of the Euless Parks Department for their hard work in maintaining the fields at the Parks at Texas Star. She said they frequently receive compliments in regards to the quality of our playing fields and wished to thank them for all their hard work. She said they currently have 909 registered players for the fall 2009 soccer season. They have 345 players from Euless, 335 players from Bedford and 229 players from outside the area. BESA does provide scholarships and they have had 42 this year. All their leagues are recreational and they offer no competitive play. All their coaches are parent volunteers and BESA offers clinics for the parents. They also do background checks on the coaches and parents. BESA does not do any fundraisers to raise money. Chairman Owens thanked Ms. Laverty for her presentation tonight. V. Parks and Community Services Reports a. Parks at Texas Star Report—John Douthit Athletic Supervisor John Douthit reported on the following: • He said this year has been the most successful league play for the Parks at Texas Star • The fall league has 35 teams with 430 players • We have already had two teams register as of today for the Spring 2010 season • The Spring 2009 league had 1,128 players • "A"—is the recreational league and we usually have 35 to 40 teams every year • "AA"—are more competitive—they register as teams • "AAA"—these are the very competitive league players Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 5 November 2,2009 b. Recreation Report—Michael Davenport Recreation Superintendent Michael Davenport gave the following report: • He said Faye Stinneford is a great volunteer and Jerry has a great volunteer program. • The Halloween event was moved indoors due to the wet condition of the ball field. There were about 450 in attendance at Midway Recreation Center. Heidi and Blake put the program together and as usual did a great job. • He reminded the Board Members that the Christmas Parade will be Saturday, December 5th and if anyone would like to ride in the parade to let Linda know and how many guests will be with you. • The Heritage Park Christmas Celebration is scheduled for Saturday, December 12th from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Heritage Park and there will be lots of school choirs singing Christmas carols. c. Parks Report—Randy Smith Parks Manager Randy Smith gave an update on the following: • The parks staff has been very busy with indoor projects due to the wet weather • Fourteen (14) new tables have been built for the greenhouse from used recycled lumber • John and his field crew have been trying to keep the ball fields in shape even with the rainy conditions • The parks staff will do a float so the Board Members can ride in the parade. He said Linda will send out an e-mail to them to see how many plan to participate. • Randy mentioned that staff(he, Terry and Linda) will be preparing dinner next month for the Board Members. d. Community Services Report—Ray McDonald Ray McDonald updated the Board Members on the following: 1. Veloweb/Trails Update • The trail extension in Euless was completed last month • The regional Veloweb is a 644 mile, designated off-street trail network that has been planned to provide bicycle and pedestrian connections in the D/FW metroplex. The Veloweb alignment, introduced in the Mobility 2010 Plan, was determined through the cooperative efforts of local governments and NCTCOG(North Central Texas Council of Governments) staff by: Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 6 November 2,2009 ✓ Identifying existing and funded trails ✓ Reviewing locally planned bicycle and pedestrian facilities ✓ Locating routes that would provide air quality benefits or access to transit stations ✓ Identifying an alignment that would offer the greatest potential for regional connectivity • The trail will connect from Bob Eden Park and go west to the Glade Parks development into Colleyville and then connect again with North Richland Hills 2. Request to support submission of Transportation Enhancement Grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act(ARRA) • The transportation enhancement program call is a statewide competitive process. Nominators must provide complete nomination forms with supporting documentation in order of nominations to be accepted. All projects must demonstrate a relationship to the surface transportation system to be considered. All completed nominations meeting program requirements will undergo eligibility reviews by TxDOT (Texas Department of Transportation) and FHWA (Federal Highway Administration). Eligible projects will be evaluated by TxDOT staff and the Transportation Enhancement Project Evaluation Committee (TEPEC). These evaluations and recommendations are provided to TTC for selection consideration. Project selection is made at the sole discretion of TTC. We anticipate project selection to be made by the end of 2010. • The project is recommended for funding in the City's FY 2010 budget IF the project is approved for STEP funding. • Up to 80% of eligible project costs can be reimbursed with federal funds. At least 20% of the project's allowable costs must be provided by the nominating entity, as the local funding match. • Public Involvement and Support ✓ Between city and developer ✓ Identified as a top priority in the Parks Master Plan ✓ Letters of support(City of Colleyville and etc.) ✓ Resolution supporting the application • Complete application process • November 13,2009—Project Submittals Due to NCTCOG Ray said a Letter of Request to support submission of the Transportation Enhancement Grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) has been included in your packet for the Board Members to consider tonight. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 7 November 2,2009 Alex Horton made the motion to approve the request to support submission of the transportation Enhancement Grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and was seconded by John Elder. The vote was unanimous. Chairman Owens thanked everyone for their reports tonight. VI. Other New Business Chairman Owens reminded the Board Members that the December meeting will be held at the Parks Facility with dinner at 6:00 p.m. and the meeting at 7:00 p.m. VII. Input from City Council Members and Visitors There was no input from the audience. ADJOURNMENT Chairman Owens gave the benediction. There being no further business to conduct, the meeting was adjourned at 8:03 p.m. Chairman A t