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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-10-05 Regular Meeting Parks and Leisure Services Board October 5,2009 CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting of the Parks and Leisure Services Board was called to order at 7:01 p.m. on Monday, October 5, 2009, in the Council Chambers of the Euless City Hall building by Chairman Eric Owens. Other Board Members present: Jeremy Tompkins, Carroll Scott, John Raab and alternates Alex Horton and Johnson Obamehinti. Members absent: Randy Jones and John Elder. Staff members present: Director of Parks and Community Services Ray McDonald, Parks Superintendent Terry Boaz, Parks Manager Randy Smith, Recreation Superintendent Michael Davenport and Administrative Secretary Linda Lux. Visitors present: Bronwyn Hall and family, Christy McQueeney, Micaela Creech (with La Petite Academy) and Lori Tompkins. INVOCATION Chairman Owens gave the invocation. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chairman Owens asked if there were any additions or corrections to the minutes from the September 14, 2009 regular meeting. Carroll Scott made the motion to approve the minutes as presented and was seconded by Jeremy Tompkins. The vote was unanimous. I. Board Member's Reports Carroll Scott said he walked both McCormick Park and the Preserve at McCormick Park and found them to be in good shape. There was a small amount of graffiti under the bridge and he also noticed some poles holding the rails that were missing and/or loose by the small bridge between the two parks. Johnson Obamehinti said Blessing Branch and Midway parks were both well manicured and clean. Due to the rain he noticed lots of ant mounds. He also commended the parks staff for keeping everything clean at the parks. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 2 October 5,2009 John Raab said both West Park and Wilshire Park were in good shape. He further stated the grass growing over the retaining wall behind the new homes needs to be attended to by the developer at Wilshire Park. Also an AT&T box along the entrance to West Park had been painted on(graffiti). Alex Horton said both Bob Eden and Trailwood parks overall looked great. A couple of water fountains were not working at Bob Eden Park; (1) the handicap fountain by the sand volleyball court and(2)the fountains along the trail by Baze Road. Jeremy Tompkins said his park is the Parks at Texas Star athletic complex and the facility was in great shape as always. Jeremy said the September special events held were: • The Trails of Treasure event was held on Saturday, September 19t between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. This was a great event with eight teams competing for prizes. • Open House was held this past Saturday, October 3`d from 10:00 a.m. till 2:00 p.m. There were lots of people in attendance and residents learned lots of information on the Parks Department water reclamation system and how to use drought tolerant plants in order to conserve water. He commented on the next upcoming events: • Friday, October 16th - Stars Over Euless —Noble Planetarium — 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. — Bob Eden Park • Saturday, October 31st — The Halloween Thing — 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. — Midway Recreation Center Chairman Owens said everything looked great at Heritage Park as usual. At South Euless Park he noticed a small stump which needs to be ground down and there was also lots of activity in this park. Chairman Owens read Randy Jones report which was e-mailed to him since he is out of town. "Randy said Kiddie Carr Park was clean and picked up and everything there looked fine. At Simmons Park he noticed an unusual amount of trash on the grounds. Also the water fountain is in need of repainting. Lastly, he noticed about a half dozen of fire ant mounds inside the play area which need to be treated." Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 3 October 5,2009 Chairman Owens read John Elder's report which was e-mailed to him since he is ill tonight. "John said everything looked nice at Reflection Park. On his recent visit to the Villages of Bear Creek Park he noticed lots of walkers, bikers and joggers on the trails and many dogs in the dog park. This park was clean and looked nice." Chairman Owens thanked the Board Members for their reports. H. Volunteer of the Month Chairman Owens said the October 2009 Volunteer of the Month is Bronwyn Hall. She has recently joined our volunteer program and has volunteered at the following events: • Tarrant County Food Bank • Arbor Daze • Movies in the Park • Texas Junior Angler's Fishing event • And she has already voiced her commitment to work Halloween, Santa Express Party and the Heritage Park Christmas Celebration Chairman Owens presented Ms. Hall with a plaque for all her work with the community. Ms. Hall thanked the Board Members for the award. III. Beautification Award of the Month Chairman Owens mentioned that each year from May through October we do a residential and business/civic/governmental Yard of the Month award. Chairman Owens said the October 2009 residential Beautification Award of the Month goes to Mr. and Mrs. Thang Do at 1006 Tennison Drive. This yard is beautifully landscaped. Appealing use of shrubbery and bedding plants along with decorative lighting gives this landscaping a very clean and well manicured look. This owner takes great pride in the work that has been done in their yard. Thank you for helping to beautify Euless. Chairman Owens said their award would be delivered to them since they were not able to attend the meeting tonight. Chairman Owens said the October 2009 business/civic/governmental Beautification Award of the Month goes to La Petite Academy at 1315 N. Main Street. They have a variety of Begonias, Lantana, Crepe Myrtles and Boxwood shrubs along the front of the building. This property is well maintained, manicured and green due to the hard work they have taken in making the grounds Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 4 October 5,2009 attractive for the community. It is efforts like yours that make Euless a great place to work and live. Thank you for contributing to the beautification of our city. Chairman Owens presented the award to Christy McQueeney and Micaela Creech with La Petite Academy. They thanked the Board Members for the award. IV. Business of the Tree Board Carroll Scott reported on the following for September 1 —30, 2009: • T_here were 695.00 total man hours o Horticulture 150.00 o Forestry 105.00 o Greenhouse 360.00 o Special Projects 51.00 o Training 29.00 • Trimmed trees around the police and courts campus • Trimmed trees at the city hall complex • Trimmed trees at the Parks at Texas Star as well as around the Dr Pepper StarCenter • Cleaned up multiple storm damaged trees • Trimmed trees on vacant lot on Cresthaven V. Parks and Community Services Reports a. Parks Report—Randy Smith Parks Manager Randy Smith gave an update on the following: • The Open House this past Saturday (October 31-d) was a great event and he thanked the Board Members who attended. He said there was about 75 people in attendance and everyone enjoyed visiting the greenhouse and hearing about the new water reclamation system that was installed at the facility. • The new trail at Bob Eden Park is now complete but we still need to do some of the landscaping along the trail. We are also in the process of obtaining bids for lighting under the bridge. • Fire ant mounds have cropped up everywhere in the parks and the crews are hitting the high traffic areas first and then will go through the parks more thoroughly on their next visit. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 5 October 5,2009 • The Dog Park is closed for maintenance from October 5th through October 15th for our annual maintenance and the planting of rye grass. Rye grass has also been planted at other areas of the parks. b. Recreation Report—Michael Davenport Recreation Superintendent Michael Davenport gave the following report: • The recent Trails of Treasure was a great event and we had eight teams that participated. • We will be renovating Midway Recreation Center after the first of the year and we are temporarily moving the recreation operations and staff to the Euless Activities Building (EAB) at 1100 Westpark Way (the old fire station). Midway Recreation Center will be closed from January to May for the renovations and should be open in mid-May to handle registration for Summer Camp. 1. Most programs will be at the EAB location. The hours of operation will be Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.; Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and closed on Sundays. 2. Little Dribblers will be held at the First United Methodist Church. 3. We are still currently looking for a fitness center to use during the remodel. 4. We will put signage up in the front of Midway Recreation Center in order to notify citizens of the upcoming renovation as well as in the Euless Today. • He also mentioned the upcoming Special Events for October are: 1. October 16th — Stars Over Euless — Noble Planetarium — 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. — Bob Eden Park. 2. October 314 - The Halloween Thing— 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. —Midway Recreation Center. c. Community Services Report—Ray McDonald Ray McDonald updated the Board Members on the following: • He showed some slides for the proposed new Senior Center which consisted of: 1. The main entrance into the center which would be covered for dropping off seniors. 2. The lounge area which would have chairs for lounging, tables and chairs for games and/or dominos as well as a location for the billiard tables. 3. The interior of the large ballroom will have partitions to divide the area into three smaller rooms for meeting or activities. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 6 October 5,2009 4. The senior center will be comprised of many windows and skylights so the facility will have lots of natural light. 5. The new senior center will eventually be connected to the remodeled recreation center once the fitness room is relocated and enlarged and it then will connect both facilities. 6. Also the existing recreation center entry walkway will be covered so parents with small children can stay dry from the parking lot into the building. 7. The new full service kitchen will be very large, updated and this will be a great asset for the Senior Lunch Program. So far over 3,000 lunches have been served during 2009 at the current facility. 8. Also additional parking with about 50 spaces will be added on the east side of the new proposed senior center to allow seniors to enter the new facility. 9. The new senior center will have two full time staff members and we hope we can get some volunteers to help staff the new facility as well. Chairman Owens thanked everyone for their reports tonight. VI. Other New Business There was no new business for discussion. VII. Input from City Council Members and Visitors There was no input from visitors. ADJOURNMENT Chairman Owens gave the benediction. There being no further business to conduct, the meeting was adjourned at 8:00 p.m. f.,;// Chairman Aft t