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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-01-05 Regular Meeting Parks and Leisure Services Board January 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, January 5, 2009, in the Council Chambers of the Euless City Hall building by Chairman Eric Owens. Other Board Members present: Carroll Scott, John Elder, Jeremy Tompkins, Randy Jones,John Raab and alternates Alex Horton and Johnson Obamehinti. Members absent: none. Staff members present: Director of Parks and Community Services Ray McDonald, Parks Superintendent Terry Boaz, Recreation Superintendent Michael Davenport and Administrative Secretary Linda Lux. Visitors present: Gary Fieldsend, Betty Fuller, Council Member Leon Hogg, Lori Tompkins, Brayden Tompkins and Branique Tompkins. INVOCATION John Elder gave the invocation. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chairman Owens asked if there were any additions or corrections to the minutes from the December 1, 2008 regular meeting. Carroll Scott made the motion to approve the minutes as presented and was seconded by John Raab. The vote was unanimous. I. Board Member's Reports Chairman Owens said everyone should have already received their new 2009 park assignments in their packets last week. Carroll Scott said Blessing Branch and Midway parks were both in good shape. John Elder said his new parks are Reflection and Villages of Bear Creek but he did not have a report tonight. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 2 January 5,2009 John Raab mentioned Wilshire Park was clean and in good shape but the restroom had not been serviced on his inspection of this park. West Park was also in good condition as well as the ball fields. Jeremy mentioned that a light is out in the northeast part of West Park by the playground. Randy Jones said both J.A. Carr and Kiddie Can parks looked good and staff was still working on the sand volleyball courts at Simmons. Jeremy Tompkins commented on the following recent Special Events held in December: • Parade of Lights was held on December 6th with a large turnout of over 100 floats and lots of citizens were in attendance. • The KidZone also had lots of families and the kids were given cards to have stamped at each of the booths and once the cards were filled they were given an award. All the kids had a great time. • Heritage Park Christmas Celebration also had a good attendance even though it was extremely windy and there were lots of school choirs singing carols for the crowds in attendance. • IceFest 2008 was also held at the Dr Pepper StarCenter. Alex Horton said both his new parks Bob Eden and Trailwood were in good shape. Johnson Obamehinti said Midway Park was clean but noticed there was lots of trash in the creek at Blessing Branch Park. He suggested that maybe a volunteer could help to clean along the creek area. Chairman Owens said he drove by both South Euless and Heritage parks and they looked good. Chairman Owens also mentioned the following upcoming events: • Christmas Tree Recycling — is Saturday, January 10th from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Midway Park and there will be free demonstrations, free mulch and drinks and hot dogs for all participants. • Midway Recreation Center Open House—is also on Saturday, January 10th from 10:00 a.m. to Noon. There will also be free demonstrations from instructors on how to use equipment, the correct way to exercise in order to get the most benefit and other information to use. • R&R Program — is scheduled from Monday, February 2nd to Sunday, February 8th at DFW Airport. He said this is a very rewarding experience to see our troops come home to see their families. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 3 January 5,2009 IL Volunteer of the Month Chairman Owens said the January 2009 Volunteer of the Month is Gary Fieldsend and presented him with a plaque for all his work. He mentioned that Mr. Fieldsend was one of the primary designers of the recent Euless Historical Preservation Committee's Historical Photography Exhibit which was displayed at the Ruth Millican Center in November. He invested many hours of his time restoring historical photos displaying historical locations in Euless and restored historical photos of the first pioneers and families of Euless. Also in addition, he did the primary research and used his computer skills to design this one of a kind photo exhibit. The project was a major undertaking and is one that was time consuming and everyone deeply appreciates his tireless efforts and generosity. Gary Fieldsend thanked the Board Members for the award and said he also received help from the Historical Committee. He further thanked the Parks and Community Services staff for all their help. III. Business of the Tree Board Tree Board Chairman Carroll Scott reported on the following for November 22"d—December 22"d: • there were 541.00 man hours o 58.00—Horticulture o 128.00—Forestry o 0 —Storm Damage o 279.00 - Greenhouse o 28.00 - Special Projects o 0 - Water Truck o 48.00 - Training • Horticulture hours were spent doing minor bed maintenance throughout the city. • Forestry hours were spent pruning Heritage Park for Christmas and cleaning up storm debris. • Greenhouse hours were spent planting approximately 15,000 seeds for the spring planting season and approximately 4,500 acorns for Arbor Daze. • Special project hours were spent getting ready for the Euless Parade of Lights. • Training hours were spent on irrigation training for Randy Leach. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 4 January 5,2009 IV. Parks and Community Services Reports a. Parks Report—Randy Smith There was no report due to Randy being out sick today. b. Recreation Report—Michael Davenport Recreation Superintendent Michael Davenport thanked Gary Fieldsend for all his help with the photo exhibit and also thanked Jeremy Tompkins for his help at the Parade of Lights. There were also some very good school choirs at the Heritage Park Christmas Celebration event. He also reported on the following: Midway Recreation Center • Visits—5,429 • Youth class attendance—372 • Adult class attendance— 176 Special Events • Holidaze KidZone—400 in attendance • Parade of Lights— 110 floats • Heritage Park Christmas Celebration—400 in attendance Seniors • Attendance— 1,231 • Trips—2 • Lunch Program—294 • Aerobics—96 • Bingo/Lunch—54 • Texas Hold'em—57 • Crochet/ Ceramics—54 Hardwood Floor Project • December 17th through January 3rd the basketball gym and racquetball courts were sanded down to bare wood and repainted and re-surfaced. Upcoming Events • Midway Recreation Center Open House—Saturday, January 10th from 10:00 a.m. to Noon. • R&R Program, Monday, February 2nd to Sunday, February 8th—DFW Airport • Once Upon a Princess Party — Friday, February 13th from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. — Midway Recreation Center Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 5 January 5,2009 c. Community Services Report—Ray McDonald Ray commented on the following: • Thanked Gary Fieldsend again for all his help with the photo exhibit and the entire Historical Preservation Committee for all their work and dedication to preserving the history of Euless. • Congratulated Michael and his staff for all the great events last month and is looking forward to many more events this year. • Also thanked the parks staff for all their help and work with setting up and taking down for all the events held during the past year. • Parks staff has done a great job in preparing plants for the landscaping throughout the city and for all their work with growing our own plants which will be used for future landscape projects. They have also planted seeds for the spring as well as acorns for the tree giveaway at Arbor Daze in April. • Thanked Heidi for being present at Midway Recreation Center during the Christmas holiday to oversee the flooring project. • Winter break camp was also held during the holidays and there were lots of things and programs for the kids to do while they were out of school. He also reminded everyone to come on out Saturday, January 10th and attend the Christmas Tree Recycling event and get your free mulch and to also attend the Open House at Midway Recreation Center and get lots of great ideas on getting fit for the year. We also have lots of great events scheduled this year and he hopes that the Board Members will come out and attend all of our scheduled events. Chairman Owens thanked Ray for his report and commented on what a great staff we have in our parks and recreation departments. V. Election of Officers The current Park Board Officers are: Chairman — Eric Owens, Vice Chairman — John Raab and Secretary — John Elder. The current Tree Board Officers are: Chairman — Carroll Scott and Vice Chairman—Randy Jones. Voting will be done by secret ballots and then given to Linda to announce who the new officers will be. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 6 January 5,2009 The new officers for 2009 are: Chairman—Eric Owens, Vice Chairman—John Raab and Secretary — Jeremy Tompkins. The new 2009 Tree Board officers are: Chairman — Carroll Scott and Vice Chairman—Randy Jones. VI. Other New Business Chairman Owens said the 2009 meeting dates were included in the Board Members packets. He also suggested that since we have some new Board Members that maybe we could take a tour of all the parks in the city on a Saturday in February. Ray said he would send the Board Members some dates for consideration and this would be a great opportunity for the Board Members to see all the improvements and projects which have been done in some of the parks. VIII. Input from City Council Members and Visitors Council Member Leon Hogg congratulated Gary Fieldsend for being selected as the Volunteer of the Month and for all his work with the photo exhibit. He also welcomed Johnson Obamehinti to the Park Board. Chairman Owens thanked Councilman Hogg for all his support. ADJOURNMENT Chairman Owens gave the benediction. There being no further business to conduct, the meeting was adjourned at 7:45 p.m. °1 Chairman Aft st