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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-05-07 Regular Meeting Parks and Leisure Services Board May 7,2007 CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting of the Parks and Leisure Services Board was called to order at 7:07 p.m. on Monday, May 7, 2007, in the Council Chambers of the Euless City Hall building by Chairman Eric Owens. Other Board Members present: Carroll Scott, John Raab, Boyce Byers, Randy Jones, Stacey Hollinger and alternates John Elder and Everett Hartzler. Members absent: Alternate Sonja Adams. Staff members present: Director of Parks and Community Services Ray McDonald, Parks Superintendent Terry Boaz, Recreation Center Supervisor Randy Smith and Administrative Secretary Linda Lux. Visitors present: Billy Owens, Bill Byers, Harvey Little, Tommy and Karen Little, Rusty Haile, David Brown, Weldon Cannon, Betty Fuller and Iva and Robert Nail. INVOCATION Stacey Hollinger gave the invocation. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chairman Owens asked if there were any additions or corrections to the minutes from the April 2, 2007 regular meeting. Boyce Byers made the motion to approve the minutes as presented and was seconded by Carroll Scott. The vote was unanimous. I. Board Member's Reports Everett Hartzler said he inspected his parks three times during the month and everything was in order at the Villages of Bear Creek Park. There have been lots of soccer practices and also children on the playground. John Elder said he visited Heritage Park three times this past month and said the park was in good shape. South Euless Park also looked nice as well. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 2 May 7,2007 Randy Jones said he visited his parks twice and the new tables behind the fields look very nice at West Park. He did notice a couple of green irrigation valve box covers were missing by the ball fields. On his visit to Wilshire Park he noticed a picnic table off the concrete pad and also lots of debris in the pond from the recent rains. Stacey Hollinger said the Parks at Texas Star athletic complex continues to look great especially with all the games being played in the park. He further stated that staff does a great job getting the fields ready for games. John Raab said J.A. Carr Park was in good shape and the new fence poles look nice. Kiddy Carr Park was also in good shape. Carroll Scott mentioned that there was some debris in both ponds from the recent rains at the Preserve at McCormick Park. He further mentioned that the playground looked good and the rest rooms were clean. At McCormick Park there was a fallen tree, more erosion along the creek bank and said some trees need to be trimmed along the street side. Boyce Byers said the Special Events in April were: • Saturday, April 7th - 10:00 a.m. to Noon — Easter Egg Scramble —was held at the Parks at Texas Star ball field. There were lots of kids and families present to hunt the eggs. • Saturday, April 14th - 8:30 a.m. to Noon — Annual Texas Trash Off— everyone met at the Villages of Bear Creek Park and then went out to designated areas to pick up trash. After the event everyone was given soda and pizza for lunch. • Saturday, April 28th from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, April 29th from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. — Arbor Daze was held at the City Hall Campus with about 5,000 people in attendance for the weekend. Everyone had a great time during the festival and commented that they really enjoyed it being like earlier years. Upcoming Events: • Thursday,May 24th from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.—Out of School Bash—Midway Recreation Center — featuring Professor D and Broken Ground as the entertainment. Midway Recreation Center pool will also be open for the kids to swim during the event. Chairman Owens said everything looked great and there was lots of activity at Midway Park as well as Midway Recreation Center. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 3 May 7,2007 II. Volunteer of the Month Chairman Owens presented a plaque to Harvey Little for the May 2007 Volunteer of the Month. He has bought artifacts for our Heritage Park, Fuller House, Himes Log House and the McCormick Barn. He has also helped move the Cannon family tractor, tomato planter and other pieces of equipment to Heritage Park as well as helping to restore the park. He also participated in the Euless Christmas Parade of Lights for a number of years as well as participating in the Airport R & R Program. Mr. Little thanked the Board Members for the award and as well as all the beautiful parks in our city. 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. He said the May 2007 residential Beautification Award goes to Aisea and Bou Tauallo at 408 E. Fuller. Their yard has a beautiful landscape with great use of shrubs and bedding plants. The stone edging and mow strip look fantastic and the lawn is well maintained. One look and you know the owners take pride in their yard. Mr. and Mrs. Tauallo were not present tonight and said their award will be delivered to their home. Chairman Owens said the May 2007 business/civic/governmental Beautification Award goes to Acme Brick at 810 Airport Freeway. He said this is a great industrial landscape that is attractive and well maintained and catches your attention as your drive by. Mr. Rusty Haile was present to receive the award and said that Acme Brick has been in the city two years and they do take care in their facility and grounds. He said all the employees are very excited about receiving this award. IV. Business of the Tree Board Tree Board Chairman John Raab reported on the following for April: • There were 285 man hours • Completed trimming City Hall in preparation for Arbor Daze • Worked on the Forestry Village displays for Arbor Daze • Cut 1,000 tree cookies for kids to decorate in the Forestry Village booth • Gave away approximately 2,700 trees at Arbor Daze Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 4 May 7,2007 Chairman Owens said the trees given away at Arbor Daze were very nice this year. Ray McDonald said all the trees given away this year were grown from Euless acorns planted last year. V. Parks and Community Services Reports a. Parks Master Plan—Scientific Survey Report—Ray Turco, Ray Turco & Associates Mr. Turco said his company conducted the city's 2007 Recreation Needs Assessment and Attitude Survey which is a component of the city's parks and recreation Master Plan update. This public opinion poll captured attitudes on parks and recreational issues in the community from respondents randomly selected from phone-matched households. The full sample of 400 participants was interviewed with a comprehensive questionnaire (115 questions) that collected attitudinal data on a variety of recreational issues including quality ratings of facilities, need for construction of additional amenities and satisfaction with parks and recreational characteristics. Mr. Turco mentioned the methodology used for the survey as being: • 400 randomly selected households with telephone numbers • 14,416 telephone contacts were attempted • error rate of+/-5% at 95% confidence • study area was divided into four(4) sub-sectors • fieldwork took place between 12/23/06 to 01/08/07 • average length of the interview was 15 minutes b. Community Services Report—Ray McDonald Director of Parks and Community Services Ray McDonald thanked Mr. Turco for his report tonight and said this survey will help greatly with updating the proposed Parks Master Plan. He also mentioned the following: • He thanked everyone for volunteering at Arbor Daze and said that is was a great event and hopefully will continue at the same scale. • Parks department employee Steve Wiltshire will be receiving his twenty-five (25) year service pin tomorrow at the council meeting and mentioned what a great person Steve is and said that he is a very dedicated employee. • The Midway Recreation Center tile project started today and he has been assured that these tiles will remain on the building for many years. • A Work Session with the Board Members has been scheduled for Saturday, June 2"d at 9:00 a.m. in the Mayor's Conference Room and he hopes that all the members will be there. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 5 May 7,2007 Project Updates—Ray briefed the Board Members on some of the projects in our departments. • Parks Master Plan—this plan will be a blueprint for our city for the next ten (10) years. At the work session we will identify any and all needs for the Master Plan and then will prioritize them. Once this document is finalized by our outside consultant firm then it will be presented to the Park Board for approval and recommendation to the City Council for their approval. Once the Parks Master Plan is approved then we will be able to ask for funding in future budgets for the necessary items. • Aquatic Study —this study was conducted by an outside firm for all of our pools. Two of our pools are over thirty (30) years old and they are all in need of repairs. This study will help us decide what direction we need to take with the pools (i.e. remodel, make repairs or re-build). • Senior Center— a study was also conducted recently on the senior center and we will need to decide what should be done for our growing senior population. Randy Jones said he feels very good with the scientific survey given tonight by Mr. Turco. VI. Other New Business Chairman Owens reminded the Board Members of the Work Session scheduled for Saturday, June 2nd at 9:00 a.m. at City Hall. Ray McDonald said a light breakfast will be served and if necessary we will break for lunch if the meeting runs to long. VII. Input from City Council Members and Visitors Weldon Cannon said Euless is a very attractive town and all our parks are really cared for by our staff and he appreciates everything that is done for the community. Harvey Little mentioned Euless has the best parks around and everyone should help out in keeping them clean. Billy Owens said lots of the city elder's years ago started our parks and he has seen them grow over the years and they are well maintained. Chairman Owens said our staff works hard to keep our parks clean and beautiful so we can enjoy them. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 6 May 7,2007 ADJOURNMENT Chairman Owens gave the benediction. There being no further business to conduct,the meeting was adjourned at 8:40 p.m. Chairman Attest