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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-04-02 Regular Meeting Parks and Leisure Services Board April 2,2007 CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting of the Parks and Leisure Services Board was called to order at 7:05 p.m. on Monday, April 2, 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 and alternates Sonja Adams and Everett Hartzler. Members absent: Randy Jones, Stacey Hollinger and alternate John Elder. Staff members present: Director of Parks and Community Services Ray McDonald, Parks Superintendent Terry Boaz, Parks Manager Johnnie Green, Recreation Center Supervisor Randy Smith and Administrative Secretary Linda Lux. Visitors present: Billy Owens, Bill Byers, Doris Hammond, Jenna Parsons and Faye Rice. INVOCATION Eric Owens gave the invocation. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chairman Owens asked if there were any additions or corrections to the minutes from the March 5, 2007 regular meeting. Carroll Scott made the motion to approve the minutes as presented and was seconded by Everett Hartzler. The vote was unanimous. I. Board Member's Reports Everett Hartzler said he checked the Villages of Bear Creek Park a couple of times during the month and everything looked good. Sonja Adams said Bob Eden Park looked good and everything also looked good at Trailwood Park. John Raab said there was lots of debris from the recent storm and rain at Kiddy Carr Park. He said there were lots of people using the park,trail and sand volleyball court at J.A. Carr Park. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 2 April 2,2007 Carroll Scott said the water fountain was not working at McCormick Park but the park was clean and mowed. When he walked the Preserve at McCormick Park recently after the heavy rains he noticed lots of erosion and debris. He said there were lots of families using the park and this park was also clean and recently mowed. Boyce Byers said the Special Events in March were: • Saturday, March 17th — St. Patrick's Day Party with Beatlegras - Texas Star Golf Course had about 300 people in attendance • Wednesday, March 14th — Easter Egg Stuffing party — Midway Recreation Center — there were lots of volunteers helping stuff eggs Upcoming Events: • Saturday, April 7th from 10:00 a.m. to Noon—Easter Egg Scramble—at the Parks at Texas Star soccer field. There will be games and bounce houses for the kids. • Saturday, April 14th from 8:30 a.m. to Noon—Annual Texas Trash Off— Villages of Bear Creek Park • 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—City Hall Campus • Thursday, May 24th from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. —Out of School Bash—Midway Recreation Center Randy Jones was out of town for a family emergency and Chairman Owens read his report. Randy Jones said he inspected both parks on Friday, March 30th. He said West Park was clean, the bleachers had been painted and there were people using the park. Wilshire Park was also in great shape and well maintained. Chairman Owens said everything looked good and lots of activity at Midway Park as well as Midway Recreation Center. H. Volunteer of the Month Chairman Owens presented a plaque to Jenna Parsons for the April 2007 Volunteer of the Month. She has just recently joined our Family of Volunteers but has already made a positive impact to our department. She has volunteered for the following events: • In 2006 - U.T.A. Symphony Orchestra Concert, Junior Angler Fishing event, Super Series National Championship Baseball Tournament, Halloween event and Heritage Park Christmas Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 3 April 2,2007 • In 2007—Valentine's Day Concert, St. Patrick's Day Concert and the Easter Egg Scramble and the upcoming Arbor Daze Festival. Ms. Parsons said she has only lived in Euless three years but enjoys volunteering for the city and thanked the Board Members for the award. III. Business of the Tree Board Tree Board Chairman John Raab reported on the following for March: • There were 274 man hours • Trimmed numerous locations throughout the city for fire truck obstructions • Pruned all trees around the Fire Administration building • Pruned all trees around the covered seating area and dugouts at the Parks at Texas Star • Began trimming city hall in preparation for the upcoming Arbor Daze event • Spent 182 hours prepping and maintaining flower beds for spring planting Johnnie Green mentioned that we should have 10,000 trees(seedlings)to give away at Arbor Daze. Sonja Adams inquired as to when the tree will be planted in memory of Mrs. McCormick? Ray said he is not sure yet when the tree will be planted but the Board Members will be notified when a date is chosen. He said the Euless Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association has requested a tree that they will plant at the Police and Courts Building in memory of Mrs. McCormick. IV. Parks and Community Services Reports a. Recreation Report—Randy Smith Recreation Supervisor Randy Smith reported on the following: Midway Recreation Center • Memberships sold - 355 (196—new and 159—renewed) • Current memberships—4,215 • Class hours provided—241 Facility Reservations • Total reservations — 185 (we are getting many requests for field rentals now that spring baseball has started and we will continue to increase through the summer months) Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 4 April 2,2007 Upcoming Special Events • Saturday, April 7th— 10:00 a.m. to Noon—Easter Egg Scramble—at the Parks at Texas Star • Saturday, April 14th— 8:30 a.m.to Noon—Texas Trash Off—Villages of Bear Creek • Saturday, April 28th—9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, April 29th—2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. — Arbor Daze 2007 -City Hall Complex Simmons Senior Center • Attendance— 1,274 • Trips—2 • Meals served—242 b. Community Services Report—Ray McDonald Director of Parks and Community Services Ray McDonald mentioned the following updates: Discussion of facility plan for Simmons Senior Center • A consultant was hired recently to do a five year facility plan for Simmons and City Council discussed several options at their recent winter work session. A more detailed discussion with the Board will take place in the future on possible locations for a new senior center. Field rental discussion • Ray mentioned with the new baseball league that we are in dire need of practice fields for them to practice before the scheduled games. We receive many outside requests for rentals and since we have so many new teams we currently do not have enough practice fields for them to use. We will be coming back within the next few months to discuss with the Board our policies on the rental of fields from outside groups. Parks at Texas Star Baseball League structure — Ray said the registration numbers are very strong especially with the young age groups in recreational ball. • "A" League—is purely a recreational league where the kids are randomly chosen except the coach can have his son and one"protected kid"on his team • "AA" League—where an entire team registers together • "AAA" League—are select kids that are more talented and competitive, do lots of traveling around to play other select teams and the coaches are sometimes paid by the parents He also mentioned that the "Positive Participation" meeting held with parents after registration was very beneficial and we feel that this new baseball league will grow in future years. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 5 April 2,2007 Project Updates—Ray briefed the Board Members on some of the projects in our departments. • Pool audit — we have received the study which is about 200 pages in length and we will need to meet with the auditor in the near future to discuss what action needs to be taken on the pools which are currently thirty-plus years old and are in need of serious renovations. A full report and presentation to the Board will be made in the near future. • Parks Master Plan — this project is still being worked on and will probably be formally presented to the Board Members in late fall. This document will be a working plan for the next ten years once it has been completed and adopted. A chosen firm did random surveys with at least 400 Euless residents and their input will be incorporated into this plan for deciding on what our future needs will be. We will later schedule some Park Board work sessions to prioritize the needs for the city and have lots of discussion before the Master Plan goes to Council. He said some of the top priorities currently are: more trails, an aquatic center, senior center,more athletic fields and a dog park. Ray said Johnnie Green is currently designing the layout of the dog park which will be located in the Villages of Bear Creek Park. • Budgets—he is currently working on budgets for the PACS department • Staff changes — since Suzanne left in March he has promoted Randy Smith and Michael Davenport. Randy Smith is now Recreation Superintendent and Michael Davenport is Special Events & Projects Supervisor. We also plan to hire one more person to help manage our enterprise funds. Also, Jim Hunsuckle in the Parks Department retired on March 30th but he plans go come back in May and work three days a week on a part-time basis. V. Other New Business Chairman Owens reminded the Board Members to sign-up for our booth at Arbor Daze. He also mentioned we will start the Beautification Award program next month. The program runs from May through October and he stated that if anyone would like to be on the nomination committee to let him know. Sonja Adams volunteered to help with the nominations for the Beautification Awards. VI. Input from City Council Members and Visitors Doris Hammond suggested that residents go look at the Irving Senior Center to get some ideas for our proposed future senior center. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 6 April 2,2007 Ray McDonald said Public Works will be updating the sanitary sewer line which goes through Kiddie Carr Park. There will also be a new sewer line which will go through the trail system south of Mid-Cities Blvd. He said Public Works will try and go under the existing trail rather than across in order to keep from disturbing citizens that use these trails. ADJOURNMENT Chairman Owens gave the benediction. There being no further business to conduct,the meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m. Chairman Attest air