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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-11-07 REGULAR MEETING PARKS AND LEISURE SERVICES BOARD NOVEMBER 7,2005 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 7, 2005, in the Council Chambers of the Euless City Hall building by Chairman Eric Owens. Other Board Members present: Carroll "Scotty" Scott, Stacey Hollinger, Mike Daniel, Glendora Waldrup, Randy Jones and alternate John Raab. There were no members absent. Staff members present: Director of Parks and Community Services Ray McDonald, Parks Superintendent Terry Boaz, Parks Manager Johnnie Green, Recreation Manager Suzanne Hendrickson, Athletic Supervisor Chris Thames, Athletic Coordinator Mark Long and Administrative Secretary Linda Lux. Visitors present: Council Member Leon Hogg, Alex Horton, Billy Owens (AARP), Boyce Byers, John Purcell and Kevin Smith (Euless Athletic Association) and Julie Laverty (Bedford Euless Soccer Association). INVOCATION Stacey Hollinger gave the invocation. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chairman Owens asked if there were any additions or corrections to the minutes from the October 3, 2005 regular meeting. Mike Daniel made the motion to approve the minutes as presented and was seconded by Carroll Scott. The vote was unanimous. OLD BUSINESS I. Board Member's Reports Mike Daniel said he has been out to the Parks at Texas Star Athletic Complex recently for fall ball and there have been lots of parents at the games. He also said Veterans Field is almost completed and will be a nice addition to our complex. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 2 November 7,2005 Carroll Scott said there was graffiti under the bridge and the water fountain was not working at McCormick Park. The Villages of Bear Creek Park was in good shape. Glendora Waldrup said West Park was very clean and had recently been mowed and edged. Wilshire Park also looks good and is a very pretty park especially with the trees changing color. Stacey Hollinger said Bob Eden Park is always in great shape and the sand volleyball courts are always in use. He had no report tonight for Trailwood Park. Randy Jones said everything looked fine at South Euless Park. As always Heritage Park looked good but the rose bushes had recently been trimmed and the clippings had been left on the ground. The fence has been partially installed around the barn. John Raab said Blessing Branch Park had some children in the park using the swings. There were lots of people using the park and ball fields at Midway Park recently. Chairman Owens said J.A. Carr Park has had lots of activity due to the nice weather recently. He did not have a report tonight for Kiddy Carr Park. Chairman Owens said the Special Events for October were: (1) the Garage Sale was held on Saturday, October 8th from 8:00 a.m. to Noon. Approximately 637 people came out the garage sale and as usual all booths were sold out, and (2) the Halloween event was held on Monday, October 31st at the Midway Recreation Center. The event ran from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. with 750 people in attendance. The Fort Worth Community Credit Union sponsored the event. Chairman Owens mentioned that he will have new park assignments sometime in December for next year and we will have three new Board Members starting in January. II. Volunteer of the Month Chairman Owens presented a plaque to Alex Horton for the November Volunteer of the Month. He said Alex has volunteered for numerous special events over the last several years. Some of the events include: • In 2001 — Halloween Trails of Treats, Dr Pepper IceFest and the New Year's Eve Celebration • In 2002—Arbor Daze (overseeing the Celebrity Chef's Tent), Celebrity Baseball Game, Halloween Thing, Dr Pepper IceFest, Heritage Park Christmas and New Year's Eve Celebration Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 3 November 7,2005 • In 2003 — Games of Texas, Wizard of Oz, Halloween Thing, Heritage Park Christmas,New Year's Eve Celebration • In 2004—Arbor Daze,two (2) Summer Movie events and the Bicycle Rodeo • In 2005 — Valentine's Dance, Movies in the Park, Bicycle Rodeo and Brave Combo Concert Alex thanked the city and the Board Members for the award and said it is easy volunteering when you work for the best parks and recreation department. He also mentioned when he was recently riding at the Preserve he saw lots of visitors throughout the park. NEW BUSINESS III. Business of the Tree Board Tree Board Chairman Mike Daniel reported on the following for October: • There were 120 man hours during the month. • There was $424.00 tree related purchases with 12 trees being planted at Fire Station No. 3. • They are still doing routine watering of the tree farms and urban forest. • They are well under way on constructing the Famous and Historic Tree Grove. The trail has been mapped out, the tree signage is at the printers and the irrigation has been installed. Soon the trail will be laid and it will be time for planting. • A special tree planting project is planned with the Boy Scouts. A scout earning his Eagle Badge will lead a group of scouts that are going to plant the trees. Chairman Owens said the dedication of the new Fire Station No. 3 was held recently and the facility is very nice. IV. Athletic Associations Chairman Owens said once a year we invite all the athletic associations to attend our meeting so that we can prepare for any of their needs during the upcoming year. a. BESA(Bedford Euless Soccer Association) Julie Laverty said their association really enjoys playing at the beautiful Parks at Texas Star facility. She said the fall season starts the first weekend after Labor Day with an eight game season Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 4 November 7,2005 and the spring season runs from mid-February through May playing ten games. She said the number of players is down from last year and they intend to make a heavy push for their spring season and target the apartments and residents in the 76040 zip code. Current registration fees are $75 for fall and $65 for spring which includes shirt, shorts and sox. They had 835 participate in fall with 351 from Euless. They project between 1,000 and 1,100 for spring. The majority of the kids playing soccer are 6 to 8 years of age with co-ed and all-girl teams. She also mentioned they have nineteen Board Members with four being residents of Euless and they have no open positions on the board. They currently meet at Midway Recreation Center on the third Tuesday of each month. BESA is a recreational club only with no competitive playing. The coaches are all voluntary and background checks are done on all the coaches. Ms. Laverty said BESA currently has $120,000 in the bank and they do not do any fundraisers. She said she did not bring the financial report tonight but she would send the report to Linda Lux for her to send to the Park Board Members. b. EGSA(Euless Girls Softball Association) They were not present for the meeting tonight. c. EAA(Euless Athletic Association) John Purcell, First Vice-Commissioner with EAA distributed to the Board Members a copy of information containing a list of officers, budgets, registration numbers and participation numbers. He said they do fundraisers during the year and solicit sponsorships. John mentioned EAA surveys were recently mailed out by the Parks and Community Services department to see what can be done to help the association meet the needs of the participants. He said they have elected their Board Members but have not been able to conduct any business due to a lack of a quorum at the four meetings they have had so far. The original Board of thirteen (13) is now down to eight (8) due to the resignations of several Board Members since August. He said their numbers are down about 200 to 250. John said the Parks and Community Services staff is assisting them with their registration through the Rec-Trac program and hopes this will make it easier for parents to register their kids. Registration will run from January 1st through mid-February. John also mentioned that the Board would like more involvement from the city and appreciates the help that they have provided to this point. Some of the Board Members were concerned with the decreasing numbers with the association and needing better trained umpires. Also they need to try and find more ways for parents and citizens to become involved with the organization. It was also suggested that we might have a work session to discuss what can be done to help EAA. Ray McDonald commented that the Parks and Community Services department has extended our support to EAA to help them in any way we can. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 5 November 7,2005 Chairman Owens thanked John and Ms. Laverty for being here tonight for their presentations. V. Parks and Community Services Reports a. Recreation Report—Suzanne Hendrickson Suzanne said the November 12th Veterans Day Celebration will start exactly at 10:30 a.m. with a ribbon cutting, dedication of the art sculpture and introduction of the artist. At precisely 11:00 a.m. there will be a flyover then the special guests will be introduced. Afterwards there will be a three- inning game with the City Council and Park Board Members each coaching their teams from the dugouts. Eric Owens, manager and Stacey Hollinger as assistant manager will be with the remaining Park Board Members in the dugout along the third base line. At the Council meeting tomorrow night they will select their manager and assistant manager for their team and the Council will be located in the dugout along the first base line. Suzanne listed the upcoming Special Events for the remainder of the year: November • November 12th,Veterans Day Celebration at the Parks at Texas Star, 10:30 a.m. • November 14th—20th, Greeting the Troops at DFW Airport • November 16th, Senior Holiday Luncheon at North Main BBQ, 11:45 a.m. December • December 3rd, Walk of Champions Induction Ceremony for Doug McGrady at 11:00 a.m. • December 3rd, Holidaze Kidz Zone at Midway Recreation Center, 3:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. • December 3rd, Parade of Lights, 6:30 p.m. • December 10th, Heritage Park Christmas at Heritage Park, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. • December 17th, IceFest at the Dr Pepper StarCenter, 12:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. b. Community Services Report—Ray McDonald Director of Parks and Community Services Ray McDonald said he has no report this evening. He did inquire as to what the Board Members want exactly from him on the report he is to prepare for the December meeting relating to EAA. Ray said he has attended the EAA meetings but they have not been able to conduct any business since August due to no quorum of members being present at their meetings. He said the only thing the city has done for EAA is: (1) send out surveys and (2) to offer registration through the Rec-Trac program. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 6 November 7,2005 Chairman Owens said he would like information to be shared from the staff to the Board Members as to how we can help EAA. VI. Other New Business Chairman Owens said the Parade of Lights is scheduled for Saturday, December 3rd and to please let the Board Members know if they will be riding in the parade again this year. Also at our December meeting we will have our holiday dinner at the Parks facility at 6:00 p.m. VII. Input from City Council Members and Visitors Council Member Leon Hogg congratulated Alex Horton for being selected as the Volunteer of the Month. He also wanted to thank the parks department for the landscape work at the new Fire Station No. 3. Billy Owens with AARP mentioned the meeting was good tonight and the Adopt-A-Park program is really a good program and also wanted to thank the parks staff for all their help with the parks. Alex Horton said he has been on various boards over the years and said the Library Foundation is great for raising money but this Board needs to step up and get something done regarding EAA. ADJOURNMENT Chairman Owens gave the benediction. There being no further business to conduct,the meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m. f' C airman Attest