Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-05-02 REGULAR MEETING PARKS AND LEISURE SERVICES BOARD MAY 2, 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, May 2, 2005, in the Council Chambers of the Euless City Hall building by Chairman Eric Owens. Other Board Members present: Carroll "Scotty" Scott, Mike Daniel, Glendora Waldrup, Stacey Hollinger, Randy Jones and alternate John Raab. No members were absent. Staff members present: Director of Parks and Community Services Ray McDonald, Parks Superintendent Terry Boaz, Recreation Manager Suzanne Hendrickson and Administrative Secretary Linda Lux. Visitors present: Larry Szuhy with Forest Pointe Estates. 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 4, 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 drove by the Parks at Texas Star Athletic Complex and the facility was clean and very busy. He also went by Veterans Field and said the new facility is looking good. Carroll Scott said he walked McCormick Park recently and noticed some termite tubes by the gazebo and also said the playground was in good shape. He said he walked the Villages of Bear Creek Park and noticed some rocks missing at the base of two light poles and a split rail was also missing along the fence. The park was well maintained and clean. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 2 May 2,2005 Glendora Waldrup said Wilshire Park was in good shape, clean and a great asset to the community. She said West Park looked good but said the rear field looked bare and the playground area needed mowing. Stacey Hollinger said Bob Eden Park looked good and there were lots of people using the park this past weekend. He mentioned the new sand volleyball court will be an asset to this park when it is completed and also said there was lots of usage on the trails. He had no report for Trailwood Park. Randy Jones said Heritage Park is a fantastic park and always looks good. South Euless Park looks good with the recently installed splash pad and said a walkway is being added around the pad. Public Works was at the park making some improvements to the parking lot. John Raab said Midway Park was very clean and all the ball fields were being used when he made his inspection. Blessing Branch Park was also very clean. Chairman Owens said he had no report for either J. A. Carr or Kiddy Carr parks. Chairman Owens said the Special Events for April were: (1) Community Work Day was held on Saturday, April 16th with approximately 100 people coming out to help work and (2) the annual Arbor Daze event. There were about 5,000 people that attended the Carnival Preview Night on Thursday, April 21St. He said this event has grown every year; and is a great way to spend time with the family, since your kids can ride all they want for one price. He also said the attendance for Arbor Daze was 70,000 Friday, 80,000 Saturday and 80,000 Sunday. He thanked all the staff and volunteers for all their hard work on making this event such a success. II. Volunteer of the Month Chairman Owens said we have two awards tonight for the May Volunteer of the Month. Chairman Owens mentioned that the first award goes to the Kroger Company who donated 20 dozen doughnuts from 2003 to 2005 for the Texas Trash Off. The doughnuts were used to feed the staff and volunteers who worked this event each year. He said their kind donation has helped this program to be what it is today. Chairman Owens said their plaque will be delivered to them since they were not present tonight for the meeting. Chairman Owens said the second award goes to Showplace Lanes. They have provided their facility for the last few years for the annual Texas Trash Off at no cost to the city as well as providing coffee and juice for all the staff and volunteers. In addition, they have also participated Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 3 May 2,2005 in Arbor Daze, past Easter Egg hunts and have let the city use their facility for the annual Easter egg stuffing party for the last several years. Chairman Owens said their plaque will also be delivered to them since they were not present tonight. NEW BUSINESS III. Beautification Award of the Month Chairman Owens said each year starting in May and ending in October that we do a residential and business/civic/governmental Yard of the Month Award. Chairman Owens said this month the residential Beautification Award goes to Ms. Gay Simi at 428 East Ash Lane. Her yard has an attractive landscaped retaining wall with shrubs and perennial flowerbeds all along the front of the property. One look at her yard and you know that she takes pride in her work. Her award will be delivered to her home since she is not present tonight. Chairman Owens said the May business/civic/governmental Beautification Award goes to Forest Pointe Estates at 1501 Fuller Wiser Road. This landscape has looked great for a number of years. All of the trees, color beds and use of shrubbery are very pleasing to the eye. It is efforts like yours that make our city a great place to work and live. Larry Szuhy at 410 Milla Lane and President of the Homeowners Association was present to receive the award for the homeowners. Mr. Szuhy thanked the Board Members and said the homeowners association does lots of work in their community and they also have a Volunteer Day where all the homeowners come out and help with maintaining the common areas. IV. Business of the Tree Board Tree Board Chairman Mike Daniel reported on the following for April: • Gave away 11,342 trees at Arbor Daze • Had 339 man hours during the month preparing for Arbor Daze • Planted a tree at Bob Eden Park with Lakewood Elementary 4th grade class to celebrate Arbor Day • Pruned trees at the Arbor Daze site parking lots • Rescued trees at the Preserve that were in the way of the construction • Removed a tree on a city easement growing over into a citizens yard • Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 4 May 2,2005 V. Parks and Community Services Reports a. Recreation Report—Suzanne Hendrickson Recreation Manager Suzanne Hendrickson updated the Board Members on the following: Upcoming Special Events • June 6th to June 12th—the city will do the Airport R& R Program but we will not have any transportation available to citizens due to all the summer camp programs. She asked that anyone interested in greeting the troops to please come out because this is a very rewarding experience for everyone. (She also mentioned there will be another program in November). • June 18th — Movie in the Park "The Sandlot" will be shown at dusk at the Parks at Texas Star Athletic Complex. • June 25th—Trout Fishing in America will perform at 8:00 p.m. at the Villages of Bear Creek Park. Summer Camp Registration • 1,334 registrations out of 1,520 have already enrolled for summer camp Aquatics • All pools will open on Saturday, May 28th. • Lifeguard training classes will start this Thursday, May 5th • We hope to have the new Splash Pad at South Euless Park also open by May 28th Simmons Senior Center • Attendance in April was 931 • 3 trips were taken during the month Parks at Texas Star • May 15th—Pepsi's Pitch, Hit and Run for ages 7-14 from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. • May 27th-30th—the Triple Crown Qualifier for 13 and 16 year olds • June 3rd-6th the Super Series"American" State Tournament for 14 year olds • June 7th—Opening day for the Euless LoneStars at 7:35 p.m. b. Community Services Report—Ray McDonald Director of Parks and Community Services Ray McDonald updated the Board Members on the following projects: Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 5 May 2, 2005 Parks at Texas Star—Phase III • He mentioned that Phase III is nearing completion and is 99% complete except for some electrical work. He said Schrickel, Rollins and Associates came out and observed the electrical work. Ray said that 20 of the 25 items noted on the observation have now been completed and he also said the scoreboard has not been installed yet. We still need to finalize the punch list and the grass in the common areas have not been planted yet due to the weather being to cool at night, but it should be planted within the next few weeks. Splash Pad at South Euless Park • Public Works is in the process of adding additional parking spaces at South Euless Park. A sidewalk still needs to be added around the pad area as well as a new ADA walkway from the parking lot. We do plan to open the splash pad on May 28th with hours probably being 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. The splash pad will be on a timer system which will be activated by touching the yellow bollard and this will stay activated for twenty (20) minutes until the bollard again is activated. One of the employees at Carter Construction will paint fish and other marine animals on the pad. The parks staff will also be planting banana trees and other tropical plants to enhance the area and planting sod as well as completing some additional fence work. The Preserve at McCormick Park • Concrete has been poured from Joyce Court into the park and a retaining wall has been poured under the bridge. We have had some additional erosion under the proposed bridge area and are looking at some options on how to correct the problem either by stabilizing the banks or by placing a larger bridge at the site. Arbor Daze • Ray said that Terry Boaz and Suzanne Hendrickson are due lots of credit for everything they did in preparing for Arbor Daze. He said everything went very smoothly this year. He thanked both Terry and Suzanne's staff for doing a great job. Chairman Owens said he and his son really enjoyed the lumberjack show as well as the new VERB Anytour. He said the kid's area was the best ever. VI. Other New Business Chairman Owens said there was no new business for discussion. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 6 May 2,2005 VII. Input from City Council Members and Visitors Chairman Owens said there were no Council Members present in the audience tonight. ADJOURNMENT Chairman Owens gave the benediction. There being no further business to conduct, the meeting was adjourned at 7:50 p.m. i Chairman Attest