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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-06-07 REGULAR MEETING PARKS AND LEISURE SERVICES BOARD JUNE 7, 2004 CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting of the Parks and Leisure Services Board was called to order at 7:02 p.m. on Monday, June 7, 2004, in the Council Chambers of the Euless City Hall building by Vice Chairperson Glendora Waldrup. Other Board Members present: Mike Daniel, Boyce Byers, Carroll "Scotty" Scott and alternate Jeff Sawlan. Members absent: Chairman Eric Owens, Stacey Hollinger and alternate Dan Clark. Staff members present: Director of Parks and Community Services Ray McDonald, Parks Superintendent Terry Boaz, Parks Manager Johnnie Green, Recreation Manager Suzanne Hendrickson, Senior Program Coordinator Diane Eggers and Administrative Secretary Linda Lux. Visitors present: Keith Eggers, Alex Horton, Bryan Klein and Council Member Leon Hogg. Students and parents of the Preserve at McCormick Park Kid's Design Council were present from North Euless Elementary, Lakewood Elementary, Bear Creek Elementary and Euless Junior High included: Mark Stevens, Paisley Stevens, Aubree Stevens, Alyssa Johnson, Alex Antonmaurchi, Brenda Matheny, Danny Lewis, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis, Mico Francia, Pix Mapano, Brandon and Rosalba Ramirez, Matthew and William Ortiz, William Peden, Laura Burk, Amelia Defanti and Todd Burk. INVOCATION Boyce Byers gave the invocation. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Vice Chairperson Waldrup asked if there were any additions or corrections to the minutes from the May 3, 2004 regular meeting. Vice Chairperson Waldrup said there is a correction to be made on Page 6, under Adjournment. She said the benediction was given by Vice Chairperson Waldrup and not Chairman Owens. Boyce Byers made the motion to approve the minutes with the noted correction and was seconded by Mike Daniel. The vote was unanimous. • Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 2 June 7,2004 OLD BUSINESS I. Board Member's Reports Mike Daniel said at South Euless Park there was lots of trash and drainage from the recent storms and there were lots of people at Heritage Park this past weekend. Carroll Scott said at Trailwood Park the grass had recently been mowed. At Bob Eden Park he noticed the following: a low area on the trail which was covered with mud from the recent storms, the water fountain was not working and lots of water coming from the adjacent housing development. Director of Parks and Community Services Ray McDonald stated that the TXDOT trail is now completed and the trail officially belongs to the city. Once Bob Eden Park dries out then Johnnie Green and his staff will do some minor work to correct the problems with the trail. Vice Chairperson Glendora Waldrup said the Villages of Bear Creek Park was very clean and looked good. She also said there were over 100 Boy Scouts at the park for their yearly learning and activities camp. She had no report for McCormick Park this evening. Boyce Byers said she has Special Events but she would let Suzanne Hendrickson update the Board Members of any recent events. Jeff Sawlan said Wilshire Park looked pristine and in great shape. West Park also looked good, the grass was now starting to grow and the new paved parking lot looked very nice. II. Volunteer of the Month Vice Chairperson Waldrup presented Keith Eggers with a plaque for the June Volunteer of the Month. She said Keith has volunteered for the last twelve years for a variety of events. Vice Chairperson Waldrup said the May Volunteer of the Month Gloria Coyle was not present tonight. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 3 June 7,2004 NEW BUSINESS III. Beautification Award of the Month Vice Chairperson Waldrup said Shannon and Randy Walton, 114 Jefflyn Court, was the June Residential Beautification Award winner but they are not present tonight to receive their plaque. She also mentioned the June Business Beautification Award winner, Colby-Stanley Homes, 511 South Main Street, was also not present tonight to receive their plaque. Vice Chairperson Waldrup said the house at this address once belonged to the Fuller family. She said the plaques would be delivered to the winners. IV. Business of the Tree Board Tree Board Chairman Mike Daniel mentioned the following: (1) the parks staff continues to prune and remove tree debris from the TXDOT trail construction area, (2) renovation has begun on the old greenhouse container farm and it will be used for growing Arbor Daze trees, large container trees and storing seasonal plants, (3) 643 trees were given away at the Arbor Daze Mother's Day Plant Sale and Tree Giveaway, (4) pruned and removed trees from the recent wind storms, (5) pruned trees at City Hall and various parks and (6) mowed, trimmed and fertilized the Villages of Bear Creek Tree farm. V. Preserve at McCormick Park Bryan Klein with Ion Design Group was present to give the Board Members an update on the status of the Preserve at McCormick Park. He said this project is moving right along and we have some students that will be making a presentation tonight to the Board Members. Recreation Manager Suzanne Hendrickson stated that some of the students from the Kid's Design Council are in the audience tonight from the four schools (North Euless Elementary, Lakewood Elementary, Bear Creek Elementary and Euless Junior High) that participated in this program. The purpose of the Kid's Design Council: (1) was to involve the community in the planning and design of this park, (2) to provide an educational opportunity to the children in our community, and (3) to introduce the Parks and Recreation field to students who may one day want to work in our field. She said there were some brainstorming meetings with the students and they listed their ideas for the new park as well as touring the proposed site. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 4 June 7,2004 There were also two students who participated in the Kid's Design Council from North Euless Elementary and two students from Lakewood Elementary that made a short presentation to the Board Members Mr. Klein said the new park would consist of a pavilion with picnic tables, a playground, two (2) ponds with fishing opportunities, a fishing pier, a historic tree grove, trails, a bird watching area, an outdoor classroom and picnic area, plant identification signs along the trails to identify the numerous trees and plants, park benches and the park will be handicap accessible as well. Bryan also said the fishing pier and the boardwalk would be made out of plastic and recyclable materials and there would also be a pedestrian bridge which would span the length of 95' and the boardwalk area would run along the edge of the pond. He said this project should be bid in July and hopefully awarded to a contractor in August or September. VI. Parks and Community Services Reports a. Recreation Report—Suzanne Hendrickson Recreation Manager Suzanne Hendrickson gave the following updates: • She commended all the students that participated in the Kids Design Council for all their input and vision with the design of the Preserve at McCormick Park. Again there were students from four schools (North Euless Elementary, Lakewood Elementary, Bear Creek Elementary and Euless Junior High)that participated in this program. • Midway Recreation Center - There were a total of 8,356 visits to Midway Recreation Center, 311 new memberships sold, 1,230 hours on the cardio equipment and 2,165 miles were logged on the treadmills. • Parks at Texas Star - EAA and EGSA just completed their seasons at the Parks at Texas Star. There were 21 teams in the Super Series American State Tournament held this past weekend. The EAA Invitational is scheduled for June 8th-17th. The Super Series All Star State Tournament is scheduled for June 18th-21St and the USSSA AAA State Tournament is scheduled for June 25th-28th. • Athletics — Summer Track has 95 kids enrolled, Women's Basketball League begins on June 13th and the Wiffleball League is still under development. • Aquatics — all three (3) pools are now open for the summer and 858 people attended the pools over the Memorial Day weekend. • Simmons Senior Center — the parking lot overlay project is completed, new flooring has been installed in the pool and TV rooms and the main area will be completed during the week of June 21St and the facility will be repainted inside before the end of September. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 5 June 7,2004 • Special Events — the first Movies under the Stars, "The Lion King" was held this past Saturday, June 5th at the Villages of Bear Creek Park Amphitheater with 200 people in attendance. "Freaky Friday" will be shown on June 26th at Bob Eden Park and "Finding Nemo" will be shown on July 10th at Midway Pool. Other events during the month of June include: June 7th-11th — Boy Scout Camp at the Villages of bear Creek Park, June 12th — Filipino National Day at Bob Eden Park and June 19th — Tongan National Day at the Villages of Bear Creek Park. Mike Daniel inquired as to the lunch program. Suzanne said the free lunch program which is being sponsored by the HEB-ISD is doing great and since this is a pilot program the lunches are being provided only through the month of June. b. Community Services Report—Ray McDonald Director of Parks and Community Services Ray McDonald updated the Board Members on some of the projects: • Parks at Texas Star—Phase III—said the development of Phase III is really coming along with the recent addition of the backstop posts and goals. Carter Construction is doing a great job and they hope to complete this project in August. They plan to do the grassing this month once the remainder of the construction is finished and we hope to open in 2005. After Phase III is opened then all play at Midway Park will be moved to the new facility. • West Park— he congratulated Johnnie and his staff for all the great work they did in this park. The new grass has grown in and the east area of the park looks good. We hope to eventually add some grills, benches and other amenities to this park. • Trails Update—the new TXDOT trail is a wonderful addition to our park system. There is some erosion in this area but the parks staff will go in and make some corrections to the low lying areas of the trail. The newly constructed trail and the loop trail will soon connect. Ray said the trail will connect Trailwood, Bob Eden, McCormick and Villages of Bear Creek parks. He also mentioned that benches will be added along the trail system in the future. • Splash Pad — Ray said this item will be presented to Council tomorrow night and if approved then the project will be ready to seek bids. This item will be built on the existing tennis court at South Euless Park and will include water play elements, elevated water play structures, ground jets and sprays. The water park will be on a timer and the water will be re-circulated. This facility will also be ADA compliant, and can accommodate all users at any age. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 6 June 7,2004 Ray said he also recently sent out some letters regarding his Adopt-A-Park/Trail Program and said we are looking for any church, civic groups or neighborhoods who would like to participate in this program. He hopes to present these groups to the Board at the August meeting. c. Other Staff Reports Parks Manager Johnnie Green said his staff has been very busy with the clean-up from the recent storms. There were an estimated 300 trees damaged throughout the parks and also 15 to 20 Bradford trees were toppled over in the McCormick Farms Addition. He also mentioned the irrigation and landscape along North Main Street will be done by Public Works and contractors after being asked about the project by Mr. Scott. The Eagle Scouts will be doing a project at Midway Park this summer. Vice Chairperson Waldrup thanked the staff for all their reports tonight. VII. Other New Business Vice Chairperson Waldrup reminded the Board Members that there would not be a meeting in July. VIII. Input from City Council Members and Visitors Council Member Hogg advised the Board Members that there would not be any landscaping on the North Main Street project until fall and the newly ordered lamp posts should be arriving soon. ADJOURNMENT Vice Chairperson Waldrup gave the benediction. There being no further business to conduct, the meeting was adjourned at 8:20 p.m. Vice Chairperson l/� ' Attester