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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-02-02 REGULAR MEETING PARKS AND LEISURE SERVICES BOARD FEBRUARY 2,2004 CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting of the Parks and Leisure Services Board was called to order at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, February 2, 2004, in the Council Chambers of the Euless City Hall building by Chairman Eric Owens. Other Board Members present: Mike Daniel, Carl Miller, Glendora Waldrup, Stacey Hollinger, Boyce Byers and alternates Carroll"Scotty" Scott,Jeff Sawlan and Dan Clark. 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: Council Member Leon Hogg, Billy Owens (AARP), Elizabeth Griffin and Elize Schiff. INVOCATION Boyce Byers gave the invocation. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chairman Owens asked if there were any additions or corrections to the minutes from the January 5, 2004 regular meeting. There being none, 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 visited South Euless Park the other night and there are no lights on in the park but the park was clean. He said Heritage Park is a beautiful park, it was clean and there was no activity during his inspection. Carl Miller said both Midway and Blessing Branch parks were nice and clean. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 2 February 2,2004 Glendora Waldrup said at McCormick Park the trail is completed under the bridge from the west side except for some clean-up work which still needs to be done. At Villages of Bear Creek Park she noticed some debris in the creek area but overall the park looks good as well as the soccer fields. Stacey Hollinger said he drove through the Parks at Texas Star and said everything looks good and there was no activity due to the ball fields still being closed. Boyce Byers said the only Special Event during January was the Christmas Tree Recycling event which was held on Saturday, January 10th. She reminded everyone of the Community Garage Sale at Midway Recreation Center which is sold out and it will be held on Saturday, February 20. She also reminded everyone of the upcoming Arbor Daze Preview which is scheduled for Saturday, March 6th at 7:00 p.m. at the Texas Star Conference Center. Carroll Scott said Trailwood Park was in very good shape. He said people were using the new trail at Bob Eden Park even though the trail is not completed and further mentioned that he noticed some graffiti on the new trail — but that it had washed away after the rain. It had probably been done is chalk. Jeff Sawlan said West Park is in good shape and Wilshire Park is very pristine, clean and in great shape as well. Dan Clark mentioned that he could tell that the creek at Kiddy Carr Park had been cleaned out since his last report, but there had been some additional trash thrown into the creek since the clean-up. He found six (6) car batteries which had been dumped in the creek and a Pine Tree along the creek is showing erosion. He said he is still concerned with the pipe draining into the creek from a local business. Mr. Clark feels something needs to be done to correct the situation and suggested that signs be placed in the park to discourage people from dumping. He also said the restrooms were disgusting and there was also graffiti found in the park. Ray McDonald said he would have Johnnie go out to the park and look at the car batteries to see if we might be able to trace where they came from. He also said the restrooms are serviced weekly. Ray further mentioned that the Parks Department staff does clean all the parks thoroughly one to two times a year. He also said Public Works will be relocating some of the lines at Kiddy Carr Park. Ray also mentioned that the pipe Mr. Clark is referring to in the creek had been checked out by Public Works and after further inspection, declared that it is nothing more than a water drain pipe. Chairman Owens wanted to thank Parks and Public Works for cleaning the creek area at Kiddy Carr Park and also thanked Dan Clark and Mike Daniel for the additional pictures taken at the park. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 3 February 2,2004 II. Volunteer of the Month Chairman Owens presented the Euless Senior Citizen Center with a plaque for the February 2004 Volunteers of the Month. This group has given a tremendous amount of time and effort to the city by bagging trees for the Arbor Daze Tree Giveaway for the last couple of years, helping with the Texas Trash-Off events each year as well as stuffing envelopes for important event mail-outs. He thanked them for everything they do for the community. Ms. Elizabeth Griffin and Ms. Elize Schiff said they are pleased to accept this plaque for the seniors and said they will be hanging the plaque so anyone coming into the center will see it. NEW BUSINESS III. Business of the Tree Board Tree Board Chairman Mike Daniel mentioned the following: three (3) trees were planted at City Hall, one (1) Live Oak tree was rescued from the North Main Street road construction, and fourteen (14)trees were also rescued from the Parks at Texas Star—Phase III construction site. All the trees were moved to a temporary tree farm next to the greenhouse. Eleven (11) trees were also saved from the West Park irrigation project and were moved to different locations in the park. A Magnolia tree grown from a cutting from the Fuller House is ready to be planted. The original Magnolia parent tree was too large to move so cuttings were taken and rooted at the greenhouse. The city now has two (2) historical trees and a suggestion has been made to have plaques made showing the significance of these trees. Ray McDonald said he would make sure we get a plaque each for the historic Magnolia and Fig trees. IV. Parks and Community Services Reports a. Recreation Report—Suzanne Hendrickson Recreation Manager Suzanne Hendrickson gave the following updates: • Preserve at McCormick Park — is in the preliminary design phase and a Kidz Design Committee was formed from students at Lakewood, North Euless and Bear Creek Elementary and Euless Junior High to incorporate their ideas on designing the park and said the kids came up with lots of terms and ideas on their own. On Saturday, February 6th the Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 4 February 2,2004 school kids will be shuttled out to the site for a park tour. Afterwards a pizza luncheon and presentation of certificates for all their hard work will be done at the Library. She also said we are still waiting on completed documents from Sandlin and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department • On February 15th we will be going live with an on-line registration system for facility rentals, renewing memberships to Midway Recreation Center and enrolling in classes. She wanted to thank Dan Clark and Alex Horton for their participation in helping with the program. Suzanne also said letters will be sent to all current members giving instructions on how to use the new on-line registration program as well as sending surveys out to all members to see how satisfied members are with Midway Recreation Center. • 1,400 surveys were also recently sent out to all senior citizens regarding their usage of the Simmons Senior Center and how we can improve our programs for seniors in the community. She will have the results of this survey at the next meeting. • During the month of January there were over 10,000 visits to Midway Recreation Center, 478 new memberships were sold during the month and over 1,000 hours of use on the cardio equipment. • She reminded the Board Members of the upcoming Arbor Daze Premier Night scheduled for March 6th at 7:00 p.m. at the Texas Star Conference Center. She said invitations will be going out in the mail this week. Stacey Hollinger inquired as to who is using the soccer fields at Bob Eden Park? Suzanne said the DFW Tejanos are renting the soccer fields Monday through Thursday from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and said they have been renting the fields for a few years now. b. Community Services Report—Ray McDonald Director of Parks and Community Services Ray McDonald had the following comments: • He thanked all the Board Members, Billy Owens and Council Member Leon Hogg for all their support at the recent City Council meeting regarding the Parks at Texas Star— Phase III. He said City Council approved the funding and Carter Construction is very anxious to start construction on Phase III. • The West Park irrigation project has been bid and staff has done lots of prep work by moving boulders and dressing areas to be grassed. The entire park will be irrigated, an edging in the asphalt drive will also be cut and most of the work will be done in-house by the parks staff. • At Bob Eden Park Ray plans to walk the trail system with Stacey and Ray will also get with Ralph Klein and Jimmy Beck regarding the landscape work for the trails. He said the trail culverts have been poured and hopefully this project will be completed within the month. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 5 February 2,2004 • Parks and Public Works have been working on the soccer fields on East Midway Drive by grading and prepping the fields and he said backstops will be added probably after Arbor Daze. • The Parks and Softball World staff has been working the last couple of months in preparation for the irrigation project at Softball World which should be completed this week. All the infields have now been prepped and re-worked with clay in preparation for adding infield conditioner. The entire Softball World facility will now be irrigated and has been extensively remodeled when it reopens this month. He also mentioned new wireless remote LED scoreboards have been purchased and donated by Coca-Cola. Ray also thanked Dan Clark for his report tonight of Carr Park and said we will continue to work with other departments in trying to keep the parks looking in great shape and clean. He said he hopes residents in the community will report any problems they see and suggested that maybe a "Vandalism Report"can be added to the website. V. Other New Business Chairman Owens reminded the Board Members of the appreciation dinner at North Main Barbecue next Thursday, February 12th at 6:30 p.m. He said to RSVP with Linda if they are attending the dinner. VII. Input from City Council Members and Visitors Chairman Owens said he received a letter from Alex Horton and was ask to read the letter since Alex was not able to be present for the meeting tonight due to being out of town. The letter mentioned that Alex is the Chairman of the Wine Committee and they are trying to form a committee to partition signatures in grocery stores for the sale of wine in Euless. Council Member Leon Hogg congratulated Johnnie Green and Terry Boaz on their recent promotions. He also said the City Council was glad to support the Parks at Texas Star— Phase III funding from the Rental Car Tax the city receives. Chairman Owens also thanked the City Council for supporting Phase III of the Parks at Texas Star. Ray McDonald said as soon as the contracts are received then construction will start on Phase III and also mentioned that we are not that far behind schedule with this project. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 6 February 2,2004 ADJOURNMENT Chairman Owens gave the benediction. Being no further business to conduct,the meeting was adjourned at 8:10 p.m. Chairman Attest