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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-03-03 REGULAR MEETING PARKS AND LEISURE SERVICES BOARD MARCH 3, 2003 CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting of the Parks and Leisure Services Board was called to order at 7:01 p.m. on Monday, March 3, 2003, in the Council Chambers of the Euless Municipal Building by Chairman Eric Owens. Other Board Members present: Boyce Byers, Carl Miller, Mike Daniel and alternates Carroll "Scotty" Scott, Dan Clark and Jeff Sawlan. Board Members Glendora Waldrup and Stacey Hollinger were absent. Staff members present: Assistant Director Ray McDonald, Parks Superintendent Johnnie Green, Recreation Manager Suzanne Hendrickson, Volunteer Coordinator Jerry Poteet and Administrative Secretary Linda Lux. Visitors present: Council Member Leon Hogg, Billy Owens and Kay Turner. INVOCATION Mike Daniel gave the invocation. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chairman Owens asked if there were any additions or corrections to the minutes from the February 3, 2003 regular meeting. There being no changes Boyce Byers 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 Mr. Daniel said J. A. Can Park always has lots of citizens in the park. At Kiddy Can Park he noticed bicycle trails in this park. Mr. Miller said the Special Events this past month included Movies at Midway Rec, Master Works at the Library and Arbor Daze Premier Night at the Texas Star Conference Centre. Mr. Scott mentioned that at Trailwood Park the slide has a broken bolt that needs replacing and there were some broken tree limbs and a broken light globe. At Bob Eden Park the "e" is tilted in the sign, the tennis court was in good shape and the rest rooms were clean. He did notice some broken tree limbs in the park. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 2 March 3, 2003 Mr. Miller said South Euless Park is in great shape and looks good. He also said at Heritage Park a sidewalk is being installed and the area has been cleaned-up at the rear of the park in back of the adjacent homes. Mr. Clark said he visited McCormick Park and the beaver is evidently now gone. He said the paint has peeled on the bottom areas of the beautiful light posts, the park looks very good but is under utilized. He also mentioned he noticed a tree house that had been built back in the creek area. He said he walked Villages of Bear Creek Park and there were lots of people in the park, the creek was clean and the park looked good. He said the graffiti is still on the pipe that runs across the creek and the portable rest rooms had not been emptied recently. Mrs. Byers said Midway Park looked nice and clean and the playground equipment looked good. She also said Blessing Branch Park looks fine and very clean. Mr. Sawlan said The Parks at Texas Star had lots of citizens and the playground was being utilized and everything looked good. He said the batting cage doors had been repaired. He mentioned the side door on the driving range house was slightly ajar. Mr. Sawlan also wanted to give kudos to Scott Boven and his staff for the wonderful job they have done in keeping the golf course in tip-top shape and everything looks just great on the course. Chairman Owens reported that Westpark had lots of activity with softball practices and the park is in good shape. Also Wilshire Park looks great and the pond area looks good and is well kept and all the surrounding homeowners are very pleased with this park. II. Volunteer of the Month Chairman Owens introduced Ms. Kay Turner who was in attendance for Bill Blackerby and Mary Del Monte of Showplace Lanes as the March 2003 Volunteers of the Month and presented her with a plaque each for Mary and Bill's volunteer service. Chairman Owens said both Mary and Bill have helped with the 2002 Easter Egg Hunt by donating Easter Eggs, 2002 Arbor Daze Auction and the 2002 Texas Trash Off. They have provided the use of their facility with food and drink after the 2002 Texas Trash Off and they will be providing usage of their facility again after the 2003 Texas Trash Off next month in April. Showplace Lanes again will also help with this years Easter Egg Hunt with the usage of the portable bowling lane and by providing coupons for free games of bowling. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 3 March 3, 2003 NEW BUSINESS III. Business of the Tree Board Tree Board Chairperson Boyce Byers said there were 37 trees planted this past month. Preparation has also begun on the re-planting of the Villages of Bear Creek Tree Farm. Fifteen-gallon size slow growing trees and one-gallon size fast growing trees will be planted and in time the fast growing small trees will catch up in size to the larger slow growing trees. IV. Parks at Texas Star Development Committee Update Chairman Owens stated there has not been any recent committee meetings but hopefully one should be scheduled during the first part of April in order to proceed with the new phase development. V. Parks and Community Services Reports a. Recreation Update— Suzanne Hendrickson Recreation Manager Suzanne Hendrickson distributed an update on memberships at Midway Recreation Center. She stated that to date the Recreation Center has sold a total of 1,799 memberships this year and also updated the Board Members on the number of facility rentals for February. She said all booths have been sold out for the upcoming Community Garage Sale that will be held at the Midway Recreation Center on Saturday, March 22nd from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Suzanne also reminded the Board Members of the following events scheduled for April. (1) April 5th — Texas Trash Off from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. with all volunteers meeting at Showplace Lanes (2) April 12th—Easter Egg Hunt from 10:00 a.m. to Noon at the Parks at Texas Star (3) April 19th—Arbor Daze Community Work Day from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. She also distributed the 2003 Arbor Daze brochures and mentioned that our Graphic Artist Jeff Towne had produced this year's brochure. She stated that Arbor Daze tickets could be obtained from Midway Recreation Center as well as parking passes, premium seating and carnival tickets. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 4 March 3, 2003 b. Volunteer/Event Update—Jerry Poteet Volunteer Coordinator Jerry Poteet mentioned to the Board Members that Euless has a very strong volunteer base with at least 200 volunteers as well as a few volunteer groups. Some of the volunteer groups include AARP, Metroplex Chapel and students from South Euless Elementary School. He also commended Showplace Lanes for all their support and the usage of their facility after the Texas Trash-Off for the last couple of years. Showplace Lanes has been kind enough to provide free bowling, food and drinks to all the volunteers working the Texas Trash-Off event. Jerry also thanked Boyce Byers for all her time spent with helping with the selection of the Volunteer of the Month program. He said advertising is done through marketing materials displayed at different locations throughout the community such as grocery stores, retail businesses, city offices and etc. Jerry thanked the Board Members for listening to his presentation tonight. Chairman Owens thanked Jerry for his work, time and success with the Volunteer of the Month selections each month and his great job of obtaining volunteers for all our programs and events. Boyce Byers said staff did a great job with setting-up and decorating for the auction on Saturday. c. Community Services Reports—Ray McDonald Assistant Director of Parks and Community Services Ray McDonald mentioned that we just hosted the Arbor Daze Premier Night this past weekend and thanked Suzanne, Mary and Linda for all their help with pre-auction work during the week of bad weather. He thanked Johnnie Green and his department and staff for their help with setting up for the auction, as well as, Jerry Poteet and his 23 volunteers that helped during the auction. Ray also expressed his thanks to the Texas Star staff for all their help during the auction and said the auction was extremely successful and there was lots of excitement, people and fun during the evening. He stated this was the largest attendance ever with many great items and we surpassed all past auctions with a grand total of$25,000 being made to support Arbor Daze. Ray said with this year's line of great entertainers, we are expecting the largest attendance ever and that the new kids area will be a great attraction for all families attending the festival. Ray mentioned that the City has received an acceptance letter regarding the grant for The Preserve at McCormick Park. He said officials are planning to form a "Kids Design Council" for the park with help and input from the HEB-ISD and C/GISD to receive and incorporate ideas and concerns from area school kids for outdoor programs which will be provided at the park. Ray invited the Board Members to come out and walk the proposed park area. He said that Peni Sitani retired from the Park Department the end of February but said that Peni might be doing some contract work as Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 5 March 3, 2003 needed by the department. Ray mentioned the tennis court at Wilshire is currently closed due to maintenance concerns. He further mentioned that the Parks at Texas Star has been busy with tournaments and the season starts on March 29th for EAA. Ray reminded the Board Members that the Games of Texas will be coming to Euless and five other surrounding cities in July and he will keep the Board posted on the activities and events. VI. Other New Business Chairman Owens said there was no other new business for discussion. VII. Input from City Council Members and Visitors Council Member Leon Hogg mentioned that he sat on two recent town hall meetings and the citizens from the Wilshire area only had praise on the new park and that everyone really loves the beautiful pond and trail in the park. He also updated the Board Members on the Main Street project and also stated that the newly built monument signs are a great addition to Main Street. Mr. Hogg said the new Audi car dealership had a groundbreaking recently and will be built on the north side of the Wilshire Park pond facing Airport Freeway. Billy Owens said he went to walk this past weekend at Midway Recreation Center and said while he was there the watched the regional fencing tournament and said this was a very fascinating sport to watch and he learned quite a bit about fencing. Suzanne told Mr. Owens and the Board Members that fencing would be one of the sports venues during the Games of Texas in July. ADJOURNMENT Chairman Owens gave the benediction. There being no further business to conduct, the meeting was adjourned at 8:22 p.m. /71----/-/ ed::€2111t4./1 Chairman Attest J