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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-04-09 Parks and Leisure Services Board REGULAR MEETING PARKS AND LEISURE SERVICES BOARD April 9, 2001 CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting of the Parks and Leisure Services Board was called to order at 7:02 p.m. on Monday, April 9, 2001, in the Council Chambers of the Euless Municipal Building by Chairman Eric Owens. Other Board Members present were: Stacey Hollinger, Boyce Byers, Bruce Ebert, Carl Miller, Glendora Waldrup and alternates Carroll "Scotty" Scott and Mike Daniel. There were no members absent. Staff members present were: Director of Community Services Rick Herold, Parks Superintendent Johnnie Green, Superintendent of Recreation Suzanne Hendrickson and Administrative Secretary Linda Lux. Visitors present were: Sue White, Ray Kunze, Forest Herold, Bryan Klein with Hoover/Klein Group, Paulette Tinker, Jackie Benner and Mark Lucas (McCormick Park Homeowners Association) and Tim Rolen. INVOCATION Stacey Hollinger gave the invocation. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chairman Owens asked if there were any additions or corrections to the minutes from the March 5, 2001 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. Miller said there has been very high usage at the Athletic Complex and as always the fields are in excellent shape and well maintained. Mrs. Waldrup said Blessing Branch Park looked good. At Midway Park the play area was clean and mowed but said the equipment needs to be refurbished. She said the ball fields and grass are in very good condition, the enclosure around the portable rest room looks good and stated the diving board looked somewhat rusted. She mentioned that Midway Recreation Center was crowded with lots of basketball players, there were many citizens using the fitness center and she also commented Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 2 April 9, 2001 on how clean the facility was. Mrs. Waldrup mentioned that the pool and diving board looked like they were in need of maintenance. Mr. Green said they were aware of such and they would be repaired by the opening of swim season. Mr. Hollinger said both McCormick and Villages of Bear Creek parks looked good and were in good shape. Mrs. Byers said the Special Events for March consisted of: (1) Strongman Contest [March 17th1 (2) HEB Business Expo [March 24th] at Trinity High School (3) Classic Baseball started with 42 teams registered (4) Easter Egg Hunt [April 71 at The Parks at Texas Star with about 750 present (5) The Texas Trash-Off[April 7th] with about 125 citizens and school children helping Mrs. Byers also listed the upcoming events for April: (1) Vocal competition [April 141 at Ruth Millican Center (2) Arbor Daze community clean-up [April 211 at the new site (3) Arbor Daze Carnival Night Extravaganza [April 26th1 (4) Arbor Daze [April 27th-291 Mr. Scott said his two parks are J. A. Carr(Simmons) and Kiddy Carr. He said there were about 50 people in the park area. There was an Easter Egg Hunt in one area and lots of people playing soccer. The portable rest rooms needed to be cleaned and stated there needs to be more rest rooms added to the park area. The gazebo had broken glass around the area and some of the lattice on the gazebo was broken or missing. Mr. Green advised the Board that the gazebo had recently been vandalized and that is why the lattice was broken or missing. He also stated that Westpark had also been vandalized during the past weekend. Suzanne Hendrickson advised the Board that the Ruth Millican Center was also recently vandalized with graffiti and the air conditioner had been pulled out from the building, so presently there is no air conditioning in the building until it can be repaired. Mr. Daniel said Westpark and Wilshire parks were very clean and looked good. Mr. Ebert said at Bob Eden Park there has been lots of usage even with the construction of Mid- Cities Boulevard and also that the rest rooms were very unsanitary and needed cleaning. At Trailwood Park he noticed the water fountain was not working, some wooden railroad ties had rotted and he suggested that maybe this could eventually be rocked. There was also trash in the Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 3 April 9, 2001 creek (this would be a good project for maybe the Boy Scouts) and the fitness trail station was in need of repair. Chairman Owens said both South Euless and Heritage Park looked good. Mrs. Byers said there is a new outhouse at Heritage Park by the log cabin and soon a windmill will also be added to this area of the park. She also commented on how beautiful the roses are in the park. II. Volunteer of the Month Chairman Owens presented Sue White and Ray Kunze with a plaque for the April Volunteer of the Month. He said both Sue and Ray have been involved during the past year with obtaining items for the annual Arbor Daze Auction. They have also worked the Dixie Major World Series, the New Year's Eve concert, summer musicals and the Texas Star Music series. Mr. Herold said that Ray and Sue have already started working on Arbor Daze 2002. NEW BUSINESS III. Business of the Tree Board Tree Board Chairman Ebert said there was a total of sixteen trees planted, with five at the Dr. Pepper Star Center and eleven at the Parks at Texas Star and Westpark. Also 1000 Red Oak acorns were potted at the greenhouse for the children's tree activity at Arbor Daze. Grass seed was also sowed on some of the medians due to the drought conditions last year. Chairman Ebert also distributed the City of Hursts new tree ordinance that was recently approved by their City Council. IV. McCormick Park Plav2round discussion —Paulette Tinker Ms. Paulette Tinker, 400 Huntington Lane, an eighteen-year resident was present regarding the playground at McCormick Park. She is upset because the new playground equipment that was installed was not relocated to its original placement in the park and it was replaced with a metal playground that she says is ugly. She said the neighborhood children as well as other people are jumping over her fence and using her yard to cut through to the playground. She and some of the other neighbors prefer that the playground be moved back to the original location. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 4 April 9, 2001 Chairman Owens said the playground equipment was moved to the present location due to the erosion of the creek embankment and he said by having the playground closer to the homes then it is safer for the children playing. He stated this is the standard approved equipment that is used throughout all playgrounds and parks in the country. Ms. Jackie Benner, 404 Harrington Lane, said they are getting lots of foot traffic to the playground now and some of the older children have put-up a rope and are swinging out over the creek. She feels this will put more of a liability on the surrounding neighbors. She also felt the playground should be moved because she can hear the kids when they are playing and they get very loud. She wants the park to remain a neighborhood park instead of a local community area park, that is now attracting kids from other subdivisions outside their immediate area. Mr. Herold advised the homeowners that the playground was located 198 feet from the property owners and he suggested that maybe the playground area could be landscaped in order to cut down on the noise generated by the children playing. Ms. Tinker said that if the playground cannot be relocated then she feels the homeowners should have input into the proposed landscaping. Mr. Green stated that McCormick Park presently does not have an irrigation system so the landscaping would have to be carefully selected. This park is scheduled for funding in 2002 for the irrigation work. Mr. Hollinger said he is for the landscape but does not want the playground entirely screened off from the neighborhood or public due to safety concerns. Mrs. Byers made the motion to leave the playground in the current location and to work with staff and citizens on a solution for the proposed landscaping. Mrs. Waldrup seconded the motion and the vote was unanimous. V. Parks Master Plan Bryan Klein with Hoover/Klein Group was present to discuss the Parks Master Plan. He distributed three schematic maps for Westpark, Bob Eden Park and Midway Park and also listings for the different capital project needs. Mr. Klein said the previous work session was very beneficial and stated the process should be close to finalizing next week at the last scheduled work session. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 5 April 9, 2001 VI. Parks and Community Services Reports a. Rick Herold, Director of Community Services Mr. Herold introduced his father Forrest Herold to the Board and said his dad helped with overseeing some of the kids at the annual Texas Trash-Off this past weekend. He mentioned the Easter Egg Hunt had about 750 in attendance and the kids had a very good time. Mr. Herold reminded the Board of the vocal competition scheduled for Saturday, April 14th at the Ruth Millican Center. He also reminded everyone of Arbor Daze scheduled for April 27th through April 29th. b. Suzanne Hendrickson, Superintendent of Recreation— Spring Sports Update Ms. Hendrickson distributed the new Euless Today and said they would be mailed to residents at the end of this week. She reminded the Board that Euless residents could take the coupon on the back of the Euless Today to Raven's Grille and get their parking pass for Arbor Daze. She also distributed a parks and community services status report for the month of March. Ms. Hendrickson advised the Board that Randy Smith will be starting on April 18th and he will be the new recreation center supervisor at Midway Recreation Center. c. Staff Reports There were no additional staff reports tonight. VII. Other New Business There was no new business to discuss. VIII. Input from City Council Members and Visitors There was no input from the audience. Parks and Leisure Services Board Page 6 April 9, 2001 ADJOURNMENT Chairman Owens gave the benediction. There being no further business to conduct,the meeting was adjourned at 9:12 p.m. Chairman Attest