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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFBMINUTES080107Friends of West University Place Parks Fund, Inc. Board Meeting Minutes August 1, 2007 Friends of West University Place Parks Board met on Wednesday, August 1, 2007, at 11:30 a.m. at the West University Place Recreation Center, 4210 Bellaire Blvd. The following were in attendance: Board Members Executive Director Others Joni Fichter Donna LaMond Russ S. Sue Hanna Eva Ruth Murquec Leah Ragiel Chuck Guffy Tim O'Connor Ian Bouillion Judy Bouillion Susie Boyce Susan Sample Diane Cain Vicki Grams Joni Fichter called the meeting to order at 11:40 a.m. President's Report - Joni Fichter • Welcome - it's been awhile! Lots of catching up to do! • Congrats to Susan Sample on her wedding on 6/30. In between planning a wedding, she has been planning our community garage sale. Details later. • Thanks to the hosts of the Crawfish Boil on 5/5 as they raised over $2300 for our parks + everyone had a great time! • Several of us attended a recognition ceremony honoring Vicki & Penny Grams for their PLB efforts and Palmer Wilson on his Eagle Scout park project in May. Very nice. • After council voted in May to fund in full Friends Park, the groundbreaking was held on 6/28/2007. The plan in its entirety will be built and should be complete 90 days from start so the end of September or first of October. We will have a ribbon cutting celebration at that time. Thanks to those who attended and to Tim and staff for their efforts. It was a great photo opportunity with council, task force, etc. • Immediately following, we received the Comcast check for $25K. Again, a special thanks to Councilman Dick Yehle for his help and support with this and to June and Craig from Comcast. We also took photos with Comcast as they presented a check. Donna will send these to the press. • Big news ...Diane Cain will chair PLB 08. Please welcome and congratulate her. Thanks to Kim Wilson for pursuing Diane as the chair! We are blessed to have her. More details in her report but Donna has been working on the hotel contract and other things in anticipation of Diane as chair. • We have another great addition to our fundraising efforts - Fathers & Flashlights which is an urban camping experience that we will hold on the WUE/WULL/Tri-sports fields. Thanks to those groups for accommodating us and to Daryl Hoover whose brainchild this is. She and her husband are co-chairing with Jennifer Gatto and they have put together an amazing committee! Please welcome Daryl and Jennifer. We've been hard at work securing a date, place, getting fundraising letters out, etc. More details in their report. • Leah Ragiel has been hard at work on the Guild and will update us, as well, in her report. • Parks Planning Committee continues to be hard at work seeking possible new park space. If you ever hear of land that might be available for something along these lines, contact Dave Agerton, the Parks Board, at dave agerton/us/enbridge@enbridge.com. • Parties on the Patio and Music Under the Stars Concerts in the Park have gone well. • Good press on the Friends Park in both papers, our awards in City Currents. • Judy Bouillion has an updated address and email - iudybouillion@att.net and 3108 University. • Thanks to Margaret Wallace and Diana Brown who will roll off due to other commitments but who will still help with PLB and will hopefully return one day soon! Thanks for your many years of service and dedication. Approval of the Minutes and Sign-in Sheet - Judy Bouillion A motion was made by Susan Sample and seconded by Sue Hanna to approve the May 2, 2007 Minutes as sent. The motion carried. Parks & Rec Report - Tim O'Connor Park Planning Project: • City has entered a contract with Carter & Burgess Inc., to assess the failed November 2006 Bond Election, to plan forward in revising the redevelopment strategy for the West University Recreation Center and the Colonial Park Swimming Pool & Recreation Center, to assist in preparing for a new Bond Election and to assess and possibly update the City's Parks Master Plan. • Park Planning Sub-Committee, Mayor Kelly, Councilmember Cohen, Michael Ross and I met with Carter & Burgess on July 19"'. The Scope of Service was reviewed and updated. • We anticipate a "final Report' from Carter & Burgess to be presented to the City Council, Parks Board and General Public on Monday, August 13, 2007. ("final report' will be released to the media at that time.) Friends Pocket Park: • Construction began on July 2, 2007 with an anticipated completion date within 120 days of start. • An official Groundbreaking Ceremony was conducted on June 28, 2007. • Mobilization of project well under way. • Layout is established. • Tree protection completed and satisfactory. • Demolition is complete. Two Chinese pistache trees have been removed by the city. We removed the Oak Tree. I have a request for proposal in to Jack regarding cost differences due to oak not being transplanted. • Grading has been started and excess soil is being stored on site to be used later. • Drainage is complete and satisfactory. • Piers have been moved back to second week in August. This puts the project about a week behind schedule, which we don't consider to be excessive due to rain delays. • A formal Park Dedication Ceremony and ribbon cutting will be conducted, once all the work is complete. An "official" date and time for the ceremony shall be established by the Friends Board. City Wide Tree Maintenance Project: • Bid has been awarded to Texas Services, LTD. • Work began on June 1, 2007 and is approximately 60% complete as of 7/31/07. • Work to include comprehensive tree care in parks and identified trees on municipal property. • Cost: $8,935.00, funded through the WUP Tree Trust. Parkland Acquisition Sub-Committee: • Investigating potential park properties, between Edloe & Buffalo Speedway / Bissonnet & Bellaire, for the development of a future neighborhood park. • 2 million in funding was approved in the November 2006 Bond Election. • A final report/recommendation has been presented to City Council. • City Manager Ross has been contacting identified property owners to determine if they are interested is selling and is identifying what the asking & "fair market' prices are. Colonial Park Drainage Project: • Project involves re-grading the east end of the park, to terminate the ponding that currently exists. • Project Cost: $5,800.00 Friends of West University Place Parks Inc. approved fully funding the expense and City Council authorized the expenditure. • Involves grubbing and re-grading approximately 9,000 square feet, with new turf being rolled in place. • Involves approximately two days work, requiring the east end of the park being closed. The new turf will require being undisturbed, no foot traffic, for approximately thirty days. • It has been determined that the work will be scheduled after the start of the 2007/2008 School Year - early to late October 2007. Friend's Board: • Developing a five-year playground improvement plan, for the period beginning 2008 through 2012. Plan intended to allow the annual Park Lovers Ball Planning Committee to promote definitive park and playground improvements at Huff ington, Colonial, Judson, Wier and Whiff Johnson Parks, in their fundraising efforts. Goal is to have the plan approved by September 2007. • Friends received a $25,000.00 donation from Comcast. This donation qualifies for the full Lewis Foundation Matching Grant - $50,000.00! • The date for the 2008 Park Lover's Ball has been set for February 9, 2008, tentatively at the Hotel ZaZa. • Friends Executive Director LaMond and President Joni Fichter are working with the Fathers & Flashlights Planning Committee and City Staff in preparation for the first annual event scheduled for Saturday, October 27, 2007. Potential for revenue to the Friends is estimated to exceed $10,000.00 • Friends Board is working towards facilitating a Community Garage Sale fundraiser in the Fall of 2007. Parks & Recreation Operations: • Summer classes, programs and activities are in full swing, with a majority of our offerings making the registration minimum requirements. The rain has had a negative impact on Public Swim participation and subsequently pool revenues. Swim lessons and camp programs have not been fiscally impacted by the inordinate rainfall. • Colonial Park Pool: 1) Mechanical Room has been renovated and 2) The replacement of the pool water heating system has been completed and all systems are operational. 3) The "baby pool" shade framework has been completely renovated and the shade material has been installed. 4) All new deck furniture has been received and is in use. The "old" furniture has been put into service at the West University Recreation Center Pool. • City Council approved the hiring of the requested Administrative Recreation Specialist position. This full-time position has been posted and we anticipate it being filled by September 1, 2007. • Staff is preparing an updated Fee Schedule for all PARD facility memberships, admission fees and facility rentals, working with Parks Board Member Dave Agerton. We will present an updated fee schedule to City Council in conjunction with the 2008 Budget. • We experienced a series of three burglaries at the Community Building during June and July. The Police Department put in place several security measures and was successful in arresting the culprit and recovering the stolen equipment and supplies. The Police Department is investigating the installation of a security system in the Community/Senior Services Building, beginning in early 2008. • The 2008 Budget Process is underway. 1) We are not requesting any new positions. 2) 1 anticipate any park playground and park equipment Capital Improvement Projects (CIP's) will be funded through the fundraising efforts of the Friends Board. 3) Preliminary listing of CIP's we will be requesting funding for: A) Fibar Upgrades, $3,000.00 B) Re-plaster Colonial Pool, $25,000.00 C) Renovation of Public Works Kitchen, $4,300.00 D) Renovation of Fire Station Kitchen & Dining Area, $5,800.00 E) HVAC Equipment Replacements, $28,000.00 4) We will be proposing increasing fees to recover whatever percentage of the operations and maintenance budget the Council directs us to. 5) Cardio Equipment for Colonial Park Recreation Center, $7,500.00. Operations and Maintenance budgets should remain close to the 2007 Budget, but • with gasoline prices rising, we anticipate many of our contract services and goods increasing in price - exact percentage unknown at this time. • A RFQ has been mailed to qualified vendors, exclusively for the preventative maintenance of the city's HVAC systems. • Preparations have begun on producing RFQ's for both the city's janitorial and mowing/landscaping contracts. We anticipate facilitating those bids in the Fall of 2007. Executive Director's Report - Donna LaMond • Biggest and most exciting news is that we have a ball chair for the 2008 ball! We are very fortunate to have Diane Cain, a most seasoned veteran of events of this nature, agree to chair the ball for us. We have had several discussions and one meeting so far this summer to get this underway. More on the ball when we get to that on our agenda. • Regarding Park Lovers Ball 07, Penny Grams and I spent most of last Friday working on finalizing and closing out the books for PLB07. We still have some receivables we are attempting to collect. We plan to spend some more time this week getting everything ready to hand over to Diane. Our database should be in better shape than ever when we are finished. Thanks so much to Penny for her extra efforts to make this happen. Vicki will be joining the forces to help with this effort as well. Penny and Vicki have been working on a recommendations outline for PLB as well. I have a draft, but it is not yet finished. A final recommendation report will be provided to the board upon completion. • Attended a West U Park Planning Workshop on the evening of May 2, along with other community members to provide input and commentary on park related needs. • On May 14 met with Susan Sample and Susan White at the Rec Center to evaluate it for a possible location for the planned Friends Garage Sale. Susan will report more on this event when we come to that on the agenda. • Also on May 14, attended the City Council meeting where Penny & Vicki Grams were recognized for their tremendous contributions to West U. They were each presented with a Star Citizen Award. Members of their families were present along with other fans. Palmer Wilson was also recognized at this meeting and presented with a Star Citizen Award. He wrote a nice thank you note to Friends and sent a picture along with it. The note and picture are here to pass around. • Prepared Friends article for inclusion in the next issue of City Currents, which included announcing that the Lewis Match had been met and exceeded. • Vicki Grams and I represented Friends at the sneak peak opening of Hotel ZaZa on May 30. • Attended swearing in ceremony for new mayor and council on June 4"'. • On June 18"' attended first meeting regarding a new Friends fundraising event, Fathers & Flashlights scheduled for October 27th. This event was proposed by and in being chaired by Daryl and Aaron Hoover and Jennifer Gatto. This is an urban camp out for fathers and their children, which will take place on the fields by West U Elementary on Saturday night, Oct. 27, 2007. This was a kick off meeting basically to explore the event further, set a date, and move forward. Brittany Bakes and Tim O'Connor also attended the meeting. We just had another meeting regarding this event on July 24th, which included Susan White, Gary McFarland, Daryl and Jennifer, and Alyce McLamb (taking notes on behalf of Bob McLamb who could not attend the meeting.) This event, due to its location, had to be coordinated with all the organizations that use those fields. Everyone has been extremely cooperative and helpful. I have a copy of the latest list of underwriters for this event here today for you all to take a look at. 1 also have a set of underwriting materials for you to see what the levels of giving are and so forth. We'd originally hoped for the event to net over $10,000, which will go directly to Friends, and as you can see on the report, we are already beyond that number. We are currently at $11,125 as of Tuesday, July 31. Both Daryl and Jennifer are out of town, but should be at our next meeting to provide you with more details. Meanwhile, we have a handout here today which provides a good overview of the event. • On June 28th participated in the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Friends Park (formerly referred to as the Rice Pocket Park) currently under construction. A great photo of this event appeared on the cover of the most recent Parks & Recreation Activity Guide. This event also served as a vehicle for announcing the receipt of the $25k Comcast check and for a public presentation of the check. June Lohman and Craig D'Agostini represented Comcast at this event and officially presented the check to former Councilman Dick Yehle who accepted on behalf of Friends. A sincere thank you again to Mr. Yehle for the significant role he played in securing this generous donation from Comcast. • Mike LaMond, an Eagle Scout candidate, is working on Whitt Johnson Park project. • 1 have been in touch with Richard Cole at AT&T in an effort to be sure we fulfill our obligations set forth in the amenities promised for their underwriting of the PLB07 event. • Accompanied Sue Hanna for a visit to Andy lane at The Bank of River Oaks on July 20th to establish an account with them. Andy Lane is a resident of West U and Friends supporter. We successfully set up an account with them and look forward to a great relationship with them. • Contacted the Lewis Family and sent an invoice for the final funds needed to meet the match. Invoice amount is $314,336.00. The Lewis Family Charitable Foundation requires that we issue a check to the City in the invoice amount (if over $100k) before they will issue the matching check. Usually, we keep the restricted funds in our accounts so that we can directly collect on the interest. Their board will not need proof of the check deposit until their board meeting in November. Sue and I will keep an eye on this and be sure we issue the check to the City in plenty of time to be able to provide proof of the check deposit into the City bank account. • Working on recruiting prospective board members since we have some board members rolling off the board this month. I have been in contact with Mary Enerson and Kelli Watson to name a few. Mary is probably more interested in serving in a committee capacity at this time. We are going to get together in late August when she is back from vacationing to talk about what she would like to do. Kelli has expressed an interest in joining the board, but has not yet submitted an application. We would love to have Vernon Tyger to submit an application. An email was sent to him recently to see if he might be interested now that some time has passed since we last met with him and he had other obligations at that time. • Some new pavers were installed this summer. Thank you Diana Brown for taking care of these orders. • Working with Margaret Wallace to finish up the membership newsletter. Judy Bouillion is also helping with this project. • A separate report on the ball accompanies this report. Board Reports Treasurer's Report - Sue Hanna Reports distributed. $746,064.08 balance. Opened account with River Oaks Bank, $100,000 CD account opened. Compass, Encore and River Oaks are our bankers. Park Lovers Ball - 2008 - Diane Cain • Looking for a co-chair... Catherine Chandler declined for this year, but we should think of her for a future year. Investigating other candidates, including a chair for PLB09 who could/should shadow on the 08 ball. Also, talking to others about specific jobs on the ball, such as underwriting and auction. • Location: Hotel ZaZa Houston Museum District (contract completed and executed) • Date: Saturday, February 9, 2008 • Team in place: • Reservations: Lynne Goddard and Margaret Wallace • Auction: Sue Jensen has agreed to collect the auction forms and enter auction items into Auction Tracker. Her address is the one that will be the donor contracts. I will work on the donor contract so we can get those printed and distributed ASAP. • Fantasy Fundraisers (Auction Tracker people) have been retained once again to handle the auction for us. • 1 have asked Janine Schueppert to handle the slide show to be shown at the ball again, since she did such an outstanding job on the 07 ball. Waiting on confirmation from Janine that she will do it. • Vicki Grams has graciously agreed to help head up decorations for the 08 ball, hopefully partnering with Maria Elena Herbst. An email was sent to Maria Elena asking for her commitment to be part of this dynamic duo once again. • Kim Wilson, an advisory board member, has agreed to help in a significant way on the 08 ball. She is largely responsible for recruiting Diane Cain. Kim has certainly done a lot for Friends in the past, including chairing a ball and serving as an honorary chair along with her husband, Reid. Many thanks to Kim for her continuing support. Recycling for Charity, Eva Ruth Murquec will check on program and decisions for charity E-store - Diana Brown No report. Admin Committee No report. Sponsorship/Development Committee No report. Newsletter/Membership - Judy Bouillion Marketing/PR and Development - Susan Sample • Garage Sale set for September 29, 2007. She is researching portable storage vendors. Will contact Jim Reid to see if he as space for storage, or others for commercial space. • Board, please be saving hangers, bags and boxes for the garage sale. Also, need volunteers. Leah is recruiting volunteers for the guild remembering IB candidates need volunteer hours. Friends Guild - Leah Raglel • An email address has been set up for the Guild - friendsguild@sbcglobal.net • Initial Guild coffee will be held Friday, September 14th at CeCe McCann's home at 9:30 a.m. Monthly coffees will be held from September to April, the 2nd Friday of each month. • Attended Fathers and Flashlight meeting. The first annual event will be held on October 27, 2007. The group has a database. Leah is defining job descriptions and events, park clean up, internal jobs, coffees, and coordinating volunteers. Wish List/Giving Tree and Special Events & Projects - Vicki Grams and Maria Elena Herbst No report. Business Partners and Stork project - Lynne Goddard No report. Contracts. Nominations and Bylaws No report. Old Business None. New Business • Thinking toward the 25th anniversary of Friends and a gift to the community • There has been some discussion of hiring an account. Walter Thomas is retiring in January. New finance director may or may not be able to handle the not for profit tax return. Over the years it has been discussed that Friends hire an independent auditor. Can we get a volunteer from the community? Do we need to be audited to apply for grants? • Friends is not responsible for acquisition of land as stated in some former copy of the bylaws. • Next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 5, 2007 at 11:30. There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 1:00. Respectfully Submitted, Judy Bouillion 0