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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFBMINUTES040208Friends of West University Place Parks Fund, Inc. Board Meeting Minutes April 2, 2008 Friends of West University Place Parks Board met on Wednesday, April 2, 2008, at the West University Place Recreation Center at 4210 Bellaire Blvd. The following were in attendance: Board Members Executive Director Others Staff Joni Fichter Donna LaMond Chuck Gulley Tim O'Connor Sue Jensen Lynne Goddard Leah Ragiel Sue Hanna Susan Sample Joni Fichter called the meeting to order at 11:50 a.m. Chair's welcome - Joni Fichter • Thanks to the Bizet Siegel family for another donation of $5772.90, which will be earmarked for Whitt Johnson Park. As you probably heard, Bellaire Park was vandalized and over $100K in damage was done. It was determined that our By Laws that Friends is prohibited from sending a donation as suggested, but individuals may do so if they desire. • We have implemented a new "loan program" of $100 donations to Friends for those who ask to borrow the red carpet or other Friends supplies unless a board members is DIRECTLY involved in the project. SVDP borrowed the carpet recently so we will/ have received a donation for that. WULL will borrow next week but there is no charge to them since so many of us are on the Aux, too. Approval of the Minutes and Sign-In Sheet - Donna LaMond (in place of Judy Bouillion who is absent.) The minutes as sent were amended as follows: Under New Business regarding naming parks, the wording was edited to read as follows: City Council has directed the Parks Board, who has formed a subcommittee to fulfill this purpose, is charged with recommending park naming rights policies for Council approval. Tim O'Connor and Donna LaMond will serve as staff liaisons on this subcommittee. A motion was made by Sue Jensen and seconded by Lynne Goddard to approve the March 5, 2008 Minutes as amended. The motion carried. Executive Director's Report - Donna LaMond • PLB08 - We are about to wrap this one up! Most loose ends have been tied up. The Backyard Bash originally scheduled for April 19 was cancelled due to a lack of sign ups. The host group opted to contact each participant and offer to refund their monies paid. Printed out auction donor acknowledgement thank you letters last Friday for Dorothy and Diane as well as mailing labels. Any remaining unsold auction items will be brought to the Guild meeting at Vicki Gram's house on April 18. ■ PLB09 - I have received a contract from Hotel ZaZa for the 2009 ball. It is currently under review. If we decide to go through with holding our ball at this venue once again, a deposit in the amount of $3,500 is due by April 15th. I am currently working on recruiting 2009 ballchairs as well. I very much need the board's assistance with this. Last year, Kim Wilson approached Diane Cain for us and I asked Dorothy Kaldis. If you have suggestions, please contact me right away. I am hopeful that we can get the chairs on board pretty quickly so that we can get started earlier this year. I have also contacted the band Password about being our band. I would like to have our ball chairs handle all this, but a band is not something you can wait on. The good ones get booked. Regardless, they are preparing a contact and their proposed price is $3,800, but indicated they would work with us if that price is too high. Thanks to Sue Hanna and Leah Ragiel for representing Friends at the annual Meet The City/Arbor Day/Easter Egg Hunt held on Saturday, March 15t' from 11:00 - 2:00 p.m. at Colonial Park. They distributed lots of flyers about the upcoming garage sale. Thanks to Susan Sample for getting us all ready for the first Friends Garage Sale coming up on April 19. 1 have been assisting her as needed with this project. She will report more on the garage sale plans in her segment on the agenda. The 2008 Fathers & Flashlights event planning is getting underway. The current plan is to send out underwriter solicitations to the 07 underwriters, and then send underwriter solicitations letters out to the Dad's who participated to see if they are associated with a company who might be interested in being an underwriter. Next, we plan to send out a priority registration postcard to the 07 campers alerting them of an early registration deadline, the event date, and any other info we need to convey to them at this time. The date is tentatively set for Oct. 4, 2008. Elizabeth Karkowsky has indicated an interest in joining our board. She is currently completing her application and will send that in. The next step is to arrange for Joni to meet her and then arrange for the council interview (if required) and then ask for her to be appointed to the Friends Board. Elizabeth handled the publicity for Fathers & Flashlights and did a great job with that. We need help with publicity and I suggest that Elizabeth is a great candidate for this responsibility on the board. A motion was made to recommend Elizabeth Karkowsky to Council for appointment to the Friends board by Lynne Goddard and seconded by Susan Sample. The motion carried. Friends received letter from West U Elementary thanking us for our $2,000 donation. This donation was made following the successful fundraising efforts for the 2007 Fathers & Flashlights event as a gesture of our appreciation for the community spirit they showed by helping making fields available to us for the event, etc. We received another donation from the family of Bizet Siegel in the amount of $5,772.90. Again, it was requested that the money be restricted for Whitt Johnson Park. They donated $13k last year for Whitt Johnson. We are most grateful for their continued support. Richard Cole of AT&T contacted me about seeing what can be done to have some kind of ceremony honoring Kyle Janek before he leaves office, which I believe is June 2 or somewhere thereabouts. AT&T donated $20,000 for the 2007 ball in honor of Senator Janek and part of our commitment includes being part of the ribbon-cutting event upon the opening or dedication of the "New" Rec Center. Since this type of event is still a ways off, he asked if we could go ahead and arrange to do something between now and June 2. Since our underwriting benefits for AT&T also include a tree planted in Senator Janek's honor and a paver to be installed in their park of choice, we could arrange a press type ceremony in conjunction with the installation or dedication of either of these items. This spring I will also focus on membership and reviving our newsletter, the conflict of interest statement and review of our by-laws. I also have some paver orders to complete. Board Reports Development Committee & Garage Sale Event - Susan Sample Garage Sale will be held Saturday, April 19th at the Rec Center, in the gym. Vernon Tyger is co- chairing the garage sale with Susan. The Rec Center will accept items from April 14 -18th from 4-9pm. Larger furniture type items and appliances will be accepted as well on Friday, April 18th. We request help from the Guild on Friday, April 18. Hangers are needed. Spread the word to housekeepers. A proposed budget for advertising in the amount of $125 was suggested. A motion was made by Sue Hanna and seconded by Sue Jensen to approve the budget. The motion carried. Resident Decorators/Special Proiect/Wish List/Giving Tree - Maria Elena Herbst & Vicki Grams - No report. Business Partners and Stork Project- Lynne Goddard - Will present the Stork Project at the Guild Meeting on April 18th. Friends Guild - Leah Ragiel. The last Guild meeting for the school year will be held on April 18th at the home of Vicki Grams. Tim O'Connor will present updated park information. It was suggested that Friends board applications be made available at future Guild meetings. Email to Guild will be sent out encouraging attendance at the April 28 Council meeting where Friends will receive awards. An email will also be sent to the Guild encouraging attendance at the upcoming Town Hall meeting. Fathers & Flashlights - Daryl Hoover & Jennifer Gatto - No report. Parks & Rec Report - Tim O'Connor More information on the vandalism at the Bellaire park was provided. Information about West U history involving similar acts was also provided and it was stated that the City is self-insured through the Texas Municipal League to cover incidents like this. Tim provided an overview of the Wier Park planned development including the formation of a task force comprised of Wier Park users. Needs a Friends board member to participate on this task force as well. Sue Jensen expressed concern about using same contractor for all WU parks. Concern is that using same contractor might diminish diversity and uniqueness of each park. Tim outlined the process of how the City solicits proposals and qualifications from vendors/contractors. It was proposed that Tim and the focus groups for each park remains aware of the passion for diversity and uniquess in each park and that this be taken into consideration as each park is planned. It was also proposed that the Friends board and the P & R board do due diligence as each park in planned. Average life of park equipment is estimated at ten years. After Wier, the next park to be redeveloped is Huff ington and it was suggested that the planning start now instead of waiting until the City is ready to start construction. Tim will come up with some novel ideas for Friends and P & R boards to consider. Park Planning Project: • The Park Planning Sub-Committee, PGAL, Carter & Burgess and staff, presented a preliminary conceptual redevelopment plan to City Council on March 10, 2008. • Council has tentatively set a Special Town Hall meeting for April 11, 2008 at 6:30pm, for the purpose of publicly presenting the preliminary concepts for the redevelopment of the Colonial Park Swimming Pool & Recreation Center, the West University Recreation Center & Swimming Pool and the Community Building/Senior Center and eliciting public input/opinion on the same. • Staff is developing a preliminary Business Plan, including projected operation & maintenance budgets, staffing levels, facility schedules and a long-term capital replacement plan. City Wide Tree Maintenance Proiect: • Phase II of the program is being developed, with the City Forester taking the lead. • Project is completely funded through the WUP Tree Trust. Parkland Acquisition Sub-Committee: • Russ Schulze will be presenting an update at the April Parks Board Meeting. Colonial Park Drainage Proiect: • Project was completed on Thursday, March 13th and the entire east end of the park officially re- opened on Saturday, March 15th. • Project Cost: $5,800.00 Friends of West University Place Parks Inc. approved fully funding the expense and City Council authorized the expenditure. Eagle Scout Project @ Whitt Johnson Park: • Renovation of the Gazebo - inclusive of power-washing, staining and resealing the structure, planting of a "butterfly garden" at the entrance of the park and the re-planting of the large cast-iron planter at the entrance to the park was completed on Saturday, March 8t • Special Thanks to Eagle Scout Candidate John LaMond and Parks Board Members Mardi Turner and Helen Talianchich, for their hard work and tireless efforts in bringing this project to fruition. Friend's: • The 2008 Park Lover's Ball was conducted Saturday, February 9th at the Hotel Za-Za. • Most of March was dedicated to matters associated with the Ball • Estimated Net Funds raised: $130,000.00 • Friends Guild is growing and efforts have improved the overall effectiveness of the Friends many efforts. • The Five-Year Playground Renovation Plan was approved by the Parks Board, Friends Board and City Council. The Wier Park renovation and the new playground addition to Whitt Johnson Park will be undertaken and completed in 2008 • The planning for the 2008 Friends - Fathers & Flashlights Event is underway. Tentative date is October 4th. Parks & Recreation Operations: • After yet another failure in mid-March, the pool water heating system is once again fully operational and has been functioning properly since March 20th. • All classes, swim lessons and public swim programs are slowing returning to normal attendance levels and subsequently the revenues are on the rise. • The repair and re-painting of the Judson Park fence began in mid February and is scheduled to be completed by mid March - weather permitting. • The Facility Maintenance Manager, Roy Zacharias, resigned his employment with the City on March 17th Mike Anders has been temporarily promoted until the position is posted and filled. • Staff continued work on preparing a DRAFT of a Parks Naming Rights Policy for review by the Parks Board, which we anticipate going before City Council for approval in the Spring of 2008. A Parks Board Sub-Committee was appointed to assist with this effort and it is anticipated that they will move forward with that effort in April. • The remodeling of the Fire Department kitchen and dining areas has been postponed until early April. • The 2008 summer edition of the Leisure Guide has been printed and taken to the mail house on march 25th, with plans for mailing to arrive to residents the first week of April. • All Summer 2008 Camps are currently posted on the website and registration for all camps began on March 7th. • Wooden swing and slide landing have been renovated and reinstalled at Colonial Park, with the concrete play bumps having been scheduled for early April. • The Annual Meet The City/Arbor Day and the 2008 Eggstravaganza, was conducted at Colonial Park on Saturday, March 15th. Special thanks to Parks Board Members Mardi Turner, Helen Talianchich, Charles May, Russ Schulze and Dave Agerton • A total of 74 Case-Tracker Work Orders were facilitated by the Facility and Park Maintenance Division. • Mowing schedule went back on a weekly cycle beginning March 20th, with the color beds being re-planted and re-mulched, all grass areas being treated with a "weed & feed" and the second phase of fire ant remediation all scheduled for the month of April. • Staff is continuing investigating the process and costs for installing a water sensor system in all of our irrigation applications. Currently we are irrigating at a rate that is not prudent, as the systems are on timers and do not take rainfall into consideration. • The May through August 2008 edition of the Senior Newsletter - Hi-Neighbor was printed and sent to the mail house on March 201, with arrival in households anticipated in early April. Other News: The Recreation Specialist position has been posted and staff has, as of March 25th, received four resumes' from very well qualified applicants. Toby Brooks, Senior Services Manager will be conducting interviews in early April and anticipates filling the position by the end of April 2008. Treasurer's Report - Sue Hanna - Distributed reports. Discussed current rates. Sue Jensen shared a list of current rates she had collected from a variety of banks. City Council Report - Chuck Guffey - Town Hall Meeting scheduled for April 23 at 6:30 p.m. Old Business - None New Business - Next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, May 7th at 11:30 at the West U Rec Center unless otherwise posted. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 1:15 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Donna LaMond Executive Director (In place of Judy Bouillion, Secretary) 0