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HomeMy WebLinkAbout19 09 PRB Minutes MINUTES SEPTEMBER 4 , 201 9 6:30 PM REC CENTER – CONFERENCE ROOM TYPE OF MEETING Monthly Meeting CHAIR Peter Billipp SECRETARY Mary McCulloch ATTENDEES Members : Peter Billipp, Will Bertron, Sami Morrison, Lindsey Swiger, Maryann Grahmann , Brett Bingham, Nina Pilson, Laura Turley Staff: Susan White VISITORS I. Call to Order : T he mee ting was called to order at 6:3 0 pm by Peter Billipp . II. Approval of May 1st Meeting Minutes : Brett made a motion to approve with Nina seconding the motion . The m inutes were approved. III. Ci tizen Comments : Alida Drewes present. This board should look into having a dog park or at least use of the parks that aren’t being utilized. So many are not being utilized. One city council member is in favor so this board should look into that. A place for residents that like nature and dogs. We are way behind in nature. Bellaire has nature park and dog friendly activities. We should follow Bellaire because they are a better citizen, dog friendly place than West U is. I stop and talk to dog walkers and they do want a dog park. People that live around Friends Park know that it is not used. It could be a small dog park and the large dog park could be between the houses and the school. They’ve been asking for it for years. I t’s a positive thing that this board should move forward with it. IV. Council Update: Kevin Trautner , Mayor Pro -Term , was unable to attend . V. Introductions and Overview: Peter Billipp Review of Roles, Bylaws, Meetings and Participation Ongoing and Upcoming Projects 1. Going to get a lot of bang for our buck at Whitt Johnson. It will also be back in play sooner than if we had restarted from scratch. It is already underway and will progress quick ly . 2. Colonial Park Pool and Colonial Park East will be having some updates. 3. Next up will be Huffington and Judson Park according to the Redevelopment Plan. A m otion needs to be made to adjust the bylaws. City Council will now select the board chair . While the members of the board can appoint the vice chair and secretary positions. This needs to be updated in the bylaws. “Article II – Officers and Committees” bullets A & B are redlined in the materials provided. Laura made the motion to approve the amendment, Brett seconded the motion. Parks and Recreation Board Minutes page 2 VI. Staff Update: Susan White 1. Program Planning Committee and Other Subcommittees. We have a professional s taff w ith connections in the industry but the board i nput i s still very important. We went through so many options during the fee restr ucturing. No 2020 recommendation for a fee revision due to the 2019 overhaul. 2. Masterplan : The recommendations listed are for redevelopment of the parks and not in order of importance. One recommendation is a request for our 2020 budget to do a follow up survey. The master plan calls for an update in 2020. We’ve put in a request with Texas A&M. They have a great system, have worked with us before and got an excellent response rate the last time . 3. Administration: The Amin . budget includes 3 full time employees includin g the Friends Ex. Director and also T ri -S ports funding . Senior Services d i vision has two full time and several part -time office help and drivers, Recreation division, has four full time and numerous part time staff . H ired 125 lifeguards this summer . Parks maintenance manager is Brooks Smith and we have 2 parks technicians. Colonial Park Pool has part -time summer staff too. 4. Rec Center: Resurfacing the pool was a big undertak ing and it has been closed for 3 weeks . This was part of maintenance week. The reason we have to close is because of cost efficiencies and issues with fumes from redoing the floors and painting , etc . We have a program in the weight and cardio room to monitor usage and determined the need to rotate the equipment and relocate some for improvement. 5. Tour: Plan for a tour of all the parks and facilities to show everyone on the new board. 6. CPP: The pool is coming up on its last weekend. Lifeguards were able to cover all summer! Sami heard good feedback on the after -school hours last week. 7. Budget: The P rebudge t workshop was last night. The budget meeting is s cheduled for September 21 st morning. Parks and Rec will be asking for an increase to offset addi tional revenue for instructors. Going out for landscaping contract bids and are expecting a large increase in cost. The existing contractor has been in place for a long time and were significantly under other bids initially so their service has not been great. Additionally, looking to add a third Program Specialist staff member. Monday night Susan will do an overview presentation before the budget meeting for city council. Still considering that area of the city that does not have a park (north of university and we st of buffalo speedway ). Will also be looking for a i nput on senior needs assessment. Budget should be approved in early October. VII. TRAPS Membership : You can always hit unsubscribe, but they provide excellent informa tion. We are in the east region. Susan i ncoming Chair for the Greater Gulf Coast Par ks & Recreation D irector s ’ Association . VIII. Friends Update: Chair Sami Morrison: Two biggest fundraiser for the year are well underway. November 2 & 3 is Fathers and Flashlights. Returning campers can start on the 10 th at midnight. It is about 95% full usually from returning campers. Open registration is September 12. About $125,000 net funds from last year! Looking for more activity sponsors. Most are around $500 -600 to sponsor. Camels wi ll be $1,000 to sponsor. Kona Ice is $1,800 to sponsor. Park Lovers Ball is February 8 th at the Hilton Americas and it is a Medievil Knight theme. Parks and Recreation Board Minutes page 3 IX. Park Ambassador New Assignments :  Colonial Park East (Will )  Colonial Park West (Nina )  Colonial Park Pool (Mary)  Friends Pocket Park (Sami )  Huffington Park (Maryann )  JEH Park (Laura )  Judson Park (Jeff )  Recreation Center Playground (Mardi )  Whitt Johnson (Brett)  Wier Park (Lindsey ) – new gates have been getting positive feedback said Sami and Maryann X. New Business: Colonial Park Pool . Prior to summer the board and Friends voted and approved the conceptional design for improvements to CPP. Unfortunately, there was a large cost increase over the estimates from the consultants. It was not immaterial – fro m $128,000 to $200,776. We utilized a consultant on this project because they were the same engineering and design firm that designed the original pool so it made sense to have them review and ensure we wouldn’t need to make any major changes to the existi ng pumps and motors, etc. There will be some below surface work that does need to be done including deck repairs and concrete work below grade. At some point the slide will have to be replaced. We are coming up on the 10 -year mark for CPP which requires resurfacing, etc. Went to Friends to take out the custom tot slide to soften the increase in price and now waiting for them to address it internally at their board meeting to approve. After discussion, board would like to use the $155,286 for the drop sli de (include the translucent panels), rain cloud feature and the contingency. Peter made the motion to approve and Brett seconded the motion. XI. Adjournment: Meeting adjourned at 7:40 p.m. Next meeting is scheduled for October 8 th .