Minutes; Park Board: August 2007

City of Evansville, Wisconsin
Park and Recreation Board Regular Monthly Meeting
Evansville City Hall Council Chambers
Monday, August 20, 2007

MINUTES OF MEETING

1. The meeting was called to order at 6:03 PM; Members Farnsworth, Juergens, Krueger, Merritt and staff Anderson, Hamacher, and Wietecha present. Carlson and Modaff excused. Sendelbach absent.

2. Farnsworth moved, Krueger seconded to waive reading of July 2007 meeting and approve as printed. Passed unanimously.

3. A change to the printed agenda was requested: Move item 8b earlier in the meeting when an AWARE representative arrives The change was approved by consensus.

4. Citizen appearances other than agenda items: Mindy Brice, 104 Grove St., reported on the tennis program recently held in Lake Leota Park. 64 kids participated in the two summer sessions. She requested net repairs and resurfacing of the courts. She also discussed inappropriate behavior of some youth she observed at the skate park, adjacent to the tennis courts, although she didn’t witness such behavior during the tennis program. She requested that consideration be given to moving the skatepark equipment to another site.

5. SOLE report: Gib Wiedenhoeft discussed a letter from SOLE to the PRB (as well as to Council) indicating that SOLE would contribute $3,000 at this time to funding for the projected restoration of Lake Leota.

6. Chair’s report on items of interest concerning Council and other city Committees: Council at its August 14th meeting passed a “carry-forward” of Park Improvement, Lake Leota Restoration, and Pool Improvements capital funds from the 2006 budget into the 2007 budget. The current balances in those funds are now approximately $54K, $36K, and $10K. Council also authorized providing $50K for an engineering study on Lake Leota Restoration, recognizing that this Board will not request the “customary” $50K in new money for Parks spending in 2008.

7. Updates on pending park projects: Ray Anderson & Fred Juergens

a. Lake Leota Park: The Boy Scout house has been re-roofed, but facia still needs replacing and painting. after the July 4th weekend celebrations. Further improvements to the skate-park are on hold until it is decided whether to keep the park open. Edgerton is looking for equipment to buy. Anderson installed the “old” swing set from Franklin Park in the area of LLP formerly used for volleyball. Graffitti has been painted over. Screen has been replaced on upper ball diamond. Anderson recommended that a request from the Soccer Club to store materials in the press box be denied, and noted that the Little League program bought a small metal shed to store their materials in the park.

b. Franklin Park; Replacement of dead plants hasn’t occurred because a list of what’s needed has not been received. Juergens reported that Destree Architects will prepare engineering drawings for the proposed shelter for about $500, not $1500 as previously understood. Consensus of the Board was to postpone the shelter, as impending costs for Lake Leota Restoration are considered to be of higher priority.

c. Countryside Park; Construction of the shelter/bathroom is complete. Anderson agreed to arrange for the bathrooms to be open from about 7am until dark, with the police locking the doors each evening until Labor Day. After that, it is likely the bathrooms may be open only on weekends.

d. West Side Park: Grass very wet due to recent heavy rains. It needs mowing, as soon as the ground is dry enough to support the equipment. Anderson requested that the new soccer fields be treated for weeds.

8. Aquatic Report: Ric Hamacher.
a. Pool operations and park store. Revenue for pool is expected to be about $5-7K over budget. The season is winding down. The park store is being cleaned and painted.

b. Low-income pass issues: Julie Hermanson from AWARE presented data showing different standards for deciding what “low-income” means, in terms of qualifying for certain city and school services. She noted that school’s standards are more liberal than the ones used to determine who qualifies for reduced-cost passes to the swimming pool. This caused confusion among applicants for pool-passes Krueger moved, Merritt seconded, that in the future, the city use the same standards for pool passes as the school uses for their meal programs. Motion passed unanimously.

9. Old Business:
a. A meeting is scheduled on August 25th with public works staff and people interested in participating in the Dry Stone Conservancy’s training workshop in October.

b. Lake Leota Restoration project. CityAdministrator Wietecha is working on a request for proposals for the engineering study.

c. Discussion of “A League of their Own” finances was postponed until the September 2007 meeting. This is not an urgent item

10. New Business: None

11. There being no other business, Krueger moved, Farnsworth seconded to adjourn the 8:05 pm. Motion passed unanimously.

Meeting minutes prepared by Chair Fred Juergens. These are not official until approved at the next regular PRB meeting, scheduled September 17, 2007