Minutes: Park Board: December 2007

City of Evansville, Wisconsin
Park and Recreation Board Regular Monthly Meeting
Evansville City Hall Council Chambers
Monday, December 17, 2007 6:00 PM

Minutes



1. Call to Order at 6:00 pm. Members Carlson, Farnsworth, Juergens, Krueger, Modaff and staff Anderson, Hamacher and Wietecha present. Member Merritt absent.

2. Motion to waive reading minutes of October 2007 PRB meeting made by Modaff, seconded by Krueger. Passed unanimously.

3. Motion to approve agenda as published made by Modaff, seconded by Krueger. Passed unanimously.

4. Citizen appearances other than agenda items. None

5. Chair’s report on actions of City Committees & Common Council on items of interest to PRB.
a. City Budget for 2008 has passed with no changes affecting the city’s parks or recreation programs.
b. Public Works Committee chose an engineering firm to propose a restoration plan for Lake Leota.

6. Reports/Updates on pending park projects and maintenance: Park Maintenance Supervisor Ray Anderson
a. Lake Leota Park: Police have apprehended those responsible for the recent spate of graffiti in the park, and clean-up is proceeding as weather permits. Clean-up of the footbridge will wait until spring, and sanding of the wood will probably be the best way to handle the damage there. Bathrooms closed on November 1st.
b. Franklin Park : none
c. Countryside Park : Bathrooms closed on November 1st.
d. West Side Park: If we issue a purchase order for the playground equipment and installation before December 21, 2007, we will receive the price budgeted in the 2008 Capital budget. Otherwise, the price could rise by 8% or so.

Krueger moved, Modaff seconded that the purchase order for the West Side Park playground equipment and installation be issued as soon as possible, with the understanding that the city will not be billed until 2008. Motion passed unanimously.

e. Other projects, if any. none

7. Aquatic Report: Aquatic Director Rick Hamacher: None

8. Old Business.
a. Report on Allen Creek retaining walls restoration project. Anderson, who took part in the restoration workshop in October, made the report. The workshop went well, with 90 feet of wall replaced on the lower lagoon. He was especially complimentary concerning the work and attitude of the three work-release inmates during the workshop. Some lessons learned:
1. Very little of the existing retaining wall material was re-usable, as it was of very low quality. Thus, more rock had to be brought from the quarry, and much of the existing material had to be carted away to a dump site.

2. It would be better to have masons go to the Footville Quarry to choose and palletize the rock there, rather than just truck in loads of rock and sort at the park. A significan portion of the delivered rock was not usable for various reasons.

3. Restoring the inner walls of the lagoons will be considerably more difficult because of the labor to transport rock across the water-way, even if the lagoon is dewatered.

4. Putting future work out for bids would probably not be possible because of the extreme variability of the pace of work. It is probable that contracting for future parts of the project will probably have to be on “time and materials” basis.

Anderson felt that the training received by all 8 participants would be very beneficial to continued work on the creek walls in the future. He stated that the local contractors who worked on the project now have sufficient skills in dry-wall masonry to train and lead other workers on future parts of the restoration.

b. Lake Leota Restoration; Engineering Contract Report. Vierbecher was chosen as the contractor. Their representatives have met with SOLE, and expect to have a report done by January 31, 2008.

9. New Business:
a. “A League of Their Own” Discussion. Juergens reported that he had had a conversation with the director of the league over the past weekend. After such conversation, he felt that the director didn’t need to come to the PRB meeting yet. He urged the director to prepare a budget for their likely reveneues and expenditures for the coming year. Many of the board’s concerns about finances can probably be dealt with by city staff. Juergens will discuss the concerns with staff and report back to the board at the next PRB meeting. Wietecha pointed out that this should be resolved well before spring, and Juergens said that he expected resolution by the February 2008 PRB meeting.

b. Juergens reported that Karla Sendelbach has resigned from PRB, and that the Mayor had been notified. He also reported to the PRB that he will not be running for re-election as an alderperson, and thus will not chair the PRB after April 2008. He stated that he will be willing to become a citizen member of the PRB, should the Mayor wish to appoint him in the future.

10. Motion to Adjourn was made by Modaff, seconded by Farnsworth at 6:25 pm. Motion passed unanimously.

Minutes written by Chair Juergens, and are not official until approved at a subsequent PRB meeting.

Note: next regular meeting of Park and Recreation Board is scheduled for January 21, 2008