Board of Parks & Recreation - Regular Meeting

Uh, I would say you got friends, right? All of us pretty much except for me or your friends. So, love you, bud. You too, Mike. Not a good time of year, is it? I don't know, man. Thanksgiving. Hey, you. It's all right. You got your friends around you, buddy. I think we're back up. All right, we're back on again. Now, here we go. If you've looked over the agenda and you like it, I need a motion to approve. Mr. Pike was first and Mr. Perry was second. Uh if you've had a chance to look over the the minutes if they look all right acceptance of the agenda. Oh, I'm do I just want to Oh, did we vote on it? You didn't vote yet. All in favor say I. I.

All oppose. Sorry about that. Just trying to get out of here. All right. And now if you looked over the minutes and it's okay, then I need a motion. That would be Mr. Perry. Second, Miss Helman. All in favor say I. I. All oppose. Sorry about that, guy. All right. Items for approval. Football for the cure. Public comments. I don't. He's always uh No, sir. There was no public comments. I asked him what he want. It's all right. I guess it's got to be official, doesn't it? All right. All right. Uh, under a football for the cure, uh, Mr. Wharton. You don't look a thing like Mr. Wharton. Okay.

Yeah. Mr. Chairman, while she's coming up, let me explain why she's why she's here because this is an event we've had many many times over the past year, but uh we have we have kind of changed the location and um also we want to I think she's going to officially ask this board to wave any rental fees for the fields tonight. So, that'd be something that this board would have to decide on, but we need to we need you to approve the change of location because we want all the neighbors out there to um understand that this was approved by the parks board. Go ahead. Hi. Hi.

Hi. I'm Danielle. I'm actually Jameson's mom. Jameson Wharton. Jameson Wharton has the Jameson Wharton's Football for the Cure. He started that when he was 10 years old in Woodstock, Georgia, because that's where him and I lived um in Woodstock, Georgia. I was single with him at the time. So, we lived in Woodstock and he my aunt Susie had passed away with um ovarian cancer. She was like very very just our everything. And whenever she passed away, it was a big deal for Jameson. And at 10 years old, he went I think it was like the summer. He just went to visit my mom in Cavis, Kentucky. and uh for the summer and she called me and she said, "Um, Jameson is drawing. He's got all these paper plates all over my house." So, I'm going by and I'm I'm telling him to clean him up, but I'm picking the paper plates up to clean up and help him. And um she said, "Danielle, it's a it's something he's doing. It's a plan that he has on these paper plates." I'm like, "Mom, what do you mean a plan?" She said, "No, there's X's. There's pictures of like t-shirts or something. There's players of coaches and teams. There's ribbons, like almost like cancer ribbons. And I'm like, "Well, mom, ask him what he's doing." And she's like, "Jimson, what are you doing? What are these pictures? I want to throw them away because it looks like you're doing something." He said, "I want to have a fundraiser for cancer to help people." And my mom immediately called me like, "James's got this whole plan that he's wrote all these paper plates and it looks like something that you need to talk to him about." So, I did. When he got back home, I talked to him about it and he said, "Mom, I want to He's a football player. He plays for Tennessee Tech now. He's just a football little boy. And he's still a football guy now at 22. He's 22 tomorrow. But he um said, "I want to do a football game for cancer for my aunt Susie. And uh I want to I want to be $5 for the kids to play and I want to give it to he didn't know what at the time. He was only 10, you know. I want to give it to people to help find a cure for cancer." And I'm like, "All right, let's do it." And so

his very first year, and he was 10 years old. His very first year he had about 16 friends come in Woodstock, Georgia at Nice Park and I think he raised $110. We gave it to the American Cancer Society. So then he did it the next year and I think it might have been 200 and might have had 20 kids, you know, and it just it just it got bigger. Then I ended up meeting my husband and got married. He lived here in Tennessee. So me and Jameson, we moved here to Tennessee, moved to Hendersonville. Got to Hendersonville. He's like, "Mom, I'm not going to be able to do my fundraiser anymore. I don't have any friends. We just moved here. You know, it was a whole thing. And I'm like, "Oh, yes, you will. Oh, yes, you will. So, we'll figure it out." You know, so we didn't know anything about Hendersonville because we just moved here from Atlanta. My husband lived in Hermitage, so he didn't know anything about Hendersonville either. So, long story short, um I feel like I don't know if I reached out to the parks and wreck or maybe it was you, Mr. Tom Golden up over there. I don't know if you I feel like you I feel like you were a part of it in some type of I just don't remember cuz it's been a while now cuz by the time we moved here he was 12. So long story short I think I might might have even asked might have been you Dallas. I don't know. I just like sent an email to somebody and somebody said yes. So we ended up having it. I remember Ellis Middle School coming and it was the biggest one that we've ever had here in Hendersonville. like the the first time that we were ever here at parks and rec the drakes park was the most the most kids that ever came because Ellis came because I remember it was Adam Crips was the principal at the time and he had told people that and then Hendersonville came and we looked around like whoa it was bigger than it was in Atlanta and Jameson is that kid though like he was the kid that went to um Ellis at 7th grade and then he had a birthday party in December you know school starts in August and 75 people came to my house cuz they all loved him you know he was just that kid. So they of course they wanted to come out and support his event. So he ended up raising I don't even remember how much money he raised there. But the first big successful one was here in Hendersonville at Jake

Creek. So that was like important to us. And then from there I think it just grew and moved on. And then I kind of had a rapport here that I would reach out to to Dallas and some of the other um members that used to work here like hey we're doing football for the care again. Is that okay? Sure it's okay. So, you know, we did it again and again and again and again. And this was his 12th year this year. And we moved it to Arrowhead this year. And um actually moved it last year. We had it there last year. Um but we moved it this year and it was great. It was huge. I mean, we have Hendersonville PD come out, the fire department, they bring, you know, the police brings their horses. I mean, kids come from all over Summer County. It's huge. Um Holiday Fest. Holiday Fest has that helps us. They just went and did a fundraiser for him at Half Batch and and donated some of the money. It has become huge. His football c coach was talking to him the other day at Tennessee Tech and said, "You know, you've built an empire with this football for the car, all because of your heart." And and when you ask him, he did a news story one time and they asked him, "Why do you do this?" And he said, "Well, we all love football and we all hate cancer and I just want to do something to help." So, that being said, um this year I'll go ahead and say he won. He raised $4,740 for a $5 football game. The kids just come out. Of course, people come with $20 and say, "Keep the change." You know, it's just huge and it's just such community. And with that being said, the parks and rec and it's familiar to the community. They come out to play the game. They know it's here. It's a safe place. community and it's amazing. He was able to donate to the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center and the um American Cancer Society Hope Lodge. So, he just splits the money up and gives to both of them. And it's just great. I'm his mom, of course. So, I'm like really proud of him. He's a great kid. He's a great person. He's currently at Tennessee Tech now. That's where he

is tonight. Coming home um Wednesday. Like I said, tomorrow's his birthday. He'll be 22 and he started it at 10 years old and he still does it. and he's just I just love him. I think it's great. I told him I was coming tonight to say we don't really have money to pay because it's a charity. So all the money we use, of course, it's a charity that he gives to his organizations. All right. I'd like to make a motion that we approve the location change and wait. Does that need to be two different motions, Andy, or just the one? Okay. I have a motion to approve. A second, Mr. Gold. Any more discussion? Boy, you done got I knew right off you wasn't Jameson. I knew right off. I knew that. He looks like me, though. We look. Yes, sir.

I want to thank you for the story because I was on here when we first when he first came and and talked to us about it. Wow. And he did an excellent job that night. And I'm glad you told us where he is now because it's neat to hear where he landed. Yes. So, yes. Thank you. I remember him coming to the mic and little really not knowing what he really needed to say and but he did a good job. But thank you for sharing that story. Thank you so much indeed. Thank you, ma'am.

And thank you. And um I will I will say that I normally I say Jameson's the face and he does everything and he does the game, but then I'm like, you know, contacting you all like, is it okay? So I forgot to do the noise the noise, not noise complaint, but the noise thing so that the neighbors would know. So I'll remember that this year. So, but I do thank Parks and Rex for having my back with that, too. So, thank you for saying that you all approved it. So, I'll make sure everything is everything is done accordingly. I normally do. It's just so crazy. So, um but thank you. It's like a really big deal. And Jameson will will love to hear you say that he's doing well. He graduates in May. He graduates from Tennessee Tech in May and he has decided to stay because he has two more years of eligibility to play football. So, he's staying to get his masters at Tennessee Tech and playing football next year. Yeah.

Any more discussion? All in favor say I. All oppose. Boy, you done good. Oh, well, thank you. You're doing good. That's all you. That's all you got to do. Okay. Thank you all so much. Thank you for bringing that smile. Okay. All right. LST 325 visit. Mr. Rup. Mr. Chairman, while this gentleman's coming up, let me explain why he's here. Um he contacted our department um I don't know a couple months ago. Yes sir.

And um with the idea to bring the only active World War II ship to dock at Sanders Ferry Park next fall as an educational opportunity. So I'm going to let him explain what that means. and uh he he's got a kind of a 5minute bulletoint presentation that is very interesting and uh being next year is the 250th anniversary of our country. I think it's u you know we've kind of been looking for something that we could do that kind of would celebrate that. I I don't know that much else could celebrate that more than this. But appreciate you bringing this opportunity for us and looking forward to hearing what you have to say here. We've got tried to get a couple of pictures from the packet up here to as you kind of talk to the board about what you'd like to do.

Before we get started, I'm going to say you said it walking in. I want Thank you for your service. Thank you, my friend. Thank you. Appreciate that. Tell me what you State your name first if you don't mind. Yeah, Mr. Chairman, u Mr. Rup was unable to come this evening. He is pretty well snowed in up in beautiful Lacrosse, Wisconsin. Um I'm I'm a Florida resident, but I have a second home here in Hendersonville, so I've been freezing. There you go. None left. It's frozen.

Tell us what you got, my friend. Tell us. At any rate, my name is John Talent and I am privileged to serve as the president of the 501c3 USSL LST ship memorial that owns the LST 325 and um it for me it's a very personal thing because I served in the Navy and I served on an LST hole type in the Mikong River Delta in Vietnam. Um, and it what's really neat about it, when I was over there, we had brown water and green river banks, but people were trying to kill me. Now we got brown water and green river banks, and people are like, "Yay, I like that." At any rate, um, uh, Mr. Gilly, were you able to distribute that piece that I sent you? I I don't want to. Um, yes sir. We did we we we sent out the uh news article and we also sent out kind of the uh attendance data that you have. Yes sir.

They have the dates that you would like to come.

Okay. I I don't want to beat anything to death that you all have already seen. I served 10 years on the uh board of adjustment and zoning and planning commission down in Highlands County, Florida. And I know people get up there and they got a lot to say and you've already seen it. Um, at any rate, the LST 325 is an original World War II LST. She served in the European theater and participated in the invasions of Sicily, Salerno, and D-Day at Normandy. She's uh 83 years old now. Mhm.

She's rocking along. She's a little older than I am, but I think she's in better shape.

And uh but you see the LST stands for landing ship tank. It was designed to be able to land battle ready tanks directly to an enemy beach head. And uh they built 1,51 of them in World War II and they never had enough. Um General Eisenhower at the time told his naval aid at one point he said, "If I die, I want him to bury me in a landing craft because that's all I have to think about."

At any rate, um we support this operation with an enormous amount of volunteer time. Our entire crew is volunteer. All the people that work on the ship to maintain it are volunteers. We're fortunate and blessed that we experience about 40,000 volunteer hours per year. And uh that's that's what keeps us going because this is a very expensive ship to operate. As you might imagine, we don't get miles per gallon. We get gallons per mile of diesel fuel. takes about five gallons per mile to move that that old gal and uh maintaining it obviously we went to we have to go to dry dock every 10 years and in this time two years ago we were down in Port Arthur Texas for dry dock spent $2.5 million we expect 10 years eight years from now it'll probably be closer to three and a half million so the way we support this rather than scrging around for grants and begging people to donate and that kind of thing. Obviously, we're happy when people donate, but we take the ship on a cruise annually and go to about three different venues as a rule. This this past fall, we went up to Musketine, Iowa, came back down to Alton, Illinois, and Cape Gerardo, Missouri. This coming year, our plan is, if this all works out, is to come to Hendersonville, Ashlin City, and Clarksville. Uh we've been to Nashville twice, 2012, 2017. And I've not I've not been particularly happy with being downtown in Nashville, where were this big an event and this

big of a venue. and uh the city doesn't get all that excited about it. And having a home here in Hendersonville and riding around and looking down there at Sanders Ferry Park, I'm like, we might be able to buy God do this. And I'm impressed with the area. I'm impressed with the opportunity. And I'll be happy to answer any questions. First of all, I don't think it's a little thing that you're doing. I think it's a big thing in a big city. So, we pretty I know that you probably already cleared this. Is there plenty of clearage? I mean, can you is you going to have any trouble getting the the boat into that co?

It It's going to be tight. Um, I've got some depth data and before I leave to go back down to beautiful Florida after the first of the year, I've got a son-in-law lives up here. That's why I got a second home. Couple of my adult children live up here and are hold my grandb babies and great grandb babies hostage. So, but at any rate, I've got a son-in-law who has a pontoon boat with a depth sounder and we're going to put it in if the temperature will get up around 50. My god, there was ice on the lake this morning. But uh I'm I'm going to run a a double check and make absolutely sure because the ship is designed to go to a beach.

Gotcha. And land itself, it is shallow draft. We draw about light load. We draw about 3 and 1/2 ft at the bow and about 9 and 1/2 ft back at the stern. And the information I've got, it appears that there is adequate depth there in the cove. Like I say, it'll be kind of tight because we got 328 feet of ship. Oh, yeah.

50 ft wide. But, uh, we're subject to that double check, I think we're going to be fine. And met with Mr. Gilly and Mr. cold down there in Natalie the other day and we had a very very informative visit and I feel comfortable that we can moore the ship appropriately so we're not doing any damage to city facilities but we're able to get people on and off very conveniently. Okay, Mr. Gilly, am I assuming that we're being asked to wave the fee on this as well, sir? Yes, sir. that that is one of our requests because we are I don't even know what the fee would be exactly, but that's well the whole point

you know they're b they're they're giving more to us than that's what I'm saying we could ever take from them honestly. Absolutely indeed. It's my my hope is that, you know, a lot of people in the community will will come out to this, but I I think a schools around here will want to bring kids Sure. to visit this. Sure. And that that is a very big part of our operation is encouraging. We're teaching history. Questions? Yeah, it's for Andy. We don't have to do anything with the core, put anything in that's for the core.

We we we will have to make sure the core and the TWWR know what's going on. There's a special event permit that we'll probably have to get from the core. I don't anticipate that being a problem. Um, you know, you you could make a motion that says you you approve this event pending the core approval and um waving any fees that might occur. There's some things we'll have to help with as far as getting it tied down. Uh there'll probably be some a little bit of expense on our part as far as staffwise and maybe helping them anchor it, but like I said, whatever we spend on this is more than worth it

to to have this in our city for a week. Like you said, we ought to be paying him. Correct. Any more questions? And we we've had uh I had I met with Miss Cole, Lisa Cole over at the chamber last week and we'll meet with her several more times. She's been extremely helpful. They're very professional and uh that that's big because we're going to have to be able to get a lot of publicity. We're we're down at the end of the peninsula tucked up in a cove

and I understand from Mr. Gilly that there's a city ordinance. You can't put any signage like up and down Sanders Ferry Road saying World War II ship this way. Um the the other piece of it is um I believe you've got something just over 50,000 students in your school system in Sar County and we'd like to see at least 5,000 of them come down. We we offer a very special price for school groups and do a guided tour with them. When we're open at venues out on the road, um it's self-guided through the ship, but we have all of our crews stationed throughout the ship

as doent for safety and to answer questions. But for the school kids, we do an actual guided tour. Do I hear a motion to approve with that stipulation? Yeah, I'll make a motion to approve. Okay, that was good enough. That would be Mr. Pike. Mr. Head was second. Any more discussion? All in favor say I. I. All oppose. Boy, if there's anybody opposed me, you both will whip them. All there is to it. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much. And Mr. Gilly, you and I will be in touch. We'll get to work. Yes, sir.

You're going to work with Natalie the most, so I'm out. After this, I'm out. Okay. I'm just kidding. Thank you. Thank you, buddy. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. All right, man. Thank you. Thank you. World best championship, Mr. Bird. Believe he's on Zoom or or his representatives are on Zoom. He's on a boat then. There may be six to 10 of them. I'm not sure. Hello. Can y'all hear us? Okay. There he is. There he is. Go right ahead, young man. All right. State your name and we'll go on with it. C Can you hear me?

Yeah. State your name and go on with it.

Yes, sir. My name is Brian Bird. Uh coming to you tonight from Eastland, Texas. Uh want to appreciate everybody's time tonight. Uh what we're coming to you for is uh we are wanting to uh use Saunders Ferry Park to be the host of a uh big bass tournament that we're putting on. Um it's potentially going to be the biggest bass tournament I believe ever to be seen here in the US. Um we're going to be bringing in 50 of the top anglers in the world out of two different leads that are professional anglers. Uh, for y'all that don't understand the bass fishing world. U, I guess football may be a bit good way to go about it, you have your NFC, you have the AFC and the NFC, right? And, uh, they're while they're the same lead, you know, you put them against each other at the end of the year for your Super Bowl champion. So, we're kind of doing the same thing, but two different entities pulling the best of the best out of those two operations. And um at the end of the tournament, we'll be crowning the the world champion. Um it's um going to be a we're looking at hosting it October 26 through the 31st. Um we met with uh Natalie and Andy out there and kind of told them our plans and went through everything. The the the Saunders Fre Park set up really nice for what we were wanting to do. We'd be hosting live events out there, a live weigh-in out there at Saunders Ferry Park. Uh hosting some concerts. Uh be vendors set up. Um I see it as a great opportunity. It will be attracting potentially thousands and thousands of people from all over the US to come to this event and watch it. It'll also will be live streamed uh around the world. We're still working on our streaming

part of it, but uh you know, we'll be broadcast around the world as well. Um we have working, we should be finalizing our contract with the Gaylord there in Nashville this week as a host venue for our expo. We have over 140,000 square feet that we'll be uh securing from them for the expo, inviting vendors from all over the US, not just fishing vendors, but outdoor enthusiasts all the way from, you know, hunting and camping and ATVs and RVs and just everything to do with the outdoor world. Uh we'll be participating in the u uh expo. We're looking at uh creating watch parties um you know throughout out pubs and bars and in both areas um being Hendersonville I feel like it'll bring a lot of people I know it's a nice beautiful lake when we were out there looking at it last Tuesday I figure there's a lot of opportunity for uh Airbnbs to be rented uh hotels to be used um and you know we just really look forward to hopefully be able to host this venue there. Um we're in the early stages of it putting all of it together, but we've made a lot of progress and um that's what we're here to talk to y'all about tonight. If y'all have any questions or need any have anything, I'd be glad to answer any questions that you have.

Very good. Questions? Oh, one thing I did forget to say is we are paying out over 2 I think it's $2.8 million in prize money. First place is a million dollars to the winner. Um, this is going to be a big deal. It's a Super Bowl. We're bringing the Super Bowl of bass fishing to your backyard and it's never been done before. Okay. Question.

I guess this my question is for Natalie and I'm sure this is going to be taken care of, but I want to make sure we don't need to put this in a in the form of a mo in our motion. Uh, I know it's to be an to be determined what the fee is going to be and what what fee they're giving back to us for who it goes to. And I know I see they're serving the alcohol. So, we we'll probably need to put something in this to see a where they're going to put it the layout and also to go before the beer board to Yeah. Does that need to be put in the the motion?

Yeah. The other day when we met with them, we had discussed alcohol. Um, they weren't for sure if they were going to do it or not. We marked it as the way we did and if they did do it with the um understanding that beerboard would have to take place with site maps. Mr. Gilly, I would I would make that part of part of your motion. If you want to make a motion to approve and to approve with um the understanding that if if they end up selling alcohol, it would come back before this board with the site map for approval. The vent would be approved. The alcohol portion we can approve at a later date. And also that we would also approve the um the listing of the exact nonprofit that would be designated. Can we do that?

Yes, you without it. Y'all can do that with us voting here. We won't have to come back.

Uh you would have to come you would have to approve the site map for alcohol and we would notify you of what the nonprofit donation would be. They're they're fully understanding of both of that. Uh Brian and his team flew in here and we met earlier last week with him and his lawyers and his event company and and a local group that is going to help with help them. I I can't really say the name because that that's probably not something I should say, but they've got very reputable people working with them that I'm familiar with locally that do a lot of events and organization of things like this. And I Brian and his team were extremely professional when we met with them. I told them that day it reminded me of when we hosted for those of y'all that were around when we hosted the Bass Pro Shop 50th anniversary. Uh what they're trying to do in my mind is very similar to that.

Probably on a larger scale with actually more people from the public knowing about it than than Bass Pro Shops did. Yeah, I mean we we've had big huge events. We've had 500 boat fishing tournaments. We've never had a fishing tournament that was given out a million dollars to first place. We got enough fish. No, don't. Any questions?

If y'all want to go stock some more fish in there, the anglers will love that. If I'm going to hear a motion, I need to make sure that we we put in the caveats about the the beer board and coming back to site thing and all. site plan and the beer board approving it and to and to be able to determine what nonprofit said. Yes, sir.

Got a first. I got a Mr. Montoya was second. Any more discussion? All in favor say I. I. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Brian. Thank you, sir. Mr. Chairman, thank you. Y'all all have a merry Christmas and we look forward to working with all of y'all and bringing a very special event to Andersonville. Thank you very much. Thank you. I was kidding, but I mean, do you think we have no fish? I don't. Okay. Uh 2026 parks board meeting dates, Mr. Gilly.

Yes, sir. on your in your packet on page 22. We've gone we've kind of gone through the calendar for next year and um looked at the meeting dates and just would ask for your blessing on these dates to be uh parks board at 6:00 on the dates listed on page 22. Do you need a formal motion? Yes, ma'am. I will make a motion that we approve these dates as presented. Thank you. I have a motion to approve. Second, Mr. Head. Any more discussion? All in favor say I. All oppose. Thank you, Mr. Gilly. Thank you. All right. Baseball, softball, turf, field rental fees, Mr. Gilly.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Really, it needs to be baseball, softball, soccer, turf, field, um, stand

rental rates. That's not what we kind of u realized that we needed to add soccer after she had already typed the agenda. on page well I would say just on page 23 and 24 of your packet we have obviously we've added uh we've had a turf baseball field for a long time it was probably time to update the rental rate on that but we've added turf soccer field that has become more and more in demand we are now adding um sorry I'm making notes here being the secretary and the presenter at the same Um, we're about to add four turf baseball and softball fields. So, we've done a lot of talking with other cities, talking with tournament directors, talking with our leagues about how do we handle the rental rate for this. So, page 23 of your packet.

We talk about turf soccer field, what the rate would be for the day and for the game. Two very important. We also talk about turf baseball softball fields for the day or per game. These rates would apply to people who come in here to the parks board wanting to host events or tournaments to rent the field. We're not upping the charge on our local leagues who use these fields. Um, if if this if these fields are part of a tournament like Tennessee United's soccer tournament, then it's going to be what it says by asterisk one right there on page 23. There's the first asterisk. And we also, you know, call out that we're not going to charge them for use of the field during sanctioned league games that the host group is playing in. So if Tennessee United's in a league, they're playing on Saturday afternoon against somebody from Memphis, you know, that's part of their league. If said Memphis team as part of that league needs to play team from Knoxville, that could be charged for them to do that if if they've moved it here from somewhere else. Does that hope that makes sense? Correct me if I'm wrong, guys. Um, you know, we've compared to Smyrna has a quad of four turf baseball fields. Murersboro obviously has a lot of turf soccer fields. Those are really our baselines for around here for what we are about to have. Um, and we're hopeful to add more turf in the future. So, we're trying to set the standard here

and help our groups, but also help the city um, gain revenue by doing this. With that, if anybody has any questions, I will take them. But just for clarification, what fields are being turpped right now? So, currently by middle of February, we will have all of Veterans Park turf baseball and softball and field baseball and softball, field five at Drexs Creek Park. Then we'll have we'll still have obviously field three at Drake Creek Park baseball and field four at Drake Creek Park Soccer. Those two are currently turfed.

The senior men, Mr. Perry, will get to play on the turf. Mr. Pot. Yeah. Yeah. Mr. Perry, you have to be 65 or over to play a veteran.

Mr. But I guess this I don't know if this is a good question or not, but since you brought up something and I know our fees that we've set down are pretty they're pretty set in stone and I mean you know when you I guess what I'm asking is on the turf, do we need to put on a motion any kind of variable just like you brought up where if a Memphis Knoxville uh team's going to play where you have the ability in house to to do anything or does it just need to be a straight motion set in stone? I think it's I think it's I think what you're asking is covered. If you look at asterisk number two,

it says should unscheduled league activities be rescheduled for the turf field from other locations, the rental fee would apply. Yeah, there you go. All right, Mr. Andy, when is this when would this go into effect? January 1st. January of 2026. Yes, sir. Okay, that probably needs to be in the motion actually. Do I hear a motion? I'll make that motion. Mr. Rather makes that motion. Second, Mr. Perry. And the motion would be to approve the staff suggested rental rates to go into effect 11026 and to include the soccer fields. Yeah. Yes.

Thank you. Any more discussion? All in favor say I. Who was the second, Mr. Chairman? Uh, that was who? Uh, Mr. Perry. Thank you. All in favor say I. I. We're done. Good. All right. Good job. Thank you, Mr. Gilly. Yep. Thank you. Thank you. Orlando's baseball hitting clinic, Mr. Gilly.

Yes, sir. Um, I guess in my role as assistant baseball coach at Hendersonville High School, I'm presenting this item for approval at the uh newly um opened HHS baseball hitting facility. Um, we'd like to do a winter clinic on January 3rd from 8 to 1. All proceeds would go towards the U HHS dugout club. I make a motion we approve it. Mr. Perry was first, Mr. Head was second. Any more discussion? All in favor say I.

All oppose. Apologize to Mr. Perry there. He had his hand up, but it's all right. All right. Uh I'm assuming somebody has Miss Hamlin's uh report or

Yes, sir. I do. I'd be glad to go over that. We also like to wish Miss Hammond a happy birthday as today is her birthday. So, happy birthday, Miss Hammond, wherever you are. Um, the Raptors basketball uh is signups going on now uh in the office and online. Goes through January the 9th. Cost us $35. They usually play at Whiten Elementary on Friday nights and Saturday mornings. Uh, jersey is included in the price of the signups if you don't have one. Um, for questions, you can call the office 8223898 and we'll be glad to answer those. Uh, from last month we had the breakfast with Santa on Saturday, December 6. Uh, that is a very popular event and usually sells out because it's free, but how about signups fill up? signups fill up the first day. Um so we're still that was always a good event. I think the Grant showed up this year along with Mr. Miss Santa. Um so um it was a good day over at Whitten. And we also would like to thank Civotam for sponsoring the event. Um they do a lot of good stuff and they help keep that um event so we it is free to the public. And we also wanted to thank Dage Photography for taking pictures and also Mr. fan at Whiten Elementary, which is the principal over there, uh, for allowing us to use the gym and cafeteria for the breakfast with Santa. Um, he must be on the good list for Santa now. Okay. Um, the special needs, excuse me, special friends visit with Santa was Monday the 8th. That was here in this room, uh, at city hall. Uh, that's a special come and visit the jolly old man, Santa Claus himself. Uh again we want to thank Civotan for sponsoring the event and

also Dage again came for photography pictures for the event and Cindy hopes everyone has a wonderful Christmas and New Year's and will we pick back up with Raptors basketball at the beginning of the year coming from someone that has in fact been the real Santa Claus at at these breakfasts. I I do rec Yes sir. I do recognize you saw a little bit in that. If you want to have a wonderful day, come and watch that and watch the parents behind the kids trying to make them smile.

It's one of the fun. I've had people do cartwheels trying to get their kid to smile. So, there you go. Any questions? All right, good enough. There's no report uh there. Special events. Natalie,

thank you. Um last weekend we had the Christmas boat parade and the Christmas parade and tree lighting with Holiday Fest. Uh both were great successes. Um if you attended, we thank you for doing so. Um this past weekend we had the Sanders Fairy Shiver Disc Golf Tournament and the Santa Skate Hockey Tournament which wrapped up our 2025 events. Um the Festival of Lights is ongoing and we will be judging or the judging will occur this week for that. Um, the winners will be presented here at the parks board um, come January. Um, and that is all I have and I also want to wish all of you a merry Christmas and your families. Thank you, Nath. Appreciate it. Questions?

Maintenance, Mr. Cole?

Uh, yes, sir. Thank you. We um we're continuing to work through our winter list trying to knock some of these projects out that kind of build up over the year. Uh just one, this past week we have upgraded all the lights over at Veterans to LED inside the buildings. Um the old lights that we had, they just Jimmy can probably tell you they they weren't really cutting it. So the guys have been working on that. Um we're working with a outside company right now to get cameras put up on field three for streaming kind of like over at the hockey facility. So we're we're in the works with that right now. Um we've been working on our playgrounds. I've actually got a meeting to go around with one of our vendors. Kind of getting a list together, like a a needs list. Um, so we're kind of working through that, kind of trying to fix up some stuff that needs to be fixed. You know, with with these playgrounds being as old as they are, it's kind of hard to get some of the parts in still. So, we're going to um go through and and make a priority list on that. And then I've been getting several phone calls about the rotary fountain over at Memorial. I do know that we've got some lights out. We're trying to work with the vendor right now. Um it's been kind of touch and go with them, but we are currently waiting on them to send us a quote so that we can get those fixed. That's about it.

Mr. Question, assistant director, Mr. Long. Thank you. Um high school basketball is ongoing. Uh we're about one month remaining for that. Um and that all that's going pretty well. Um we have 22 teams in the high school league. Um adult basketball, that's also ongoing. We we're still about two months out from finishing that league up. Um Tennessee United has their high school winter soccer league uh starting up in January. This will be year two of that. And then uh rugby and lacrosse will begin their spring season mid January followed by all the other programs will will be starting um in midFebruary. And that's it.

M questions. Assistant director Mr. Bruce. Thank you sir. Uh youth basketball is up and running with Civotan. Uh Michael Raper is the president, excuse me, the league director again this year doing a good job along with all the Civotan people. About 140 teams in grades 1 through eight. So it is a busy winter for everybody involved for gym supervisors, for referees, uh scorekeepers, coaches, and staff. So it's um we play about 75 games on a Saturday. So, any goodwill or any know of any open gyms, let us know. We'd be glad to use them.

Um, we're two weeks into games. Uh, last two Saturdays, we're going to play this Saturday, take one off for Christmas, and then we come back January 3rd. So, and then it goes until late February for the basketball. Uh, the spring sports have started doing some signups. Civotan baseball hockey and all that is looking at dates for signups and getting that s situated and set up for evaluations so forth at the first of the year. And the note on the turf fields that is going to be tremendous upgrade for our department. I I think that's going to help us put us back on the map for some tournaments that we probably wouldn't have gotten beforehand. And I hopefully the alderman see that and will continue to turf for us to keep up with everybody in the in the state actually.

Yep. Thank you. Thank you sir. Questions? Director Mr. Gilly.

Yes sir. I'll be as brief as I can. Um you notice we skipped the recreation coordinator report because we don't have one. Uh we have had I think we had 30 to 40 applicants. We will start interviews probably in early January for that position. Uh we're working on narrowing down to a list of 10 finalists and then we'll really narrow down to some more after that. So just want to let everybody know about that. Um tomorrow in the city, this is not really a parks announcement, but just so everybody aware, tomorrow is the Christmas for kids tour bus where they take the kids shopping at Walmart. Uh we posted on our parks page today to please don't post on Hip Hendersonville asking what that is because everybody says what is going on every year and it's the tour buses taking the kids shopping at Walmart. So please be patient and give them a wave and a smile. Um our maintenance shop we're about to go out to bid on that finally finally a year and a half or two or whatever it was but it's been a long process to get a design ready to go out to bid. I hope to get that out to bid right after the first of the year. the bike pump track at Veterans Park. We are under contract with Tde and the Feds and under contract for design. So, that design will start soon and we will hopefully get that out to bid in the spring. Heritage Park, the Friends of Indian Lake is very close to finishing their grant project where the trail part on the hills will be open to the public sooner rather than later. I don't want to give an exact date, but it is almost done and they will turn it over to the city. That will be something else for us to maintain, but it will be a great addition for people to use those bike and walking trails and hiking trails at Heritage Park. Um, as far as the farm part of Heritage Park, uh, the design of that goes to the planning commission in

January for approval and then we will get started going out to bid on that. uh 2025 LPRF grants. We are under contract with T deck. That means that we will start to see design and contracts for things like replacing the concession stand at Drake's Creek Park in the main quad. Um and those type things will be happening over the next year. Um the turf fields and LED lights will be done by the middle of February. We are under contract to do a traffic study at Drake's Creek Park that will start when we get busy again in the spring. And we will also, as you all saw in the email, be in the process of updating our park's master plan, which is all part of the 2025 LPRF grant. That is a lot of improvements over the next year going to happen. Um, as Natalie said, outstanding job with the parade, the tree lighting, and the boat parade. We were blessed with good weather this year and she did a great job working with the folks at Holiday Fest for that. And then our our Festival of Lights is ongoing as she said. I just looked it up just so I could have this number. The the post about the map of the Festival of Lights has been viewed 194,000 times on Facebook and shared 303 times. So for those of y'all that keep up with the analytics of that, that's pretty phenomenal. like we would earn like $20 off of Facebook from that which is stupid but um but it's a really big deal that it's been shared whenever stupid I mean I'll take 20 bucks but um but that that number is phenomenal phenomenal the analytics on that so we hope everybody's around town enjoying that I see a lot of cars in Memorial Park if you pass down Gallatton Road every night there's a stream of cars driving through those lights and I think going to other people's houses so that's

a cool thing that we do that cost us basically very little to do. That's all. Mr. Gilly, what's the rec What's the uh requirements for the recreation coordinator as far as uh schooling and whatnot, it required a degree. We we upped the requirements. No, we we were looking for somebody with three to five years experience, supervisory experience, and a degree in sports management, recreation, or something similar. I mean, that that's what it required at this time. I wanted to do that for the three people that watch this.

I have a question, too. With all the Paci data that we have, which is great, by the way, what do we do with this? What do you all do with this? What do we do with it? Use it for marketing.

We use it for marketing. We use it to tell our sponsors, "Hey, look, just letting you know, this is how many people were here. You got kind of got your money's worth." Uh, we use it for grants when we're able to tell people there's 775,000 bodies with a cell phone that passed through Drakes Creek Park last year. So all those type things. It's been most helpful in my opinion to validate to people who may or may not have understood or believed us when we told them how many people were at events. Um it's hard to argue with that. So that's that's been very helpful. All right. Indeed. I'm glad to have that. That's good.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Gilly. Yes, sir. Round table. Mr. Ted. Just want to wish everybody a merry Christmas and a happy new year. Mr. Mononttoya, what a pleasure to work with each and every one of you this this year. It's been a it's been it's been a pleasure. It's been been that merry Christmas and thank you for the for the gifts. They'll be used. Thank you. It been been a pleasure with Pike, too, I guess. Just that tall. Yeah, Mr. Pike.

Yeah. I I I won't be long. I just wanted to I know we've said it a lot, but the pigfest was a phenomenal success and it's grown every year. But I want to say again, thank you for the crew. Thank you for Andy's Andy's all of the staff. Thank you for Andy going above and beyond. And thank you for a special thank you for because I saw Bubba out there doing trying to sell this thing. You deserve it. Sir, you trying to sell this thing along with I'm sure countless people that I don't even know that in the general public that tried to sell it to their friends. It was a phenomenal event and I don't think it can do anything but keep growing every year and merry Christmas to everybody.

You too, Miss B. Miss Perry. Merry Christmas everybody. Mr. Golden. Yeah. Also, I want to say thank you for the gifts. It's very kind of you. Tremendous year. It's a great one of the best parks anywhere, the best parks department anywhere. Um, just what the way that the the team is creative and trying to get people into our parks and just always thinking about them and their experience. It's just tremendous and yeah, thankful for this board, thankful for this town. Thank Merry Christmas to everyone in your indeed. Miss Rman,

um the good the good first Andy, I read over the report you sent about the master plan and I emailed on you all. It was phenomenal job like just so impressed with everything that was able to be accomplished and I look forward to working with everybody and see what can be accomplished in the future. And I want to go on record of stating I may be alone here, but I hate the paved walking trail on Batty Farm or Heritage Park or whatever it is at all. I think it's it's heartbreaking to see all the destruction that went on, but I'm glad that people will be able to enjoy it now. That's all. Merry Christmas. You want to say that again, Miss Garden?

Um, I think it's it's been a good season. It's been a good year. I've enjoyed being a part of this team. And merry Christmas to everyone. Indeed. Indeed. There's uh I think there's several uh candlelight services in Hendersonville. If you've never been to one, it is an experience. It is uh it is humbling to say the least. All righty. I will entertain a motion to adjourn. Mr. Pike was first. Mr. Mononttoya was waving. Mr. Mononttoya was second. All in favor say I. I. Thank you for the present, sir. Yes. Thank you.