Parks and Recreation Committee - Regular Meeting

All right, we'll call to order the meeting of the Parks and Recreation Committee for Monday, August 10th. Please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Roll call of membership. All members of the committee are present, except for Alder Lambrick and Alder Doherty, who are both excused. We'll move on to entertain an approval of our minutes from our previous meeting, July 20th. Motion to approve.

Second.

We have a motion and a second to approve. Any discussion, questions? Hearing none, we'll vote. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The motion passes 3-0. We have one item on our agenda, 26-1036. It's the Parks and Recreation Department Mid-Year Reports. I suppose I could entertain a motion to receive and file this item.

I could make that motion. I'll second it.

All right. And I do that just for explanation of anyone watching, just because there is really no action here. But Director Flick?

Director to correct Thank You chair This is one of our department's favorite meetings we get to kind of toot our horn a little bit about what we've been doing for the last six months and And the three divisions that are before you today just really emphasizes the hard work of a lot of people, both full-time staff and seasonals. Without everybody collectively, there's no way we could do everything that we do that's provided in this report. So there's a lot of information throughout here. There's just a couple things, a few things that I'd like to highlight in each division. And then if there's any questions, gladly take them.

I think that sounds great.

Go ahead. Just in our parks department, you know, this was a year in our grounds division. This was a year that we were a little lower on construction projects. You know, a leash up playground, multiple restrooms, got some ADA improvements, and we completed a design for new sport courts at JC Park. A little low on the construction end, but this allows us to do a lot of other things that are just as important, but maybe don't get highlighted. So just wanted to point out a few things that, Staff went and created our own CDL training program so that we can train our staff as we want to, when we want to, and on our timeline. Saves us a lot of money, too. Safety training was a focus over the last six months. We updated all the park signage in every park. So that's over 30 signs that had to get updated, installed, etc., additional exercise equipment. It's been a focus of our department for probably the last five years is to add more exercise equipment along trails in our community parks. So that's slowly happening. We assisted with improving safety for our park patrons and special events at Jones Park and Houdini. And then circling back, getting a little more training. We're getting more staff certified as playground safety inspectors, tree felling, forklift safety, just a lot of that that we're making time for. So just wanted to point out some of the things that maybe don't get highlighted. Everybody focuses on, you know, the green grass, the nice ball diamonds, the clean pavilions, how are the restrooms doing, vandalism, et cetera. So just wanted to point that out with Grown. So if any questions, glad to answer.

Yes, Alder Schultz.

Thank you, Chair. A couple of questions. Let's first start with the Alicia Park playground and that rebuild.

Oh, one second.

Not a problem.

I'm sorry. Go ahead. Sorry.

Related to the Alicia Park project, the playground installation, there was some discussion about reinstalling a flagpole. Was that included in, and has it been installed?

Yes, so we do have enough money in the CIP to purchase a flagpole. Greg Hoekstra, the grounds manager, actually just talked to me today about it, that he's moving forward with ordering it. It'll be installed sometime this fall, and we're going to place it right next to the word Alice that's spelled out, and it'll be lit up with solar lighting.

So that will happen. And then another question, there was some discussion at one point about potentially installing some other courts in Alicia, depending on a donor that was potentially stepping forward. What's the status of that? Did that ever come about?

So discussions are still happening between our legal department and the party's legal representation. At this time, no further report.

Okay. Okay. I have another one, but it just skipped my mind. So I'll come back to it when I remember what I was going to ask you about.

Any other questions, comments? None? Well, I think I look forward to this report every year, and I'm really happy to see that when you're not busy in the community that you've been doing training and safety. I know I used to work in safety and compliance, so I know the cost of CDL programs and such, and you are right, they are very expensive. So I'm glad to hear that. Any, is it ringing a bell yet?

It'll hopefully come back. Let me just vamp for a while.

No, I'm just kidding. If you don't mind, we'll go ahead then and move on to the next report. If it comes back to you. Yes, if you recall, I would allow you to ask the question again. Go ahead, Director Flick.

Thank you. Recreation, just They're like on a new high. The programs that they provide, the participation levels that we're seeing, the satisfactory percentage is amazing. Just can't say enough about the recreation staff with what they put out and the numbers that they have with the people that are managing the programs. Pretty impressive. Most of our programs all have seen increased registration. And staff continues to do that with the same staffing levels. So just wanted to give a kudos to them. You know, you could look through this and look at our, you know, our Friday fund for preschoolers. You know, the numbers have increased there. Just the amount of numbers that we're seeing in participating in, like, youth baseball, softball, and t-ball. You know, we're close to 800 kids participating in that program. Registration for soccer is wrapping up right now for this fall, and we're close to 1,000 kids that are going to be in soccer. Those are some pretty big numbers to be offering to the public. Our playground program, something that we're really happy with. We've seen almost a 25% increase this year from last year in participation. again, with almost 1,000 kids participating in our playground program. So we continue to offer and see increases and still do it with the same staff that we've had for multiple years. The pools continue to be pretty consistent that we're seeing over the last three to four years. Mid-year, we had almost 21,000 visitors, so hopefully we'll end up in the mid-40,000 by the end of the season. The Scheig Center is just a gem in the community. We're very thankful to have that in our, I guess, abilities to use it and offer it to the public. You know, we had 44 rentals already by mid-year. We'll definitely be in that 80-90 category for sure by the end of the year, which is a lot, which means the public is needing the facility and wanting to use it.

It's also just beautiful. The people who volunteer their time really do an excellent job.

We have some full-time staff dedicated to that, but 85% of that beauty is done by volunteers. So a lot of master gardeners throughout the Fox Valley donate their time every Tuesday from spring to fall and make it happen. Without them, we wouldn't have that.

Can I stop you for just a moment? Because Alder Schultz did remember. I hope you still remember your question. Go ahead.

Yeah, I just had to read through the list here. I was just curious to know how we're doing with the goose abatement program and Are you seeing any?

Are the geese abating?

I'd say we're not winning the battle.

We're not losing either. I'd say we're maintaining with the options that we have available to us currently. So spraying, you know, retardants on the grass helps until you get, you know, excessive rainfalls or multiple rain events. We do have permits to do oil or, yeah, oiling the eggs. But that is so hard to get to the locations if it's high water conditions. Our staff can't get to where they're at so it's very challenging there So we're not making progress, but I don't think we're getting worse either there would have to be some more extensive measures taken to Reduce the the goose population and it's probably not very favorable by the public to be honest And that's removal of the animal completely So perhaps we can coexist.

That was going to be my next question because we're starting to make some more improvements to the Peace Park and geese down there are a significant barrier to people using that pathway. So I don't know what that looks like. Are there conversations I think will have to happen to look at other options?

More activity is a good thing for parks to deter the geese from being comfortable. So the more dog walking that you see, that is a deterrent to geese.

Perhaps a bark in the park. Even though it's a peace park, it will be a quiet bark.

We have used fake swans. Those go over really well, except for we have the occasional vandalism and theft that come along with that, but those are successful. I have another question, but I know this doesn't relate to this necessarily.

Director Flick, if you want to continue.

Yes, Reed Golf Course, we talk about this monthly, so I'm not going to say a whole lot about this. Probably going to focus more on more of the big impactful things that the golf course has been doing that we don't talk about monthly, and that's like hauling 12 tons of sand into the bunkers, and then another 12 tons of sand later this fall. The removal of 35 ash trees throughout the course, just to get the trees gone, the stumps, restoration. And then just aggressively edging bunkers where past years only selected bunkers would have been edged this year All will receive new edges, so just focusing on the the fine details of the golf course We have a amazing product. I mean the T's the greens the fairways are immaculate You know the staff in the pro shop friendly courteous and helpful So we're nailing all that so now we're focusing on on the little things that the golfer looks at and like, wow, look at the detail, paying attention to the detail. So not a whole lot to say there except for the golf course is killing it, doing really good. Sure, I got a comment.

Go ahead, yes. Alder Schultz.

I have a good friend who recently retired and joined the Reed Golf Course mowing team. He's a morning mower and does most of those greens. He has nothing but exceptional feedback, both on the way that place is run and the staff that run it. So I just wanted to pass that on.

That's really nice to hear. Thank you for sharing that. I'll make sure the guys hear that.

Continues to be a gem in our community. Did you have anything to add otherwise?

I mean, I fully agree with my colleagues.

We are moving into the finances then. Oh, I'm sorry. Do we have to vote on this? We do have to vote on the receive and file. So any other comments before we move on to the vote? Any other discussion? All right. Hearing none, all those in favor of receiving and filing the report, say aye.

Aye. Aye.

Any opposed? That motion passes 3-0. So then our next information item, 261041, we're talking about revenue and expenses for the Reed golf course. And I was just curious, off the top of your head, do you know there was a significant debt issue with the golf course a long time ago, and we've been chipping away and chipping away at that. Do you know where we stand with that currently?

Absolutely. very happy to say that our last debt payment that we pay interest on will be made in 2026. Wow.

That's excellent.

We're not quite 100% debt free because we still have $100,000 that we have to pay back the general fund when we reconstructed the parking lot.

Right.

Which, you know, if the golf course wanted to, they could pay it off. real fast, but it's money that we don't have interest on. So we'll pay it back, you know, over five years or three years, whatever finance recommends for us to do so. So yeah, I'm glad you asked that question because that is a really, really nice thing to have off our plate. It's about 80 to $85,000 a year that we pay in debt.

Yeah, you know, we don't have our elder statesmen here with us anymore to remind us of the lean days and the days where the councils before us were considering possibly selling the golf course. But wow, we see these reports month after month, and they're just doing such an excellent job, and that's really good news. I'm glad for those decisions that were made a long time ago and for the work that your staff are doing to make sure that they're diligent in getting things back to normal. Any others? Discussion on the report yes elder Schultz.

I always ask the general question Are there any surprises or things that you're looking out for in the budget that kind of crept up or took you by surprise?

or read golf course The budget that will present to you this fall will be the first time that we're showing a deficit we have to replace the Hva systems chillers boilers Etc all the lines and We're throwing in the budget in excess of $400,000. We're hoping it comes in much cheaper come bid day, but we are gonna have to dig into our reserves, our savings, in order to balance that budget in 2027. So that's probably the only, I'd say, abnormal thing that you would see in the coming budget. But after that, then we're back to normal operations. Okay, thank you.

Anything else? All right. Hearing none, we'll entertain number eight.

I have a quick question. Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. Not on this information item, but just a question.

Is it on an item on the agenda that has been noticed?

No. I will ask Director.

Okay. Thank you. So then we'll entertain number eight.

Move to adjourn. Second.

We have a motion to adjourn in a second. All those in favor of adjourning, say aye.

Aye. We are adjourned. Thank you.