Recreation & Parks Advisory Board

Regular Meeting of the Advisory Board of Recreation and Parks Held at the Falls Church Community Center 223 Little Falls Street, Falls Church, Virginia 22046 DRAFT Minutes March 20, 2013 1. Call to Order Mr. O’Hara called the meeting to order at 7:35 p.m. Members present were Kathy Chandler, Charley O’Hara, Leslie Rye, and Steve Selby. Staff members present were Danny Schlitt, Director of Recreation & Parks, and Jenny Paxton, Senior Program Supervisor. 2. Receipt of Public Petitions and Board Member Petitions Mr. O’Hara asked if there were any petitions from the public or board members. There were none. 3. Minutes Ms Rye moved to approve the minutes from the February 6th meeting as amended. Mr. Selby seconded the motion. Upon voice vote, the motion unanimously passed. 4. Recreation Director’s Report • Recreation and Parks, along with Housing and Human Services, the Library and Court Services will do their budget presentations at Thursday evening’s Council Work Session. The meeting starts at 7:30 and all Board members are invited to attend. • The youth basketball season is complete. It was another successful season and several parents commented on what a great program this is for their child and family. • The start to spring signals the start of all the Recreation Department’s spring programs and events. • The lights at the George Mason High School baseball field are up and running. • The City schools recently requested a transfer of funds to cover the administrative costs for the City’s use of school facilities. Mr. Schlitt provided a brief overview of the situation and potential problems this could cause for the cooperative relationship between the City schools and Recreation Department. Mr. O’Hara requested that this discussion be continued under New Business so that the two guests present could begin their presentation of the Reserve at Tinner Hill project. • The Director’s Report was suspended, to be continued after the presentation. • The Director’s Report was continued after the presentation. • West End Park has hit another delay. The City deemed our site plan to be insufficient in its water shed plan. PHR+A sent a memo to the City that states they believe they sufficiently resolved that problem. We are waiting on a ruling, but if deemed insufficient, more engineering work will be needed. This money will come from the Master Park Improvement Plan budget. Mr. Schlitt is meeting with the Director of Public Works to further discuss.  • We are still unable to safely and efficiently hang banners over the street. The regulations are not VDOT rules, but rather Virginia Work Zone Safety Laws that follow a federal mandate. This issue makes our number one unmet need a community pleasing method to make electronic announcements at the four entrances to the City. • The City is slowly moving through the legal process on the creation of Tinner Hill Park. • The new playground equipment at Lincoln Park is nearing installation! A meeting is set up with Cunningham and Associates for April 2nd to lay out the instillation process. The first phase should be complete by the end of April. The check from the insurance company has arrived. • A re opening ceremony is needed at Lincoln Park once the new equipment is installed. An opening ceremony is also needed at Howard E. Herman Stream Valley Park. • The blanket is off at Madison Park now. The field at TJ is in bad shape and we can no longer hold softball games there. 5. New Business a. Reserve at Tinner Hill • Richard Rose and Stephanie Pankiewicz gave a through presentation of the Reserve at Tinner Hill project and answered questions from the Board. • The Board will provide its comments for the staff report that will go to City Council b. Open Space Discussion • Mr. Schlitt reported that the Railroad Ave. property is being offered at $1.1 million. It is not large enough for a rectangular field. Old Business a. Operating Budget • The Recreation and Parks Department budget is a wash except for the 3.8 projected growth. • The budget originally included four unmet needs – electronic announcement signs at the four entrances/gateways to the City, a buffer, work needed on the Cherry Hill Park shelter and an additional $20,000 for the CATCH grant program. The buffer and work needed on the park shelter were both removed from the unmet needs list as they were each $10,000 or less. • Mr. O’Hara asked about including money for the beautification of our City parks. Mr. Schlitt reported that there is an extra $25,0000 that can be used for that purpose. b. CIP • FY 14 includes the money to work on West End Park. 2 7. Other Business • The issue of the City Schools request for a transfer of funds was further discussed. Mr. O’Hara requested that a memo be sent from the Board to School Board Chair, Sue Kerney to express that this request should have been handled at the Board level via our School Board liason, rather than being thrown in at budget time. He would like the memo to emphasize that the way this request was communicated was wrong and that there is a general lack of communication, this situation being a recent example. • Ms. Rye moved that the memo be issued. Mr. Selby seconded the motion. Upon voice vote, the motion unanimously passed. 8. Adjournment Ms. Chandler moved to adjourn the meeting; Mr. Selby seconded the motion. Following a unanimous voice vote, Mr. O’Hara adjourned the meeting at 9:25 p.m. The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This document will be made available in alternate format upon request. Call 703-248-5027 (TTY 711). 3