Park & Recreation Board

MINUTES OF PARKS & RECREATION BOARD MEETING Tuesday, September 5th, 2017 7:00 pm – Meeting Room of City Auditorium - 925 N Broad ST PRESENT: Bob Brown, Dian Christensen Hillis, Dan Moran, Ann Prince, Nate Schwanke. 1. Call to Order – Meeting convened at 7:00 pm. The agenda displayed at City Hall, 400 E Military and was distributed to the Mayor, City Council and the Park Board, on August 31st, 2017 and is open to the public. The open meeting law is posted continually for public inspection. 2. Roll Call – 4 present. Eairleywine, Giese and Koski absent. 3. Reading of the Park & Recreation Board Minutes – Motion was made by Christensen Hillis, seconded by Prince to dispense with reading of the minutes and approve as presented. Motion carried. 4. Park Evaluations – Board members were given the task of evaluating 2-3 parks. Listed below are their reports. a. Bob Brown i. Buckridge park 1. Not much space to do much more maybe add some sort of soccer element ii. Van Anda park 1. Create a soccer Field over the “old ice rink” 2. Repaint Shelter iii. Johnson 1. Add a handicapped dock 2. Concert Stage/Band Shelter in open field 3. Soccer Goals 4. Additional athletic fields(Tennis courts, Track, Sand VB courts) 5. Expand walking trail b. Dan Moran i. Monnich 1. Addition of unique feature (Creative Jungle gym/spider web) ii. Hormel 1. Focus on enhancing natural areas 2. Possibilities of weddings 3. Clean up bank for better river access 4. Signage iii. Wildwood 1. Become a family destination 2. Nature playground 3. Picnic shelter 4. Lean to’s 5. Small equipment 6. Field trips 7. Clean up trails  c. Dian Christensen Hillis i. Masonic 1. West side has potential to be the gateway into Fremont a. Change themes from season to season b. Plantings 2. East side a. Landscaping b. More personal (smaller) tables c. Let Jon elaborate on some of his plantings 3. Davenport a. Bocce ball Courts b. Sand Volleyball c. Horseshoes d. Keep up to date with shelter since it is one of the most used d. Ann Prince i. Milliken 1. Lots of open space to add athletic fields or splash pad 2. Fix Benches 3. Shade ii. Barnard 1. Clean up Bathrooms 2. Update equipment (retro themed) 3. Gazeebo is fine just needs to be cleaned up a little bit 4. plantings 5. Recreation Report – Schwanke  Finalizing all summer numbers and starting to winterize everything at both pools.  Scholarship Report.  Possible meeting with other organizations to talk about future of City of Fremont athletic programs. 6. Director’s Report – Schwanke on behalf of Koski  Budget hearings are underway for the next 2 year budget (this is why Koski is absent from meeting).  Crews got the goal posts from Memorial practice field to the Johnson Park practice field. Each goal post was in four pieces and they welded them, set them in concrete, and re-painted them.  Johnson Park Practice field received 17 pine/evergreen transplant trees from the solar Farm. It was a nice addition to the north end of the practice area.  Park Shop crews are working on repairs at the horse arena.  Crews are winterizing the pools and will be for probably the next month.  After discussions with the county, it was determined the City is responsible for mowing the Ridge Road trail. Crews went out last week and got it mowed down and will stay on top of it. City will push snow as well.  Christensen Field Soccer Complex is keeping busy with practices and games and will be again hosting State Cup Tournaments in October.  Prep work for the winter months will be underway soon.  Fremont Monument is continuing another phase of the stone straightening at Ridge Cemetery.  Ridge Road Trail sign will be installed this week at the entrance of Hormel Park.   Keep Fremont Beautiful Eco Trek Walk Fundraiser is this weekend, September 9 from 9-11 am at Johnson Park. Recreation staff will provide kid friendly activities.  The City has applied for a Community Development Block Grant for ADA upgrades to the Fremont Friendship Center. The City’s Portion would be $40,000 in order to receive $160,000 in grant funds.  The Pop-Up Green Space at 5th and Park is coming along nicely! Please go check it out! 7. New Discussion Items – No Official Action  Don Cunningham- John C Fremont Days starting next year (2018) is going to start reconfiguring how they run. Would like to rebuild the Fountain in City Park. (Cathi Sampson has picture (1946)) Don Said that he has been asking around for funding and says that they would have no problem finding funding. Dian mentioned Keno funding for matching dollars for park revitalization and would like Friends of the Parks to be involved in some capacity. Bob said that this was tried once before but they (previous staff) wanted to make it too big and add a Band Shelter and all talks kind of went by the wayside, but would love to see this happen. 8. Next Meeting – Tuesday, October 3rd, 2017 9. Adjournment – motion was made by Christensen Hillis, seconded by Moran to adjourn. Motion carried. The meeting adjourned at 8:27 pm. Respectfully submitted, Nate Schwanke, Recreation Superintendent I, the undersigned, the Secretary for the Parks and Recreation Department, Fremont, Nebraska, hereby certify that all of the subjects included in the attached proceedings were contained in the notice of said meeting of August 1, 2017 kept continually current and available for public inspection at the Parks & Recreation Office; that such subjects were contained in said notice for at least twenty- four hours prior to said meeting; that the minutes of the Park Board of the Parks and Recreation Department, Fremont, Nebraska were in written form and available for public inspection prior to the next convened meeting of said body. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 12th day of September, 2017. Nate Schwanke, Recreation Superintendent September 12, 2017