Board of Parks & Recreation

Parks Board Minutes APPROVED 1/23/23 PRESENT: Ken Hesson, Mike Pike, Jimmy Head, Jeremiah Bennett, Jill Rathert, Bubba Perry, Lee Peterson, Thom Golden, Mahlon Hellman, Andy Gilley, Keith Bruce, Dallas Long, Trevor Cole, Wade Evans, Cindy Hamblen, Orey Fugate ABSENT: P.A. Bowler CALL TO ORDER: Ken Hesson called the meeting to order. PRAYER & PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Mike Pike led the prayer. Thom Golden led the Pledge of Allegiance. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: A motion to amend the agenda to add Pickleball discussion to New Business and move the Financial Report above New Business by Jeremiah Bennett, 2nd by Jill Rathert. All in favor. CITIZENS COMMENTS: None APPROVAL OF MINUTES: A motion to approve November 28, 2022, minutes made by Thom Golden, 2nd by Mike Pike. All in favor. PRESENTATION: Andy Gilley read the proclamation for Eagle Scout Noah Young that was signed by the Mayor. It states “in the boy scout organization, the rank of Eagle Scout is the culmination of several years of hard work and dedication to goals in scouting; and… whereas, for his Eagle Scout Project Noah helped to install a trail head message board kiosk and park bench along the Warrior Bike Trail, which will benefit citizens that utilize this trail…I, Jamie Clary, Mayor of the City of Hendersonville, do proclaim that Noah Young has achieved the rank of Eagle Scout and urge the citizens of Hendersonville to join me in congratulating him on this achievement.” OLD BUSINESS Park Project Updates – Andy Gilley • Drakes Creek Park Restroom Fire – Crews have begun with deep cleaning materials being purchased for restoration. Most work is being done in-house with help from Servpro and there are over $11,000 in damages. • Arctic Blast Damages to Volunteer Park, Fire Hall #5 and Country Hills Golf Course – all mitigation and drying is complete. Bids will be opened for repair work soon and there are over $100,000 in damages combined at the three sites. • Lights at Volunteer Park - Lights are now fully operational at the grass athletic field beside the hockey rinks – this is a great help and addition and will help our lacrosse league and Civitan Football not have to pay to rent lights this year. 1 Parks Board Minutes APPROVED 1/23/23 • Sanders Ferry Park Shelters – all buildings now have new roofs and wood repairs are almost complete. Survey work has been completed to submit to the Corps of Engineers and Public Works is helping with some final elevations to help us hopefully get approval for sewer to be run in Sanders Ferry Park. • Security Cameras – Security Cameras now fully cover Veterans Park and a large portion of Memorial Park. We have used these to catch four instances of vandalism recently at Veterans Park. Off-Road drivers there have caused significant damage to the grounds. HPD, Maintenance Staff and the Cameras have helped catch 6 offenders thus far. • Miscellaneous - Installation yesterday of the Parker Strong Suicide Awareness Bench in Drakes Creek Park was complete along with a new concrete entrance to our greenway. ` FINANCIAL REPORTS UPDATE Heard Annual Financial Reports from Sumner County Rugby, Hendersonville In-Line Hockey, Hendersonville Soccer Club, and Hendersonville Civitan. Received Quarterly Report from TN United Soccer Club. Hendersonville Sr Men Softball and Hendersonville Lacrosse will give their annual reports in February. NEW BUSINESS Eagle Scout Project – GAGA Ball Courts – Ryan Russell Ryan Russell is 17 years old and goes to Station Camp High School. He is in Scout Troup 157. He is doing an Eagle Scout Project and he wants to make a GAGA court which is octagon shaped pit in which you the goal is to eliminate opponents by hitting them in the legs with a rubber ball. My plan is to build two unless it ends up being too costly. I plan to have everything finished July 31st. I believe this project will provide more options for young people to stay active. Andy Gilley stated that this feature will be low maintenance. We also contacted our insurance to make sure they had insured projects like this before. Motion to approve the installation of GAGA Ball Courts as an Eagle Scout Project at Sanders Ferry Park by Thom Golden, 2nd by Jeremiah Bennett. All in favor. AUDL : Ultimate Disc Camp – Matt Smith Matt Smith stated that he works for The Ultimate Disc League with 24 teams around the country. Part of what we are doing is to set up various introductory camps around the country. We have some local contacts where we provide the curriculum, the insurance, and provide equipment and hope that our partners can provide fields space and advertise this camp to the community. We are happy to donate to local charities. This is targeted to ages 10 – 14 and have a welcome environment to learn about this sport. Motion to host Ultimate Disc Golf Camp at Volunteer Park with donated proceeds by Jill Rathert, 2nd by Jimmy Head. All in favor. First Baptist Church Egg Hunt – Jake Poore Jake Poore is the Director of Recreation at First Baptist Church of Hendersonville. This is our yearly community egg hunt. We have outgrown our space, so we are hoping to have it at Sanders Ferry Park. We are hoping to have anywhere from 3 – 4,000 attendees. We will provide the eggs and the entertainment. We just need the space. Andy Gilley said that this park is free on this date. Motion to host the First Baptist Church Easter Egg Hunt at Sanders Ferry Park by Jeremiah Bennett, 2nd by Mahlon Hellman. All in favor. The Nashville Bash Hockey – Jason Kelly Jason Kelly is over Cool Hockey Events that has been providing ball hockey tournaments for the last 20 years, mostly on the east coast. We saw the new rinks that you guys have installed at Volunteer Park and we thought this would be a great location for our summer tournament. We are asking for August 18th – 20th. Jill Rathert asked if there would be medical personnel on site and that she thinks it would be a good idea. Dallas Long stated that it looks like we can have the Fire Departments UTV on site. Andy Gilley also stated that 2 Parks Board Minutes APPROVED 1/23/23 going forward once the new Fire Station is built down the road from this new facility, it should ease many concerns. He also agreed with Jill Rathert that it’s a good idea for this conversation about medical care being required at sporting events to be discussed in a committee. Jason Kelly said that the reason team fees need to be determined is that this is the first long distance event that they have had and they are still figuring out the additional travel costs associated with this event. Wade explained that Dave Gilliam brought this event to Parks so they have already been talking. Jason stated he is happy to donate to the local league. Motion to host the Nash Bash Ball Hockey at Volunteer Park by Mike Pike, 2nd by Jimmy Head. All in favor. One Nation Winter World Softball – Chase Clark Chase Clark stated that One Nation is Senior Slow pitch Softball and we are based out of Columbus, Ohio. We are trying to get our events into Drakes Creek Park and is one of the nicest parks in Tennessee as far as softball. Wade Evans explained that he would like to get them approved as a tournament director but without dates yet so that in the future if we find a date that works for them. Our events would be 50 – 100 teams. This would be men and women’s slow pitch. We are working on a senior division to have complete by the end of this year. Motion to approve One Nation Softball as a tournament host with dates forthcoming by Jimmy Head, 2nd by Jill Rathert. All in favor. Field Permit Usage Policy – Dallas Long Dallas Long explained that there is a new policy that we are looking to put in place to officially shut down our fields during the winter months. There are several exceptions in this policy but mainly what we are looking to do is have the opportunity to give some of our fields some rest. Part of keeping our fields in great condition is that they get rest. We get calls requesting to use these fields and this would give us a good basis for explaining why we can’t open the fields this time of year, especially for the ladies in our office who are trying to field these calls. This shutdown would start after Thanksgiving through mid-February. The next policy update would be that any reoccurring events that are on our books, if they are in good standing with the Parks Department, that they can continue to have their event. Our Lacrosse and Rugby groups start mid- January for their spring seasons so on their dedicated fields, we would want to allow that they can start their practices in mid-January. Any other group can request field space during this time frame but they would need to come before the Parks Board to get approval. All artificial turf fields would remain open. The last part of this policy is that we need about a 6–8-week window of shutdown on the soccer fields at Drakes Creek during the summer to resod and repair the goal mounds. Motion to recommend field usage policy that will go to Public Works and to BOMA for approval in February by Bubba Perry, 2nd by Jill Rathert. All in favor. Parks Board Committee Members Update - Andy Gilley Motion to approve recommended committees with vote to add Orey Fugate to Honor the Game Sportsmanship Committee by Jimmy Head, 2nd by Bubba Perry. All in favor. Pickleball at Senior Center Site – Andy Gilley A few months ago, the Capital Projects Committee saw a few plans and a group of citizens that was driving the initiative to get Pickleball courts added a Memorial Park. Since that time we have identified a list of reasons why that might not be the best idea. This group now believes that this might work better on the senior center property. The city has done probably over one million in improvements to the senior center over the last 5-6 years. Maybe we could see some revitalization in that area with other projects that would be considered “public use.” We have funding in our budget this year but the first step will be getting a design. Currently, Public Works maintains this property. Our current budget would cover 4 courts. Our staff recommendation is that this property is a good spot for this. Motion to approve new Pickleball courts to be located at the Senior Center by Mike Pike, 2nd by Jimmy Head. All in favor. FOR YOUR INFORMATION: 3 Parks Board Minutes APPROVED 1/23/23 Disciplinary Update – Andy Gilley The report of number of games played versus discipline incidents is over 1000 games played across all sports in the last quarter of the year and less than 5 discipline incidents. Mid-Year Budget Adjustments – Andy Gilley The proposal this time will include lights for Memorial Park which is extremely important for multiple sports. The majority of that would come from additional hotel/motel lodging tax that is not currently appropriated and also a large anonymous donation from someone in the community. We also are making in requests for increases in our supplies, including gas and fuel and overall maintenance of parks. The cost of restroom supplies and paint have gone astronomical and also combine that with increased activity. There are some things that I see every day when I drive around that I would like to fix, whether it be an old park bench, etc. Those maintenance of park items will keep increasing as our parks get older. I do want to thank the Mayor and Jesse our Chief of Operations for working with us on these requests. STAFF REPORTS Recreation Coordinator – Cindy Hamblen stated that we are in the middle of RAPTORS Basketball right now. We have over 40 that are registered. We meet on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings at Whitten Elementary. We’ve already done an exhibition game at Station Camp High School and we are currently trying to line one up at Merrol Hyde. Our season will run through February. Our next event is the Special Needs Egg Hunt. We don’t have a date set yet. We will have three sessions and session 1 will be reserved for those with greater mobility and sensory needs. Athletic Coordinator – Orey Fugate stated that the High School Basketball league has now officially ended with the silver division champions being the “Fruity Flamingos” and the golden division winners are the “Rivergate Peacocks.” Men’s Basketball is still ongoing, and the tournament begins February 28th. Adult kickball registration begins January 30th and is $325 per team. Adult Softball Registration also begins January 30th and is $705 per team. Special Events Supervisor – Wade Evans stated that we have a lot of events when you look at the year, we are at max capacity for tournaments. We have the dates for Pig Fest for October 27-28. We are hosting the TRPA maintenance meeting this week which will include about 100 maintenance workers from across the state that will be here. Parks Maintenance Superintendent – Trevor Cole stated that his crew is working through their winter list still trying to get ready for the upcoming season. We are working on getting the playgrounds mulched so that they are up to the standards of the safety inspectors. We have 1-2 more. We have one more bathroom to paint and those will be ready for this coming year. We are doing some preventative maintenance by installing mats under each of the pitcher’s rubbers and batter’s boxes. Hopefully it will eliminate any turned ankles. Like Wade said, we are going to have a great turn out for this maintenance school this week. We are installing new pumps on the irrigation system this week so hopefully that will eliminate a lot of the down time with the old pumps. Assistant Parks Director – Dallas Long stated that Lacrosse has officially started practice and will start games mid-February. New this year, Lacrosse just got approved as a high school sanctioned sport so they have partnered with HHS and Station Camp and will play some of their games on high school fields. Soccer is taking registrations and they will start practice February 20th. They will start games at the beginning of March. Flag Football is taking registrations and they will get started up in March. Assistant Parks Director – Keith Bruce stated that Youth Basketball is up and running. We are six 4 Parks Board Minutes APPROVED 1/23/23 Saturdays. into the season. Civitan is doing a great job with Jacob Witt as the new director. Everything is running smooth as can be when you have 138 teams. Picture day is this Saturday. High School baseball and softball will begin practice February 13th. The Middle School Baseball League is still getting scheduled. HIHA and Civitan Baseball are currently taking registrations for the Spring season. Parks Director — Andy Gilley emphasized the relationship we have with the school systems. He thanked the school system for what they do for the Parks system. We could not do what we do and Sumner County could not do without our school park relationship. Parks currently serves as the home site for: • Sumner County Middle School Soccer League • Sumner County Middle School Baseball/Softball Leagues • Hendersonville HS Baseball • Hendersonville HS Softball • Hendersonville HS Soccer • Hendersonville, Beech and Merol Hyde Tennis (Liberty Creek has now asked to practice play here as well until their courts are finished) • Hendersonville, Beech and Station Camp High School Golf @ Country Hills Golf Course • Several Middle School Golf programs at Country Hills Parks utilizes 13 different schools for: • 138 youth basketball teams – 6 days/week, sometimes 7 for practices and games • Adult Men’s basketball league – every Wednesday night throughout winter and summer • 20 High School Rec League basketball teams – 3-4 nights per week • Special Needs Summer Camp and other programming The maintenance school this week is a great economic booster. We have numerous events and projects coming up and the staff have done a great job and I’m blessed to be here. ROUND TABLE Ken Hesson – None. Mike Pike – None. Thom Golden – One of the things that is a priority for me for my term is how we can collect better data for the economic impact of these events. For groups that don’t have a hotel scheduled, could we as a city have one that is recommended. Jeremiah Bennett – None. Jill Rathert – I’m proud to all the staff and I want to get a shout out to Cindy. I have some friends who just moved to town with a special needs child, and they are very excited that there are sports and activities that are offered for the special needs community here. Jimmy Head – None. Mahlon Hellman – None. Bubba Perry – The lights at back soccer are fantastic, especially for people like me that get out their early. 5 Parks Board Minutes APPROVED 1/23/23 Lee Peterson – What the Parks Department does is overwhelming. Everyone that comes to town for these events and tournaments and the revenue it generates is significant. Motion to adjourn by Mike Pike, 2nd by Jeremiah Bennett. All in favor. Meeting adjourned at 7:42 p.m. Respectfully submitted, __________________________________ ________________________________ Ken Hesson, Chairman Kristen Emerson, Administrative Assistant II 6