Board of Parks & Recreation

Parks Board Minutes APPROVED 2/27/23 PRESENT: P.A. Bowler, 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: Ken Hesson CALL TO ORDER: Jeremiah Bennett called the meeting to order. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Bubba Perry led the Pledge of Allegiance. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: A motion to approve the agenda by Thom Golden, 2nd by Jimmy Head. All in favor. CITIZENS COMMENTS: None APPROVAL OF MINUTES: A motion to approve January 23, 2023, minutes made by Mike Pike, 2nd by Bubba Perry. All in favor. PRESENTATION: Mayor Clary read the proclamation for Eagle Scout Tyler Silkwood that he also signed. 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, Tyler Silkwood first became a Boy Scout in May of 2016, earning numerous merit badges, and will go on to earn the rank of Eagle Scout on March 6th, 2023. Whereas, for his Eagle Scout Project, Tyler spent around two hundred hours to coordinate and fundraise approximately $7,000 to cover the cost of materials and help install four large concrete pads, and four twenty-one-foot team sports benches in the City parks; and whereas, Eagle Scouts will carry with them in their future, the knowledge and insights that they have gained throughout their scouting experience. Now, Therefore, I, Jamie Clary, Mayor of the City of Hendersonville, do proclaim that Tyler Silkwood 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 • LPRF Grant from State of Tennessee – We are moving through the process. There have been no hang ups so far and really good work from our consultants for that. We are getting close to getting ready to bid that project out. • Arctic Blast Damages to Volunteer Park, and Country Hills Golf Course – Servpro has finished their work at Volunteer Park except for a little painting, but that concession stand was used this past weekend. There will be major construction at the Country Hills Pro Shop and the Cart Barn over the next six months. • Lights at Memorial Park – Tomorrow night BOMA will have their second reading for funding adding lights at Memorial Park. These will be used by many different clubs and organizations. 1 Parks Board Minutes APPROVED 2/27/23 • Security Cameras – This project is going extremely well and we have added some to Memorial Park that are now operational. We have finished up at Veterans Park and are about to add some to the Civitan Quad in the parking lot between Civitan and the soccer fields at Drakes Creek Park. FINANCIAL REPORTS UPDATE Heard Annual Financial Reports from Mid-State Senior Softball and Hendersonville Lacrosse. NEW BUSINESS Special Needs Sports Foundation Fun Walk – Ed Neal Ed Neal is the President of the Special Needs Sports Foundation. He stated that they have a division called “Club Able to Be Me” because we do a lot more than sports. We had a 5K Walk and Run in Gallatin the last 10 years and some of the parents and others wanted to bring this event back to Hendersonville. We would like to do a Walk at the Heritage Park at a reasonable cost. We want to give people to visit a rural area that is in the city and have a lot of fun with it. We are going to try to have 3-4 food trucks and make it family friendly. We want to do this on June 24th from 10:00am – 2:00pm. Motion to approve this event by Bubba Perry, 2nd by Thom Golden. All in favor. Eagle Scout Project – Bird Houses – Blake Douglas Blake Douglas is with Troop 275 and is working on his Eagle Scout Project. He would like to do 16 bird houses and two benches. The benches will be near T-off points for the disc golf play at Sanders Ferry Park. I’ve grown up in Hendersonville and I’ve always liked going to the parks and enjoyed watching the birds but there are not many bird houses currently. I chose Blue Jays because they are a species of bird that I like and also native to Tennessee. I wanted the benches to be very comfortable and practical. These bird houses will be attached to trees in densely populated areas. Motion to approve by Jill Rathert, 2nd by Mahlon Hellman. All in favor. Elementary Cross Country – Scott Wietecha Wade Evans said that Scott Wietecha wasn’t able to be at the meeting tonight. We work with him very closely to schedule the Middle School and High school Cross Country races. Something that we figured out, is that his Elementary races had not been signed off on before, so this is just from a formality standpoint so that you guys approve the Elementary races as well. It is in relation to Beech Cross Country. Money will be appropriated from their Cross-Country budget to help with the course. He has done these races at Drakes Creek, at Heritage Park and Sanders Ferry Park in the last two years. Motion to approve the Elementary Cross-Country races under the oversight of the Parks Department by Jill Rathert, 2nd by Mahlon Hellman. All in favor. Iron Fest – Mark Skoda Mark Skoda is the COO and Co-Founder of Irongate Records. He stated that he has really been excited about this idea to propose a family friendly festival here at Veterans Park that is low-cost for a full day of music. We have proposed to have this event on September of 16th and we would have two stages. One stage would be for acoustic, and country and the other stage would be for Rock. This would be family friendly music. There would also be food and art vendors. My goal is that this would be a success and might incorporate a beer garden area in the future. My goal is that this would be a multi-year event. Motion to approve event 2 Parks Board Minutes APPROVED 2/27/23 contingent on providing insurance and working with Parks Department requirements by Jimmy Head, 2nd by Mike Pike. All in favor. The Big Bounce America Nashville – Katie Turner Katie Turner stated that Big Bounce America is the largest touring inflatable event. She stated that you can check them out in the Guinness Book of World Records. We tour all over the United States, Canada and Australia. We are proposing to have our event at Heritage Park on April 28 – 30th and we will have six different inflatables. We will bring in food trucks, a DJ and it is all family friendly. We are going to donate $2,000 to the Friends of Indian Lake Fund. Andy Gilley stated that this will be similar to the Great Inflatable Race that came a few years ago. They are a little bigger and better so I would anticipate people from all over the southeast coming to this if it is anything like would we had before. The fast that they are turn-key makes it easier on us. Motion to approve this event by Jill Rathert, 2nd by Thom Golden. All in favor. Six String Showdown: Resolute Box Lacrosse – Anthony Kelly Anthony Kelly explained that he is filling in for Greg Bice who is on vacation, but they are both co-founders of Resolute Lacrosse. They are out of Columbus, Ohio and the club program is for youth kids all the way through High School. We are based out of Columbus, but we have kids in the Cincinnati area as well. We are looking at hosting an event at your new outdoor facility with this emerging sport. Wade Evans stated that there are two weekends that they are proposing two event dates and HIHA is aware of them both and it works with their calendar. They do plan to donate part of their prophets to HIHA. Anthony stated that they can make an additional donation if the board sees fit. One tournament will be for high school age and the other weekend is a youth tournament. Motion to approve events by Jimmy Head, 2nd by P.A. Bowler. All in favor. Christmas 4 Kids Pickleball Tournament – Linda O’Connell Linda O’Connell is with Christmas 4 Kids. She stated that last year they took 400 Elementary kids and 80 Middle School Kids shopping for Christmas. We utilize over 600 volunteers. Each child gets $175 to purchase what they would like for Christmas. This tournament would be a fundraiser for this initiative. We are working in conjunction with C2 Pickleball in Hendersonville that has some indoor courts and they have been instrumental in helping us make all this work. Our plan is to have a two-day tournament starting Saturday and also on Sunday. We will have different brackets playing at different parks, including Gallatin parks. This is a double elimination tournament. Wade Evans stated that this will just be an approval for the actual event because they are still working on a date for this event. Motion to approve event contingent on working out a date with the Parks Department and waiving the facility fee by P.A. Bowler, 2nd by Jill Rathert. All in favor. Nerf Nights – Wade Evans Wade Evans stated that he has two 5-year-old-nephews who are obsessed with Nerf Guns/Blasters so that is what inspired the idea for this event. I hope to do this Nerf Night more than once, but this is our first try with a small group. The idea is it would be a night from 6:00pm – 8:00pm with 2-3 different age divisions. Every child will wear safety glasses. The ammunition will be provided by the Parks Department. There must be a certain type of blaster. We are going to utilize items we have around the parks, some barriers, kind of like American Gladiator. We are going to use the old hockey rink at Veterans Park for this event. Motion to approve event by Bubba Perry, 2nd by Jimmy Head. All in favor. FOR YOUR INFORMATION: 3 Parks Board Minutes APPROVED 2/27/23 Special Event List Disciplinary Correspondence ATHLETIC COMMITTEE MEETING Andy Gilley stated that the Athletic Committee met this afternoon at 5:00pm to discuss medical services at events and that turned into a longer discussion about medical services daily. This committee will be coming back to the Parks Board next month with some recommendations which will include having some of the larger events give us information about their medical plan in more detail. There are some very important discussions we are having about AED machines. I do feel that 4-5 years ago, our parks was one of the leaders in having a medical contingency plan with the use of AED machines and the UTV but as we grow and move forward, I want to make sure we are doing what we need to do to be as safe as possible. There was a brief discussion about disciplinary actions and officials and sometimes we interject ourselves with the other leagues and sometimes we let the leagues handle it themselves, but it feels like I’ve seen less issues this year than in years past. For the number of games vs. the number of incidents, it is a very small percentage. STAFF REPORTS Recreation Coordinator – Cindy Hamblen stated that the RAPTORS Basketball season has ended and we had over 40 participants. We just recently had our season ending pizza party and had pictures made. RAPTORS Baseball registration will begin March 1st. The season will begin March 31st and we will meet every Friday evening and Saturday morning. The RAPTORS Kickball registration will begin May 1st. The Special Needs East Egg Hunt will be on March 28th at Mary’s Magical Place Playground beginning at 3:30pm. The first session is reserved for those with sensory and mobility issues. This is sponsored by Hendersonville Civitan and the Parks Department. The rain date will be March 30th. I am working on getting more information about location, date and time for the Summer Kids Program. Athletic Coordinator – Orey Fugate stated that the Adult Basketball league ended this past Wednesday. Congratulations to our Champs, The Wisemen. Adult Kickball and Adult Softball registration begins this Friday with games starting later in March. Special Events Supervisor – Wade Evans reiterated that the winter basketball season is over and we are thankful to the 25 gym supervisor that will now be called “Program Supervisors.” We are hoping to utilize them in other ways this Spring/Summer with events and concerts. The Pig Fest website will be updated this week and I almost have it ready to go for this year. Hopefully, we will have good weather on the weekends now that softball is starting back up and there are several tournaments. Parks Maintenance Superintendent – Trevor Cole stated that we are coming close on opening the Trailhead restroom that was set on fire. We are just waiting for the ceiling and the lights to be installed. We are putting an emphasis on cross training people right now so that way if someone has to be out, someone else can step up and fill in. At Soccer, we have a new shade structure at the front concession stand with new benches, that has turned our really nice. We are working with NES to add five more poles with lights in the back parking lot to light that up a little bit better and make it safer for everybody. If you see Tony Key in the next day or two, he is retiring after 20 years with the Parks Department so congratulations to him. Assistant Parks Director – Dallas Long stated that TN United began practice last week and middle school soccer also started practice. With those programs, the games will start this weekend. HSC will begin practice and evaluations this week. Flag football evaluations were this past weekend and they will also start practice this week and games begin March 25th. Lacrosse and Rugby are still ongoing and have been playing games 4 Parks Board Minutes APPROVED 2/27/23 for a couple of weeks now. This was our last weekend for basketball. I would like to thank the schools for all they do to accommodate us for this program. Assistant Parks Director – Keith Bruce stated that basketball finished up Saturday. Civitan had a total of 18 finals between boys and girls and all grades on Saturday. Thank you to Jacob Witt. This was his first year running the league and he did an absolutely great job. Fast Pitch evaluations are over at the field house this Saturday. Hockey is doing evaluations this Saturday at the rinks. We will get them started the week after. The middle school fast pitch league is going two weeks into the weather, so we are schedule with them. Middle school baseball has their first game Wednesday night. The Senior Men’s softball will have 13 teams and will get started in April. The 13th of March is the opening day for the softball season per TSSAA rules. Parks Director — Andy Gilley stated to be on the lookout for Pickleball dates. Orey is working with Coach Brannon Jones to try to get a Pickleball schedule set. We are purchasing nets for the temporary pickleball at tennis. We will have to provide a Program Supervisor to help set that up. We will go out to bid to have those permanent Pickleball courts to be constructed at the Senior Center in the next month or so. I want to say a special thanks to Hendersonville High School for allowing Flag Football to use their field house to do evaluations. There is a community cleanup day sponsored by Beautiful Hendersonville and the Health Department on March 25th and we are submitting a request to have areas around the greenways and waterways cleaned up. Tony Key has been our Athletic Grounds Keeper and has been a great asset to our Parks and we really appreciate all he ROUND TABLE P.A. Bowler – None. Mike Pike – None. Thom Golden – I was just wondering if we can add a spot to the application that clarifies the age range for those participating in the tournaments. Jeremiah Bennett – Congratulations to Tony Key on his retirement and we hope Ken Hesson gets well soon. Jill Rathert – None. Jimmy Head – None. Mahlon Hellman – None. Bubba Perry – None. Lee Peterson – None. Motion to adjourn by Mike Pike, 2nd by Bubba Perry. All in favor. Meeting adjourned at 7:08 p.m. 5 Parks Board Minutes APPROVED 2/27/23 Respectfully submitted, __________________________________ ________________________________ Ken Hesson, Chairman Kristen Emerson, Administrative Assistant II 6