Parks and Recreation Advisory Board

The Parks Advisory Board met in regular session on Wednesday, April 13, 2022 at 6:00 p.m. in the City Hall Annex. MINUTES Board Members Present Mandy Edwards Kim Houston Neil Mesler Board Member Absent Kathy Boswell Amber Kunes City Staff Present Andy Tarkington, Parks and Recreation Superintendent Terrie Ortiz, Parks and Recreation Clerk Guest Present None AGENDA ITEM 1.0 Call to Order Mandy Edwards called the meeting to order. The meeting began at 6:03 p.m. AGENDA ITEM 2.0 Approval of Minutes Mandy Edwards called for motion to approve the March minutes. Neil Mesler made the motion. Kim Houston seconded the motion. The minutes were approve by unanimous vote. AGENDA ITEM 3.0 Hear Project Updates Andy talked to the board about some of the updates concerning Southeast Park. The board members let Andy know that they feel the park looks great. Andy explained to the board that Southeast Park has not officially opened due to the fact that some of the play features that Dionna Garrett had the city order has not come in. He went on to tell the board that the new soccer goals that were put in are missing parts. Andy told the board that the city is planning on doing a grand opening for Southeast Park and he would like for them to be a part of the grand opening. Andy told the board that the city has not set a date for the opening yet. Kim Houston asked if there was a date on when the features Dionna wanted will be in. Andy informed her and the board that he did not know and they have not gave a date yet. Kim also asked about the basketball courts, she asked if they were in the first phase or the second. Neil Mesler asked Andy about the restroom for Southeast Park, is going to be in this phase or the second phase. Andy explained that the basketball court will be in the second phase of park renovations at Southeast Park. Andy informed Neil and the board that restroom was going to be in this first phase. Andy went on to tell the board that we wanted to make sure we had the exact size of the building. Andy told the board that he is preparing bid documents for the restroom. He let the board know it would be bid out in the next month or two. Mandy asked where the restroom would be located. Andy informed her it would be in the northeast corner of the park. Andy told the board that Whilix is coming back to finish the soccer goals plus when the rest of the features come in they will get those finished as well. The Parks board told Andy that they were very pleased with how thing are coming along with Southeast Park. Neil asked if the lighting was getting replaced. Andy told the board that there were lights already there and the City Maintenance crew were replacing bulbs and working to make sure the park was lit up. Andy told the board about some other projects, like the new steps at the Little League fields and the parks crew cutting a lot of dead trees. He told the board that he will get more into these projects when he reads the Parks, Recreation and Fossil Park report. Andy let the board know that he was getting more field dirt in for the softball field one at Ft. Wolters. He told the board that we have softball league sign-ups going on. Mandy asked if we targeted the churches for leagues. Kim Houston let the board know that the church leagues were big back years ago. Mandy asked if we could send flyers to the churches. Andy told the board that we do have it advertised on the Parks and Recreation Facebook page and City website. Andy told the board that it has been a struggle for many years. Kim said if we could get the word out even as far as towns west of Mineral Wells. Towns like Gordan, Strawn, and Palo Pinto. Andy told the board whether we have the league or not we will get the infield dirt ready. AGENDA ITEM 4.0 Hear Updates on Mineral Wells Aquatic Center Andy informed the board that we still do not have a Recreation Coordinator. Andy let the board know that he has put out more advertising for the Recreation Coordinator to the colleges. Neil told Andy to send him the job description and he could help get the word out at Tarleton State University. Andy told Neil that he knew that Tarleton had put the job on their job board. Kim asked about Weatherford College. Andy told Kim that it was a two year college and there really is not any one that does Parks and Recreation. Mandy asked if he was getting applicants or just not qualified applicants. Andy informed Mandy that he had very few applications and they had no aquatics experience. Mandy asked if there has been any lifeguards to apply. Andy told the board that he was going to contact the High School after spring break. Mandy reminded Andy that Amber Kunes said she would be willing to help with going to the school. Andy told the board that Kathy Boswell will have to teach the lifeguard course. He told the board that when people apply for lifeguard they want to know when the class is and Kathy has to give the dates to Andy. Andy let the board know that when he goes to the school he feels he will have more to sign up for lifeguarding. Andy went on to tell the board about the physical part of the Aquatics Center. Andy told the board that the City Manager, Dean Sullivan, had him contact several pool companies. Andy explained he had made several phone calls and told Kim he had also contacted the company she suggested. He went on to tell the board that these companies asked for part numbers, serial numbers or model numbers for the filters. Andy told the board that he did locate the original pool plans and there was no information about the filters on them. The only thing about the filters was who put them in. Andy went on to tell the board that these companies wanted measurements and pictures and he sent all that information to them. That is where it stands for now. Andy let the board know he has not heard from anyone since. Andy informed the board he has had no response from the two pool companies he had contacted previously. He let the board know that he provided the same information to all of the other companies. Andy told the board that the corrosion has taken away the visible part of the model number. Mandy said “at this point and time no one will be willing to schedule a meeting to look at the filters because we would have to contact the pool companies in the fall.” He told her that was correct. He told the board that he feels this is the reason he cannot get a hold of anyone. They have to be contacted in advance and we waited to late in the season. Kim asked Andy if the Public Works Department may have a thickness gauge. She explained to Andy that she looked the gauges up online and wondered if someone in other city departments would have one. Andy informed her and the board that he did not know if anyone had one. Andy also let the board know since Kim brought up the Public Works Department, he said the gate to the Fossil Park has been installed but the department has been working on another big project. Mark Sparks, Maintenance Supervisor, told Andy as soon as they finish they will work on getting the gate working. He informed Andy that he hoped it would be by the end of the month. AGENDA ITEM 5.0 Hear Update on The Parks and Open Space Plan R.F.Q. Submissions Andy explained to the board that when we put the item on the agenda that the opening for R.F.Q.’s was supposed to be on March 3rd. Andy told the board that out Finance Director, Jason Breisch, added an addendum to the R.F.Q.’s. Jason had the opening pushed back to March 10th. Andy let the board know that he had sent them an update on the R.F.Q.’s in an email. Andy let the board know that the City Council has appointed a committee, they wanted people to be able to meet during the day. He explained that he did not know any of the board members schedules and the City Council needed to know who could be on the committee. Andy told the board that the committee will be two City Council members, Jason, the Finance Director and him to go through the submissions. Andy told the board that there were at least fifteen inquiries that requested the R.F.Q. documents. Andy informed the board that one of the inquiries was the same company from 1996 Parks and Open Space plan. Andy told the board that he hopes once we get a plan we will be able to follow through a little better than they did with the 1996 plan. Andy also told the board that once a plan is selected he will let the Parks Advisory Board look it over and give their input. Andy told the board that once they get a plan they will want to move on the plan pretty quickly because we want to try and have it by the fall. Andy explained to the board that it usually takes about six months to complete. Andy let the board know that hopefully they can recommend a company by sometime in April and have the plan done by October. (Since the meeting, we have found out that the Parks and Open Space process usually takes about nine to ten months.) AGENDA ITEM 6.0 Hear Parks, Recreation and Fossil Park Report Andy read the Parks, Recreation and Fossil Park report to the board. Kim asked if the time the Fossil Park is open and closed would change after the time change. Andy told the board that the Fossil Park is going to open at 8:30 a.m. and closed at 6:30 p.m. Andy let the board know as soon as the solar gate is completed the Fossil Park will open at 8:00 a.m. and close at 8:30 p.m. AGENDA ITEM 7.0 Hear Parks and Recreation Board Ideas for Future Agenda Items Mandy asked to put the pool back on the agenda. Myndi Muncy, MainStreet Manager will come to the board about a design for Zappe Park. AGENDA ITEM 8.0 Adjournment Mandy asked for a motion to adjourn. Kim made the motion. Neil second the motion. The parks board unanimously agreed to adjourn the meeting at 6:45 p.m.