Recreation Center Governing Board

REC GOVERNING BOARD Minutes for Meeting of March 7, 2019 @ 10:00 a.m. Rec Board Members in Attendance: Mayor Kline, Law Director Raber, Finance Director Gilbride, Dir. of Public Service Rorar, School Rep. Seeker, Comm. Member Salerno (6 voting) Rec Personnel In Attendance: Parks/Rec Superintendent Simons, Ass’t. Superintendent Bozic, Administrative Ass’t. Enos Approval of Minutes: Raber moved to approve the minutes of the December 6th meeting; seconded by Seeker. Vote to approve: 6/0. Old Business: Past Event Updates: Simons: We’ve had a number of past events since we last met in December including the 15th anniversary event. We had an open house on February 9th, we did free admissions and class demos as well as some different booths that highlighted our different programs. Attendance at that was pretty good, about what we would expect for that timeframe. We also had our “re-ribbon cutting” with cake and coffee and I thought that went really well. We were able to recreate our original ribbon cutting picture of 15 years ago. Mayor: Almost . . . we had one person sneak into it who wasn’t there originally. Simons: Um yes. I thought it basically went really well and I want to thank everybody for that. We also had our Family Fun Night at the end of February and that event had a little less attendance than last year but we were still over 600 people so it was still well attended, just not the complete madhouse like it was the year before. Our Community All Star basketball season came and went – there was a little bit of a rough go with the weather this year but we made it through and will work to improve upon the weather cancellation and policy procedures for next year. Staff Updates: Simons: We are currently in the process of hiring tons of staff people throughout the building – front desk, fitness, roamers, etc. We’re also starting to hire our seasonal staff for summer camp, lifeguards and assistant pool managers. That process is ongoing – I think we’ve made 6 or 7 offers within the Rec Center in the last couple of weeks, trying to get back to full staff. Mayor: I know the Rec Center is getting on board but what about the Maca pool lifeguards, knowing that the school district has changed their school year to add a couple of weeks - and also our summer camp and day camp? Simons: We are going to do everything in our power to make sure that we can run those facilities and programs up to the point that school starts. It does become difficult because the other school districts go back at the normal time – the mid- August range so we lose anyone from most of the other school districts as well as colleges and whatnot so we’re doing our best to go into the summer with the understanding with those staff people that we will be open through there. Mayor: Could that be a prerequisite that you have life guards A and B applying and if one can work further into the season, that person would be the one hired vs. the other person that may have been there longer? Simons: We don’t want to get rid of people who have a lot of experience, especially when hiring lifeguards. We are in the process of putting together a seasonal lifeguard agreement where they tell us “this is when I can start and this is where I will have other commitments (like back to school or whatever)” so we know that going into the season. In the last few years we’ve hired almost every single life guard who’s come to us so we haven’t really been afforded the choice of when they can work but this year we’re hoping to really get more Tallmadge students. They can work up until they go back to school, it’s just that sometimes with sports and band and that sort of thing, they get busy. We’re working with it and we do want to make every effort to remain open and to have at least one more week of summer -2- camp – it’s just going to depend on the availability of the staff. Mayor: At the school board meeting last night, they approved their plan that if their levy does not pass (and I sure hope it does) they will no longer be picking up kids at the extended care facilities around town. Simons: We’re working on a contingency plan for that. We’ve been in contact with the bus garage and I’ve had several conversations with the schools as well. New Business: Master Plan Process: Simons: We had a Master Plan meeting last week and I’d say that process is going very well – I was very pleased with a lot of the passed-on improvement information that we received and a couple of the concept plans that we got. Mark, I do have that information for you since you were not at that meeting last week and I’ll pass that on to you later today. They’re going to start buttoning up the capital improvement portion and move on to the overall operations and funding and we hope to have that completed through the middle of this year. Additions to Governing Board Grid: Simons: So we have a couple of things that we want to add to our grid here and I did not bring the grid with me – I apologize. They are all new things going in and not necessarily changes. We have a couple different programs the first being speed and agility training. I know this is something that this board has asked us to look into maybe offering. We do have someone on contract to offer speed and agility training on our soccer field year-round. He is currently doing it at the Natatorium but would like to move it to our facility because he thinks the soccer field is a more realistic place to train for that sort of thing as opposed to a basketball court. We’ve met with him and talked about the pricing, the revenue split would be 70/30 which is similar to what we do with all our other instructors. He is talking about $12 for drop-in fees for residents and then if you buy a punch pass for 6 punches, you get a bit of a discount. So those fees are in there as well. We would like to start in April, and think we would be good to start that program at that time. Mayor: Any discussion? Rorar: If you buy the card with 6 punches do you have to use them within the 30 day window? Simons: No. You can use them anytime within 6 months or a year that your pass would be good for them. If you have a kid that’s involved in sports and you can come this week but then you have to travel for a tournament, it gives them some flexibility while still giving them the discount. The guy says it works pretty well where he’s at now. Raber: I’m not opposed to do this particular one like this but it just raises the question again about the lack of classes for the kids’ memberships. We really don’t have any offerings for kids that are not extra fee things on top of the membership they already pay as opposed to adults where we have classes. Simons: This wouldn’t require a membership. You still have to buy the punch pass. . . it’s a fee regardless. Mayor: So if I’m a member, I’d still have to buy a punch pass? Simons: Yes, to pay for the instructions. Bozic: This is basically a premium service that we’re offering – kind of an elite- athlete type training for speed and agility. Gilbride: I equate this with the same thing as . . . we don’t provide personal training services which is what this is, so if you’re a member, you can also pay extra to have someone come train you. This is the same thing, it’s As I’ve said, I don’t have a problem with this particular one, but I really think we have to begin offering some classes for kids that are not “extra-pay”. Bozic: We did lower our age for being able to take group fitness classes, so that age is now 13. So if you’re 13 year old and you have a co-?? double membership you can still take a group fitness class whereas before I think it was 16. Simons: We continue to look for fitness classes and that type of thing for kids but we’re having a difficult time finding instructors available to do these classes. But it’s something we continue to -3- look for. We get it. A lot of the people who have younger kids who have the gold memberships, it’s more so their kids can go into childcare no matter what parent is with them than anything else. Mayor: I totally agree, it should be for extra cost. But I was confused when I started my comments because they proposed a fee of $12 for residents, $15 – which I thought was for the class, but if you don’t have a membership, then we’ll sell you a punch pass to be able to go to those classes. And if I’m a gold member, paying a gold rate, I pay $12 plus $60 plus my gold membership? Simons: No. It’s $12 for one class or $60 for 6 classes. Gilbride: So you get a discount, it’s down to $10 a class if you buy a punch pass. Simons: So that’s what this bottom one is, a 6 visit punch pass. Mayor: So it’s not an entry into the Rec Center, but an entry into the class. Simons: And they don’t need to be a member to participate in the class but if there was anything you wanted to do outside of the class then you would have to be a member in order to utilize the facility. Gilbride: I mean there’s really no incentive for anybody to buy a child’s gold membership. Simons: No, there’s not. We’ve been looking to offer classes in the past, we’ve offered them and they haven’t had a big success rate so we’ve had to take them off the schedule. It’s something we continue to look for. We are hosting a Zumba training-kind of class in May and we’re hoping to get some additional instructors – I know Zumba specifically has some youth classes so we’re looking into that too. Gilbride: It’s like replicating home school open gym but at night . . . Simons: It’s something we can look at . . . Gilbride: You know the home-schoolers, they bring their kids in for open gym and you do different sports activities. What if that was some kind of an extra gym, but in the evening? Simons: It just becomes a question of trying to find the space . . . Mayor: Is there a motion on the floor? Rabor: I move to approve the addition of a speed/agility training class; seconded by Gilbride. Vote to approve: 6/0. TRC Birthday Party change: Simons: Currently we offer birthday party packages that include 10 guests and the guests include parents. I will say that what kind of brought this to my attention was when I was planning my 5 year old’s party this year, I looked at the Rec Center and thought every single 5 year old’s parent will stay and I could then only invite 3 people. And it says Maca party changes but it should say TRC changes, I apologize. We are proposing to eliminate the charge for parents for Rec Center parties because most often they are not participating anyway. And if you have the playground party, they really can’t participate because they’re too big to go on the playground for ages 3-5 and that’s really the most likely party that would have parents there anyway. So we think we can have more utilization of our Rec Center birthday packages if we eliminate that charge for parents. Maca parties are a little different because we charge everyone that comes in the gate. Gilbride: Will that require an increase in the staffing for the parties? Simons: No. The staff present is based on the number of kids there to make sure that we can bring in the food and drinks so we won’t need to increase the staff for the parents to be there. The other thought is that we provide pizza and other products for 10 guests so if the kids are the only ones to get the special plates so be it. If they needed more pizza to feed the parents, they would have to buy the extra pizza so we shouldn’t be losing out on any money in that regard. It would help us book more parties because then you don’t have to worry that so and so will be bringing a parent or maybe both parents and they’d have to pay an extra $6 for every parent that comes. Gilbride: Does the $25 per pizza include additional drinks and paper products? Or do they bring their own drinks? Simons: It would include additional paper products but not drinks. -4- They get like 3 2-liter bottles of pop which nobody usually goes through anyway. Mayor: Whatdo we pay for the sheet pizzas? Bozic: $20. Raber: I think it makes sense and most kid’s parties are set up more like that. I move to approve the change to the TRC Birthday Party policy;seconded by Seeker. Vote to approve: 6/0. Shallow Water Lifeguarding Class: Simons: This one I’m not 100% clear if we can even actually offer such a class but I wanted to bring it to the Board just to get it approved if we are able to offer it and then we’d be good to go. The Red Cross recently introduced lifeguarding classes that you can train people at lower depths of water. In order to accommodate full lifeguarding where we’re not just training for options that’s don’t include diving 9 or 10 feet deep and bringing up a brick that has been thrown in the pool and carrying it to the surface. Our thought is that if we’re able to start offering these classes, it’s a way for us to train and retain our own staff. So we would like to be able to offer these classes if we can get them and make sure that we can even qualify as our pool is actually 6 foot 3, not just 6 foot so there are a few things I am trying to get some clarification on. If we are able to offer them, I think it would be a good way to get more guards at our facility and help us be fully staffed so we can stay open longer. It’s not a huge money-maker for us, but it’s more about getting and retaining the staff. We’re also investigating a possibility of doing some sort of reimbursement or any staff that meet the criteria, like staying through the beginning of the school year, or work X number of shifts a week then we would reimburse them for a portion of their class. Raber: So yes on the class but we’ll just have to make sure that a reimbursement on the class is handled appropriately codified through an ordinance but otherwise, I move to approve offering the “Shallow Water Lifeguarding class”; seconded by Gilbert. Vote to approve: 6/0. Sale/Rental of Small Items: Simons: This is something I talked to both Molly and Megan about yesterday. We currently don’t have any official thing on the books for the sale of any of our concession items or lap counters or lanyards that we sell at the Rec Center and this summer we’re looking into potentially renting chairs at Maca (one of our big complaints that we don’t have enough), so we’re looking into renting out some pool chairs and that sort of thing. Since none of that is in the grid or any wording in the grid for pricing and those sort of things, this is a paragraph that we’d like to add to the grid to account for the sale and/or rent of those items that are of a smaller value. The lockers that we rent for the year are fairly expensive and they are in the grid. This would just concern our small concession of items that we need to be able to fluctuate price on pretty quickly. It would be nice to have something in the grid that allows us to do that. Right now, there’s nothing but we just do it anyways so I would like to formalize this procedure. Raber: I move to approve; seconded by Gilbride. Vote to approve: 6/0. Other: National Wheelchair Basketball Tournament Update: Bozic: So we did land a National Wheelchair Basketball Tournament that will be taking place next week. They’ll come in on Thursday and then we’ll have games Friday, Saturday and Sunday on 3 of the hardwood courts and then court 4 is their exhibitor, check-in, first-aid type area and a lot of the overflow of the 2 different styled chairs that are used. There is a normal everyday chair that they’ll park in this area when they get on their basketball chair. They have teams coming in from India, Dallas, New York, Seattle, Tampa, all over the country. The first weekend will be for Division 2 and then the second -5- weekend will be for Division 1. Some of the Division 1 players will actually go on to either play in the Paralympics or members of TEAM USA or TEAM CANADA so it’s a pretty big deal and we’re excited that we landed this opportunity to sponsor a national tournament of this caliber and will make good money off of the rentals and concessions plus a lot of good recognition in the community. Raber: Do we have anything like dining guides that we distribute when we have people from that far out of the area? Simons: I don’t think we have anything that’s been updated recently. Mayor: We have our updated city maps and they have a restaurant guide in them and they are plotted on the map, it’s just difficult to keep up with the ones that close (and do not let us know). But we should get a new, separate piece, I’ll get Rita to work on something. Bozic: We’ve worked a lot with Brittany with the Greater Akron Sports Alliance and they have their own stuff listing hotels and things for them. I’m pretty sure that they will be giving this information out to those participating. They probably will be eating in areas around where their hotels are so I’m not sure if, say a restaurant guide for this area would help all that much. Typically when they do these they go into big convention centers with 12 basketball courts and they host Divisions 1, 2 and for the women and the juniors. We had a lunch meeting with them earlier this week and I asked the question, if we had more courts available within this close area, could you do all of the tournaments in one weekend? They said absolutely, we just need the available courts. So it might be something that we look into in the future, relying on some of the school’s courts. We did talk a little bit about this originally, but them playing on a Friday and the schools are open during the time of the tournament (the middle of March) so that would be a problem. If it was a summer-time thing, that might be an option. If we could find 2 other courts some place else, it might be doable. Seeker: If it was the first week of April, our basketball seasons are over even if you went to state – that’s the third week of March. Mayor: Was this the gentleman we met with to discuss the tournaments originally and wanted us to donate all of the court time? Bozic: Yes. We offered it at a discounted rate for our summer league. Simons: And we are doing some things for them above and beyond like we’re having the 3 point lines painted because they need better 3 point lines than we have, so it’s about $1,500.00 that we’re spending to do that. And it’s kind of the overall closing of the Court so they were able to . . . Raber: But it would be the same if we were to have local wheelchair basketball they can use the same lines? Simons: These will be temporary – Mayor: They’ll be stripped after the tournaments. Bozic: It’s temporary-type paint so it will get cleaned off but the high school wheelchair basketball, the high school lines, there’s not that many tournaments right now that we’ve had a protest that asked for the collegiate club all 3 point lines. So, it’s something that Jessica and I’ve talked about – do we potentially add that line when we refinish in the hopes that we maybe land some bigger tournaments because we have the line but that was just internal conversation. Simons: One of our employees came to me today, saying he had watched the pregame show for the Cavs game last night and they were showing information about the tournament and our location on the screen, so we are getting some really good publicity. Raber: Do we need to do anything extra with the parking? Like blocking off more parking toward the front? Bozic: No, he said they’re fine with the way it is now. Obviously, they’ll be using the handicapped spaces but the only thing that I’ve yet to do and I need to get with Mike and the Police Department just to let them know that should we get any snow, they have some trailers that they will want to leave overnight potentially. So I am going to send him a map of locations where I would want him to stage those so that might be the only issue we have with snow removal and just let the Police know that these are just here for the tournament. Seeker: They could utilize the high -6- school lot too for the trailers if they have to leave things overnight. Bozic: Ok, thanks. Mayor: Regarding occupancy, do we know how many people they anticipate coming? Bozic: They have a total of 16 teams for each weekend and there’s roughly 10 players or so per team. Obviously, spectator-wise, they’re not going to travel far but we will have some and they will be charging admissions which they will handle on their end. And we’ll divide it up just like we do for the All Stars. Mayor: So under a thousand people. Bozic: Yes. Mayor: Great! Nice job Adam! Monthly Reports: TRC Membership Report: Simons: I’ll pass these around, please take one. Our membership report is looking pretty good. Overall we’re up about 68 memberships but it’s good to see that we weren’t hurt too badly by the AARP supplemental insurance dropping Silver Sneakers. That was one of our concerns coming into this year. As you can see, the Silver Sneakers number is actually down 79 people from the end of February last year. Another insurance-type Optimum Fitness, is up 121 people and then our annual blue senior and annual gold senior and monthly blue senior and senior strider memberships are all up quite a bit as well. So I think we were able to retain a lot of the members who we may have lost due to that transition through other means so we’re happy those numbers are going up. The annual memberships are up about 36 people and that has a lot to do with that membership drive that we ran as part of our 15th anniversary. Mayor: In talking with one of our local insurance brokers this morning, he said every day they’re signing up Silver Sneakers – the people who lost it and finally realize that their Silver Sneakers is gone, they are switching over to a program that includes it. Simons: Good to hear! TRC Financial Report: Gilbride: I also have something to pass around, please take one. Up through the end of February, revenues are about the same as this time last year. We did unfortunately have admissions to the Community All Stars down because we had the cancellations but that seems to be coming up because of the children’s activities, Before and After Care revenue, etc. and then the court rentals are up which I assume is due to the Wheelchair Basketball rental. Expenses are down a half per cent about the same as this time last year, but also noted on the bottom of the page, we did change some accounting of where we’re putting things in the 2019 budget. There are some expenses that probably existed last year that are not in our current structure and also revenues. We’ve taken things out of the Recreation Center profit and loss that are not really functions of the Recreation Center per se but are functions of our Recreation Department. Simons: Molly, I really appreciate you working with us on that. It’s a good thing for the profit and loss statement. TRC Donation Request Report: Enos: We had 3 donations since December. The certificates that we give out are good for 2 years for redemption and we give out water bottles too. We gave to the Girl Scouts for their Powder Puff Derby, the Victim Assistance Program for their Mardi Gras Gala and Treehouse Preschool for “Party Like A Preschooler Night”. Mayor: Before we adjourn, I’d just like to remind everyone about the EXPO. It will be held on April 6th at the Rec Center and I know the Chamber and all of us will be working towards a successful event. Salerno: I can’t say too much about how good a job Adam and Jessica are doing, he actually has notes from the last one in 2017 and was able to remind me of things I had forgotten! Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 10:33 a.m. Minutes electronically provided to Dan Enos on April 22, 2019/km