Zionsville Board of Park and Recreation

Summary Minutes of the Meeting of the Zionsville Park and Recreation Board June 10, 2015 The Zionsville Board of Park and Recreation met Wednesday, June 10, 2015 at ~7:00 PM. at the advertised Town Hall location. Dorothy Hitchins, Phil Howard, Manda Clevenger, and George Abel were all present. Steve Bullington was unable to attend. Also present were Matt Dickey, Superintendent and Roger Burrus, Board Attorney. Minutes Ms. Clevenger made a motion to approve the previous month’s regular board meeting minutes as presented. Mr. Howard seconded and the motion passed unanimously. Public Comments/Presentations Mary Alice “Sam” Baldwin was present in the audience and (without approaching the microphone) introduced herself as the former Perry Township official who has now been sworn in as a member of the Zionsville Town Council as a result of the Perry Township Reorganization Plan. She also introduced Jack Belcher who had been working with her to maintain the three inactive cemeteries upon which Perry Township had been preforming once/year maintenance. She indicated Mr. Belcher would be available to assist the Park Department as these three small parcels transition over to the Town’s responsibility. Moving on, Mr. Phil Howard was excited and proud to announce that Zionsville has now been recognized by a national organization, the League of American Bicyclists, as a Bicycle Friendly Community (Bronze Level). Zionsville joins only 8 other communities in the State (7 at the Bronze level, with Bloomington at the Gold level) and one of only 357 in the nation. This was our third attempt and Phil acknowledged Mr. Bill Spitz in the audience. Mr. Spitz was involved with all three attempts and had directed the first two attempts (Mr. Howard spear-headed the third attempt). He went on to acknowledge the Town Council’s Pathway Committee members and general and specifically mentioned its Bike subcommittee who prepared the application (Phil Howard, Art Small, and Jeff Edmondson, and Bill Spitz), Mr. Howard also specifically acknowledged Street Superintendent Lance Lantz, Police Chief Rob Knox, Planning Director Wayne DeLong, and Park and Recreation Superintendent Matt Dickey. These Town Staff members provided much of the data, the framework upon which the application was based. Staff Reports The reports from the Superintendent of Parks & Recreation, the Park Naturalist, and the Assistant Superintendent for Maintenance Services were all part of the Park Board packet and available for their review. Mr. Dickey began a few verbal highlights by mentioning that the Zionsville Golf Course (ZGC) had its highest gross operating profits ever recorded for the month of May. These numbers were over $42,000 and our 7-season average (including this one) had only been a bit over $39,000. As is often the case in May, ZGC also went “into the black” for 2015 (as far as income beginning to cover operational costs for the year). Superintendent Dickey also went on to mention that the 2015 Zionsville Bike Challenge has 128 participants (a 50% increase from 2014’s inaugural numbers). Participants could be on track to log over 30,000 miles, which would be over 7,000 more than last year (if reached, a 30% increase). Mr Dickey went on to verbally highlight a few points… The $100,000 LARE Grant project had now received all of the required permitting save the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) permit from their Division of Water. That DNR reviewer seems to be suggesting that we must plant additional bare root tree stock than originally proposed by the professional consultants. This would cost the department an additional ~$1,500-$2,000 more in stock and install pricing. While this is not an amount that will break the bank, Superintendent Dickey is concerned about what the DNR may want in ongoing inspections of the material for a full three years after the project. If it is very stringent a level of inspection, over 500 plants will be difficult to inspect and document. The concern has been communicated to the DNR reviewer, but nothing further has been heard. Also related to this bank stabilization project, Mr. Dickey related that he and the consultant met onsite with technical staff from the Army Corps of Engineers and were able to preview the conditions along the stream and convince the Crops that a wetland delineation would not be necessary (as the Corp had originally been intimating). This likely saved the Park Department several thousand dollars in technical consulting fees. Mr. Howard then asked about the project’s timing and if we are on track. Matt replied that even if all the permits had been granted earlier in the year, the project would have been prohibited to start until no sooner than July 1st because of fish spawning season. Also the project needs low water conditions, something not yet present with all the rains we’ve been getting (it may need to be an August or early Sept start from the water level point of view). Superintendent Dickey also related the consultants (FlatLand Resources) had stated last year during design, the project should only take between 1.5 to 2 months to build, once begun. Shifting gears, Mr. Dickey mentioned that the new Bicycle and Pedestrian Planning Grant (at a 50%/50% reimbursement match with a grant cap of $18,500) has been announced and we are one of the two additional projects in the state. He went on to state he had scheduled a meeting with staff members of the Indiana State Health Department to discuss the initial stages of this year long process (scheduled for June 23rd). It was mentioned in the meeting that while staff will need to run the math on the exact numbers, over the last 5-6 years this brings the grant finding totals to at least something on the order of $350,000 to $400,000 in grant funds brought in for parks-related projects. A Board member asked how the Tails on Trails program was going and Superintendent Dickey mentioned that the citizens were responding very well (as a later aside, registrations ended up at 89 participants, a very good number for a first year program). Mr. Dickey also mentioned that the pet-related business community for Zionsville has really stepped up with donations supporting this new program designed to get citizens out in the parks with their leashed pets. Mat went on to mention that the Park Department’s Naturalist, Mindy Murdock, has done a great job with this new program offering, especially in light of the Park Day Camps this month and the other programming at the Center and in the parks. Roger Burrus mentioned in his report that it has been a relatively quiet month from the legal standpoint. He did mention that he had reviewed both the original reorganization legal documents (2010) and also the Perry Township Reorganization information. Ms. Clevenger asked Mr. Burrus about the Canterbury project and Roger indicated that the property owners did indeed have a fencing obligation but that they may have had some thought they could combine the originally two planned fences into one. Mr. Burrus was also questioned during this discussion and he indicated that if floodwaters moved the top of banks along this section from Zionsville Rd to Starkey Park…. That in such a case the easements would move with it. So the remaining width would still be 30 feet from (the new) top of bank. New Business None Identified Old Business None Identified Citizen Advisory Committee Reports Land Resources – Phil Howard. No report on this committee. However, Mr. Howard did report that the Town Council’s advisory Pathways Committee had met and were discussing potential trails opportunities to be submitted as recommendations to the Town Council for that group’s consideration. He also mentioned the Pathway’s Committee was also submitting for Walk Friendly Community (the second attempt). Facilities – George Abel. Mr. Abel reported this committee had met and was continuing work on a draft Park System assessment. During discussion it was mentioned that Mr. Abel will be able to discuss the overall draft material with Superintendent Dickey before the Board presentation to determine if there are outside reasons for some situations that may exist in the parks that may make some suggested lay-person suggested changes unfeasible. Manda Clevenger mentioned that many of the trees at Lincoln Park were donations. The point was that the Park Board/Dept. should be very cautious about removing or perhaps even pruning those plants beyond their natural form. Finance/ Funding – Dorothy Hitchins. No report on this committee. Communications –Manda Clevenger. No report on this committee. But, Ms. Clevenger reported she had searched files and located a Trails/Parks Etiquette document that had been prepared by staff last year. Recreation –Steve Bullington. No report on this committee as Mr. Bullington was absent. Other Board Related Items None Identified Claims Phil Howard made a motion to approve the claims as submitted. Manda Clevenger seconded and the motion passed unanimously. The meeting was then adjourned with a motion made by Mr. Howard and seconded by Ms. Clevenger at 7:32 PM. The next regular Park Board meeting is scheduled for July 8, 2015 at 7PM, at the Town Hall’s Beverly Harves Room. ______________________________ ____________________________ Manda Clevenger, Secretary Steve Bullington, President