Zionsville Board of Park and Recreation

Summary Minutes of the Meeting of the Zionsville Park and Recreation Board August 12, 2019 The Zionsville Board of Park and Recreation met Monday, August 12, 2019 at 7PM. The meeting took place at the Zionsville Town Hall’s Council Chambers (Room 105). Tim Casady, Jeff Edmondson, & Wayne Bivans, Steve Bullington, George Abel were present. Also present was Park Department Superintendent, Matt Dickey and Park Board Attorney, Roger Burrus. Not present was John Wollenburg. Agenda/Meeting Tim Casady made a motion to approve the July 10, 2019 regular board meeting minutes with a couple of minor corrections. Wayne Bivans seconded. The motion passed unanimously. Tim Casady made a motion to approve the July 23, 2019 notes from second special meeting. George Abel seconded and this motion was passed unanimously. Public Presentation/Comments Superintendent Dickey introduced the President of REA (Rundell Ernstberger Associates), Kevin Osborne. REA was present to update the Park Board on the Elm Street Green Playground and the Zionsville Park Tot Lot, next to Lions Park and to get approval to move to bidding of the two projects. The final drawings presented are the same, except for condensing the play surface in an east-west dimension ESG Adventure Playground. REA explained that the plan is to bid both of these projects as one project, but to get two separate bid prices for each park. They would like to advertise for bids in August. Notices will be put in the local newspaper twice, which will give contractors 2 weeks to respond. REA will contact contractors that they know might be interested in bidding as well. Budget wise, total estimate for both parks is $470,000; that includes equipment purchase. This would put the project ~$20,000 over budget. The Park Board discussed pulling equipment if they needed too, but agreed to go through the bid process as drawn. Steve Bullington made a motion to approve the plan as presented and go forward with the bidding process as outlined. Wayne Bivans seconded that motion and this was passed unanimously. Staff Reports Superintendent Matt Dickey had attended the Next Level Trail (NLT) Grant meeting workshop. NLT staff mentioned that they are looking for projects that extend trails in both directions and that will be one item that will help in tweaking our application. Restrooms do count in the NLT. The Park plans includes 2 restrooms, but NLT discussed with Mr. Dickey that they would generally like them farther apart. Mr. Dickey thought maybe using our northern trail head restroom as part of our local match and putting the southern one in the request for grant funding. There is already a sanitary sewer line located there and this would count as $12,000 more towards the grant. Mr. Dickey talked with the owner of the former Barrett property along the old abandoned corridor. This is the section the Department worked with the school to set around to potentially help support. Section of the Big-4 Rail Trail. The owner asked what his options were. Mr. Dickey suggested writing a letter that can be used in the grant application, sending a small monetary donation with the letter, or donate the property. Superintendent Dickey related he thought a land donation was unlikely. CreekFest was a success and went very well. 149 people showed up, we had lots of sponsors. Zionsville Pizzeria donated the pizza for the event. This was our 6th year doing the CreekFest. 1,660 pounds of trash were removed. Superintendent Dickey related that Mindy Murdock did a great job heading up the festival portion of the event, as well as the Street Department who as our long-time cosponsor is always very involved too. Another item Mr. Dickey wanted to inform the Park Board about is people dumping waste into the Parks. In specific, a large pile of leaves along the Rail Trail, north of the Pleasant View Elementary School. Mr. Moliterno brought this up earlier in the month. The Park Board decided to keep an eye on it for now and maybe in the fall when leaves start falling announce on our website and/or by a public announcement reminder that there will be leaf pickup available in the homeowner’s front yard. Mr. Dickey was asked by our Naturalist, Mindy Murdock for the Park Board’s approval to close the Saturday after Thanksgiving. She would like the Parks Department to participate in the town’s Christmas Parade on that day. Mindy has mentioned she lost a part-time staffer, she normally has part time employees. She would like to have a year-round PT Naturalist in hopes this could help with retention. In discussion with the Board President and later with the Board the bulk of the funds can come out of the current level of part-time funding with a small amount from the Natures Center portion of the NROF. One Board Member takes his grandkids to the Nature Center and they love the programs there. He is all for enhancing the Nature Center and helping with Mindy’s work load. Superintendent Dickey needed the Park Board’s approval for the recent forward from BLN (Beam, Longest, & Neff) on the Rake Property. The $200,450 offer was accepted by the homeowner. Mr. Dickey reminded the Park Board that at the a recent meeting with the Mayor, Deputy Mayor, & the Park Board President instructed Mr. Dickey to make the counter offer on the proposed settlement (subject to the Board’s final approval tonight). Steve Bullington made a motion approving the final number of $200,450 for the Rake Property settlement. This was seconded by George Abel and was passed unanimously. New Business Mr. Dickey presented the Park Board with information on the bond determination meeting on the 9th, 10th of September. The Park needs a quorum for these meetings and this is very important step for the Town Council later consideration on the matter. There will need to be two Park Board hearings, but the 11th already falls on the regular Park Board Meeting. It was noted that the Towns’ elected council has final say on bonding matters. This is merely a required start for Council to consider the issue. On the Golf Course Path Project, Mr. Dickey and the maintenance staff at the Golf Course have asked engineer firms to get fees to them to prepare typical cross sections for cart paths that are currently asphalt or gravel. The firm will also prepare bidding/quoting front ends. Asphalt projects are backed up across the entire state due to the large amount of rain earlier in the year. They received two quotes. Mr. Dickey explained that they wanted one quote for technical specs, a quote front end and bid front end from each firm. The quotes that they received were one for $7,850 and the other for $22,900. Mr. Dickey has tried contacting the firm with the lower bid because they excluded details that the higher bid firm included. As of today he has not heard back from the lower bid firm. The Park Board authorized Mr. Dickey to go with the higher bid if the lower firm did not get the information in to prove it was apples to apples. Steve Bullington made a motion to authorize Superintendent Dickey to sign up to $22,900 for the Golf Course Path Project. George Abel seconded the motion and this was passed unanimously. Note: The lower quoting firm did get the additional information in that night after the Board meeting and so as the Park Board wished, Mr. Dickey went with the lower quote. Old Business -None Identified Other Board Related Items Park Board President, Jeff Edmondson suggested that the Park Board Members start thinking about nominations for the next years Park Board. This will be discussed further in December. Mr. Dickey updated the Park Board on the signage project and the new entrance signs for the Parks. Instead of metal signs, resin interpretative signs are being used for a better quality. There are two additional signs needed that weren’t on the first list and Mr. Dickey wanted the Park Board to know. The Golf Course will have a double sided sign and the American Legion Trail Crossing will be added to the signage list. Claims After Board member’s reviews, Tim Casady made a motion to approve the claims as submitted. Wayne Bivans seconded and the motion was passed unanimously. Adjournment The meeting was then adjourned with a motion made by Park Board Member Wayne Bivans, seconded by Steve Bullington & the vote was unanimous at ~9:45PM. The next regular Park Board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 11, 2019 at 7PM, at the Zionsville Town Hall’s Council Chambers (Room 105). ___________________________________ ____________________________________ John Wollenburg, Secretary Jeff Edmondson, President