Zionsville Board of Park and Recreation

Summary Minutes of the Meeting of the Zionsville Park and Recreation Board 1-13-2021 2021 Park Board Members Board Member Replaced Term Lengths Appointed by Serves through the Position next open end of for appointment in John Stehr Jeff Edmondson 1 year term Mayoral 2021 2022 Vice President Appointment 2020 Tim Casady, Phil Howard 4 year term Town Council 2021 2025 President 2016 (with 2 yrs. left) John Wollenburg, Dorothy Hitchens 2016 4 year term Town Council 2021 2025 (with 2 yrs. left) John Salewicz George Abel 4 year term Town Council 2024 2025 Jill Pack Steve Bullington 4 year term Town Council 2023 2024 Erin Bidwell Jeff Edmondson 1 year term School Board 2021 2022 Appointment 2020 Sarah Moore Wayne Bivans 1 year term Library 2021 2022 Appointment 2021 Welcome Appointments to Park Board -Sarah Moore was appointed as the Library’s annual appointee Beginning of Year Actions - Reelection of a Park Board President – Tim Casady • Motion made by John Stehr; seconded by Jill Pack, approved unanimously through verbal roll call - Election of Park Board Vice President – John Stehr • Motion made by John Wollenburg; seconded by Jill Pack, approved unanimously through verbal roll call - Appointment of Park Board Secretary and Identification of back-up signatory • John Wollenburg was appointed Park Board for Secretary and for Jarod Logsdon to be back- up signatory John Stehr motioned; John Salewicz seconded; approved unanimously through verbal roll call - Confirm regular Wednesday meeting dates • Park Board approved 2nd Wednesday of the month for monthly meetings unanimously through verbal roll call. - Retention of a Park Board Attorney Roger Burrus (at no change: similar contract, retainer, and rate for last 5 years) • Motion made by Tim Casady, seconded by John Stehr, approved unanimously through verbal roll call  . Continuation of Agenda /Meeting -The Park Board by motion and vote approved the previous month’s minutes with a minor correction, Motion made by Jill Pack, seconded by John Wollenburg, approved unanimously through verbal roll call. Public Presentations/Comments -None Identified Staff Reports Park Superintendent, Jarod Logsdon highlighted the featured surplus of items to sell. Several items are from the Zion Nature Center and there are a couple of snow blowers. Since items to sell are less than $5,000 no motion is needed, but the Park Board granted permission for these items to be included in the surplus. Mr. Logsdon said that with the Azionaqua project, a feasibility study is needed and Tricia McClellan from REA is looking into that. A vote is planned at the next library board meeting on the 21st of January to consider the Nature Center moving to the Library. Roger Burrus, Park Board Attorney updated the Park Board on some items that he has been working on. He has finalized the Dog Park rules and documents and the policies on reserving shelters and on donating to the Parks. The Overley-Worman contract had to iron out some insurance details and that is moving forward. Mr. Burrus has reviewed the Starkey Park Stairs Contract and the Turkey Foot Bridge Repair Contract. Also, he is reviewing the Starkey Park LARE Grant which will be discussed later on in the meeting. New Business Superintendent Logsdon introduced Dave Moliterno, Director of Maintenance. Mr. Moliterno gave the Park Board an end-of-year summary of what the maintenance staff has accomplished. Park use was up 400% due to COVID in 2020 and Mr. Moliterno was proud of his staff and what all they were able to accomplish. Each item was listed and discussed with the Park Board. Mr. Logsdon introduced Naturalist, Mindy Murdock, who has been promoted and is now the Director of Recreation Services. Ms. Murdock informed the Park Board of the end-of-year 2020 activities with the Nature Center. With COVID, the Nature Center revamped their programming with virtual; live or pre-recorded programs. Attendance was down in 2020, but the budget was still in the green. Mike Wall, the Golf Course Manager was present to share with the Park Board his end-of-year summary of the Golf Course. Due to COVID, the Golf Course had a late opening; May 27. Despite the late start, the Golf Course’s revenue went from $239,422 last year to $351,000 as of Nov 30th. Mr. Wall stated that the Golf Course was higher in every category. Mr. Wall informed the Park Board of the various items that he has been working on at the Golf Course. Austin Hochstetler from Pros Consulting was introduced by Park Board Member, John Stehr. Mr. Stehr told the Park Board that he was appreciated all the hard work put into this Program Plan; especially with Mindy Murdock serving at the time as the interim Superintendent. Mr. Stehr informed the Park Board that Pros Consulting has been working on a Program Plan the past year to help with the needs and wants of our Parks. Mr. Hochstetler explained what Pros Consulting has been working on for the Parks. The purpose of this Program Plan is to define programming that will engage the community and the Town decision makers to define strategies, services, and direction for public recreation programming that would be financially sustainable and meet the needs of the community of Zionsville. A more detail description was included in the Park Board packet, but Mr. Hochstetler took about 5 minutes to go over some key points with the plan. Pros Consulting completed a system tour, benchmark analysis, & a program assessment. This was done by public meetings (virtual and in- person), an online survey & a statistically-valid survey, using stakeholder focus groups, & an analysis review of demographic & recreation trends. Superintendent Logsdon followed up the Program Plan with his study of a Parks cost recovery philosophy. The Program Plan is like an additional Master Plan. In Mr. Logsdon research, he would like to recover operational costs through reinvestment initiatives, user fees, and other funding mechanisms. Mr. Logsdon explained this to the Park Board. The general Fund would provide facilities and primary staff, and staff would create programs based on public interest. Programs would be structured to recover operational costs, and user fees collected from programming would be reinvested into the Non Reverting Operating fund for future programming operations. Program support staff would be funded from the Non Reverting Operating; not the general fund. He would like to structure our pricing model to match percentages of cost recovery. Fees would be charged based on resident and nonresident basis. The Parks current programming is the Nature Center and Special Events. Mr. Logsdon would like to expand that with outdoor fitness, volunteer events, outdoor water events, & indoor recreation. Our current fee schedule was established in 2014-15. Superintendent Logsdon has created a 2021 Proposed Fee Schedule; this includes the community garden plots, shelter reservations, the dog park membership, Mulberry Field rentals, a parks special event admission fee, special event trail use and memorial donations. After answering questions from the Park Board, John Stehr made a motion to pass a resolution supporting the 2021 fee and philosophy structure that Superintendent Jarod Logsdon had laid out and will be presenting to the Town Council next week. John Salewicz seconded this motion and it was passed unanimously be a verbal roll call vote. Next item up for discussion was the LARE (Land and River Enhancement) Grant program. Mr. Logsdon explained to the Park Board that the application is due in two days. He has met with DNR and consultants. This project would include identifying boundaries, complete engineering, early coordination and permitting, project progress reporting, complete design drawings and specifications, construction cost estimates, confirm easements and land availability, BEHI/NBS of Eagle Creek/Starkey Park, Region 5 model functionality, wetland functional assessment, meeting facilitations, and engineering design report. The estimated cost would be $46,375. The grant would be a 80/20 split. After discussing with the Park Board what is needed for the LARE grant, Tim Casady motioned to approve the LARE grant application as submitted by Superintendent Logsdon. John Wollenburg seconded that motion and this was passed unanimously by a verbal roll call vote. Old Business Tricia McClellan of REA was present to update the Park Board on a few items. First up is the Overley Worman Park contract. HIS Contractors have the contract in hand and we are waiting for this to be finalized. REA is waiting on one more permit from DNR also. On the Rail Trail South Extension, next is the bridge design once this is finished it can be rolled into the other plans and this can move forward. Jarod Logsdon received Park Board Attorney, Roger Burrus changes to the shelter reservation policy and the tree/bench donation policy. These changes are finalized and ready for the Park Board to accept. Jill Pack made a motion to accept these policies as presented. John Stehr seconded that motion and this was passed unanimously by a verbal roll call vote. Other Board Related Items John Stehr informed the Park Board that at the south end of the HTP Dog Park there is a lot of water setting. He thought that with the Heritage Trail Park Phase II getting ready to go out to bid, that maybe we should add drainage to the options. Superintendent Logsdon said that he had been talking with Dave Moliterno, Director of Maintenance about this area containing water. It was suggested to plant native grasses in that south section of the Dog Park and the Parks did decide to only open half of the Dog Park in the winter. Claims A motion to approve claims was made by Park Board Member, John Stehr and seconded by John Wollenburg. Motion was approved unanimously by a verbal roll call vote. Adjournment The meeting was then adjourned with a motion made by Park Board Member Tim Casady, seconded by John Wollenburg & the vote was unanimous at ~9:30PM. The next regular Park Board meeting is scheduled for February 10, 2021 at 7PM, at the Zionsville Town Hall’s Council Chambers (Room 105). _____________________________________ ______________________________________ Tim Casady, President John Wollenburg, Secretary