Zionsville Board of Park and Recreation

Summary Minutes of the Meeting of the Zionsville Park and Recreation Board 7-14-2021 The Zionsville Board of Park and Recreation met Wednesday, July 14, 2021, at 7PM. Note: Due to the COVID- 19 Emergency Health Situation, this meeting was required to be a hybrid meeting. Park Board Members, John Stehr, Tim Casady, Jill Pack, Erin Bidwell, John Wollenburg & Sarah Moore were present. Not present were John Salewicz. Also, present was Superintendent Jarod Logsdon, Director of Recreation, Mindy Murdock, Tech Advisor Joe Rust, and Park Board Attorney, Roger Burrus. Minutes The Park Board by motion and vote approved the previous month’s minutes. Motion made by John Stehr, seconded by Sarah Moore, approved unanimously. Public Presentations/Comments -None Identified Staff Reports Park Superintendent, Jarod Logsdon updated the Park Board by highlighting items in the Staff Reports. The Parks Department would like to welcome Tech II Park Maintenance employee, William Wright, whom will begin work on July 27th. Superintendent Logsdon updated the Park Board on the Golf Course that had 4,101 rounds of golf played last month. That averages to about 137 a day. Mindy Murdock, Director of Park Programming was present to give updates with the Parks Programming and the Nature Center. Summer Camps are going full speed. The Nature Center had 1,200 people walk through, averaging about 57 people a day. In June, 37 programs were provided, which is about 1 a day and that does include Summer Camps and Recreation Programs. Programs included Barns & Brew, Zionsville Nature Play Days, & Zionsville Farmers Market. Zionsville Parks & Recreation does have a Youtube channel now. The latest video uploaded is about cicadas. A recycling video is also available to view. Barns & Brew was very successful even with the rain. Tomorrow is the next Barns & Brew. The theme is Take Flight Wildlife Education and will feature live raptors. Ash and Elm Cider will be the sponsor for tomorrow’s Barns & Brew. Tickets are still available. Ms. Murdock presented the Park Board with a new program. This is called a Digital Playground. Zionsville would be the second Parks & Recreation department in the United States to offer this. This program is a using augmented reality to create a playground in an open field or park. Mulberry Fields would fit this perfectly. In this program, people would use their cell phone, laptop, or iPad to download the app called Magical Park. There would be 8 different games. These games would be environmental based; like recycling or saving animals and some will be holiday themed. The age for these games is 6- 12 years old. There would be no pop-up ads; it is all for educational purposes. You must be in the park to use the app and it must be set up to a hotspot or with a device that has cellular service. There are features in the app that make is accessible for hearing or vision impaired or for those not able to run. This app would keep track of all log-ins daily. Ms. Murdock would like Park Board Attorney Mr. Burrus to look over the contract for this app. The department did not solicit multiple bids as this is a specialty product and unique in kind. Park Board Attorney, Roger Burrus brought to the Park Board’s attention of a local project, a fiber internet provider by the name of Everstream that will need an easement from the Park Board to bore under the rail trail just north of Mulberry Street by Ford Road. They are putting in their lines; a metronet for businesses only. The only way to do this is to bore under the Rail Trail. Mr. Burrus is talking with their engineer today and getting more information to discuss at the next Board meeting. The other item to discuss is the transfer of the Holiday Road right-of-way from county to the town; this is west of the bridge and would include the bridge. Mr. Burrus reminded the Park Board the Holiday Road Bridge was going to become pedestrian only and the Holiday Road from the bridge east to 421is now all vacated and part of Holiday Farms. The County wants to proceed with dedicating or transferring that right-of-way to the Town. Mr. Burrus is working with the Town Attorney and the Town Council Attorney on finalizing this. New Business Superintendent Jarod Logsdon presented a list of updates and authorizations for new and ongoing capital projects. First up is the Carpenter Nature Preserve. There is a Master Planning proposal on the table. Mr. Logsdon is working on what this site is going to look like. The Parks wants to follow the Carpenter’s vision for this 216-acre property. This could be a permanent home for the Nature Center. The process would be master planning, involving stakeholders, upholding the Carpenter’s vision while meeting the needs of the community, restoring the property, and identifying what the cost would be. After much discussion, a motion was made by John Stehr to approve the proposal from REA subject to Town Council’s approval and getting an authorization for expenditure that is outside of the Parks budget, to approve the master plan for investigating the Carpenter Nature Preserve and the $100,000 to do it. This was seconded by Erin Bidwell and was passed unanimously. Superintendent Logsdon needed the Park Board’s approval for another Memorial Bench donation. A motion was made by Tim Casady to approve the Memorial Bench donation presented. John Wollenburg seconded this motion, and this was passed unanimously. Another item to discuss is the Overley Worman Park (OWP) and a culmination of recent proposed change orders. The first one is the most significant and was contingent upon approval of the floodplain permit. To receive approved, the present design had to move away from gabion baskets and replace those with concrete wing walls. Other changes include the length of structures on site and adjustments to the reforestation plan. This will cost $94,000. The parking lot required extra rock before the asphalt can be put down. The cost for the Parking lot is $14,766. An additional alteration made changes to the boardwalk, which will lower the cost for the amenity. HIS is requesting $19,000 for loss of productivity due to the delay in the floodplain permit, and an extension equal to the delay in the permit which was 91 days. This would bring the early completion to February, not November. Full completion would remain in April. Rounding to the nearest thousand, the four editions would total $128,000 with a credit of $52,000. So, the total to be approved tonight is $77,000. Tim Casady made a motion to approve the change orders as submitted. John Stehr seconded the motion. The motion was passed 5-1 with 1 nay vote by John Wollenburg. Construction documents for The North Rail Trail Extension are 90% complete. A couple of items needed to review and then send to the DNR for their approval. The Rail Trail widening project is new on the Park’s list. The goal of this project would be to identify phases and a plan to widen the existing Rail Trail so that at the end of this construction project the Parks would have a uniform trail with varying degrees of 12-15 ft, creating a more uniform field throughout Zionsville and to be able to accommodate the future growth as this connects to Whitestown. Mr. Logsdon stated that the drainage issue would need to be addressed that is north of Mulberry and Ford Road where the trail is experiencing seasonal washout and large deposits of silt that enter the trail corridor. He has discussed this with BLN and asked them to create a study of the watershed and the design and permitting for a drainage structure designed to handle that flow from the field to slow it down and distribute it appropriately into the channels that exist within the rail trail. This will minimize the flooding events that regularly close down for a day or half a day at a time when large rain in the fall. Approval of $74,000 is needed to conduct this study to better understand a solution to the drainage issue. Jill Pack made a motion to approve BLN’s proposal of $74,000 for the study as presented with a written notification by the Superintendent to the church to acknowledge what has been agreed on. John Stehr seconded the motion, and this was passed unanimously. Old Business Superintendent Logsdon updated the Park Board on the Starkey Stairs construction. HIS Constructors will be sending the construction schedule for this project. Heritage Trail Park Phase II is now underway and is looking good according to Mr. Logsdon. Concrete is being laid and the perimeter for the additional playground. Completion is expected to be at the end of August. The Playground will be the finishing touch. The Hoop House will be an in-house project and judging by the condition of the Hoop House, the Parks will be looking to purchase a new Hoop House rather that utilizing the existing one. Mr. Logsdon met with the Zionsville Pickleball Association. They were concerned with the pickleball lines added to the tennis court resurfacing project. They would like to put overlay pickleball courts on either end of the tennis court so that they would have 4 pickleball courts rather than 2. The ZPA is willing to repaint the lines and to donate nets for pickleball that would be on wheels and could be rolled off to the side when people are playing tennis and rolled in when people play pickleball. ZPA would hold the Town harmless for any vandalism or maintenance to nets within a reasonable period.. They do have an attorney in their association who would be able to provide a legal document between the ZPA and the Parks Department. Mr. Logsdon met with Public Works to discuss the drainage at the Golf Course and finding a path forward to what this project will look like – improving some of the existing holes, laying new asphalt and resurfacing in other areas. Mr. Logsdon believes these improvements are long overdue. Claims A motion to approve claims was made by Park Board Member, John Stehr and seconded by Erin Bidwell. Motion was approved unanimously by Park Board. Adjournment The meeting was then adjourned with a motion made by Park Board Member Sarah Moore, seconded by Jill Pack & the vote was unanimous at ~8:52 PM. The next regular Park Board meeting is scheduled for August 11, 2021 at 7PM, at the Zionsville Town Hall’s Council Chambers (Room 105). _____________________________________ ______________________________________ Tim Casady, President John Wollenburg, Secretary