Zionsville Board of Park and Recreation

Summary Minutes of the Meeting of the Zionsville Park and Recreation Board 11-10-2021 The Zionsville Board of Park and Recreation met Wednesday, November 10, 2021, at 7PM. Note: Due to the COVID-19 Emergency Health Situation, this meeting was required to be a hybrid meeting. Park Board Members, Tim Casady, Sarah Moore, John Stehr, John Wollenburg, & Erin Bidwell were present. Not present was Jill Pack & John Salewicz. Also, present was Superintendent Jarod Logsdon, Director of Maintenance Services Greg Dickenson, Director of Recreation Services Mindy Murdock & Director of IT Joe Rust. Minutes The Park Board by motion and vote approved the previous month’s minutes. Motion made by Erin Bidwell, seconded by John Stehr, approved unanimously. Public Presentations/Comments -None Identified Staff Reports Superintendent Jarod Logsdon wanted to let the Park Board know how hard Greg Dickenson, Director of Maintenance Services and the maintenance team have been working on the ice-skating rink and keeping up with routine park maintenance. This was no small task as there are over 150 platforms of 2 x 10 boards that weigh about 200 pounds each. Mr. Logsdon wanted to acknowledge his appreciation to Greg, Rick, Matt, Will, & Bryce for all the hard work. Mr. Logsdon also gave a shout out to the programs department for hosting over 400 attendees for the Trick or Tree event that was held Saturday at Elm Street Green. The Golf Course closed on a high note. In just 11 days in October over 632 rounds of golf were played, which brings the total to just under 19,000 for the 2021 season. Mindy Murdock, Director of Recreation Services was present to discuss with the Park Board projects and events for the month of October. Due to the response, Trick or Trees was moved to Elm St. Green. 200 signed up and just over 400 attended this event. The Parks was able to bring in some community partners. The library was there with the Book Mobile, Bach to Rock was present with their musical instruments, and the Zionsville Parks Foundation was there as well. Tails on Trails ended in October with about 90 dogs registered, 23 completed 6 of the 8 walks, and 7 dogs completed all eight walks. Ms. Murdock thanked Duke Energy for sponsoring this program. The last program to wrap up is the Magical Park. 560 participated in the virtual program. Unfortunately, the last night for this program had pouring rain, so the 75 people that registered went down to one family. They had a blast though. For next year, Ms. Murdock will be doing a survey with the Magical Park participates and hopefully find out what they did and didn’t like. She would like to keep with a 3-month time frame so that this will continue to be something new and novel rather than bringing it back for an entire year. New Business Mr. Logsdon informed the Park Board of a change order with the golf course cart pathway. In meeting with Citywide knowing that the objective is to really improve the course and make this project last and improve the flow of the course, Mr. Logsdon and Citywide identified 4 areas that could be improved beyond the scope of the original bid. Area one, as seen on the map provided, an additional thousand square feet of cart path that wasn’t included in the original scope of the project – this portion does flood regularly. Mr. Logsdon would like to include this into the scope and extend the golf course paving just a little bit further outside of the original contract. The cost of this would be $9,600. The second portion is back towards the eighth hole and would be creating a turnaround which will improve the flow of carts going up and down that hill towards hole eight. Golfers routinely use this area to turn around historically. A turnaround would be more efficient and keep golfers from damaging grass in that area. The cost of this would be $8,795; this includes materials and labor. Concerning area 4 near the eighth hole, the Parks has been in coordination with Duke Energy, whom seek to replace the power poles that run through the easement to the side of the golf course, on a new layout of the southwestern pathway to avoid the utility easement (and future conflict and damage with utility upkeep). Duke verbally agreed to fund the portion of moving the tee and the cart path over to mitigate future interference. The cost of this project would be $12,492. Mr. Logsdon will follow up with Duke Energy on their portion of this cost. Mr. Logsdon excluded Area 3 from consideration in the proposed change order. This area is where the golf carts are washed and parked between use. The cost to pave this potion would be $29,000, which exceeds the current budget. As the Parks looks to renovate other parts of the cart paths and facilities at the course, paving that portion would be reevaluated. To sum up, the three areas for the change order would cost a total of $30,870 with Duke Energy paying $12,500 of that. John Wollenburg made a motion to approve the change orders in areas 1,2, & 4 as submitted by Superintendent Logsdon. Tim Casady seconded the motion, and this was passed unanimously by the Park Board vote. Next, Superintendent Logsdon presented the proposed 2022 Fee Schedule for the Parks Department. In 2020 the administration and human resources department conducted a compensation study to benchmark our positions with the regional market. The goal of 2020 was to adjust all positions to at least meet the newly formed minimum tier of the compensation band system (minimum, median, and max pay scale per position). Through annual review and performance evaluations those pay scales will continue to be adjusted. This increase in personnel will be reflected in some programs in 2022. Mr. Logsdon presented to the Park Board the 22 proposed changes to the budget. Programs remaining the same include the community garden and shelter reservations program, along with dog park permits. The first noted change is the memorial bench and tree donation program. The Department piloted program in 2021 with overwhelming success. To date, 7 benches and 3 trees have been requested. As with everything this year material costs have gone up and supply chains have been fragmented. Mr. Logsdon is proposing that the benches move from $1,000 to $2,000 per bench to better reflect the increased price of materials. For memorial tree donations, Mr. Logsdon is recommending adjusting pricing from $400 to $600. This will match where the market is currently and the increase in cost of plaques. For the Nature Center, the biggest change to the pricing is the seasonal staff wage. The seasonal position wage has been adjusted by 45% to match current market levels. To recover that cost, the Department have made a couple of adjustments primarily in the summer camp program. It is a goal of the Department to create a self-funded, self-supported programs department to allow for programming to be sustainably developed and continue to offer free, subsidized, and fee-based programs. For 2021 summer camp rate was based on $6 an hour for residents and $7 an hour for non-residents. Mr. Logsdon is recommending that this be change to $8 an hour for residents and $9 for non-residents for 2022 camps. The other program offered by the Nature Center is the birthday parties. This fee is currently $125 for a two-hour program for Zionsville residents, Mr. Logsdon proposes a fee change of $175 for the non-resident rate only. For the golf course, Superintendent Logsdon mentioned pro shop staff will receive a 45% wage adjustment to match the market levels. Priorities of the course are to minimize the effect of the increased cost while remaining profitable and self-funded. Additionally, the Department would like to establish a capital replacement reserve for future capital expenses with revenues over operational expenses. The pro shop building is reaching its end-of-life and Mr. Logsdon and Mr. Wall (Golf Course Manager) would like to begin investing not only in eventually replacing the building, but in new cart paths, maintenance barns and replacing the parking lot. On to golf cart fees, there are a couple of adjustments to note within the 9-hole weekday game. The current rate is $12, and it is recommended that be moved to $14. 18 holes would remain the same. On weekends and holidays the current rate is $17, and this would be adjusted to $18. For season passes, the rate is changed from $600 to $700 and the 55 and better couple rate would move from $775 to $800. The adult couple rate would move from $1,000 to $1,100. To accommodate our senior population who may be on fixed incomes, a weekday senior pass was created to reflect preferred gameplay and is priced at the previous 2021 (7-day) senior pass rate. After discussing the fee schedule with the Parks Board, John Stehr motioned to approve the fee schedule, with a second by John Wollenburg. After a verbal vote, the Park Board voted unanimously to approve the fee schedule for the 2022 Budget. Old Business Design documents are prepared for the Northern Rail Trail Expansion, and the Park Board is finalizing land acquisition with one landowner (Cain Property). Appraisals have been obtained on the property in 2019 and an updated appraisal was obtained in July of this year. The agreed upon price for acquisition is an amount based on the updated appraisal of $114,500. Tim Casady made a motion to authorize the Park Board President or Superintendent in consultation with Park Board Attorney, Roger Burrus to finalize the agreement to acquire and to take all steps necessary to close the acquisition of what is the Cain property at a price up to the amount of the updated appraisal done in July of 2021. This motion was seconded by John Wollenburg and was passed unanimously by the Park Board. Next up on the agenda is an update with the Carpenter Nature Preserve. This week, REA, Delve Architecture, and EcoLogic worked together with Superintendent Logsdon and a stakeholders team including the Mayor, Town Council, Park Board, and parks staff to create conceptual concepts for the master planning of the property. REA was present to thank the Parks for giving them a vision of this property and what it can be. A 3-day charrette refined 3 options for the Nature Center building, site improvements, and amenities. REA is working on these concepts and will have renderings and cost estimates to present to the Park Board in the coming months. REA completed a scoping study for the widening of the existing rail trail segment. Three concepts for improvement (featuring various widths and challenges) are being created to present to the Park Board at the December meeting. Pictures were published on the Overley Worman Park progress. The pedestrian bridge from the southern expansion to the park has been placed and looks fantastic. Progressive Trail design has been on site and are beginning to develop the mountain bike trails. The playground should be constructed in the coming weeks. The Parks is still anticipating an opening next spring. The rail trail south extension was delayed due to the discovered a water main from 1937, excluded from initial utility surveys. Citizens Energy is on site to reroute the water main. Heritage Trail Park Phase II playground has been installed. This inclusive playground is designed for 6–12-year-olds. Final walk through is pending. WinterFest The maintenance team has been working on the ice-skating rink platform. The platform will be transported to Mulberry with the help of Lowes mid-November. The Fire Department will be assisting the second week of December with filling up the rink in preparation for Winterfest. A flip book has been created and placed on our website. This includes schedules for programs and themes for the event. Claims A motion to approve claims was made by Park Board Member, Sarah Moore and seconded by John Stehr. Motion was approved unanimously by Park Board. Adjournment The meeting was then adjourned with a motion made by Park Board Member John Stehr, seconded by Tim Casady & the vote was unanimous at ~8:00 PM. The next regular Park Board meeting is scheduled for December 8, 2021, at 7PM, at the Zionsville Town Hall’s Council Chambers (Room 105). _____________________________________ ______________________________________ Tim Casady, President John Wollenburg, Secretary