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P&R03-03-09Min MINUTES ,,,r PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY BOARD 175 WEST WAR>F:EN AVENUE LONGWOOD, FLORIDA March 3, 2009 COMMISSION CHAMBERS 7:00 PM Present: Abigail Shoemaker, Chair Randy Jonda, Member Nancy Kubec, Member David Putz, Member Lori Rice, Member Chris Capizzi, Recreation Program Coordinator Linda F. Goff, Recording Secretary Absent: Van Olvey, Vice Chair Bob Driver, Member 1. Call to Order. Chair Shoemaker called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. ~ 2. Approval of Minutes -February 3, 21)09 Regular Meeting. Member Rice moved to approvE; the Minutes of February 3, 2009 as submitted. Seconded by Member Putz and carried by a unanimous voice vote with Vice Chair Olvey and Member Driver absent. 3. Public Participation. None. 4. Old Business. A. Recreation Manager's Reporl. Mr. Capizzi gave an update on Reiter Park. He said the stormwater work has been approved and will be starting soon. Member Putz inquired about the money for Reiter Park, and if it was set aside in a special account or was it in the General Fund. Mr. Capizzi said the money was allotted for Reiter Park. He stated there were some issues in which he was not sure whether the funds were in the General Fund or another account line. P&R 03-03-09/1 Mayor Brian Sackett said it was in different accounts. He stated what was approved at the Commission Meeting la:>t evening was going through utilities. He stated they just approved digging the retention pond on the Bernard property. Member Putz inquired, with the economy, was there enough money to finish the Park now. Mayor Sackett responded not at this time. Mr. Capizzi said the stormwater work has been approved. The pipes will be placed in the ground, and they will dig t;he retention pond. He stated they were waiting for the purchase order to be approved. MaXor Sackett said it was his understanding the Park will be done in phases. Member Putz inquired if there was a tin reline for Reiter Park. Mayor Sackett said he has not seen a timeline. He stated it was the Commission's feeling to do the infrastructure. He stated the St. John's Water Management District Permit expires in 2014. He said they have funding for this work and Reiter Park was a priority. He affirmed that based on taxes, the City does not know what we will lose. He stated they did approve the Futsal Court. Mr. Capizzi said the Futsal Court was approved and will be at Candyland Park. Member Rice inquired if during the twc~ to three months the stormwater will be undertaken, would any part of the Park 'be closed to the public. Mr. Capizzi said he would need to research this for the Board as to whether the whole Park will be closed or just partially closed. He stated they would also be grading and placing sod in the Park. Member Rice inquired if this project would not totally demuck the whole property. Mr. Capizzi said they would- not be totally demucking the property. He stated they would be placing some geo-textile undf:r the ground as support in specific areas. Mayor Sackett affirmed he was here fog: a specific reason and would like to change the Board's Agenda slightly. H~, said, with the budget, the City was no longer having the Board Appreciation Dinner. He presented tiles to the Board Members and said the City Commission appreciates the work they do. He stated with the Train Station and Reiter Park <is a gateway to the City, this area will be very nice. Mr. Capizzi reported Babe Ruth Openi~,ng Day is Saturday, March 7, 2009. P&R 03-03-09/2 ~ MaXor Sackett said there were 599 children in the League this year. He stated the Commissioners would be at the Opening Day Ceremonies to throw out first pitches. Chair Shoemaker inquired if they would be moving some of the ball fields to Reiter Park. Mr. Capizzi said that was undecided. He stated the goal was to make Reiter Park more of a community park. Mayor Sackett. said they were talking about a ball field, but the overall design of Reiter Park was no ball fields. Mr. Capizzi reported the Easter Egg Hunt. was scheduled for Saturday, Apri14`n He said they will have pony rides, a bounce house, sack races, and bounce ball races. He stated there will be four age groups. Chair Shoemaker said there would be np goody bags. Mr. Capizzi responded in the affirmative. He said the eggs will have candy in them and.. they will be doing the golden eggs again. He stated they will have face painting, two crafts, and the Easter Bungly will be there. He said the event was from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. and the Easter I:gg Hunt starts at 9:30 a.m. Member Rice said some questions came; up last year that volunteers could not answer. She inquired if anything had been done to coordinate with volunteers. Chair Shoemaker said Member Putz ha~i recommended coming up with a list of questions and answers as an instruction sheet for the volunteers. Mr. Capizzi said Ms. Meli had mentioned this to him and requested that he ask the Board Members if they had any specific questions. Chair Shoemaker suggested they let therm know everything .about the event so they can answer the questions. Member Rice said if they received this information a few days prior to the event, it would give them an opportunity to ask another question. Mr. Capizzi said he would. a-mail a script to the Members a couple of weeks in. advance. He stated if any questions come up in which they do not know the answer, just point the parent in the direction of himself or Ms. Meli. Member Rice inquired what time and vrhat place in the Park they would like the volunteers. P&R 03-03-09/3 Mr. Capizzi said volunteers should show up at 8:30 a.m. and there was no specific area to meet for this event. He stated he could include in the a-mail to the Members what he would like for them to~ do so they will know ahead of time. Chair Shoemaker said that typically with. this event, the volunteers man the fields and keep order. Mr. Capizzi said he had a site map for th.e event showing where things go and the age group for the fields. Member Rice inquired what the event costs were to the City,, and did they have sponsorships. Mr. Capizzi reviewed the costs and said they had no sponsors this year. He said the bounce house was .free of charge andi it was provided by a local Church. He stated they will also be doing prizes and he does not have the cost of those yet. He advised they were well within budget for the event. Member Rice iinquired if staffing from Public Works was overtime. Mr. Capizzi responded in the affirmative. Mayor Sackett said April 4a' was the fir;;t day of Spring Break and this could mean either more or less children. Chair Shoemaker inquired if they would have bags. available for the children to place their eggs in if they don't have a gasket with them. Mr. Capizzi said he would need to check with Ms. Meli regarding this. He stated they had some bags left over from last }'ear. Mayor Sackett said they ran out of Icier; last year. He stated he had to leave and thanked the Members for serving the Ciity. Member Rice inquired. how they advertised for the event. Mr. Capizzi said this would be in the newspaper. He stated it has been in the Lake Mary Life Magazine, it will be posted on the trailer signs, the Seminole Magazine, and it was in the What's Happening that goes in the utility bills. Chair Shoemaker said it seems they ha~~e been lacking in sponsorships with Marveen Kelly out. F&R 03-03-09/4 Mr. Capizzi said Ms. Kelly did a lot of tt~e sponsorships and lately sponsorships are up again. He stated there was a sponsor for the Senior Matinee, the Three-on- Three Basketball Tournament has sponsorships, and all rai~le prizes for Celebrate the Season were by sponsors. Discussion ensued regarding sponsorships. Commissioner Joe Durso said he had brought up at a City Commission Meeting the need for a Marketing Plan. He stated this would go a long way in community awareness and would also help with sponsors. He said Ms. Meli did an excellent job in putting together a Plan that was reviewed at a City Commission Meeting. Mr. Capizzi reported the Three on Three Basketball Tournament was scheduled for March 28`h and there would be multiple age divisions. He said this has been marketed well and they were hoping for a good sign-up. As he had previously stated, they have sponsorships for the tonarnament and it is very affordable. He said everyone would receive a shirt, and would play at least two games as it is a double elimination. Trophies will also b~~ presented to the first place teams. Mr. Capizzi reported there will be a Stress Management Seminar on March 21~` that will be headed by the Yoga Instructor. He-said this was a free event, but they do encourage donations. ~ Chair Shoemaker said the donations will cover expenses, and any left over proceeds will be contributed to the Chri;~tian Sharing Center. She stated Mr. Capizzi approached the Yoga Instructor because the City has the Community Building the third Saturday of the month. The third Friday is Florida Music and Saturday evenings is Blue Grass. Mr. Capizzi reported Summer Camp will be held through the weeks of June 15~' to August 7~' at Lyman High School. H~~ said last week Seminole County decided they would not be providing buses for tine field trips. He stated they went down to one field trip a week and they will be looking into charter buses. Chair Shoemaker suggested he talk to the Longwood VFW as there were some charter buses that park there, and they may be able to work something out. 1VIr. Capizzi said Longwood has the most reasonable Summer Camp in the County. He stated the Oviedo Camp will be charging nonresidents $185 a week. Longwood non-residents will be payin€; $130 a week, and if they do the early bird payment, it is only $105 a week for norr-residents. He explained they have this price difference to encourage parents to pay prior to camp starting so the Camp Director does not have to collect money/. Chair Shoemaker suggested a sleepover once a month. She said they could do a ~ field trip, and provide dinner and a mo~~ie when they return to the facility. She P&R 03-03-09/5 stated the parents can go out for a night: knowing their children are safe and ~ having fun. Mr. Capizzi said one of the issues was ~ZOt having the facilities. He stated the Community Building nights are booked well in advance. Chair Shoemaker said this summer perhaps they could do this on a Thursday night. She stated that Karate would be out by 7:00 p.m. Mr. Capizzi said they hold Family Movie Night on Thursday nights. Member Rice said it would have to be affordable for families if this could be worked out with the facility. She stated a lot of Churches do lock-ins, but they don't go anywhere. Commissioner Durso suggested the City build a relationship with the YMCA for doing something like this. He said the 'MCA and local Churches have done lock- ins. He stated the Commission would h~~.ve to consider working this into the budget, but it would be worth looking into. He said he had another meeting to attend so he needed to leave. He stated he appreciated the work the Members do. NIr. Capizzi said they have had meetings with the Director of the Lake Mary YMCA and their programs cost more than the City programs. Chair Shoemaker said the Counselors for Summer Camp were going to have to work hard to keep the children entertained with less field trips. Mr. Capizzi said the City was very fortunate to have Lyman High School facilities for Summer Camp. He stated the Counselors are great at motivating the children and work well with them. Member Rice said last year they maintained capacity level. She inquired what. the ratio was for resident/non-resident. Mr. Capizzi advised the ratio has been approximately 70% residents and 30% non-residents. He said this could change; due to increased camp costs for other camps. They set 80 as a general cut-off number for campers, but at times have gone higher. He stated they have capacity for 100. He advised the City's counselor to camper ratio is 1 to 10. He said the County uses a 1 to 20 ratio. Chair Shoemaker inquired if the City moved City Hall, would they keep this building. She said Recreation could use the facility. Mr. Capizzi said he had no information regarding this matter. He stated they would still want to use Lyman High School for Summer Camp because of the ~ facilities available. He said there have been some discussions of merging Parks P&R 03-03-09/6 and Recreation, but this would not occur any time soon. He reported the routine programs were going great. The basketb<<ll clinics started last Saturday, the tennis clinics were going well and jazzercise w~is still doing well. He stated the Farmers Market was doing well. He said they would be placing two banners, one on each corner to make it more visible. Member Rice said one of the City Comrriissioners.made arecommendation to move the trailer sign around to different ilocations in the City.. She stated if she didn't .know better, she would think the Farmers Market was at the Pie-N-Save parking lot where the sign is located. She: said there was no real direction to this sign .and it needed to change. Mr. Capizzi said the trailer signs were not in good condition to be able to move. He stated this ,past weekend they had fourteen vendors and they have four new vendors that recently signed on. He advi:ced the Farmers Market will be through the end of May and will close for the summer. He said they recently changed the method of payment by vendors so the M:irket Manager is not required to collect fees. He stated they have had a positive response to this and vendors are paying for an entire month. He said the Farmers Market was on Channel 13 News and it was also in the Newspaper. Chair Shoemaker said she would like to ;gee more crafts at the Farmers Market. ~ Member Putz inquired who was doing the Marketing Plan that was discussed earlier. Mr. Capizzi advised that Ms. Meli did the Plan based on what Seminole County has done and had worked with an emplo~~ee of the County. He said they are members of the Seminole Cities Recreational Council (SCRC), an organization where they meet and share ideas. Member Putz inquired if the Marketing flan was done at no charge to the City. Mr. Capizzi responded in the affirmative. Mr. Capizzi said Ms. Meli had requested he inquire if the Board wanted to meet in April: He stated the events will have been completed other than Summer Camp and National Night Out. Member Putz inquired how many Members go to the City Commission Meetings. Member Rice, said she listens to the audio ofthe Commission Meetings. Member Putz inquired if they heard Commissioner Holt state at a previous Commission Meeting that individual Bo;rrd Members were liable: P&R 03-03-09/7 Member Rice said he stated something along those lines. However, he was referring more to one of the other Board;. Member Putz inquired if this referred to all the Boards. He said he would like to know where they could get this information and stated he would like to know if they, as Board Members, were liable. Mr. Capizzi asked the Recording. Secret~~ry if this would be covered under the Government-In-The-Sunshine Laws. The Recording Secretary suggested they could contact the City Clerk to request this infor-mation. Chair Shoemaker said she could contact the City Attorney to request this information.and ask that it be mailed to t:he Board Members. Member Putz said he would like an answer sometime before April if they are going to cancel April's Meeting. He stated he would like to know if Board Members that volunteer are liable for anything to do with their position, or if individual Board Members can be sued c?r held responsible for anything they do. Member Putz moved to contact the City Clerk to inquire if Board Members have any liability coverage through the City for any of their actions. Seconded by Member Rice. Member Putz said they were out volunteering with adults and children. He stated anything could happen. Chair Shoemaker said the question was if the Board Members were liable. She stated if they vote that they want Reiter ]'ark to go through,. was he asking if the Board would be liable if Reiter Park goes through and somebody slips and falls in the Park. Member Putz said he was inquiring if th~;y were .liable for any discussion or decisions as an Advisory Board, or the fact that they volunteer with the public. Mr. Capizzi said they could find out if individual Members were liable or could be sued for anything they decide or held responsible based on a decision they have made. Discussion ensued regarding liability. Member Putz said the Commission was i:alking about the Codes Enforcement Board, but he would still like. to know al;~out the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. P&R 03-03x)9/8 Chair Shoemaker said they were an Advisory Board and could only make suggestions. Member Rice said if they can be held personally liable was different than having liability coverage. Motion carried by a unanimous v~~ice vote with Vice Chair Olvey and Member Driver absent. Chair Shoemaker moved to additionally ask the City Clerk if individuals on the Advisory Board are liable :for any decisions that they make. Seconded by Member Rice. Chair Shoemaker said if they make a decision to give one child a tootsie roll and another child a hard candy and that child breaks a tooth, would they be liable for that action. She reiterated they were only an Advisory Board and could only make suggestions. They do not make decisions like the Codes Enforcement Board. Motion carried. by a unanimous voice vote with Vice Chair Olvey and Member Driver absent. Member Rice inquired if Ms. Meli had provided Mr. Capizzi with any information regarding the events and programs worksheet she had previously supplied. She said she believed Ms. Meli had stated that between the last meeting. and this meeting she would be meeting individually with Commissioners going over line item costs for these programs. ~~he stated .she was anxious to get this information from Ms: Meli, and she thought Ms. Meli's goal was to have this information for tonight. She inquired if this could it be e-mailed to the Members so they can review it before the next meeting. Member Jonda inquired if they have done the budget for this year. Mr. Capizzi said they were working on it, but it was not ready at this time. Chair Shoemaker said she had a feeling T?Is. Meli would not be ready by April. She stated there were so many things bei~lg balanced right now with getting a new City Administrator, Financial Services Director, and Community Services Director. Member Rice said if the events are planned and on paper, she would think they would have a good idea of what they will. cost. Mr. Capizzi said there was a template of what they have spent, but this may not include expanding or knowing how much they can budget to add to them. Member Putz inquired about the schedul~;d April Meeting date. P&R 03-03-09/9 ~ Chair Shoemaker said it would be on April 7, 2009. Member Putz moved to cancel tl-~e April 7, 2009 Board Meeting. Seconded by Member Kubec and carried bey a unanimous voice vote with Vice Chair Olvey and Member Driver absent. Mr. Capizzi said if Ms. Meli has this infi~rmation together, she can send it to the Board Members. Chair Shoemaker said by not meeting in April, so much can happen in the next two months. She stated the Board was trying. to be a part of this process. Member Rice said they have to have the information as well. If they are not meeting in April and don't receive the ir.~formation in May, then it is too late to have any input. Mr. Capizzi said the Interim Finance Director was fine tuning things and this may be the reason why this information was not ready to be provided. Chair Shoemaker advised that. Mr. Sizemore, Community Services Director resigned and his last day would be March 13~'. She said that Mr. Capizzi and Ms. Meli report to the Community Services Director. S. New Business. None. 6. Adjournment. Chair Shoemaker adjourned the meeting at 8:54 p.m. r ~ i Abi it Shoemaker, Chair ATTEST: Linda F. Goff, R rdng Secretary P&R 03-03-09/10