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Serving the Valley Since 1925 |
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REGULAR MEETING OF BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERSA regular meeting of the Board of Park Commissioners of the Kankakee Valley Park District of Kankakee County, Illinois was held on Tuesday, October 9, 2007 at 5:00 p.m. at the Bird Park Fieldhouse, Kankakee, Illinois. The meeting was called to order by Commissioner Gathing and roll call was taken. The following Commissioners were present and constitute a quorum: Hollis Grill Collins Mullady Gathing Staff attending the meeting was Jim Romanek, Renee Chavez, John Bessette, Attorney John Coghlan, and Dee Osenglewski. Members of the Public present: Alderman James Cox Press present: None Commissioner Gathing led the Pledge of Allegiance. PUBLIC COMMENT The meeting opened with public comment from Alderman Cox. He asked about the Park District’s plans for Old Fair Park. Romanek stated that current plans were to tour all parks with the Commissioners. Each Commissioner has been assigned 6 parks. This will allow us to determine the best use of our capital. Romanek, Bessette, and Commissioner Collins recently met with Alderwoman Coleman and she expressed things she would like to see revitalized, including fixing the parking lot, adding a walking path, and clearing brush between the railroad tracks and the park. Romanek did not commit to a date to complete these tasks due to the loss of seasonal staff, but he indicated that we would try to get it done before the first freeze. Another idea for the future that surfaced was opening Fair Park to Brookmont Blvd. In addition Romanek is meeting with Bert Dear from the City about using the help of arborist Leroy Smith. Alderman Cox stated he appreciated Romanek and welcomed him aboard – it is good to have somebody with some vision. COMMUNICATIONS As an addition to the agenda, Romanek distributed “Thank You” cards to the Commissioners from Aroma Park’s Two River’s Festival Committee. A letter was also received from Morning Star Baptist Church thanking the Park District for providing them with extra tables and trash cans at Old Fair Park for their Children’s Church in the Park on 9/23/07. Romanek then presented a request from Wi-Fi Kankakee for continued sponsorship of Wi-Fi service at a cost of $300 per year. Romanek’s stated that he didn’t feel that we received much marketing benefit from this service. We get 15 hours of free internet service per month once you join as a sponsor. Commissioner Grill felt that there was only “Good Will” value involved. Romanek feels that the Park District doesn’t use the Wi-Fi and that all it would be is a good will PR move. The $300 could be better used somewhere else to promote the Park District. Commissioner Grill didn’t have a strong opinion one way or the other but he was sure we could use the $300 on something else. Commissioner Hollis felt it would be a good PR move and good for the community. Romanek’s recommendation was to put the $300 towards a marquee or advertising that would promote the Park District. Commissioner Mullady indicated he’s not against supporting the community, but feels we should prioritize our funds. He believes the $300 could be put to better use on a marquee. On motion by Commissioner Grill, seconded by Commissioner Mullady, not to continue with the sponsorship of Wi-Fi Kankakee: On roll call the vote was as follows: Hollis Nay Grill Aye Collins Aye Mullady Aye Gathing Nay Motion passes. The final Communication item presented by Romanek was the IAPD/IPRA Conference preview. He asked the Board to look it over. He has booked rooms for the Conference and asked the Board to get back to him as soon as possible so he can submit the group registration form. CONSENT AGENDA Romanek stated he would like to pull item (D) Pool Bids for discussion. On motion by Commissioner Collins, seconded by Commissioner Hollis, and carried the following actions were taken: (A) The minutes of the September 10, 2007 regular meeting and Budget Hearing were approved and were not read aloud. (B) Financial Statements for August. (C) Bills Payable General Fund check numbers 1 through 159 in the amount of $148,383.29 were approved for payment and ordered paid and a copy of the list payable attached to these minutes. On roll call the vote was as follows: Hollis Aye Grill Aye Collins Aye Mullady Aye Gathing Aye Motion passes. Romanek opened item (D) Pool Bids for discussion. He stated that he and Chavez put a specific proposal together for the painting of the Splash Valley pool and sent it out for bid. Two pool bids were returned. One from Just In Time Pool & Spa Service and the other from Pecover. After reviewing the bids, he found that only Pecover complied with the scope of the bid proposal. Romanek recommends that we accept Pecover’s initial bid of $41,700 as well as alternate #1 for an additional $4,500, and alternate #2 for an addition $1,800, seeing there was $60,000 budgeted for this project. On motion by Commissioner Collins, seconded by Commissioner Hollis, to accept Pecover’s bid including alternates #1 & #2: On roll call the vote was as follows: Hollis Aye Grill Aye Collins Aye Mullady Aye Gathing Aye Motion passes. OLD BUSINESS Romanek reported that he received good feedback from the Open House. He also advised that he is still waiting on financials from our auditors before moving forward on the P Power Card. The park planning tour and strategy were started yesterday with Commissioner Collins. They covered 6 parks. He asks that the remaining 4 Commissioners contact him to schedule their park tours. NEW BUSINESS Romanek reported that IAPD recommended that Call One Communication Services, a group affiliated with United Communication Systems, Inc., contact us regarding local and long distance phone service. A 3 year agreement with Call One would result in annual savings of $16,574.04 in our local and long distance phone service. On motion by Commissioner Grill, seconded by Commissioner Collins, to approve authorizing staff to proceed with Call One Communication Services: On roll call the vote was as follows: Hollis Aye Grill Aye Collins Aye Mullady Aye Gathing Aye Motion passes. The last item in new business was the designation of delegates to the Illinois Association of Park Districts Annual Business Meeting. Romanek has penciled in his name as the delegate, Commissioner Gathing as 1st Alternate, Commissioner Mullady as 2nd Alternate. A 3rd Alternate was not designated. Changes can be made to the list as desired. Romanek indicated that a 3rd Alternate should be added. On motion by Commissioner Hollis, seconded by Commissioner Gathing, to designate Commissioner Collins as 3rd Alternate to the IAPD Annual Business Meeting: On roll call the vote was as follows: Hollis Aye Grill Aye Collins Aye Mullady Aye Gathing Aye Motion passes. On motion by Commissioner Grill, seconded by Commissioner Hollis, to approve the delegates selected to the IAPD Annual Business Meeting: On roll call the vote was as follows: Hollis Aye Grill Aye Collins Aye Mullady Aye Gathing Aye Motion passes. STAFF REPORTS Bessette asked if there were any questions in regards to his staff report. Commissioner Grill asked about the controlled burn to be done by LRMG at LaVasseur Park but no specific date was given. Bessette then reported that the one thing that is keeping his staff busy is the amount of garbage pickups at the parks due to the unseasonably warm temperatures. Chavez then asked if there were any questions in regards to her staff report. Romanek told the Commissioners about the recent article in The Daily Journal regarding exceeding attendance records (over 50,000) at Splash Valley this summer. He expressed a job well done to Chavez and her staff. Commissioner Grill asked about Erin Mages covering some Recreation Supervisor duties. She will be working with Gloria Giese this week in preparation of her departure on 10/12/07. Gloria’s position has been posted internally as well as through IAPD. Commissioner Grill commented that the Leisure Living was much more noticeable in Sunday’s Journal. Romanek then made a request to change November’s Board Meeting from the 13th to the 19th. He will be out of town the first two weeks of November on family business. He asks that the Board approve the change and we will post so noted in The Daily Journal. The Board agreed to the change. COMMITTEE REPORTS Romanek stated the Rob Lopez’s name was on the agenda but that was listed incorrectly and he is not in attendance. Lopez did let Romanek know that the list of inquiries previously submitted to him should be answered shortly. Any additional questions should go directly to Advanced Arenas. Commissioner Grill reported that there was nothing really significant to report on SRA. They did have the opportunity to meet the local student representative of the Special Olympics to Beijing. Romanek informed the Board that the owners of the Bradley House are contemplating donating it and that the Community Foundation is starting a research committee to look at taking it over. More information will be available at a later date. On motion by Commissioner Grill, seconded by Commissioner Hollis, and carried to go into closed session for the purpose of discussing personnel and litigation pursuant to Section 2(C)(5). All in favor – all ayes. On motion by Commissioner Gathing, seconded by Commissioner Mullady, to come out of closed session: On roll call the vote was as follows: Hollis Aye Grill Aye Collins Aye Mullady Aye Gathing Aye On motion by Commissioner Hollis and seconded by Commissioner Collins to adjourn the meeting: All in favor – all ayes. ________________________ Jess Gathing, President _________________________ Roy Collins, Secretary |
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