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HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks Authority February 24, 2025 4,0EPARTM QP�•0 ,ti VT V0.4` 10 • ` "I Parks Authority Board Meeting VV4 J�, 02.24.2025 �F RsoN ' AI'ARK`30 This meeting took place on Monday, February 24th of 2025 at 5 PM at the Jeffersonville City Hall in the Mayors Conference Room on the 3`d floor. Board Members present were: Larry Jordan,Johnna Anderson, Gus Luckert, Evan Stoner, Debbie Pait, Stacie Thompson, Pamela Clark, and Carmen Croudep via online. Parks Staff Present: Paul Northam, Amber Ridings, Tara Young, Ricky Romans, Olivia Mann, Sara Nord. Meeting was called to order at 5:00 PM EST. APPROVAL OF AGENDA- Director Northam made an addition to the agenda under New Business to add in HBS Insurance and Grissmore House. Member Clark made a MOTION to approve the agenda and member Stoner seconded. The motion passed 8-0. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Member Stoner made a MOTION to approve the January 27th, 2025 meeting minutes, and the motion was seconded by Member Jordan. The motion passed 8-0. OLD BUSINESS: NONE NEW BUSINESS: Ms. Beck and Ms. Smith with HBS Insurance and Grissmore House who conduct business in the building next to Glossbrenner Park downtown and off Spring Street were present at this meeting in regards to a magnolia tree that was planted about 10 years back and was too close to their building. Mr. Northam explained that upon receiving their request to remove the tree, the Parks Department was under the impression that the foundation was concrete and due to that fact, and the recommendation from City Pride who does the bulk of the maintenance there, the department had opted to keep the tree in place. However, after speaking with Eager Beaver, a company based out of Sellersburg that specializes in tree work and shrubbery, they notified us that the foundation was not in fact concrete but brick all the way down. The roots could then pose a potential threat to the brick foundation and do damage to the insurance companies building. Due to this the Parks Director decided to have the tree removed as requested. Next on the docket was the updated contract between Jeffersonville Parks Department and Jeff Main Streets Farmers Market for the 2025-2029 period. This is renewed every five years to allow Jeff Main Street to utilize the pavilion at Big Four Park for their farmers market on Saturday mornings from 8 am — 1 pm. Member Stoner noted that during his previous position as a member on the Pride board, which he's no longer a member of, the Pride committee had to pay a hefty amount to set up fencing for their event on the day of their event because they were not allowed to set up in advance due to the Farmers Market taking precedence of the space. He noted this as he feels there are many events taking place in the city wherein Big Four is a prime location that the Market gets us of every Saturday morning throughout a large portion of the year. Member Thompson noted a section of the proposed contract that states there are four specific events in which the Farmers Market will be propositioned to utilize another area, adjust their times, or move their dates for. Transcribed by Hillary Pacheco on 01.28.2025 tom Parks Authority Board Meeting 02.24.2025 .iF�FPARKr�''01'9 Assistant Director Amber Ridings stated that Pride is one of those events. Member Stoner asked if the Farmers Market will hold up to that expectation,to which Ridings stated once it is signed that will be the understanding. Member Thompson then asked what is done for the Farmers Market on Abby Road weekend and both Director Northam and Assistant Director Ridings stated that they adjust their dates and hold the Market the weekend after instead. Member Thompson questioned what they do currently for other events? Ms. Ridings stated that for Steamboat Nights,they are still able to have the Farmers Market but we do not have fencing for that event so we typically have some things set up under the pavilion and they just don't use the pavilion that day. In the event of Back Your Blue which is a 5k event wherein participants need to be able to run down the stretch of Mulberry and the participants are then likely to go to the Farmers Market afterwards. Member Thompson then stated that it's just important that we communicate with the festival and become a liaison between the events and the Farmers Market. Ms. Ridings stated that Pride had already turned in their application for their event to our Special Events Committee and that they had decided to move their event to the other side of the park so it would not currently impede on the Farmers Market. Member Luckert made a MOTION to approve the Farmer's Market Contract and the motion was seconded by member Pait.The motion passed 8-0. Member Stoner left at 5:19 pm. Up next Amber Ridings spoke on behalf of Depot Manager,Amber Powell regarding contracts for her Thursday night concert series.There were six performer contracts in total. Member Jordan asked if the band Houseplant was on social media to which Ms. Ridings stated they are on social media and they're based out of Louisville. Member Luckert asked how we determine who plays, if we work with talent agencies or if talent agencies are reaching out, or if we're looking to social media. Ms. Ridings stated that yes, some of the bands are talent agencies reaching out, some of it's word of mouth, and some is searching social media.She went on to state that these bands will be playing their own music in contrast to those who play at Riverstage. Member Luckert stated he was impressed at the selection. Member Clark stated she had someone approach her stating that Jeffersonville needed to have a blues music day. Ms. Ridings stated that Burnside will be playing at The Depot and he's a blues musician. Member Thompson stated she was excited about the Thursday night series, and made a MOTION to approve the contracts for The Depot. Member Luckert seconded.The motion passed 7-0. Next,Tara Young presented two contracts for the Riverstage noting that one is for an artist and that will be the final act to complete the years lineup and that we plan to announce the full lineup in April.The other contract is for ProMedia for the Riverstage social media. Member Jordan asked if we have all the same sponsors as last year for Riverstage,to which Ms.Young replied that we have a new sponsor. She went on to state that Shoe Sensation has been the head sponsor for many years now but they are no longer participating and that First Savings would be the new head sponsor for this year and that they have signed a three year contract with us for that title sponsorship. Member Thompson made a MOTION to approve the Riverstage performance contract,with the motion seconded by member Clark. The motion carried 7-0. Ms.Young then went over the ProMedia Riverstage contract and explained this was separate from the Parks contract with them and just covered them to do our social media promotion for the Riverstage. Member Jordan asked if they had gone down in price since Parks was doing some of their own content Transcribed by Hillary Pacheco on 01.28.2025 pEPA . it P •G,T Y 0 Q 1 A • Q' g W ' Parks Authority Board Meeting ��. 02.24.2025 *INsott--DARK9 C this year. Ms. Young stated that this is correct, and about two years ago they were quoting us at sixteen thousand, with last year going down to twelve thousand, and this years quote now being about nine thousand with us believing that we can invest the extra money we'd save with branching out into how we advertise. Member Jordan asked if we had TikTok or other social media? Ms. Young stated we are looking at starting a TikTok page and that we've recently taken on three mascots for the Parks Department that are geese named Lucy, Goosey, and Moose. Ms. Young went on to state that in the past we feel ProMedia has targeted Facebook for advertising and that the market is changing so we're looking at other avenues that would include radio, ads, and more print media. Member Luckert then asked if we get bids in from other media companies to which Ms. Young stated that ProMedia is who we've been using and we have not researched other bidders at this time. Member Jordan made a MOTION to approve the Riverstage ProMedia contract with member Pait seconding. The motion passed 7-0. MANAGER'S REPORT: Each Manager provided the board with activities, current tasks, and projects for review. Director Northam opened the floor to manager Ricky Romans to give an update to the members on what he does and to go over some events he's got going. Mr. Romans prepared a handout that each member could go over and began by discussing his background. He has an Associate's in Recreational Leadership from I.U. Southeast, a Bachelors in Sports Administration form the University of Louisville, and was the head coach for Chalestown baseball for seventeen years prior to starting with Parks and Recreation in 2008. He then went on to discuss his primary responsibilities are with Jeff GRC Little League, Shirley Hall Park for Youth Football, the Woehrle Athletic Complex, and Vissing Park. Romans noted that he's the primary organizer and scheduler for games, in charge of game day operations, and helps with field maintenance. He also reports any issues to vendors that we work with or our in-house maintenance to ensure fields and venues are kept up to par. Member Luckert asked about revenue for the calendar year and if we lost money or made any. Mr. Romans commented that he didn't have a number to give but he believes that we did bring in some profit this year. He noted that with certain programs like youth football, there's no way to tell how many new participants we will have or if we'll have to replace equipment year to year and what that expense will be. Member Luckert then asked if the football league is ran by the parks department and not its own entity. Mr. Romans stated that that is correct, it is a parks department program funded by parks. Member Luckert then asked if Jeff GRC was the same way. Mr. Romans stated that no,Jeff GRC is ran through Williamsport and they run their own operations, we just help promote them. Director Northam then stated that we try to break even on most of our programming but with youth football, there's no way we can pass along those expenses to a family to pay. Mr. Romans then stated that the only local department that beats us in a cheaper fee for this program is Scottsburg, who offers it free, and that's only because they're able to run it through their school. He then went on to state that realistically we should charge more because we take a loss on every kid that registers based on equipment fees alone but we're trying to ensure things are kept affordable for participants. Member Jordan then noted that we are planning on putting in a new dugout and asked if that was based on Thomas Jefferson school potentially not being at the Little League. Mr. Romans stated that we're still trying to work out the process and determine what the potential Transcribed by Hillary Pacheco on 01.28.2025 pEPART1l QP4 rtaeAV �ii*?4,. Parks Authority Board Meeting 02.24.2025 F 042 PARKS- upgrades will include but that we have some lofty goals we'd like to achieve. Member Luckert then asked who owns Thomas Jefferson. Director Northam stated Greater Clark does and that half of Shirley Hall Park is also owned by the school and so that his fear is that the school system would ever sell that building and a new owner would want to take over their property which would take over one of our fields and leave us with a wedge of field remaining wherein we couldn't really play football on the remaining piece. He continued to state if that were to happen, his thought is to sell our share or have the new owner gift Parks the property, but in the meantime that remains a concern. Member Thompson then acknowledged that she feels we have a real opportunity with the Pickleball courts and questioned if there would be tournaments or leagues happening there.To which, Director Northam responded that yes,we have formed a committee of pickleball players in the city to help us make those decisions.When meeting with that committee,we'd decided that would have no more than four tournaments there a year by vetted hosts to prevent poor hosting that would reflect poorly on the city. Member Thompson then asked if that portion would also fall under Ricky to manage. Ms. Ridings explained that Sara will be taking on Pickleball and Ricky will be taking on Disc Golf but the two will work together. Member Luckert then inquired about volleyball and if it's available anywhere for the public currently. Ms.Sara Nord responded that she would like to get volleyball going at the EnVision Center. Ms. Ridings noted that we'd have to get a new volleyball set to put in there as the old set has holes and noted that those aren't cheap so it would have to be something we budget towards in the future. Director Northam then opened the floor to questions for the managers present at the meeting. Member Anderson noted that the date for Thunder on their packets was incorrect and would actually take place on the twelfth of the month of April. DIRECTOR'S REPORT: Director Northam started out with a few projects that will take place in 2025 including a new parking lot at Chapel Lake for the Disc Golf area which would increase the lot up from the current fifteen available spaces. We're doing majority of the work for those in house. We're also looking at doing some renovations on the little league as it's twenty-five years old and starting to show some age.Additionally, we'll be adding in some playground equipment at Wathen Park, and adding a new roof on the shelter there as well as picnic tables and fresh coat of paint.We're also looking at taking on the dredging of Duffy's Landing since it hasn't been done in a couple of years;with any luck we do this every other year since the cost is a hefty one at seventy thousand dollars. Member Luckert asked if Northam was referring to dredging the docks. Director Northam explained that cost was the docks and the ramp there stating that we don't go any further than that but we could, it would just be two or three thousand dollars so we hadn't been. He noted that the ideal time to dredge would be just before the fish spawning season in April. Director Northam continued with the repair list for the year noting the replacement of the railing at the Riverstage. He then pivoted to the continuation of the construction of the new park'The Silos'which we're going to continue working on throughout the year. We have started clearing out creek beds, clearing suckers and volunteer trees and noted that the addition of the dog park, pavilion, and Transcribed by Hillary Pacheco on 01.28.2025 soEPAr . QP• __ '1a Parks Authority Board Meeting 02.24.2025 PARKS O1� playground there will likely take place later in the year. REPORTS AND COMMENTS Member Clark noted a comment that there are cars parking up by North Haven in the grass areas and inquired about signs up there stating there's no parking in the grass. Director Northam stated that the City does not own that property, it is owned by Greater Clark Schools but we maintain the area and cut the grass. Member Thompson then asked if the porta potties that were in place at the Disc Golf area of Chapel Lake are remaining there for the time being or what we're looking at going forward. Director Northam then noted we've left two up there right now since the season had slowed down, but once spring comes we'll add a second one on hole number one; however,these are temporary and our hope is to add a pavilion or restroom building there in the future. Member Thompson then noted that the board had been given a list of projects for the coming years in the past and one of those projects listed was a permanent restroom and pavilion for Shirley's Arbor Park, she inquired what the updates and outlook was for those being done. Director Northam noted that he would like to see it done this year, however it comes down to what is budgeted for capital projects and that he would need to discuss with her what we're projected to have for this year and prioritize the projects accordingly. He also noted that the turf fields are another big ticket item that needs done. Mr. Romans then stated that in 2020 we were quoted at three hundred and seventy five thousand to five hundred thousand give or take and what we'd gotten quoted just this past year for them was roughly six hundred and forty thousand dollars so it is something that's increasing. Member Thompson asked if anyone had commented to Ricky about the condition of the turf. Mr. Romans stated that yes, and eventually we will lose some of those organizations due to the condition. He noted that it's no currently unsafe since there's still maintenance performed on it and we do get reports back from that, but it is going into the poor condition phase. Member Thompson then asked what she could do to help get this done as both a resident and commissioner. Director Northam noted that we have internally discussed over the years adding a sponsor name on the complex out there similar to how we have a title sponsor at Riverstage in order to have an extra twenty to thirty thousand for a five to ten year place, and noting that would help out. There are other sponsorships for Woehrle as well, but otherwise, it comes down to identifying where we can get the money to make it happen. Parks Authority Attorney Report- None Public Comments- None Member Jordan made a MOTION to ADJOURN at 5:57 PM. https://vimeo.com/user143987586 Transcribed by Hillary Pacheco on 01.28.2025 �5OEPAI . 4 cxr Y• O� 40.4 • Parks Authority Board Meeting 02.24.2025 1.,FRSoN itv Pi'ARK9 O APPROVED: r cj&.) Hi lary P eco Elizabeth Carter- Parks Authority President Transcribed by Hillary Pacheco on 01.28.2025