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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_PAREB_08.11.2005Minutes of the Meeting of the Parks and Recreation Board City of Georgetown, Texas Thursday, August 11, 2005 The Parks and Recreation Board of the City of Georgetown, Texas, met on Thursday , August 11, 2005. Members Present: Barbara Owens, Bob Mathis, Kay Cobb, Mark Ramsey, Mark Shepherd, Michael Simpson, Ron Doernbach, Van Chandler Members Absent: Kent Buikema Staff Present: Randy Morrow, Kimberly Garrett, Jill Kellum Others present: Bill Pennell Minutes Regular Meeting 1. Call to order The meeting was called to order at 7:01 pm 2. Roll call 3. Discussion and Possible Action on waiving utility fees for Georgetown Youth Baseball Association. Bill Pennell - GYBA Bill Pennell explained that the City of Georgetown cut funding for free utilities for GYBA 3 - 4 years ago and ever since then there has been a big turmoil of how they pay. Bill Pennell explained they have been having round table discussion on ways in which they could facilitate a feasible plan in which they could get the free utilities. He stated that the population for GYBA has doubled. GYBA has now introduced a girl's softball program. Bill Pennell stated that last year GYBA rented the VFW fields from the Georgetown Parks and Recreation Department. He stated they were pretty much the only people that utilized those fields. Morrow added that citizens used the fields also. Bill Pennell stated GYBA has a special needs program for handicap children on Saturday mornings to play baseball and they relocated this program to the VFW fields. Bill Pennell gave a handout showing expenses for GYBA and also showed pictures of the complexes at San Gabriel and VFW. Bill Pennell is proposing for the City of Georgetown to allow GYBA to assume full responsibility for the VFW fields, if they could have a waiver on their utilities based on the maintenance expenses in the capital improvement project that GYBA has planned for the VFW facility, all three fields. Bill Pennell showed the operation budget for GYBA that he gave to the Parks Board to review. He states they are a 5013C; they spend every single dollar that they have. The registration fees in the spring are $125.00 per child. He stated that makes up about 60% of their revenue. The remainder of the revenue is derived from sponsorships; they host local tournaments, from concession stand, and fundraisers. He stated they use Chapman Services that come in and supervise their maintenance programs. He stated they are so much more competitive in nature, because all of their labor is donated for free. He stated GYBA has a labor force of approximately 300 volunteers. He stated their quality of product is much more similar with McMaster fields as far as the presentation. Bill Pennell stated that when you look at the VFW fields the things that come to mind to begin with are all safety issues. He stated that all of the fences are curling up. He stated that on the chain link fence there are crosses at the end and those are about chin level to the majority of the players and they are all curling in to the play of field. He stated they want to make this a safe place to play. He stated there are a lot of irrigation issues for which he had pictures after a rain. He stated GYBA would assume full responsibility for maintaining the fields on a day to day basis such as mowing as well as capital improvements projects. He gave ideas such as covering all the bleachers, replacing all the fences, replacing the scoreboards, renovating the concession stand and the bathrooms and states that would take $25,000. He stated it would take $5,000.00 per field to get them back into appropriate playing shape. For all of the plumbing issues at the San Gabriel fields, Louie Hernandez, which owns L & H Plumbing, donates 100% of the plumbing and Scott Pope, who owns Pope Materials, hauls in free materials. He stated that is how GYBA is able to get services done economically. He stated what they are looking at is a 2 part venture. The first being if the City of Georgetown gives GYBA control over the three fields at the VFW, which GYBA desperately needs, which gives GYBA 4 years of growth at the current rate which Bill Pennell thinks GYBA could maintain at a fraction of cost, and states their yearly cost for electricity and water would be about $7000.00 and GYBA is looking for the City of Georgetown to partner with them on that. Morrow asked Bill Pennell if he was talking about the VFW fields. Bill Pennell stated they did not pay electricity at VFW last year that they rented the fields. Bill Pennell stated if the City of Georgetown gives GYBA control of VFW, and if they can turn it into a complex like the GYBA Complex let GYBA receive a utility credit based on their capital improvement projects. Morrow asked if they wanted this for both San Gabriel and VFW. Bill Pennell stated that was correct. He also stated that day one, just the fences and the dirt work that would be required will be an easy $20,000. He stated all the fences would have to be replaced. Morrow stated that as a 501C3 they would have to spend the money by the end of the year. Bill Pennell stated that none of the board members get paid, he explained that the board members, the coaches, the moms spend hundreds of hours volunteering and they all have a very invested interest in this because this is where their kids play, and they want it to be a safe environment. He stated that is their motivation. Ramsey asked who else uses the fields. Morrow stated that no one uses the fields at the GYBA Complex because they have an exclusive on it. The ones at VFW were used for T-Ball but GYBA's T-ball was larger so we quit offering it. We have people that use them for practice and are used for pick up ball on the weekends. Morrow stated that they have looked at in the future to do kickball for the youth at the VFW fields. Southwestern University uses the fields in return for us using one of their facilities. Morrow stated he struggles with giving a group an exclusive on the property. He added that GYBA has been around for 25 years and stated that in today's society if they were here they would not have exclusives on these fields. Bill Pennell added that they paid $4000.00 in the spring to lease the fields at VFW. Morrow continued that if they were to go a different direction, and they have researched other cities, a lot of cities instead of charging for utilities they charge so much per child. Then it is put into a maintenance fund for those ball fields, the way it is with us now we have a utility account where all the money goes in there and it pays the utilities and does not go back into the field maintenance. He states he would hate to give up the VFW for exclusive rights just for GYBA when in the future, programs will be available through the City of Georgetown. Morrow stated there are ways to word it where Council says it can go into this account. Bill Pennell stated they close them down when they are working on them, such as reseeding or fertilizing. Bill Pennell stated Project Graduation use the fields as well as the special needs program. He stated that on one field they have 18 teams of 12 per team of 7 and 8 year olds taking one field and stated there is no other time. Morrow stated that GYBA could still lease them like they do now; it is just the exclusiveness that bothers Morrow. Morrow stated that GYBA builds on the property when it is actually public parkland without always getting permission that they are building on and he is worried about liability. If GYBA wants exclusive rights to the property, the City of Georgetown wants to be held harmless. Ramsey asked what if someone gets hurt out there. Bill Pennell stated GYBA does have liability insurance and he has been to court twice in the last year on behalf of GYBA. He stated in essence it is the City of Georgetown who owns the land and since the fields are attached to the land the City of Georgetown also owns the fields. Morrow stated there needs to be something where there is a little more accountability and have someone meet with this Board and let them know what GYBA is doing. Bill Pennell stated in the past, with their capital improvement projects, it is easier to ask for forgiveness than to get permission, which is the general attitude. He stated that Chuck Mc Allester is now on the board and the board is elected every year. Chandler asked about the VFW fields, are they little league size fields? Bill Pennell stated they are little league size and ideally they have this slated for girl's softball. The girl's softball program originated in 2004. Chandler asked if they would use all 3 fields for girl's softball. Bill Pennell not necessarily. He stated they could move some of the younger children there. Chandler asked how many other fields around town are available for pick up games. Morrow stated that is all we have. Cobb asked about the McMaster Fields. Morrow stated it is for adult softball. Chandler asked if there was any undeveloped land that might be suitable. Morrow stated that is the problem that the City of Georgetown and GYBA and soccer are all looking for large chunks of land to practice. Ramsey asked if other organizations in town would want to do the same thing such as GSA and other organizations in town. Bill Pennell stated to ask them what capital improvement projects they are offering. Bill Pennell stated they have renovated the GYBA facility equaling hundreds of thousands of dollars over the past 5 years alone, at zero expense to the taxpayers and it is all self funded and it is all volunteer work. He stated the labor force is 200 — 300 volunteers who all own private companies and for the taxpayers to try and assume this would be millions. He stated that GYBA is doing this without a tax burden and that they are self sufficient. Morrow stated that Georgetown Soccer Association, the soccer fields, over by Annie Purl are on school land, the City of Georgetown splits the utility costs with them. Bill Pennell stated that 4 years ago the City of Georgetown paid all the utilities for GYBA. He stated that if he had to prioritize, GYBA is more motivated to acquire, not sole control, but being able to come in and make the modifications, rebuild the fences to make the VFW a safer place to play because they need the space and would be nice to see some assistance from the City of Georgetown. He states they are looking at $6000.00 that would equal $30,000.00 a year in capital improvements. Chandler asked if the fields would be available to the rest of the city or does GYBA still want the exclusive? Bill Pennell stated they would want the right to schedule girls softball, and 4-year old T-ball. Morrow asked when their off season was. Bill Pennell stated they begin games in the very beginning of March and the regular season goes until the 3rd or 4th week in May and then they start All -Stars and they also host a number tournaments and they contract with RBI who brings 70 - 80 teams from around the state to their complex. Then he stated they start fall ball and their first game is September loth and goes through the end of October. Morrow asked how many kids are registered now. Bill Pennell stated last year they had 850 in the spring. He stated there is growth in the girls softball program and does not have room at their facility to house this program. Morrow asked since they are a 501C3, what happens to all the profits they make now? Bill Pennell stated that a mower has a shelf life of 2 years and they run them every 2-3 days to mow the fields and they are good quality mowers. Ramsey asked if they maintain the fields during the winter. Bill Pennell stated they are maintained all year and mowed at least once a week. Morrow asked what Chapman does? Bill Pennell stated that Chapman comes in and puts the Diamond Pro down on the field. Choate Irrigation consults GYBA on when to ferfili7e and when to over seed. They also have weed eaters to maintain the fields. He stated that their labor force is no less than 200 volunteers. Owens asked what agreement he would like with the City of Georgetown and is there a length of time this agreement is to be for and at what point would they like for it to be up for renegotiation? Bill Pennell doesn't want complete rights to the facilities and they understand that all capital improvements they make belong to the City of Georgetown, the concession stands, the batting cages, and the fences. What they would like is to have the exclusivity. The parents don't want to put in all the sweat equity and fix fences and have fundraiser to be kicked off and the City of Georgetown make it a kickball facility. Morrow stated there is a yearly agreement. Owens stated that if it is yearly then some of the City of Georgetown's worries would be less, but that would be a risk on GYBA's part. Owens explained that the agreement would be as long as the agreement is, and what parts go into the agreement such as the utilities, and liability. Morrow questioned if, GYBA has that much money why are they asking for a waiver on utility? Bill Pennell stated GYBA didn't appreciate the assistance until it was lost and GYBA lost it 4 years ago and still has bad taste in mouth, that the City of Georgetown took something from the youth of Georgetown. Bill Pennell stated it is not that big of a piece from the annual budget. Morrow stated GYBA did raise their fees to off set the utility cost. Bill Pennell said they did accordingly. Morrow asked if they would be willing to go down on their fees if the City of Georgetown does the waiver on utilities. Morrow stated that the City of Georgetown does have an agreement with GYBA on the VFW fields now that you get to use the VFW fields and now you stated you did want exclusive rights. Morrow stated GYBA gets the fields when they want them now but has to pay the rental fee like everyone else. Bill Pennell stated that the difference is that there were no capital improvement projects this year and now that they see the potential for growth in girls softball and see the opportunity to move some of the younger T-ball teams and they really want to move forward with this. There are a lot of things that need to occur at those fields and if they are looking at paying the $20,000.00 in conjunction with the lease fees, that is where they want something in writing. Morrow asked if they want exclusive rights. Bill Pennell said correct. Garrett asked if the City of Georgetown maintained the fields what they would do with their revenue then. Bill Pennell stated they would still have to spend it and use it on capital improvement projects or lower the registration fees. They have had to raise there registration fee the last 3 years every year. Morrow said if they are making that money, why doesn't the board save that money and look at a new complex. There was discussion about the 501C3 and if all the revenue had to be spent all in the same year. Owens asked how do you answer the questions that are raised that there are no facilities for other groups in town to use the fields. Bill Pennell stated they are the only organization that is using it now. Owens stated that exclusives bother her morally. Morrow asked if anyone wanted to just go hit the ball at GYBA fields would that be available. Bill Pennell stated they have Sunday school classes and the High School uses the larger fields to play kickball and just call GYBA and he schedules, but they do have practices scheduled. He stated that before 5:00 pm the fields are open and just ask that you rake the fields and leave it as you found it. The pavilion and the batting cages are on a first come first serve basis. Bill Pennell stated they have earned the right in the hundreds of thousands of dollars that they have put into these capital improvements to have first right of refusal. GYBA is willing to shoulder the burden of the renovations to bring this park up. Morrow stated that the City of Georgetown has thought about offering T-ball with the City of Georgetown again, because they have had complaints about GYBA being too expensive and some people cannot afford it. Garrett stated we have also looked into a youth kickball league and have had requests for it. Morrow stated they make profit on all of it that is how they pay for the fencing. Bill Pennell stated that 95% of capital improvement projects are paid for by hosting tournaments. Ramsey stated that since it is City property he didn't know how the residents of Georgetown felt about this. Bill Pennell asked if it was the GYBA entity or is it what they are trying to accomplish. He stated the City of Georgetown still owns the facility and they have a year to year agreement. Morrow stated that GYBA was asking for exclusiveness and he doesn't feel that is proper. The City of Georgetown Parks and Recreation get complaints about the GYBA program, umpire calls, cost of the program and people think it is sponsored by Parks and Recreation because it is in San Gabriel Park. Chandler stated that we rent our facilities in the park and that is part of what we do, the only problem is the exclusivity. Ramsey stated that the City of Georgetown would come out better with GYBA's capital improvements. Morrow stated that GSA will come in wanting their utilities paid and then that cuts into the Parks budget. Morrow stated that the Parks and Recreation Department takes the full burden of GYBA's rental agreement and utilities. Chandler states he doesn't understand why Parks and Recreation is paying any of the utilities. Bill Pennell stated he represents the board for GYBA when asked by Morrow. Chandler asked if GYBA is willing to pay for all utilities to have the use for both fields VFW and San Gabriel. Bill Pennell stated that would slow down their capital improvement project but states they will raise their fees. Chandler states he would like to keep it public access. Morrow asked if the City of Georgetown gives exclusive rights to GYBA would they be willing to sign an agreement that holds the City of Georgetown harmless from any liability? Bill Pennell states GYBA has a liability waiver on their registration form. If they were to assume that type of responsibility they want the deed to the land. Simpson asked if there was a time line. Bill Pennell said it would take two weeks to get the capital improvement projects done at VFW to cover the safety issues and they are ready to go with that project. Bill Pennell stated that GYBA is the only organization that uses the fields because they utilize the fields with practices/games. Cobb asked about the general public when they want to use a field where are they to go when all the fields are taken. Morrow receives calls from people stating GYBA will not let people use the fields. Bill Pennell stated GYBA is protective of the fields because they spend a lot of time preparing the fields and stated they use community service workers. Bill Pennell stated to realize that GYBA are the ones putting in the time, effort, and money on the capital improvement projects and it is not the people trying to play the pick up games. Morrow stated that to some citizens it is a big green monster, it's growing, they set their own fees, it's the only one in town, no one else gets to use it, and GYBA is very protective of the fields. Bill Pennell stated that GYBA is self sufficient. Owens states they are not self sufficient because of the land, the liability issue, and the utilities. After these issues are reviewed then the board can decide what the exclusive contract means to the city, and means to the citizens. Bill Pennell stated that the issues he has brought are the utilities, exclusivity, and the length of the contract. Ramsey suggested tabling this issue and talk together as a board and discuss the options. He added that it is very important on how it is presented to City Council. Bill Pennell asked if this is something that can be decided through this board or does this have to be presented to Council? Morrow stated that this board makes recommendations to City Council and City Council will make the final decision. There was no action taken by the board. 4. Garey Park Master Plan — Morrow Morrow stated they met with the consultant Hall/Bargainer and they will meet with the Garey's on the 30th of August. Morrow stated that the survey will go out with all the utility bills. The charettes will be during the second weeks of September. The survey will be available on the website. 5. Architectural plans for the community center — Morrow Morrow showed a conceptual drawing of the Community Center renovation. Ramsey asked when the construction will start. Morrow stated it will be renovated all of 2006. Simpson asked if a health assessment of the Magnolia tree was done. Morrow stated that years ago that was done, but not lately. Owens states that even if the Magnolia tree dies, a nice feature, the courtyard, was made. Ramsey asked about the rental prices of the facility after the renovation. Morrow stated that the deposits will go up and that is still being looked at. Owens stated the operational costs would be less if the A/C is being updated. 6. Hike and Bike trail Grand Opening — Morrow The Grand Opening will be on August 20th, 2005 at 10:00 am for the public. A private tour for the Board and City Council will begin at 8:30 am. They will meet at Rivery Park. 7. Approve minutes from 07-14-05 meeting Owens made a motion to approve the minutes. Chandler seconded the motion and it was passed by unanimous vote. 8. Future agenda items Garey Park Master Plan — Morrow Discussion and Possible Action on waiving utility fees for Georgetown Youth Baseball Association - Morrow 9. Adjourn Simpson made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Meeting adjourned at 8:20 pm Approve a; Attest: Mark amsey, Chair Parks an ecreation Board Van Chandler, Secretary Parks & Recreation Board