1. Roll Call

Present - Curtis, McDonald, Molski, Phillips, Somers, Freckmann, West, Okonek, Nealis, Glodosky

Absent Excused - Aldinger

Also Present - Director Gardner, Alderpersons Sowieja, Alderperson Sevenich, John Clark, Steve Smith, Craig Hselle, Barb Martin, Tom Brown

Index of these Minutes:

2. Approval of the December 5, 2001 Minutes
3. Request to Use Goerke Park Athletic Fields in Summer 2002 (Portage Cty. Youth Soccer)
4. Request to Expand Mid-State Technical College on Park Property
5. Update on recommendation on Bandshell Addition
6. Director's Report

2. Approval of the December 5, 2001 Minutes

Motion was made by Molski, seconded by Phillips to approve the Minutes of the December 5, 2001 Meeting.

Ayes; all, Nays; none. Motion carried.

3. Request to Use Goerke Park Athletic Fields in Summer 2002 (Portage Cty. Youth Soccer)

Schrader explained that the University is renovating their fields this summer. Youth Soccer is asking for the field behind the Willett Arena and east of the Parker Building for Tuesday and Thursdays evenings from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. June 18, 2002 through July 30, 2002. They will provide striping for the fields and the necessary liability insurance. Schrader stated that we have reserved fields in the past to the Youth Football Association.

Sevenich inquired about the parking problems and Schrader stated that in the summer that is not an issue; they can use P.J. Jacobs or the Willett lot.

Motion was made by Curtis, seconded by Glodosky, to approve the request by Portage County Youth Soccer to use the Goerke Park athletic fields in the Summer of 2002. The Association will line the fields and provide the city with the appropriate insurance.

Ayes; all, Nays; none. Motion carried.

4. Request to Expand Mid-State Technical College on Park Property

Schrader stated that Mid-State Tech is asking to expand their current building beyond the 1991 lease to add four more classrooms with the potential of holding twenty four students per classroom. That the adopted Outdoor Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan states, "Relocation of Tech School should be reviewed". If reviewed, Schrader thought during the review the following areas should be covered; Use of park land for non-park use, future city needs as they relate to facilities/programs, parking, Mid-State’s long range plan. Schrader felt relocation should be reviewed.

Motion was made by West to approve the request for discussion. Motion died for lack of a second.

Curtis hated to just deny this request; is there any other way of wording this issue?

Molski questioned their long range plans; how soon will they be coming before us for another expansion.

John Clark, representing Mid-State, stated it is hard to put together a long range plan because of their problems such as program growth, the economy plays a factor and the need for a good location. Also, if you talk about relocation of the existing building, the cost would force the issue to a referendum and at this time he doesn’t see a referendum passing.

Nealis asked how much square footage they would be adding on and what is the current square footage on the facility. They would be adding on another 7,800 square feet to the current building which is approximately 20,000 to 25,000 square feet.

Freckmann feels we need to place a high value on the green spaces we currently have, especially the areas in the central part of the city. He felt if developing a parking lot on existing green space was not a good idea, that he doesn’t think walking two to three blocks to park should be a problem.

Phillips thought they should consider going up (two stories), that the county/city did this with the Lincoln Center. By doing so, green space and homes were saved.

Clark stated that he thought going up would be too expensive.

John Gardner, Community Development Director, felt the Board has to make a decision as to which way they want to go on this; favor expansion or is it out of the question.

McDonald in no way questions the importance of Mid-State Tech College to the community, but having sat on this Commission for a number of years has never seen a long range plan from Mid-State. That once again we try to address a request without any long range plans.

Nealis would like to see a compromise as he feels we should encourage the Tech School as it is good for the community.

Glodosky felt we should not give up park land; they seem to want to take this land piece by piece and have they thought of a split facility with some programs here and others in another building such as Emerson School.

Alderperson Sowieja questioned whether we ever considered using Emerson School for our Rec offices which would free up Goerke Park for Mid-State and the University. He questioned why we do not have a plan for this area.

Schrader stated that we currently offer most of our Rec Programs out of the Rec Center, using Goerke Park as support facilities. Not to mention the football field, ball diamonds, Willett Arena, pool, basketball and tennis courts are all located adjacent to the Rec Offices. Thus the Rec Center serves as a headquarters for information, telephone, shelter, first aid , etc. As for a long range plan for the Rec Center/Goerke Park, Schrader explained that ideally the Rec offices could be a part of the Willett Arena having everything under one roof. Like Mid-State, a project of this size would cost the city a large sum of money. That by the city allowing the previous expansion, removing most of the North wing, we may now have limitations expanding the showers and locker room. The more money Mid-State invests in this location, the harder it is to justify leaving for another site.

McDonald feels that the Board has turned down Mid-State numerous times and that they should look at developing the site elsewhere. Goerke Park should remain as it is with only park related renovation; we need to protect our parkland.

Glodosky said we should give Emerson School to them and they can expand from there.

Consensus of the board was that they didn’t want to see any more expansions into the current park, beyond the lease line.

Motion was made by McDonald, seconded by Phillips to deny request for expansion in Goerke Park by Mid-State Tech School.

Ayes; all, Nays; none. Motion carried.

5. Update on recommendation on Bandshell Addition

Tom Brown, the architect for the project presented the Commissioners with an updated plan for the Bandshell. Discussion followed.

McDonald questioned whether we would be losing any of the performance area and Brown said that would stay the same. The add on is mainly for a dressing area, restrooms, lounge and loading area with office and city band storage area that can be locked.

Phillips wondered if the loading area could be in the back and Schrader said that would be splitting the sections causing too much confusion for people walking back and forth in that area when items are being unloaded.

Motion was made by Freckmann, seconded by Curtis, to approve the Plan Concept E as outlined.

Ayes; all, Nays; none. Motion carried.

Schrader would like to see this project go ahead and asked Brown what other approval he would need. Brown said that we need to address the siding issue so this can be bid out. He presented the Commissioners with three options; (1) wood which is the cheapest but also has a lot of maintenance problems with rotting and replacement of boards. (2) cement fiberboard which holds up well but does need painting and is impervious to rotting. (3) the most expensive which is metal, seamless and water tight, which comes in many colors. The cost for the metal would double that of wood .

Molski asked what was budgeted for the project?

Schrader stated approximately $60,000 to $80,000.

Freckmann wanted to give Brown a little leeway when it comes to the final design, color, angle of siding, etc., that some times facilities built by committees don’t turn out the best.

Schrader also mentioned, to keep in mind that there will be landscaping done so the building won’t look so obtrusive, as it may on these black and white drawings.

Motion was made by Phillips, seconded by Glodosky to go with the cement fiberboard and go more horizontal than vertical with the siding.

Ayes; all, Nays; none. Motion carried.

6. Director's Report

- Compressor broke at Willett Arena making the ice softer; we are in a time crunch for parts if they are even available. Schrader will check with University as they may have some old compressors that we may be able to use for parts.
- Winter Sports area not open yet because of lack of snow. The ice rinks have been started even if we don’t have the base as we would like to at least have a few weeks of ice skating before we get the February thaw. They should be ready by this weekend.

7. Adjournment

There being no other business to come before the Commissioners, motion was made by Phillips, seconded by West to adjourn meeting at 7:55 p.m.

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