Board of Park Commissioners
Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Index of these minutes:

1. Roll Call
2. Approval of the October 3, 2007 Minutes
3. Recommendation on Agreement with Nature's Niche & Nature Treks use of Iverson Park Buildings
4. Recommendation on Price Structure
5. Budget Update
6. Point 150 Update
7. Director's Report
8. Adjournment

1. Roll Call

Present: Bahling, Freckmann, Glodosky, Hall, McDonald, Sorenson, Trzebiatowski, Wiza

Excused: Okonek

Absent: Curtis

Also Present: Ald. Hanson, Dennis "Dino" Tlachac, Susan Stuffccher, Todd Hebal, Kathryn V. Edmonds, Sam Ruis

2. Approval of the October 3, 2007 Minutes

Motion was made by Freckmann, seconded by Hall to approve the October 3, 2007 minutes and place them on file.

Ayes - all; Nays - none. Motion Carried.

3. Recommendation on Agreement with Nature's Niche & Nature Treks use of Iverson Park Buildings

Director Schrader referred to the agreement in your packet where we agreed to automatically renew the contract unless there were concerns, and he said we received only positive comments, the service was appreciated. He added we received a check for $2,408.33 for the rental of the two buildings and 15% of concession sales.

Glodosky asked about the last paragraph where Dino requested a longer term agreement and rental/revenue percentage changes and Director Schrader said he had taken this request to the Comptroller/Treasurer and the City Attorney who said to make those changes we would have to be more involved in their bookkeeping, this way they know what they are going to pay and we know what we are going to get. He added month to month is actually better for the business because if the weather cooperates they can stay open longer. He said we could extend the agreement to two years by changing the date on the agreement.

McDonald asked about the suggested changes in revenue percentage and Dino said he only had his business at Hartman for comparison and didn't have any specific figures but he added he was happy with the monthly contract. He went on to explain that we had lower concession sales than expected, but he didn't know why.

McDonald said she thought we should stay with the current agreement if we don't have any specific numbers and she also noted an area where Dino was suggesting creating a more open appearance by changing the windows and doors. She said she understood this is a WPA building and has historic value and any suggested changes would have to go through the proper channels.

Dino said security was a problem with vandalism and theft last summer and the buildings had to be secured and gave the appearance of being closed up, but he said the vandalism and theft issues are now in the courts. He said he does have an alarm system.

Glodosky said he thought this business adds value to the park by providing these services to the public.

Motion was made by Hall, seconded by McDonald to approve the agreement with Nature's Niche and Nature Treks use of Iverson Park Buildings but to extend the agreement to two years.

Ayes - all; Nays - none. Motion Carried.

4. Recommendation on Price Structure

Director Schrader said we are approving only the 2008 fees. We estimate 2009-2011 to give users an idea of how the rates might increase. He said the summer recreation programs and the winter adult basketball and volleyball were originally taken out of the budget but after more consideration the basketball and volleyball were put back in under a part time coordinator, with the player and team fees being raised. He said he is still working on the summer rec. programs. He contacted the University and they are interested in teaching the youth tennis, we will take registrations, collect the fees, and reserve the courts and we will split the money. He said he is still working on how to handle the summer play and Kiddie Korners. He added the Sport and Nature camps were dropped, we had only a handful of students, so he wasn't going to spend a lot of time on them.

Wiza asked about increasing the boat slips, especially the non-residents, and he said they won't like it but they will pay.

Director Schrader said there is only one non-resident, the policy says residents first and he said we are charging about the same as Club 10. He also said when we send out the renewal letters we can include that the rates may go up in the future.

Motion was made by Wiza, seconded by Hall to approve the 2008 fee structure as presented.

Ayes - all; Nays - none. Motion Carried.

5. Budget Update

Director Schrader said we touched on this in the price structure item, but that Ald. Wiza and Joe Graceffa, who is in charge of the programs, did a lot of work to bring the adult basketball and volleyball programs back. This will be done using a part time program coordinator and higher player and team fees.

The Director added while the beaches will be open, there will be no lifeguards, the bath houses will be opened in the morning and locked by Gruber Security at night. We will see what happens, hopefully there will be no vandalism problems.

He also said some Park Department employees may be used by the Street Department and he explained we will probably take over plowing more sidewalks and parking lots than we do now, we may not have to plow streets. He said the street plowing could be problematic only because the Parks personnel would do it so seldom that they may not feel as comfortable as a Street employee who does it all the time and knows the routes and other intricacies on each route.

Wiza asked if our Parks would suffer and Director Schrader said this will apply only in the winter and not affect us in the summer.

McDonald asked about letting more park areas go natural and Director Schrader said we may stop cutting some areas on the fringe and that most residents may not even notice. He said we already cut back on some of those areas last summer.

6. Point 150 Update

Director Schrader said January 12 at Sentry World will be the kick-off, the Logger's Birthday Breakfast Bash. There will be a 2 pancake and 2 sausage breakfast for $1.50, while the batter lasts. There will be inflatable games, free souvenirs, etc, Those doing events associated with Point 150 will have booths and sell tickets to their events, for example the community play will be written about Point 150. Point 150 merchandise will be sold for cost on that day.

He said Point Brewery will be doing a Point 150 bottled beer but the City has to come up with a logo, it will not be the present one and there will be a contest to choose a logo, and hopefully the beer will be ready prior to the May 17 actual birthday of the City or worst case, the July 3 celebration.

There will be a mural showing the ten most famous people from Stevens Point. The Historical Society put together a list of 26 people that will be narrowed down to ten through a contest. Starting next year the Portage County Gazette will do an article a week on each of these people and the voting will take place after that. There will also be ten most famous events, again 26 narrowed down to ten.

Director Schrader went on to say the Committee will be running these three events starting with the event on January 12, and two others, on May 17 and July 3, in between other groups will be hosting their events. We are in the process of updating a web site.

7. Director's Report

Director Schrader reported this is the first time in 25 years that the Winter Sports area opened this early. He said the sledding hills will open on Saturday, more time is needed to prepare the toboggan slides. It takes time to build the banks for the sledding areas and even more for the tobogganing. The Street Department dumps snow there for us to use. He said the ice rinks will not be ready by the weekend.

Wiza introduced Todd Hebal who is involved in a project for their communications class by doing a project that is beneficial to the City such as recycling containers on the Green Circle Trail and he asked that the group be allowed to put an item on next month's agenda. Director Schrader said they should put something in writing before the holidays and send it to the Parks Director.

Hall asked about switching to LED Christmas lights downtown to save money and Director Schrader said that would have to go through Public Works.

Director Schrader said Focus on Energy inspected the Willett, the Recreation Center and the All Purpose building. He said we are going back to florescent lighting in the Willett which would cost about $34,000 to change over but at this time there is a $6,000 rebate, and the cost savings is $9,000 a year in utilities, the payback is 2.9 years. After three years we will be saving over $10,000 a year. We will also save because the old lighting put out more heat which put a load on the compressor. With the other buildings the payback was too far out.

Hall suggested looking for grant money.

Wiza mentioned the new restrooms at Bukolt and Director Schrader said we need electricity and floors yet. Wiza said this will be a great facility and an advantage to the park.

McDonald suggested implementing a user fee and Wiza said they will protest but they don't seem to mind so much if the money will be used for improvements or maintenance on the landings.

8. Adjournment

Motion was made by McDonald, seconded by Hall to adjourn the December 2007 Board of Park Commissioners meeting at 7:05 p.m.

Ayes - all; Nays - none. Motion Carried.

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