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prbm20111114 City of Muskego PARKS & RECREATION BOARD Monday, November 14, 2011 Approved 1/9/12 Board President Whipple called the monthly meeting of the Parks and Recreation Board (Board), City of Muskego, to order at 5:45 p.m. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Those present recited the Pledge of Allegiance. The meeting notice was posted in accordance with the Open Meeting Law on Thursday, November 10, 2011. Present: Mr. Gary Boisits. Ald. Kert Harenda, Mr. Jerald Hulbert, Mr. Brett Hyde, Mrs. Kelly Koble, Mr. ] “Butch” LeDoux, Mr. Toby Whipple and Director Anderson GUEST: Denise Konkol of MUSKEGO PATCH APPROVAL OF MINUTES: October 10 Minutes Mr. Hyde moved to approve the minutes of the October 10, 2011 meeting, seconded by Mr. LeDoux. Upon a voice vote, the motion carried. COMMUNICATIONS: None NEW BUSINESS: Muskego Historical Society Utilities Director Anderson brought to the Board’s attention the matter of the Muskego Historical Society paying a monthly charge for the utilities at the Old Town Hall as set forth in the agreement. He shared that there is no separate meter for the Old Town Hall; therefore, he did some calculations as best he could determine on their hourly usage of the Old Town Hall and the hourly usage by the City of Muskego. Based on budget figures available, he presented an example of the dollar amount for a 80%/20% split. He stated that the Parks and Recreation Board per the agreement is charged with figuring out what the cost is; however, there is no concrete way of coming up with the amount. He recommended to base the cost on the actual expenses and establish a bench mark and if the historical society increases their programming, the Board could increase the amount. Mr. Hulbert concurred with the events Director Anderson had listed and stated that their Board meeting is once a month and lasts two hours, the arts and craft fair is one Saturday and one day for set -up which amounts to two days and evenings, the ghost walk is two days, two nights with one night for set -up. For the festival, they don’t use the inside of the Old Town Hall. The forthcoming Country Christmas is really a Chamber of Commerce event and the historical society is there for an afternoon which is one -half day. Unscheduled use of the lower level by members to do society work amounts to one or two days a week. He added that the society does not have any funds in their budget for utilities and it would mean they would have to do additional fund-raising. They try to take care of the maintenance of the histo rical buildings. Director Anderson stated that if there is a change, the historical society needs to approach the Common Council and asked for changes to the agreement. Mr. Boisits thought maybe the society should pay something, a fixed amount each year not really based on any calculation. Mrs. Koble offered that may be putting a hardship on the society as they don’t have a lot of revenue. They should go to the city stating they are an asset to the city Minutes, Parks & Recreation Board, November 14, 2011, page 2 and ask for the costs to be waived. Mr. Hyde stated that the city owns the buildings, but the society does the upkeep on the buildings and he felt that it was a quid pro quo situation and the city should take care of the utility costs. Mr. Boisits moved to recommend to the Common Council that the city would pay 100% of the utility costs. Mrs. Koble seconded. Mr. Hulbert shared a recent happening of needing to replace the door at the church. Mr. Hyde inquired if this should be reviewed every fifth/tenth year. The Board members thought it was not necessary as they are obligated to do an annual report before the Board and the Board members can bring up issues then. Upon a voice vote, the motion carried with Mr. Hulbert abstaining. Snow Removal from Recreation Trail From his tour with Mr. Elger, Mr. Boisits said it sounded like Mr. Elger was clearing the snow from the trail but now can no longer do it. Mr. Elger was looking for a portion of the trail to be cleared for the cross -country skiers and other users. Director Anderson stated the department does not have the time to clear the whole trail. Mr. Elger had done the trail on a volunteer basis. Director Anderson’s recommendation was to revisit the issue for winter of 2012-13 as Janesville Road and Woods Road will be added. The Common Council will have to make a determination on the capital piece of equipment that the department has requested for clearing the trails. At that time, also, the department may be requesting additional people to handle the snow removal. The section of Durham Drive from McShane Drive to North Cape Road (Highway OO) has been completed and then in 2012, all of Woods Road from Moorland to Racine will be added to the trail system. At that point in time, the snow removal on the recreation trails can be re-evaluated on resources available. Mr. Boisits inquired if another volunteer could come forward to clear the trail this year. Board members had no problem with another volunteer doing the trail. Snow Removal Priority List Director Anderson reviewed his recommended possible changes to the snow removal priority list. Because the Icetronauts no longer request use of Bluhm Farm Park, Bluhm Farm Park was moved from Priority 4 to Priority 7. For 2013, Park Arthur is Priority 4 in consideration of the sledding hill. With possible purchase of Boxhorn in 2012, this launch site is Priority 6 with the other launch site at Durham Drive. For Priority 12, the off-road walkways, could include the all new Janesville Road 5’ wide concrete sidewalks under #1, McShane to Highway OO under #2, Woods Road for 2012-13 from Moorland Road to Racine Avenue under #6. He mentioned that with a recent snowfall, the trails are usually cleared within 3 -5 days. Sections of trails that are cleared are based on safety and people being able to safely get to the business d istrict and any safety standards such as coming down a hill like on Lannon or Parkland. Mr. Hulbert shared that when they were originally doing the trails, they were trying to be business friendly and he would like to see that continued. He thought Janesville Road could be done on both sides between Ra cine toward the Bay Lane area as a priority. He did not think that it was a priority to go down Durham beyond McShane. When it comes online, he thought Woods Road up to Lannon to really take care of the businesses, including access to the businesses along Janesville Road. One of his concerns was the difficulty of maintaining the trail along Janesville beyond St. Paul’s. In that area, Mrs. Koble remarked there is no place to go with the snow. Based on those con versations, Director Anderson said that it had been changed not to go beyond Poe’s Place which is right after St. Paul’s. He stated that the Board would need to de cide if they wanted Durham done from the recreation trail to Highway OO. On the other proposed sections, the Common Council will determine if they want snow removed or next year, the Parks and Recreation Board will have a better idea on the trail development. He mentioned that he would like the piece of equipment demonstrated during a snow fall so they can see how long it takes to do a trail section. Mr. Hulbert’s opinion was that they should not go down Durham any farther than they do now. The general population in that area will let the Board know and the alderman will advise on the type of interest in actually cleaning that up and realizing that there is a cost involved. Discussion continued on other Minutes, Parks & Recreation Board, November 14, 2011, page 3 areas of the trails and the equipment used to clear the trails. Mr. Hulbert moved to reapprove the priority list. Mr. Hyde seconded. Upon a voice vote, the motion carried unanimously. Icetronauts Use of Parks Director Anderson presented the Icetronauts request to use access #17 and Denoon Park for their snowmobile trails. Mr. Hulbert moved to approve the Muskego Icetronauts request to establish a snowmobile trail using Lake Access #17 and through Denoon Park, requesting they place the trail following the fence and tree line, straight through the prairie area, taking into consideration the access to the Haut property. Mrs. Koble seconded. Upon a voice vote, the motion carried unanimously. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: None ALDERMAN’S REPORT: Nothing to share. STATUS OF PROJECTS: Park Arthur (a) College Avenue Entrance Board members reviewed the site plan for the College Avenue entrance. Director Ande rson shared that when the conceptual plan was first designed, they only had an entry off of Martin, not College. Residents of Lentini did not want Lentini to be a thoroughfare for people coming off of College to enter the park. Also, for safety reasons, for paramedics to get to the park it would make more sense to have an entrance off of College. Mr. Hulbert’s concern was the huge cost in doing the entrance with turning lanes as the county wanted. Also, in his opinion, it makes a cut-through, a public street, to go between New Berlin and Muskego. He felt most of the people using the park would be coming off of Martin and not down College. Director Anderson reported that some of the work, the grading, has already been done. There are other issues that need to be addressed with Waukesha County and city staff will meet with them on the issues. Further, if there is a lot of activity in the park, he did not see people wanting to cut through the park unless it is at night. If this occurs, they could consider a barricade or a control arm that could close off the park. With the opening of the park, Mr. Boisits could foresee the use of College Avenue entrance as Martin Road is a small road and also not to forget that representations were made to the Lentini people to take congestion off their roadway. Mr. Hyde expected to see people coming from the southwest side of the city come up Racine to College. Mr. LeDoux mention being close to the freeway access, College would be an easy out/easy in and the issues of vandalism in the parks which happens all the time, the police are to handle and may make catching the vandals more successful. Board President Whipple stated that if the Board decides to gate the park, then they’ll do it. Director Anderson stated with the amount of people using the park for tournaments, you’ll need to get the people out of the park in a safe manner. City staff will be bringing back information from Waukesha County. (b) Baseball Field Development Director Anderson reported he had met with most of the leagues. They were very supportive of the baseball fields being planned. Mick was also in attendance and came up with a figure of $210,000 to do the fields. The league representatives asked what the department was looking for to do the fields. He informed them that customarily the Board has looked at a 50:50 ratio. Then, would the Board be interested if they came up with the 50% and the city had their 50% to do all the fields next year. Some leagues were ready to put the money down to get the big field done. They wanted to know if the Board was willing to conceptually approve being able to pay for half the fields being created next year for use in 2013. Mr. Hyde questioned how much field usage would the teams expect for their investment, exclusive use? As the leagues indicated they would expect to have usage of those fields for a certain number of years for their investment, Director Anderson had informed them they would not have sole exclusivity over the fields Minutes, Parks & Recreation Board, November 14, 2011, page 4 as the city is paying the other 50% and the city and other leagues should have some opportunity. Mr. Hulbert would like to see the fields developed sooner than later but where is the money. Director Anderson said the city’s cost would come from park dedication funds and if they went forward, they would be spending that fund down to almost zero. Mr. Hulbert asked if the Board could require to see the leagues line of credit or a certificate before they would move forward with the development. Director Anderson felt they could make that doable. Ald. Harenda would like to move forward on it. Mrs. Koble would like them to understand that their investment would not mean exclusive use of the fields. Director Anderson said the leagues when they fill out their field request, would still have to justify need for the field. Mr. Hyde moved for Director Anderson to continue discussion with the various groups to see where the Board can go with this conceptually with a 50% split on the field development costs. Mr. Hulbert seconded. Director Anderson is expecting for the groups to come back at the January/February meeting and start initial discussions with the Board. Then, by late spring, have the details, such as funding, worked out so the development could move forward so the fields are done in the late summer/early fall 2012. Upon a voice vote, the motion carried unanimously. DIRECTOR’S REPORT: Director Anderson provided the Board with a report on the following: Winter/Spring Program Guide/Registration The program guide will be mailed out November 18 with registration starting November 22. Pickleball Interest The pickleball information was printed in the program guide and only five people indicated an interest in it. The department will not move forward with restriping the tennis courts. The department does have a net should more interest be shown. Football Field Request Once the word got out that Director Anderson had met with the baseball leagues, he received a request from the Jr. Warriors for a football field. He indicated to them that they should start discussions with the school district for use of the Kelsey land. ANNOUNCEMENTS AND OTHER BUSINESS: Mr. Hulbert shared that Country Christmas is this coming weekend. It is a Chamber of Commerce event and they have partnered with the chamber offering the hay rides and helping out. The police will escort Santa. The parade starts at Janesville/Pioneer and ends at the city grounds. The next meeting is scheduled for December 12, time to be determined. At this time, no agenda items so the meeting may not be held. ADJOURNMENT - There being no further business, Mr. Hulbert moved for adjournment at 6:58 p.m. Seconded by Mr. Hyde. Upon a voice vote, the motion carried. Stella Dunahee, CPS Recording Secretary pc: Board Members, Craig Anderson email: Peter Theis, Tammy Dunn posted: www.ci.muskego.wi.us