Peoria Standard

Peoria Park District Board met September 7.

Here is the minutes provided by the Board:

President Cassidy presided and called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.

Roll Call:

Trustees Present: Trustees Harant, Johnson, Petty, Ryan (arrived 6:06 p.m.), Snowden, Vice President Rayford and President Cassidy.

Trustee Absent: None.

Staff Present: Executive Director Cahill, Attorney Bill Streeter, Jan Budzynski, Chief Sylvester Bush, Nick Conrad, Rebecca Fredrickson, Matt Freeman, Joe Atkinson, Mike Binegar, Trish Blattenberger, Meg Boyich, Bonnie Davis, Meridith Deverman, Willie Howe, Emma Lawson, Scott Loftus Dustin Martin, Aimee McLaughlin, Kyle Meger, Mike Miller, Taylor Moore, Marty O’Brien, Karrie Ross, JD Russell, Doug Silberer, Tim Smith, Nicole Staley, Bob Streitmatter, Yvonne Strode, Sue Wheeler And V Joyce McLemore.

Others Present: Matt Bartolo, LIUNA 165, 4509 Cataline Dr., Peoria; Mike Blanco, Judy Friedman, 6618 N. Post Oak Road, Peoria; Keith Gleeson, Teamsters Local 627, 7101 N. Allen Rd., Peoria; Keith Musselman, 5216 N. Ashford, Peoria; John O’Russa, 1022 N. Maplewood, Peoria; Gene Petty, 3802 N. Molleck Dr., Peoria; Maryanne Rastetter, 5818 N. Orlando, Peoria; John O’Connor and Kurt Nolen, Golf Visions.

Press Present: Dave Reynolds, Peoria Journal Star

Pledge Of Allegiance: All stood and recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

Minutes: Trustee Ryan Moved To Approve Minutes Of August 23, 2017 Regular Park Board Meeting. Motion seconded by Trustee Johnson and carried on unanimous voice vote. (Results: 7 Ayes; 0 Nays)

Trustee Johnson Moved To Approve Minutes Of August 30, 2017 Special Park Board Meeting. Motion seconded by Vice President Rayford and carried on unanimous voice vote. (Results: 7 Ayes; 0 Nays)

Executive Director Updates: August 22 and August 29 updates were presented.

Planning/Design/ Construction Division Report: Superintendent Fredrickson presented the August report.

Finance Committee: Finance Chairman Snowden Reported The Finance Committee Had Examined The Bills And Found Them To Be Correct And Moved That The President And Secretary Be Authorized To Issue Orders On The Treasurer For The Several Amounts:

Peoria Park District Thursday, August 31, 2017

General 325,349.99

Recreation 243,665.37

Liability 200.02

Museum 7,549.55

Police 1,010.86

Bonded Projects 9,586.54

Paving & Lighting 3,539.05

Riverfront Events 71,439.73

Detweiller Marina 2,337.49

Golf 37,873.65

Hisra 10,196.93

Riverplex 14,705.32

Total Payables $727,454.50

Payroll #17 8/25/2017 $547,700.59

Motion seconded by Vice President Rayford and carried on unanimous voice vote. (Results: 7 Ayes; 0 Nays)

New Business: Recommendation to Receive and File Post-Issuance Tax Compliance Report-

Superintendent Budzynski presented the Post-Issuance Compliance report for the District’s outstanding debt sales. With staff recommendation, Trustee Snowden Moved To Accept And File The Post-Issuance Tax Compliance Report. Motion seconded by Trustee Johnson and carried on unanimous voice vote. (Results: 7 Ayes; 0 Nays)

Recommendation for Review and Adoption of Peoria Park District Financial Policy-

Superintendent Budzynski presented the financial policy for review. In preparation for the 2018 budget, the Park Board policy requires review of the District’s financial policies. With staff recommendation, Vice President Rayford Moved The Board Adopt The District’s Financial Policies. Motion seconded by Trustee Harant and carried on unanimous voice vote. (Results: 7 Ayes; 0 Nays)

New Business: Emergency Repair: Approve Invoice for Repair of Water Main Break at Lakeview Park-

With staff recommendation, Trustee Ryan Moved To Approve Payment Of Invoice In The Amount Of $16,691.76 To Pipco Companies, Ltd For The Emergency Repair To The Water Main In Lakeview Park On The East End Of The Noble Center On June 23, 2017. Motion seconded by Trustee Harant. Vice President Rayford questioned who else staff contacted to do the work. Staff reported PIPCO had current paperwork on file therefore they were called in to make the emergency repair. Motion carried on unanimous voice vote. (Results: 7 Ayes; 0 Nays)

Permanent Easement: Grand View Drive-

With staff recommendation, Vice President Rayford Moved To Approve Request For Permanent Easement. Motion seconded by Trustee Ryan. Trustee Harant questioned whether UNITI Fiber, LLC was a for profit company. This easement to place fiber optic cables on park property will enable them to continue their operations on park property. The City of Peoria has an agreement with the Park District for the cell phone tower at the Civil Defense site with 50% revenue share. Does UNITI pay the City? Superintendent Fredrickson reported there is a lease agreement with NEXTEL for the communications tower at the Grand View Drive Civil Defense site but staff will need to research whether UNITI Fiber, LLC is part of the Nextel agreement. Trustee Harant requested this item be deferred.

Vice President Rayford agreed to request for deferral of his motion. Trustee Harant Moved To Defer Action On Request For Permanent Easement: Grand View Drive. Motion seconded by Trustee Ryan and carried on unanimous voice vote. (Results: 7 Ayes; 0 Nays)

President Cassidy instructed this business be placed under Pending Business.

Request to Serve Alcohol at Fundraising Event at Luthy Garden-

With staff recommendation, Trustee Johnson Moved To Approve Request From Keep Peoria Beautiful To Host Fundraising Event With Alcohol At Luthy Botanical Garden On Thursday, September 28, 2017. Motion seconded by Trustee Petty and carried on unanimous voice vote. (Results: 7 Ayes; 0 Nays)

New Business: Reconsideration of Motion: BID: HVAC Services

At the August 9, 2017 Park Board meeting, the motion to approve HVAC bid failed. Trustee Harant Moved To Reconsider A Motion Requesting Approval For A Three-Year Contract With Illinois Mechanical Service & Design Inc. And Standard Heating & Cooling For Hvac Services At The Following Hourly Rates:

Illinois Mechanical Service & Design Inc. $90.25 per person per hour

Standard Heating & Cooling $95.00 per person per hour

Motion seconded by Trustee Petty.

Trustee Harant stated in the interim she has met with Park District staff and President Cassidy and Trustee Petty and there is forward movement with significant change for hiring minority contractors. She thanked Executive Director Cahill, President Cassidy, Trustee Petty and staff for their efforts.

Motion carried on unanimous voice vote. (Results: 7 Ayes; 0 Nays)

Consideration and Approval Authorizing Staff to Negotiate with GolfVisions Management Inc. for Management of Peoria Park District Golf System for a 3-Year term-

Trustee Snowden Moved To Authorize Staff To Negotiate With Golf Visions Management For Management Of Peoria Park District Golf System For A 3-Year Term. Motion seconded by Trustee Ryan.

President Cassidy opened the floor for public comment.

Keith Gleeson, Teamsters Local No. 627, stated his opinions regarding GolfVisions Management issue. Historically the outsourcing of public sector services ends with dire consequences. He does not believe the District will save money by subcontracting work out. Park District golf is managed very well and subcontracting work out is not the answer. The problem is the middle class is vanishing and revenues along with it. On behalf of Teamsters, Gleeson requested the issue be tabled or put to referendum.

President Cassidy stated he has struggled with this issue and there is no preordained decision on it until staff goes through the process. Golf has lost $1 million each of the past three years resulting in the draining of reserves. Reserves are gone and it is starting to hurt other Park District services. This is a hard decision because of what is going on for employees. He has great respect for the unions that represent workers but he also represents both employees and tax payers of the entire Park District. From that perspective he has decided that staff should start negotiating a contract. He believes the Park District courses to be the best around and would hope the Park staff would remain and work for GolfVisions.

Consideration and Approval Authorizing Staff to Negotiate with GolfVisions Management Inc. for Management of Peoria Park District Golf System for a 3-Year term-

(continued)

Trustee Petty stated she has given this a lot of thought but she cannot go along with hiring GolfVisions. Trustee Petty requested deferring the issue. She stated her several reasons: 1) recently no one has really worked as advocate for golf; 2) no chance has been given to Newman for a come-back after recent renovations; 3) golfers have been lost because of rise in fees three years ago; and 4) the Board was given a list of ideas from Golf Advisory Committee on ways to improve golf but nothing happened. She believes something needs to change to get out of deficit situation. She would like to give golf a chance and hire someone to run golf that knows what they doing and has strong marketing background.

Trustee Petty requested deferral.

Trustee Snowden stated the shortfall in golf revenues are not a new problem. To keep hoping something new will happen is an idle hope. Perhaps GolfVisions is the initiative that will make a change. Deferral is just putting the problem off for a year and we will be back here to close another course or do something else dramatic. Nancy believes this is a step in right direction. She doesn’t like to hurt employees; however employees will have the opportunity to be employed by GolfVisions. We need to do something to make a difference.

Trustee Ryan stated a couple of years ago someone from the public requested the Park District look into outsourcing. He doesn’t feel he can support out sourcing right now. Rather he feels we don’t need so many golf courses until golf demand is back.

Trustee Harant stated she doesn’t feel confident voting yes or no on this difficult decision. She doesn’t question the recommendation by staff but she still has more questions and feels the transparency on this was poor. Her concern is about the tight time frame. She feels GolfVisions has no risk while the Park District retains financial responsibilities with some debt reduction. She thanked everyone attending this public meeting and stated she would like more time to have in- depth discussions with employees, volunteers and unions. The Park District needs to make changes and in order to do that there needs to be further discussion and to further explore efficiencies of the courses. She can still consider privatization but would request for six month deferral.

Trustee Petty suggested nine month deferral.

Vice President Rayford stated GolfVisions proposal was about moving into the future, but the reason the Park District isn’t moving into the future is because there is no golf expertise on staff. There has been no marketing to promote Newman improvements. Rayford is willing to debate further. He feels a lot can be done to make the golf experience enjoyable in this community with in-house staff.

Trustee Johnson spoke of union relationships and the need for employees to work with the Park District. He spoke of his experience during a visit to golf course and there was an issue of lack of customer service. He would support deferring the issue for nine months. He stated no one is in place to run golf. Union contract negotiations will start soon and at some point something has to be done. Johnson noted the need for diversity in the golf division.

Trustee Petty Moved To Defer For Nine (9) Months. Trustee Johnson seconded and motion carried on the following roll call vote: Trustees Harant, Johnson, Petty and Vice President Rayford voting “Aye”; Trustees Ryan, Snowden and President Cassidy “Nay”. (Results: 4 Ayes; 3 Nays)

President Cassidy stated disappointment and he is against deferral. By “kicking the can down the road” to avoid making a difficult decision, in nine months we are going to be in the same situation. Trustee Petty’s list of reasons along with Trustee Johnson’s mention of poor service is why we need a golf management company to improve services.

Calendar Of Consent: Bid: District Wide Seal Coating 2017

With staff recommendation, Vice President Rayford Moved To Accept Base Bid #1 Through #44 Totaling $63,315.85 From R.A. Cullinan/United Contractors Midwest For Chip And Seal Work At Newman Golf Course, Endres Park, Hisra, And W.H. Sommer Park. Motion seconded by Trustee Snowden and carried on unanimous voice vote. (Results: 7 Ayes; 0 Nays)

Request for Use of Grandview Drive-

With staff recommendation, Vice President Rayford Moved To Approve Request From The Yellow Bear Foundation To Conduct 5k Run/Walk Fundraise At Grandview Drive On Saturday, October 28, 2017. Motion seconded by Trustee Snowden and carried on unanimous voice vote. (Results: 7 Ayes; 0 Nays)

Request for Use of Donovan Park-

With staff recommendation, Vice President Rayford Moved To Approve Request From Peoria Bicycle Club To Conduct Fundraiser Cyclocross Race At Donovan Park On Sunday, November 26, 2017. Motion seconded by Trustee Snowden and carried on unanimous voice vote. (Results: 7 Ayes; 0 Nays)

Pending Business: None.

Citizen Request To Address The Board: Accomplished during public comment section of meeting.

Communications: Communications were received as submitted.

Other Business: None.

Adjournment: At 7:02 p.m., there being no further business agenda business, Trustee Johnson Moved To Adjourn. Motion seconded by Trustee Harant and carried on unanimous voice vote. (Results: 7 Ayes; 0 Nays)

https://www.peoriaparks.org/media/17-9-7-RESCHEDULED-MEETING-Minutes.pdf