Peoria Standard

City of El Paso Parks & Recreation Committee met July 8.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

The City of El Paso Parks and Recreation Committee Meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm by Chairman, Mary Ellen Kilpatrick.

The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

The roll call was taken with committee members Mary Ellen Kilpatrick and Will Moore present. Alex Brucker arrives at 6:16 pm.

Others present were: Director of Public Service, Barry Kauther; Administrative Assistant, Sandee Kessinger, City Clerk, David Fever; Parks and Recreation Director, Colton Scott; Jennie Kearney as the local press, and Mayor JW Price arriving at 6:15 pm.

No one was present via Zoom.

Discussion began regarding a previous meeting with Colton Scott, Barry Kauther, Will Moore, the city engineer and a grant writing consultant. If contracted the consultant will look for grants that the City could possibly obtain. A list was composed in the order of importance for the consultant of:

1. Parking at South Pointe Park

2. Lights at South Pointe Park Ball Diamonds

3. Scoreboards at South Pointe Park Ball Diamonds

4. South Pointe Park Pond regarding constant algae, may need to be dredged to control it better

5. ADA Compliant Playgrounds in all parks

The Consultant and Engineer both estimate their fees will be approximately $9,000 each. Kilpatrick requested that all the parks are evaluated for needs and not just South Pointe Park.

Scott advised the committee that parking at South Pointe Park needed to be addressed sooner rather than later. When there are multiple or large events going on, many people park on the grass instead of the parking lots. A big problem is cars parking on the sides of the road inside the park as that makes the road nearly impassable. Scott is proposing adding onto the concrete lot on the west side of the road. It would add about 98 more parking spaces. He would like to have a crosswalk added from the lot to the recreation building. Ameren will be contacted regarding more lighting. The estimated cost is $120,000. This amount is not in this year’s budget but there is still money from the American Rescue Plan Act grant money, the City Council will need to approve using the grant money. The Mayor would like posts and chains put up to deter parking on the grass and roadways and the police to begin patrolling parking.

Illinois Clutch Basketball League would like to use the recreation center for their games for 3rd-4th graders or 5th-6th graders on Sundays in November, December and January. They will be playing 36 games so the recreation center will need to be closed to the public on those Sundays. The Mayor suggested trying it for a year and seeing how it goes.

Moore made a motion to adjourn, and the meeting was adjourned at 6:50 pm.

https://www.elpasoil.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_07082024-290