2026-09-11 - Springfield-Greene County Park Board

00:00:01All right, let's get our meeting rolling. Good morning.

00:00:05Morning.

00:00:08Will you call the roll, please, ma'am? William Mingle?

00:00:11Here.

00:00:12Johnson Bear?

00:00:13Here.

00:00:14Cody Domosazro? Here. Philip Person? Mark McNay? Dale Moore? Here.

00:00:20Diana Parker?

00:00:21Here.

00:00:21Royce Redding.

00:00:23All right, perfect. Thank you. All right.

00:00:26First thing up is approval of minutes.

00:00:30So anybody have any corrections or anything they want to add on the minutes?

00:00:35Specifically looking at you, sir.

00:00:38We have minutes-

00:00:40... for the August 14th regular meeting. So I move that they be accepted.

00:00:47Second.

00:00:47All right. All in favor?

00:00:49Aye.

00:00:50Aye.

00:00:50Any opposed? Okay.

00:00:52I also have-

00:00:53Sir

00:00:53... closed meeting minutes for August 14th. I move that they be accepted.

00:00:58Second.

00:00:59All

00:01:01in favor?

00:01:03Aye.

00:01:03Aye.

00:01:03Any opposed? Okay, great. Thank you, sir. Keep rolling down.

00:01:07Report of the officers, I will spare you, I have nothing. Let's keep moving.

00:01:12Unfinished business, seeing none.

00:01:14We'll move on to new business, Ozarks Pickleball Club presentation.

00:01:19Yeah, we have some guests here this morning.

00:01:20We have Matt Battaglia and Terry McQuary.

00:01:24They're here from the Ozarks Pickleball Club.

00:01:28They're here to talk pickleball and give us a recap of their big tournament that

00:01:31took place in June at the Cooper Tennis Complex.

00:01:35So I had the opportunity of stopping by the tournament and visiting with Matt and

00:01:40seeing some of the play. It was impressive.

00:01:43Players of all abilities, ages, and it was a packed tennis center with pickleball

00:01:49players. So, cool event, and I think this was the fifth

00:01:55offering of that tournament. So Matt's going to talk pickleball, give us a recap of

00:01:59the tournament, and anything else you'd like to add.

00:02:03Yeah, thank you, Ron. This is our fifth year of

00:02:07completing the Queen City Open Pickleball Tournament in partnership with the

00:02:11Springfield Park Board. And we had four fun-filled days back in June.

00:02:17We had 892 registrations, 549 unique

00:02:23registrations. So players can register for multiple events.

00:02:27It was over a four-day period. We had over 60 events, and the gender

00:02:33split is roughly 58% male, 42% female.

00:02:37And as Ron mentioned, it covers all ages and abilities.

00:02:39Our youngest player was age eight, and our oldest player was age 91.

00:02:44And we had different divisions across the spectrum, from junior divisions.

00:02:51Our

00:02:53ages 50 and over represented about 45% of the total players.

00:02:57So that gives you a breakdown of where the players are at.

00:03:01We had over 15 states represented and two foreign countries.

00:03:06People come from all over. It's really turned out to be a great tournament.

00:03:10Over the last five years, we've made a name for ourselves.

00:03:14Humbly, we put on a really great tournament, and we've attracted people from all

00:03:18over the region. It's one of the largest pickleball tournaments in the entire

00:03:22region, and we're really proud of that, and we're proud to host it there at Cooper

00:03:27Tennis Complex. They do a great job for us.

00:03:30This year, we've raised over $39,000, which we invest

00:03:36directly back into the Pickleball Fund with the Springfield Park Board, and for

00:03:40pickleball programming in the area.

00:03:42And to date, I don't have the exact number, but I think we're almost near $200,000

00:03:46now over five years

00:03:49running this tournament. So it's a really great event and

00:03:54we hope to continue it indefinitely, and it's really grown into something that

00:03:57we're proud of. So if you all have any questions, that's really it.

00:04:01We just like to come and present to you guys just to recap the event every year.

00:04:06So it's great to be back. Thanks. Yeah.

00:04:09These are great numbers.

00:04:10Yeah.

00:04:10How do you market this?

00:04:12So pickleball is a niche sport, and so there's a couple websites, including the one

00:04:17that we run the tournament on, and players from all over the country, they know

00:04:20where these sites are. So that's primarily how we market it, to pickleball players.

00:04:25Yeah.

00:04:25And then locally to the community at large, we do a couple radio spots.

00:04:29We partner with Lamar Advertising, one of our sponsors.

00:04:32Mm-hmm.

00:04:33They put up billboards for us, and we just get the word out.

00:04:37And we've grown over the last five years.

00:04:38The first year, we had over 200 players, which at the time, that was a pretty big

00:04:44deal, and then we've just grown it from there.

00:04:47Great success.

00:04:48Yeah.

00:04:48Yeah. Thank you so much.

00:04:49Yeah, you bet.

00:04:49Are you all a nonprofit or?

00:04:51Yeah, so Ozarks Pickleball Club is a 501 [c] [3] nonprofit-

00:04:54Okay

00:04:54... that we formed about, it was actually five years ago.

00:04:57It was right before this event started, we formed officially.

00:05:01And then the roots of the organization go back further than that, but that's when

00:05:05we formed officially. And our whole goal was to partner with local communities to

00:05:10promote pickleball. At the time, it was still an up-and-coming thing, and no one

00:05:15had really heard of it. But of course, now it's blown up across the country.

00:05:19Everyone knows what it is now. So yeah.

00:05:22Way to be ahead of the curve.

00:05:23Right.

00:05:24I like that.

00:05:25Yeah.

00:05:26Yeah, that's great.

00:05:27Yeah.

00:05:27Wow.

00:05:27I will say, we had a great partnership, and

00:05:31Matt and Terry are also helping us through the design process of the redevelopment

00:05:36of the pickleball courts at Meadow Park.

00:05:38So we'll definitely value their input in terms of the design process and helping us

00:05:44program that.

00:05:45You bet. Looking forward to that.

00:05:47I know internally, from Matt and others, we've heard about the layout configuration

00:05:52of the courts is important.

00:05:53Mm-hmm. Yes.

00:05:53And the number of courts is important as you're doing the competitions and the

00:05:57rotations and so on to-

00:05:58Yep

00:05:59... have enough places for folks to play to try to get them through the schedule.

00:06:03Yeah.

00:06:03Appreciate your input.

00:06:05Absolutely.

00:06:05Yeah, absolutely.

00:06:07Well, thank you.

00:06:07Yeah, thank you.

00:06:08That's awesome.

00:06:10All right.

00:06:15Thanks a lot. Thank you all. Appreciate it.

00:06:1791, I could compete-

00:06:19You got it.

00:06:20I could compete with somebody 91.

00:06:23I might actually return to serving.

00:06:26Dale's got a new sport.

00:06:29As long as I'm the person playing him, right? You know what I mean?

00:06:33Get whacked by a 90-year-old, right?

00:06:35All right. Next up, we have approval of a non-playground scrap

00:06:41tire surface material grant with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

00:06:45Matt, you're welcome to come to the mic or sit at the table on this one.

00:06:48Yeah.

00:06:48It's like you're going to be heading up the next two agenda items, so.

00:06:52I apologize. You're going to have to listen to me twice because-

00:06:56Yeah. So this morning I come for a board approval to accept a grant from the

00:07:00Department of Natural Resources.

00:07:03If approved, this will supply the funding for 31 picnic

00:07:09tables that are made out of scrap,

00:07:11recycled tires,

00:07:13that will go to Tom Watkins Park, Ritter Springs, and Cooper.

00:07:18I'll just give you a little back history of this, too.

00:07:21This is the second time that we have received this grant.

00:07:24Last year we received it for Lost Hill and Rutledge-Wilson.

00:07:28We built a brand-new pavilion out at Lost Hill, and this is how it came to our

00:07:32attention.

00:07:34We need some new picnic tables to fulfill our new pavilion, and so we submitted a

00:07:39grant. We got this grant last year. The tables are very well made.

00:07:43I was concerned from recycled. And when they came in, we have to put them together.

00:07:47They come on a semi, freight. And we were going to bolt them to the foundation,

00:07:54the concrete foundation, just to keep them from moving.

00:07:57After seeing them and how heavy they are, it will take an army to move them.

00:08:00So we didn't have to bolt them to the ground. They're very well made.

00:08:04Cosmetically, they're beautiful.

00:08:07In the grant, we have a list of contractors that qualify for the specs for the

00:08:11grant, and the one we choose is out of Kansas, he's been great to work with.

00:08:15But yeah, we would have 31 tables come in. It is a reimbursement grant.

00:08:19It is fully 100%, once we submit them the invoice that we paid that, then they

00:08:23resubmit a full check for 100% for the reimbursement for the picnic tables.

00:08:28Out of curiosity-

00:08:30Yeah

00:08:30... do you pick the colors or they all come-

00:08:31You get to pick your colors. There's a catalog that we pick from, but last year for

00:08:35Lost Hill and at Rutledge-Wilson, we picked a dark green-brown color.

00:08:40It's earth colored, I call them.

00:08:42But we'll choose the colors, too, for this, but yeah, we get to choose our own

00:08:46colors.

00:08:46That's good.

00:08:46Yeah.

00:08:48Is there a reporting requirement every year?

00:08:50So

00:08:51great question.

00:08:53The requirements for the grant is that we do have to do a public

00:08:59social media release of this. That's the only requirement, is to then send them the

00:09:03invoice that we paid for and a social media or media release of where this funding

00:09:07came from and do that. Jenny's not here, but she'll do that before she goes.

00:09:13That's easy.

00:09:14Yeah.

00:09:16The only downside, there's good and positive, once a park has been awarded this

00:09:20grant, they can't resubmit for that grant for 10 years.

00:09:24But what's the good news is, is it doesn't go by agency, it goes by park.

00:09:28So, we did Rutledge and we did Lost Hill, and now we've done these three parks.

00:09:32True.

00:09:32You just can't come back to those parks for 10 years, but we can go to other parks

00:09:35as we need picnic tables throughout.

00:09:37So we've got 104 grants yet we can do that.

00:09:40Yeah. There you go.

00:09:42So yeah. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

00:09:46If not, I ask for board approval to accept the grant.

00:09:50Oh, that was a tough one.

00:09:53Yeah, $31,694 total in value. What is also good about this is we have six

00:09:58ADA tables coming in on this group too. So two for each of those sites. Yep.

00:10:03Great.

00:10:05All right.

00:10:08Well, Mr. Chairman, I'm getting ready to actually purchase four new tires this

00:10:11weekend, so I'd like to think in a small way I'm contributing to this effort.

00:10:15Yeah.

00:10:16I make a motion that we apply for and accept the $35,694

00:10:22grant offered as part of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources

00:10:26non-playground scrap tire surface mount material grant, which authorizes

00:10:30reimbursement to the park board for the purchase of 31 picnic tables and for

00:10:34approval to execute the associated contract and other related documents to

00:10:38participate in this program.

00:10:40No, I'll second that. Make it easy. All in favor?

00:10:44Aye.

00:10:45Aye.

00:10:45Any opposed? All right. Thank you, Matt.

00:10:49I'm just going to stay up here.

00:10:50Yeah. All right. For a few of discussion of the mobile stage rental program.

00:10:55Let's keep rolling.

00:10:56All right. I'll jump into it.

00:10:59I don't know, I'll be the first one to raise my hand.

00:11:02Several years ago, the term was thrown out, show wagon. There we go.

00:11:07I had no idea what a show wagon is. Everybody know what a show wagon is? Okay.

00:11:11Well, I did not. But basically, I'll just be clear and transparent here.

00:11:15It is a stage on wheels. It's like a Cadillac. It's got all the bells and whistles.

00:11:20We've got lights, panels. It's got ADA accessible to get on the stage.

00:11:26It's been very utilized. And come today to just give you the history on how we got

00:11:32to where we are today, and I'm just going to be upfront right off the bat, it's

00:11:36reaching the end of its life.

00:11:39We're holding our breath, renting to try to get through the rest of the year.

00:11:43Okay. So give you the beginning of the history.

00:11:46In 2001, we bought this for $88,000.

00:11:51It's 28 by 14 dimensions. We do have panels that we can extend that.

00:11:55And then also, I just did a three-year average, mean average of how many rentals it

00:11:59goes through per year. It's about 18 to 20. We're about 21 this year.

00:12:05It's used all over the community.

00:12:09It is used for Ball in the Wild. It's right now over at Fall

00:12:14Festival, for the Japanese Fall Festival this weekend.

00:12:18We've got our money's worth out of this piece of equipment.

00:12:23Just to tell you, I pulled the maintenance history.

00:12:27Most of this 13,406 has been in the last year, and that's the key repairs.

00:12:31And I'm going to be honest with you. I came to Ron in May.

00:12:34I said, "I don't know if we're going to get this thing through the rest of the year

00:12:36because of the maintenance requirements." We had to send this out to a outside

00:12:41vendor contractor to fix it multiple times.

00:12:43Just three weeks ago, we were calling the group that was going to rent it.

00:12:48We didn't know if we were going to be able to get it to them because of the

00:12:50breakdowns. But that's just most of that 13,406 has come in the last year.

00:12:56All right, so our charges for it. A $200 setup fee, $400 a day,

00:13:02and it takes two staff to do that. So basically, we get about four staff hours into

00:13:08it, two for setup and two for breakdown.

00:13:12It is used for so many things. I can't explain.

00:13:16But it takes a lot of staffing hours and time and scheduling to keep up the demand

00:13:20on this.

00:13:22All right, so you're going to see this flux too.

00:13:24This is what we brought in revenue wise, in '24 and '25.

00:13:27Then you see this big influx on '26, and I had to scratch my head on that and found

00:13:32out why.

00:13:34Basically, what occurred was over the years, people found this awesome opportunity

00:13:40and service that we provide, and we were comping several of those.

00:13:44Last year, we started notifying groups that were getting comped that, "Hey, we're

00:13:48going to at least charge for our staff time to cover our staff time." The $200

00:13:52setup, that just we're barely breaking even.

00:13:55We are breaking even, for the staffing hours for that.

00:13:58So that's why you see that influx. We've started charging for that staffing time.

00:14:02And also, some of the groups that have been comped, we gave them plenty of advance

00:14:06notice that we're going to have to start charging for this.

00:14:09As people are reserving it right now for '27, we have told them everybody up front,

00:14:14"Hey, we're giving everybody a heads up.

00:14:15There's a good chance that we're not going to have the opportunity to have this

00:14:19service in the future." So we're giving everybody plenty of notice to start

00:14:23shopping around.

00:14:25So I did-- This service is provided in the area, in the 417, as I call it.

00:14:30I made some phone calls just to try to get an idea of what other people are

00:14:34charging, what kind of services they provide to compare to what the show wagon,

00:14:38which of course, this is the brand. They've got nice equipment.

00:14:40It's up, it's newer. But anywhere between $1,500 to $1,800 a day are what outside

00:14:45vendors are charging in the area.

00:14:49That does not include the average setup and breakdown that they charge additionally

00:14:53to that is $300 to $600. So to put it pretty

00:14:59out there, you're not going to get a stage for less than $2,000 for setup and per

00:15:04day or for outside vendor to do that.

00:15:08So I, in May, when I thought we weren't going to be able to make it through, I

00:15:13started making some phone calls. I had staff call.

00:15:16To compare to what we have today, it's going to be roughly 200,000.

00:15:20192,000 is the last quote to get a new one to compare what we have today.

00:15:25By the time we do freight and everything, you're going to be at 200,000.

00:15:28And that's what I came today to see what the board's vision is for this service

00:15:31that we provide. Is this something we would like to do to continue?

00:15:35Our budget season is creeping up quickly on us.

00:15:38We would have to set 200,000 aside to

00:15:43put a new one back out there for this opportunity. I will say this.

00:15:48We do have another stage, but it's the bare bones. It doesn't have ADA accessible.

00:15:53It doesn't have panels. It doesn't have outlets for power, but it is a stage with

00:15:57the same dimensions that we still have and is in good shape that we can provide out

00:16:01there, so.

00:16:02How old is that one?

00:16:03I don't know, Cody. I'd have to look at that.

00:16:05But I have looked, everything's in good shape.

00:16:07But it's basically you're only changing the tires on that because it's

00:16:11just the stage. That's all it is, so.

00:16:15Several years ago, with fees and charges, we increased the rental charges to create

00:16:20a sinking fund to cover the maintenance fees and to try to create a bit of money

00:16:26so that when we came to this replacement time, it'd be a pot of money to look at.

00:16:31And I don't know if that's happened or maybe it's been defeated in repair costs or

00:16:37what, but how has that been?

00:16:39I'm going to defer to Jerry on this one.

00:16:42You can obviously see this past '26 where we've increased, but still not nearly

00:16:45what to recover that cost for that.

00:16:48But I don't know, Jerry, if you could have any feedback.

00:16:51Look further down, but my quick assessment of this based off of revenue

00:16:56received versus repairs, that the repair cost has likely exceeded-

00:17:02Yeah

00:17:03... we were breaking even.

00:17:05Yeah. Just our general operational expenses in terms of staffing has outweighed the

00:17:10revenue that we brought in over the years.

00:17:12So there is no pot of money, I guess is the short answer, just to pay for this

00:17:17equipment replacement. So if we look at a $200,000 purchase, it's

00:17:23going to take away from mowers, trucks that need to be purchased, other critical

00:17:27equipment that's needed to maintain our parks.

00:17:29So it comes down to prioritization of where we want those funds to go and the

00:17:34services that we really want to key in on.

00:17:37Well, I think back to our strategic planning session.

00:17:40I don't really think owning a event stage and toting it around town really falls

00:17:44into our strategic focus, so.

00:17:47I think it touches on several different points along on that.

00:17:51One is, with the fees and charges, we need to look at what is the market, right?

00:17:57So if folks are renting this for 2,000 bucks a day-

00:18:01Why are we not doing the same or something pretty close to that?

00:18:05So that kind of makes a reminder for us with fees and charges to do a little bit

00:18:08more market research to make sure our numbers are market.

00:18:12But then also to your point, Cody, in terms of services

00:18:18that we're providing, if somebody else in the community is providing that service,

00:18:21why are we duplicating that, right?

00:18:23If that's an area where, hey, two or three other people are already providing that

00:18:27service or that activity, maybe we can step back from that and let those folks run

00:18:32with it and then focus on what we do that's unique-

00:18:36Yeah

00:18:36... in parks. Yeah. So-

00:18:38The other thing, I think back to your point, too, to think about on any of our

00:18:41programs is that I know at times it's like, well, we own it, so we can let someone

00:18:46use it and be nice, but then what we're doing is kicking the can down the road to

00:18:50where, say, if we had rented it for what it was worth, we'd probably have the money

00:18:55somewhere to replace that item later.

00:18:57Mm-hmm.

00:18:58So, yeah.

00:18:59Yeah.

00:19:02If the board votes to not do this anymore, what are the plans on the handling of

00:19:07that show wagon?

00:19:08We'd have to put it up for surplus.

00:19:10And then if we put it up for surplus, if any of our partner groups who use it, if

00:19:14they were interested, could that be something that the board might be interested

00:19:18in? Because if it's declared surplus, then we can dispose of it, and if one of the

00:19:22partner groups wanted to take it over.

00:19:24We'd sell it for $192,000, I think.

00:19:28Well,

00:19:30I know the Friends of the Zoo, I think Fog, all of those, I think used it, maybe

00:19:35even Sister Cities. So I didn't know if there's some way to get it, if we're going

00:19:39to get rid of it, if they want to take it on.

00:19:42I just didn't know that was a possibility.

00:19:44Like a donation?

00:19:45So, but sometimes under general surplus work, is that like the general public comes

00:19:49and bids on it or-

00:19:50Well-

00:19:50... does it give it away or?

00:19:52Yeah.

00:19:52What does that mean?

00:19:53Surplus means we no longer need it, and that we can dispose of it, and if we know

00:19:58that one of our partner groups wants it, we can say that, and can get approval to

00:20:02dispose of it that way. So...

00:20:05Through a donation agreement.

00:20:06Correct.

00:20:07Correct. Yeah. I would think that's definitely an option we could look into.

00:20:10I just didn't know whether in case it's something that takes board approval, maybe.

00:20:15We don't have any resolutions or anything. I can draft one after that.

00:20:18So in that said group, for instance, they sign a liability waiver of some sorts if

00:20:23a musician falls off the stage or?

00:20:26They have to have a COI or yeah.

00:20:29They have a COI? Okay.

00:20:29The city that uses it has to include the city as an additional insured on their

00:20:32insurance. But that way we would be wiping our hands of it.

00:20:35But if our partner groups, if they were interested in it, then they could take it

00:20:39on, and they would take all the exposure also if they wanted it.

00:20:43Is there a mechanism for us to sell it, to try to get whatever the market value is

00:20:47of a used show stage?

00:20:49You can do that through surplus. But what they would do is, first, if any other

00:20:54city department wanted it, they would have first access.

00:20:57Mm-hmm.

00:20:57But then otherwise, it would be whoever would pay the most for it.

00:21:01Right.

00:21:01And I just didn't know if there was a way to benefit our partner groups.

00:21:04I would say this is one of those things that you probably want to weigh the return

00:21:08of selling it would be versus the community impact of basically donating it to a

00:21:13partner that could then continue to service through what they do. So...

00:21:18Well, the maintenance costs aren't going to quit, regardless of who picks it up.

00:21:22So that's going to be a concern for somebody.

00:21:23Mm-hmm.

00:21:24We've gotten a really good return on investment, 25 years.

00:21:27Now, back in 2001, times were different. General funds money was coming in.

00:21:32We were having several concerts in the parks. We had Firefall on this.

00:21:37The times were different. And what happened is the word got out to our partners and

00:21:40to the area community, and it was a great option for them to host events and that

00:21:46times have changed since then, so.

00:21:49Is the other stage you've utilized at all?

00:21:52It is. Not nearly as much as this one. Yeah.

00:21:54You've used the other stage?

00:21:55Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's $350 instead of $400, so it's $50 cheaper.

00:21:59Is that one also trailer, or is it?

00:22:01It's on tires. Yeah.

00:22:05But yeah, like I said, we've got a great return on this.

00:22:08We have about three more rentals left on it.

00:22:10The last one is the Christmas parade, and if we can make it hang on till then,

00:22:14we'll have a retirement party for it on stage there, so.

00:22:19Are there any more questions?

00:22:22Yeah, I think that's good. We'll wrap it up.

00:22:23I think the consensus is not spend $200,000 on a new one, and we can continue to

00:22:28talk about what we want to do with this one because of that.

00:22:32I know the neon flashing sign is the money, obviously.

00:22:36But it puts a strain on our staffing too, because we're having so many events.

00:22:40We're pulling staff out of parks to go put this up. So that's just another add.

00:22:45I'd rather have our staff in the parks doing, instead of going to other locations

00:22:50outside parks to put the stage up, so.

00:22:53We've got lots of other ways to spend $200,000, unfortunately.

00:22:57Sure.

00:22:59Thank you guys for your time.

00:23:00Thank you.

00:23:02All right. Superintendent Parks,

00:23:07business operations reports and comments. Hello, Jerry.

00:23:11Good morning, Cody and board members.

00:23:15Just an update really quick, to start off on fiscal year end of June 30, 2026.

00:23:21The city had Springfield had booked the parks property mill tax revenue for June

00:23:2730, 2026. It came in at

00:23:31$8,536,827, which was $18,138 more than what we had

00:23:37projected. The city typically books that revenue number at the end

00:23:43of the year. You'll see it within the budget flowing through the financial

00:23:46statements. We're working through the FEMA and insurance

00:23:51reimbursement for the two April hailstorms, and we're getting closer to

00:23:57numbers from the April windstorm of 2025.

00:24:02Here in the next month or two, I'll get with Ron.

00:24:05We'll get a report to you as far as where that's landing.

00:24:08It takes some time with FEMA and how that all washes out.

00:24:13We've got a long ways to go on the hailstorm.

00:24:16We're still working to get repairs done at the zoo, Belding Family Center, and

00:24:22other locations from that event. Revenues and expenditures for the two months ended

00:24:27August 31st, 2026. So we see here that we had total revenues,

00:24:34$4,815,403. That's up $26,000 modestly over two years ago.

00:24:39The expenditures were up $498,188 more than two

00:24:46months ago compared to last year. And a lot of that is we just had purchased a

00:24:51Zamboni ice resurfacing machine for the Ice Mart we had

00:24:57to have. That was approved in part of the FY26 budget that we just paid

00:25:03for. Those expenditures in. And then there was some major repairs I

00:25:09listed out for board review on the second page, noting that

00:25:15we had a particular, we had,

00:25:19as mentioned, the installation of security gate out here for $54,934.

00:25:25We had a required fiber optic installation, associated equipment for

00:25:31Killian Sports Complex. That was in tandem with the recently completed renovations

00:25:37as part of that baseball, softball complex improvements we had.

00:25:42And then, also you'll see for the Dickerson Park and Zoo, we had expenditures were

00:25:46up, and I noted there were some vacancies last year that we haven't had this year.

00:25:52We've had some positions completed.

00:25:54And also there's been some expenditures hit the zoo, notable Jackson knows, the

00:26:00skylights out at some of our buildings have had repair, and we're hopeful we'll get

00:26:04insurance and FEMA reimbursement for those.

00:26:07The Golf Enterprise Fund, although, and this is the first time in a very long

00:26:13time, due to this extreme heat, I don't know how else to put it, we had

00:26:19in July and August. Our revenues were down some with the rounds in August.

00:26:25We're still up slightly for the year in revenue in the golf fund, which is good.

00:26:30And I also want to highlight something, second bullet point, money has been carried

00:26:34over from the FY26 budget for

00:26:39$500,000 in hopes that we can do what we would call

00:26:45hospitality enhancements and improvements out on the west side at Rivercat Golf

00:26:50Course for our tournaments and our golfing patrons who do events out there.

00:26:56And also other needed landscape and hardscaping improvements.

00:27:00That money is set aside for that. If you get major repairs or some other things

00:27:06come about that would supersede that need, that obviously could impact

00:27:12that money, but that's where it's sitting at right now.

00:27:15Finally, our parks countywide capital projects fund.

00:27:20We have money flowing through there that'll be coming in for several projects I

00:27:24have listed there as we go through the year, funded either by grants,

00:27:30our partner organizations, or by the park board itself.

00:27:34And we'll be updating you to those revenues and expenditures.

00:27:38I'd be happy to address any questions that you might have.

00:27:45Thank you very much. Looks good. Thanks, Gary. Thank you, Gary.

00:27:49All right.

00:27:51Next, Director of Parks report.

00:27:53Yeah. Good morning, everyone. I do have a few items to report verbally this

00:27:58morning. However, as usual, also refer you to the comprehensive written reports

00:28:04that

00:28:06our staff and myself put together.

00:28:09So I attended two more of the mayor's community conversation events recently.

00:28:15The event on August 20th was intended for the Mark Twain and Greater Park Crest

00:28:20neighborhoods, where we have several parks.

00:28:23And I also attended one last night that was focused on the Fast Night and West

00:28:28Central neighborhoods. Updated park amenities, especially playgrounds,

00:28:35seems to be the ongoing theme at those events in terms of the comments that

00:28:41I've been receiving, are just doing updates to playgrounds and refreshing park

00:28:46amenities.

00:28:48This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Japanese Fall Festival, taking place at

00:28:53the Japanese Stroll Garden today through Sunday, September 13th, this weekend.

00:28:59Park staff and volunteers have been working diligently to prepare for this year's

00:29:04event. An upgrade to the entrance way of the Stroll Garden is now finished, giving

00:29:09the entrance a refreshed look just in time for this year's festival.

00:29:14This event will also serve as the kickoff to the public engagement effort of our

00:29:19five park master plans. So Planning Design Studios was hired to

00:29:24facilitate these master plans, and they'll have a booth at this year's fall

00:29:29festival to begin soliciting input feedback from

00:29:35residents on Nathaniel Green Close Memorial Park.

00:29:39So at your seat were distributed this morning, also, Lee and I

00:29:44distributed this paper that is the project approach and

00:29:50schedule for the master plans, and this is kind of just a very basic overview of

00:29:56their approach and schedule. It does not include specific dates of public

00:30:01engagement meetings or focus group meetings.

00:30:04But just to go over this a little bit, phase one will be data collection, and will

00:30:10take the course of the next month or so.

00:30:14Phase two will be visioning and concept development.

00:30:16That will include initial focus groups and open house events.

00:30:20Phase three includes preliminary plan options and a second round of

00:30:26public engagement, where basically some plan options will then be reviewed with

00:30:31stakeholder groups and the public to get input on those

00:30:36schematics.

00:30:38Phase four will be final plan development, and then phase five will be the public

00:30:43unveiling and presentation of those plans to the park board.

00:30:48So once we have the schedule for the public engagement sessions,

00:30:54dates, and times, I'll make sure those are distributed to the board, and I would

00:30:58certainly encourage board participation in as many of those meetings as

00:31:04you can potentially attend. So and then staff will continue to keep you updated

00:31:09throughout this process. We may even add, either it'll be through my reports

00:31:15or we'll include presentations specific to that topic here over the next few

00:31:20months.

00:31:22That's great. And Jenny will be advertising these through the website and other

00:31:27outlets?

00:31:28Yep. She's been working diligently to put together a press release.

00:31:32Do you want to add any information?

00:31:35We have a press release going out today just announcing that they'll be at the

00:31:38Japanese Fall Festival. We're trying to get a hold of the URL that they are using

00:31:42to have their own website. So once we have that, we'll announce that as they would

00:31:48like for it to be announced when we get to our website.

00:31:50Wonderful. That's super.

00:31:55And then last is a staff announcement.

00:31:57David Kinsey and Brandon Holmes are both celebrating five-year service

00:32:01anniversaries in September. So thank you to those staff members, and

00:32:05congratulations to both David and Brandon for their dedicated service to the

00:32:09community. So that concludes my verbal report for today.

00:32:15If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

00:32:19So I noticed that the Grant Beach pool construction work has been done and things

00:32:23have been kind of freshened up there, and so-

00:32:26Yeah, we did our final walk-through last week, and the roof

00:32:31structure of that project's done, completed, looks great.

00:32:35We're doing some other cleanup work around the building, some tuck pointing work,

00:32:41some additional painting inside and outside of that facility.

00:32:46And then also, we're doing some maintenance of the actual pool itself

00:32:52and some testing of the circulation system since it hasn't been run in nearly two

00:32:57years, to make sure that we become aware of any issues well ahead of time versus

00:33:03trying to fire the thing up in the spring and then be in a situation where there's

00:33:09an issue or there's parts we need to order and we're not opening in time.

00:33:12So we're trying to be very proactive with that facility.

00:33:15Super. Thank you.

00:33:16You're welcome.

00:33:17All right. Any other questions for Ron?

00:33:22All right.

00:33:22Look pretty.

00:33:23Yeah, great. All right, our next meeting, Friday, October 9th.

00:33:27Look forward to seeing you all back here, same time, same place.

00:33:30So

00:33:32with that, nobody has anything else, I'll seek a motion to adjourn.

00:33:36Move to adjourn.

00:33:37All right. Second?

00:33:40Second.

00:33:40All right, all in favor?

00:33:41Aye. Aye.

00:33:42All right.