Kankakee Times

The Kankakee Valley Park District Board of Park Commissioners held a meeting on Monday, March 28.

Kankakee Valley Park District was established in 1925. Currently, it serves the 36,000 residents of Aroma Park and Kankakee Townships and is governed by five elected Park Board of Commissioners. The district employs 18 full-time staff and approximately 200 part-time, seasonal and temporary workers.

Here are the meeting minutes as provided by the Kankakee Valley Park District Board of Park Commissioners:

REGULAR BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS MEETING

A regular meeting of the Board of Park Commissioners of the Kankakee Valley Park District of

Kankakee County, Illinois was held on Monday March 28, 2016 at 5 p.m. at the Bird Park

Fieldhouse, Kankakee, Illinois. The meeting was called to order by Commissioner Hollis and roll

call was taken.

The following Commissioners were present:

Tucker

Hollis

Mullady

Cooper

Staff attending the meeting was Attorney John Coghlan, Kati Vaughn and Rick Hassett

Press present: Jon Krenek

Public present: Gerry Gund, Steven Hunter, Kenny Mosier, Bob Freyman and Jim jaenicki

Commissioner Cooper led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Public Comment:

Steven Hunter spoke to the Board conveying his sentiments on the Splash Valley matter.

He believes there is a solution to the problem if we have some collaborative efforts from

different entities. Splash Valley is crucial to the community and contributes substantially

to the local economy. He noted that it provides outlets for our families and meaningful

jobs for kids. He had a conversation with Governor Ryan and he was adamant about

utilizing all his efforts to address the problem. Mr. Hunter recommends we develop a

blue ribbon panel with the banking community, corporate and business leaders and

governmental representatives to address the issue. Additionally, he thinks there should be

a group of Park District Board members that go to the County Mayors Association and let

them know our problems so we might get assistance. Mr. Hunter feels if everyone works

collaboratively, a solution could be established.

Communication:

A. City of Kankakee June 5 Bike Races – Kati Vaughn stated that in the past years the

Park District has provided porta potties and bleachers for the June 5th Bike Races.

The City knows that we will not be assisting in that measure this year but the Park

District has given them permission to use Cobb Park to set up tents and support

stations.

Motion by Commissioner Mullady, seconded by Commissioner Cooper to receive the consent

agenda.

On roll call the vote was as follows:

Tucker Aye

Cooper Aye

Mullady Aye

Hollis Aye

Motion by Commissioner Tucker, seconded by Commissioner Cooper to approve the consent

agenda

On roll call the vote was as follows:

Tucker Aye

Cooper Aye

Mullady Aye

Hollis Aye

Old Business:

A. Glade Building - Attorney Coghlan reminded the Board of David Tyson’s presentation

on March 14th and that David Tyson wants the Park District to quick claim a portion

of land so the legal description matches up to actual property lines now. Glade is

wanting to survey the land to see what they come up with as far as a legal standpoint,

then they can put together the legal descriptions with the appropriate measures.

Ultimately the question becomes, does the board want to allow to get an appropriate

survey done with new legal descriptions at no cost to Park District. At that point, they

execute a deed so it conforms.

Motion by Commissioner Tucker, seconded by Commissioner Mullady to approve Glade to get

an appropriate survey the land.

On roll call the vote was as follows:

Tucker Aye

Cooper Aye

Mullady Aye

Hollis Aye

New Business:

Promissory note - Rick Hassett presented a promissory note that he and Attorney

Coghlan has drawn up with RMC Mechanical pertaining to invoices from services done

at Ice Valley totaling $54,364.20. The note states that KVPD agrees to pay on these

invoices at the end of July with a simple interest rate.

Motion by Commissioner Mullady, seconded by Commissioner Cooper to approve the

promissory note.

Discussion – Commissioner Mullady asked Coghlan if he had any further input. Coghland

explained that there were a variety of services that RMC did at Ice Valley. KVPD put a down

payment and have put off the rest until we get our tax levy. Commissioner Tucker asked if there

has been any adjustments in which Coghlan replied that there has not.

On roll call the vote was as follows:

Tucker Aye

Cooper Aye

Mullady Aye

Hollis Aye

B. Energy Audit Consulting Agreement –

Hassett presented a consulting agreement whereas the KVPD would present our

utility bills to a technical resource firm. They will do an audit to make sure we are

being billed appropriately at all of our facilities. They check gas, electric, phone, cell,

water, sewer, etc. If they can find any savings or rebates for us, they will bill us at

50% of that total savings. Hassett explained that we will not be charged for the audit.

There are still some unanswered questions so the agreement will be tabled until the

committee meeting so this can be researched and discussed further.

Staff reports:

Superintendent of Recreation, Kati Vaughn, told the Board that 90 to 120 teens and youth

attended Friday night’s open gym. Sam has done a good job getting the word out. He is starting a

summer basketball league, cheer program and flag football league. Staff is working on a Park

District Summer Camp. This will probably be held at Bird Park this summer and then expand to

other locations. Kati said that staff is also working with the Kankakee School District on their

summer camp. SCORE has been doing great. Ice valley is starting a Friday night Club Skate.

The Irish and Coyote leagues have signed a contract for their spring season. Ice Valley will be

hosting a Spring Ice show on April 22 and 23. Steve and Andrew are putting together a summer

camp at Ice Valley as well.

Kati stated that she has met with the Hagler Foundation members, Easter Seals reps and RMC.

She has been conducting staff evaluations. She hosted a forum for the Beckman Park Proposal.

She met with David Burbach from Burbach Aquatics. They are the third firm she has met with

regarding the Splash Valley reconstruction.

Finance Director, Rick Hassett, presented finances that were talked about at the special meeting

on March 7th. These consisted of the cash on hand and details of cash receipts and disbursements.

He stated the remaining cash on hand is $159,000 after March 22nd. There will be personal

replacement tax available from the state in April and again in May. This will be approximately

$42,000 each month. We have funds from operations at Ice Valley, the RecCenter and building

rentals coming in. Hassett has been working on a proposal with the cell tower company. They are

moving forward with this and we should receive $108,000 around the beginning of May.

Commissioner Tucker asked if the cell tower agreement looks favorable. Hassett replied that yes,

these companies do this all the time. They are a publicly traded corporation.

President Hollis asked if these properties required any maintenance from the Park District.

Hassett replied that there is no maintenance needed. We only pay property tax. Hassett prepared

an analysis on how the Park District used the 1.8 million dollars that was received from the

general obligation bond and went over those figures. Commissioner Tucker asked if our efforts

to contact banks have all been exhausted or are we still waiting on responses. Hassett replied

those efforts are all exhausted.

Superintendent of Parks, Todd Poole is not in attendance. Hollis announced if anyone has

questions, they could contact him.

Committee reports:

KCCVB Report – Commissioner Cooper announced they are getting ready to move into their

new facility in Manteno so there is nothing new to report.

Historical Society – Commissioner Skelly is not in attendance. Hollis announced if anyone has

questions, they can contact him.

SRA Report – Hollis announced the SRA had their first five year planning meeting. People from

the community came to the meeting to voice their opinions. It went very well.

Commissioners Forum:

Commissioner Mullady was contacted by the Army Corp of Engineering. They are in the process

of trying to install a transmitter to track the migration of the invasive species of asian carp. They

have been located above the Wilmington dam. The group are tagging the fish and tracking their

migratory patterns. Mullady needs to let the Army Corp know if the board is interested in

complying. He stressed that the Board should comply because this species is unwanted and

terrible for our ecosystem and our game fishermen. Commissioner Mullady has contacted the

DNR on this matter.

President Hollis stated that he received an email today from someone outside the area about

possible funding for the Park District. Hollis will keep the Board posted on the findings. Hollis

announced there will be a special meeting next week about the Splash Valley topic. He wanted to

thank Kati, staff members and Matt Blessing publicly for trying to help the youth in this

community. Hollis and the other commissioners went to the open forum at the RecCenter for the

Beckman Park proposal. Hollis was terribly disappointed with this community in what he was

hearing at the meeting. There was a lot of segregation. Hollis would hope that we could get past

this mentality. The main reason he wanted to be on this board was to help the children of this

community and help bring in more activities for them. He applauds the board for the things that

they have done so far. Hollis also thanked the board for staying on the board and taking the

negativity, abuse and ridicule during this tough time all while not getting paid.

Motion by Commissioner Mullady, seconded by Commissioner Cooper to go into executive

session to discuss litigation, real estate and personnel.

All Aye

The Board went back in open session at 7:00pm

Re Open Session:

A. Attorney’s Fees – This will be tabled until the Board has more information.

B. Director’s Contract – Attorney Coghlan spoke that the Board will need to make a

motion to terminate the automatic renewal of the Executive Director’s contract as

discussed in executive session.

Motion by Commissioner Tucker, seconded by Commissioner Mullady.

Tucker Aye

Cooper Aye

Mullady Aye

Hollis Aye

Motion by Commissioner Mullady, seconded by Commissioner Hollis to Adjourn.

All Aye

________________________

Alfred Hollis – President

__________________________

Lisa Cooper – Secretary