Kankakee Times

Kankakee Valley Park District Board of Commissioners met May 22.

Here is the minutes provided by the Board:

The Board Meeting was called to order at 5 pm by President Hollis. Those present for roll call were Commissioners D. Tucker, M. Mullady, and D. Skelly. Staff present: Executive Director, Dayna Heitz, Superintendent of Recreation, Melissa Woodard. Those absent were Attorney John Coghlan, Commissioner Matt Mullady, and Rick Collins, Superintendent of Buildings & Grounds.

Pledge of Allegiance

Public Comment:

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Communications:

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Consent Agenda:

Consent agenda for Monday, May 22, 2017 consists of board and special meeting minutes, bills payable, and financial statement.

A motion to table executive session minutes due to them not being available was made by Commissioner Spriggs, seconded by Commissioner Tucker. Upon roll call vote the following Commissioners voted aye: D. Skelly, D. Tucker, B. Spriggs, A. Hollis. Absent: M. Mullady. With 4 ayes, 0 nays, 1 absent, motion carried.

A motion to receive the consent agenda, minus item C, for the was made by Commissioner Skelly, seconded by Commissioner Hollis. Upon roll call vote the following Commissioners voted aye: D. Skelly, D. Tucker, B. Spriggs, A. Hollis. Absent: M. Mullady. With 4 ayes, 0 nays, 1 absent, motion carried.

A motion to approve the consent agenda, minus item C, made by Commissioner Tucker, seconded by Commissioner Hollis. Upon roll call vote the following Commissioners voted aye: D. Skelly, D. Tucker, B. Spriggs, A. Hollis. Absent: M. Mullady. With 4 ayes, 0 nays, 1 absent, motion carried.

Old Business:

Acceptance of 2016 Financial Audit

Last meeting you had the draft. This is the final. Will be uploaded to state comptroller site. Did receive final billing for audit. $27,900 was the total. Was a little less than the 2015 audit. We will have penalties to the state as well. Commissioner Tucker asked how we are going to pay this? Borrow from another fund? The state will not be paid right away, we have not received billing. Commissioner Tucker asked how much we have to date. $168,000 in operating. $80,000 will cover the next 3 payrolls coming up. This is what we have until July when the taxes coming in. We do have money in the money market, $129,000 in there because we are holding it. We have this because we will be short on the bond payment. Received billing payment from Coyotes and Irish for $38,000. Another $13,000 will be coming from them. Commissioner Tucker asked if we are balanced? Director Heitz said yes. 2 audits are done and the books are balanced. 2017 Audit will be done on time.

Commissioner Skelly said we are being responsible and bills are paid. Public should know we are financially responsible. We do have some serious bills and debt still to deal with. Pirate ship, etc. We are maintaining now. If we continue at this rate, in 2-3 years we will have the respect in the community. Commissioner Hollis said we are moving in the right direction. It’s going to take time but we have to stay consistent.

Commissioner Tucker said when we were doing bad, we talked with the Blue Ribbon Committee and asked for their help. They came in here and put everything out there. We should have a face to face with them. Commissioner Hollis said perception is a reality. We do need to meet with them. Those are some of our community leaders. They will put it out in a positive light if we let them know we are doing better. We could invite them to a meeting and put them on the agenda to give them an update. Commissioner Tucker asked for it to be a smaller group. Commissioner Hollis said Commissioner Tucker and Skelly should be present with Dayna and the committee. Commissioner Spriggs said inviting them to a meeting should be enough. Commissioner Skelly said a nice letter from Dayna that the board had a discussion and wanted to keep you updated and wanted to invite you to a meeting. That way we can have some communication regarding it. Invite them to board meeting. Then after the meeting at 6pm, they could come and discuss. Make it an open meeting, post it.

A motion to accept the 2016 Financial Audit was made by Commissioner Tucker, seconded by Commissioner Hollis. Upon roll call vote the following Commissioners voted aye: D. Skelly, D. Tucker, B. Spriggs, A. Hollis. Absent: M. Mullady. With 4 ayes, 0 nays, 1 absent, motion carried.

BMX Land Use Agreement:

Do have a copy of an agreement and have some concerns. Spoke to Brant and the agreement xpired March 31. According to the files we had they were looking for an EPA permit. It had been rejected by the state and that’s all we had in the file. They said they got it in 2016. He has now shown it to us yet. When asked about insurance, no 501c3 on file. Supposed to maintain insurance but they said they only have it when they have races. They have never had races though. They are still building. Concerned that nothing in this agreement has been done. Supposed to turn in financial reports but haven’t. Once the course is completed, then they said they would be sanctioned by BMX. The farmer said he would farm it. How many acres? Will check. Commissioner Spriggs asked if we can charge them? Yes. Commissioner Hollis said would have a problem with section 6, item A. Commissioner Skelly said he has no problem with the BMX track but need to have insurance for us to do business with. Would like for Dayna to have a meeting with them.

A motion to table the BMX Land Use Agreement was made by Commissioner Spriggs, seconded by Commissioner Tucker. Upon roll call vote the following Commissioners voted aye: D. Skelly, D. Tucker, B. Spriggs, A. Hollis. Absent: M. Mullady. With 4 ayes, 0 nays, 1 absent, motion carried.

Boat Club Parking Agreement:

We are doing the metered parking. Nothing has changed in the agreement other than dates. Commissioner Tucker asked if they wanted anything different? Director Heitz said they thought we weren’t having metered parking. Commissioner Skelly said we are asking them for $750 for the agreement. The other $250 is a special event. He is conflicted with all of our use agreements and how everyone has a different deal. Some teams have different agreements. Don’t understand how it all works with what everyone uses. Costs boat club $250 and there are teams that don’t pay anything. Costs nothing for parking at Bird Park and costs money at Beckman. Commissioner Hollis suggests the board sets policy. Would like Dayna to have a meeting with boat club to talk about another agreement. If there is something we want changed we need to speak up and say we want to see change. Straight across the board and consistency. Commissioner Tucker asked about the $250 for the parking lot. Didn’t the boat club offer that? Yes. It was presented us. Commissioner Spriggs said we have watched Reeds Rental year after year, make tons of money at the Bird Park boat launch. We don’t charge them but maybe we should contact them about a sponsorship.

A motion to table the Boat Club Parking Agreement was made by Commissioner Spriggs, seconded by Commissioner Hollis. Upon roll call vote the following Commissioners voted aye: D. Tucker, B. Spriggs, A. Hollis. Abstain: D. Skelly. Absent: M. Mullady. With 3 ayes, 0 nays, 1 abstain, 1 absent, motion carried.

New Business

Staff Reports:

Recreation-

Melissa Woodard: Been busy with softball. The summer league starts after Memorial Day. Been collecting registration fees and working on the schedule. Several teams came in last minute so the schedule has been adjusted a lot of time.

Commissioner Skelly said he has talked to several people and they have had positive things to say about working with Melissa. Organized and approachable and they appreciate that.

Executive Director-

Dayna Heitz: Updates from the Committee Meeting. Commissioner Spriggs talked with Sniders about mulch. What he sent over did not meet the full requirements by PDRMA. Rainbow farms had called and asked if we needed mulch this year. The district has used Rainbow Farms since 2000. Pricing is the same as it was in the past. Need mulch at several parks. Commissioner Hollis asked if we will need more than we ordered last year? Yes.

Met with Dr. Walters and Mr. Grossi about combining the intergovernmental agreement with the Jeffers Park building.

St. Mary’s called and they have a new president. Will be meeting next week, tentatively. Wanted to know why they were receiving a bill from the baseball organization. They did not have a copy of the agreement for whose parking lot belongs to who. Found original agreement from 1994. Did pay for the construction of the lot but doesn’t pay us anything. The $4000 goes to the baseball organization for the lights.

KCC had their celebration. Put the fencing up for their fireworks and was inspected by the Fire Department.

Mark Steffen has been in contact. He is on the Strawberry fest committee. Would like to use the grass lot across from the Civic. They want a side cut out and leveled. If it’s rainy, they wouldn’t park there. Would have to have city permits to cut the curb.

For the 2017 audit, RFP’s were mailed. Due back June 2 if they would like to be considered. Been working with IDES. It appears we have an overpayment for 2014. Requested an analysis to see what’s going on.

In addition to meeting with the school district, met with Patricia Starks Howard and Dr. Walters. Nothing they can do for her this year. She is going to be viewing the Rec Center today and will let us know what she is able to do. The paperwork with the state for a 501C3 is not approved yet so she can’t get the funding for the rental fee.

Contacted by a church about doing a basketball league but we don’t have any dates available.

Camp host contacted us back and isn’t sure she is interested. She will let us know.

The community service workers don’t come from the sheriff office, in case you get questions from the public.

Did get the new golf carts and mowers and the guys are very appreciative for mowers.

MMA event was slow. Bad weekend with graduations and Mother’s Day.

Would like to talk about union agreement. First meeting they presented their negotiations. Went through the union book and talked with John. Some of what they wanted was feasible for us. Some isn’t. It got very heated. Mike Smith threatened Superintendent Collins. Commissioner Hollis said he talked with John and he will talk to Mike. We are meeting this Friday. He was very disrespectful. Collins was threatened with harm. Commissioner Skelly suggests putting a member of the board for negotiations. Eventually this comes to the board. Director Heitz would like to consult another attorney that doesn’t have close relationships with staff and community. She did call PDRMA and talked with an attorney. They pointed her to a firm out of Chicago that are PDRMA members. Their rates are cut in half for members and she has worked with them prior. Negotiations should occur at the table. There is history there. How much will this cost us since we are paying our current attorney? $325 an hour would be for negations. Estimated 10-15 hours. If we come to terms it could be shorter. In the best interest of the district, go with outside council. Commissioner Hollis thinks this is what Kankakee is used to. When Dayna mentioned change, they don’t get that or want that. Once they realize they won’t be able to bully you. They have a grievance with a staff member. Commissioner Skelly asked if our current attorney is charging us extra for union negotiations? Will find out. He totally agreed with what she is saying. A fresh look would be needed. Commissioner Spriggs asked if the situation was that volatile? Director Heitz said yes.

Commissioner Hollis said let’s have one of us to help smooth things out and get a clear understanding. We want the taxpayers to get the best deal with the park district. Commissioner Skelly will come represent the board on Friday at 10am.

Committee Reports:

KCCVB Report-

Commissioner Hollis would like Director Heitz to be our rep. Will need to contact Hollis Clark.

Historical Society Report-

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SRA Report-

Talked about advisory board. Bourbonnais wants more reps than others. Got that straightened out. Approved a raise for Executive Director and did his evaluation. We will be doing some things different for his next evaluation. Want talk to his employees about his management style. May take on another district into the SRA.

Commissioners Forum:

Commissioner Hollis passed out executive director evaluations. Have sent an electronic copy to everyone too. Have back before committee. Will combine them and average the scores and will go over it in executive session of committee meeting. In the past, he would meet with ED directly. Also would like to thank staff, getting lots of calls about the community. Sun River Terrace people are very happy with the basketball hoop being back up. To those kids it means a lot. Rick and Dayna have been doing a lot and quick to respond and get things done. Doing better and like what they are doing with the finances. This is the first time someone has said the finances are balanced. The money we are saving, in 3-4 years, we will be out of the hole. Appreciate the staff kicking in. Issue at Beckman, Rick took care of it so quick. The community appreciates you. Takes time. It’s good that Melissa and Rick have been present at softball so community can get to know us. Need to get out into community. Put a positive light on the KVPD. Making positive strides.

Commissioner Spriggs said we owe some people a lot of money but we are doing better. Director Heitz said we are maintaining. We need to be careful, even when we get tax money. He asked about potholes at River Road. Could we talk to public works about filling or helping? Are the bathrooms at Levausser park open and working? There is no baseball team there so they are locked. Wanted to thank Rick and his group for taking damaged park bench from the Civic. He was quick and appreciates it.

Executive Session:

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Adjourn Meeting:

A motion to adjourn the meeting was made at 6:49pm by Commissioner Spriggs, seconded by Commissioner Hollis. Upon voice vote, all ayes, motion carried.

Official Reports:

1. Board Meeting Minutes April 24, 2017

2. Special Meeting Minutes May 4, 2017

4. Bills Payable

5. Financial Statements

6. Financial Audit

7. BMX Land Use Agreement

8. Boat Club Parking Agreement

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