2019-03-04 RAC Minutes
Minutes of the Recreation Advisory Committee held on March 4, 2019.
Members present:
Anna Blackman
Jeff Geimer
Manny Hadad
Alise Henry
Jacqueline O’Donnell
Michael O’Hara
Karen Smith-Gulaskey
Lisa Sotir
Members absent:
Julian Montero
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m.
Ms. Gulaskey made a motion to approve the minutes of the February 4, 2019 meeting.
Motion seconded by Mr. O’Hara and unanimously approved.
Discussion turned to the recreation center. Mr. Hadad listed the recommendations previously
made by Committee members and said financing the projects is the next question. Mr. O’Hara
spoke with some of the Council candidates at Unity Day about refinancing the existing pool
bond and using some of the money for renovations at the community center. Two of the
candidates were in favor of adding capital funds for improvements Mr O’Hara noted the
Village has one million in reserves. Ms. Dorney related that it is likely that the slides on
Shipwreck Cove will not open this summer due to structural issues. The Village is looking for
a second opinion from another engineer on the actual structure. The first engineer gave a
quote of $185,000 to fix the existing structure. It was noted that the Village is 20 years into a
30-year bond; the finance department has advised that there would need to be a new bond
rather than refinancing the existing bond.
Mr. O’Hara would like to invite the Village Manager to the next meeting to see the best way for
the Committee to move forward with the needed Community Center improvements. Mr.
O’Hara made a motion to invite the Village Manager to the April Committee meeting.
Motion seconded by Ms. Henry. Committee members would like to see what funding
sources are available for renovations; what would be available in Village reserves to apply or if
the existing bond can be refinanced. Mr. Geimer suggested that Committee members attend
the budget workshops to express their concerns. Mr. Geimer also noted that the Manager
would need to confer with the finance director before any answer could be given to the
Committee. The motion was then amended. Mr. O’Hara made a motion to invite the
Village Manager to attend a Committee meeting in either April or May to discuss capital
improvements for the Community Center and Aquatic Center. Motion seconded by Ms.
Henry and unanimously approved.
Mr Hadad inquired about a scoreboard for baseball. It was noted that the Committee would
make their annual presentation to Council on May 21.
The meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m.