HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-YB-2014-10-14
October 14, 2014
Meeting Minutes
Attendance: Eric Nichols, Talyse LaDora Hampton, William Murphy, George McGonigal,
Caitlin Moss and Lizzy Rayle
Excused: Jody Hallett-Harris Dave Warden and William Martin
Absent: Dipayan Ghosh, Shannon Terry, Augusta Christensen and Kenneth McLaurin,
Staff: Liz Vance
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Meeting called to order at 6:10 p.m. by Talyse Hampton
Review and approval of Minutes:
The Minutes from September 9, 2014 were approved. Caitlin Moss made the motion and Eric
Nichols 2nd the motion – all were in favor.
Announcements:
Talyse asked that the monitoring of the PSMP be tabled for next month’s meeting.
Bill thanked board for the snacks.
Staff and Program Updates:
Advocacy - On 10/2 Allen went to Town of Ithaca Board Meeting to discuss the annual
contribution to waterfront parks and the proposed 50% decrease in this contribution. In 2016
this contribution would be decreased completely.
We are encouraging the Town to continue their support and work with us to find a solution to
sharing the costs of parks and facilities among all those who use them. Svante and Kevin have
agreed to help move this forward and work with the county and TCCOG and that is helpful. The
presentation went well and a public hearing is scheduled for 10/20 at 5:30 PM. Staff have been
sharing information with town residents and encouraging them to contact their board to let them
know how they value the parks, programs and facilities.
Liz advised that people should contact the Town of Ithaca Board Members and Liz will email the
flyer with all of the contact information. George advised that they were lobbying to get a portion
of the tourist tax that is collected that some of that could be used to contribute towards the parks.
We are hoping that the county and other municipalities come together and explore ideas like that.
The Town believes that because the parks are used regionally and by everyone, and that
everyone should be helping to support them.
Budget update – Budget hearing this Thursday at 6:00 p.m. and I believe that this will be a topic
that they will talk about, they will have questions about it and how this will affect the Budget.
We are very happy with Mayor’s recommended budget and it is a budget the IYB can live with
and it is in line with what we were proposing to do. The Capitol Projects that they are proposing
are the pool filter and repair to the gutters and replacement of dump truck. They did not include
the renovation of the enclosure for Cass Park, it is a large amount of money and we will continue
to work with Friends, the city and the community to help raise money for the project.
The Chamber of Commerce and Aislie Alton will be hosting a Business After Hours at the IYB
to highlight IYB. This is a great opportunity for the YB to highlight programs and possibly raise
some money to help support programs. We hope the Advisory Board will be able to attend.
All Staff Meeting last Tuesday, development day Alice Green training on communication, 95%
of the staff were able to attend, which was awesome as it is not often that we get to spend the day
together.
Bill asked about the progress of repairs on the large pavilion. Allen was at a meeting in the past
few weeks and believes that the bathroom repairs goal is to have them done before pavilion
season opens next spring, which is April 15th. They were walking through and revisiting the
building, because there was an original idea to add a bump out or another section to the back of
the pavilion, behind where the bathrooms would be, and so they want to see where Friends of
Stewart Park is with that and if they are still interested in adding that bump out, it will have an
effect on what they do the bathrooms, especially if there are windows, right there and such. One
concern we have about the space, is that we do have not have quite a large enough space for our
canoes, and we keep telling them about the amount of space and that we need to keep our canoes
in there, and the drawing we saw was a little bit smaller. Liz believes that they need to revisit the
drawing and there make sure there is adequate space for storing the canoes and getting these in
and out of the building. The cost of this project is going to be between $70,000-80,000. The
Friends of Stewart Park received a grant to do some work at the park and that group is looking at
trying to get a portion of that grant to help with the cost of the bathrooms, approximately
$20,000 to help support the cost of the repair of the bathrooms.
The canoes are currently stored at the maintenance building, as there is a garage/area for Stewart
Park Day Camp stuff. The plan for the current maintenance building is that the Ithaca Motion
Picture group still has a plan to refurbish and bring back the studio. They are trying to come up
with plan to make another space for everything that is currently there, like the maintenance crew
building, Stewart Park Day Camp stuff, etc., and how big the building, where should it be
located and can the building something in the park and the IYB day camp supplies and
equipment are in that building as well and we need a space near the pavilion because of location
of the day camp. We need the equipment where the camp is.
Talyse updated the board regarding the hiring process for the IYB Director, interviews were two
weeks ago and went well. The hiring committee made recommendations to the Mayor and
between the Mayor and Schelly they are doing follow up with the candidates. The committee is
finished as the task was to present 2-3 candidates to the Mayor.
There was a brief discussion of the vans, the usage and GIAC borrowing IYB vans, etc.
George McGonigal stated that he has no updates from Common Council. October is budget
month and the beginning of the process of who gets what.
Dave Warden was excused; therefore there were no updates from the Board of Public Works.
Kenneth McLaurin from Southside Community Center was not at the meeting; therefore there
was no report from Southside.
The Friends of the IYB’s online auction went well, but they didn’t meet the goal of $2000, but
raised approximately $1500. She thanked everyone that donated items for the auction. Couple
of things they are working on is a mixer with advisory board. Cornell Hockey has offered tickets
to the IYB for a game on 10/18 at 7:30 and will donate as many as we want.
There was some discussion regarding the decision regarding roller derby and alcohol being
served. Liz believes that it is currently tabled for further discussions.
IYB went to the Board of Public Works for the increase in the pavilion rental fees, the parks
commission approved and a resolution was submitted.
Recreation software is running and now online. You can now go online and set up your own
account and register at your convenience. We are encouraging people to sign up and get an
account. We are sending out the information slowly to folks so that everyone has a chance to get
to know the system.
Lizzie updated folks on cross country and she is in the sectionals and everyone congratulated her
and the team. Everyone wished her luck.
Next meeting:
November 11, 2014 (Tuesday) – 6:00 p.m. – Green Room
6:55 p.m. ADJOURNMENT