1999-02-15 PARKS, RECREATION AND BEAUTIFICATION BOARD MINUTESCITY OF PEARLAND PARKS, RECREATION &
BEAUTIFICATION BOARD
FEBRUARY 15,1999
MINUTES AS RECORDED OF THE MEETING HELD TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15,
1999, AT 7:00 P.M., AT THE PEARLAND COMMUNITY CENTER, 3523 LIBERTY
DRIVE, PEARLAND, TEXAS.
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m., with the following present:
Michael Grisby
Dwyane Lum
Jerri Farmer
Ronnie Pyle
Lisa Diese
Paul Knoble
Edward Hersh
Absent:
Rosella Webb
ACTION ITEM:
Chairman
Chairman, Pro Tern
Member
Member
Member
Member
Parks & Recreation Director
Arrived 7:03 pm
The Board voted to accept the excused absence of Paul Knoble from the January meeting.
Motion approved 4-0; 1 Abstention.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Lisa Diese made a motion to accept the minutes of the January 19, 1999, Board Meeting
as presented. The motion was seconded by Michael Grisby.
Motion approved 5-0
PARK BOARD CHAIRMAN'S REPORT:
No report.
DIRECTOR'S REPORT:
♦ Spring brochure is fresh out from printer. Brochures have been sent to Post Office
and will be mailed to general public this week.
♦ Spring registration is Saturday, February 27`h at the Community Center.
♦ Spring soccer registration has 14 teams with approximately 210 children in it.
Registration has closed and uniforms were ordered today. This is an outstanding
number, more than we anticipated. We are pleasantly surprised since a lot of the kids
are new and spring is usually slower because of baseball. We had 19 teams in the fall
and only expected about 10 teams for spring.
♦ March 5th is the monthly Senior Citizen Dance. We don't define "senior citizen" so
anyone who is into dance is welcome. The March dance is sponsored by Cigna
Health Care so admission to the dance is free. The music is by Johnny Dyson and the
Bank Notes.
♦ February 181h - there will be a memorial tree planting at Centennial Park.
♦ February 19th - most of the recreation and park staff are going to Bellaire for a
regional workshop. It's a good workshop where we can come back with some new
ideas. Dave Melaas, park superintendent, and I have been involved in scheduling the
programs for the second year in a row. We anticipate over 300 people from all over
the coastal area from Galveston to Montgomery County, Bellaire to Sugar Land.
♦ Very pleased to announce that tennis is returning to our structured program. We have
a new instructor who will be starting with us. There is a lot of interest in tennis, we
just have a hard time finding an instructor.
♦ Spring softball will resume the first week in March. We anticipate games four to
five evenings a week. The program continues to be popular and grow. It helps when
you have a first class facility. One of the proven facts is that players will go for and
pay a premium if you have well lighted and well manicured fields.
♦ TRAPS Annual Park & Recreation Conference will meet March P in Waco and we
will have three people attending.
♦ Pool repair work will start a week from today.
♦ Easter Egg Hunt will be held March 271h at Independence Park at 10:00 a.m. This is
is great event for youngsters.
♦ Park Donation Fund —the total as of January 31s1 is $4,781.91. During the month of
January we received $192.74 and received three donations ranging from $10 to $25
which is included in the total.
♦ Questions: Has there been any questions asked about how this money is spent?
♦ Answer: No, no one has asked. However when I set this up and Council approved
it, the idea was that before we spend the money, I would ask the Board to submit any
ideas to me, any staff ideas, then put it together and come back to the Board for a
recommendation to take to Council. The intent was to try to generate a large pool of
funds before we go out and do anything. This was specified for capital, not
maintenance operations.
Discussion followed. Paul Knoble indicated that he thought that there was an "in-
house" idea that the fund grow to $10,000 before making a capital outlay and that
perhaps benches in the park was suggested. Need to make a good impact with first
purchase.
The question was raised about time of pool repairs. Should take about one month.
Cost of expenditures is $20,000 between pool and bath house repairs. Council is
.0.
aware that this is bandaid repairs. Filters are staying, just a new configuration and
larger pump to turn the water over faster. Every reason to believe that this will solve
the problem but we're dealing with an old system.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
♦ Lisa Diese — Trees for Pearland had a ribbon cutting ceremony for the trees
along Pearland Parkway.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS:
♦ None
NEW BUSINESS:
♦ Consideration and Possible Action: Return of monument to Heritage Park.
Approximately two years ago Captain Roberts had a pear made and placed in
Heritage Plaza. Several months ago it disappeared and about ten days ago my
parks superintendent came to me and told me that Helen Roberts and he had a
conversation regarding the pear. The pear had been found and was ready to be
returned. There was some discussion as to whether that was still an
appropriate location. 1 bring it to the Board to recommend to the Council
what they would like to do with the pear.
Discussion: Chairman Grisby recognized visitors from the Keep Pearland
Beautiful organization: Helen Roberts and Richard Eskuchen. They said that
Keep Pearland Beautiful would like the pear to be returned to the Plaza. Also,
they shared history on the pear. The sculpture honors the founders of
Pearland. It was a gift from the Board for the Plaza. The Plaza is not a park
but is City property. The Parks Department administers the operation of that
area. Mr. Hersh stated when the pear was first manufactured, the Parks
Department was informed, and in turn notified the City Manager. After
consideration, the then City Manager gave permission to put the pear in the
Plaza. The current City Manager would like me to bring this to the Board and
get the Board's recommendation. City Council never voted on placement
originally.
Motion was made by Paul Knoble to recommend to City Council that the pear
be returned to Heritage Plaza in a specific location to be determined by the
Parks Director and staff. Motion was seconded by Mike Grisby. Motion
passed 4-1.
Discussion on future gifts to the City. Persons wanting to make similar gifts
are told they need to submit plans and details of gift and that all has to be
approved by City Council.
OTHER BUSINESS
♦ The trail connecting Independence and Pasternak Parks is completed.
ADJOURNMENT:
Ronnie Pyle moved to adjourn, seconded by Paul Knoble. Motion approved 6-0.
Minutes approved as submitted and/or corrected this 151' day of March 1999.
Michael Grisby, Chairman
ATTEST:
Paul Knoble, Secretary
OTHER BUSINESS
♦ The trail connecting Independence and Pasternak Parks is completed.
ADJOURNMENT:
Ronnie Pyle moved to adjourn, seconded by Paul Knoble. Motion approved 6-0.
Minutes approved as submitted and/or corrected this 15th day of March 1999.
ATTEST:
aul Knoble, Secretary