COLOMA TOWNSHIP PARK DISTRICT

MONTHLY BOARD MEETING MINUTES

January 12, 2015

The Regular Monthly Meeting of the Coloma Township Park District Board of Commissioners was called to order at 6pm in the Park District Office located at 508 East 11th Street in Rock Falls, Illinois.

Present: Commissioners Stindt, Walker, Sigel, and Bubbers

Absent: Commissioner Nehrkorn

Also Present: Michael P. Sterba, Director of Parks & Recreation, Rock Falls Mayor Bill Wescott, and Roger Colmark, CPA.

Commissioner Walker motioned to approve the regular meeting minutes of December 8, 2015 and the rescheduled Monthly Board Meeting of December 10, 2015 as presented. Commissioner Bubbers seconded the motion, roll call vote, all ayes, motion carried.

Commissioner Stindt motioned to approve the December 2015 bills in the following amounts:

Corporate Fund $

/

13,962.70

Liability Fund

/

1,932.32

Recreation Fund

/

4,008.77

Retirement Fund

/

2,849.43

Bond Construction Fund #33

/

7,739.54

Museum Fund

/

17,737.17

Bowman Park Development Fund

/

224.41

Police fund

/

1,756.59

Total $

/

50,210.93

Commissioner Walker seconded the motion, roll call vote, all ayes, motion carried.

The following is a listing of the Work Fare People from Coloma Township, Whiteside County Probation Office, Project Chance, Department of Human Services, Experience Works and Partnership for Employment that have worked for us the past month. Also included are total days worked in December and in 2015.

Coloma TWP / Best / Probation Dept. / Whiteside County Housing / Dept. Human Services / Worker's Comp / Partners/ Employment
Days in December / 11.5 / 0 / 4 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 0
Days in 2015 / 128 / 0 / 132.95 / 17 / 0 / 7.5 / 0

Coloma Township: Bill Chesmore, Richard Holcomb, Sherri McLaren, Verda Johnson,

and Corinna Blagg

Probation: Bruce Sanders

Director Michael P. Sterba reported that the city of Rock Falls electric department again has begun work on trenching in the secondary electric lines for the new street lighting project in Centennial Park. Again the city is putting in pieces of conduit so that in the future if we have any electrical problems they can just pull out an old piece of wiring and slide a new piece of wire in so it should be a pretty effective system when we are all finished. The electric company won't be able to complete the project until spring or summer due to some work that they have to do with some soil borings under the roadways and across parking lots. The borings will eliminate the need to damage the roads that we currently have.

Director Michael P. Sterba reported that he has also been in contact with Brad Leuschke from Complete Electric to try to secure some samples of light fixtures for the park board to review. We have two additional light fixture samples that we are looking at that have reasonably good light output as well as a reasonable cost. Unfortunately, all light fixtures today are made to order and there are no light fixtures sitting on a shelf somewhere so that we can review them in person. Thus, it looks like we may have to order a couple of fixtures like we did with the old ones and wait until they come in before we can decide which fixture the park board may be interested in. I'll have information about those fixtures in my office by the March park board meeting so the board can possibly review and approve the fixtures that we plan on using. Once the board makes a decision on a fixture we will then order the complete set that we need which is currently 48 fixtures for a final completion of the project. Final cost of the fixtures as well as installation cost will be determined at a later date.

Director Michael P. Sterba stated there was nothing new to report since the last Park Board meeting in regards to the Dillon Park ball diamond lights.

Director Michael P. Sterba reported that there was nothing new to report since the last Park Board Meeting in regards to the Jerry Celletti Memorial Monument. We still plan to complete the monument sometime in late spring so that the family can have an official dedication at their convenience.

Director Michael P. Sterba reported that there was nothing new to report in regards to the Pedestrian Foot Bridge Installation that will take place at the south end of Centennial Park. The weather has not been conducive to the continued progress of the installation of the bridge.

Director Michael P. Sterba reported that the Park Board is still planning on having a meeting to discuss the future retirement of our full time employees. We still need to do that so that we can all be on the same page in regards to how we are going to handle this issue.

Director Michael P. Sterba reported that the 2016 Tax Levy Ordinance has been filed with Whiteside County Clerk as required by law.

Director Michael P. Sterba reported that the IAPD/IPRA State Conference will be held Thursday through Saturday, January 28th-30th, at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. The park board needs to elect an official conference delegate to represent the Coloma Township Park District at the annual meeting. After a short discussion Commissioner Bubbers motioned to appoint Director Michael P. Sterba as the official conference delegate to the IAPD/IPRA annual Conference to be held at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago on Saturday January 30, 2016. Commissioner Stindt seconded the motion, roll call vote, all ayes, motion carried

Director Michael P. Sterba presented copies of a check for $6,245.19 from the Illinois Department of Revenue. The check represents the park district’s personal property replacement tax distribution for the month of December.

Director Michael P. Sterba reported that the Rock Falls Tourism Committee will sponsor the Bass Pro fishing tournament on the Rock River on Saturday and Sunday, June 25th and 26th The tournament will be in conjunction with not only the River Chase running at Seward's Riverside Park but also the Summer Splash sponsored by the Rock Falls Chamber of Commerce. The Bass Pro Tournament will use the Rock River from basically Rockton, Illinois north of Rockford all the way south to the Quad Cities. It's quite the long stretch of river that the fisherman can use. However, they will have to be in line to weigh their fish at a certain time at the Summer Splash event. A great deal of volunteerism will be required on that day to handle all 3 of the events at one time.

Director Michael P. Sterba presented the 2016 calendar from IPARKS for the park board's review.

Director Michael P. Sterba reported that the park district has received the IAPD annual report for the park board’s review.

Director Michael P. Sterba presented the first draft of donation policies for the donation of a tree, park bench, or electronic scoreboard to the park district. These policies represent only the first draft of the polices and any language can be altered based on the wishes of the park board.

Director Michael P. Sterba reported that the park district has received a letter form the Whiteside County Board of review that they will be hearing a request from the Whiteside County Housing Authority for a reduction of taxes for two different properties owned by the housing authority. Those properties being Cedar Woods Apartments along Route 30 and also the Rock falls Elderly Living Center which is located just South of the Rock Falls Middle School. Both of these properties are government supported and basically they are asking for tax exemption status to reduce or eliminate their tax burden. The hearing on the request will be held on Tuesday, January 26th, 2016 at 1:00 and at 1:15 respectively at the Whiteside County Courthouse in Morrison. Anyone wishing to attend to present evidence either for or against the reassessment of the property is welcome to attend. Sterba plans on going to the hearing to hear the details of the request.

Director Michael P. Sterba presented the park district 2016 Winter/Spring Recreation Brochure for the park districts review.

Commissioner Sigel recognized Rock Falls Mayor Bill Wescott. Mayor Wescott asked to address the board in regards to a couple of different issues. First of all, he wanted to make the park board aware of the recent land purchases that the city of Rock Falls made just south of Rock Falls both on the east and west sides of Route 40 near the interstate. The Mayor presented a visual drawing showing exactly where the property is located and how the city plans on possible future development of the property. The Mayor went on to talk about the cooperation between the park district and the city in regards to making these properties benefit all of the taxing bodies within our community. The Mayor also talked about TIF districts as well as the development of the river front in and around the new Holiday Inn project. The Mayor also spoke on the demolition of the limestone building on the riverfront adjacent to Bowman Park and about the successful grant that was received from EPA to have asbestos abatement done as well as the demolition of the building. He hopes that we will see by the end of February 2016 the building made ready for final demolition.

The Mayor also had a second reason for attending the park board meeting tonight. He stated that the city of Rock Falls Tourism committee was going to be involved in the River Chase event at Seward’s Riverside Park. In the past the judges trailer was parked at the west end of Seward’s park located near the unofficial boat ramp. The Mayor stated that after each race the winner of the race has to have his boat and driver weighed to make sure that they conform to the race regulations. Remember these boat races are sanctioned by the Racers Association and require that the boats meet their specifications. In order to make that more convenient in the future the boat people have asked that the weigh station be located right next to the judge’s station. In order to conform to this request the boat ramp needs to be expanded another 15 or 20 feet to the east so that this weigh station can be accommodated. In order to do that some of the rip rap needs to be moved to east or out of the way. The Mayor has volunteered the city street department to bring down their backhoe or whatever equipment is required to expand the boat ramp as required. The Mayor has requested this of the park board. After a short discussion among the park board members, it was decided that this is not going to be a problem and that they approve to go ahead and allow the boat ramp to be expanded a little bit to accommodate the weigh station. Overall the discussion with the mayor was very positive and the park board as well as the city of Rock Falls have always had a good rapport in working together and we all plan on that continuing in the future.

President John Sigel then recognized Mr. Roger Colmark CPA from Sterling, Illinois. Roger presented the park district’s annual audit document for fiscal May 1, 2014 through April 30th, 2015. Roger went through the documents fund by fund explaining the revenue and disbursements and the overall financial livelihood of each fund. The park board asked any and all questions that they felt needed to be answered so that they could get a handle on the overall financial condition of the park district. The financial reports were made part of the park board meeting minutes and will be filed with the Illinois Comptroller’s office as required by law.

Director Michael P. Sterba presented copies of the 2015 cost analysis for maintenance of city owned park sites. As you may recall the park board requested that Sterba try to prepare this report to give the board an idea of what it costs the park district to maintain city owned park sites.

Director Michael P. Sterba presented copies of the current park district equipment analysis for the park board's review.

Director Michael P. Sterba presented copies of the current park district vehicle analysis for the park board's review.

Director Michael P. Sterba presented copies of the park district maintenance project list — 5 year plan for the park board's review.

Director Michael P. Sterba presented copies of a check for $3,298.94 from the Tee Baseball League. The check represents the 2015 Tee Baseball League expenses that were reimbursed to the park district for their summer operation. Also included is a list of those expenses for the park board's review.

Director Michael P. Sterba reported that the Rock Falls Chamber of Commerce will host their annual meeting on Thursday, February 25th at the Rock Falls Days Inn. Anyone interested in attending should please let Sterba know so that he may make the appropriate reservations.

Director Michael P. Sterba received a letter from Whiteside County Court Services. Included with the letter was check for $35.00 which represented the Cordell Kiersney restitution payment for the damage done to the Little Red School House.

Director Michael P. Sterba presented his monthly Directors report to the Board.

IPRA also sent us their monthly Meeting Minutes for our review.

The Park District has received a weekly newsletter from the Rock falls Chamber of Commerce for our review.

Commissioner Walker motioned to adjourn the Park Board Meeting. Commissioner Stindt seconded the motion, roll call vote, all ayes, motion carried.

Next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, February 9th, 2016 at 6:00 PM at the Park District Office located at 508 E. 11th Street Rock Falls, Illinois 61071.

Adjournment at 9:00 PM

______

Minutes Submitted by

Michael P. Sterba

Director of Parks & Recreation

______

Date Donald E. Stindt, Secretary

Coloma Township Park District

Board of Commissioners

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