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07-16-2012 Minutes MINUTES OF THE OCOEE PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING HELD ON July 16 . 2012 CALL TO ORDER The meeting came to order at 6:12 pm. in the meeting room at the Parks & Recreation Administrative Office, 125 North Lakeshore Drive, Ocoee, FL 34761. The roll was called. PRESENT: Chairman Heard, Vice -Chair Baxter, Members Barber, Gleason, & McKey, Parks and Recreation Director Jeff Hayes, Ex- Officio Member Rosemary Wilsen and Sr. Administrative Assistant Dottie Godek. ABSENT: Member Applegate (excused), Member Rainer (excused) and Member Watring (excused). GUESTS: None A. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Member Mckey made a motion to accept the minutes from the May 21 2013 meeting as written and Member Barber seconded. The motion passed unanimously. B. WITHERS MAGUIRE HOUSE Parks and Recreation Director Jeff Hayes (Director Hayes) said some exciting things happening with Withers- Maguire house. He explained that the house had previously been run as a museum under the auspices of the Ocoee Historical Society which has disbanded. The city wants to repurpose the house & is reviewing some of the options of what could be done with the house. The city commission at a previous meeting has directed the Parks & Recreation department to manage and operate the house so we have been working internally with other city staff (engineering department, specifically Al Butler) to begin planning for the repurposing of the house. There was a group of citizens trying to organize & become involved with the house (Friends of Ocoee History Preservation or Historical Preservation). They were hoping to keep the house as a museum and keep it intact and operate it as it had been however the Parks & Recreation Department is moving forward with repurposing. Al Butler will be presenting a plan to the commission tomorrow evening on how the house will be operated & managed. Right now we are looking to get the public more involved with the use of the house through allowing rentals such as small business meetings, bridal and or baby showers and repurposing a couple of the rooms for bride and groom preparation. And there is also the possibility of using the grounds and gazebo as a wedding venue. He said that there will be some aspects of the house retained as a museum, perhaps more of a self guided tour with pictures on the walls and maybe set up an upstairs room as a parlor or perhaps a bedroom set in the late 1800's. 1 Director Hayes said that we will be looking forward to the city commission feedback on if we are moving in the right direction. It has taken a while to get to this point and we were trying to work with the "Friends" group but their main focus has been on operating the house as a museum themselves. He hopes that at the September meeting he will have a more complete presentation and concepts for how the house is going to be utilized by the community. Director Hayes explained that ultimately we are looking to generate money for the city with the repurposing of the house and have more people visit the house. It was also mentioned that a process had been put in place that people can put in a claim for items that have been donated to the house and that process will end in August. Then the commission will make a determination on claims and also on the remaining artifacts. The board then had a general discussion of the house. Director Hayes said that in conjunction with the repurposing of the house, the city commission has been looking at doing something different with the Community Center. They want to create a venue that will be competitive with other community event centers in the area so part of the presentation at the city commission meeting will be about the reconstruction of the facility. This facility will ultimately go away to be replaced with a building that holds 200 people for a sit -down event. It will be multi- functional with a large meeting room that will have the ability to be divided into smaller ones. In talking to a number of event planners /caterers, they are very excited and are sure that the facility will get quite a bit of use. For comparison, Director Hayes asked if anyone had seen the facility at Lake Mary and while the new facility won't be on that scale, it will be somewhere between the Lake Mary facility and Tanner Hall. The current Community Center can hold up to 120 and weddings appear to be on the 150 - 200 scale currently. We are excited about the possibility and are looking forward to the presentation tomorrow evening. Ex- Officio Member Rosemary Wilsen added that this is in the planning stages. She said that this could make "downtown" more of a downtown than we have. The commissioners would like feedback from the citizens as to what they want. Director Hayes explained the parking situation; the various city lots and their capacity. Member Barber asked if an auditorium had been mentioned. Director Hayes explained how the room could be divided off for various functions but there was no plans for a stage in the building as it would take up too much floor space. Ex- Officio Member Rosemary Wilsen had a picture of the proposed building on her IPAD and Director Hayes passed out the conceptual plan so the board could see what the proposed building might look like. There was a general discussion by the board about the various possibilities for the new building. C. PARK LIGHTS & SIGN UPDATE Director Hayes said he looked at the Vignetti tennis court signs and said that the signage was conflicting. He has put a request in to Public Works to have corrected signs installed saying that the lights will go off at 10:30 PM. The lights at Tiger Minor have the correct times; the lights go off at 10:00 PM. Member McKey asked about the basketball court lights at Tiger Minor and Director Hayes said that the lights went off at 10:00 PM as well. Chairman Heard mentioned that Tiger Minor is becoming very busy and it's hard to get through to the park. Member McKey asked how often the park patrol went through and Director Hayes said that they try to get through the parks 2 or 3 times a day. There was a discussion regarding the limited parking on the approach to the park. 2 D. PARK ORDINANCE UPDATE Director Hayes said that there really wasn't anything to update. Because of the addition of the Withers Maguire house & new community center they are reviewing the section in regard to the use of alcohol at the functions to be sure that we will have the correct language in the ordinance. Also, with the changeover of the city attorneys, the new attorney has had several other priorities come up. Director Hayes said he hopes to have it updated soon but does not have a specific date as yet. Member McKey said it seemed to be a consensus of the board that they would like to see the update as soon as possible. Director Hayes said that he is also working on the Rogers Property. There is an interest on behalf of the city commission to move forward with putting together the conceptual plans for that property for possibly the softball complex so that has also added to the mix. E. FOUNDERS DAY UPDATE Director Hayes handed out the flyers for this year's Founders Day. He went through the events that are planned and said that it is pretty much the same as it has been. Chairman Heard asked about the poker run and it was mentioned that it is an Ocoee Police Department sponsored event raising money for Holiday Toys for Kids in Need. Member Gleason asked where the money for Founder's Day came from. Director Hayes said that it is a city budgeted item. While the event is budgeted in Parks & Recreation, the committee does a great deal of fundraising. The Founders Day committee is made up of various city department representatives; Commissioner Rusty Johnson is the representative from the city commission and Martha Lopez - Anderson who is in charge of the marketplace. The board then had a discussion regarding this year's entertainers and the event in general. Chairman Heard asked what the board was going to do at this year's Founders Day. She said that last year the Parks & Recreation Advisory Board members volunteered to work at the event but they felt that they were not utilized as well as they could have been. She explained what had happened at last year's event and said that while they didn't mind volunteering, they felt that their time was being wasted. Director Hayes explained that the supervisor should have reassigned the staff to other areas that may have needed assistance. Chairman Heard also requested that the volunteers be provided with parking passes. F. PARKS & RECREATION BOOTH AT FOUNDERS DAY Chairman Heard asked if there were there other ideas or did the board want to keep the art booth. Member Barber said that if the board has an event, more help from the board members will be needed. Member Barber said we talked about the art booth but that we haven't decided what to do with the supplies if it is decided not to do the art booth. Chairman Heard said instead offering painting perhaps we can offer a craft. Member Barber repeated that we will need more board members to man the event whatever the board does. Chairman Heard asked the hours and it was mentioned setup will be at 9 and the booth opens at 10 am and usually lasts until 4 pm. Member Barber said that if it's going to be done under the pavilion there is limited space to work. 3 Chairman Heard said that she can be here from 10 to 4 and perhaps one of her daughters as well. Chairman Heard & Member Barber said that they will be there all day. Member Barber said if the board is not doing art booth it will need to decide what to do with the paint. Director Hayes said that if paint had been purchased with city funds it can not be given away. There was a general discussion about picking crafts and how many to order and what else can be done with the board money. Member Barber made motion that this year the board will do a craft booth instead of an art booth for Founder's Day with spending for supplies not to exceed $300.00. Seconded by Member McKey. The motion passed unanimously. Member Barber made a motion to give remaining art supplies to the Parks & Recreation before & after school care program. Member McKey seconded the motion. Motion was passed unanimously. Member McKey made a motion to use balance of funds for the Ocoee Haunted House or various events. Member Barber seconded the motion. Motion was passed unanimously. SET NEXT AGENDA The advisory board set the following agenda for the September 17 2012 meeting: A) Haunted House B) Park Ordinance C) Founders Day Crafts D) Signage Update E) Withers Maguire House Tour F) Christmas Light Judging & Parade QUESTIONS /COMMENTS: ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 7:29 pm. 1 / 6106- aglA Chairman Heard administrative Asst. Dottie Godek 4