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Minutes of a Meeting of The North Olmsted Parks and Recreation Commission August 1, 2005 Mr. Limpert said that on June 1, 2005, he became the City’s Safety Director. He continued by saying that Tim Carras was good enough to give the City a call and express an interest in getting a home run fence put in on what is now Diamond No. 1 (The old Diamond No. 3). The Recreation Commissioner, Chris Wetmore, Tim Carras and Duane Limpert went to the Park to inspect the ball field site. One of the concerns expressed to Tim (Carras) was that it must be a temporary fence because the same space is used for Homecoming Midway and the rides in August. That is a 50 some year tradition. That same space is used for the NOSO Cup in July, as well as Cub Scout softball practices. So the fence must be temporary. Another question came up: if it is a temporary fence, who will be responsible for putting it up, taking it down and storing it every year as the season progresses. The other question was cost, and Tim (Carras) was kind enough to say that the schools would more than likely pick up the majority of the cost for the purchase of it. At that time the Recreation Department suggested to him that the first step would be to come before the Recreation Commission and state what you want done. There are some challenges. There is more going on in the City than just one group, and the City must multi-task the real estate at that Park. Mr. Limpert then invited Mr. Carras to start his presentation. Mr. Carras began be stating that, as mentioned above by Mr. Limpert, there was a meeting at the Park, and the High School Athletic Department would like to install a fence there to make the Ball Diamond not only a better facility for the High School but a better facility for the people of North Olmsted. Currently, Mr. Carras believes that they are the only diamond in the league that does not have a fence there and, to him, it’s a safety factor (whether we play there or whether any North Olmsted resident plays there). Many of you may have or may have not been to games, but Mr. Carras has seen games where the ball has been hit out to the road. He is of the opinion that if there will be a diamond, there should be a first-rate one, and right now we don’t. Last year, several games were cancelled at the end of the season for safety reasons. Ted (DiSalvo), Chris (Wetmore) and Tim (Carras) worked out a plan over the last few years of instituting what was felt was a better situation for not only the High School but for all the residents of North Olmsted in revamping some of the diamonds. Some of it has been done; we still have some way to go. The High School is more than willing to put up the majority of the money for this. Mr. Carras has also budgeted to have the red diamond dust put down on the ball fields to make the facility a better facility, again not only for the High School but for all the residents of North Olmsted. There’s a half-rate diamond there now; we’d like to make it a first-rate one and are more than willing to put the money forward. Mr. Carras talked to Joe Highland, the School’s Building and Grounds person, and he said that he does have the money available to do this; Mr. Carras also has some money in the school budget, so we (the high school) would like to upgrade the facility. Mr. Carras did not see a lot of problems with this proposal; he had two estimates that he received from Elyria Fence and Anchor Construction in Eastlake which has done some work for the schools. It will be a temporary fence. In no way do the schools want to impede anything that happens in the summer. Mr. Carras stated that he has been the Athletic Director for seven years and is well aware of the tradition of the North Olmsted Homecoming, and the schools are a big Page 2