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Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting February 7, 2005 when the majority of the property tax dollars go to the schools – 83% - and when they line up for an additional levy for their improvements, they are really a competitor as far as tax dollars. Mr. Jesse said that it would be very important to find out from the citizens what they want in the way of a rec complex, and a well-engineered study is needed to determine this. It was found that ten percent of a city actually uses the rec facilities on a regular basis. That would mean that about 4,000 people actually use the facility regularly. What do those 4,000 people want? Do they want tennis, or additional hockey or basketball or a fitness center? Whatever it is, the way to approach it would be to say that the Rec has a great plan to improve what the City has. The City could work off this plan and add another departmental facility or whatever people so desire, put it together as a package with the schools and say, this is where the Rec Complex wants to go. One of the things that happened with the schools (as what happened at the Rec) is that they haven’t placed a brick for 18 years. When there is no improvements for 18 years, there is a lot of catching up to do. In the thirty years since the Rec Complex has been built, there have been some repairs but no substantial improvement. The City has talked about it with the Schools. It’s a good plan; Tom (Stein) has had it on the shelf for years, but the Rec Center must make sure that people want to pay for it. Mr. DiSalvo said that another issue is that there is 60% non-resident usage of the facility, so that the non-residents cannot be surveyed. So, the Rec Center is fixed on what North Olmsted wants and will improve what is in place. Something must be done this year. Mr. Jesse said that the Rec Center has been the outside provider for years for non-resident people. Some of the fees have reflected that, and a lot of them have not. There being no other input on this subject from the Commission, the Commissioner turned the floor over to the visitors. VISITORS’ OPPORTUNITY TO ADDRESS COMMISSION One of the tennis representatives reported that they have waited so long for funding that by the time the funding would get through would mean another five years’ time, which does not help them now. Their understanding was that funding for the outside courts could take another year or two to be put there, but at least they would be looking at a smaller time frame. On that basis, and after meeting with two consulting firms that build tennis courts, the tennis people were told it would be possible to start one or two tennis courts outside and then expand on that at a later date as funding became available. The cost would be about $45,000 for one court. This was not a price to enclose it once it’s built. Mr. Gerrity said that the problem is that everyone will have to wait. He said that a lot of people do not realize what the Rec Center has to offer. He said that it would help to have a sign out front; Mr. Stein said that the wind blew it down, and the sign ordinance problems came about; the sign was never replaced. Mr. Gerrity said that it’s a question of biting the bullet and working with the schools; he does not believe they have a good long-range plan, since in the past they worked the present elementary schools 1,2,3 and then Page 5