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Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting March 7, 2005 going back to earlier discussions on behalf of this Commission in terms of one of the long-range components that the Commission has talked about that would need to be explored, is whether or not the recreation facilities provided by the City of North Olmsted should encompass a weight- training facility. Mr. DiSalvo agreed that that is a potential overlap. Mr. Stanic said that the gym in the Middle School being considered for renovation would be an overlap. Another one is the common theme that both entities need improved locker rooms. Mr. Kelley said that girls do play hockey; the size of the girls’ locker room in North Olmsted Rec Center is very small. (Overlapping conversation). Mr. DiSalvo said that, operationally, if there was a fitness center at the present Rec Center, he doubted that it could be supported. It takes a lot more money than everyone thinks to have a fitness center. If the Rec has cardio and weights, there must be staff on the floor to monitor everyone. An average commercial treadmill is between $5,000 and $7,000 that need to be replaced about every two years. They need to be maintained on a weekly basis. Take off the covers, vacuuming; there is no way the Rec has the staff to fund this operationally. Speaking from past experience, it’s a lot of money. Unless it’s based on annual dues (not monthly) there is no way it can be afforded. There was an observation from the school board that, to take the next step in the athletic program, the weight training facility is needed for boys and girls. Dr. Stanic visited Solon and Mentor, both top-shelf facilities. He would like to have the North Olmsted coaches supervise a fitness center. Someone with the expertise to run it would be used so that every member of the community could use it. They show up, their card’s there, they punch their card in, they know exactly what to do and how to do it, and there is someone there that can instruct. Mr. Miller said that it seems more practical to have it in the school facilities since the interest would be in the students as well as the community. However, there is proof of need to envision a new area for gymnastics because the ceiling is too low. These are some of the things that need to be coordinated. If weight training is in the schools’ facilities, and the Rec Center is looking at gymnastics, there would be a trade off for the best use of space available. Do the economy to scale and do it right. Mr. Jesse said that what he is hearing is the ability to work together for some common good, but he thought that if the schools would be able to help with the hockey and swimming issues and the Rec Center could help with the weight training/fitness center need, there’s another half of the component: that is the operating cost of the operating agreement. It would be essential that there be a Memorandum of Understanding between the schools and the city and say yes, we’ll commit to you for 10 or 15 years of hockey or swimming or whatever and help you build the facility. What can happen is we’ll continue to have the need to have the hockey programs and swimming programs. It would be nice if they were are base of income for the facility and then the community would be swimming or hockey people. However, as it stands now, the fee income on the hockey and swimming side to the schools is very limited, and the City does contribute something to the schools for their facilities, but they also use our Park facilities for their varsity baseball. So we need to come to some long-term commitment as to who is going to do what and who is going to be using what. That will help sell the idea of the overall construction of the matter. Page 11