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Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting March 7, 2005 Mr. Kelley said that, under new business, a subcommittee will be set up for the facilities in North Olmsted Rec Center along with the School Board, and the Rec will make sure the schools get copies as soon as possible. The final date for this will be June 1, 2005. Mr. DiSalvo asked if Ms. Wenger had anything to say. Ms. Wenger said that her comments would be a repetition of what she heard, but she feels that the schools have done a great job; they had the architect put together a plan. They itemized costs and set priorities; now it is incumbent on the Rec Center to do the same. Mr. Miller asked Ms. Wenger if there was anything in the plan that pertained to the Parks and Recreational needs in the City of North Olmsted. She replied that there was a focus towards maintaining what the City has now; new facilities would not be considered because the City can hardly maintain what it has now. Another point is that if the City does not offer what other communities are offering by making improvements, as offered by many citizens, soon there will be nothing to offer. She said that that approach will not work any more; the City must do a little more than band aid the Rec Center. North Olmsted cannot be the only city that is encountering these difficulties. Planning and research can be done. Mr. Matson said that both the schools and the City need to pull back together and make compromises. Mr. Miller said that the schools put the plan together very well – there is creative financing, it was energized, and brought people in who would not otherwise. The City is a little limited on how creative we can get in financing. For example, the advertising on the walls of the skate facility – the dasher boards – is a new item. Typically, the City has not allowed that, but it is so cash- strapped, and when that idea came along by this Commission, the Mayor and Council approved it. There will be approximately $40,000 a year generated as a result. Mr. Miller asked Mr. Matson’s thoughts as to what he saw regarding creative financing. Mr. Matson replied that the schools went to the voters some years back and got the community to approve a permanent improvement levy, to be able to restrict that money into actual bricks and mortars with it. That has been a Godsend to the schools. For example, the Board was able to bring back Chesnut for about $600,000 vs. buying the facility, which would have been $6 or $7 million. He continued by saying that one of the issues facing the Rec Center is that most of the money has been going back into operations, and it must be put back into the facility, which has been showing its age. There must be a source of revenue, similar to the schools’ permanent improvement levy because, without that, the schools could not have made many improvements. Most of the Rec Center’s needs are the same types of things that no one sees: the pumps, the compressors. No one sees the problems under ground here. The same thing happened with the schools with the heating system. The schools have been able to address those problems, and now the schools will be able to address cosmetics: carpeting, doors, etc. Mr. Matson said that that is one of the things that the Rec Center must look at in trying to secure a source of revenue. Creative financing is fine, but it’s only nickels and dimes that come in that make people feel good, e.g., the track was a relatively inexpensive facility or improvement, but it was good that the business community, to a small extent, and the resident community, to a larger extent, were involved. The hard work of the residents put it together. Anything as massive as what is needed at the Rec Center must be addressed, because the business community will not come through with the monies needed; only for small projects. Page 12