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Minutes of a Meeting of The Parks and Recreation Commission May 2, 2005 Mr. Miller said that, so that there is not a “Springvale II” scenario, he recommended that close tabs be kept on the costs that are incurred. To clarify, many of the repairs that were done at Springvale also benefited parts of the city as to storm water removal, and there were issues as to whether the parts paid for by Service were appropriate and the parts paid for by Springvale were appropriate. Record keeping for the pool is critical because it can become a whole underground pool set of problems. Mr. Jesse said that the city is trying to avoid its version of the money pit, but the point is well taken and will be acted upon. Condition of the North Olmsted Ball Fields Mr. Jesse said that there was a concern about the list of people who had children in the junior varsity program. There was a complaint made to the city that ended up a newspaper report. This related to the condition of the JV field, not the varsity field. There were major changes made last year as far as moving one field to another and changing things around. The city did some things on the cheap – there was some soil was taken from I-480 when ODOT was doing its project there. The soil was brought over for landfill. It created some problems during the spring. The city pulled money out of the clay, and since the city could not finish off with the clay, there were some stone issues and topsoil could not be used in the outfield. This was the choice that was made as far as the budget was concerned, and we are at the budget point now throughout the city, the Rec Center particularly. The choices that we have aren’t pleasant. Do you close the pool for two months vs. having full clay on the field; do you not put up a backstop; do you add sand to the volleyball courts. These are all choices that had to be made in the operating budget, so the city cut the clay in half, and that was part of the outcome. Ms. Jones asked how the problem was solved. The Safety Director replied that it hasn’t been. The schools solved the problems – they have been reduced to playing away games. This field is Diamond #5. The schools had to make a choice and make a decision in order to get their schedule in place, and they made the choice to locate elsewhere. As it turned out, it was probably the best scenario because of the recent snow, and the clay fields are to the point where they will stay wet for two or three days at least. The City had a meeting with Doug Sebring and the athletic director and coach about it. Mr. Jesse reported to them that North Olmsted is not in the same league as the other schools because they have spent a lot of money on their athletic facilities and they have world-class diamonds. Besides, the North Olmsted schools are using a city park, which is all right for city park use or maybe a sandlot game on a Sunday afternoon, but it may not be adequate for athletic needs. Again, if the city wants to provide a field that’s commensurate with the rest of the league, the city will need a financial contribution to make that happen. It’s not the city’s mandate to provide Ohio athletic school fields with the city park. This was understood by the parties involved, at least Doug Sebring of the schools. This was the JV baseball team, not softball. Page 14