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Minutes of a Meeting of the North Olmsted Parks and Recreation Commission September 12, 2005 NOHC Letter Attached find a letter from the North Olmsted Hockey Club dated September 7, 2005 enclosing a check in the amount of $4,200 towards the repair of a compressor. Currently there are eight compressors that are up and running. Two may be turned off to allow for repairs. This might have been the second time since the Commissioner has been working at the Rec that all eight compressors have actually worked. They are all original pieces of equipment. Mr. Limpert said that, in his experience with heavy duty equipment, as long as parts are available….Mr. Stein said they are economical. They don’t waste any energy running to zero degrees. They are still there. Why replace them? Ms. Jones noted that the second paragraph of the letter indicates the Hockey Club have an outside firm inspect the compressors, evaluate them, and give their recommendations at the Hockey Club’s expense. Mr. DiSalvo and Mr. Stein concurred that the inspections are already made on a monthly basis and further inspections would not be needed. Locker room accommodations were noted by Ms. Jones; Mr. Kelley said that when he walked in the building this evening, the kids were practicing hockey, and the other ones out in the lobby because there was no room in the locker room. The size of the girls’ locker room also leaves much to be desired. Ms. Jones asked if there was enough money to address the matter. Mr. DiSalvo noted to Mr. Limpert that the locker room situation must be a part of the Master Plan because there is nothing that can be done about it at the present time because the rooms are cement blocks/cells. It is being addressed, but not in the immediate future. Mr. Limpert said that what is being done now is to have a comprehensive recreation plan and put the funding together to do it. We have received a number of proposals, four of which are being considered. One company said the best plan would be to knock down and start over; another had ideas for the present Rec Center; right now the Rec is looking very favorably at a consulting firm that is familiar with the local area and has done some other work for us and have them put together a plan as to what the Rec Department should try to do first as we move forward with primarily the Rec Center and the three nature parks. Mr. Baxter endorsed that the Hockey Club is contributing something, as the High School is going to put the fence up, but if there is city property, why can’t the city fund things instead of taking money from organizations to fix the compressors. That’s not the way it should be done. Isn’t the way to run the Rec Center for the City to fund what it needs to fund, and if they get some money from some different associations fine, but not to look to them to rely on to keep the place operating because then you’re beholding to them. The City should be doing these things. Mr. Limpert said that one of the problems the Rec Center has is that the costs are very heavily labor/employee oriented. The number one cost is the cost associated with labor, whether it be wages, health care, benefits that go in that area. The number two cost has to do with debt service and debt repayment and, by the time you get down to what’s left to actually spend, the pickings are slim. It’s very difficult to make ends meet. With attrition, it’s frustrating that services can’t be met, and then the debt service – for example, there is a .7 mil continuous operating levy for Page 11