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Minutes of a Meeting of The North Olmsted Parks and Recreation Commission February 6, 2006 Page Three North Olmsted, the City is very generous in allowing non-residents to use the facility and the parks. Many of the men’s and women’s leagues are more than half non-residents. When the City talks about no free time to use the parks, it’s because they are being used by teams. Again, maybe they’re being made up of residents; or there may not be very adequate teams if it’s just a team made up of residents such as a firemen’s team. That’s a decision that should be looked at closely as well: whether or not how many residents and non-residents can use the facilities. Probably, the Commissioner continued, the aquatics facilities are mostly used by residents rather than non-residents; he knows the ice rink, gymnastics and tennis consistent of non-residents in the majority because the other Rec facilities do not offer those specific programs. This must be looked at carefully: will the Rec stay as is (if the Rec wants to pull in the residents, it must offer more than the four main programs it has right now). This is what will be found out ongoing through the Rec Master Plan. Mr. Terbrack said that anything else the Commission could offer at this point would be appreciated. Ms. Jones said that she e-mailed John Dailey that she forgot about the meeting and apologized; Mr. Terbrack said that was fine; the City is looking for any ideas. Again, non-residents are very important; everything must be observed in the duration of the Plan. Mr. Baxter said that there may be a better program by drawing in non-residents, or there may be a workable program that better serves residents by excluding non-residents; look both ways. Mr. Terbrack said that the Commissioner mentioned at one point that when there is a swim program running two or three people at the pool, the cost of running the pool is exceeding the revenue. It tends to be a couple of residents, and they feel like the pool is theirs, yet for the City it is a financial bloodbath. There could be more people in the pool (not that it should be crowded), but at least if there should be more revenue coming in for the hours when a lifeguard must be paid. Ms. Jones stated that she noted that declining school enrollment is a current issue. She wondered if the school enrollment is really declining because she was at the pool today, and there were about 400 seniors and about 400 juniors. Mr. Lasko addressed her question by stating that the enrollment over the past two years has gone up by about 25 students in each year. Overall enrollment is about 4600 to 4650 students. Five years ago there were about 5000 students in the District; it dropped down to a low of about 4500, 4550, and now it’s back up around 4600 to 4650 students. Actually, there is an incremental growth that is occurring. Certainly, it’s stabilizing, and nominally going back up again. Ms. Jones noted that this year’s class is 410; next year’s class is 400; and then, the Middle School is 402. There are many of North Olmsted residents that grew up here and went to school here. Mr. Lasko said that, if anything, the School District is adding students, not losing them. Mr. Terbrack said he thought the members at the meeting got the impression that there are some lower grades where there is some decline, but it wasn’t major, was it? Mr. Lasko said, no, that there is a perception in the general public that the enrollment in the North Olmsted Schools continues to decline, and that is not the case, as just mentioned. There was an article in the Plain Dealer about three weeks ago that compared and contrasted enrollments in districts all through the Northeastern Ohio Counties, and it Page 3