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Minutes of a Meeting of the North Olmsted Parks and Recreation Commission April 7, 2008 Mr. Dailey said there were a number of questions sent over today by a resident who is not going to be able to attend on Thursday which every member of Council will be getting. If people have questions that are not going to be able to be at the meeting or questions that will come up after the meeting, contact their members of Council. He encourages all residents to let their feelings known; tell their elected officials what they think. Again, ultimately, it is going to come down to what the voters want anyhow. Mr. Baxter said that much of what can be done could bring the finest facility on the west side of Cleveland if we wanted to spend the money for it. It will be interesting to see what people want: a good rink, or larger tennis courts, and all of that being fine and good. However, the question remains: can we afford it; does it make sense? There won’t be answers to that if it cannot be accommodated financially for whatever is wanted. How you satisfy people or satisfy what they want is going to be interesting. It’s just an observation. Mr. Mahoney said it was a good observation. The answer is that the Administration wants this to pass in November, and they’ve put together a plan for Council to accept, and perhaps ultimately the voters will accept. Because if it’s a plan that doesn’t have what the majority of residents want, then it won’t pass. Mr. Scarl said that it’s basically not what the Administration wants but what surrounding communities have. He was sure ours would be lacking what Westlake or Fairview or Strongsville has, but overall it must be something that would be comparable to the other cities; otherwise, why would you be building it. Mr. Dailey said that there is a breakdown: if someone goes to Westlake and sees that a wife is involved in a yoga class, and a child is involved in a learn to swim, and you actually see what the prices are, even though Westlake might have quite the facility, most of those programs that you go to besides open swim are extra money. We find it to be pretty much the same with all the communities that are around town. The only rec center that is drastically lower than any Mr. Dailey has seen is Middleburg Heights, and he doesn’t know how they do it, but they do an amazing job. Ted belongs to the facility, and his membership is $230 a year. The City of Westlake brings in $500 for a family of four. Middleburg Heights is not quite 20% the City of North Olmsted. Plus, they have a nice tax th base. Just so you know, Mr. Dailey continued, what we will be looking at will be a 1/8 of 1% income tax bump. So, currently, we have 2-1/8%, which for a family making $60,000 a year, you’re looking at maybe $67 a year. We understand that an ice rink is very expensive to build and maintain. Very few publicly funded ice rinks are being built any more, and the ones that were built were built around the same time as each other, and now the ones that are being built are all privately funded. Even the City of Avon is looking to get a private entity to come out and build that, but the City isn’t looking to fund it at this point in time, much like what we saw in the City of Strongsville, which is so successful. Ms. Nader noted that there is no alternate plan, and that there would be escalating maintenance costs just to maintain the Rec Center, so there must be an offset. If there is no new facility, they will pay more. Mr. Mahoney said to follow up, either way, the process the Administration is going to take over the next few weeks and months is a good thing for the City. We all know that the City’s facility Page 11