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Minutes of a Meeting of the
<br />North Olmsted Parks and Recreation Commission
<br />May 5, 2008
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<br />Mr. Baxter asked what kind of costs or activity the Schools would be involved in that would have an
<br />impact on the Rec Center. Mr. Lasko said the two major ones are the swim team’s utilization of the
<br />Pool, and the cost that would be involved in relation to that programming, as well as the cost of the
<br />hockey program and the rental of ice time and, if in fact the facility is not here, then the ability to
<br />obtain ice time at another facility including the transportation costs and things such as that. There may
<br />be some incidental costs involved in terms of the varsity baseball and fast pitch softball programs
<br />which also use City facilities, but the two biggest ones that come up first and foremost are the
<br />swimming and the hockey. Ms. Drenski said the Rec does not charge the hockey team for their
<br />practice ice. When teams go to Brooklyn, they get charged for their practice ice and game ice. The
<br />Rec just charges the gate for game ice here. The practice ice would be later or earlier, and there
<br />would be a much higher cost to skate. The Swim Team is just charged a lifeguard fee here, not the
<br />Pool rental fee that we charge other user groups, so they would have to pay the hourly Pool rate,
<br />whatever that may be at the YMCA and, again, the timing available to them would not be that
<br />convenient. Mr. Lasko said that, for purposes of the meeting that was held last Monday, Tim Karras
<br />is the Athletic Director and had some estimates of what he thought it might be, and he was going to
<br />try to clarify that and provide that to Dr. Dubski so that she might have better numbers for discussion
<br />th
<br />purposes at the meeting on the 14. In response to Mr. Baxter’s question, those would be the two
<br />most expensive programming aspects and cost centers, so to speak.
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<br />Mr. Dailey said that there would actually be a cost savings to the Schools if there would be no reason
<br />to keep the Schools open in the evenings or weekends for men’s basketball, etc. Mr. Lasko said that
<br />he did not have the answer to this, but, for example, the men’s basketball league, is that a City
<br />sponsored Rec league? Mr. Dailey said it was. Mr. Madsen gets the blame or the credit for raising
<br />the issue, but his concern was that, not knowing, and we keep coming back to the realm of the
<br />unknown, not knowing, for example, what the programming aspects might be, he thought that was a
<br />big concern. The question about what are we hearing in the community: one of the issues that seems
<br />to come up on a reoccurring basis is what will the programming aspects be of what the YMCA will be
<br />offering, because Mr. Madsen made the comment that, if the Y does not offer a program or would not
<br />be in a position to offer a program such as what is currently being provided in terms of a men’s
<br />basketball program, is there the potential that the organized group that conducts and runs the men’s
<br />basketball league in its current format…what Mr. Madsen or Mr. Karras was saying is if there is
<br />another individual out there that has been actively involved in the men’s basketball program for so
<br />many number of years and then takes it upon himself to say that we’re going to establish our own
<br />men’s basketball program and then comes knocking on the Schools’ door, can we rent your facility,
<br />then that is something that could potentially happen. Mr. Lasko thought it was brought up more from
<br />the standpoint that there could be a domino effect of, depending upon what the programming is that
<br />the Y offers, is there the potential that there could be, for lack of a better word, this type of
<br />“splintering” starting to occur that people would be looking for other program options. Mr. Dailey
<br />said that there is adult volleyball, Hot Stove, and, perhaps a men’s basketball league to use our
<br />facilities: it’s a good question. Mr. Baxter said that he knows for sure that the Westlake Y has a
<br />men’s basketball league which they run, so he would assume that if there was interest here, they would
<br />run the same, one or two nights – not all year long – but certainly during the basketball season. Mr.
<br />Lasko agreed. He said he’s not a marketing person but he’s learned enough to be dangerous and, if
<br />you’re coming into a new market, which the Y would be, you’re going to ask what has been most
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