Horner Park Advisory Council
Meeting Minutes
Larry Brown, as President, presiding, called the meeting to order at 7:05 PM. Peter Schlossman acted as Secretary for this meeting. See roster below for attendance.
Previous Minutes: The minutes of the December 3, 2007 and January 7, 2008 meeting were approved with revisions.
Treasurer’s Report: T. Kosmider stated that HPAC received $1,500 from the Illinois State Historic Preservation Agency for maintaining the Horner monument. J. Lyman reported that there is $4,649.41 in checking and $33,418.23 in savings, and distributed a bank statement to that effect. One check was voided and rewritten for the Mayflies performance at the concert series. Another check to Red Peace was lost and will have to be voided. A check to Super Stolie is still outstanding and will need to be voided and rewritten. There is a $32 charge for stop payments on the checks which will be deducted from the amount of each rewritten check. J. Lyman will fill out a 1096 form for Susie Novak. The pro scout baseball clinic income is all paid. At this time HPAC has cleared $946 on $3,445 of income.
Announcements:
Concert Committee: The committee is considering having more shows at Horner Park, and having more advertising and promotion for the events. Dates for the shows must be coordinated with Tom McManamon’s scheduled events. May 1 is the cutoff for ads in the concert program. The first concert is slated for June 1. A 4th of July concert in conjunction with RMIA is being considered. Manor Bash may not be done this year because participation and turnout has been low. The committee had an operating surplus of $2,700 last year.
Garden Committee: The grasses in front of the fieldhouse are scheduled to be cut by CPD in the spring. 3/29/08 is the preferred date. Friends of the Parks Earth Team will be contacted regarding participation. Susie requested to meet with Tom and Kitty regarding her employment arrangements. L. Brown stated that Susie’s labor benefits the parks within HPCA’s jurisdiction.
Web Site: A PayPal account should be set up for online payments for events. T. Kosmider, J. Lyman and M. Holm to work on that. Donations could also be done this way.
Volunteer Committee: No report.
Park Briefs:
Horner Park: The pro scout baseball clinic was a success. 75 kids signed up and 73 attended the event. L. Brown congratulated T. McManamon for a great job. T. Kosmider also did a great job managing registrations. Press and other public relations should be followed up on. Future events may benefit from better timing of notices (this year information was sent at holiday time) and offering on-line registrations through a PayPal account would also be a benefit. Given the enthusiasm over the event, some felt that having another clinic in the summer may be worthwhile. Dan Puente, one of the scouts, returned his check for payment to help at the clinic. Thank you’s should be sent to him and all the scouts, coaches and sponsors that instructed at the event.
The Daddy/Daughter Dance is this Friday Feb. 8. A rowing competition will be held Feb 16. The Doggie Easter Egg Hunt is Mar. 22.
HPBA Little League registration was last week. An ad book will be used for fundraising in lieu of chocolate sales.
The little fieldhouse is nearly complete. Toilet partitions have not been installed yet. Parking lot work is supposed to be completed in the spring. First floor toilet rooms in the main fieldhouse are complete.
Ravenswood Manor Park: The plexiglas for the kiosk will be purchased by HPAC and Kitty will have CPD crews install it. L. Brown will ask Diane Sutliff regarding the landscape plans for the parkways along the Manor Dr. and Francisco side of the park.
Jacob Park: No report.
Buffalo Park: The matching funds that CPD contributes to the $40,000 raised by HPAC and Alderman Mell’s office will be in the form of services provided by CPD for design and construction management, not labor or material.
Sunken Garden Park: No report.
Other business: The bylaws updates from the 12/17/07 Executive Committee meeting need to be compiled so a follow up ExCom meeting can be held to finish the work. Timing of HPAC elections should be reconsidered to synchronize with all advisory councils in the Park system. HPAC to send bylaws updates to Kitty for her to review.
K. Anderson contacted people regarding placement of a new flagpole and Michael Ceriale memorial. K. Anderson asked whether brick naming would be an acceptable method of fundraising. Kitty will investigate with CPD.
A Friends of the Parks seed grant will be applied for. L. Brown and Tom McManamon will sign and send it in. The grant is restricted for the purpose for which its applied for.
The Ravenswood Manor Garden Club raised a concern that CPD is now charging fees for the use of the fieldhouse space. Tom and Kitty explained that there is a policy that all users except for advisory councils pay a nominal fee for all CPD facilities unless they send a letter to CPD asking for the fee to be waived. The fee waiver must be approved by CPD administration. This has not always been enforced in the past which may have caused a false expectation on the Garden Club’s part. L. Brown to answer the Garden Club President directly regarding this issue.
New Business: K. Anderson is compiling a list of allied organizations, and he will repost the job listing for a volunteer Preditor to various schools in the area.
A dedication for the park renovations should be held once the work is finally complete. There is some work that Tom McManomon wants to have completed prior to the event.
The meeting adjourned at 8:55 PM
The next regular HPAC meeting will be held Monday March 3 at 7 PM at Horner Park.
Respectfully submitted: Peter Schlossman
Roster of those in Attendance: Larry Brown, President; John Lyman, Vice President/Co-Treasurer; Thadeus Kosmider, Co-Treasurer; Peter Schlossman, Co-Secretary; Kevin Anderson, Co-Secretary; Tom McManamon, CPD; Kitty Connelly Gale, CPD; John O’Connell, Michael Holm, Alan Mueller, Susie Novak.
