Horner Park Advisory Council Meeting Minutes
June 5, 2017
In attendance:
- Peter Schlossman, President
- John O’Connell
- Kevin Anderson, Co-Treasurer
- Carol Maher
- Alan Mueller, RMIA
- Amy Jahnke, Co-Secretary
- John Friedmann
Meeting called to order 7:07pm
Minutes from May meeting are approved.
Treasurer’s Report
Here are the account balances from QuickBooks as of 5/31/2017:
MB checking 7,371.84
MB savings 44,741.27
PayPal 15,160.17
total 67,273.28
The MB totals are not reconciled with online accounts because Kevin no longer has a login to get the statements. PayPal reconciles.
- Concern was raised about possible repayment of DFA funds if dog park isn’t built. Per Peter, the DFA is tracking all donations and could organize repayments if needed.
- Lisa has resigned from the treasurer position. Diane Sutliff has offered to be treasurer instead of secretary, and to start to work on categorizing all transactions. Discussion of filling co-secretary / co-treasurer position from John O’Connell.
- Motion passes to nominate Diane Sutliff as co-treasurer, pending her official acceptance.
FARMERS MARKET
• Great turnout, lots of people for the first market!
• About 50 people came out for free yoga from McFetridge, they were very happy with this turnout
CONCERT COMMITTEE
- First show is Friday night (bluegrass), featuring Sunnyside Up
- Most money has been collected, still waiting on about 30 donors to pay up
- Budget is close to breaking even
- John O. will think about an option for not mailing programs to sponsors if they opt out, as Amy expressed concern with extra paper and mailing costs
HORNERFEST
- Saturday July 15: River tours, 20 people/tour. July 1 the signup sheet will go live.
- Saturday: 11am Theatre Hikes
- 3pm: Kids activities, with Junior Ninja Warriors; Moonwalk, art project, Bateman’s chess tournament, pizza eating contest, less organized games (volleyball net, bean bags)
- Tyco drummers: 3:30-5:30, then Salsa Chicago Mambo AL-stars
- Food service vendors and small beer tent from 3-9pm (Irving Park Brewery)
- 8:45-10:15, Toy Story movie
Horner BrewFest
- Taking place on Friday, July 14
- 11 breweries are almost committed, looking for 4 more. Event will take place from 6pm-10pm. John F. is working on permits and insurance. The festival will take place in the tennis courts on Montrose. Bumpus will play for a couple hours. Discussion about taking down nets in the tennis court for this event.
- Security is handled via the Park District
- BrownPaperTickets: John has HPAC account; ticket prices are $40 regular, $50 day of, discounted for volunteers ($30)
- Discussion to work with Kevin A. on setting up a PayPal reader for day of sales
- Deb Groh is concerned about timing with permits
- Looking to recruit at least 30 volunteers, 2h of time each (or 60 people with 1h each); need people from 5p-11p. Discussion of volunteer duties.
- Recommendation to talk to DFA about a volunteer organization tool, special code to enter for discounted tickets
- Need Deb’s permission to publicize. The committee has a plan to do this; John is working on a budget.
DOG FRIENDLY AREA
- Final plan received from Christy Webber, sent to Park District for their approval
- DFA Is making the plan public now
- DFA would like to thank Christy Webber Landscaping for their help and support with this concept design
- DFA is selling car magnets for $5 each
- Photos for dog calendar are being solicited
- Online auction will happen in the fall
- Fundraising will be stepped up once the design is approved
- Brown paper tickets amount for $505.00 has been received from the Doggie Easter Egg Hunt
PARK BRIEFS
Horner Park
- Pavement letter of concern received by Park District
- Possibility of sod/ turf replacement
- Maybe the Farmers Market can move to the east side of the service drive or think of an alternate area next year to alleviate the stress on the grass?
- Pipes are being flushed to deal with lead issue, which is why they are continually running. Maybe a statement should be placed somewhere in the park about the lead findings?
- Art room air conditioning funding: There is a request for $1238 + tax and shipping from HPAC to replace the current a/c units. This led to a discussion about categorizing finances and seeing where the money we have is coming from/going. The status of the current a/c units is an open question. There is currently a study for the feasibility of building-wide a/c, and given the current treasurer transition HPAC needs to evaluate the general fund and spending priorities before allocating more funds.
- WIFI: There was Wifi in the building for a short period of time in the last year, and it’s no longer there. We are currently awaiting management approval for wifi.
- STAFF: Steve Bronkema’s last day is Friday; he’s moving to another park. Juliana Escutia is replacing him. Horner Park is currently #9 for most enrolled summer programs in the city; most of the top ones have pools. Horner is currently #15 for most enrollments for spring session programs.
- Weekend of June 8-10, 2018 is what the breast cancer walk is looking at for next year• Two other dead trees need to be addressed near the playground
- No hot fire coal barrels are located south of the comfort station
Ravenswood Manor Park
- Mulch will be delivered to areas with no grass, hoping to have this in before the first concert. John O. isn’t happy about not getting grass seed down and wants to see this addressed next fall.
- Port-a-Potty will be delivered on Friday morning
- New bench has been installed
- Redoing water mains on Manor, and a fire hydrant has been put at the entrance, for ease of watering in the future
- Haven’t heard anything about tree replacement
Buffalo Park
- Haven’t heard anything about a replacement for the dead tree.
- Susanne Davenport is planning on getting planters done by Father’s Day, doing other maintenance as necessary
Jacob Park
No report; would like to try and get a new photo for the website.
Sunken Gardens
No report; no trash barrel or cart there at the moment.
Website
No report
Stewardship
- It’s Your Park Day, June 17: Park Foundation version of Earth Day; need to move the pile of mulch.
Other Items - FOTP Annual Luncheon & PAC Conference
- On the Table for the Community Trust, mention of John F.’s involvement in this event
Meeting adjourned 8:35pm
