Horner Park Advisory Council
Meeting Minutes
Larry Brown – President, presiding, called the meeting to order at 7:10 PM. Kevin Anderson acted as Secretary for this meeting. See roster below for attendance.
Previous Minutes: The minutes of the July 2009 meeting were approved.
Treasurer’s Report: T.J. Kosmider reported via email that the account balances are $9,323.53 in checking and $7,445.32 in savings. There is $782.32 in the PayPal account.
Council Business: See below.
Announcements: This year’s Pumpkin Fest will be the weekend of October 17th and 18th. Volleyball is starting up on September 21st. The youth soccer event with the Chicago Fire drew 210 kids, and Horner Park staff did their part to make it a success. The next Park District annual budget hearing will be held in the fieldhouse on September 19th.
Concert Committee: The season is over. The financial targets for the season were met, and all expenses have been covered. A review will be conducted to make the events run smoother next year. Apologies were made for the confusion over the final make-up concert, and kudos given to Jake for his extra efforts that evening. The committee received more compliments this year than last. Overall, Tom McManamon was happy with the season, and had only one complaint.
Garden Committee: Susie Novak is working an average of about 9-10 hrs/week, and will continue through mid-October. The rains this summer did slow down her efforts. She will pickup plants at the city’s GreenCorps plant divide on September 26th. She noted that vagrants have not been as big a problem this year. Larry Brown requested that the native plants in the big fieldhouse front walk garden at the crossing path be cleaned up so that the Park District landscaping crew does not use it as a reason to trim down the rest of the front walk plants.
Web Site: The vegetable gardeners would like to have their own PayPal donation listing to their contributions can be distinguished from those for the existing ornamental gardens.
Volunteer Committee: No report
Park Briefs:
Horner Park: There has been no news on the underbridge connector project.
Tom McManamon reported that the alderman’s office was against the extended use of the ballfield lights for a night softball program, and is no longer a priority project. The 2nd annual in-house men’s softball tournament will be handled by Mike this year.
The Horner Park Baseball Association (HPBA): The season is over and trophies will be given out this weekend. They estimate they are 95% done with converting the bookkeeping over to QuickBooks. Financially they are looking great, netting about $35,000-40,000. They will be making a $10,000 payment to QSP/World’s Finest and expect to incur no more expenses this season other than this weekend. Next season they are considering tiered pricing so the youngest age groups don’t have to pay the same as the older kids.
HPBA Board elections will be in October for one-year terms for all seats, with the exception of Eilleen and Frank Perez, who are serving two-year terms. They have a bylaws committee which will address changes after the new board elections.
Verdell has received certification from Little League and Cooperstown, and is working on recruiting more players, especially 12-year-olds who want to travel to other parks for games. He reports that the new dirt mix they used on SB1 improved drainage. They also clay-bricked home plate and the pitcher’s mound. One goal is to use some of their surplus funds to improve the infields on SB2 and Big 2 next.
Ravenswood Manor Park: No report.
Jacob Park: There has been no news on the CTA property acquisition. There was a complaint about a hole in the fence being used by teenagers. Susie is working on the gardens there with a resident in a neighboring apartment building as a way to build interest in the park within the immediate community. She and Tom Kosinski plan to discuss having an event in the park.
Buffalo Park: No report.
Sunken Garden Park: Tom McManamon reports that downtown would like to add a pole-mounted bat house. Larry Brown would like to see a proposal for this and to get community input.
Other business: None.
Flagpole Project: The project is being reviewed by the Park District and they would like some minor changes. Reid has raised $1600 so far, including $900 in cash to be turned over to HPAC after the meeting. He is trying to meet with the alderman as soon as possible in the hopes of securing matching funds, and possible city help in securing a surplus flagpole.
Vegetable Garden: The group has raised over $300 so far and is ready to deposit it with HPAC. Park District approval for the site is still pending. A source for discounted soil has been found.
New Business: None.
The meeting adjourned at 8:56 PM
The next regular HPAC meeting will be held Monday, October 5th at 7:00 PM at Horner Park.
Respectfully submitted: Kevin Anderson
Roster of those in Attendance: Larry Brown, President; John Lyman, Vice President; Kevin Anderson, Co-Secretary; Peter Schlossman, Co-Secretary; Tom McManamon – CPD; Susie Novak, John Bernbom, Eilleen Hunter, Allan Mueller, Reid Cleveland, Lisa Cleveland, Tom Kosinski, Verdell Hunter
