Village of Western Springs Recreation Commission met Aug. 3.
Here is the minutes provided by the commission:
1. CALL TO ORDER: E. Piotrowski called the virtual meeting to order at 7:01 p.m.
2. ROLL CALL: Commissioners present: Erin Piotrowski, Matt Pinkham, Chris Krohe and Jim Mikulich. Absent: Kevin Collins Also present: Recreation Program Manager, Rita Ligeikis, Recreation Supervisor, Mike Kenny, Director of Recreation, Aleks Briedis, Village Trustee, Nicole Chen and Visitor: Frank Alexander
3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The Commission reviewed the minutes from the August 3, 2020 meeting. J. Mikulich motioned and C. Krohe seconded that the minutes from the August 3, 2020 meeting be approved as written. Roll call was taken and the motion passed unanimously.
4. CITIZENS COMMENTS: None.
5. OLD BUSINESS: None.
6. NEW BUSINESS: None
7. REPORTS:
a) DIRECTOR BRIEDIS:
i. Recreation Department plan due to COVID-19 –A. Briedis stated the building is still closed to the public and will be until the end of the year. Colleen Becker is working Mon, Wed and 1⁄2 days on Friday answering phones, emails and doing bills. Cheryl Powers is working from home when needed and training on our new Rec software system. Both preschools are open along with Jo’s Footwork. C. Spartz is running some basketball and a few other indoor and outdoor programs are running. Money is being saved on Building Supervisor salaries; however, A. Briedis is looking into how to start renting to our regular renters again.
ii. Financial Update – July status reflects that revenue is at 50% and expenses are at 46%, which have balanced out for the most part. No income also means no expenses.
iii. SEASPAR Sensory Room – The equipment is coming from Pennsylvania, however the installer is no longer with the company. The equipment will ship but Bill Tomsczak has offered to install it.
iv. Brochure –The brochure was almost complete and ready to be sent but due to the new guidelines for sports programs, things had to change again. For now Fall programs will be communicated via flyers, Recreation website and social media.
v. Drop-In classes –There was a big push back from the Fitness community when we stated that we were only going to do monthly registrations, so we will be using our new Recreation software for daily program attendance.
vi. RecDesk – There is a training tomorrow for A. Briedis and the office staff. Currently the backend of the system is being built and parts of the software will be rolled out starting with the Fitness programs. This way issues can be tweaked and fixed as they come up.
vii. Western Springs Tennis Association donation – Pete Zika, former President of the Tennis Association met with A. Briedis and said that since the association has disbanded. P. Zika donated the leftover funds in the amount of $4200 to the Recreation Department to be used for installation of a tennis backboard at Spring Rock Park. nd
viii. Grand Ave 2 flr configuration – Current plans to combine two small Music Makers room with the WSCCA Room are put on hold for now because another Music company may be interested in some space.
ix. Other – A Western Springs artist donated 2 pieces of artwork to the Recreation Dept. to display.
b) MANAGER LIGEIKIS
i. Summer Camps – Two Tower camps have run at Laidlaw for 2 sessions serving 40 children. Staff has been excellent and there have been no complaints.
ii. Bike Scavenger Hunt – The event was held on 7/14 with 11 teams of 3 or 4. Gift cards were given to the 1st & 2nd place winners.
iii. Virtual Programs –Some virtual programs that were set up and ran in June/July were Summer Safety Fun, Chess, Magic, Math Play, Young Rembrandts drawing class and Cooking.
iv. Superhero camp –This camp will take place the week of 8/10 in the Rec Center gym. There are 13 enrolled.
v. Fall Early Childhood Classes-A Zoom meeting was held last week with the EC teachers to connect and find out schedules. At this time, most instructors are unavailable due to school schedules or uncomfortable returning to work.
vi. Winter/Spring Program Report – Currently working on report.
vii. Fitness classes – Yoga class is being held on Friday mornings at the Tower Green
and Body Works on Tuesdays at the Field park Basketball courts.
c) SUPERVISOR KENNY
i. Summer Sports camps – Sports camps that ran this summer were Girls Crafts & Sports, Pee Wee Soccer, Track & Field, Pee Wee Baseball, Girls Sports Camp and Archery). All ran according to current Covid guidelines with limited numbers and social distancing.
ii. Tennis programs & Tournaments - Tennis numbers have been steady all summer and programs are going well. Late Summer Tennis will be wrapping up this week and the Harvest Tennis session runs from 8/10-8/28. The Spring Rock Open tournament was held on July 24-26 and the Harvest Days Open is coming up August 7th-9th.
iii. Lacrosse Update- Kalani Flowers, one of our lacrosse directors, has taken a job out of state so I am currently working with Kelly to find a replacement. Due to the new Covid guidelines, fall lacrosse is restricted to skills only programs. No league games or tournaments are allowed.
iv. Basketball/fall programs- Spartz basketball programs are going well. He is running shooting camps, Elite workouts, Training camp and Lil Hoopers. Travel basketball tryouts for Blazers and Wildcats are scheduled for August 24th – 27th.
8) PARK DISTRICT BOARD UPDATE: A. Briedis stated that there was no meeting last month. The next meeting will be held on 8/11.
9) TRUSTEE AND BOARD REPORT: Trustee Chen reported on the following: the Village is working on various water issues as usual such as distribution and storm/drainage. The pending removal of a tree at Prospect and Reid (better known as the Keebler Elf Tree) which was deemed in ill health and a danger due to its hollow trunk has become a source of protest in the Village. The tree is very close to the street/ curb and not in line with current IDOT standards for turning. The project also includes a new storm pipe, which is a much needed infrastructure update.
10) COMMISSIONER COMMENTS: None.
11) NEXT MEETING: TBD
12) ADJOURNMENT: A roll call was taken to adjourn the meeting at 7:45 pm. All in favor. The motion passed unanimously.
https://www.wsprings.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_08032020-1091
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