Recreation Advisory Board
Monthly Meeting
Agenda
February 25, 2015
Fluellen Recreation Center
? Welcome?????????????????????????...??.Irene Pate
Chairman
? Roll Call??????????????????????????..Becky Glisson
Board Secretary
? Approval of Minutes
? Director?s/Staff Report????????????????????..James Worsley
Director
? Open Discussion?????????????????????????Irene Pate
Chairman
? Closing
The next RAB meeting will be held March 25the at Shirley Winston Recreation
Center.
RECREATION ADVISORY BOARD
MINUTES
February 25, 2015
Fluellen Recreation Center
12:00 noon
Members Present: Bob Johnson, Carl Brown, Mike Peacock, Andre Dye,
Irene Pate, Derrick Greene
Members Absent: Tracy Belt, Willie Dickerson, Andre Dye, Mike Peacock
City Staff Present: James Worsley, Teresa Snellings, Becky Glisson, Holli
Browder
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Irene Pate at 12:08
Irene Pate wanted to thank everyone for the condolences in the passing of her
mother.
Roll was taken.
James announced that Jenn Collins has resigned from the Board and Council will
appoint another member.
The Board did not have a quorum at the meeting today and therefore the minutes
of last
meeting we unable to be approved.
Director/Staff Update
James thanked Fluellen Director Chris Bass for hosting our meeting in his
building this month. Chris Bass then gave an overview of his center and
programs. He has a good senior population and is working to improve those
numbers. Chris gave the Board a copy of his newsletter which also outlines
programs and events.
Chris introduced his staff member Contina Johnson to the Board.
Teresa Snellings (Recreation Services): Frank Chester Center is holding their
annual Black History Program at 1:30 tomorrow at the center. This event
combines speaking, singing and great food and is just an overall great event.
She invites all Board members to attend.
MercyMed Group is a group that provides health care to citizens even if they do
not have the means to pay. MercyMed has requested to do a Health Fair in Fox
parking lot. Once more information is available, Teresa will share with the
Board.
Our Therapeutics Section is having a Special Olympics Invitational Swim Meet at
Columbus Aquatic Center on April 11th from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.
The new Director of Fox is Cathy Dean. She is replacing Alice Brewer who
recently retired. Cathy has been with the department for a while and was
currently the director of Edgewood Senior Center.
We are having our annual City Wide Easter Egg Hunt on April 4th at South
Commons Softball Complex at 12:00.
Becky Glisson (Finance): We have turned in our budget for FY16 which begins on
July 1st. We once again were not allowed to increase our budget. However, we
did ask for some capital equipment and improvements and we will let the Board
know as we progress through the budget process.
Requested that Derrick get with her about doing a Radio-Thon for the Ma Rainey
House.
We do not currently have a budget analyst and due to it being budget time, we
will have someone from Finance bring information to the next meeting.
Holli Browder: (Assistant Director): Holli wants the Board to know about a
project we are working on called Little Free Library. The concept is to take a
book/leave a book. The focus is to try to get adults and children into reading
a book. We will start with Ewart Park and then to the Recreation Centers.
This is a national program and has very little issues associated with it. We
need boxes and books donated to make this happen. We have reached out to the
school district about making the boxes. We also have the opportunity to reach
out to the Ledger Enquirer for boxes.
James Worsley: (Director): James wanted to go back to Teresa concerning the
basketball program that she just recently started. Teresa explained that at
first we tried to create a league where all players paid $25.00. We had
little to no participation signed up for the league. We then went to no charge
for the participants and just have the league in our recreation centers and
they will play each other. We currently have seven teams. It is going pretty
good right now. We play on each Tuesday at 6:00, 7:00 and 8:00 pm. We also
play on Saturdays at 10:00, 11:00 and 12:00. Location rotates between Frank
Chester, Shirley Winston, 29th Street and Northside. This Saturday we will be
at Northside.
Staff is now working in the Columbus Aquatic Center. The third party
management company will be there until April 27th so we are currently working
with them. Becky has been working on the RFP proposals and those are due back
on March 20. We have no time frame as to when we will take over. The public
has the misconception that we are currently running the pool. If you have
conversations about this with the citizens, please clarify that we are now
working with them and will not actually take over until April 28th.
James wanted to talk with Vanessa about being a park champion. This means to
pick a park (s) in your district and bring forward any ideas, changes, comments
both good and bad, etc. and help us with these parks. (Becky gave Vanessa a
copy of the map of her district)
Vanessa said she is concerned about Cedar Hills (Primus King) being closed.
James explained the history of the center and the closing.
As you may know, we have had some discussion about relocating the seniors from
Fox to Comer. We met with the seniors and took it to Council. However, we
will not proceed with the relocation plans at this time.
Updates from the Board:
Bob Johnson: Asked the question as to whether or not Comer was being used.
James explained that it is not being used as much as we would like but it is
being used for some meetings and groups. Our Community Schools Division just
held their yearly Valentine Dance there.
Carl Brown: Lakebottom looks great! Tennis courts stay busy and look good.
Time change is coming in a couple of weeks so it should really be used more.
He is on the Board of the Family Center. Several organizations such as Big
Brothers/Big Sisters and others are under the umbrella of the Family Center.
They are a United Way agency. They are looking for a CEO with fundraising
experience and would like help spreading the word. The current CEO is retiring
so if you know someone, please let him know.
Bowl for Kids Sake is a fundraiser coming up for Big Brothers/Big Sisters.
They are bowling Friday and Saturday and the cost is $160.00 per team. They
will have adult time and children time also. If interested, let him know.
Vanessa Jackson: She has done a lot of research and she is very impressed with
the Board and what they are doing. She was happy to see what all they do and
how they get it done.
Her only concern was for Cedar Hills.
Bob Johnson: Would like to know if we will consider quarterly meetings as he
is traveling a lot to California and would be able to make more meetings if
they were quarterly. James said that this has been considered before but he
thinks it will be in the best interest to leave it as is. As an accredited
agency, we need to meet with our board monthly. Of course we only meet ten
months instead of twelve due to holidays. Most accredited agencies meet
monthly.
Irene Pate: She thinks that we should play by the rules and if you miss three
meetings you should be asked to leave the Board.
Carl Brown: Inquired as to whether or not the Board could approve minutes by
email and James explained that was not a good practice.
Bob Johnson: Reggie is doing a good job at Gallops Senior Center.
There is a very inspirational article today about Isaiah Crowell who played for
Carver. He thinks it would be a good idea to get him involved with Parks and
Recreation.
A rental issue with retired Parks and Recreation employees was discussed.
James explained that the only issue was the failure to follow the procedures
that we have in place on rentals. There was no other issue with it other than
that.
Bob wanted to make mention of the computer issue for seniors and that he has
even tried to get funding. Teresa explained to him everywhere that we have
computer labs for seniors including Boxwood that we will have soon.
Derrick Greene: He will get with Holli and Becky after this meeting to go over
their requests.
Irene Pate: Passed out a flyer concerning the Empty Bowl event that will take
place at Northside Recreation Center on March 8th, 2015. This is the event
that bowls are decorated by local artists, school kids, seniors, staff, etc.
and filled with soup. Tickets are 10.00 for adults and 5.00 for children. She
has some tickets for sale! 100% of all profits go to feeding hungry people
through Feeding the Valley. We have had more donations this year than ever
before.
Carl Brown: Early voting is going on for SPLOST. Please go out and vote and
make your voice heard.
With no further discussion, a motion was made to adjourn the meeting.
Our next meeting will be March 25th at Shirley Winston Recreation Center.
Meeting 1:18 pm.
Becky Glisson
Recording Secretary
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