The City of Salem Parks and Recreation Board met May 22 at the Salem Community Center @ The Armory. The meeting was called to order at 5:30 p.m. by board president Carlos Lopez.
Board members Lopez, Caleb Shepherd, Stacey Jones and Kristy Bermudez were present.
The committee began by reviewing the minutes from the Feb. 15 meeting. The minutes were approved 3-0.
Parks Director Melissa Dubois then gave a park board report. 2023 summer t-ball, softball, and baseball participation numbers were reviewed. 472 total participants were reported for 2023.
Dubois reported this season saw 40 teams across t-ball, softball and baseball.
She said they experienced a shortage in catcher’s equipment and batting helmets this season but were able to order enough catcher’s helmets to complete some mismatched sets.
Drafts were held two different nights this season to accommodate the number of teams that were needed. Games will start the first full week of June.
She reported that the dates for the 2023 Kid’s Summer Camp had been set for July 10-21 for ages 6+. The program will feature learning programs, art, sports and adventure, according to Dubois’ report.
Dubois reported that the Alice Lou Craig Municipal Swimming Pool would open May 27. A swimming lesson schedule has been released and is available on the city’s website.
Dubois reported that she had received an estimate on upgrading the pool deck lights with LEDs to replace several out of commission lights. She said she would research other companies and options.
She reported that the Al Brown Lighting Project had made progress. The installation of the poles and lighting were complete, said Dubois, and a contractor stands ready to install electric lines to the poles, but availability of materials is an issue.
“I haven’t heard anything back, but they were checking to see the availability of the products,” said Dubois.
She reported that several bleachers at the Al Brown Field have rotted out boards in need of upgrading. She said she was looking into options for repair.
Dubois reported on the trees that had been planted in the City Park recently by the Spring Creek Garden Club. She said that three of the trees were damaged during a recent windstorm, and despite their best efforts to revive the trees, they may die. DuBois hopes that additional water, root stimulator and shaking will help the trees recover. She said that tree bags had been placed around most of the trees to help slowly release water. “They’re looking really well, they’re still green,” she said.
Dubois reported that the Splash Pad at the City Park had been de-winterized but had encountered some sort of fault with the button. She said an electrician that inspected it wasn’t comfortable working on it and had referred another electrician. She said there was an issue with the button that engages the jets.
Dubois then spoke about fence banner sponsors. She said they are looking for sponsors for the banners and asked the board for referrals.
The meeting then moved on to the budget review and approval.
Treasurer Stacey Houston presented the draft budget.
“We expect to end this budget year at $698,000, so we’ve projected on our draft budget revenues of $662,000,” she said.
She reported expenditures were expected to end the year at $575,000, and the draft budget was at $674,000 in expenditures.
Houston said some changes to the budget included a new pump for the kiddie portion of the pool, an increase for equipment and uniforms for the sports programs. Dubois had also requested a work truck, estimated to cost around $35,000. She said she’s down to a two-wheel drive water truck.
“We’ll continue to see in the Capital Improvement line a COP payment of $109,000. That is financing for when the pool was redone in 2017 and 2018,” said Houston.
She spoke about a repayment in the draft budget that would be in its last year for the 2023 and 2024 fiscal year.
“In June of 2019, Capital Improvements loaned $100,000 to parks, (to go toward the soccer field). Parks and Rec has been making payments of $25,000 to the capital improvement fund,” said Houston.
Houston said the revenues minus expenditures, she anticipates to end this budget year with a surplus of $98,000. Currently, the draft budget deficit sits at $37,000.
“So, to balance the budget, the Park Board can either choose to somehow increase revenues, find ways to reduce expenditures, or we can take from prior year fund balance. So, the beginning fund balance at the beginning of ‘23-’24 fiscal year, we’re at $133,000. The City does have a reserve fund balance policy that specifically talks about utility accounts, but we thought it would be a good practice to implement this for all funds,” she said.
The policy states that departments should keep 25% of the previous year’s expenditures, around $120,000 this year, Houston said. The policy also says to keep an additional 5% in the reserve fund to replace the cost of Capital Improvements, around $25,000, this year. Houston said if the board chooses to use the prior year fund balance to balance the budget, the fund balance at the end of the next budget year would be $244,000.
During discussion, several budget increases were noted. Dubois discussed increased personnel costs, as well as wanting to make sure there’s enough budgeted to meet demand for staffing during summer events. City administrator Sally Burbridge said that the increase, at least on the personnel line item, wasn’t unrealistic.
“If we look at the 2021-2022 actuals, so the last fully completed year, personnel was at $253,000,” Burbridge said. “Now if we move forward to where we anticipate to end the current budget year, that’s $300,000. So that’s a fairly realistic, almost $50,000 jump from last completed budget year to what we’re projecting for this year.”
After discussing other potential future costs such as security cameras, the board approved the draft budget by a 3-0 vote.
The board then moved on to discuss needed repairs to the tennis court. Dubois passed around photos of the tennis courts at the city park. She said they had previously been patched, but the next year, the patches were already gone. She contacted the company that performed the repairs and was told the package that was chosen were not under warranty. She said the courts are in very bad shape, with cracks, bare spots and poor leveling.
She said former park board president Stan Podorski had told her that the courts were placed atop settling backfill.
“There might be some grant funding out there with tennis associations,” said DuBois. “We’d like to do some research on that and see what it would cost to get a new base.”
She said she was looking into several options, including potentially adapting the courts to accommodate Pickleball as well.
“Pickleball is fun and easy for everybody,” said DuBois.
She said there were likely grants available to assist in the repairs.
Alderman Kyle Williams said he contacted Superior Exteriors LLC about the skatepark at the City Park. He said they are willing to donate the labor, and he said he would donate the concrete. He said he is awaiting their quote.
Alderwoman Kala Sisco reminded the public that the traffic during t-ball season can become congested. She instructed parents to park on the right side of the park, and to exit out the back. Burbridge said the parking lot should be one-way, before the meeting was adjourned at 6:41 p.m.
