HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-03-2008 Regular MeetingThe Recreation Board of the City of Fairhope met Wednesday, December 3,
2008, at 5:15 PM at the Volanta Park Pool.
Present: Charlie Langham, Chairman; Jim Godfrey, Vann Saltz, Hank
Mullins, Jenny Douglass, Eddie Boyett, Recreation Director and Betty
Rivenbark, Secretary Absent: John Baker, Sherry Sullivan
Charlie opened the meeting and told Caroline Baggerly and about 30
members of her jazzercise class that were present that the New Director for
the new gym will not be discussed tonight and also the fees to charge for
the facilities will be put off until the January meeting. Discussion followed
between the board and the jazzercise members. Charlie asked Ms Baggerly
about her arrangement with the facility and she said she has used it for
twelve years on a "handshake" agreement, no actual contract paying a
percentage of gross receipts. Eddie Boyett said she pays between $350-
400 a month. Charlie Langham said he and Eddie had talked to the Mayor
and they were instructed that the Recreation Board was to help determine
fees based on the operating cost of the building, maintenance and salaries.
Jenny Douglass said we need to look at other cities, their facilities and fees.
Caroline Baggerly said in Daphne they pay a percentage. A concern is
percentage vs fees, that they might be too high. Charlie said whatever we
do has to apply to everyone. We need to set a fee and everyone has to pay
the same thing. The fee would go into effect when we go into the new
building. A comment was made that the jazzercise group does not want to
leave, please talk to them about the fee and keep it reasonable; they want to
stay and negotiate a fair price. Mr. Baggerly asked if we could scale the
fees, possibly have use vs fee, not be closed minded, would we charge the
same thing for a one time birthday as someone who provides a daily service
and has been in the building doing a program for years. Charlie said we
could not grandfather her in. It was asked if they were opposed to paying
Caroline through the City, no direct answer was given. They were asked if
they had any more comments/problems and Ms. Hale commented that the
one thing that bothered her about this was it was conceived as short
notification and communication problem , we should have open
communication with the group.
Derek Thomas came in at 5:35 and Mike Ford at 5:40
Charlie explained that a hiring freeze put on for two months but at the City
Council meeting November 24th the Recreation Department was told to
continue interviews, but no decision would be made until we hire someone
the next meeting is scheduled for the third week in January and we will
discuss it then. Ultimately they were saying don't make a decision without
input. The group left. Eddie was asked about Caroline's use and was told it
is twice a day five days a week. Jenny said they offer a great service for
$40 a month. Mike Ford said do we want to do this program ourselves or
contract out, we need to look at all options. Vann said we definitely would
make money doing it ourselves. Mike Ford said we would ultimately make a
recommendation to the City Council for hiring and fees. Vann said it is a
new era in Recreation, that we are entering territory we have never done
anything like this before.
Charlie mentioned that he and Eddie had met with Ruffin Griffin
regarding his land and he quoted a price for 38 acres that is half as much as
what Burmeister was asking and this property is still in the area we were
talking about. He said that Ruffin -Graham would also carry the note, that we
stilldon't know if this purchase will be approved through monies received
from Impact Fees.
Hank Mullins brought the tennis facility and asked when the bathrooms were
open. Eddie mentioned that they may not have been opened through
Thanksgiving weekend as there has been a cutback on overtime for
employees and usually his employees open it up every morning and the
police close them at 9:00 at night. He also talked about hiring someone for
the facility and there is nothing definite on that situation either, still up in the
air.
Mike Ford brought to the board's attention that the Mayor had been
approached by a group wanting to put a Community Garden at Stimpson
Field. He just wanted them to be aware of it. Eddie said because of use of
government money we would have to look into whether it could be done
because stipulations were at the time of receipt of the money it had to be
used for recreation.
There being no further business, meeting was duly adjourned at 6:20 PM.
101
The Recreation Department did not hold a meeting for the month of January 2009.
102