Illinois Valley Times

The Peru Parks and Recreation Board met Aug. 9 to discuss plans for a new playground.

Here is the meeting's agenda, as provided by the board:

Peru Parks and Recreation Board

08/9/2016 Meeting, City Hall

The meeting was called to order at 6:40 pm by Board Chairman, Ray Zborowski. Board members in

attendance were Janice Grabowski, Steve Michelini, Linda Dzierzynski, Bill Steve, Simon Kampwerth Jr.,

and Larry Weide. Recreation Director Lynda Kasik, Alderman Mike Sapienza, and City Administrative

Assistant Melissa Carruthers were also present.

Guests:

Matt Glupczynski and Chris Kirkpatrick (LP High School)

LP’s Matt Glupczynski and Chris Kirkpatrick addressed the board about drainage issues with the

diamond at Veteran’s Park and submitted a proposal from Midwest Athletic Fields for infield edging and

re-grading for $9,725.00, and top dressing with 10 tons of diamond pro infield conditioner red for

$2,800.00. Rebuilding the mound and home plate area using diamond pro mound and plate clay would

cost $1,250. There could also be extra costs to dispose of material that is taken out if the city doesn’t

have a place to dispose of it. LP is willing to work with us on this matter do to the fact they have lost 8-

10 home games each year over the last couple of years. Chris said we could talk cost sharing once we

commit on making the field what it could be. There was a question on whether the tile was collapsed

and Steve said he ran a scope in it and it was dry. Steve also doesn’t think this will solve the problem, He

thinks it should be taken all the way down to the tile and have either pee gravel or C-7 put down then

topped with the correct mix. Chris said Midwest Athletics told them the infield mix was wrong and it is

so compacted that the water can’t drain and there was no pitch and it needed a 1 degree grade pitch.

Steve suggested we get the city engineer, Eric Carls involved. Steve is going to talk to Eric about this and

get some options and then contact Matt with the information. Ray said we need to have this on the

agenda for September’s meeting.

Reports:

A motion to accept the amended minutes from the 07/12/2016 meeting was moved by Janice, seconded

by Steve and passed unanimously with Bill Steve and Larry Weide abstaining. Motion to approve the

Treasurer’s Report dated 07/31/2016 was moved by Janice, seconded by Simon and passed

unanimously.

Communications:

Ray announced that Tennis Supervisor Jill Urban Bollis sent a letter that stated the 2016 tennis camp

was completed and we had very few rain days. Advance class reached 28-30 while the beginners ranged

from 10-15. The numbers went down after July 4th. They held their tournament and witnessed some

strong competition and great sportsmanship.

New Business:

Lynda Kasik Stated Peru Little League has left over candy they need to sell and suggested we could buy

it and use it for the Halloween Parade. She will still have to buy a few things for the parade but it should

save us some money. Simon made the motion to buy the candy for $229.43 Steve seconded and it

passed unanimously. Ray said we need to put the Halloween parade on the September agenda for

discussion.

Discussion and possible motion to withdraw plans for the new playground set at Washington Park and

pledge the $ 30,000.00 for new playground equipment at the splash pad. Ray stated that the Jay Happ

Family is pledging $100,000.00 for a baseball themed splash pad over at the old Washington school

sight, and that attorney Doug Schweickert also is donating $10,000.00. Ray thought the new playground

equipment would be better used at this location. After several minutes of discussion it was determined

that the pledge was already made to the city for the playground equipment and that the splash pad was

still within the Washington Park area.

Unfinished Business:

Lynda Kasik gave us a recap on the summer camps, she said all camps went well, and numbers in most

were really good. Lynda also said she received complaints about people getting in that are not from Peru

and didn’t know how we could stop it.

Run for the Rec. Lynda talked to Mike and he said lets table it for this year because it is getting late and

Lynda and Mike are going to get together and try to figure out what we can do to make the run a better

success.

Discussion to move the playground equipment from the old Washington school sight to Washington

Park. Ray had sent Eric Carls an email about how hard it would be to move the equipment, he hasn’t

responded yet. Ray asked Simon how long the set has been in, Simon thought about 5-6 years and when

it was installed it took about 2 days with 10 workers. Simon also told us when the school inquired about

moving the playground they were told by the manufacture/installer that they would spend more money

buying new product to fix what was broke as you move it. After a short discussion on whether or not it

would have to be moved with the new splash pad it was decided to wait until we hear from the city.

Discuss and possible motion to accept bids for specific court patching/striping. Janice was asked to

get exact bids from two competitors with exact language and she said that didn’t happen because U.S.

Tennis Court didn’t get back to her. Bruce Peterson aggressively wants to move forward. He sent quotes

for the patching of the four courts at Washington Park. Not just patching but also repairing the paint

issues. U.S. Tennis Courts had a bid of $ 5,400.00, and C.R. Peterson Inc. had a bid of 5,000.00. Bruce

stated his color scheme wouldn’t match exactly, and the board stated they didn’t care if it didn’t match

exactly. Janice also stated it was discussed at the last meeting that out of all the facilities except

Washington park courts 28th street basketball court is used the most. Bruce gave an original bid of

$2,000.00 for both basketball and the tennis courts, but he would do just the basketball court for

$1,000.00. There was further discussion on whether or not anything should be done with Sunset Park

courts or the 28th street tennis court and the board decided not at this time. It was stated this will be a

fall project, C.R. Peterson said they could do it in August. It was decided to limit it to August or an early

September deadline. Simon made the motion to hire C.R. Peterson Inc. to do the repairs to Washington

Park tennis Courts and pickle ball courts for $ 5,000.00 and 28th street basketball court for $1,000.00

seconded by Janice and passed unanimously.

Public Comment:

Rodney Perez addressed the board about the 2017 fireworks and stated Dave Bartley said the board

most likely will not be going out for bids and Rodney asked if this was true. Ray told him nothing was

etched in stone yet for 2017. Rodney then stated he has been in contact with some pyrotechnics

companies and they said fall is the best time to get bids. He then asked when the board plans to go out

for bids. Steve stated we wouldn’t until the land owner lets us know if we can use his land and that

wouldn’t be until after November 1st. He then asked if we could use this area as a plan B and go back to

the river as a plan A. He was told no we are going to stick with the mall area, everything went well up

there and allot of families liked it up there. Lois Carroll questioned the board if the fireworks would

always be on the 3rd, because the mall is open late during the week and only closes early on Sundays.

Steve said not necessarily we may have to vary it a little but he didn’t think we would be as late as the

10th. Rodney questioned the board why we have to wait until November if we are going to use the same

display? Ray responded November is the earliest that Mr. Tomaczewski would commit to the use of his

land. He also stated the board is going to stay the course and have it at the mall because we had a good

turnout. It was also stated we never went out for bids last time, we went out for RFPs. Rodney brought

up that Melrose had about 1,100 less shells than other bids. Steve told Rodney that you can’t go by shell

count because some companies will use smaller cake shells to up their shell count. Steve also stated

some of the pyro companies shouldn’t have been able to bid since they didn’t meet the cities

requirements. Linda stated Dave said they all met the requirements, and Steve and Ray both said no

they didn’t because one of them didn’t list the city as an additionally insured on their insurance. Steve

said the only thing Melrose was missing was their shell count and they did received it before the

meeting. Ray stated we always go out for proposals after the first of the year. Ray closed public

comment.

Adjournment:

At 7:55pm Larry made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Bill seconded. Meeting adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Larry Weide, Recording Secretary