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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSeptember 4 2025 Board Minutes - reviewed PARKS & RECREATION BOARD September 4, 2025 MINUTES Present Absent With Reason Jeff Cline Amy Sterner Julie Sanders Robin Papa Mike Tesla Eric Michael Lori Sines Dwayne Freeman Vice-Chair, Julie Sanders, called the meeting of the Washington County Parks & Recreation Advisory Board to order at 3.33 pm. Guests were Jaime Dick, Director of Parks & Recreation; Andrew Eshleman, Public Works Director; Travis Allen, Comprehensive Planner; Rob Holsinger, Recreation Supervisor; Pam Boyd, Parks Manager; Tim Alexander, Assistant Parks Supervisor. Ms. Sanders asked Tim Alexander, newly appointed Assistant Parks Supervisor, to introduce himself to the Board. Mr. Alexander lived in Isreal for the past 13 years and now back home to Washington County. Approval of Minutes Ms. Sanders asked for any additions or corrections to the minutes of June 5, 20257 Parks & Recreation Advisory Board meeting. With no corrections or additions, the minutes passed as presented unanimously, 4-0 by the Board. Lori Sines made the motion to approve the minutes, and Mike Tesla seconded the motion. Citizen's Comments No one appeared for Citizen's comments. Department Reports Parks & Recreation Director's Report Mr. Dick gave the P&R Director's Report. Ag Center Update The facility had a busy summer with many activities and events. The New Pole Barn is almost complete. Ag Expo - County Fair went well. Staff working with Ag Expo to extend their lease agreement. There has been money donated for a new pavilion near the Rural Heritage Village. Mr. Eshleman added they are waiting for authorization from Friends Organization that they are moving forward with the project prior to turning dirt. Golf Course Update The course has been busy with rounds and tournaments this Summer. The Maintenance staff have done a great job keeping the course green and playable. Public Works has been working on the design for the proposed Golf Learning Center. Mr. Eshleman added they are working with the Golf Board on fundraising efforts. High School Golf season is currently in progress this Fall at the Course. Parks Update The Pool closed to the Public on September 1st. The Annual Pooch Plunge hosted by the Humane Society is scheduled for this evening. The pool attendance for the season was 9,321. There have been no issues with the newly resurfaced pool floor this summer. The Mary "Dolly" Snook Memorial Pavilion was completed at Marty's Mythical Woods. A ribbon cutting will be scheduled in October. Sidewalk construction is underway at Woodland Way Park. Play equipment and other amenities are in the planning process for the park. A Park Bench was dedicated at the Halfway African American Cemetery for the Juneteenth Holiday this past June. The Sideling Hill Scenic Overlook Park was dedicated and open to the public this past July. Railing was installed at the High Rock overlook area. Staff worked with the Health Department on design for communication boards and will be installed at Pen Mar, Devils Backbone and Camp Harding Parks. Summer concert series at Pen Mar Park is going well. There are 3 more bands scheduled for the season. Recreation Update This past weekend we held our annual end of Summer event, Everybody's Day, at Pen Mar Park. The event included a Run, Children Games, Dance Contest, Potamac Indian Dance Demonstration, and Magic Show. Summer Camp went well. Operated four sites for seven weeks. Mr. Dick complemented Miranda Crabtree, Program Coordinator, for a job well done this summer. Marty Snook Park - 78 kids per day average Maugansville- 54 kids per day average Rockland Woods - 35 kids per day average Williamsport - 46 kids per day average 191 children participated in our Youth Swim Programs at the Pool. High School Basketball League had 52 teams and over 600 participants this Summer. 152 children participated in our youth sports programs and clinics this Summer. There were 280 participants in our Adult Fitness programs this Summer. Our Fall Session Program session is available online and out to the Public. The session started this week. Next Scheduled Meeting Next scheduled Board Meeting will be held on October 2, 2025, at 3.20 pm in the ARCC on the campus of HCC, Room 220. Woodland Way and Marty Snook Playground Updates Mr. Eshleman gave the Board an update on Woodland Way Park. The sidewalk project that runs along Belview Avenue has been constructed. There is now a ramp up to the tennis courts. Railing will need to be installed. Ms. Boyd gave an update on the playground equipment. In talks with playground manufacturers. Two different manufacturers have submitted designs for review and in the process of reviewing and determining what fits best in the playground. Planning to have swings, slides, standard playground equipment with a piece of equipment for 2-5- year-olds and a piece of equipment for 5-12-year-olds as well. Ms. Boyd noted would like the Chinkapin Oak tree as focal point in the Park and making it into a climber with attached nets, etc. Mr. Eshleman added there needs to be some additional work done with trimming of the branches and flipping the tree so it is positioned on how they would like to display it. Working with Dan Matonak, structural engineer, to help provide input on sizing for the fountain and how it will be displayed. Mr. Eshleman stated that received good feedback from the Boys & Girls Club camp who was using the facility over the Summer. It was noted that there is not very good seating overlooking the play area. Some of the thoughts and ideas with the tree and the cookie round we will be getting out of the tree is to have a place to display that. Trying to find it in the budget for a small, covered area with seating. Working on pricing to see if able to do something unique or something more standard. Mr. Eshleman shared with the Board concept sketches with ideas but does not have pricing at this point. Mr. Tesla asked about the Bocce court at Pangborn Park. Noted that it is full of weeds and it would be a great place for a pickleball court if it was cleaned up. Pangborn Park is a City Park and is maintained by the City of Hagerstown. Mr. Eshleman said staff could reach out to Mark Haddock, Parks & Recreation Manager for the City of Hagerstown. Mr. Eshleman gave the Board an update on Marty Snook Park Inclusive Playground and shared with the Board an updated concept plan. To date have not spent any money on the Park. The total price with everything included in the quote from Kompan which does not include site preparation, railing, perimeter fence, retaining walls, and some other engineer design is $1.1 million. This would consume all the Program Open Space money. With the LPPI money that was available to us, Marty Snook Park was included and with that renovated the bathrooms at the pavilions and in the scope of work put in an application of$240,000 for the playground at Marty Snook Park as seed money/matching money. Included in that was the pavilion at Marty's Mythical Woods which the County received funding from the Snook Family to help pay for that. Also, considering turning an old concession building at the softball field into a bathroom. For information purposes, Ms. Boyd added that the cost of renovating the existing bathrooms at Marty Snook Park was roughly $35k to $50 per bathroom. Where it stands for the LPPI projects, LPPI projects are unlike POS where there is not a fund to turn money back into to reuse again. It is capital money that is bonded so it needs to be used. Line item to date, we have $271,504 to the good for projects at Marty Snook and that was represented by the site work for the playground and the other things that were mentioned. Some of the other projects ran over with pricing. The net remaining is $295,000. With the LPPI funds and the funds from POS there should be enough money to do the projects, $1.2 to $1.3 million. As a tradeoff, there may not be enough to do the bathroom renovation by the softball field but there is another bathroom 300 ft. away. There is an itemized estimate for the concept plan at Marty Snook Park and will look at things that the County can do, but there are certain things the playground company will need to do like the fountain work, install work and surfacing that we cannot value engineer out. There is also storm drain work and security lighting that needs to be done as well. Ms. Sines asked how many kids can adequately play on the playground. Mr. Eshleman is not sure of the capacity rating. Ms. Boyd said she believes there is information on the structure size and can research as to how many children it serves. Discussion about the surfacing for the playground and the reason we do not have that type of surfacing (Poured- in-Place) in all the parks is because the surfacing is almost as much as the playground equipment. The Poured-in-Place surface will make it much more accessible facility than with our facilities where there is wood fiber mulch. Ms. Sanders asked Mr. Eshleman what he needed from the Board to make this project happen. Mr. Eshleman said it would be essentially support. The LPPI application is already in and included the playground project and included an umbrella of different projects. To make this happen between the POS and LPPI and to short a project out would be the concession stand conversion unless we can cut things down and see how things are in the end. Effectively what the State has said is with the LPPI money is a consolidation of projects that were under or over budget and level up and put the remaining money toward the playground project, so every penny is spent because it is not refundable. The POS if we are under budget can revert that money back to our balance to use for future projects. Discussion about parking and having more handicapped parking with at Marty Snook Park. Mr. Eshleman said looking ahead at CIP Planning which starts in November and a project in the CIP book is the Marty Snook Park Multi-Mobile Trail and Parking. It will be studied further but one of the ideas is taking the central part of the park, between the pool and pavilion 4, and making it one lane so the trail could be looped and widening the road out further and have on street parking. Looking for ways to solve safety issues and parking issues without clearing a patch of woods or taking an amenity away. There is design money programmed for next year and future construction funds will have to look at other grants available, but now is the time to replace the outdated playground structure in the park and work on parking after. Mr. Eshleman said he would like to get the sales price for the new playground locked in by the end of the year and will ask if there is going to be a price increase. After pricing is confirmed will figure out what type of things we will be doing there and that will help inform us how much work the County will be doing themselves or break out as subcontract work for things like concrete or do things separate and manage it that way. Unfinished Business Mr. Eshleman gave Mr. Alexander the floor on updating the Board with the tennis court capital projects and the joint use agreements. For the past couple of months Mr. Alexander has been trying to move forward with the tennis resurfacing project. Spent time looking for potential vendors that work with co- ops that the County works with. Able to find a vendor and are optimistic that will get approved by purchasing and provided quotes well under budget. In the meantime, have been working with WCPS and the athletic directors and administration to align with the scope and timeline of the project. The hope is by the summer of 2026 that all WCPS tennis school surfaces will be resurfaced, reconstructed, mill and paved according to what the County has determined and what WCPS is determined, and the tennis courts will move back to WCPS responsibility. Also looking at resurfacing multiple County tennis courts as well. This all falls within the budget, under budget and that is what Mr. Alexander is working on right now to be sure that it continues moving forward. This also aligns with USTA and Mr. Alexander has been working closely with USTA to assure that the projects at all the different sites that are eligible to be funded for this grant meet criteria. All the WCPS sites do fall under the grant. It was approved by the County Commissioners to apply for the grant. The grant will fund up to 50% of all WCPS sites. With things already falling under budget and if everything moves forward with the grants will help funding wise. Mr. Eshleman also added that one of main things they had to work out with WCPS because Pickleball is a big presence that if the funding is accepted the tennis association does not allow pickleball lines. There can be blended youth tennis lines, but no pickleball lines. Mr. Alexander added that we are completely aligned with WCPS and trying to push the project forward. Mr. Eshleman added there is a race against time because it is a grant and there is only a certain amount available, and they need to have a vendor price quote, and pieces need to fall in place. Mr. Alexander added there is a one-year limit to completing the projects. Mr. Eshleman updated the Board on the joint use agreement. This will be going before the County Commissioners next meeting in closed session. Right now, it is the County's obligation to maintain the tennis courts. Moving forward when a resurfacing or rehabilitation is complete, depending on where it falls into the schedule, the varsity tennis court sites then fall back to WCPS. The locations that do not have a varsity program will align with the County. Hancock Middle/High School and Western Heights will continue to remain public use courts and remain under the County's fold because they do not varsity programs. Mr. Eshleman believes this aligns better with everyone's interest and priorities and hoping it will be approved and be the agreement moving forward. Ms. Sanders believes this is a win-win and would assume WCPS is appreciative of the grant to help their budget. Mr. Alexander added that WCPS has been extremely appreciative of the transparency we have been providing them with for the past few months and very optimistic going forward. New Business Mr. Allen informed the Board that there was a webinar kickoff meeting for the next update of the LPPRP, the long-range plan. It was mostly for the release of the guidelines of the plan. Mr. Allen said nothing much has changed. The format of the plan will be almost identical to what it is now. Will share more specifics with the Board in coming months. The draft is not due until December of 2026 and will be asking for input from the Board, for example the public survey, reviewing goals from last year as well as other parts of the plan will be brought to the Board to review and look at again to see where they are headed for this particular version of the plan. The long-range plan will not be due until spring of 2027. Mr. Dick informed the Board of Tom Moore's resignation and Ms. Papa's term is ending in September. Will only have one spot to fill since we were carrying an extra member. Will provide the Board a list of candidates and now is the time to encourage those interested in serving on the Board to apply. Will also work with PR to post a notice. Ms. Sanders wanted to personally thank Robin Papa and her time of service on the Board. Adjournment With no further discussion, Ms. Sanders asked for a motion to adjourn. Lori Sines made a motion to adjourn; Mike Tesla seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 4.16 pm. Amy Sterner, Chair Jeannine Miller McVicker Washington County Recording Secretary— Washington Co. Parks & Recreation Board Parks & Recreation