South Cook News

City of Palos Heights Recreation Committee met Sept. 10

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

CALL TO ORDER

Chairman Key called the regular meeting of the Recreation Committee to order at 7:18 p.m. at the Palos Heights City Hall, 7607 W. College Drive. In attendance were Chairman Key and Alderman Begley. Also present were Director of Parks and Recreation Matt Fairbanks, Lake Katherine Chair Paul Kubik, recording secretary Morgan Pukula and 1 guest.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Chairman Key motioned to approve the minutes of the August 13, 2024 meeting, seconded by Alderman Begley. On a voice vote, the motion passed unanimously.

PUBLIC COMMENT

Lynda Schiappa expressed concerns on the proposed colors of the pool house. She offered to allow the Public Arts committee to share their opinion on the pool house colors. Concerns about the splash pad were made as well: timeline of completion, location of the bike rack, and changing the times of operation.

LAKE KATHERINE REPORT

Lake Katherine Chair Paul Kubik reported:

• Updates at the parking lot are still continuing. Asphalt has been laid in needed areas

• Monarch preparations are under way, including setting up frames for the butterfly tent

• The Monarch celebration is the weekend of September 21st and 22nd

• Staff is mowing, watering and trimming all the trail edges and gardens

• Our new nonprofit fundraiser employee, Zoe Ryan, started this week. We had 60 applicants apply for the position

• Staff attended the Trinity SALT (senior) fair

• Volunteers had a butterfly garden work day prepping the area for the installation of the tents, and donations for the monarch festival are also being accepted at Lake Katherine

• Our evening kayak tour was September 4th, where we held two sessions on the lake. Participants saw beavers, herons and kingfishers.

• Daily site inspections were completed, along with trash removal

• Chamber meetings were held at Lake Katherine, with meet and greets, short presentations and a tour of the grounds

• Our Fall dedication orders were finished on August 31st

• In the monthly fishing program, we expect around 25 attendees

• Education classes:

○ We had 1 scout program, 1 fieldtrip, a class on Nature with the Palos Heights Library

○ We held 2 fishing programs, nature tots, junior explorer tree climbing event, as well as finished all the summer camps for the year.

PARKS AND RECREATION REPORT

Director of Parks and Recreation Matt Fairbanks gave the recreation report:

• Pool Phase 1 Update: Williams Architects received official approval and permits from IDPH on August 20th. The permits were resubmitted to IDPH due to concerns on pool access. The requested a double door instead of an overhead door that was in the original plans. Staff met with the project manager from Splashtacular and were made aware fabrication can take up to 18 weeks from the final approval. We received renderings for the bath house and locker rooms. The colors that were selected include the colors of the Palos Heights Parks and Recreation Department logo as well as the current color scheme of the pool. Simpson Construction has been able to mobilize and begin work August 20th. Demolition is almost complete, and electrical and plumbing will start later this week. Signage is being completed, and is similar to the work at Orchard Park. We also posted on social media with additional details.

• Recreation Update: Summer Camp ended on August 9th, with three sessions held at three weeks long; total enrollment included 562 participants. Session 1 had 200 kids, session 2 had 179 kids and session 3 had 183 kids. Revenue increased due to more non-residents participating than in 2023.

The pool had a great season, with approximately 26,000 visits. In July, we unfortunately had to close 1 day, and in August we had to close twice due to weather. We had a total of 388 kids enrolled in swim lessons. Revenue was comparable to last year, with daily admissions up in revenue from 2023. Rentals and concessions were up around $1,000.00. About 400 residents took advantage of the free Fridays, pilot program we offered for the year.

There have been 20-30 participants utilizing the Splash Pad since the soft opening in July. We often see families and younger children at the splash pad during all hours of operations. Attendance has decreased in the past couple weeks with 8-10 people attending, but assume this is due to the school year. The RAB suggested we change the hours of operation and we will assess the times in the future after water usage, park usage, budget of operation and maintenance reports are evaluated. The current hours are Monday through Friday 11am – 7pm and Saturday through Sunday, 9am – 5pm.

Our Back to School block party took place August 16th, from 5:30pm – 8pm at Orchard Park. There was a foam party, a DJ, food vendors, School District 128 and 118, the police and fire departments, CNB Bank and Palos Pediatric Dentistry attended. Approximately 200 attended and played in the splash pad, participated in bags, Connect 4 and much more.

The rescheduled Concert in the Park on September 5th featuring Chicago took place. It was rescheduled due to the weather in August. CNB Bank and Palos Pediatric Dentistry were on site and sponsored the event. We had approximately 1,000 people in attendance at Memorial Park.

The Little Sprouts classes will start Tuesday, September 17th and we currently have 4 students enrolled in the 9am – 10:30am, and 3 enrolled in the 10:45am – 12:15pm class. On August 23rd, we had an indoor campout party for participants ages 3-6; there were 6 people in attendance. The kids were encouraged to come in their pajamas, and were able to set up tents, tell stories, sing songs, eat s’mores and make a craft. We held guitar classes that started on July 10th and ran until August 19th with 8 participants enrolled. In our voice class, that started August 8th, 6 participants were enrolled and ran until August 15th. On August 8th, we also had a ‘Make your own Ice Cream’ class that took place from 4pm – 5pm and had 8 participants enrolled. The summer session of the Sky Hawks tennis finished their season on August 13th.

Throughout the summer, Sky Hawks offered tennis and basketball instructions to 44 participants at Community Park.

NEW BUSINESS

a) Chairman Key motioned to approve payment #1 to Simpson Construction in the amount of $206,938.35 for work and demolition completed for the Pool Improvement Project, seconded by Alderman Begley. On a voice vote, the motion passed unanimously.

b) Chairman Key motioned to the purchase of IDPH required double doors for the Pool Improvement Project in the amount of $17,116.00 for Field Order #002 by Simpson Construction, seconded by Alderman Begley. On a voice vote, the motion passed unanimously.

OLD BUSINESS

Alderman Begley complimented the improvements to the bocce ball court.

ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business, Chairman Key moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Alderman Begley. All in favor.

Meeting adjourned at 7:39 p.m.

https://palosheights.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_10082024-1071