Alva Review-Courier -

The Alva Parks and Recreation Board elected a chairman and discussed next year’s budget during their meeting Wednesday, March 8. Shane Hansen opened the meeting with board members Gregg Glass, Chad Fisher, Matt Tucker, Brandon Sherman and Gail Swallow present. The board is one member short following the unexpected death of their longtime chairman Dr. Troy Smith.

After approving the financial report, the board heard from Director Courtney Nesseralla. She spoke briefly about current sports going on or finishing. Nesseralla said she is still taking applications for an assistant. She hasn’t found “the right fit” yet.

Mayor Kelly Parker reported the swimming pool committee is working on the design for the pool. They are trying to get set up for a public input meeting for April 12, the same date as the next Parks and Recreation Board meeting.

Parker said while the engineers and architects from Kimley Horn are in town for the public input meeting on the pool, they plan to make a presentation to the board on 65 percent completed plans for the pool. He said the plans would be sent out to board members before the meeting so they can look at them. After feedback is incorporated, it’s hoped the 95 percent completed plans will be finished by early summer.

“Then it will just be a matter of waiting on grants and fundraising to be completed so plans can move forward,” said Parker.

Nesseralla and Parker briefly discussed working with Kimley Horn on a project to install synthetic turf on baseball and softball infields at the Alva Recreation Complex.

Parker gave a brief city council report, mainly focusing on preparations for next year’s budget. He said the city’s employee appreciation lunch was held on March 7. At that time, Nesseralla was honored for 20 years in her position with the city.

Capital Improvements for Budget

Parker asked the board members for input on capital improvements for next year’s budget. They discussed the synthetic turf project as a definite part of the budget.

The mayor said paving the parking lot of the fieldhouse at the Recreation Complex has been discussed for some time. He told the board the city will not be able to self-perform the project, meaning contracted labor will be needed. He said it might be possible to get some help from the county or NWOSU, but the project will cost more since the city can’t provide the labor needed.

Glass asked if the budget for the city parks is part of the new Parks and Recreation. Parker said it is still under the city’s Parks and Buildings budget for this year. However, the parks portion will go into the Parks and Recreation budget next year.

Nesseralla spoke about some smaller needs like upgrading to a 72 inch mower instead of the 54 inch mower currently being used. Improvement to the playground at the Recreation Complex was mentioned. She said they have a $50,000 grant to help with that to possibly add more play equipment. There was discussion about the playground surfacing. Suggestions were wood fiber as the cheapest option, a more expensive one of using white rubber (instead of black which is marking kids’ skin and clothes) or turf as the most expensive.

No action was taken, but Parker said he has a better idea about plans for next year’s budget.

New Board Chairman

Hansen was quickly nominated to be the chairman of the board. The motion carried unanimously.

Parker asked board members for suggestions on who might fill the vacant seat on the board. He said if a candidate is found soon, the city council could act on it at their March 20 meeting.

Fee Schedule Changes

Fisher said he asked that fee schedule changes be placed on the agenda for the meeting. He said competitive teams that play elsewhere (Woodward or Enid), have been scheduling practices on the Alva fields. The staff has to put out bases and chalk the fields. Sometimes they don’t show up without notifying Nesseralla so the staff puts in the work for no reason. This also happens during basketball season.

Board members discussed options such as charging a per game fee or a per practice fee. Another option is a cancellation fee or they might charge a flat season fee. In the end, they asked Nesseralla to put something together to bring back to a later meeting.