Alva Review-Courier -

The Alva Parks and Recreation Board held a short, regular meeting Wednesday afternoon at the Alva Recreational Complex. There weren’t any big decisions to be made during the meeting. A special meeting is likely after the Friday bid opening for synthetic turf. Kimley-Horn will need time to study bids and make a comparison report.

Chairman Shane Hansen opened the meeting with members Gregg Glass, Matt Tucker, Brandon Sherman, Gail Swallow, Heath Shelite and Chad Fisher present. Also present were Parks Director Courtney Nesseralla, City Business Manager Steve Ford and Tatum Lehl, minutes clerk.

Discussion on Rental Rates

After approving minutes of special meetings on Aug. 17 and 23, the board took a look at financial reports. Parks and Recreation has $86,221.07 in the city’s pooled cash account from general Alva Economic Development Authority funds. Another $100,300 is set aside for the AEDA ball field, $516,328.93 for the turf project and $483,962.43 for the swimming pool checking account. That totals $1,186,812.43 in pooled cash. Parks and Recreation has another $1,455,492.16 in certificates of deposit with $1,002,335.62 of that from swimming pool donations.

The budget shows items for ball field, classroom and gym rental revenue. Parks and Rec Director Courtney Nesseralla wanted to discuss rates set for the classroom and gym. Currently the gym rental is $10 per hour for half of the gym and $20 per hour for the entire gym. Classroom rental is $40.

Nesseralla says the rate tends to move gatherings into half the gym which can become packed with people. She thinks the gym rental is set too low, and the classroom rental is too high. In both cases, a paid staff member has to be present for rental events so the gym rental doesn’t cover extra pay for staff. Those rentals are to be addressed on the next regular meeting agenda.

After some discussion about which Kimley-Horn fees apply to the swimming pool and the Hatfield Park master plan, Glass made a motion, seconded by Tucker to approve the financial report.

Director’s Report

Fall soccer and flag football signups are completed, Nesseralla said. There are five more kids signed up than last fall.

Turf bids were to be opened Friday at 10 a.m. Hopefully swimming pool bids will go out on September 22 with the bid opening on October 20.

Rec league basketball assignments have gone out.

The city is looking at a new camera system for Hatfield Park to replace the current one.