PARKS & RECREATION BOARD 2018/04/17 MinutesThe City of Lake Forest
Parks and Recreation Board
Meeting Minutes
April 17, 2018
I. Call to Order
The Parks and Recreation Board Meeting was called to order by Chairman Charlie Kohlmeyer at
6:30p.m. The following were present:
Board Members: Mr. Charlie Kohlmeyer
Mr. Paul Best
Mr. Paul “Skoo” Walker
Ms. Nancy Duffy
Ms. Melanie Walsh
Ms. Shannon Maguire
Staff: Ms. Sally Swarthout, Director of Parks and Recreation
Mr. Joe Mobile, Superintendent of Recreation Mr. Aaron Dalzot, Program Manager
Mr. Jason Busdeker, Facility Manager
Mr. Vince Juarez, Kemper Sports, General Manager
Ms. Dani Spann, Administrative Assistant
II. Approval of Minutes
Meeting minutes of the March 20, 2018 Park & Recreation Board meeting were presented and
approved. Board member Best motioned for approval of the minutes and Board member Walker seconded.
The minutes were then unanimously approved.
III. Resolution of Appreciation for Retiring Member Paul “Skoo” Walker
Chariman Kohlmeyer presented Board member Walker with a Resolution of Appreciation for his
dedication and service to the Parks and Recreation Board and the community of Lake Forest.
IV. Opportunities for the Public to Address the Board on Items not listed on the Agenda
No comments
V. Lakefront Spotlight
Aaron Dalzot, Program Manager gave an overview of the beach and the operations. The beach is
open year round with the Lifeguards and boating center scheduled full time starting May 31st
through August 19th. He went over the rentable spaces at the beach. Board member Best asked if
alcohol was allowed in the rentals and Mr. Dalzot answered alcohol is allowed only in the Cell 3
area. He also touched on some of the ongoing rules and safety preventatives. The boating center is
going to expand the summer hours to 9am – 6pm.
Program Manager Dalzot introduced Scott Norman, the new sailing instructor. Mr. Norman gave an
overview of his sailing background and position with Lake Forest. He touched on the boating
programs offered and some accomplishments including several of their opti sailors participating in
more travelling throughout Florida and helping to expand the off-season. A vision for the staff this
season is to build the current programming and offer more community access and opportunities.
Program Manager Dalzot touched on current sailing assets and about the boat storage offerings.
This included sailboat compound storage currently housing 25 boats along with small watercraft
racks housing 36 small watercrafts.
Mr. Dalzot was very excited to talk about the upcoming 2018 community events at the beach. These
will start on April 21st with Smelt-O-Rama and continue through October 28th, ending with the
Halloween Spectacular. They are offering fitness classes at the beach again this year. Board member
Walker asked how many lifeguards we employ. Mr. Dalzot answered he would like to have 20
lifeguards on staff. Discussion followed on the upcoming events calendar.
Board member asked about thoughts on allowing dogs at the beach. Director Swarthout answered
we will be doing a thorough investigation on this topic to make sure it will be a good fit for us. We
will be consulting Lake County Health when considering this and there will be a lot of different
research done prior to bringing this back before the Board.
VI. Non-Resident Beach Access
Aaron Dalzot, Program Manager talked about the non-resident beach access. A study was
completed for the last half of the summer last year. Based on the number of non-resident beach
users waiting until after 6pm shows a need to adjust the current non-resident hours. Staff has also
been asked to look into increasing the non-resident fee. The fee increase will be evaluated and
brought before the Board in a discussion as a part of the fee approval process in October 2018.
Discussion followed on the current fees and the increased fees of the non-resident users along with
the extension of hours. For the entire 2017 season, from May 27 - September 4th 95,632 guests
utilized the beach. Director Swarthout mentioned she received an email from a concerned resident
regarding the current fees and asked us to look into the raising the fees for the future.
Requested Action: Staff requests approval to extend the hours of non-resident beach fee charges
from 9:00am – 7:00pm on weekends and holidays.
A motion was made by Board member Walker to approve to extend the hours of non-resident
beach fee charges from 9:00am – 6:00pm to 9:00am – 7:00pm on weekends and holidays. Board
member Maguire seconded. The motion was passed.
VII. GO Lake Forest Presentation
Jason Busdeker, Facility Manager gave a presentation and a brief background on a new initiative in
the county to help communities become more active. This GO initiative was founded by Gurnee Park
District and is being implemented currently by 18 other Lake County communities. The objective is
for all community partners’ to work together and promote a healthy and active lifestyle throughout
Lake Forest. The goal is to create 2-3 community events specifically for GO Lake Forest. They will be
promoting the GO Lake Forest at the upcoming annual Lake Forest Day 5k Fun Run. Mr. Busdeker
went over the Community Partners. The GO Lake Forest launching event will be a 2-mile community
walk on Saturday, May 19th from 9:00am – 11:00am. This will start at the Metra Station, downtown
Lake Forest. Board member Best mentioned an additional partnership with Lake Forest/Lake Bluff
running club. Board member Duffy inquired about adding adult equipment to some of the
playgrounds.
VIII. Golf Course Update
Vince Juarez, Kemper Sports General Manager, gave an overview of the Golf Course for the last year.
Currently, the state of the industry is showing rounds and participation is down. He gave an update
on the various things happening around Lake Forest with the closure of Highland Park, the opening
of Sunset Valley in August and the unknown future of Lake Bluff. Rounds are currently down;
however, the trends are looking positive. Mr. Juarez talked about the demographics and noted the
Junior Golfers segment is the fastest growing one in the industry with 2.9 million. The PGA has
announced that 600,000 new juniors have started to play golf. He talked about the Junior Discover
Golf program at Deerpath Golf Course. They are offering many options for this group of young
golfers. They are working on the winter program.
Mr. Juarez talked about the financials for FY17 and FY18. The question arose on how they are
accomplishing the lower expenses and what is being impacted. Mr. Juarez replied they have
reduced operating expenses in addition to payroll by streamlining staff, cross training.
Mr. Juarez went over the Rounds Summary (May-September). FY18 we are just at 20,7000 rounds
and in FY17 at this time we were at 21,193. Due to the flooding in July, we are 1500 rounds down
from FY17. We were very favorable to FY17. The rounds were down but EBITDA was up.
Mr. Juarez went over the FY18 financials pre construction and during construction. Pre-construction
revenue was budgeted for $340,705 green fees/membership and the actual was $469,515. We are
up 13.01% from FY17. EBITDA is up 29.67% from FY18 vs FY17. Post construction revenue decreased
about 9.95%. For FY19 we budgeted for $654,900 in green fees/memberships. Total revenues of
$1,712,873. Some of the increases we are looking at are the weekend morning green fees and
weekend utilization after 10am. Other increases include cart fees and rate increases on clinics.
Discussion followed on the FY19 11% revenue increase and how this will be achieved.
Mr. Juarez went over the 5-year revenue for FY19-FY23. With construction, the revenue will
continue to increase year after year. Revenue growth does represent the closure of Highland Park
and Sunset Valley opening in August 2018. We were able to retain several members from Highland
Park and several events will be kept at Deerpath. The 5-year EBITDA trend shows a growth over the
years with construction. We show a 62% return on investment over a 5-year period. For the FY19
overview, there will be a “ceiling” increase of 5% maximum on weekends and 3% on weekdays.
There will be a golf cart and driving range increase as well. The Senior Resident membership fees
will remain the same. Some of the items driving the revenue is outings (27 total events), clinics,
community events, outside banquets and dynamic pricing. The True Review data report showed an
increase in the service rating and showed a tremendous overall rating Net Promoters Score of 70.5.
Mr. Juarez concluded with emphasizing on continuing to provide best in class service to Lake Forest
community with a first class golf course. Focus will be made on food and beverage growth. With
Master Plan projects being completed, they will focus on improving and continuing to grow. Board
member Walker asked how Deerpath rates on performance to a public course. Deerpath is in the
top 10% of Kemper Sports’ portfolio.
Chuck Myers, Superintendent of Parks, Forestry and Cemetery gave an update on the current
construction at the Golf Course. The project for drainage was completed last fall with sodding to
take place and two holes still needing asphalt. We have made significant progress with the
continuous cart path. The bridges needing repair last year are finished. Board member Maguire
inquired about our plan in regards to pest management with herbicide/pesticide. Mr. Myers replied
we are looking at areas we can convert to natural grasses and reduce chemical use. Kemper Sports
has a program called Green to a Tee to help reduce the amount of overall chemical and fertilizer we
use.
IX. Comments by Director
Director Swarthout talked about the exciting upcoming events scheduled in April and May.
1. Smelt-O-Rama – April 21st from sundown to 10:00pm at the Forest Park Beach Pavilion
2. Lake Forest Dance Academy Preschool Recital, Color My World- April 22nd at 11:30am and
1:00pm at Gorton Community Center
3. Family Drive-In Movie Night- April 28th from 4:00pm – 6:00pm at Lake Forest Recreation
Center
4. Lake Forest Dance Recital 2018 of Wizard of Oz & In These Shoes- May 5th & 6th at Lake
Forest High School
Director Swarthout presented the FY2019 Parks and Recreation Board meeting dates. These dates
must be approved before they can be posted to the public.
A motion was made by Board member Duffy to approve the FY2019 scheduled Parks and
Recreation Board meeting dates. Board member Best seconded. The motion was passed.
X. Comments by Board Members
XI. Adjournment
Board member Walsh motioned for adjournment and Board member Best seconded.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:09pm.
Respectfully Submitted
Dani Spann
Administrative Assistant