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| The following summary minutes have not been approved by Simpsonville City Council. An official copy of the minutes will be available after adopted by City Council at City Hall 118 NE Main St. Simpsonville. Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, notice of this meeting date, time, place and Agenda was posted on the bulletin board at City Hall and faxed to the newspapers, radio stations, television stations and any concerned citizens. |
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SIMPSONVILLE CITY COUNCIL MINUTES BUSINESS SESSION July 10, 2007 6:30 P.M.
CALL TO ORDER: Mayor: I’ll call the July meeting of Simpsonville City Council to order. I’d like to welcome all of you hear tonight. Ms. Bodkins would you call the roll please
ROLL CALL: Ms. Bodkins: Yes sir: Councilmember Bridges: Here Councilmember Garrett: Here Councilmember Lawrence: Here Councilmember Bagwell: Here Councilmember Zitricki: Here Councilmember Larson: Here Mayor Waldrop: Here
Mayor: Thank you Ms. Bodkins.
Ms. Bodkins: Yes sir.
INVOCATION
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF 05/08/07 AND 05/22/07 Mayor: Okay, council members you have in your packets the Minutes of the meetings of June 12, 2007 and June 26, 2007. I’ll entertain a motion in that regard at this time. Ms. Lawrence.
Ms. Lawrence: Mr. Mayor I make a motion we accept the minutes for June 12 th and June 26 th as written.
Mayor: Thank you Ms. Lawrence. Do I hear a second.
Mr. Larson: Second
Mayor: Mr. Larson seconds. Thank you Mr. Larson. Any additions, corrections, comments, periods, colons. All right, hearing none I’ll call for the vote. All in favor signify by saying Aye (AYE) opposed No. The Aye’s have it – the minutes are approved and official.
REVIEW OF MONTHLY REPORTS Mayor: I know you’ve all reviewed your Monthly Reports I see some of the Department Heads back there and thank those folks for preparing those for us. A lot of good things going on out there in the Departments and we like to know about them.
CITIZEN COMMENTS Mayor: This is the portion of our program where we invite citizen comment. And if you’ve called ahead and asked to be placed on the Agenda we’ll give you 4 minutes to speak to us on any subject that you would like. This is our business meeting so we won’t respond to you – we’ll just respectfully listen to you and anything you have to say. If you signed in at the door we’ll give you two minutes to do the same and the same rules apply. There wasn’t anyone on the Agenda Ms. Bodkins – no one called in?
Ms. Bodkins: No sir.
Mayor: All right, we had a couple of people sign up at the door and I would invite you to come forward when I call your name and give your address for the record and then you may begin. First is Ms. Jane B. Morlan
• Jane B. Morlan – 216 Hunters Woods Dr. Simpsonville , SC Ms. Morlan: I want to thank you first off council members, ladies and gentlemen for allowing me to speak this evening and I’m going to work to make sure that I speak within the time frame as Mayor Waldrop knows quite well I can be quite long-winded, so I apologize for that. My name is Jane Morlan, I live at 216 Hunters Woods Drive in Simpsonville. I’ve lived there for 21 years in September which does not make me a native and it certainly doesn’t give me the longevity that Geneva has but I have had some longevity in the area. And I do care a lot about Simpsonville after having served on the Planning Commission for 12 years I believe it was. Since the Spring of 2004 I’ve been unable to go on my back deck or in my back yard without smelling sewage. It’s not just me, even though I may be paranoid, I’m not about this because neighbors would call me after their evening walks and say what’s the stench at the end of your driveway. Granted the slope of my lot is going to keep it from being the problem that some of my neighbors have had. If there’s sewage backed up to my house ladies and gentlemen, if you know my lot then we all need to be building arks and Steve Carroll won’t be able to help us. But I hope the problem and it’s solutions – I hope you know that those are of essence to me because I basically feel like I own three (3) manhole covers. I have one in front of my house, there’s one in my back yard and there’s one across the creek from me. The Hunters Woods Drive, and I’m taking as my departure point your minutes from your meeting on June 26 th . That’s what I’m really speaking to at this point and time. The Hunters Woods Drive scenario fixes the sags in the line and repaves the road. There are a lot of strengths in that. The parallel line scenario that you mentioned on the 26 th does not fix the sags in the current line and my concern is leaving the sags in place regardless of flow of volume of sewage is a problem. At one point in time a council member said we need to get the people together and see which we’d prefer to do. Most of my knowledge about this comes from hearsay, from seeing people in my back yard and going out to find out what they have to say and what they’re measuring for today. I would welcome any opportunity to get together and speak about this before all decisions are made. Repaving the streets included in the replacement scenario, and that’s a plus it seems to me. I was a little bit concerned about the cavalier method in which we talked about trees being cut down in the area. Those are naturally occurring trees. They weren’t planted by the homeowners deliberately in any easements. All of us know we have easements there. And it’s not just cutting down trees in the easements it’s also the ones that would be necessary to remove because of heavy equipment. The gentleman measuring in my back yard said that he would have to take down my fence and build a bridge across the creek for his heavy equipment to come through the yard because it was the only way to get to the other side of the creek. I know there was discussion about blasting. Blasting was necessary in 2006 and the rock’s not gone anywhere so it seems to me that if blasting was necessary 17 months ago it’s probably needed now. There are those natural growing trees and I’m greatly concerned for the ecology of the creek bank. We want to be sure that the cure is not worse than the problem and I’m someone who’s lived with the problem now for over 3 years in a very visible way. And I will as my ownership of my special attachment to these 3 manhole covers – I’m going to be dealing with whatever the solution is to by virtue of where I live. So I just want you to know that I’m living with it every single day, I want a solution, I think the City wants a solution and I appreciated Council member Lawrence making that suggestion so vividly in the last council meeting and I would beg you to find a resolution for this problem. I’m not sure what the right thing to do is. I’m not omniscient but I do know that this is a problem that we are forever soliciting people in our neighborhood. The Holly Tree people right now and one of the assets that we look at on the Planning Commission is City Sewer. Well I need City sewer, okay – after my 21 years at 216 Hunters Woods Drive . Once again, thank you for allowing us to speak and I appreciate your attention. You’ve also looked at me in the eye and I appreciate that to. Thank you folks.
Mayor: Thank you. All right next we have Mr. Joseph R. Chappell – and if you’ll just begin by stating your address for the record then you may begin.
• Joseph R. Chappell – 100 Hunters Woods Dr . Mr. Chappell: My name is Joseph R. Chappell – 100 Hunters Woods Drive Simpsonville. Mr. Mayor and members of council, I come before you this evening as one of the five most impacted parties to express my unalterable opposition to the proposed alternate sewer line that is now being considered by council. That we even have to address this issue due to the fact that the City elected to direct almost the entire waste flows of the commercial developments along Fairview Road through a residential sewer line that was never designed for such flows is unconscionable. In addition, in my opinion, the situation has been exacerbated by council’s decision to open traffic flow across Fairview Road on the Hunters Woods line thereby increasing the traffic flow and intended compaction of the eastern portions of Hunters Woods Drive . The phrases that most readily come to mind to describe this situation is at best benign neglect and at worst shear negligence. The commercial sewage flow should never have been allowed to enter this subdivision. But rather, should have been directed North on Fairview , West on Grandview and then down Davenport Road until it connects into the existing MSDD sewer line. That Mr. Mayor and council members is the real fix for the resulting problems that have been created. No to dump it on the backs of the residents of Hunters Woods. It is difficult to see how the alternate plan, as it stands, will not do significant damage to at least my property. The damage includes at least one mature tree, a hedge line and fencing. While the fencing can be replaced, the tree and the hedge line have been 20 years in development. That is just for my property. I suspect others down the line will be similarly affected. In addition none of this addresses the significant risk associated with disturbing the banks of the creek. This in itself should be a disqualification of the alternate plan. Hasn’t the City been affected by enough litigation concerning the creek flow and the damage in the subdivision. In summation I reiterate my absolute opposition to this alternate plan and pledge to do my level best to assure that it doesn’t come to fruition. Thank you.
Mayor: Thank you. All right those were all the folks that we had signed up so I’m assuming that I got all of them.
CITY ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT Mayor: All right, next item on the Agenda is the City Administrator’s Report. Mr. Hawes the floor is yours.
Mr. Hawes: Yes sir, Mayor and Council, first of all the City has hired a new Planning Director. David Dyrhaug started with the City June 29 th as its first Planning Director. He is hitting the ground running with meetings with the County Planning and GIS Staff and Al and Mike. He is getting up to speed on the Zoning Ordinance, Land Development Regulations, City Comprehensive Plan and Strategies for the future. He has already attended a Planning Commission Workshop. With this position we have instituted a fully functional geographic information system at City Hall as well. The Planning Development Services wing at the rear of City Hall has a new full sized digital color plotter and dual screen GIS. It also has plenty of room to look over site plans and create growth plans and maps. We will be having a welcoming meet and greet for David before the next Planning Commission regular meeting on August 7 th at 6:00 p.m. And I believe David’s out in the audience right now. There he is. I’d like to introduce him to Council.
Mayor: Stand up so everybody can see him. Welcome, do you have like a 30 minute speech planned or…
Mr. Dyrhaug: Yeah – well actually would an hour be okay. I am just excited to be here. I have no doubt in my mind already that Simpsonville is a great place to live and to work and just a great place over-all. I’m excited to be part of all the staff here and be able to work with all of you.
Mayor: Fantastic. Well welcome to Simpsonville – we’re expecting big things. Let’s give him a hand. He speaks very well. You still have the floor.
Mr. Hawes: Yes sir, thank you. We have a thank-you event for employees planned at City Council’s recommendation and request. We’ve scheduled a get-together for all City employees and their families the evening of Saturday, August 11 th from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm. This is to thank everyone for all they did in pulling together to make Freedom Weekend Aloft a rousing success. We’ll be having a full spread of BBQ, assorted acrutements, plenty of kid’s activities and a really rocking band, Strictly Business, on the amphitheater stage. We want everyone to come and spread out in our brand new amphitheater, relax and know that we all appreciate their efforts and thank them for a job well done.
With regard to assorted City Projects – following Freedom Weekend Aloft we sent a simple questionnaire to City restaurants and hotels, asking their impressions of the event. Was it a success? Did it benefit them directly? And can we do anything to improve it for them? We have begun receiving responses. We will use the information gathered to make next year’s Freedom Weekend Aloft all the better for those whose collection of hospitality and accommodations taxes made Heritage Park possible.
Also, the logo and positioning work is in the final data gathering stages. Booklets with sample logos were distributed to individuals visiting or living in the City. Responses are being tabulated and I should have more at our next meeting. Those are the booklets that I handed out to you beforehand. You can take a look at those. About 250 of those went out to folks just to get an idea – the consultants that did this – get an idea for what types of logos they like, definitely not necessarily any of the logos in there would be the final logo, but you can get an idea for the direction and what really grabs people.
We are moving forward with speed humps on Westwood Drive with the applications in the new budget. Speed humps installed will be prefabricated and placed at appropriate integrals.
The Municipal Association Greenville Conference is taking place this week. It’s their annual conference and the City of Simpsonville will receive the 2007 Municipal Achievement Award for Heritage Park . This will be conferred on Saturday morning at the Awards Breakfast. The City will participate with a display table on Heritage Park for all the conference attendees to peruse. We also will be directing a tour of the park for any Municipal Delegates interested. We will have a 56 passenger bus leaving the Hyatt after the awards breakfast. The tour will include lunch at the CentrePlex, a ride on the Simpsonville Family Railroad and a walk-through of the amphitheater. Sign-ups will be at the Heritage Park display table during and after the awards breakfast. We’re excited to be working with the Municipal Association to present our beautiful park to City officials from around the State.
As far as upcoming events the next City Council event is our workshop July 24 th .
Mayor: Okay, thank you Mr. Hawes. Now we’ll go with Council Comments and see if any of you have any responses to that or anything else you want to say. Ms. Lawrence.
COUNCIL COMMENTS Ms. Lawrence: I just want to confirm Mr. Hawes, the Heritage Park – they’re going to arrive there about 11:00 is that correct
Mr. Hawes: Actually they leave from the Hyatt downtown at 11:00. They’ll be arriving around 11:30 at Heritage Park .
Ms. Lawrence: And this is Saturday coming.
Mr. Hawes: That’s correct.
Ms. Lawrence: Okay, all right. That was all I had thank you.
Mayor: Okay – next – Mr. Larson
Mr. Larson: What kind of planning are we doing for future events at the amphitheater.
Mr. Hawes: We’re involved right now in determining what promoters we can work with. Nobody at the City has the direct expertise in hiring major league bands, so we have to go through promoters. We’re looking at consultants and promoters that are experts in the field and we are absolutely moving forward with what we hope can be a 20 act booking for next year – for next summer, with most of the bookings primarily on the week-ends is what we hope. We feel those will be a better time to draw large crowds. And we want to coordinate that and we’ve been coordinating with Robbie Davis and the recreation department so that we don’t I guess over-book the park so to speak with regards to having a baseball tournament and a large scale concert. But one of the things that we’re looking at is what exactly do we need to do to the park to bring it up to the amphitheater specifically, to bring it up to the level of a mid-level facility – mid-size facility for major league acts and as has been discussed previously – covering the stage with a permanent stage cover, the ability to hang speakers and lights from a structural steel framework at the stage level and adding some permanent structures out there is first and foremost what we’re looking at.
Mayor: Okay – anyone else. Mr. Larson
Mr. Larson: What about an update on the streetscape project.
Mr. Hawes: Streetscape is underway. They’ve had workers out sporadically I guess is the best way I could put it over the last two weeks. They’re finalizing exactly where the underground cuts are going to be and working with the utilities to make sure those are put in. We just got the orange roll of conduit that you see in the back yard of City Hall – brought back by Verizon. We had to get that back from them because they – when we were not working on it during Freedom Weekend Aloft basically, they wanted to make sure that they had control of it so we had to get that back. So we got that brought back about 4 days ago.
Mayor: Who is this they that’s finalizing all this stuff
Mr. Hawes: The utilities
Mayor: I don’t know you said they are finalizing putting in underground power lines and all that
Mr. Hawes: Oh – it’s Public Works
Mayor: Public Works
Mr. Hawes: Yes sir.
Mayor: This finalizing has been going on for a long time.
Mr. Hawes: They is also including SCDOT, all of the utilities and so forth so yeah.
Mayor: Okay – great – Ms. Bagwell
Ms. Bagwell: Mr. Hawes, I’ve been asked by several citizens what is the process to go through to get the speed bumps which you were discussing getting on Westwood Drive . What is the process in that.
Mr. Hawes: The process is a petition to be circulated amongst the neighbors on the street as affected – we would look for 75% of the population of that street to sign a petition at which point it would be placed in a que for review for the appropriateness of speed humps and for funding.
Mayor: Okay – anyone else. Well I have one thing. I hope everyone here saw the South Carolina ETV Production called When The Mill Closes Down, which prominently mentioned Simpsonville and what good fortune we’ve had with our mill here in town. They’ve re-run it a couple of times. If you haven’t seen it it’s likely that you may still be able to catch it sometime. It’s in their Carolina Stories series. Beryl Dakers who is the big star down there sent me a very nice note talking about what a wonderful community we had here and what a good time they had while they were here shooting and along with that she sent a DVD to be placed in the City archives, which I believe is located in the left-hand drawer of Pam’s desk. But at any rate to be placed in the City archives for all of us, those in the community – however you handle checking out archives to see. So I wanted to thank Beryl and SCETV for that and Pam I’ll give you this right after the meeting and you can have it down there for anybody who missed it on T.V. and would like to take a look. Just contact Pam and leave your wrist watch with her and she’ll probably let you take a look. Okay, last call, anymore council comments. I knew you’d have one more – Mr. Larson
Mr. Larson: What about the 4-way stop on Richardson Street . I thought that was supposed to be put up temporarily by us until the State put one up or…
Mr. Hawes: We cannot do that until we have a work order and we still are awaiting the work order. I spoke with DOT representatives today as a matter of fact wondering where that work order was because it was supposed to arrive last week. They said that it has not been produced yet and I said well we expect it to be produced immediately. They did say once the work order was in they expect they can put it up on a very timely fashion, within a week of when they receive it.
Mr. Larson: But we don’t know exactly when that will be received.
Mr. Hawes: They wouldn’t say.
Mayor: Okay – oh okay –
Mr. Smith: I can tell you that part of the problem with this is the approval process. Because under the new reform process that was done for DOT they can’t make those decisions on those things locally here now. And since the Governor has not appointed anybody at this point in time to be the new Secretary of Transportation because they just approved that it went into effect July 1 – they’re trying to figure out how we can get this ting approved. So that’s the delay. I talked with them about that last week to.
Mayor: Okay – that’s highly out of order – sir I can’t let you speak (laughter) Thank you. Ms. Lawrence
Ms. Lawrence: Well on the heels of those stop signs you said you were going to try to get the ones on Curtis and South Street
Mr. Hawes: That’s going through the same process right now from what I understand. If that’s what your question is.
Ms. Lawrence: Yes, that’s my question thank you good.
Mayor: Okay. Thank you all.
OLD BUSINESS: • Hunters Woods Sewer Line Mayor: All right Mr. Hawes next on the Agenda is Old Business and under Old Business first is Hunters Woods Sewer line. You have the floor.
Mr. Hawes: Yes sir, Mayor and Council, staff was requested to look further into the impacts – pros and cons of various scenarios, really three scenarios that we were considering, one of which being replacing the existing 8 inch sewer line under Hunters Woods Drive in site basically, which involves removing the asphalt from Hunters Woods Drive, replacing the manholes and basically relaying the 8 inch line at a 1% slope where it’s currently at about .5% ranging to 3% as you go along the line. This would basically even the slope to an even 1% for the length. And that was a scenario that has been considered from the beginning and Mr. Frazier, who was speaking to council last – one of the last meetings suggested that that would be appropriate with replacing these swags and bellys that he found in the existing line. The second scenario was similar to that however it involved going a little further to get a higher level of slope. And that was suggested by Mr. Zitricki that we consider that with regard to the additional costs and the benefits of taking it further – one manhole further basically to get perhaps more than a 1% slope along the line. That scenario was analyzed as well. The third scenario was an alternative that involves paralleling the existing line and removing all commercial flow from the existing line that is on Hunters Woods Drive right now. Removing that flow and putting it on a parallel line that would basically be situated next to the existing new asphalt road between the apartments and the Enclave at Fairview is the name of the apartments and the creek. This line would run along side that road on the Hunters Woods side of that road and then divert towards the creek and I’ve got maps – I’ll describe it on the maps in just a second – divert towards the creek and below the detention facility and then meet up with an existing manhole. This would be a 10 inch line. It would be a new construction line and the existing 8 inch line that it connected to would be replaced with a 10 inch line through two manholes and then it would connect into an existing 10 inch line. So in effect, creating a 10 inch line to carry commercial sewer off of the Hunters Woods Road area and on the other side of the creek. Now all of these scenarios have certain aspects to them that can be regarded as negative or positive depending on how you look at it. With regard to cost the – the costs are virtually – they’re very comparable. Let met put it this way – they’re within the realm of contingency basis of one being comparable to the other with regard to any contingencies that might be on these line scenarios. On these replacement or new line scenarios. So the costs are almost negligible in differentiating among the three scenarios except for the fact that the one scenario which would – that Mr. Zitricki suggested – the benefits that would be gained by going that extra manhole were found by Mr. Frazier or actually I think it was the Site Design analysis were found to be negligible for the cost. So that scenario – while we can still look at that if we were to go down the road – at first glance appears to be without the amount of benefit necessary to justify the cost. The analysis, I’m going to take a look at this map. You all had electronic versions of this map – pdf’s that were e-mailed to you and it was virtually incomprehensible when looking at it on a computer screen so if you’ll allow me to approach
Mr. Mayor: Please do. Do you have a tri-pod that you can mount them on so everyone can see them so the folks in the audience can see them also.
Mr. Hawes: I can lay them right across here – well okay – Okay – here you go – all right this first one – this is Fairview Road right here – well maybe –
Mayor: Pretend you’re a tri-pod back there
Mr. Holmes: I’m trying
Ms Bagwell: Excuse me for just a minute- which map is that for my electronic version and my eyesight
Mr. Hawes: This is the map that was created by Site Design showing the parallel line between the apartments and the creek.
Ms. Bagwell: So this is alternative number 4.
Mr. Hawes: Correct – well okay I’m sorry it’s 3 of the ones we just talked about but Site Design calls it alternative 4 because they eliminated a separate alternative.
Mayor: I’m really confused now –
Mr. Hawes: It’s the parallel line on the side of the creek with the apartments. Basically what it shows is the line would run along side the road, if you call can see that, and divert down below the detention facility at which point it starts encountering some larger tree groves. In these tree groves basically there would have to be some clearing of trees, about 5 on the property – 5 trees of over 6 inches diameter at breast height would have to be removed on the property where the apartments are. As you move onto the property owner – first property owner at the end of the cul-de-sac in Hunters Woods – it’s just an extension of what we just showed. As you move in there – there are a number of trees – he has about 18 trees on his property – about 6 of those trees may need to come out in order to accommodate this line. This would be a new right-of-way that would be acquired by the City in order to accomplish this. Similar on the next property. A similar grove of trees. About 12 trees would remain and about 5 would come out on the next property. This would be along a right-of-way 12 feet each side of the actual location of the sewer. So it’s a 24 foot right-of-way. This would extend to an existing manhole where it comes down I believe it’s behind Ms. Morlan’s property. And from that manhole would continue in the existing right-of-way that we have currently – the 8 inch pipe would be replaced with a 10 inch pipe. And actually since that’s an existing right of way it’s fairly clear right now. There’s really only scrub type brush – no major trees in that right of way – anything over 6 inches in diameter that would be impacted here. So once you get past that manhole the amount of removal of trees is negligible. So, you’re looking at somewhere between 15 and 20 trees total for the length of the project for removal of full size trees – 6 inches in diameter and above.
Mayor: Would this give Ms. Morlan any relieve from her problem.
Mr. Hawes: I’m not an engineer so it would be difficult for me to answer that – I can speculate on it. I would speculate that when you take the flow through a larger pipe and move it quicker and it should.
Mayor: Well let’s don’t speculate. Did the engineer not mention any of that because I know this problem was mentioned before. Did the engineer have any comments
Mr. Hawes: He didn’t have any comments upon – specifically about any smells.
Mayor: Okay
Mr. Hawes: He was – we were looking at trying to relieve issues with the swags, bellies and so forth. So – so anyway – any questions about what you’ve seen here so far. I’ll be glad to leave these up here so folks can peruse them and they can see them.
Mayor: Any questions – Mr. Bridges
Mr. Bridges: I understood from talking to Joe that we’re really not sure that we can do this yet that we’d have to get some more studies or something more we’d have to have before we’d know whether it would work or not – is that sure or what
Mr. Hawes: I don’t know what Joe said necessarily. I can say that we’ve about studied this thing about as far as we can study it in my opinion. I was going to get to – I know one of the things we were requested to look into was the possibility of blasting. With regard to that we fully intended to have that complete for you tonight. However, with the 4 th of July Holiday Site Design, which did the analysis just got to staking the property today and before S&ME, which is the geotechnical firm that would do the core sampling and check to see the need before any blasting they had to have it staked. They had to know exactly where they had to drill and the staking occurred today. So I mean we could not have the core sampling done because of that. And I do apologize to City Council for the level of presentation and so forth. We expected to have something quite a bit more than this but we received this information just this afternoon and it’s been difficult because basically folks that were doing it were on vacation last week because of the 4 th of July and we got what we could. Part of what we did receive was memoranda describing the analysis by Site Design and by Frazier Engineering. Both of the analysis looked into the feasibility and appropriateness of specific treatment for the improvements. Frazier Engineering actually recommended his – I guess his best case scenario for resolving the issues with the swales – the swags and the bellies under the street was to place a line through the back yards of the houses on Hunters Woods Drive . That’s never been considered by the City. I don’t think that that’s feasible because they’re landscaped – and they’re – you’d be talking about multiple new rights of way and so forth on the Hunters Woods side of the creek with the existing houses. That was his favorite scenario. He also recognizes and you have this memorandum, it was sent to you this afternoon. You may not have been able to read it entirely, but I’ll synopsize basically that he says while that would be an optimal scenario the realistic – the facts of the matter is that’s pretty unfeasible. So his choice would be to go down the existing road and replace the line in the road to a 1% basically scenario 1, which is what we had put forth as one of the scenarios.
Mayor: So he’d favor that over either of the other two alternatives.
Mr. Hawes: Correct. Site Design
Mayor: Hold on just a second Ms. Bagwell has a question
Ms. Bagwell: But he did not look at the alternative of going along the creek – Mr. Frazier didn’t am I correct.
Mr. Hawes: He didn’t look specifically at the engineering of it but he looked at the situation as he saw it and he said and this is paraphrasing his intent I guess as much of anything from what I read that if you don’t do what he suggested of going down the Hunters Woods side of the creek through these folks back yards the next best scenario would be to remove the street and replace the 8 inch line where the swags were. Does that answer your question.
Ms. Bagwell: I think so but he did not look at what Site Design had engineered on the other side of the creek. He didn’t look at that option at all.
Mr. Hawes: No he didn’t. Not that I’m aware of. Site Design on the other hand looked at all the options. And Site Design was who we had asked to take a look at the options since the last council meeting. Site Design basically said that anything short of removing the asphalt and replacing it in place will leave the swags and the bellies in the existing line. Now those may be approached with point repairs that weren’t addressed here. That’s something that could be considered if you did the parallel line then you could do the point repairs on the street but then you’d still be digging up the street to an extent – not to the great extent of closing it for two months as you would with the scenario with replacing the entire line down the street but Site Design’s favorite scenario would be to do the number 1 alternative which was go down the street, so basically their two recommendations are the same.
Mayor: So they agreed that that’s the best scenario of the 3 including the one that they did.
Mr. Hawes: In their round-about way of saying it yes. I mean that’s what I – that’s what I gather from reading their analysis.
Mayor: Okay – Mr. Larson
Mr. Larson: That’s to go down Hunters Woods Drive and replace the one all the way down.
Mr. Hawes: It’s to go from manhole 1 through manhole 4 to get that 1%
Mr. Larson: And that would take out the swags and increase the slope
Mr. Hawes: Yes sir.
Mr. Larson: And doing that would be roughly the same cost as running the alternative line
Mr. Hawes: Roughly. And we do have grant money available as you are all aware – thanks to Representative Smith.
Mayor: Yeah –but he can’t speak.
Mr. Larson: That would still leave all the commercial coming off of Fairview Road basin into that line.
Mr. Hawes: That’s correct. I mean one of the things that the City looked at in requesting not requesting but looking at the parallel line was the fact that a number of the neighbors had said that we would like the commercial diverted. And the only way to divert the commercial is to do the parallel line scenario. You’re correct, if we just replace the 8 inch with an 8 inch and take the bellies and swags out then you still have the same flow going through the same line.
Mr. Larson: Well the way it looks on this map is if that alternative line was put in the Hunters Woods sewer would actually stop at that first manhole and nothing across Fairview Road would come past that manhole it would all be diverted
Mr. Hawes: Yes sir
Mr. Larson: So the first two homes on the corner of Hunters Woods Drive would be the beginning of that sewer line.
Mr. Hawes: That is correct.
Mayor: Okay, Ms. Lawrence
Ms. Lawrence: Well what I was going to point out was that that stretch of road could use paving any way so – and also the citizens I think have made it very plain to us that they’re not opposed to having that road shut down for a while. I’ve driven it it’s not that much further to go out to Grandview and to come around to the traffic light – there’s nothing at Wal-Mart that’s going to run away in 3-4 extra minutes and I just think we need to consider – well since – both engineers are in agreement with the citizens over there and I think that’s all we need to consider.
Mayor: Would you like to make a motion in that regard.
Ms. Lawrence: Yes I would Mr. Mayor. I would like to make a motion that we consider option number 1 as presented by Frazier to go from manhole to manhole 5 and replace that line and steepen the slope.
Mayor: Okay, do I hear a second
Mr. Zitricki: I’ll second that
Mayor: Mr. Zitricki seconds. Now we can discuss it. Any discussion. Mr. Zitricki
Mr. Zitricki: Thank you Mr. Mayor. I walked the line over the weekend and I was very disturbed that looking at how much of the eco system would be mis-managed if we put a line down the creek bed. You’ve got a lot of wildlife out there – a lot of big trees. You’re saying only 12 trees – I’m sorry 15-20 trees to be cut down that are significant. You’ve got to consider insignificant trees also they matter to – they take a long time to get to be 6 inches, especially wild trees. You’re going to disrupt all of that – all of the wildlife will be displaced, not just temporarily, a lot of it will be displaced permanently because you’re getting rid of the homes and everything else to the wildlife out there. There’s grey rox, rabbits and birds. A lot of birds. Then you’ve got to consider the creek beds that you’re going to be tearing up when you’re going through there. That creek bed’s already disturbed by the great flow of water you get. You can see how the water comes up and erodes that creek bed away. You’re going to be bringing heavy equipment down through there and doing even more damage that you can’t repair. So you’re going to take this natural wildlife sanctuary that we have at Hunters Woods and destroy it.
Mr. Hawes: First of all I’m not going to do that; second of all
Mr. Zitricki: No, no, I was just making a statement, I’m sorry Mr. Hawes
Mr. Hawes: You were looking at me the entire time so….that was a scenario that was being considered
Mr. Zitricki: That’s right and also since we’ve got these two reports by both engineering firms stating that the best scenario that we should consider is scenario number 1 for the cost factor and b) scenario 3 if you do the alternate line Site Design even states that it will not address the problem areas of the existing line, which you have cracks and swells and that may be causing the odor which some residents are seeing right now. SO you have to look at all these different avenues and consider which is the best approach to take. And I do agree with Ms. Lawrence that this is the right approach – scenario 1.
Mr. Larson: In the engineer’s opinions if we do the scenario 1 and replace the sewer line and fix the swags and the swells, it will be satisfactory to have that remaining commercial sewer come down through there.
Mr. Hawes: Yes, yes. It would actually by improving the slope it improves the capacity somewhat.
Mr. Larson: And when they were identifying trees over 6 inches I mean there’s a big difference between a 6 inch Bradford Pear and a 200 year old Oak tree. I’m wondering if they identified just anything over 6 inches.
Mr. Hawes: They surveyed the trees them as to what’s over 6 inches.
Mayor: Okay – Ms. Bagwell
Ms. Bagwell: And I’m not opposed obviously to the Hunters Woods Road option here. I do have a question though because I think on the Site Design letter when you say he recommends that we go with option 1 or 2 whatever it is. Actually what he – he doesn’t make a recommendation all he says is although alternate 4 removes much of the commercial load off of Hunters Wood Lane it does not address the problem areas of the existing line. Which isn’t in my personal opinion necessarily a recommendation. And I guess my question on that matter is you mentioned spot repairs basically. Would that fix both problems in fixing the swags and taking the commercial off of the line. And I don’t know – I don’t know – like Mr. Larson said there’s a big difference in a 6 inch Bradford Pear and a 20 year old Oak tree.
Mr. Hawes: I think what it comes down to perhaps is which scenario is the better of two evils or something along those lines. I think when we provide the pros and cons here we look at the direct impacts. How you rate those impacts is really up to you all. With regard to taking trees out – does that rate as highly as closing a road for two months as far as impacting either individual neighbors or the entire neighborhood. And we know absolutely what the direct impact of removing the asphalt from the road and closing that road is. It will divert traffic. So I mean there’s your direct impact. And it will be for a couple of months. With regard to the impacts to the creek bed it’s clear that some trees would have to be removed. It’s unclear at this point if blasting would be necessary and it is unclear what the absolute impact of removing those trees would be. Because as Mr. Larson had said, I think it was Mr. Larson – about the size of the creek – well it was Mr. Zitricki actually he said some of the smaller trees haven’t grown up yet they have root structures that may be holding the eco system to an extent. So when you clear and bring equipment down there there is an impact there. The question City Council has to reconcile is which is the better choice. Now the engineers they look at the specifics the costs, and the overall benefit of the improvement at the end of the day. I think that’s probably what they were looking at more than anything else. And you’re absolutely correct – there’s not a clear recommendation but you have to infer from what is stated and it’s both alternate 2 and 3 address the situation with alternate 2 being the most economically feasible. Alternate 2 being what we call alternate 1. They’re saying that the most economically feasible is going right down the middle of the road. Then they put a caveat with that “It is our opinion that the slight increase in the slope of the lines, does not justify the cost of alternate 3” – so that’s talking about Mr. Zitricki’s suggestion from last meeting. Although alternate 4 removes much of the commercial load off the Hunters Woods line it does not address the problem areas of the existing line, which you bring up point repairs may be able to address. So getting back to your question which is better- is it better to remove the commercial flow and do point repairs, or replace the existing and eliminate the bellies and the swags. So that’s what the question is and the impacts are – one will be bad traffic or diverted traffic and the other will be removal of trees, disruption of the existing ecological scenario I guess, along the creek.
Ms. Bagwell: What is the closest point where we would be digging – if we went into the creek – what is the closest point we would come to the creek itself.
Mr. Hawes: When you’re talking about the area that the water flows – that fluctuates with the amount of water that flows through it – but at full creek – standard full creek we’d probably be within 10 feet at the closest point and that’s only at one point. The rest of it actually diverts from the creek quite a bit to answer your question.
Mayor: Okay – Ms. Lawrence
Ms. Lawrence: Well I was just going to say that we assume we have to look at the impact so we’re going to impact actually 10 houses to any degree for two months. Alternative 3 the parallel line is going to impact that eco system for 50 years 100 years – you don’t know. And since these 10 people have pretty much said they don’t mind being inconvenienced for a little while – I mean I don’t see why this takes so much discussion. It’s kind of a no brainer. But –
Mayor: Okay – Mr. Zitricki
Mr. Zitricki: We also need to take into consideration the public opinion on this matter because it affects people’s lives and their daily activities. I’ve gotten numerous e-mails I’m sure other council members have also – and not one of the e-mails was in favor of going down the parallel line. They were all stating they do not mind the inconvenience of having the road torn up for a month or two – possibly more than two months – but all they’re looking at is getting the line fixed without disturbing the natural habitat around them. So I’m saying many e-mails and public outcry saying they want the road fixed the want the problem fixed on Hunters Woods Drive with that existing broken pipe and swales or sags – not to go somewhere else.
Mayor: Okay – Mr. Bridges
Mr. Bridges: When we first looked at this I thought they would have a fit if we tore up the road for that length of time – but that suits me fine if that’s what they want.
Ms. Bagwell: I to have received I think it’s been 9 e-mails most of which – a large portion of which don’t even live on Hunters Woods Drive so that tells me a portion of the subdivision doesn’t care about the traffic situation. I am as close to Davenport and Grandview as I am to Hunters Woods Drive so it is not my fight and I know some of my neighbors seem to think I have a reason for it. I don’t. I want what’s best for this situation but what I will say is I did speak with two of the three homeowners that would be directly impacted on WillowBranch today. And they are open to listening to this coming down their back yard. They want to hear more before they can tell us what their opinion is. I truly just want the best situation. I don’t care if Hunters Woods Drive is closed for a year personally, I can go down Davenport . I’m close enough to it. I just want what’s best for the whole situation. It would be good to get the commercial off of this line. According to what the engineers have said, if possible. But they also turn right around and say leave it on there and just fix the line. So that’s where I stand with that.
Mayor: Okay Mr. Larson
Mr. Larson: I think – I agree with Ms. Lawrence – we have the funding available right now just to get this done and if we wanted to do alternative 3 with the second line we’d still have to acquire right of ways – there’s still more environmental studies to be done – at this point we could just move forward.
Mayor: Well I have maintained from the beginning that commercial sewer was not the problem – but Ms. Lawrence continuously pointed out to me that it’s a huge problem –
Ms. Lawrence: I told you it was quality
Mayor: Excuse me, excuse me – I didn’t interrupt you. And constantly that has been brought up in this discussion. So I thought moving the commercial sewer down on a 10 inch line that would give us a 10 inch line all the way through the community would be the best solution for this problem. I was shocked to find that you folks over there didn’t think so but I still thought that was the best solution. However, I also said during that time that we were doing all this mouthing that - Ms. Lawrence said we’re not engineers and we should be listening to the engineers. Well the engineers have spoken and I am pure when it comes to saying such things so if both of our engineers recommend that we go down the middle of that street then I’ve been convinced that we need to go down the middle of that street, if that will solve the problem and if we can get some assurance that we won’t hear about this sewer line being a problem again. And I just – I don’t want to keep beating this drum but Mr. Hawes I’m sure you’ve had lengthy conversations with these engineers. And I’m sure they can’t promise anything. But, have you gained any assurance from these people that if we do this it’s going to solve this problem. Or perceived problem.
Mr. Hawes: They’ve said this is the best way to treat the problem.
Mayor: You’re sort of dodging that aren’t you.
Mr. Hawes: I haven’t received assurance from anybody that anything is going to solve it 100%. But within what we can do to address the issue of the sags and the bellies this is what they have said is the best way to treat it.
Mayor: Would you go 75% (laughter)
Mr. Hawes: Maybe.
Mayor: Okay that’s all I need to hear. All right anyone else. Ms. Lawrence
Ms. Lawrence: I just wanted to tell you Mr. Mayor I have never said it was quantity I have always said it was quality because all those swags and stuff, but if we’re going to do it completely right we’d move it completely and go down Davenport on its own pressure system – but that didn’t wash either so this is the next best option as far as I’m concerned.
Mayor: Are you an engineer Ms. Lawrence
Ms. Lawrence: Mr. Mayor I feel like I’ve become one in the last two years.
Mayor: Oh well okay then congratulations. All right – any other discussions or nonsense like we’re doing now. All right hearing none I’ll call for the vote. All in favor signify by saying Aye (AYE) opposed No. The Aye’s have it it’s unanimous. You have a sewer. Thanks to everyone that participated in this lively discussion.
• Fields at Heritage Park Mayor: All right Mr. Hawes Fields at Heritage Park
Mr. Hawes: Yes sir, Mayor and Council, our Recreation Director brought a proposal to me three weeks ago concerning removing the grass on the in-fields of two of the six fields at Heritage Park . Currently three are non-grass and three are grass. The non-grass being called skinned fields typically used for softball and baseball. The grassed in-fields are typically used for baseball and not softball. So the Recreation Director, Robbie Davis felt it was worth consideration of removing or skinning two of the fields leaving a show field basically – field #5 to allow us to add more softball events to the Heritage Park repertoire. Certainly we discussed the expenses involved. There would be some expenses involved. We may or may not have to laser grade them. There has been some divergence of opinion on that. The laser grading would be about $3,200 per field. It’s really something that it goes to the feelings of council again whether they feel that this park needs to be the way it is now – which can accommodate baseball and your smaller softball tournaments - I mean full size baseball and smaller softball tournaments and have the three skinned, three grass infields or should we change direction and make it more available to softball tournaments but by removing the grassed in-fields create I think a little less of an impressive perception when appearances are brought in. In other words if baseball teams play and they’re now playing on five skinned fields you know the impression of you know sand-lot baseball or something along those lines. It’s really what council wants here. As far as the monetary gains there’s virtually none. We haven’t been able to determine if we can draw bigger tournaments with softball vs baseball or anything along those lines. As a matter of fact the park is basically booked every year for the tournaments it draws currently. I know that the coaches locally who use the park enjoy having their kids playing on the grass infields when its baseball and it’s just a matter of what council feels is appropriate if we want to do a change in direction for this venue. So –
Mayor: Maybe my memory is a little weak but weren’t the two of you or you’all going to bring us some exact figures for doing this at this meeting. Wasn’t that requested that we know what the exact cost would be to do this.
Mr. Hawes: It would be about $3,200 per field to laser grade. Just the cost of the dirt is about $1,200 per field.
Mayor: But I remember two different figures and I think the request was get together and figure out which figure was correct.
Mr. Hawes: Well as I said there was a divergence of opinion on whether we could get the quality field that we need and this divergence is basically from the people who maintain it – our department head who’s in charge of maintaining it vs the department head who’s in charge of putting teams on it. Recreation Department doesn’t feel that it doesn’t necessarily need to be laser graded – and it could be done for just the $1200 it would cost for the dirt. It would be $3,200 per field for laser grading once the sod is removed.
Mayor: Mr. Zitricki
Mr. Zitricki: Mr. Hawes you stated there’s nothing significant for drawing a better crowd if we do this. Is that true.
Mr. Hawes: That’s my understanding and that’s what I believe Mr. Davis said at the last meeting – it’s basically what type of event you want to draw. Do you want to draw some girls events – girls softball in to replace some of the boys baseball with the girls softball or do you just want to keep it a baseball primarily park.
Mr. Zitricki: But you did state that we are booked now with the fields like they are. And we have a world class facility and people like the grass fields. I hear comments all the time that people come from Easley and that area to play here – how they love the baseball fields – they’re fantastic. My concern is if we do this and we don’t have any numbers to justify skinning these fields what are we actually going to gain. Where as if we leave them alone and not skin them until we see yes here’s a significant draw we could get by bringing more softball teams here – I don’t think we’re going to lose out by not doing this. If we’re already booked there’s no gain. We’re just hurting ourselves for the aesthetic value of the fields. And the draw to baseball. That’s just my opinion.
Mayor: Anyone else have an opinion. Mr. Bridges
Mr. Bridges: I had occasion to go to Mauldin – my grandson plays in Mauldin – and they had just recently added grass to their fields so it’s kind of hard for me to see a reason for it – but whatever you all want to do.
Mayor: Well we’re actually breaking all the rules here because we’re discussing it without a motion. So before we go any farther would anyone like to make a motion regarding this issue. Mr. Garrett
Mr. Garrett: I’d like to make a motion that we leave Heritage Park fields grass as were originally designed.
Mr. Zitricki: I’ll second that.
Mayor: Okay thank you Mr. Garrett and thank you Mr. Zitricki. Now discussion. Mr. Larson
Mr. Larson: Well my first reaction was that I thought that this would be a good idea because it would open the field up for more – like for softball and baseball. But as I have talked with Mr. Davis and several other people I’ve gotten the same results that Mr. Zitricki and Mr. Bridges are saying. There is a lot of appeal to that grass on that field so I’m not sure we should do anything at this point until we do have a better idea if it would be a big advantage to the economic impact to make any changes at this point. I think one of Mr. Davis’ points was that there would be some savings in maintenance of the fields cost but you know we don’t have any real exact numbers on that and aren’t sure what the impact would be economically so I really don’t feel like we need to make any changes right now.
Mayor: Mr. Garrett
Mr. Garrett: I don’t really like to go against a department head’s recommendation but the reason I do that is because all the pluses I’ve heard about Heritage Park over the years has been open – and as far away as Montana people have seen this and commented on what a wonderful facility we have there. And if you’ve seen it from the air it’s spectacular. I mean it’s unreal. I just like the way it looks and that’s the reason I made the motion. Certainly not just to go against you Robbie.
Mayor: Okay – well I think I asked the question at the last meeting if it’s not broke why are we trying to fix it. But Mr. Davis I see this kind of loosing altitude here – would you like to come forward and maybe give us an extra thought or two to consider before it completely deflates or do you just want to run out the back door.
Mr. Davis: Discussion is good. Mayor and Council – like I said at the last one all this gave us was another chance to go for another market potential. Easley is the only complex in our area – almost the state that has some grass. After I talked to Mr. Larson yesterday he asked me a question about you know the marketability – how the other fields are doing with baseball. And I went on the web site and I got a little – some facts that Anderson has five skinned infields. They’re hosting this year 9 softball and 15 baseball tournaments on all dirt fields. Rock Hill has 5 dirt fields. They are hosting 13 softball tournaments and 11 baseball tournaments. Aiken has 9 skinned fields no grass they’re hosting 8 softball and 14 baseball. So the question was would the boys steer away from Heritage Park if they were skinned – that just shows you right there they’re playing on skinned everywhere. The question out here today is not – the question in the industry is how many fields do you have – they don’t ask skinned or dirt and all I was wanting to do was bring forth to you is this year to right now – we’ve had two softball tournaments and 10 baseball and not counting our Little League. After this week or next week when we play the Girls State here on one skinned field we will be having 12 baseball tournaments and one college tournament. So my - is what 22 baseball and 3 softball,. I’m not even in the ball park with these other guys as far as softball. Again I was looking to bring another market and as far as profitability I did a little studying on that to. Girls 18 and under will play on a 200 foot field and all six fields will accommodate women’s Olympic down. That field out there was designed for baseball to keep the adults basically off and for the youth which is about 13 and under. So now you’re looking at 8-13 in boys which okay – boys play 2 ½ hour time limit and girls play 1 ½ or 1 ¼ - yes there could be more money in girls because I’m bringing in 30 some teams as opposed to 20 boys teams – more teams more opportunities. So the potential is there. Now as I told you the last time there is no guarantee. I can’t give you a guarantee. I have no history. They won’t come here. They will not come to Simpsonville for a large tournament. I cannot give them that opportunity. I’ve got three fields and that was my reason of coming to you because where you guys again have – again it’s a top facility – I’ll give us that – we’re doing a great job. But I just can’t cater to the other market and they will not come here. They will not entertain it. So that’s a little bit of history and facts. You know on the reasoning that I and staff wanted to try to do this and that’s all there is to it.
Mayor: We’re having a real hard time getting guarantees here tonight but
Mr. Davis: I’m like Mr. Hawes – I’m not guaranteeing anything.
Mayor: Would you go 75% - no never mind. You mentioned Rock Hill – I’m assuming you’re talking about Cherry Park – Anderson
Mr. Davis: Entertainment Sport Complex and Aiken Citizens Park
Mayor: And they do – all those facilities do adult softball do they not.
Mr. Davis: Those facilities have adult softball also.
Mayor: SO those figures you’re giving us are those only youth games
Mr. Davis: No these were all youth because I took out all the adult. They have adult on top of this. Those 3 complexes were built for men’s softball fields. They were built. They have seen where the market is and brought them back down because they’ve seen the market in the growth in baseball and softball. So –
Mayor: These conference tournaments that you’ve told us about – that’s pretty exciting stuff especially since Furman’s coming. But is that predicated to us having those fields skinned
Mr. Davis: No sir. She’s coming – knowing she only has 3 fields.
Mayor: You know you’re not doing a real good job of keeping that balloon floating.
Mr. Davis: I’m just giving you the facts.
Mayor: I was with you for a while but I’m getting kind of week Robbie.
Mr. Davis: Well I’m saying she likes the complex so much that she’s willing – now again – she’s going to be hindered by numbers because she can only do so much and so many days on 3 fields. If she had 5 she might could bring in - we might have more teams coming in. But she knows scheduling she’s limited to 3 fields and the numbers of teams she can bring. And that’s it.
Mayor: Okay – Ms. Bagwell
Ms. Bagwell: I want to make sure I understand you correctly. We could actually consider having almost twice as many girls softball teams play in the same amount of time it takes a boys baseball team to play.
Mr. Davis: That is correct. Now again – with no guarantee – I can’t guarantee I can make them come here. But
Ms. Bagwell: But it would make it more of an option
Mr. Davis: Yes ma’am it would.
Mayor: Mr. Larson
Mr. Larson: That was my question indirectly – was how many games a day could you have on a single field. Softball usually goes about an hour and a half drop dead time limit and they start at 8:00 am and 10:00 or 11:00 at night. I don’t know exactly but in baseball it’s about half of that. Now again, I can’t guarantee that they will come – you know – but I know now they’re not is what I can tell you. And that – probably what happened is in the first year – first second years – you’ve got to get them here first to give them a taste in their mouth to lure them from Spartanburg and Anderson and places like that – we may only have five girls tournaments the first year and still be loaded up on baseball but then at some point it could come to a good even distribution – but again
Mayor: Ms. Lawrence
Ms. Lawrence: How many teams participate now on the average in one of our baseball tournaments.
Mr. Davis: For us to make – to answer your question we’re probably getting anywhere from a range of 12-20 on a consistent basis with baseball tournaments.
Ms. Lawrence: What about softball – when you go take your girls to a softball tournament how many teams are you seeing at a softball tournament.
Mr. Davis: I was in Aiken and there was probably 30-40 teams there. Now that was the ASA State – that was a big one. On the average you know probably the same amount.
Ms. Lawrence: See I just – I like grass fields to – don’t get me wrong they’re pretty. But looking at it from the financial side I believe we’ve got to do better. If we’re going to make a go of it because this is what we promised this is what we borrowed the money for and built the park for – even though yeah it’s great for our kids to play on – it was the outside people that we promised businesses we would bring. So I think – and to get – to open the market to the girls – to the bigger teams – if we have to skin the fields as good as I like the grass I just feel like we need to go for it. Because we’ve got to do better.
Mr. Davis: I wish I could really tell you why they won’t play on grass. I don’t know why they won’t play on grass. No high school fields have them and no colleges have them. The Olympics don’t play on them.
Mayor: But didn’t you say at the last meeting – and I think I heard you say here again tonight that we’re staying booked up.
Mr. Davis: Ye sir, we are.
Mayor: So I’ll give you a
Ms. Lawrence: It’s 12 team tournaments as opposed to girls could be 30
Mr. Davis: Some of those tournaments – when I say a tournament it could be 12 teams – it could be 8 teams. You know
Mayor: But no guarantees
Mr. Davis: No guarantees – It could be 24 or 30 I mean we have – we’re at the mercy of these t.v.’s to get teams in here.
Mayor: Ms. Bagwell
Ms. Bagwell: But it’s not going to stop the boys from coming if we skin them is the bottom line.
Mr. Davis: No ma’am. The figures I just gave you on those three complexes they are all skinned and dirt fields and they have just as many – they’re going there and they’re playing.
Ms. Bagwell: So as pretty as they are and we all like the grass – I like it to it’s pretty but its more feasible if we have the opportunity is what I’m hearing you say – we can possibly bring more tournaments and possibly make more money – we may not but what have we lost because we’re also saving in man hours where somebody’s having to go out there on a regular basis and cut those fields and maintenance and all those kinds of stuff right.
Mr. Davis: Yes ma’am and I will back up a step – I know it’s not all about making money for us out there. It’s keeping that place full – activity – people are spending their money in town. It is one of the most beautiful complexes I’ve ever seen and I’ve heard from all over to. It’s not going to devastate us if we don’t skin them but all I’m going to say one more last time is it would give us another potential and another market to look at.
Mayor: As a matter of fact it could be said that the longer games give the parents more time to run into town and spend money. Mr. Bridges
Mr. Bridges: I know on several occasions we’ve used these other fields when we have tournaments – what’s the possibility of using some of those
Mr. Davis: The only thing – Heritage Park lends itself to a great gated facility that we can control admission. City Park, College, Woodside – we don’t have a gated system where – we’ve had to overflow to Woodside before and we basically just had to give us a fee to use the field and go play. But we try to corral everything there – it’s easier.
Mayor: Okay I think we’ve discussed it enough. All right we have a motion before us and I believe the motion is to not skin the fields so a vote in the affirmative would be a decision in the negative. That’s that. So if you vote yes to the motion before us that means you don’t want to skin the fields.
Mr. Garrett: If it will make it easier I’ll withdraw my motion
Mayor: Well I don’t think it will make it any easier. I think we’re here.
Mr. Garrett: I mean if we’d had this presentation before I probably wouldn’t have made it. |