Orange County NC Website
Meeting Summary— Parks and Recreation Council <br /> June 6, 2024 <br /> Bonnie B. Davis Center Board Room, Hillsborough <br /> Members Present: Natalie Ziemba (Chair), Louise Flinn,Trevor Robinson, Gina Reyman, Xilong <br /> Zhao, Gregory Husketh, Chris Colvin, <br /> Members Absent: Rod Jones, Andrea Zimmerman (Vice-Chair), Allen Parker, Lilly Kohout, <br /> Staff: David Stancil, Abby Mattingly <br /> Chair Natalie Ziemba called the meeting to order at 6:34pm. <br /> Report of the Chair: <br /> a. Chair Comments—Chair Natalie Ziemba had no comments. <br /> b. Board Vacancies and Potential Recommended Appointments—Abby Mattingly gave an <br /> update on appointments. There is still an open Little River Township and Youth delegate <br /> position. An additional Hillsborough Township seat opened due to a resignation. <br /> Mattingly presented the two applicants. The council decided to wait to vote considering <br /> the lack of recent applicants. Staff will ensure that the new position is being advertised. <br /> c. Changes to the agenda— No changes were made. <br /> New Business: <br /> a. Approval of April 3 Summary-Trevor Robinson moved to adopt the April 3rd meeting <br /> summary, Louise Flinn seconded, all in favor none opposed, motion carried. <br /> b. State of the Parks Update: Dan Derby, Orange County Parks Superintendent, provided a <br /> State of the Parks Update. He presented a general history of the Parks division. In the <br /> past twenty years, the division has grown from a small staff of four people managing <br /> two parks, to a staff of 13 managing 12 parks. The Parks division has faced recent <br /> increased challenges, as the landscape crew left the department, leaving a gap in <br /> coverage for maintaining County owned facility grounds. The department has now <br /> worked to contract out the landscaping of grounds around County buildings. Derby <br /> believes that part of the stress placed on the division is the result of being unable to find <br /> individuals wanting to work in seasonal positions. He outlined some of the projects the <br /> division is working on. The Perry Hills Mini-Park is the newest park the County will <br /> create. Tennis courts for Fairview Park will be going out for bids once again as initial bids <br /> came in too high. Gina Reyman inquired into what the County anticipated the bids being <br /> for. Stancil informed the Council on the bidding process and why the bids came in <br /> substantially higher than anticipated. Derby talked about some of the parks and new <br /> events and programs. Ziemba asked if there was any outstanding maintenance of <br /> existing parks that needs attention. Derby informed that the Little River Regional Park <br /> has some pressing needs. The main buildings, the workshop, office, and maintenance <br /> building, all need updating, as well as a new road and playground. There also is <br /> conversation regarding updating equipment to be compliant with the new Climate <br />