ONTARIO — Ontario Youth Sports (OYS) may organize city-sponsored events including craft shows, holiday events and family swim nights if city council passes a recently proposed amendment read at Wednesday’s council meeting.
The city parks committee interviewed multiple candidates for the role of recreation director after Heather Hendrix resigned in June.
OYS director Kenn Spencer said he plans to hire an assistant director if the organization takes over responsibilities of the recreation department. The proposed agreement was read for the first time on Wednesday and will be amended at least once before the next reading on Aug. 16.
“I think pretty much anything [City Council] has asked us to do, I’m proud of the fact that my board and myself have knocked it out of the park,” Spencer said. “If you interviewed somebody better, hire them, but if you didn’t, we’re ready.”
At-large councilman Troy Sapp said the city should take action as soon as possible so someone could organize recreation events including the upcoming craft show and Haunted Hollow trail.
“If we go three readings with this, then we’re looking at mid-September for the vote and if we vote no or yes, we’re just doing a disservice to them and setting them up to fail,” he said.
The agreement states the city would pay $48,000 to OYS annually for its recreation director responsibilities, including salaries and event costs. It also states OYS shall only use the appropriated money on recreation department expenses.
City auditor Mary Ann Hellinger discussed some of her concerns about the agreement during public commentary. She said the city has reduced the allotted money toward the recreation department from $30,000 to $10,000 annually during her tenure.
“Since the mayor and I came into office almost 10 years ago, our goal has been for the recreation department to be as self-sufficient as they can be,” she said.
“If this contract is signed any time during August, there’s not enough money in that fund, so I can’t sign the auditor’s certificate until that’s fixed.”
If the agreement is passed, the personnel committee would review OYS’ performance to determine whether the contract should be renewed no later than June 2024. It is proposed as a five-year contract.
OYS has organized the Marshall Park Concert in the Park series, the 4th of July Festival and other community events, in addition to multiple youth sports competitions. Spencer said the OYS team could improve the city’s engagement events.
“We thought we could step into a gap and do something great for our community,” he said. “But if you decide a month or a week from now that this isn’t the way to go, no big deal, we’ll still serve our community.”
Also in Wednesday’s meeting:
— City Council read an ordinance proposing to add off-street parking requirements for motor vehicle sale and service businesses.
— City Council read an ordinance proposing tax increment financing on certain city parcels to pay for public works improvements.
— The streets committee discussed ideas for how the city can display more banners to support veterans, specifically during the Memorial Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day and Independence Day holidays.
–The finance committee suggested designating the City of Ontario a community reinvestment area that can benefit property owners like Moment Development by giving developers tax benefits for making public property improvements.
