ONTARIO – Ontario City Council unanimously passed an agreement on Wednesday appointing Ontario Youth Sports (OYS) as the city’s recreation director.
This was the second reading of the agreement, which the OYS board also approved at their Wednesday meeting.
OYS director Kenn Spencer said he plans to hire a part-time assistant director to oversee recreation events. The OYS board is determining what the responsibilities will be for this position before advertising it.
“There’s going to be a learning curve for all of us, but we don’t want to hire someone until we are 100% sure what their responsibilities will be,” Spencer said. “We are planning our major events though like the December craft show, Haunted Hollow Trail and Touch-a-Truck.”
The salary and events budget for the recreation department will be $23,000 annually, a decrease from the originally proposed $48,000. Spencer noted some community sponsors and the craft show will bring in revenue as well.
The recreation budget must be spent on recreation department expenses. The city’s personnel committee will also review the OYS performance within one year of the proposed five-year contract to determine whether the agreement should continue.
“We will always work with the city and try to stretch the budget the best we can, then report back how it was spent,” Spencer said. “These are still the city’s parks and the city’s events, so we will operate at their discretion.”
OYS already organizes the city’s 4th of July Festival, Christmas tree lighting, yoga days and Concert in the Park series.
“We didn’t go into this wanting to oversee the recreation department or looking for a new position,” Spencer said. “We just didn’t want anything to fall through the cracks.
“I really want these programs and events to still be around for my grandkids.”
The city will continue to pay for Ontario Senior Center snacks, but OYS will oversee events including craft shows, the Haunted Hollow Trail, holiday events and family swim nights.
Menards self-storage construction delayed by EPA standards
Walker Lake Road residents Marc Vanerio and Ashland and Irene Butcher spoke during public comment about Menards self-storage construction bringing mud into their property during storms earlier this month. The Butchers own about seven acres of property east of Menards.
“The project manager looked at where water had overflowed on our property and talked to us, but we are still not sure how he plans to keep the water out permanently,” Irene Butcher said.
“As long as there are extremely high piles of dirt, water is going to run down off it,” she said. “We feel Ontario officials should see this and make sure it is corrected permanently.”
Service-safety director Kris Knapp said city engineer Mark Rufener shut down the storage construction under Environmental Protection Agency stormwater regulations about a month ago.
“So they are not allowed to do any building construction until this EPA stormwater waste management is completed up to the specs,” Knapp said. “We have not had a response back from them yet, but they haven’t done any new construction.”
Also in Wednesday’s meeting:
- City Council passed an ordinance allowing tax increment financing for improvements made to certain parcels.
- The safety committee approved $43,000 to purchase new Schmidt security cameras for the municipal building. The current camera system is about 25 years old.
- Knapp said the Ontario Police Department plans to heavily monitor school speeding zones as the school year starts.
- Council President Eddie Gallo said City Council members have talked with Reveille president Glenn Grisdale about setting up a community committee to help with the city’s 20-year comprehensive plan. The committee will be a minimum of 14 people and will launch this year.
