As of August, the West Liberty Youth Sports Program is now operated by the City of West Liberty’s Parks & Recreation Department, under Director Nick Heath, the West Liberty City Council approving the merger on Tuesday, Aug. 3, at their regular board meeting.
The action was among several recreation-oriented moves made by the council to provide better sports programs for families in the communities of the West Liberty School District.
“Youth Sports is a great opportunity for children to learn new sports, team building and just having fun,” said Heath. “We are excited to take this on and expand our recreation department. We are working with current board members to make the smoothest transition as we can.”
The not-for-profit Youth Sports program organizes teams and tournaments for youth from 4-12 years of age, or preschool to sixth grade. Youth Sports is a feeder program for the West Liberty School District.
Sports involved in the current program include T-ball, basketball, volleyball, flag football, tackle football, baseball, softball, track and soccer throughout the year. Fall registration has begun for T-Ball, basketball and football.
According to the organization’s former leaders, Dustin Noble and Shauna Laughlin, financial support has never been an issue. A majority of the funding for Youth Sports has come from the annual Muscatine County Fair Fun Run that typically takes place at the fairgrounds on the final morning of the fair, along with participation fees and other donations.
However, after a difficult year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and career responsibilities, leadership has asked the city to take over Youth Sports, something not uncommon in surrounding communities. The organization would dissolve due to lack of volunteers to help run the programs, according to Dustin Noble, president of the organization.
The Parks & Recreation staff, along with the finance committee and other city staff member recommended the city take over the program. “All believe the absence of the program would leave a huge void in the community as an opportunity early introduction to youth for sports,” the city pointed out.
Heath recommended the city provide a fee schedule for registration, consider upgrading an online access for registration and scheduling while also moving an employee from part-time to full time to manage the additional sports. Heath said his department would also look into future grant opportunities to support the program.
West Liberty Youth Sports was started by Tim Leggins in the late 1990’s and has remained a staple for organized sports in the community. Teams are managed by volunteer coaches.
Families are asked to be on the lookout for registration forms for T-ball, flag football, tackle football and volleyball in the coming weeks. Registration forms can be picked up at City Hall’s temporary location at 119 E 3rd St, or visit www.wlparksandrec.org.
On-line registration will also be available in the near future.
If you have any questions about Youth Sports, send an email to wlyouthsports01@gmail.com.
Pool repairs
City engineer Leo Foley reported there is a problem with a support on a slide in the Kimberly Park Pool, discovered by a state structural engineer upon an inspection. Foley said the piece may be able to be “patched or replaced and will further investigate the problem.”
Mayor Robert Hartman said he had a conversation with Heath about the problem as well and is encouraging an eventual replacement of the 91-year old pool.
Park master plan?
The city also entered an agreement for services with the Bi-State Regional Commission to assist with the development of a West Liberty Park and Recreation Master Plan. The process would include facilitation assistance, data research, inventory of park facilities and programs as well as coordinated analysis, mapping and document assistance.
The plan, to be completed by Sept. 30, 2022, would include up to six meeting between the groups to guide the development and completion of the plan, including a public input meeting and stakeholder input meetings to solicit input on strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for parks and recreation improvements for analysis. A survey may also be part of the study.
The process is expected to conclude with a recommendation for consideration of the plan document, with a public meeting anticipated to present the draft.
Council member Jose Zacarius made the motion to proceed with the agreement, unanimously approved by the council.
Cost of the study is anticipated to be $12,330, most of that going to a Bi-State Regional Planning Commission staff member, who is expected to put 248 hours into the project The project would be coordinated by Bryan Schmid a senior planner for Bi-State, with Gene McCulloughm the planning director, acting as an alternate, assisting with project oversight.
Recreation management
The council also approved the purchase of a recreation management solution software program known as RecDesk at an annual subscription cost of $3,700.Another program, CIVICREC, presented by CIVICPLUS of Foxborough, MA, had a first-year price tag of $5,500.
Heath said Rec Desk will be able to provide online registration for all youth sports, Adult sports, swim lessons, sign up for pool passes and camps. Residents will be able to reserve shelters, softball fields and it will have a community calendar with all reservations and events taking place.
City Clerk Lee Geertz said there are “a lot of moving pieces” to city parks and recreation and said the new software would allow a better accounting of finances and may require less work while increasing participation among families in park and recreation.Heath said he thought Rec Desk was “a little more user friendly for people using it.” He said it was also very easy to use on the back in for the administration to learn and deploy it. Another main reason was just the timeline of how quick the city could utilize it, noting the department should be able to have a good portion of it up and running by the end of August/first week of September.
“If it’s something that we don’t like after a year, we can easily shut down the site and look at other options,” Heath said.