Parks and Recreation Committee - Regular Meeting

Call the meeting order for the parks recreation committee board meeting. Sorry. Hey. Oh, sorry. Yeah, my bad. Also, if you haven't muted your phones, uh, please mute your phones and be sure to talk into the mic. Hey, let's begin the meeting with pledge of allegiance.

Hey, roll call. Gary Johnson here. Kathy Ce. Mary Heinman here. Jennifer Mueller here. Thomas Byron here. Mike Abbott here. Jay Erenss is absent. We have six for the quorum. All right. Okay. Next item. Approval of minutes from August 4th. Like to thank the vice chairman. Wonderful job of that meeting. You have a copy of those minutes in front of you. I make a motion to approve the minutes.

Okay, I'll second that motion. Thank you very much. Item I sorry I good catch. All opposed. Nay. All right. Pass unanimously. Uh moving along. So, approval of minutes. Public comments. I have no public comments. All right. Thank you very much. Meeting items. Old business. Discussion regarding a bid move the Oldtown Pavilion. Nikki or Dan has a memo from that. I I think what I'm seeing on the memo that there's no new information.

That's my understanding too. It's just moving along the next meeting. Uh, oh yeah, Jay did make the meeting too, Jane. Okay. Uh, discussion regarding improvements to the Fabic Nature Preserve overlook. Nikki has a

um Yes. As as indicated is that um $20,000 and that was um allocated in the 2025 capital plan for improvements to the overlook area in the Fabic Nature Preserve. These funds do not include um the work that's ongoing for invasive species, the staircase replacement project, the fence repair project, and the um or the overlook area. Um at this time, we're not selecting any um projects to be done in that area for this year. I would suggest that we just roll that for 2026. Um we do have quite a bit of work that is happening in that area. More will be happening this fall. We did receive note from the contractor from stat that I believe that they're going to Dan correct me start in Bud Wild this week and then their next and then they'll be moving on to uh Fabic Nature Preserve

for the staircase. They're they're the ones no stat is the ones doing the masonry wall repair wall repair and as of today we finally received multiple we were able to get more bids put together. A packet was sent to the board for discussion this Thursday um for what would be steel a black steel fence up in Fabic which will be a decorative it's called a majestic it's the it but it'll have a flat top it'll be where you're able to see through it'll be much more appealing and we were finally able we had uh three contractors bid the exact same fence and u we were able to submit that to the board today for review this Thursday so hopefully that project can get start moving along. Okay. Any other discussion?

I guess what I'm asking is do we want to continue this on the agenda as we have every month or would you like to just say that we'll we'll just roll this to 20 we'll ask to roll this to 2026. All right. I'll make a motion that we move that up to 2026 budget. I'll second. Okay. Show of hands. All in favor say I. I. I. All opposed. Unanimous. Thanks Nikki. uh discussion regarding the parch projects and the 26 budget. Nikki has a memo out on that also.

And as discussed last month, this is just um an ongoing discussion about items for the 2026 budget. Um the items that were discussed have been added in red uh font. There are three items that we are still um trying to get some numbers on regarding the drainage for the basketball courts in Fenton City Park. Again, it's going to be determined on what type of uh improvements we would do, whether it be an overlay or with drainage. Um repairs to the pass and the park stands trying to get some numbers put together of, you know, marking the areas that would need to be addressed. Um we will have all of this put together before the October meeting. Um and then finally the nature trail in Fabic Nature Preserve. We're requesting um I believe Mike you'd requested for that if you can provide us a map or something to show the linear feet something that just indicates the location that you're requesting that for.

Okay. It was about 2,000 feet long path and the uh master plan for the Budweis annex the one that this committee approved. Okay. So the one in the in the plan that'll help. Yeah. That was $7 per foot was what they told me. quote for passers. So about 14,000 what the bid from I'm sorry the the people that did the master plan for the Fabic annex. Okay. Is that about 14,000?

I don't know if this exactly fits the park and recreations department, but Dan, are you there? I see your name.

Yes, I'm here. Can you hear me? Yeah, thank you. I every time I walk on the greenway, I wonder what's going to happen the next big flood the way it's dished out. We now got rip wrap. I guess maybe foot and a half or two, maybe not even that big. It comes right up to the sidewalk and uh I I'm not one I don't know what I speak about exactly, but that looks like pretty tenuous before it could possibly even reach the road. And without a river road, it'll be a real mess around here. Do you know if any other actions are planned or bigger rip wraps supposed to? Not at this time. No.

Well, okay. Looks looks a little frightening. Trees are falling in around it and all that. I I don't know if we I don't see any other areas that have gotten that close along the river. So, I guess this will be first timer. Nikki, a quick question. The forbase uh forbase system for voted wild park is that the is that the floating islands that

um the forbay system for the um and I apologize on this one. I believe look at this one. No, this is not the floating island. This is this is a different system. Um and the forbay if I remember correctly and I will I will get this amended is that this is oh is something that we'll want to look at rolling actually to 2027 because they said it'll almost take a year to do the planning phase on that when we met with Missouri Department of Conservation last month. Okay. So that's that's something it's coming down off the hill from Budwe. So from the top of the favic it comes down which is actually what feeds bud and it's creating all these troughs. So they think that they can go in there and

I don't I didn't kind of like cutouts or just kind of diverting the water in different sections slowing it down so that it's not creating these giant gullies when it comes down the hill basically. And and I do apologize that's something I meant to move to the um and I will note that is for for 2027 because they stated if we would plan for this next year of the engineering that we would need to be most likely the project would not take off until 2027. There are um there's a playground for Benton City Park in 26 and also in 28. Are those two different playgrounds?

The one in 20 um Yes, that is two different playgrounds. The one in the front. Okay. The 2028 and then Westside Park in 2029. We'll put parks on there. Yes, that's the one in the back between shelters one and two. Okay. Shelters one and two is the is the one for 2026 and then 2028 is for the smaller playground area up front near um the main pavilion. The main

Thank you. Okay. Anything else for the wish list? Earlier this year, I think the alderman sent a staff member to a a state parks convention. Were there any ideas, you know, outside the box besides build another pavilion or anything coming that

note when she was sent to that it was um for her I guess for her certifi when she's working on her certification or renewing her certification, it was just a conference where they learn I I could have her provide some sort of update if there was anything addressed.

Okay. I didn't know if any new ideas fill holes at the park or something. I don't know if it would be 26 budget, but you know on my mind it's the naturecape playground in Fabic. Got the pile of dirt there and the rocks that could be rearranged. Save some of the cut down trees. Any other thoughts? Guess we got one more shot at it, right? Come back in October. Yes. Okay.

Um October will be the final as it'll be forwarded to the board that month. All right. Okay.

Continue this till next month. See new business discussion regarding material for rebounder board Fenton City Park. A memo from Emma and what it is is it was noted that um we were requested to look into maybe some alternative materials or alternative more sustainable materials for rebounder boards. Uh we looked at uh even my even I did some research on getting I guess pre-made pre but most of those are more for temporary use. They wouldn't be very sustainable in the park on how they would be anchored into the ground. They're more meant to you know bring on site utilize remove. Um we did look into um having concrete blocks put in uh something similar than to Sunset Hills. I don't know how aesthetically pleasing those appear. they are and it's not very attractive but it is an option or just doing the wooden which I will tell my understanding is those did last quite a few years before I think I don't even know if it was the floods it was just the use and over time so and it's probably the more cost effective um route also we're just looking for a recommendation if you'd prefer to stay with the wood type material or or look at something more like a concrete

I make a motion that we stay with the The concrete is ugly. I was I'll second that cuz it's ugly and to get it aesthetically pleasing, we'd have to paint it. And then we're right at the cost of the wood, which is where we should be to begin. Okay. The motion was to go with wooden one. Is that correct? Okay, I'll second that. I'm sorry. Oh, you already did. Okay. Thank you. I'll third it then. All right. All in favor of the wooden kick board, raise the right hand, say I. I.

All oppose. All right. Pass. Uh, next item up update regarding invasive species removal from the city's parks.

Yeah, there's going to be quite a few projects um starting this fall. Um, with invasive species, when you go to treat, the time you have to treat is when everything else around it is dormant. Um, you have to be very careful with your chemicals and spray. And as if you watch honeysuckle, you'll notice that it stays it stays very green much longer and come becomes green much sooner than um all the other um non-invasives that it's surrounding. So we are working with now two companies, a forestry cutter service and one that's a 40 forestry cutter service and they do invas uh invasive species treatment. Uh the board has budgeted $150,000 every year I think for the next five years to start working on these projects. And I just wanted to provide a breakdown to give you an idea of the areas of locations that you'll start seeing activity both this fall and winter and when the timelines are that you will see that this is all weather dependent. If we have if we have a long fall, they may not start till November. If we have an early fall, you may see them out at the end of October. Um they keep an eye on the weather. The next major thing you're going to see though is in Benton City Park where we have kind of a ravine area that's kind of a low it holds a lot of moisture. So we have to be careful on when we can get in there to do the work but it's to clean out those areas. Um they will be in there with the forestry cutter. Also multiple trees as you've seen have been identified for removal either diseased invasive in that area. So it's going to be a combination of Missouri um native um Missouri native stewardship services. I'm going to call them N MNSS. Um we'll be in there working with the forestry cutter. If you have never seen a forestry cutter in action, you should go down there and watch. It's probably it's a very impressive. Um it it's very impressive to see how these operate. It's what's been being used up in Fabic to address the honeysuckle along the aprons. Once that's completed, the goal is this fall winter then to go in and put plantings in that area that are

going to be native plantings because we still want to retain that area as the you know the repairarian area that it is, but just not with um it being fully um I guess with the overgrown vegetation that exists as it does now. So, it's kind of a twofold. That's going to be the the thing you will see most I do believe weather dependent because even with these pieces of equipment, they can't run in super hot weather. Um they're they're ve very delicate pieces of equipment. You'll notice with Vic, we've had a lot of downtime because of the mo if the w the the ground is too wet, which we're not going to have that issue right now. They're too heavy to get into those areas. Um but then you'll also notice that we're going to be doing some work in Bud Wild. If you haven't been up there in a while, you will notice some areas along the pavilion have started turning brown. Those invasives were sprayed in August and then they did a repeat September. They do plan to seed that area. Plus, we're also going to start looking at going around the side of the lake um in what we're calling area B um that you will see you will start to see some additional um honeysuckle removal. Again, what'll happen in this year is that the spray will occur in the winter. Then the removal will happen next year once it's b once it's been dormant that they've been able to spray, get it to a dead state, then they go into cut. Um in Westside, they're approaching they're looking at um the front area and a little different. You're going to see them being out actually doing some hand cutting and removal in that it's an overgrown area that for years and years by the city as my understanding is it was kept as almost a manicured lawn at the front of Westside. Then they decided to stop mowing to cut down on staff time. Well, what happened was the invasives took over. So the plan is is to get in there, get the invasives removed, go through the step process, but then turn it back into more of a prairie type area, what we would call a no mo zone, but it'll be planted with native plants in lie of invasives that take over because as you know, honeysuckle will grow in leaps and

bounds. Um, but just kind of going through, if you look, each park is getting a little bit of love. um not and not all the areas can be because this alone if you look at this just this composition not including what we're doing up in Fabic has a price tag of about $50,000. So but you will see the work going on. I just wanted you to be aware of it that this is what's upcoming and and again there's I can't give you a strict timeline. Um, it's always weather dependent, but this is the plan. And these are the this is kind of I tried to give kind of seasonally what you would be seeing in each park, like what time of the year you would be seeing those those items occurring. Thank you.

That takes us to tree advisory board items. Old business, none. New business discussion regarding uh this fall's park beautifification day October 11th. Another memo from Nikki.

And um as stated is that we will be holding the park beautifification day on October 11th at 9:00 a.m. in the shelter. Um and we'll be holding that actually in the main I I did get confirmation it'll be at the main shelter this year. um which I think was helpful the um last time we did it in that area for the fall beautifification day. I was able to get a hold of because these have been very um they've evaded us every year getting red buds through um the uh Missouri relief. So I was able to get a hold of those. We will be looking for areas to plant those if anybody has any ideas and it doesn't have to necessarily be just in Fenton City Park other places you'd like to see them. But the fact that I was able to just get a hold of them this year was amazing with the red buds and and I think I did add in five dog woods. Um but I'm just asking at this time I know we're going to look at cleanup and I know it's been requested to get some I guess additional mulch for the area that was done last year. I am working with boat landscaping to come in and do the sign area at the entrance. We're just waiting for now they're calling for this other heat wave to come this next week. We want to get through that and then they're going to go in and be planting in that area. Is there there anything specific in there that you want to look at for beautifification or is this more just clean up?

I would like I would like to see that one BM cleaned up that we mulched out this past spring that definitely needs some cleanup. Okay. The the one that was planted just to go in and do cleanup. And I think you were asking for additional mulch. Do we want to put more mulch down? It's pretty sparse in some spots. So, I think that that would probably be good. Okay. So, we'll probably we'll just kind of take a look at that to bring in mulch. And the other thing we can look at is that this is a good time of year to plant bulbs if we want to try to do bulbs again for the spring in that area or I mean, yeah, that would be a good spot. It's a high visibility spot.

Okay. I think we can work with that. Um, I know we are looking at something to do with um the I I I would I personally would like to work on the island over near Heroes Memorial that has the Bradford. Uh, we are going to be working with Gateway Tree to get that removed. The question is is how soon we can replant once that tree has been removed due to the roots. Will they grind out the stump or will they just They will, but the problem is is getting the getting you got to dig out the

all the roots. So, and and Dan and I have had a kind of back and forth on this. He thinks it might be best if we go in and actually rip out the roots. Whereas I know sometimes when you have a tree removal, you just have to let the area sit for so long before you can. But it'll be kind of, you know, um my understanding is that curb hopefully will be a little more um um tolerant of Dan on the Obcat. I think probably that other burm on the other side is looking better, but it probably needs some it probably could use some TLC to

Okay, get with me and I I want to get with an aerial with you and we'll go over the area so that we can just kind of um you know get some because BOP is always willing to never charges us just to come up with plans to help us with what kind of plannings we want to do. And um we al also are able now um use a couple of local nurseries to purchase so wholesale. Just out of curiosity, speaking of the beautifification date referencing your photos in the invasive species, there's a whole lot of red dots with trees being removed. Are any of those going to be removed between now and fall beautifification day?

My understanding is Gateway was looking to get back in Fenton City Park. And yeah, Gateway has the uh listing of trees in in Fenton City Park. Um he was looking at maybe next week or the following week to get back in there and start doing some work cuz that might be on the the agenda too is just kind of clean up after I know that they're going to remove but I don't know how well of a job they do that you know we're looking to beautify. There's a 100 trees coming out of Penton City Park. So, I'm sure there's going to be some debris that could be cleaned up to beautify.

Yeah, possibly. Um, they do do a in that repairarian area. A lot of that, some of those will be taken by gateway. Some of them will be taken by the forestry cutter. Um Um, but there will be some cleanup. There are some trees in the area that, you know, could possibly be removed that aren't on the list that are overgrown. Some tree trim, you know, minor tree trimming. Some other items that we could look at addressing, too. I I know there's some smaller trees around Fabic. I mean, within the park that are um there's I believe a red bud that Mary is fond of, but doesn't have a leaf left on it. So, maybe a possibility of replanting near there. And and speaking of that, just because they're all working on the other side of the park, I was going to mention in Fenton City Park at the not the last one that just happened, but the previous um food truck, there is a tree in between the pavilion and the basketball and the road to on the basketball court side that has a big dead branch on it. I don't know if that's been addressed yet. I wasn't at the last meeting to comment on it, but there were people there that were commenting on, hey, don't sit there. That branch might fall type of scenario. So, that may be if they're going to be in there, that maybe have them swing by and it's just one branch and otherwise healthy tree, but it looks like it's about to fall off the tree. So,

I will take I'll take a look at that tomorrow. Okay. Thank you. I think I know what you're talking about. It may have already been addressed, but I will double check and make sure it gets taken care of. Yeah, like I said, I I unfortunately wasn't able to attend the last meeting to say something about it, but I wanted to make sure it got mentioned.

So, um on that note, just as a um information is that we have a lot of work with tree removals around the city and pruning. We haven't even started on the pruning. Um at the last committee meeting the board did um approve moving forward and we're forwarding a contract to the next board meeting to get a second tree service um on contract. Um with with Gateway as you can understand we are not their only client. Um we have a lot of work to do and in the most recent situation is this year it started off pretty well but then the tornado occurred and a lot of these tree companies were pulled to go work in other areas because that was a priority. Um and that's why they haven't been in the area so much. between just the right ofway trees that we have. By the time we were done getting most of those removed, guess what? We're getting calls for new ones that need to go. Um, so we know that there's plenty of work to go around and the board even stated if we continue to get more bids from other tree companies, we'll even look at those as long as they're cost competitive because we have a lot of work to go around.

Yeah. Well, that one is mostly just because there were people sitt the residents there commenting on it. So, we are Yeah. All right. Well, let's see. I think that completes new business for the tree advisory. Um, one other question about fall beautifification day. Are we going to have enough work, if you will, that I should put it out to like the Boy Scouts National? There's always plenty of work to do.

And if you can give us an in, you know, in advance because we tried one year to have people sign up and that didn't work very well just to try to because we never know how many people are going to truly show up. Um, that's kind of on the day that we realize it or what we get on Facebook on likes and might attend things like that. But yeah, if you can, but yeah, we would love um and it's always helpful for them to kind of learn too. So, all right, park reports. Uh Kathy, bud,

park looks good. I had a couple branches that were laying. They were not laying in walkways or anything. There's one um going as you're going towards the pavilion just laying there on the side and then there's one laying on the side of the dock. Like I said, they're not in anybody's way or anything, but it just beautify it. But otherwise, everything else and the or the little building up there looks good and everything. And every time I go up to somebody's taken pictures, so it's well used, you know,

otherwise everything and as I stated, you'll start seeing more work happening. And of course the staircase is coming. They're um we're we're still coordinating with RV Wagner to get that for the concret and the concrete pad with RV Wagner. I know. Yep.

Okay. Marramat Greenway. Uh I stepped back and took a look at that compared to just a couple years ago and it really looks nice particularly between uh the sidewalk and the road. Those used to be uh adjoining trees. It was just a bunch of weeds and things that uh right now it looks really nice. We almost as good as the golf course, I think. Maybe not quite that good. But anyhow, there are a couple items still need some attention. There's a fallen tree log laying along the road. I don't know. It's been there a couple months, I think. Maybe not that long, but just kind of unsightly. There's a depression between the road and the sidewalk. It almost looks like the ground sunk a little bit, but the grass is with it. So, maybe it's been there and I never saw it before, but that's kind of midway between the power pole and across from the putting green on the right hand or the uh golf course side. And uh deck deck and the railing needs power washing again. And some of those posts are missing caps on them, but it looks pretty good. Okay, Riverside Valiant.

Uh, Riverside looks good. The basketball court, I mean, there's nothing really to report there. Uh, Valiant, I know there's a bunch of construction getting ready to start with the roof of the bathroom and it looks like they were filling in like bee holes or something in the uh fascia boards and stuff. So, uh, the park the playground looks good and bathrooms are usable. Rebellion is scheduled to begin tenatively right now mid October. They're waiting on the materials to arrive. Part of that is why you're seeing them is that they're going to wrap that fascia. Yeah. So help combat with

Okay. West side. So there's quite a bit there. you looked at my report, but um hey Dan, far as looking at the map here, when are y'all looking to take down these trees west side? When's that looking to happen? I don't have a definite time frame just yet. Working with our contractors on that.

Okay. Um there are several trees that are leaning over the playground area that are dead um or dying and they're dangerous. I was there this morning looking at them real careful um talk about people call them widow makers talk about the big limbs on us. So there's some really big limbs, big trees that looks like a strong wind would bring them right down on the playground. Um and I noticed as far as trees to be removed between the area of C, B, and A, uh I noticed there's basically just one listed there. There's about a half a dozen that do need to come down that are in bad shape. Just FYI was ever making up the marks on this. You need to look a little more careful.

Those marks came from a survey that was done at the end of 2023. So when our contractors in the area Yeah. I didn't know that. We had the survey done at the end of 2023. That's why I said with the contractor, we just got done with the right ofways. Well, we're ready to start again because of when the survey was done. Cool. Um, but when they're in that area, they address the area they're because it's more cost effective for us to have them when they're there. But this identifies the hot spots for them. Yeah, I figured that was probably the case. Pretty self-evident.

And we do keep a copy of this map, just so you know, online. And again, just addressing this is that we do keep it online and we update it probably around once the contractor's done some work around once a month that you can see in real time where you'll start seeing the dots moving to where it's been removed.

Okay, that's helpful. Thank you. Um, as far as um the walkway from Bent Trail subdivision into Westside Park, um, the decking is I don't know what it looks like. Bird poo, but it's not. There's white dots on the entryway. Dan, I don't really know how to describe it. I don't know if you've seen it. there. They're just like hundreds of white dots all over the walkway between the um guardrails.

So, we do have plans to hopefully try to do some power washing later this week or next week. Um that is one area that we are going to look at. Um that along with the playground at Valiant. Uh I did look at it. I couldn't tell you what it is, but I believe it'll come off at the power washer. Yeah, I figured that might do it. I couldn't tell what it was either. And then of course the railing themselves is full of mold and I'm sure you guys will see that when they're powerwashing. Oh yes. No, the whole the whole bridge will be will be powerwashed.

Okay. And um I know you I got the information as far as the uh wetlands floating wetlands will be real helpful. Right now only about 25% of the lake is visible for those who go to Westside where we have the bubblers. Um, if you haven't seen it, um, it's just where the bubblers are, the air raators. That's the only areas that are open currently. I'd say 70 to 80% of the pond is completely covered in algae. So,

so we we were advised by Missouri Department of Conservation during that extreme heat wave we had, they advised us not to put any chemicals in there or we had an extreme fish kill. Um, we did apply uh chemical, oh gosh, I think it was on Friday. Um, see if it'll work. We do have some other material that is on order uh to start addressing this fall and then Missouri Department of Conservation is going to assist us next spring and continue to treat this. Um, we did get a price in for mechanical removal and in discussions with uh Missouri Department of Conservation. Uh, the price is it's not cheap and we also have concerns about possible damage to the liner uh ripping, you know, the tail that were that is very invasive uh doing damage to the liner of the of the lake. So, we are going to be treating it aggressively, but conservatively so we don't hopefully have a fish kill,

right? That's good to know. Um, don't mean I don't mean to take so much time on West Side. There's just a lot going on there right now. Um, when they go to clear out the trees, will they also clear the walkways? There's a lot of bushes that are impeding the walkway in several areas right by the park that stick out about four to six feet that literally impede the walkway. That that would have to be done by our forces. That's our guys. Okay. So, that's one of the things if you're out looking at it, you'll pretty self-evident. Are you talking about the bushes coming in from uh from Bentry?

Uh no, the one that that are right next to the actual park themselves. um how it it's kind of an S turn along the brick pa area. There's several bushes that go right into the walkway next to the actual playground and then heading down to the pond where it creates the Yes, there are several bushes there. Yes, I know burning bushes. Those are probably going to go bye-bye. They're probably going to go away. Um we have been advised now that burning bushes have been listed as an invasive.

Good call. are going to be getting removed around city hall too. Um they I guess as of is it this year they can no longer be sold in Missouri and they are being listed as invasive species which was actually I was surprised and that how that conversation came up was when we were walking westside with the contractor talk about projects that will help a lot. Most likely we we're going to give them a really good trim. Would they be replaced? We would have to look at what they'd be replaced with after they're removed. But at this time, um, I don't know that if if we have the forces and the time is that we could cut them back for a season, but most likely in the very near future, they're going to go right by.

That's my report. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Fabic Nature Preserve. I

um Fabic's looking good overall. The new bathroom's been installed. It's really nice. Um, water fountain and fills up the water bottle. They uh added to it with the the paved parking spots, added some landscaping, put some boulders around it, and two new picnic tables. So, it's dressed up pretty good. Um it's good brush removal for the invasive species. They trim back along Fabic Lane, the walk paved walkway up the hill here. One thing on on Presler Lake, uh, one of the local residents, Jim Austin, talking about needing the, uh, American lotus plant sprayed, the little, uh, lily pad looking things cuz they'll take it over real fast. He he fishes it and he's been fishing it for years. He was concerned about that. And the erosion around the park benches around Presler Lake. little tripping hazard. That's it for for baby.

Okay. Thank you. Uh Benton City Park, Mary. Um the the park looks is in high usage. Um they've been doing a great job, Dan, of maintaining bathrooms, picking up trash. The doggy the new doggy bins are being used. Um, and I so I don't have any new items other than previously noted it for the past couple months about the water fountains and stuff and and it's really awesome. They were down there playing pick the cooler weather. They were down there playing pickle ball at like the break of dawn. Oh yes. So um

and Mary, just to let you know, we have replaced the push buttons on those uh on those water fountains. Oh gosh. I know of at least twice on one of them and three times on another one this year. Uh we ordered some extras. We did get them in last week. I did not know that they went out again. We don't know if people are just punching them, kicking them. Don't know because middle schoolers. What's that? She said probably middle schoolers. Well, it's just it's frustrating because those are made to be in a park system. You know, they are high quality. Um but yeah, we're spending a lot of money on push buttons for those those water fountains.

That's that's a that's a bummer for us on on this end. But um yeah, but no, I just um yeah, it's like high usage and love that park and I'm glad that people are out there all the time and using the facilities. I don't know if this is under our jurisdiction or not, but I do want to put out there like I walk that park a lot and the electric bikes and motorized vehicles that are on the path are getting out of control. It's being addressed. It was actually um on the agenda last week through the board and it's it it's being looked at. I

I I mean I I yell at people a lot now. The problem with the electric bikes is, you know, like the assist bikes because people older people use those because, you know, to help their their pedal assist. I mean, that's going to I guess to me that's going to be something that's going to be very difficult to and there's the and there's the question. That's going to be very difficult. If you have somebody flying by you 40 miles an hour when you're walking and you've got earbuds in and maybe you can't hear them and they go screaming past you,

then that's one thing. But if it's someone that's using the pedal assist, we have a lot of older adults in this community that use those. But to say you or kids that have scooters now, when we passed the or when the ordinance was passed originally, it said bicycles and scooters, but at that time there weren't motorized bicycles and motorized scooters. Now that you have both of those, you can say either no motorized vehicles at all, which means even the people with the pedal assist can't use them, or 15 miles an hour or slow down or slow down 15 miles an hour. But then you have to have someone there that's actually placing that 15 mile an hour.

Well, it's almost like people don't understand that the walkers have the right away. Like don't run them over. I even saw one time um a golf cart. Somebody was driving on the path with a golf cart and now that's not legal. Well, no. And like was waiting really slow behind walkers and I'm just like, are you kidding me? So anyway, that's that was my it's being discussed. Did you you probably wanted to break out your teacher voice and say, "Hey." Oh, I broke out the teacher voice. I broke out the the mom voice even.

Um so I'm I'm part of the Great Great Great Rivers Greenway board. It's becoming a major problem on all the greenways now. Um because a lot of these bicycles will go 30 40 miles an hour. Grand Trail's one of the biggest challenges we're having right now because people are crashing and the big debate is how do you report it? How do you police it? Because most pathways are quite big even our park is a big loop and how do you police it because someone could in essence get away very quickly and easily and so it's becoming a problem not just in our community but nationwide now. And um I've been dialing in trying to find out what other communities are doing and um it's actually policemen on ebikes that are chasing them down in like Austin, Texas for example. So that's something we'll need to keep an eye on. I'd be curious to know what y'all come up with as far as any kind of solution.

Well, we haven't yet. So we are reviewing it. Um, a lot of it comes down to state statute and how they allow. Um, with ebikes and and motor, you can't say they're not allowed in your city. Um, but you can absolutely say they can or can't be on your multi-use trails. Um, uh, but there is an actual difference between the what they call a a motorbicycle and electric bicycle, which is the pedal assist.

So, that's step number one. Step number two is yeah, they should have a a speed limit, no no different than everyone else. Then then but number three is the policing which the gentleman sitting at the front door right here is our parks officer and he's the one that can tell you more than anybody about the issues that we are having in the parks with um with these ebikes. So this is something that we've we've been receiving more and more complaints and and reviewing our code we realized it's it's it's outdated only in the fact that at the time it was written when it talked about a bicycle it was assumed a bicycle was a was a a pedal assist only. You know, it was just a it was by your by your own by your own power. Same with scooters and

skateboard and like we there are multiple communities that are going through this right now that are having issues with this. If it's possible to be updated as we have meetings on that, I'd be I think well there's a chance it's actually going to be coming to this committee because it's amending our park code. Okay. So, but we are in the process of working with it because this conversation has come up in conjunction with all over um what they call basically alternative vehicles in the city, ATVs, you know, ATVs, UTVs, and the availability for them to be on the streets. But again, no matter what, those aren't anything that's allowed on your paths. They would still have to follow the same rules of the road. Okay.

So, yeah, that is but that is something we are drafting. Um the again fine officer sitting in the hallway today um even brought a few other items in our code to my attention that um he's received questions about that we may want to look at while we have it open. Great. Thank you. Yeah. All right. Heroes Memorial. Yeah. With both Heroes Memorial and Oldtown Plaza, there's not really much to report. I mean, the only thing Dan said earlier, they're going to be out for pressure washing this week. That would be the only real issue is things are starting to look a little dingy from just life, kind of like all of us, you know.

All right, we got announcements, updates. I did want to just say if um those that haven't been down to Heroes Memorial, uh the black granite uh stones have been um replaced for the brass ones that were stolen. They are in place. Good. We've received a lot of bricks that'll be installed for the ones that are broken. Yes. And a lot of the bricks uh the ones that were broken have been reordered and as time allows they will be replaced in in the memorial as well.

A majority of those bricks, if not all of them, have been installed with the exception of three that came in on Friday. And that's one area we did get concentrate on last week before the ceremony uh that we did power wash, you know, the concrete and everything at the heroes memorial. So, with the grass being uh very slow growing, we're having an opportunity to get some more of these things caught up. Good. All right. Uh announcement staff, city staff.

Um I just as usual, I'm just kind of giving you an update with our capital plan. um all the anything new that's been placed on there. Of course, this is changing. There's items that have probably changed since I wrote this last week to today um with the st getting finally a date on when they're going to start getting in on the masonry work, but it's just giving you an update on where we are with all of the projects.

And I don't have much um the we have two food trucks left. The one in September, which is the 19th, and then the October one is the 17th, and that is our Halloween event. Um, so that should be it's going to be a little bit different. There'll be face painters and entertainment and still food truck and a band, but it's going to be costume contests, kind of more family centric. U more activities for children, adults if they want to get their face painted. Um, I mean, I'm not going to judge. No, not at all. Um, the only uh item that really passed the board last month was the um pickle ball clinic through Callahan. They're going to do they're not going to take up all the pickle ball courts, but they are going to hold during the day, beginning, intermediate, and I think they're going to have some advanced uh pickle ball classes um for people who want to learn. And the guy's actually an Olympian pickle ball player, won a gold medal in pickle ball. So, I guess he's pretty good. Don't know. But anyway, um so that's it. And uh again, this ongoing discussion about the ebikes and the paths and all that, we are aware of that. So, um, yeah, that's it. Oh, and I won't be at the thing, um, the park beautifification day, unfortunately. My son's running a 5K that day and I have my grandson. So,

all right. Uh, takes us to a German motion to motion to adjurnn. I'll second. All right. All in favor raise the right hand say I. I. All oppose. Thank you very much. Next meeting, October 6th.